On Tuesday, April 7, Season 5 of one of my favorite TV shows, Rescue Me, premieres. And I’m reminded of how actor John Scurti came to be an “overnight success”.
Diehard fans of this edgy TV series, which airs on FX, know John Scurti as the character actor who plays firefighter/poet Lt. Kenny “Lou” Shea (pictured at right), one of the key and continuing roles in the series. But it took Scurti ten years to land it. He made his film debut in the 1993 comedy Who’s the Man?, but got only small roles on TV during the next decade.
But, while filming Who's the Man? he had struck up a friendship with the film's star: the then fast-rising Denis Leary. Ten years later, Leary, the co-creator of the series, tapped him for the plum role of Lt. Shea. Now, his career is very much on the ascent.
So what does his story have to do with business owners? Simply this: it’s another example of the fact that relationships matter. Some we have to work at, and others just happen because we were in the right place at the right time. But the point is also that it’s not just who you know. It’s about nailing every “part”, however small, so that the “someone” wants to know you, and you’re prepared to be an overnight--or ten-years-later--success.
Jerry Kalish is founder and President of National Benefit Services, Inc., a Chicago-based employee benefit consulting and administrative firm that serves private-held companies, publicly traded companies, and public sector employers. He blogs at The Retirement Plan Blog and can be reached at jerry@nationalbenefit.com.
Diehard fans of this edgy TV series, which airs on FX, know John Scurti as the character actor who plays firefighter/poet Lt. Kenny “Lou” Shea (pictured at right), one of the key and continuing roles in the series. But it took Scurti ten years to land it. He made his film debut in the 1993 comedy Who’s the Man?, but got only small roles on TV during the next decade.
But, while filming Who's the Man? he had struck up a friendship with the film's star: the then fast-rising Denis Leary. Ten years later, Leary, the co-creator of the series, tapped him for the plum role of Lt. Shea. Now, his career is very much on the ascent.
So what does his story have to do with business owners? Simply this: it’s another example of the fact that relationships matter. Some we have to work at, and others just happen because we were in the right place at the right time. But the point is also that it’s not just who you know. It’s about nailing every “part”, however small, so that the “someone” wants to know you, and you’re prepared to be an overnight--or ten-years-later--success.
Jerry Kalish is founder and President of National Benefit Services, Inc., a Chicago-based employee benefit consulting and administrative firm that serves private-held companies, publicly traded companies, and public sector employers. He blogs at The Retirement Plan Blog and can be reached at jerry@nationalbenefit.com.
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