Oh...wait. They’re talking to other people and I don’t want to be rude; she looks busy so I’ll catch her later; he’s looking
at his phone so I don’t want to interrupt; there’s not a lot of time so I’ll do it at the next break.And all of those things you think—they aren’t true. Instead, it’s your brain
trying to derail you.
After my new engineer friend recapped my own assignment, he then described
what had happened to him. After my speech, at Cisco Live, he was out in the
hallway and he had a “push moment.” John Chambers, Cisco’s CEO, walked by
with a group of senior leaders. Now, you must understand, John Chambers is a
legend at Cisco and from all accounts, he’s a really great guy. Chambers was the
CEO for twenty years and the very next day, it was going to be announced that he
would be stepping down as CEO and that Chuck Robbins would be taking over.
So, my new friend the engineer was standing in the hallway fresh from learning
the #5SecondRule. He saw Chambers and his instincts fired up. He immediately
had the urge to introduce himself and thank Chambers for inspiring him, along
with letting him know the pride that he felt being an engineer at Cisco. He told me
that he knew he should do it and he tried to push himself, but he froze.
He explained that he felt paralyzed, adding that he is an “introvert” and “this
sort of thing” doesn’t come naturally to him. The moment passed. His hero
disappeared down the hall and he spent the remainder of the day beating himself
up for not taking “his shot to meet him.” But luckily, that’s not the end of his story.
The next morning, my new friend was jogging next to the San Diego Bay in
Embarcadero Park in downtown San Diego. This beautiful bike path along the
Marina was (as usual) filled with runners, cyclists, and walkers. He had his
earphones in and was listening to music, taking it all in. And all of a sudden, who
do you think was ahead of him on the path? That’s right, John Chambers.