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Darlene Drew Shares Her Keys to Effective Leadership

Darlene Drew Shares Her Keys to Effective Leadership

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 Hello. Hello. How are you? Well, I’m just thinking what a privilege and pleasure it is to host you for the second time on the Biz Communication Show. And I’d like to start with what I I consider a great illustration of persistence when you want something. And I’m referring to the fact that when you first applied for a position major position with the Corrections Bureau, you received a letter stating that you were not selected. Eventually, you received notification that you were accepted for that position. It will help us to know what happened in the meantime. How did you transition from being rejected to being accepted and oh my gosh, how many people in the job market today want to hear that. How did that happen? What happened? Well, thank you. Thank you, Dr. Bill. Um, that’s a wonderful question, and I love answering that. Um, having received a letter, I asked each person for you to think about a time when you applied for a position and you were so excited about it and anticipating after that great interview as you saw it, that you would be receiving a call or a letter. I certainly, if you’re saying, “Yes, that’s me,” I’m with you because that was me as well. And so I waited with anticipation for that letter, and finally, after waiting and waiting, it it was delivered to me by my dad who used to work for the post office, that made it that much sweeter to me. And anxiously, I I got the envelope, and I opened it up, excited to to read the letter, and it said this is notification that you were not selected. So, to your question, how did it go from not selected to being selected? I believe it started with my disbelief, my disbelief. I did not believe that what it said in that letter, me not being selected, could anyway possibly be accurate. I read the letter. I paused and contemplated it, I thought about it, and I did what naturally came to me at that time, and that was quite some time ago, and I would imagine in this age and time, it would certainly be what comes to younger people. I didn’t believe it, and so I picked up the phone. I picked up the phone doing what I believe millennials, Zoomers today would do. Instead of texting, we want texting then, I called the person, the Human Resources Administrator’s name who was on the letter. I called him and said, “I believe this is a mistake.” I believe it’s a mistake, and I ask you to please re-evaluate my interview packet, give it another look, and please call me later to notify me that I’ve been selected. And oddly enough, he listened to me, and later, some weeks later, I received another letter. And that other letter was the right letter that said, “Congratulations, you’re hired.” That is a marvelous lesson for each one of us in in believing first of all in ourselves, believing in our credentials, believing that we are the right person, that we can do the job. And then taking that next step, which so many of us probably would be reluctant or reticent to take, but you took it and then began an incredible career in corrections. You’re reminding me, Darlene, of an instant where there was a client that I really wanted to serve. I went to high school in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I went to McCallie school, a secondary school there. And that’s the home of Crystal. And so naturally, I loved Crystal Burgers. Well, eventually, I thought since I love Crystal and the company so much, I would love to present one or more seminars for them. So, I got the phone number of their trainer. I had an initial conversation, and while he was courteous, he said, “Nothing now.” So, a year later, I called again, “Nothing now.” And then because he lived rather close by my location in Gainesville, Georgia, I said, “Well, all right, you’re, you’re not going to hire me now, but I would like to have a few minutes visit with you to find out more about what your training program aims to accomplish with your employees.” And he said, “Okay, we can do that.” So, I I went to his home office here near Gainesville, Georgia. We sat, and I mostly asked questions, but every now and then when he would say, “Here’s one segment of our training,” I would say, “You know, I I’ve got something similar to that.” And without being pushy, I described my approach. And this happened for about 20 or 30 minutes. I didn’t dominate, but when there was an opportunity, I said, “Well, here’s what I would be doing if I were doing that program.” And at the end of our conversation, he looked at me and he said, “You know, I believe we need to hire you.” So, I was able then to go back to my home home high school home base and work with the Crystal company for half a day. It it all of us who are in either service or products business, I suppose the underlying lesson here is the first no should not be the final word. And you’ve illustrated that so well. Have you had any other instances such as the one I just described where you of course, you...
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