He believed in me before I did
Hello {{ first_name }},
Last week I was home in Fargo, ND for NDSU homecoming, staying with my mom and attending a Hall of Fame luncheon. In the lobby, I unexpectedly ran into Dan Michaels: legendary radio personality, the voice of the Bison, my first boss in radio. The lobby was full of past athletes and family members mingling and then there he was. It had been decades since I’d worked with him but in that moment, it was like no time had passed. Without Dan, I never would have had the career I've had.
The only woman in the room
I was in my late teens, working at the college radio station and serving as sports editor of the college paper. Every week I sat in the Bison football press conferences, the only woman in the room of guys who all knew each other from the different stations in town. Dan was one of the few who acknowledged me, who talked to me. Over time, he’d tell me when I’d asked a good question. He took time to get to know a college kid who had no business being on his radar.
He gave me my first shot to be on-air on commercial radio, he coached me and helped me improve. And then I made a mistake, a really big one. An open mike, a string of swear words, live broadcasts playing the station at a grocery grand opening AND a listener appreciation party.
He could have fired me. He didn't. He knew I already felt worse than anything he could say. Instead, he turned it into a learning lesson, set some tighter protocols. Encouraged me to pursue a career in sales. When I decided to leave Fargo, Dan wrote me a letter of recommendation to take to job interviews. Dozens of moves and decades later, I still have it.
A Thought
Dan saw something in me before I could see it in myself. He gave me coaching and direction, and he also gave me space to learn on my own, make mistakes, fix them, and get better. That wasn't his job. His job was the morning show. Shaping me was simply part of the opportunity that came with his role.
At the luncheon, I listened to inductees talk about their time at NDSU 20, 30, even 40 years later. Every sport, team or individual, they kept coming back to the same thing: a coach, a teammate, someone who shaped who they became. Mine was on stage introducing each inductee.
You're in that role right now. You shape culture. You build teams. You develop the next generation of leaders. If you're delivering the work you sell in your business, you're changing what's possible for your clients, their businesses, and the people on their teams watching how you show up. You always have the opportunity to make a positive difference.
I've thanked Dan a few times over the decades. The appreciation conveyed is never to the degree of the impact he's had. When I try, I don't think he can really hear it. I'm not sure anyone can, or that the person who's been impacted can ever fully say what it’s meant. I watched my husband try to share his thanks with a former coach that same weekend at the same time the coach was trying to convey what he’d learned from him. The respect and gratitude were flowing back and forth. When you’re open to it, you see it everywhere.
A Spark
A week before Fargo, I was at Amanda Brinkman's annual Pursuit of Purpose event, this year centered on mentorship. Many people brought a mentor or a mentee to the event and I remember thinking how nice that must be: getting to share the experience together.
A week later, I had my own moment in a sports arena lobby. Here's what’s striking me after a week of similar events: gratitude for taking time with someone can last a lifetime. That's what a few minutes at a press conference, taking time to make a recommendation, what a conversation after a mistake can do. Someone in your world may feel that way about you right now, and you may never hear it. So the question isn't whether you can or are making an impact. It's what kind of impact do you intentionally want to make with each interaction you have with someone.
A Move
Name one person in your world right now whose path you could shape. A team member, a contractor, a client, someone just starting out.
Then do one thing for them this week. Tell them what you notice them doing well. Give them real feedback, open a door they couldn't open themselves. That's what Dan did for me. That's what the room at Amanda’s event has been doing.
Hit reply and tell me: where’s your opportunity to make a positive difference?
â–ş What impact do you want 2027 to have?
Get in a room and give yourself the time and space to decide what success looks like for you and your business in 2027. That includes the impact you want to have on your team, your clients, your community, and your family.
The 2027 Revenue Game Plan Workshop is a three-hour live working session where we flip the usual order: mindset first, then goals. You'll decide what winning 2027 means to you, run your real numbers, and name the one play that will carry you. And we’re doing it in the creative space of the Mahjong Montage Studio in Minneapolis. Come join us!
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Win your way,
Michael
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