12 years ago I was in Community College, yesterday, I spoke to around 100 community college students about how to pitch an investor.
I gave them 5 tips, none about the actual pitch, but all were about optimizing themselves to be ready for the pitch.
The first tip, I call: The Three Voices.
The first Voice is the voice inside our head; the insecurity, fear of failure, and inadequacy; the whisper at night that says, you don’t have what it takes.
The second Voice is the external negative voices. The people in positions of power who said things still stung us and make us hesitate to take risks.
The third Voice is the most impactful. This is the voices we never had.
These are the role models we never met and the mentors we never found. The perspectives we never heard; the career options we never knew. This is the most damaging voice because it restricts what is otherwise a vast and amazing world.
I brought my son with me yesterday to give him those voices. I want his worldview to be deep and wide.
I want him to see the dreams of Community College students and juxtapose that with the students we met at Georgetown last week.
It is because of this third voice that I took half a day to speak to the Community College kids. I want them to know I was once sitting in a community college class just like them. That it took me 2.5 years to finish a 2-year AA Degree. But, then I graduated top of my class from Johns Hopkins and have worked as an M&A lawyer at one of the top law firms in the world.
I told them, they have not been handed these voices at their parent's country club, golf course, or ski resort. They must actively seek out the voice of mentors.
As my son and I walked back through the quad, I heard someone running up behind me. When he caught up to us he said, Mr. Albrecht, Mr. Albrecht, I never knew I could become a lawyer if I went to community college.
As we got back in the car, I looked at my son and said, today we added a voice to the lives of over 100 kids.
Today, they know one more thing is possible and one more career path is attainable.
Wonderful post, Eli!