One Word

I have found that in life it is often the little things that make a big difference. In this case, one word made a huge difference.

A few years ago, I was working as a software instructor for Computer Training Centres in Ottawa. Heidi was making a sales pitch to a government department. It was an important client. She had lined up two francophone instructors, Christine and André, to attend the appointment.

When the time came to leave, André was nowhere to be seen. She had already mentioned to her client that she was bringing two of her top bilingual instructors, so she had to find somebody.

“John, you speak French,” she blurted. I asked if there was somebody else she could take. There wasn’t and I was dragged along.

She started speaking about a new application called Outlook. I sat there quietly, trying to look like I knew what was happening.

Then it happened. The client turned to me and asked me a question in French. I understood and answered, “Oui.” It was one single word, but it opened a lot of doors in my life.

The client told Heidi that she had the contract and that it was hoped that these two “bilingual” instructors would be teaching the course. Heidi assured her that we would.

Walking back to our office, I asked Heidi what Outlook was and did she really expect me to teach something I had no clue about? Her answer was “Yes,” she did expect me to teach it. In fact, I had all weekend to learn it, because I was teaching on Tuesday.

Just in case you don’t know about Microsoft Outlook, it is a communications application for email and organizing your life. I went out and bought a book on it and loaded the application on my computer at home. The only problem was that it is difficult to learn an email application when you can’t send and receive them. Unlike now, none of my friends had email.

Still, I went in and did a pretty amazing job teaching the course that Tuesday and for about three weeks after that.

Fast-forward about a year, and Computer Training Centres was trying for another government contract. This time it was to teach in various Canadian embassies around the world. I hadn’t been teaching that long, so I was reluctant to take the test, but Rick, another salesperson, persuaded me that I had nothing to lose, so I went.

Most of the instructors who were there had been teaching for years. My experience was about three. I had a huge advantage, though. The major part of the test was the knowledge of Microsoft Outlook, which I knew pretty well by then.

I remember one veteran instructor walking out in disgust. I passed and was selected for the project.

It all started with one word, oui, and grew to the point where I had the opportunity to travel to Guatemala, Poland, Turkey, Taiwan, Kosovo, Macedonia and India.

When you look at what faces you today, just do your best. Your accomplishment may not seem to be that great, but like a small seed, it may blossom into just the opportunity you have sought for many years.