10.15.22 — Will Furrer Interview Reflection
Will’s Advice to Me:
I asked Will about how I should navigate finding my calling. His response was, “you don’t know what you’re good at until you’ve done a few things.” This was challenging for me to hear because the idea of diving head first into ambiguity is a challenging one for me. This is in part because of the culture in today’s public education system that says that you need to have it all figured out before you start. But the journey is found in trying new things, building up a portfolio of experiences, and seeing what sticks.
Being in sales is one thing, but it’s better to be a “sales AND ___”. Will told me that I shouldn’t just go to work and “do a job” only. In fact, my “job” should be to meet as many people as I can, learn everything possible, and assemble my gifts to create something new.
Just from observing me in our short conversation that we had, Will told me that he sees that one of my gifts is my personability. I should leverage this when people come to me by asking them what they’re doing and simply sit and learn. Good thing I love coffee, because I have a feeling that I’ll be taking a lot of people out to coffee over the next couple years of my life.
Will’s final bit of advice and encouragement to me was this: “Do not label yourself a sales person, don’t let that become your truth”. Just find a job, be curious, and see where the road takes you.
Will’s Reflection on His Life & Career:
When I asked Will about what the progression of his life/career was and if he was able to find “peace” in each decision he made, he told me that it was difficult to find peace early on because his life was so erratic. Having spent most of his life perfecting his craft as a football player, Will went to play for a number of years in the Chicago Bears organization right out of school. He told me that he faced many failures just like everyone else, but the difference between his failures and others was that his were documented publicly for everyone to see. This added a large amount of pressure and stress to his life at the beginning of his career. But the thing that was impressive about Will and his career in the NFL was that when asked, he would make jokes about his failures. Rather than being this untouchable “movie star”, he was charismatic and approachable, which would help him greatly throughout his career.
Upon leaving the NFL, Will told me that he had zero skills whatsoever as he went to begin his professional career in the business world. No one wanted to hire a “dumb jock”, so he started out at the bottom of the ladder. Will was not the most talented in a room, but he was the hardest working person there. That being said, he worked hard to build up a portfolio of skills that would make him even more marketable each year in the business world. Will achieved this by sitting down with colleagues in different functions within whatever company he worked at. He strived to understand how his role impacted and was impacted by the jobs of product/design, marketing, sales, finance, operations, all the way up to upper-level management. Since he constantly built up his business acumen in these interactions and sought after a holistic knowledge of each business, the result was a new-found collection of skills that one person typically didn’t possess. This made him a “unicorn”, not because he knew one thing better than anyone else, but because he knew everything. As his career progressed, he would move up in an organization, the opportunity would “implode”, and he would repeat the process from square one at a new opportunity. This rhythm he found himself in would only further enrich him and his capabilities and ultimately prepare him for the role he would take later at Q2.
Will told me that there wasn’t a constant peace from God surrounding every decision he made, but there were particular moments where God would speak clearly over the course of his life. He said much of his career climb was driven by the knowledge of his special gifts that he possessed. Wanting to be a good steward of them, he feared wasting all that he had been given. “I was given too many resources,” he told me. At this point in his life, he is seeking the Lord’s guidance in how to contribute them to the Kingdom.
The idea of a “treadmill” was a constant motif over the course of our conversation. In everything he did, Will ran at a pace that was unmatched by anyone else. He had a vision for what the traditional family and traditional successful career were, and so he ran on this treadmill faster and faster to get to these goals. But with every stride, Will told me that he realized that he couldn’t succeed enough work-wise to get to his ideal vision. And so, in recent years, Will has taken steps to get of the treadmill. He realized that his intensity made people uncomfortable and he needed to find a way to “turn it off”. The answer? “Focus on the good and focus on other people.”
Currently, Will is waging a war with the enemy that tells him that he is not enough. Daily, he consumes the Word, sits in prayer and worship, and serves others with the gifts that he has been blessed with. When the accusations from the voice in his head gets louder, he reminds himself of the truth today. He was bought with a price by the King of the universe, who looks upon him with delight. He is currently in the midst of a construction project at his house so that he can bless his local church and his children with his space. He is taking a step back from his career and focusing on pouring out and investing into the younger generations. He is passionate about serving young college athletes who find themselves in the same position he found himself after he left the NFL.
The man I was blessed with the opportunity to meet with had lived quite the life of adversity. But in our conversation, I was fortunate enough to be the recipient of the God-fearing person that each hardship, broken relationship, and trial that he persevered made. The Lord has done an incredible work in the life of Will Furrer to turn him into the person he has become today, and is currently shaping him to continue to have an ever-increasing eternal impact. I admired how he embraced his own brokenness and was able to be vulnerable with me, a complete stranger. There was no façade. Will has an incredible story of triumph that others need to hear. And the best part is that this story is just beginning.
A Personal Note to Will:
Will, I don’t have words adequate enough to convey the gratitude I have for you and your time you freely gave me. Our breakfast together was incredibly impactful on me. I hope that this reflection from our time together can even show you a fraction of the influence your words had on me. I look forward to growing this relationship in the future. I will forever be in your corner and am praying constantly for healing from the past couple years and that you would continually fall more and more in love with Jesus each day. Thank you for being the person you are (and for the great Rudy’s breakfast tacos).
- Gray Beasley