Jump the Line: 101 Lessons for Professional Success

Table of Contents

Lesson #1

Lesson #2

Lesson #3

Lesson #4

Lesson #5

Lesson #6

Lesson #7

Lesson #8

Lesson #9

Lesson #10

Lesson #11

Lesson #12

Lesson #13

Lesson #14

Lesson #15

But Wait, There’s More!

Lessons Beyond The Boss

Leadership

Communications

Networking

Organization

Attitude

Career Stew:

Sales

Success

Acknowledgments

Jump

the line

Jump

the line

101 Lessons for

Professional Success

Jack Dillon

Jump the Line

Copyright © 2021 Jack Dillon. All rights reserved.

Lights On Publishing

Tucson, Arizona

Jack Dillon

[email protected]

Cover & Typesetting by Valerie Willis

Edited by Cynthia Williamson & Erik Deckers

Images provided by ShutterStock.

All rights to the work within are reserved to the author and publisher. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 International Copyright Act, without prior written permission except in brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Please contact either the Publisher or Author to gain permission.

This book is meant as a reference guide. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. All brands, quotes, and cited work respectfully belong to the original rights holders and bear no affiliation to the authors or publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number:

Paperback ISBN-13: 978-1-7378208-0-2

Ebook ISBN-13: 978-1-7378208-1-9

About the

Author

Jack Dillon has been a part of the golf industry since 1973. Unlike many of his generation, Jack took a different path in his career: Instead of working for just one or two employers, he has served more than 11 unique employers through th e decades.

Although he did not begin his career with the idea of moving around, serving a wide variety of organizations, he is happy it turned out as it did. After a time, Jack realized he was gaining amazing benefits from working for different organizations, different leaders. The changes in management structure from job to job gave him new ideas, new ways to think about problems at each new stop.

He gained new perspectives from the leaders and every management team he served. Although it is never easy to pack up and move, Dillon realized that moving around became comfortable, something he actually looked forward to in order to keep learning and growing.

Over five decades, Jack has held key positions at some of the largest golf organizations of their day. His dream was to be a part of the industry, but he surpassed even his grandest hopes through the work and success he has shared with so many people.

Over time, Jack has played key roles for several different companies. The combination of working for many leaders and corporate philosophies, in some very unique operations, provided Jack with the confidence and courage to continue to seek out new organizations, just unlocking their doors, or others trying to rebuild a business in distress.

Jack found it all fascinating, enjoying the journey, at least most of the journey. In addition to a variety of leaders, Jack worked with many smart men and women all around the country. In the five decades, there were only a few days that got the best of him. On most days, Jack was all about the customer, the team, and getting things done. It has been a fun ride, an incredible experience (so far), an honor, and a great joy.

Jack Dillon has been speaking and writing about change for twenty years. He is the lead blogger for GolfIncMagazine.com. He is a coach, speaker, and mentor. He is a merchant, an expert on customer service, developing people, improving business, and telling stories that mostly offer life lessons.

We hope you enjoy Jump The Line: 101 Lessons for Professional

Success and receive value from these lessons learned in real life over your entire career. You can reach Jack with questions about the book or his services at:

Jack Dillon

Career Dividends

[email protected].

407-973-6136

Orlando, Florida

Why I Wrote This Book

Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.

Dolly Parton

This book is about success. Specifically, your success. Within these pages are lessons to study, test, and put to work in order to help you skip the line and far outpace the co mpetition.

These lessons will shorten your learning curve, reduce errors. They can help move you faster to the driver’s seat of your own career. This book is for the young, the not-so-young, and everyone looking to hit fast-forward in their world of work.

Unlike a one-time read, this is a book of reference, one you can turn to for quick study on a lesson or two, time and time again.

In life, there are lessons all around, so acquiring new skills while sharpening old ones can be a great advantage, made clearer through stories inside this book. Yes, the world of work has changed since my first day on the job in 1973, but there is one constant that has remained in place, and that is people.

No matter your industry, your talents, or your job title, when you successfully navigate the world of people, you gain amazing advantages over those who walk through their day, ignoring the obvious. Everything we do is with and through people. Learning to get along with people is a vital skill not taught in any classroom. During your work life, you will report to people, you will serve people, and people may even report to you. Becoming masterful in how you treat people can become a secret sauce for a lifetime. No matter your industry or position, excellence in working with people, will place you in rare air.

I wrote this book for people looking to sharpen their skills with practical lessons learned in several workplaces over five decades. It has been written from and for the real world. It has been written with the hope that you will examine and test many of these lessons, which were learned over the years working with many people rich with humor, passion, and a fullness for life.

Over the years, I have read dozens of books on business and personal development, plus many biographies of people I have greatly admired. Of all of the reading I have done, there have been only one or two books that made a practical difference in my day-to-day life.

This book is based on real-world successes, mistakes, and failures, with a core framework of getting along with people. It’s the book I needed when I was building my career. Even as the world of work continues to change at warp speed, it’s important to remember that people are still the most important piece of the entire work landscape.

Yes, technology is moving us in new and different ways, but you must realize that we interact with people at each and every turn. Keep this in mind: when you become an expert in working with people, you will be welcomed as an important person everywhere. Reaching the top of the career pyramid, therefore, is not only about developing your hard skills but about spreading the idea of the Platinum Rule: Treat all people as they wish to be treated.

Not as you would wish to be treated. As they wish to be treated.

After World War II ended in June 1945, a great period of prosperity began in the United States. The (mostly) men who were returning from the war were looking for work. The hope was to locate a good company, one that would hire them, pay them a fair wage with full benefits, and keep them employed until the time they had to retire, somewhere between the ages of 60 and 62. As I came out of school during the mid-’70s, my friends and I, too, had the idea of finding a good job at an organization that would pay us well, with growth, benefits, and security.

One major difference, however, was the fact that Japan had been rebuilt since the war, and had developed major manufacturing capabilities, competing in autos, electronics, and other fast-tracking industries. This change in the global economy, where the world was selling to us, altered the course of employment for workers in this country. The idea of lifetime employment was coming to an end.

As time went on, American companies decided profits were more important than people who served their firms. Organizations learned they could always hire the skills they needed, no matter the number of downsizings.

On the other side, workers continued to hope their skills would prove good enough to remain employed. Continuous improvement was not yet part of the culture of the worker, so hope, minus improvement, was not a strong plan for work sustainability in the late 1970s.

At 19, I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life; I had no thoughts of lifetime work. My vision was laser-focused on being a part of the golf industry. Now, almost 50 years later, I’m still a part of an amazing community. Unlike workers from the 1940s and 1950s, I have had many employers, and within the different organizations, many different managers.

Just as with Millennials (the largest generation in the workplace today), I have had several short stays, working with many smart people who expanded my views of the world that has been quickly changing around me. The beauty of working for several people within different organizations is in the exposure to a variety of ideas and skills, combined with being around people who think very differently.

Today, I can’t imagine working for a single organization over a career, reporting to just a few people with the same mission statement and the same mindset. In every way, my changing experiences have prepared me to write this book, providing a lifetime of learned lessons, acquired from real situations, suitable for real life, no matter where you are in your career.

Finally, I wrote this book to be a shortcut to learning valuable tips and ideas for the everyday world of work. I wrote it to widen your point of view and to help you grow. Success is about knowledge, luck, and great timing. It’s also about learning important lessons from the people we meet in life. These lessons may help you reset the bar in order to build