"Between The Lines" Commentary
Week
of June 16th, 2008 by Anthony Asadullah Samad
For the longest period in our community, I've said that if more people
did a fraction of what they say they can do, there would be a different
reality in black communities across America. There are three types of
people in our society; Those who watch things happen, those who make
things happen and those who wondered "what happened??"
There's
something to be said for people who can "make it happen." They are far
and few in between. The collective black community, nationwide, lost
one last week. Journalist turned Public Relations specialist, Pat
Tobin, lost her long battle with cancer. In losing her, we lost a major
link in our social and professional network. That was Pat's specialty,
putting people, with resources (an important qualifier), together. Pat
was a master networker and expert promoter. She promoted her clients so
well, that she herself became a brand-long before people understood how
to brand themselves. Pat could sell ice to Eskimos and talk her way
into Fort Knox. The difference between Pat and other people, however,
is that Pat could make the best of the opportunity. She knew what the
client needed and had the answer when they asked her, "So, what you
got?" Pat Tobin helped others build and add value to their end-game.
She always had the end-game in mind, to make people better and enhance
their impact.
There are plenty of
people in our community that got "rap." But few that know what to do
after they rap themselves into a chance of a lifetime. More people talk
themselves out of opportunities than make the best of the ones they
get. Everybody wants to be rich, but few know how to get rich.
Everybody wants to be at "the party" to be seen, or be in the room with
the stars and the powerful, but few know how to be heard-when they open
their mouths, they really have nothing to say. In the 1980s, the only
real voices in our community were entertainers, athletes, preachers and
politicians. The former two tried dance and sport away our misery, and
the latter two sermonized the community's misery. But that was it. The
misery remained. Even Blacks in the black media had lost their voice.
Pat Tobin helped people understand their talents, the resources at
their disposal and the opportunities that could avail themselves if
people properly positions around like minded people. Pat Tobin's weekly
networking receptions were legendary. "Back in the day," when
"networking" was largely standing around trying to "look"
successful-for the wrong reason, to catch a person of the opposite sex,
Pat Tobin was one of the first persons telling people to build their
Rolodex. Note: For those of you who don't remember what a rolodex is,
it was a card file, alphabetized, where you log (or clipped) business
contacts. It was before e-mail, "palm pilots, Blackberries, and
I-phones. It wasn't just about how many business cards you could
collect. It was about how many important contacts you could collect.
People who could make things happen.
The
difference between a white boy with a Harvard degree and a brotha with
a Harvard degree is the size of their social network. It really is not
just what you know, but who know and what you show (can deliver) after
you make the contact. White graduates inherit their fathers (and
grandfathers) social network, which ultimately represent their business
contacts. Black graduates, most of the time, have to build their own.
Pat encouraged people to network with a purpose, and to get to know, at
least, one person you didn't know. That's how you built your social and
business network. In a city where you can go to three receptions and
two parties on every night of the week, to this day, I don't attend any
event without the end-game in mind (a purpose) and I make one contact
of significance that I didn't have prior to attending the event. That's
how I've built my network the last 25 years (and I have a helleva
network). That I learned from Pat Tobin.
I
run into people everyday that "talk" about what black people should be
doing, what we need to do, and how come we don't do this or that. I
hear this particularly from our politicians and preachers who are the
most disingenuous-in terms of the impact they make. We are the most
"prayed up" community in America and we still have the most problems.
We have 10,000 more black elected officials than we had 40 years ago
and our communities are still just as deprived. Preachers and
politicians talk more about changing people's lives than making it
happen. I tell them on a regular, "I'd rather see a sermon than hear
one." Pat Tobin didn't just tell people how to work together, she
showed people how to do. She was a living testament, and practiced what
she preached. More people knew Pat Tobin than knew her clients because
she had it like that. She didn't just talk about networking, she
networked-she pulled her clients into her network and she made things
happen. She was an example of the sermon you saw (see)-not the sermon
you heard (hear). Thank you, Pat, for your example showing many of us
how to make our impact felt.
God bless Pat Tobin
and her family. She will be missed.