I’ve Got Ernie -- The Relationship Lesson of a Lifetime!

Little did I know that the flight from San Francisco to Chicago in October of 1983 would change my life forever. It was a Friday, the end of a long, exhausting workweek in San Francisco. I wasn't exactly excited about a 4 hour flight home to Chicago but at least I had been upgraded to a first class seat...which I planned to get in and sleep all the way back.

No sooner did I sit down did I hear a booming, obnoxious voice from the door behind me yell "How you doin?" My thought was, "With my luck that guy will have the seat next to me." Within seconds, I heard another "How you doin?” and looked up to find a tall man grinning and staring down at me.

"I said, how you doin?’" was what he yelled one more time as he crawled across me and landed in the seat right next to me. In between thinking I'm not getting any sleep and this guy will want to talk all the way to Chicago, he shouted out, "Hi, I'm Ernie."

Meanwhile, there's one other empty seat in first class and it’s next to a guy across the aisle from me. I'm thinking how lucky he is to get an empty seat next to him when I hear the plane’s door close and up walks a beautiful woman who sits in that empty seat. So this guy gets this beautiful woman and I’ve got…Ernie. 

Then I hear "Are you single?" It was Ernie asking ME that? I said “yes”, and then he asks the nearest flight attendant the same question. When she said "yes" he joined our hands and told us we'd make a perfect couple.

Meanwhile I hear the woman across the aisle tell HER seatmate she was a Playboy Playmate of the Month and was on her way to Chicago for her centerfold shoot.

This guy's got a Playboy Playmate and I've got…Ernie.

I did my best to ignore Ernie by putting on my headphones but it didn't deter him. He kept lifting off the left side and asking dumb questions. I look across the aisle and the other guy and the Playmate are clinking their wine glasses.

These two are toasting a Cabernet and I've got…Ernie. 

Dinner comes and Ernie asks me if I'm going to eat all my steak. Across the aisle those two are giggling and touching each others' arms. They're sharing a shrimp cocktail and I've got…Ernie.

After dinner I pretend to sleep by closing my eyes but Ernie keeps nudging me and asking "Are you asleep?" I opened my right eye and looked across the aisle, and they’re holding hands! They’ve fallen in love and I’ve got…Ernie.

As we landed I couldn't help but think this other guy just had the flight of his life and I had…Ernie.

I exited the plane very quickly and ducked into the nearest restroom. Washing his hands next to me was the guy across the aisle. He said to me, "So, you and Ernie are good friends huh?" “Yeah right,” I said sarcastically. THEN he said..."Man, I would have given anything to have been able to spend 4 hours sitting next to one of the greatest baseball hitters of all times, Ernie Banks!" 

I pulled my jaw off the floor and slinked out of the restroom thinking, “I just sat next to Ernie Banks, one of my all all-time baseball heroes from the Chicago Cubs and I didn’t even know it was him. I blew the opportunity of a lifetime because I didn’t give him the time of day.” Now, I’m a huge baseball fan and after living in Chicago for fifteen years, a big Cubs fan. If I’m such a huge baseball fan how was it I didn’t know I was sitting next to Ernie Banks? You’re right…I never looked at him. I had written him off as a offensive boor and it turns out I was the rude one.

In 1984, I learned the ultimate lesson in networking and realtionships.  

Now, I talk to everybody! I’ve learned that if you talk to people…better yet…LISTEN to people…good things happen.

This true story changed my life, especially my business life. I’ve come to realize that all business starts with a relationship, and that relationships start with communication. Since that fateful plane ride with Ernie Banks, I’ve never underestimated the possibility that business is all around us if we are open to that possibility…and embrace the opportunities that present themselves!