Twenty minutes into the conversation Stephen Madaffari, principal of Data Centers Delivered and HTS New York, was done. He got it. He’d been through it in his head already. He did it. He peeked at his watch and was thinking about something or someone other than me. I caught him and I called him on it. Something about chopped liver? He wasn’t being rude. He was being responsible to himself and the myriad of accountabilities he had over the course of the day.
My catching him and calling him out changed his disposition toward me and this article’s tone became a full on reality. My interest in him, he noticed, was no longer pedestrian. He realized I actually cared and that was the game changer. Whatever it is that Stephen cares about is going to work out. Enter the Pitbull analogy and comparison. With a pair of aviator glasses on he has been mistaken more than once for the entertainer. But more relevant is the lock on ensuring success for what he cares for, starting with his family, business acquaintances, and his customers.