Here's the wind-up...

One of my pitches struck out today!  I'm not surprised, really.  It was a long shot.  And that's what makes the whole thing so grand.  I totally stepped out of my comfort zone and swung for the fences.  The result ended up being more of a bunt than a homer, but the bat connected with the ball. And I think this business is all about the at bats.   Every time you strike out, you just have go to the end of the batting line up, take a few more practice swings and then dig in at home plate one more time.  No one hits a home run every time - some never do, but occasionally you get on base and that is enough.  (God I love a good sports analogy!  You'd never know that I was only on the softball team in 7th grade because no one got cut.  Eighth grade was a very different story.)

I don't really love baseball, but I do love a good story.  So here's the abbreviated version of my pitch: One of the great things about working at the College of Business at Notre Dame is that we get some truly awesome speakers to come in to talk to our budding capitalists about their story.  This spring we had the CEO of a major grocery store chain that emphasizes organic food & good stewardship of the earth (the only other thing I'll say is that I wish we had one in South Bend).  As I listened to him speak, all I could think about was that his core message would make a great children's book.

The General Counsel happened to be sitting in front of me and when the lecture was over, I tapped her on the shoulder.  Please reread that line.  I am not by nature a shoulder tapper.  I am much more of a nodder from a distance.  Those of you who are bold and gutsy will think I am incredibly lame (deservedly), but this was a big move for me.  Especially when the words that came out of my mouth had nothing to do with my day job, nothing about our students and instead asked if her company had (of all the crazy things) a children's book.  To her great credit, the GC was incredibly gracious as I blurted out my idea and she even seemed enthusiastic about the concept.  I spent the weekend figuring out what rhymes with sustainable seafood and sent a slightly more composed pitch early the following week  She forwarded  it on to someone in their Education department and today (about 6 weeks after the tapping incident), that person passed because they have bigger fish to fry.  She did end her note by saying I should contact her if I write the book anyway because they would consider selling it in their stores.

At the very least, that's a ball and not a strike, which means I'll live to swing again another day.  Let's play two!