Nick HutchisonFounder and CEO, BookThinkers

Les Brown helped inspire Anton Gunn when he was entering the workforce after college 📚

20 Nov 2023 · 1 min

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In this interview excerpt, Anton Gunn recounts his transition from a college football player at the University of South Carolina to his first post‑graduation job. He left the football team early, graduated in three and a half years, and spent 18 months job‑searching with a résumé that only listed his football experience and his role as president of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. This lack of conventional work experience left employers skeptical, leading Gunn to doubt himself despite knowing he was capable. The turning point came when he met motivational speaker Les Brown, whose encouragement helped him shift his mindset and move forward in his career search.

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Can you also tell us a little bit about the story of how you went from, you know, football player to your first job?
You know, my football experience was so bad in college that I got my degree in 3 and a half years and I quit my football team. I never played my senior year, but it was shortsighted for me to walk away without a plan and a strategy because for 18 months after I finished playing college football and got my degree, I couldn't find a job. They would look at my resume and say, oh, you look good, you sound good. but you don't have any work experience. The only thing on your resume is that you played football at the University of South Carolina and that you were the president of your college fraternity, which is Kappa Alpha Psi. And so I didn't have much on my resume. And so I couldn't find a job. And I used to think something was wrong with me. Like, I knew I was smart. I knew I was capable. But the opportunities weren't breaking for me. And, you know, there were some things that pulled me out. And it actually started with a great motivational speaker, a guy by the name of Les Brown, who I got a chance to meet and tell him a little bit about what