Written for EO by David Disiere, founder and CEO of QEO Insurance Group.

Mark Zuckerberg holds a degree from Harvard, yet he credits his business acumen to his side projects. He’s touting what science has proven: What happens in your off time can have a direct correlation to your professional performance.

My hobby is car collecting. I track down vintage, historically relevant European and mid-century automobiles. Although that might seem as far away from heading an insurance agency as Pluto is from the sun, it’s not. In fact, being a collector has taught me negotiating skills that I might not have otherwise learned in my day job.

You don’t simply wake up in the morning, decide to purchase a historic car, and have it in your driveway by the evening. It took 15 years for me to fill out and refine my collection, which now includes the 1962 Lincoln Continental “Bubbletop” limousine used by President John F. Kennedy and an award-winning 1948 Delahaye 135 M Faget-Varnet Cabriolet. (more…)