We all have unexpected moments which change our lives. They rarely happen while sitting at a computer.
I was on vacation last week with children and grandchildren in South Haven, Michigan, and one of my granddaughters wanted to see the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus. She asked me to come along, not just to get insights into my Alma Mater, but also to see the place where my wife Risa and I met.
We all went to the Michigan Union ballroom and were able to walk right into the giant room where the mixer was held on January 11th, 1969. I had been playing ping pong at the union that night, but the music in the ballroom attracted me as did the large number of attractive girls.
I described the scene and told the story to our three-generational group who had heard it before. But being in the exact room where it took place, next to the stage where the band was playing, gave the telling an impact that surprised even me.
“With so many people in the hall, why did you pick Risa?” they wanted to know.
My mind went back to that moment, and I tried to envision it. My answer was hesitant. “Maybe it was God. Maybe it was fate. Maybe it was her short skirt.”
I went up to her in the midst of almost a thousand people and said, “Hi, my name is Lloyd Graff. I’d like to talk to you. It’s too loud with the music. Can we go out in the hall?”
We went out for a snack. Later I asked her to come by my apartment. I offered to drive her back to her dorm, but my car would not start. I called a cab and rode back with her.
It was the beginning of a lifetime together.
It was a moment that changed our lives, and reliving it was powerful for everybody present last week.
***
I was prompted to write about this today by a story in the Wall Street Journal ahead of President Trump’s meeting in Alaska with Vladimir Putin concerning the Ukraine War.
Trump has developed a close relationship with President Alexander Stubb of Finland after spending seven hours with him playing golf together in Florida.
Stubb’s father was a talent scout for the National Hockey League in Europe. He brought him to the United States when he was 13 for a hockey tournament and also encouraged him as a golfer. Stubb got a golf scholarship to Furman University in South Carolina.
In his conversation on the golf course with Donald Trump, Stubb recounted the Finnish experience in dealing with Putin and how he cannot ever be trusted.
Stubb now talks with Trump several times a week and has helped change Trump’s attitude towards NATO as well as Europe’s vulnerability to Putin’s lifelong obsession with recreating Russia’s domination over a passive group of European leaders.
Does this story relate to the metal turning business in America?
I believe so.
Customers do not fall into your lap. It takes personal contact, not just sharing your price on a brilliant piece of engineering to garner a new customer. It requires relationships and finding that special moment that can begin a long-term commitment.
Artificial intelligence cannot accomplish this. Massaging the numbers can’t do it. Relationships develop with two people seeing something special in a connection.
You have to be aware when it happens and persevere to make it special.
Magical moments are rare, but they do happen in everybody’s life. The important thing is to see them, feel them, and pursue them with energy.
Question: What’s one of your favorite “how we met” stories? Business or personal.
