This was an excellent seminar! It really helped me to focus on where I want to go with my business. When you start your own business it can seem overwhelming - Dave helped me realize how important my reputation is that exceeding expectations should be the norm. I think the concepts are applicable to all aspects of everyday life - and I think I will even be a better driver LOL.

Dave...another great night!! I am a second timer and I came out because I needed a refresher. I also had a few friends who needed to hear the talk LIVE!!

This time the take away for me was "intent and impact"
I have taken the principals and applied them in my new business venture- Open Studio Photography.


Thanks again for a great presentation..
Bob Hatcher
bh2@bobhatcher.ca

Dave,
It was a pleasure "meeting" you on the phone before your big extravaganza. My sentiments when I got off the phone..."Nice guy".
Great to see that initial feeling confirmed after we met in person. Always refreshing to see a person walk his talk, practice what he preaches and ... (I'm all out of cliches, ...) and to feel the energy in a room full of your fans. Innovative idea forcing us to "pre-network" if we wanted to save a few bucks on admission. Congrats!

Tsufit
Author, Step Into The Spotlight! : A Guide to Getting Noticed
www.stepintothespot light.com

Good Morning Dave

Last night I attended my first Knocking Down Silo's seminar in Richmond Hill. My head is still buzzing this morning as I process everything that you covered.

There is one nagging question that I keep coming back to, and rather than risk becoming stuck there I thought I'd just ask you directly.

When you discussed the importance of thank you cards, you mentioned 3 key points to address.

1. sincere
2. specific
3. searchable

I understand sincere and specific but I'm not clear on what you mean by searchable?
I'm sure you explained it last night. I was probably absorbing another point that you had made and missed it.
When you have a moment, can I trouble you to explain searchable to me?

I wasn't sure what to expect when my boss invited me to attend your seminar, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. You sir exceeded my expectations!
On my drive home I mentally made a list of who I will send thank you cards to, and what I would say.
It was a humbling experience and it reminded me once again how blessed I am in my life and how much I have to be grateful for.
Thank you for that.

Take care,

Rhonda

RHONDA KING, RHB :o)
Imagine 121 Inc.
www.imagine121.com

Dave: Great seminar!! Your excell in your ability to explain without lecturing. My two guests and my wife Sondra enjoyed every minute - you delivered. I plan to bring clients to future talks. It's a great way to entertain clients and at the same time inform and give value.
Howard Annis
Account Executive
The Magnes Group Inc

Hi Dave,

Thank you so much for putting on such an amazing event. You are very inspiring.

A story for you.....

I recently partnered with a consultant to help me with my passenger transportation clients. He ended up attending Knocking Down Silos. This consultant deals specifically with large bus fleets. I referred a couple of my client's to him and he was successful in doing business with them. I often wondered when I would ever get referrals from him but never said anything . After your session he turned to me and said " what can I do to help you out" Wow Dave, what an immediate impact!!! Thanks.


Suzie Rae, CAIB, RHB

Account Executive



The Magnes Group Inc.

Brokered Insurance Solutions

7699 Yonge Street

Thornhill, Ontario L3T 1Z5

905-889-4933 ex.221

Email:srae@magnesgroup.com

Wow - that sure is a better and more authentic way than the old lead generation line "can you give me the names of 5 of your friends?" Thanks Suzie!

Hi Dave,

Was invited to attend your talk by my sister in-law and was happy that I invested the time as I found it both enjoyable and valuable. Personally, I was most impressed with your marketing efforts and use of social media in particular. From your branding to creating a RHB community online and off … held together by a common and powerful philosophy that can easily be accepted and shared.

1. Assume everyone is intelligent
2. Have passion for what you do
3. Get over yourself

In these uncertain times … your message and philosophy is more important and pertinent than ever.

Hi Dave, I would like to thank you for highlighting me in your presentation and for making the world a better place one person at a time.

Since your introduction of me I can't believe all the support I have been getting with my business it is fantastic, RHB has really embraced helping each other. By attending Dave's KDS I believe we are incorporating the fundamental rules of business. I thought this would be a networking presentation BUT it is way more than that. This is real people connecting with each other and I think people are looking for an advantage in doing business these days Dave makes interaction with others easy and inviting. This is a recipe for success...I saw a boost of self-esteem in everyone in the room.

I have already sent several people to your event in June. I love that your teachings are human, approachable and fun. You do good work Mr. Howlett…you are a good guy!

If there is anything I can do for you please let me know. Victor

Best regards,

Victor Ness, DHMHS, HD
Homeopathic Doctor
416-806-0162 Cell
victorness@sympatico.ca

Hi Dave!

I can't tell you what an impact your seminar made on me. As a recent college graduate experiencing the cold hard reality of a forced career shift, I was seriously wondering if any of your advice would apply to me. To my surprise, I managed to meet some great people and was thoroughly absorbed and entertained by your anecdotal stories and common-sense ideas. I'm definitely glad I took notes.

The amazing thing about your seminar is that as the evening continues, you manage to PROVE each of your points in the break-out sessions. To an audience member, it amounts to instant gratification.

As a result, every audience member that mentally says 'whoa, that really worked!' quickly realizes that you are skilled, reliable, and personable. Instant Good Guy status - and more proof that it all works. ;-)

I've been mulling over a way to sum up the concepts you teach. What I've come up with is Manufactured Karma - helping good things come your way by taking responsibility for the way you interact with the world around you.

Thanks for the perspective Dave - I'll definitely be passing this along to family, friends and clients. =)


Trinette Klein

Graphic Designer, RHB
InKleined to Design
905.836.2201
trinette.klein@live.ca

"Manufactured Karma" - wow , what a great concept! Thanks so much thinking of a way to sum this up...I have a hard time doing that sometime. :-)

Haha, I love it when RHBs meet out there in the real world and make a connection based on a shared philosophy! Thanks Michelle for sharing!

Dear Dave,

This was my second visit to Knocking down Silos. The first was in late 2008, just having landed into the country and still trying to find my way around. I was the new kid in town. FOB.
Few months later, I attended your talk once again and found myself on the screen. What? How did that happen I thought? Only in Canada, you can go in an instant from zero to hero. Must have been some of the brilliance I imbibed from your first KDS that surely made me reach here by the second.

And another small anecdote, I was talking with a friend after your presentation was over and was about 25 feet away from you and was happy to see the queue of over 30 people waiting patiently in line waiting to have a few words with you when my friend told me to look back. I turned back and lo and behold, I had my cute little queue of 4 people. Such a nice feeling to have people wanting to know how they can help you. Amazing.

I saw Bill Clinton comment "The greatest challenge I saw as president is how can people be proud of their roots and culture and still respect other peoples' roots and cultures."

You may have been the new kid in town Gautam, but in my experience, most people will rise to the occasion if given a chance. I gave you one and you have certainly achieved a lot quickly!

This was my 5'th KDS and it keeps getting better. Bunch of comments, sorry for the length.

1) The talk and content were all good and in keeping with current trends i.e.twitter etc... Your message of giving back holds true when you acknowledge and expect people to pass on your ideas and messages and that you offer the contents of the talk through pdf's from your web site: great consistency.

2) I really like that your talk starts off with the message that every person can help another and don't prejudge the person beside you based on their clothes, age, looks etc... This really encourages people to focus down to talking with people and learning about them as opposed to prejudging someone and looking for another candidate to talk to that may fit any preconceived ideas of who would be a good person to talk to. It is a good message to start with and breaks the ice on any barriers people might raise.

3) The mix of people was the best I have met of the talks I have attended: everyone was business oriented that I talked to. I would have liked to have networked with more people at the end but I had to leave to get home on time to get ready for work. As an idea, allowing more time at the end to network may be of an additional benefit/value to people. I was surprised to see more people stick around longer after the talk than if it was at a university. This may be an evolution in your talks where the repeat #'s of people going to your talks need refreshers on your topics but they attend to network hence may need more time at the end to fulfill their desire to network.

4) An idea for your presentation: if people know they will be at your talk and have a challenge or need they could go on your website, list this need, and at the talk they could move to a designated area of the room at the end, so that they would be approachable to anyone who may be able to help. This would be more focused networking that would not be as obvious as how you present people in your talk but would direct people to each other in a more self directed/promoting way. This would limit the anonymity of potentially "meeting" someone at a table that could help.

5) I got lost looking for the Sheraton. I took the address and dropped it into Google Maps and it gave me a location close to Bathurst as opposed to Leslie. I happened to see a sign for the Sheraton and kept driving and found the hotel. As a suggestion, providing the cross street location in your address area might focus directions better.

6) I liked the seating arrangement of round tables and the size. You could talk to anyone around the table quite easily and network as well. When you are seated in rows you have limited mobility and access to other people.

Hi Dave, thanks for providing a wonderful evening. Your talk is very 'thought provoking' in fact it allowed me the time to reflect on some core values that we often seem to forget given our very busy lives.Getting over ones self, so to speak, is often a hard thing to do, but you make it easy!
As we discussed, iI think you have a great messge, EVEN a 'life lesson' of humility that should be shared with teens who are all about themselvs!!
Cheers and thanks again Anne

Hi Dave!

This was my first Breaking Down Silos session, and I will definitely be coming back in the future. I was given the heads up on your program by Paul Copcutt (Square Peg Solutions), and I'm really glad I listened. As a professional Resume Strategist who is in the process of setting up my own consultancy, it couldn't come at a better time.

I loved the fact that you provided us with pragmatic and immediately usable tools for networking, and gave us the chance to try them out in breakout sessions. I have always found networking a bit of challenge, because in the back of my mind I had a picture of the smarmy sales agent who was pretty close to the picture in your presentation. By turning things around and focusing on how I can be on service rather than how can this person be of service to me, I find the whole idea of networking much easier .

The "impact versus intent" concept is an important take-home for me, and I've found myself using it to get past the small stuff in my day. This makes it much easier to see the real human being in everybody I meet - surprising how many real human beings there are, if you take the time to notice :)

I also bought a box of cards and am writing thank you notes to people who are long overdue for a wave from me, going back 15+ years. It was a really interesting reflective exercise to realize how many people have helped me to get where I am today, and how much I have to be grateful for.

Finally, I liked the fact that you incorporated real people with real challenges into your presentation, because it reminded me that helping people with their challenges doesn't have to be a huge investment of time and resources, it can be as simple as "hey, you should talk to ..." I'm looking forward to June 22nd, and intend to bring a few friends who could benefit from your ideas.

Regards,

Karen Siwak
Certified Resume Strategist

Hi Dave,

What a pleasure to have the opportunity to see and hear you last Monday night. I have spent 42 years as a senior executive with assignments in the US, UK and Japan as well as accross Canada. It was so refreshing to finally listen to someone who gets it. Management and Leadership is not about using positions of power to effect change but rather it is about creating a "good guy" network in a business. Using you methodology and insites are 21st century strategies and I encourage people in leadership positions to get on the bus as Collins said in "Good to Great"

Warm Regards



Ron Percy
Business and Life Coach
Salt River Coaching
572 Old Poplar Row,
Mississauga, ON, L5J 2P1
(O) (905) 916 -3331
(C) (647) 308- 6543
www.saltrivercoachi ng.com

“Live as if you will die tomorrow, learn as if you will live forever.” – Gandhi

It was a pleasure to attend your seminar, not that calling Knocking Down Silos a seminar does it any justice.

This was a very uplifting and enlightening presentation. The world would be a better place if everyone understood what 3rd gear is all about.

I was speaking with some people at the event that evening, and before hearing the 3rd gear philosophy, I had responded to an attendee that I was in a very "happy place" in my life both personal and professional.

The 3rd gear methodology is a motto to live by, as they say good thing happen to good people. Thank you Dave for bringing your presentation to the public we could all benefit from being in 3rd gear in all aspects of our lives.

Thank you again Dave and I hope to attend another one in the future.

Jay Guerin
Leasing Manager
Aurora Toyota
905-727-1948.
jayguerin@rogers.com

Hi Dave,

I attended your presentation on Knocking Down Silos at the Sheraton Parkway in Richmond Hill. I was referred to you by Paul Copcutt and I am glad I listened to him. I can honestly tell you that your presentation gave me inspiration to forge ahead in my roller coaster career transition experience. Your description of moving from 1st gear to 3rd gear was brilliant. I think I’m a better person (driver), by following the disciplines of 3rd gear.
One of the many take aways from your presentation was the discussion of being around people that are smarter, hungrier, and faster than you and being described as a “Good Guy”. As such, I am now exploring opportunities in joining Boards. From my perspective, it provides a sense of purpose, an opportunity to make an impact and obviously a great opportunity to network. Any contacts or information would be appreciated.

I am an Operations Executive with expertise in leading organizations and teams towards operational excellence, progressive manufacturing methods, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, performance management, cost management, team development, quality management, continuous improvement etc. I have experience in the automotive, and building products sectors.

Also, many thanks for the Outreach document that you provided to me.
Some organizations that I have targeted are:

Honeywell Apotex Leeson Canada
Weston Foods Siemens Maple Leaf Foods
Aecon Group HP Gay Lea Foods
General Mills GE Dupont
GSK Holcim

Do you know anyone in these organizations that you could introduce me to?

Dave, on another note, I am also a runner and have done several 5km and 10km events. As much as I would love to run a full or even a half marathon, I just run out of gas at the 10km mark. I would appreciate the opportunity to talk strategy with you.

Thanks so much for an inspirational presentation and I look forward to talking to you soon. If there is anything I can do for you, please do not hesitate to call.

Warm regards,

Domenic

Domenic Paolucci
Operational Excellence
Strategic, Innovative, Collaborative, Passionate


(416) 457-8079
www.linkedin.com/in/domenicpaolucci

Along with myself, several members of my network marketing team attended Dave's seminar on April 27th. We were all blown away by Dave's easy to remember concepts on being a "real human being". My team came away with a new way of approaching people. They learned to take the dollar signs off of people's foreheads and to concentrate on how they can help the people they come come in contact with every day. Living life in third gear is the only way to network, to work and to live. Thank you for your inspiration, Dave!

That's great that your people had that transformation Jeannie. It is way too easy to start thinking "there are no friends, just potential customers." People see through that pretty quickly...

Thought you'd like to hear, I have been fielding tons of positive remarks and similar sentiments already today, as well as being approached by people who were not there who have been hearing their friends and co workers talk about the session. All wish they were there and have inquired about future sessions. WOW Dave the buzz is growing....Thanks! When I arrived at my office today, I was greeted by a large white board reading " RHB " with an arrow pointing to my desk, pretty cool to be considered an RHB, great job Dave !

Ed

Good Morning Ed,

I just wanted to drop you a line to say I thought your friend's presentation was fantastic! I got home last night and i'm sure i talked about the whole presenation with my wife! It was an eye opener in some ways and I liked his examples and real life stories! I have already gone out and purchased Thank You cards in order to fulfil his challenge!

Thank You

Hi Dave here is a real world example witnessed by our CEO... he is bringing our team to your next event!

Dear Dave,

I recently attended your GTA Knocking Down Silos Presentation at The Sheraton Parkway Hotel conference center in Richmond Hill!

Sorry for the delay as my schedule has been full and I will be State side over the next few weeks… Point of interest: Using the skill set I learned at your event; yesterday at the Upper Canada Law Society, I complimented a gentleman on his watch as my business partners were with in ear shot of my discussion including our CEO.



As my partners listened… since the man and his business partner asked me to sit and tell me all about how his wife presented it to him (the story) and asked me about my business. All three of us chatted and I found out that I was sitting with the Chief Counsel for a company that I wanted to Partner with N-Krypt. Their Client base is all Canadian F1000 companies and these gentlemen took the time to hear about our company. The Chief Counsel opened his wallet to give me his business card… To funny again: Since I complimented the partner on the watch the Chief Counsel’s wallet was Brown Leather outside with a UNION JACK in RED WHITE and BLUE Leather inside. I called him Austin Powers (He laughed)… and he had a story as well. (What’s interesting is the gentlemen looked like they could personally settle the debt of a small nation… the kind that most people would never approach since we tend to judge on appearance (KDS reference). The kind of guys (in my head) that were in a league of their own! They were great guys and they appreciated that I recognized the spoils of their hard work and success.



Suffice it to say he is introducing N-Krypt to the Management Team at that company I wanted to Partner with NEXT WEEK! I did not sell him on anything… as he was able to see the business fit … and I anticipate he thought I was a good guy!



You’re honest and down to earth methods work and our CEO at N-Krypt International Corp., was truly inspired by the validation that he witnessed yesterday; that he is bringing his Father to the next KDS presentation GTA.



Please use this reference for any company you are working with in the future, and I will be pleased to take call on your behalf… See you at the next event!



Thank you,



Glenn.



Glenn Richard Davis

Executive Vice President, Sales & RHB

N-Krypt International Corp.

675 Cochrane Drive, East Tower, Suite 600

Markham, ON. Canada. L3R 0B8

Thanks Glenn for your feedback. The fact that your CEO would find this much value really validates the 3rd gear philosophy. I am also pleased by the quality of the people attending and that you were able to open up new business relationships.

As a Human Resources professional with over 15 years of experience, I can say that I have never had the privilege of attending a presentation quite like Dave Howlett's KDS.

HR professionals can be a cynical bunch as far too often we see the worst in people. It is difficult to stay positive throughout our daily interactions but Dave gave us a whole new lens through which to view not only ourselves and but everyone with whom we come in contact. It was transformationa l. Dave's ability for storytelling to reveal an important concept resonated with each and every of the 80+ participants in the room.

We are all still buzzing about how we can be Real Human Beings and live in Third Gear. KDS gave us a whole new language to speak to each other with respect and empathy and I believe it will be infectious. I know that we would all love to have Dave return to give our colleagues the same gift that we received last week. The gift of engagement and trust.

Thank you, Dave.

You make a great point about storytelling; if we think about the great holy books, they all relate key messages through stories. I think our minds retain those wonderful stories long after genral concepts!

I've been to three Knocking Down Silo events over the years, and each time I walk away with something different, depending on where I've been professionally.

In these uncertain economic times, Dave has been a life line, connecting me to many wonderful people, as well as helping me get my business noticed.

Dave, keep up the great work, you truly are an inspirational person, you make me want to be a better person!

Can't wait for June 22!

Pam Shirto - RHB
pamela@blissco.ca

Hi Dave,

Thanks so much for the great talk! Here's my belated comments:

You've definitely given the audience a bang for their buck. But I wonder sometimes if it's too much information that's spread over a wide range of topics that sometimes they leave feeling a bit overwhelmed. But I guess that's necessary if they need the behaviour-chang ing kick in the arse.

A thought - perhaps you might want to consider saving the last 2 minutes to take a breath, a pause, and go over what was discussed during the 2 hours - what is reputation, what is the golden standard of reputation, what does reputation have to do with networking, finding a job, and reaching those life goals, how you cannot call yourself a 'good guy', what makes up the elements of a good guy, and how to put this all into practise (watch your weekend challenges, keeping your word, and 'the secret' (thank you cards)).

Wow, it is a lot in 2 hours!

here's a fun clip for you....."Watch your weekend challenges...v2.0"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0xgjUhEG3U

I love this sitcom. Yes, I know, I'm a geek. :)

Susanna

After 6 yrs in Management I am back in sales and Dave has help me "Think of the Box and I am now on the a path of doing what I wanted in my life combing a passion for wine industry and insurance business. If anyone know contacts in the wine importing business I will like to see what they challenges are so I can match insurance to they business

Jeff Hearn CAIB RHB - Adriatic Insurance

I attended the RHB seminar not really knowing what to expect outside of the regular old networking meetings I have always attended. Pleasantly surprised, I found a venue where people genuinely supported each other's efforts, and a speaker who wasn't only refreshingly optimistic, but was hilarious too! After the event, a friend asked me what I would rate it out of 10 - I said, 8. I rated the event an 8 because I believe this kind of seminar comes at just the right time - people need to laugh more; they need to think more optimistically; and we all need to support each other a lot more. These were my take-aways and as Dave commented, (I will paraphrase...), "it's easy to be positive when times are good, but people will remember you most for how you were in the bad times". Sage advice - Thanks Dave!

Remy Piazza

Hi Dave
After attending for the second time, I now understand why people come to your session more than once. I thought of myself as a "pay forward" person even before attending your first session. The message was not new. It was effective! Each time I attend, I become more aware of the subtle ways in which I still build silos, even though every fibre in my body doesn't "intend" for that to happen. I loved your comment about "never having met a boring person...you just haven't asked the right questions". So true that is. I found your "intent" vs "impact" framework of thinking when someone makes you angry, is clear and memorable. Gotta love alliteration! Thank you for your dedication to get your message out there. It's so energizing to align with other like-minded people who want to make a difference.
Warm regards,
Michelle Romanica

"In individuality, there is power. But in unity, there is strength"

I attended the S2B conference at London Convention Centre where Dave interactively shared his knowledge and experience with me and provided relevant and useful information. The keynote speech married his insights and expertise with my area of interest. Even after the informative and entertaining speech he delivered, I found him with the same level of enthusiasm as I had the opportunity to talk to him in person. Dave was very helping and offered good advice and suggestions.

I also attended the S2B conference at London Convention Centre. Being a student and facing the post graduation job search next year, I found it very beneficial. Sometimes "silo busting" the corporate culture is the hardest part of chasing down the job you love. I've always had the qualities of a RHB and a good guy, but I was missing the pitch/networking icebreakers. Just be careful with the title of the keynote in rural areas of Ontario, some farmers might get the wrong idea! Thanks Dave, going to get a card in the mail shortly.

Hi Dave,

Seriously spraining my left leg in the fall left me in a physical and emotional place that I don’t ever remember being in before. In the last couple of weeks I have read my notes from the “Knocking Down Silos” event I attended last April, many times. Your words have given me the motivation to begin weight training again. Becoming physically stronger is giving me the confidence to move forward with my life and my business.

You have popped me out of 1st gear and into 2nd. 3rd gear is just around the corner!!

Thank you for helping me to get back on track.

Take care,

Ana
Ana Loureiro, B.Ed.
Toronto Destination Services Inc.
(C)416-919-2004
aloureiro@torontodestinat ionservices.ca
www.torontodestinat ionservices.ca

Hi Dave!

What a great talk you gave at Brock University on January 27. This was my first "Knocking down silos" event and I thoroughly enjoyed it. You are an excellent speaker! Not only have you found a way to distill the gist of the RHB philosophy into an easy to remember comparison but you also have a knack for selecting very effective & memorable examples. This while keeping everyone engaged through laughter and active participation!
I continued to mull over your comments for several days after the presentation, finding some interesting links to my research. One of the many aspects of the philosophy I find quite appealing is that in addition to being a positive way of living/viewing the world, it also helps to break down stereotypes and popular (mis)conceptions about others.
Thank you for sharing your perspective. My sense is that the RHB philosophy and your presentation would benefit pretty much everyone. It gives us a bit of time to examine our own way of being/living/working and assess whether we are where and/or who we want to be ... that is something we don't necessarily have the opportunity to do very often and yet what a difference it can make!

Hi Dave,

The funniest thing about this morning was that I discovered two people who use the same optometrist as I do (Blink! in Yaletown - they're great) just because we complimented each other on our glasses! There were other commonalities, but I would never have discovered them without doing the exercises. It made me want to meet everyone in the room and I wished we had more time to talk with more people.

My company works in personal image development (appearance, behaviour and communication), and though I enjoyed everything I heard today, I really liked the 'real human being' part of your message. I help people align their real inside self with their outside presence and always stress that any change has to be authentic if you really want to connect, grow and feel better. I notice that many of the people I work with are coming from that 3rd gear, intrinsic reward place - a compliment or date or new job is nice, but that's not why they work with me. They do it for themselves. I'm just happy to be invited to be part of their journey. I'll be telling them about your talk, too and inviting them along next time because I'm sure you will make me look good!

Thanks so much for the inspiration.

Cheers,

Katherine

ICU Image Consulting
Vancouver, BC
katherine@icuimage.com
604-436-4769

Hi Dave,
It has been awhile since I attended the Knocking Down Silos at Brock last year. But I can still remember your wonderful speech. It was full of sense of humor and really impressive when you introduced the 3rd gear philosophy. And I really had fun to move around during the event to get to know new friends and make sincere complement on them.

After the event, I shared the 3rd gear philosophy with my professors and classmates and decide to try to be a 3rd gear person, a real human being. I feel so sorry that I haven’t sent you the thank you card. You said that after every speech, you could get less than 20% of people sending you the thank you card and I’m one of the lazy people. I have to apologize to you about that, and at that point, I was either the 1 gear or the 2 gear.

A few months later, a roommate and classmate issue bothered me (I have a friend, she is one of my classmates and we flied to here and rent a house together. Everything went well for a few weeks but then I found she was so lazy when we moved to the new house, we cleaned the bathroom together but she never cleaned the toilet. And as the new term get started, we are in the same class, I found she is so clever and I regarded her as my competitor, but I always discussed problems with her and told her my understanding toward topics of our lectures. But when we got the results from midterm exams, we have almost the same marks. However, I think it's unfair since it took me a long to practice and summarized my understanding and she just got them directly. So I planned to not tell her about that afterwards and I got higher marks in the final exams. But I found guilty about that. We will compete together during the summer for the summer Co-op position. I think if we have the same high marks, it won't be my competitive advantage any more. Additionally, I took some volunteer activities and joined some student clubs and became a tutor to get involved in the community, but I haven't told her about that. But as long as I think about the 3 gears, I always feel guilty about that and I don't know what to do. It's really hard for a international student to find a co-op position and I just want to be more outstanding than others to get more chance. But in the other side, I feel that I'm a bad person not telling her about what I have done. I really have no idea how to deal with it. I regard myself as a 2gear but I think if I become the 3 gear, I will have another strong competitor.) I was kind of in a tough situation, that I want to be the 3rd gear and in the same time, don’t want to have another strong competitor around me. I thought about for long and just can’t figure out how to deal with it. At that time, you came across to my mind. I thought why not take a shot, so I emailed you and told my story. I haven’t expected that you would ever replied me coz you such a busy man. Surprisingly, you replied to me, posted it on your Facebook and within one day I got almost lots of advices from almost 20 RHBs in RHB Nation. Actually, it really helped me a lot.

Additionally, we talked about the Chinese philosophies, cultural norms, and human behavior in different countries. I really enjoyed a lot chatting with you and you always shared your ideas with me. The thing I really appreciated is that you’ve never treat me like an international student, but a RHB.

You offered me voluntarily that you could introduce to someone I was interested in your network. And the other day, you introduced Vivien to me; another RHB who has the same cultural background and work in the finance industry that I’m interested in. You even showed me her picture and gave me some tips to connect with her.

When I told you that I was going to have a telephone interview with Maple Leaf Foods, you asked me to find people working for the company through your network and offered me lots of great suggestions about how to prepare for it and you even listed a few questions that I can ask to the HR.

All of this, I can’t express my feelings in words. “Thank you so much” is far not enough! You are always that considerate and try to think on my side and parent by example and try your best to help me out. You just gave me a great lecture about how to communicate with people and connect with people which is better than any networking skill lectures I've ever had.



I think attending the Knocking Down Silos, listening Dave’s speech is the best choice I’ve ever made. As an international student, it’s really hard to get used to a new environment and new culture. Being a RHB, is a great start that in the RHB Nations, we are all regard as RHBs. We develop our network, make friends, and support and help each other sharing our thoughts and trying our best to be the 3rd gear.

Best Regards,

Rachel Song