Connections

It's often said in business that it "isn't what you know, but who you know." Well, police work, the military etc. also have that tendency. Had a nice reminder of that today.

A certain Very Large Company was in town doing a workshop & meet & greet that I was invited to, involving my agency & several others. While there I started talking to the representatives from Slightly Smaller Subsidiary Company. Both of whom are prior Navy themselves, from a community I worked with.

Now, one of the funny things about EOD guys, Special Ops Guys, etc. is the whole "name game" - or as my wife calls it "sniffing each other's butts." Upon meeting a new person associated with the community we start sharing who we know along with secret handshakes etc until we find a few names in common; after that it's like a magic door opening to the rest of the conversations. With these two in question it was a bonus, as they were both senior enlisted members in very respected positions, and with rare levels of experience.

As a side note, and the reason for the fortuitousness of this meeting, a downside of some of my specialized skills is that there are only so many places to practice them, particularly in my area - so we tend to beg, borrow & steal the opportunities as they come.

Anyway, so I chat for a few minutes with these guys, ask some questions about a few of their products, share thoughts on those I've been using etc. They ask in return some of our policies and procedures regarding these certain areas, and I explain our limited resources.

Which leads to an invitation out of the blue - "Well, I still know XXXX at so-and-so - I can get you guys in there to do some training with them, just give me a call and we will set it up."

So - for the cost of a few hours of the morning, I not only made some new connections, but I managed to get a chance for my team to work at a very high level & in a way that would NEVER be possible if we didn't have some mutual friends.

Sometimes it's nice having a past...