Half of what I provide at this blog is my advice. The other half of what I provide is evidence – evidence of people successfully doing the same things I suggest that YOU do to move your career forward faster. My advice will give you direction; the evidence will give you inspiration. At least that’s the plan.

Last Sunday’s Los Angeles Times Magazine included a guest column by the longtime (6 decades) and well-respected Hollywood publicist, Warren Cowan. He gave his top two business rules: 1) return every call, and 2) always have a pen and paper handy. But here’s the part of his column that caught my attention:

“We signed a lot of business over the years because of my policy of returning calls. Two aspiring actors – 20 years apart in age and phone technology – called me and left messages explaining that I didn’t know them, but asking for industry advice. I called each of them back and answered some of their insightful questions about the business. One later became a successful director and hired my company because I’d taken his call decades earlier when he wasn’t famous. The other became a top stand-up comic who later got a TV series, and we did the PR for all the years it was on the air because, he said, I gave him a few minutes when no one else would.”

What those two actors were doing was requesting guidance from a mentor. Reaching out to people whom you admire and who are more experienced than you are is a strategic action that I highly recommend you incorporate into your networking activities. I offer this quote as proof that you WILL find people who will take the time to give you advice – as long as you conduct yourself in a professional, gracious, intelligent manor. (If you are uncertain about how to approach possible mentors, I offer detailed suggestions here.)

You can read Cowan’s full column here.

P.S. The other portion that struck me was the editor’s note:

“…Cowan passed away on May 14… When we asked him to write this column on May 13, we had no idea he had cancer. He accepted our assignment enthusiastically, immediately began dictating it to an assistant and, according to his assistant, finished it in about half an hour. It was his last day in the office…”

Reading that prompted me to reflect on how routinely I put stuff off because I make mental mountains out of molehills. (Case in point: starting this blog.) ‘Twas a good reminder that I need a little more carpe diem and a little less carping. Got it – thanks, Mr. Cowan.