The king was helpless as his people starved to death and when they came to him for a solution, he asked them to “Go unto Joseph. Gen 41:55…” Following a vision that the king had and its subsequent interpretation by Joseph, he was handed control of Egypt by Pharaoh Gen 41:41.
A “Go to Person” is someone or something that is regularly or repeatedly chosen or employed for reliably good results. To be a Go-To Person entails being a person who can be turned to for expert knowledge, advice, or reliable performance, especially in a crucial situation. A trusted or dependable person in a particular matter. It could be an authority, a master, an expert or Specialist.
Throughout history, we find instances where people became the Go-To people to save a nation, company or family. When the Ammonites rose against Israel, their Go-To person was Jephtha who had gained leadership skills leading a small band of “worthless men” (Judges 11:1-6). Later in Israel’s history, that Go-To person would be David.
When Robert Iger left Disney, it was for him to take a well-deserved retirement after serving the company for more than two decades. Few would have predicted Disney would go back to Iger when the numbers started going south. In football, we’ve seen some coaches recycled over and over, recalled from retirement to bring ‘salvation’ from impending relegation. Yes, when Crystal Palace needed salvation, to wash them from the sins of losing matches, they recalled Roy Hodgson from retirement and he has certainly delivered them from the wages of losing matches which is Relegation. Sir Alex Ferguson in his Manchester United years had his Go-To player when in need of those injury time goals or to reverse the course of a match in his favour; that was Javier Hernandez aka “Chicharito”, and when he needed the premier league title in his final season, Robin van Persie was the Go-To man to score the goals match after match, marching unto the league title.
Are you the go to person in your organization, your circle or family when things are not moving? How can you position yourself as a “Go to person”? What is common amongst go-to People?
Becoming the go-to person doesn’t just happen overnight, it takes a process, something very few have the patience and discipline to go through.
Go-To people prepare themselves consciously and unconsciously and one way of doing this is through knowledge acquisition. They burn the midnight candles, doing the same thing repetitively till they attain perfection or become peerless in it.
They find joy in what they do. Where many would have given up, the go-to people derive motivation and joy to move forward, take one more step. The temptation of quitting reminds them there is a reward in what they are doing if they persist.
If it has to be done by someone, then I am available to do it. This is how they seize the moments by taking responsibilities and through this, they learn. Once they know something has to be done, they set about doing it. It is better to try and make corrections than not to try at all or miss out completely. In so doing they set examples by which they become known.
To be looked upon as a go-to person, you need to build relationships. People come to you based on the relationships you’ve built with them or on the recommendation of those who’ve had the opportunity to know you and what you can do. When Jephtha was cast out of the family by his brothers and denied all inheritance, he didn’t give up. He built a following, a relationship with men who went around conquering and when the elders needed a military leader, they came to him and in that moment, he was in a position to dictate terms. Would you do this for me if I…, this is what I want in exchange if I…. for you.
Being the go-to person puts you in the spotlight, open to all sorts of criticisms and scrutiny and to be effective, you need to take responsibility, develop thick skin and never play the victim or reel in shame or guilt. You need to develop resilience and remain focused. If the naysayers could do it, they would have gone to them and not you.
In each industry, not every business is built to dominate, some are there to merely co-exist with the dominant ones. While some coaches move from club to club because of their ability to win trophies, one thing is common between the business leaders and coaches that keep being recycled despite promising young business executives and coaches-Records; records for positioning companies, winning trophies or keeping teams in the topflight to constantly compete with the best of the best and occasionally deliver sucker punches.
NASA today has their Go-To guy in Elon Musk for Space Missions, the Ferrari Formula One team once had its Go-To driver in Michael Schumacher when they dominated the sports then, along came Mercedes with their own Go-To Driver in Lewis Hamilton.
Being the go-to guy does not necessarily mean you being at the forefront, you can be the go to guy for the CEO because of how you do things. Remember “Chicharito”? He rarely started matches. In fact one of the main reasons he left United was for more game time but while there, he remained the Go-To guy in the dying minutes.
Joseph was the go-to guy to interpret dreams or survive famine. How and what are you positioning yourself to be the go-to person for? And for organizations, who is your Go-To guy to win market battles.