When I was just starting out with my agency back in 2002 there was one cold February morning when I had hopped on a 5am flight for my first big meeting with a major CPG in the Midwest. After 100 emails and cold calls it was finally on.

The meeting was with an Associate Brand Manager who I'll just call "Mr. Big" but to me it was like meeting with Bill Gates.

The meeting was set for 9:30am and I arrived punctually at 9:15AM and sat there waiting with my shiny visitor tag dreaming of how I was going to blow this guy away

Then 9:30 comes and no sign of "Mr. Big", at 9:45 I see someone come down welcoming another vendor with open arms, but still no Mr. Big

As time passed I continued to check in with reception, and send over polite emails to Mr. Big every 30 minutes.

Finally at around 2PM I called it a day and flew back to NYC. To this day I have never heard back from Mr. Big despite the fact I ended landing his company as a client.

I looked at his LinkedIn profile last night and it turns out he actually became Mr. Medium at best and it shouldn't have come as a surprise. Your integrity shines through whether you are speaking to the janitor or the CEO and your respect of everyone's journey is what will bring meaning and fulfillment to yours.

Don't be a Mr. Big