Meet the Council – Bob Highland

Executive Council Member, Bob Highland.

Executive Council Member Bob Highland, Head of Business Development at Barclaycard US, shares what he wish he knew in college given his experience today.

1. The importance of saying yes – Successful people always say yes when asked to take on special projects, when asked to work late, when asked to lend their talents to a meaningful purpose, when asked to coach their kid’s little league team, when asked to attend a friend’s or colleague’s dinner party, etc. While learning how to prioritize is important, the one thing all successful people have in common is that they have massive amounts of capacity. Oversubscribe yourself, push yourself to do more, you have more capacity than you think you have.
2. Just showing up is more than half the battle – No matter how smart you are, you will be virtually useless when you start your career.  However, if you show up every day, alert and ready to learn, you will be amazed how fast you go from somebody with potential to somebody with experience and skill.  In Malcom Gladwell’s “Outliers” he says that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become world class in any field. That’s only 4 years of 50hr weeks to go from newbie to expert.
3. Nice guys/girls finish first – Be generous and kind to others regardless of level or status.  People tend to help people who they like and no matter how smart or talented you are, you cannot achieve anything without the help of others.

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