I had a great lunch meeting with Glenn Kelman of Red Fin yesterday. Forty out of the forty five minutes of our went off just as I would have hoped. He asked great questions and I hit them out of the park. I could definitely sense there was some "clicking" taking place. Then the "but" happened. As in (paraphrased), "you've got some great ideas, but you don't really have any experience in our space. Give me an idea of how you might steer our marketing plan."
Do you know the feeling you got in college when you sat down to take an exam and realized that you had been studying the wrong chapter? That's how I felt at that moment. Though I spent plenty of time building my knowledge of the Red Fin story, I failed to anticipate that question. Which is crazy, because in hindsight, it's an obvious question for a hi-tech CEO to ask a candidate with no hi-tech experience.
My answer to the question wasn't great and I knew I was capable of much more. Unfortunately, I gave him every reason to believe that his suspicions were true. I left the meeting with that sinking feeling that I had blown a great opportunity. Playing the question back in my mind as I ran some errands afterwards, I came up with some great ideas (I thought, anyway) that I shared with Glen in my Thank You note afterwards. He replied positively and promised to re-engage once they have hired a CMO, so I think I saved the day. But I sure wish I got it right the first time. Next time I will for sure.
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