Courage comes in many forms

Some have argued that courage should include overcoming a fear, while others have suggested that fear may or may not be present in the courageous act. Daniel Putnam in his book, “Psychological Courage” from 2004 stated that "courage involves deliberate choice in the face of painful or fearful circumstances for the sake of a worthy goal."

The 6 types of courage

  1. Physical Courage
    To keep going with balance, resilience, and awareness.

  2. Social Courage
    To be yourself unapologetically.

  3. Moral Courage
    Doing the right thing even when it’s uncomfortable or unpopular.

  4. Emotional Courage
    Feeling all your emotions both positive and negative without guilt or attachment.

  5. Intellectual Courage
    To learn, unlearn and relearn with an open and flexible mind.

  6. Spiritual Courage
    Living with purpose and meaning through a heart centered approach towards all life and oneself.

Throughout my life people with guts have been solving problems, so I think courage is the choice and willingness to confront uncertainty, intimidation, danger, and pain.

Motivational Monday

David Harold Fink (1894 -1968) was an outstanding psychiatrist and medical doctor, and he devised a 30-day programme that will help you realise success. By paying the price to become the person you’ve always wanted to become, you will be in that wonderful minority who lead calm, cheerful and successful lives.

Here are the 6-steps recommended by David Harold Fink:
1.     Set yourself a definite goal.
2.     Stop the negative self-talk.
3.     Stop thinking about all the reasons why you cannot be successful, and instead think of all the reasons why you can.
4.     Trace your attitudes back through your childhood and try to discover where you first got the idea that you couldn’t be a success if that’s the way you’ve been thinking.
5.     Change the image you have of yourself by writing out a description of the person you would like to be.
6.     Act the part of the successful person you have decided to become.

Repeat, and repeat it over and over again. Each time it will become more a part of you until you will wonder how you could have ever lived any other way.

Humans are amazing

I don’t think that lazy people exist, laziness can be caused by a lack of knowledge to complete the task at hand, procrastination, feeling too comfortable to have the job done, and lack of motivation to get started. A man who is self-reliant, positive, and optimistic usually undertakes his work with assurance of success and this draws to himself the creative powers of the universe. It’s a fact that the person who thinks with positive self-reliance and optimism does magnetise his condition and this releases power to attain a goal. Over and over again, we have seen what the mind profoundly expects, it tends to receive. Here, I define success as something that helps others and at the same time makes you feel happy as you are working at it.

You can lead without a title

Leadership is no longer about your position, it’s more about your passion for excellence and making a difference. It’s the execution that takes focus, effort, discipline and patience. In business, if you take care of the relationship the money will follow. If you obsess about giving customers 10 times the value they expect, they will beat a path to your door. That’s what this rule you mention is all about; remembering to wow customers, and teammates, every time you have the privilege to encounter them.

“To have the results that very few have, we must be willing to start doing the things that very few are willing to do.”
— Robin Sharma

An important subject for leaders to study is rationality, I mean being able to correctly conclude a rational, sensible course based on information. As a leader it’s also important to let everybody around you be helpful, but then put that through your own mental computer and make sure what you do is the product of what you’ve concluded based on all the input. I think developing rationality based on all the input is a true sense of leadership.

Courage is a choice

No matter the risk or failures, keep going and never give up, if you never give you must succeed. I think the first part of courage is the courage to start, to face failure and rejection with the great possibility that it will not work out and you will feel embarrassed and upset. And the second part of courage is persistence, it’s the power to keep going, to keep pushing and driving yourself.

Don’t be afraid to disrupt the status quo, and to me, status quo means mediocrity and lack of ingenuity. We are all one action or one decision away from creating a better future and changing an outcome for ourselves. Contact me via e-mail when you’ve muscled up the courage to stand for something bigger than yourself and mean it.

Being aware and open to change

Your brain tells you that you are safe with people who look, think and act similar, this is one of our many and various unconscious biases. These learned stereotypes are very powerful as they are so deeply ingrained into our persona, for example, the biases we all hold around race, religion, gender, power, and privilege structures. Playing on our unconscious biases and fears is the bread and butter of both political and marketing campaigns. In order to ‘judge’ without undue fear, you need to look at your own biases and the fears that sit under them. I think we can overcome our unconscious biases by becoming aware and being open to change.

“Life is too short to worry about stupid things. Have fun. Fall in love. Regret nothing and do not let people bring you down. Study, think, create and grow. Teach yourself and teach others.”
— Professor Richard Feynman

Yesterday morning, I asked a woman if she needed help in carrying her pram (a four-wheeled baby carriage) down the stairs – I have to admit that I would not have asked a man if he were in the same position. I know that my actions were not a problem, they were courteous and friendly but underneath I may have unexamined bias about the difference in roles and capabilities of men and women. Contact me via e-mail and let me know how you deal with your implicit biases.

Life is what you make it

How do I become a better version of myself on a daily basis?

Life isn’t fair, and if you think that it is fair then you are in for a rude awakening. Life is a competition and those who are willing to make the supreme sacrifice often win. Some people get off to a difficult start and have incredible obstacles to overcome. I’m hard on myself, trying on a daily basis to become a better version of myself. I am constantly pushing myself to become a better human being and when I am in front of my clients, they can feel that energy. I think everyone is driven by a selfish drive of reputation and the ones who are open to this understanding have a unique opportunity. When working in sales, you can command a nice compensation package because it’s nothing to do with your education and everything to do with your communication skills.

The why behind the why

Most salespeople are product pushers, I think you have to stop acting like a seller and start thinking like a buyer. In other words, spend more time discovering their problem and then use this knowledge to solve their problem. The ability to uncover problems that the buyer already has becomes much easier when you detach yourself from the outcome. All salespersons can find out the buyers’ problems, but only the best salespersons can find out their why. And only the greatest salespeople can find out what’s behind their why. It doesn’t matter what industry; you have to learn the right questions to uncovering what’s behind the buyer’s why.
TIP: Ask questions slowly, as it will give the buyer time to be a little more reflective in their answers.

Be prepared

What can you do to prepare yourself for success?
It depends on how you define success. If you are talking about a prestigious titles, huge salaries and big houses then I’m not the right person to ask. On the other hand, if you are speaking about developing skills,influence, and personality then here I am.

One should always well prepared before serving in our professional and personal lives. The decisions I have made in my preparation time are the decisions that will last for the entirety of my lifetime. I think the key to speaking well and excellent communication is preparation, so I choose to be well equipped with language, temperament, and influence in order to be valuable. I have studied people from different ages who have different opinions, personalities, and temperaments. I study life with all of its twists and turns and one of the most valuable skills I’ve learned is organising and getting people to work together, preparing for those steps and stages is all part of life.

Being alert for the inevitable

Most of what Peter Drucker mentioned in his book, “Managing For The Future” is more of common sense, at least from today’s perspective. Practicing them consistently is difficult. I think the leaders first task is to be the trumpet that sounds a clear sound. Here are a few excerpts from the book that I particularly enjoyed:

“And nothing is noticed more quickly – and considered more significant – than a discrepancy between what executives preach and what they expect their associates to practice.”
— Peter Drucker
“The Japanese recognize that there are really only two demands of leadership. ONE is to accept that rank does not confer privileges; it entails responsibilities. The OTHER is to acknowledge that leaders in an organization need to impose on themselves that congruence between deeds and words, between behavior and professed beliefs and values, that we call ‘personal integrity’.”
— Peter Drucker

Knowing the scenario

I came across a book from Peter Drucker titled “Managing For The Future” which was first published in 1992. The power of great writing is that it is timeless. I read this old book and still enjoyed reading it because ideas presented in the book (specially on Leadership) are still very relevant today. The shape of corporate organisations has changed between 1992 and now. The nature of work has changed drastically too – we are out of factory model and into the knowledge oriented one, but the core principles of leadership have not changed. I think awareness, sensitivity and understanding are essential leadership skills required to lead in the 2020’s.

“Essence of leadership is not ‘leadership qualities’ or ‘charisma’. The essence of leadership is ‘performance’.”
— Peter Drucker

It's much deeper than that

In sales, the person who has the solutions has the power. And what we ask is infinitely more powerful than what we say in sales situations, as salespersons are usually placed on the low trust end of the scale. When you want to dig in and get to know the buyer, it’s a good strategy to use questions to get them talking. I think the magic always happens when the other person is talking and the secret to unlocking other people is to be interested in them and not your verbal vomit.

Our job as sales professionals is to go out and create some curiosity and interest without doing dumb things like spamming buyers. Life-long learners will remain curious and they never settle on thinking that they know it all – and that’s what sets them apart. As sales professionals we need to start conversations and get business meetings. Invest in yourself, take what you have right now and make the best of it. Contact me via e-mail to book a 1:1 session in October.

Become a better listener

Active listening is different from hearing or even paying attention, hearing is something we do without thinking and without consciously trying to. I think a deeper level is when we listen for context, so here are some tips on how to improve your listening skills:

1. Talk less
2. Do not interrupt
3. Maintain direct eye contact
4. Put your phone down
5. Listen with your eyes and look for the unsaid
6. Remain interested
7. And if you are waiting for a pause, so that you can speak, then you're not actively listening

Generosity is a boomerang

Life gets so much better when you expect less as I think time generosity is grounded in empathy and emotional labour. In my world, generosity does not mean free; generosity does not mean lowering the price of what you do or giving it away. Generosity means showing up with emotional labour to do difficult work that some people think you might not need to do. This means that when someone is truly generous, they are bringing extra effort into something that may not work.

 

According to research from scientists at CalTech and Harvard who tried to figure out why giving feels harder for some than for others, and they found that the decision to give or take simply comes down to how much importance you attach to your interests versus someone else’s. Therefore, if you’re the type of person who considers other people’s needs as much as your own, self-sacrificing tends to be automatic. On the other hand, if you typically place more value on yourself, then giving feels more onerous.

Athletes don’t crack under pressure

Working in sales means that you are speaking to people every single day and just like in sports not everyone is going to like you. I think sales is a great career for sportspersons and competitive minded individuals who are continuously looking to grow themselves. Sportspersons know how to work together as a team, we know how to take coaching, we know how to communicate, we know how to prepare, we know how to lose and bounce back from that loss and have another win. You may not get it all these things if you haven’t played elite sports. Once you have played elite sports then you understand how to get through challenging moments and I’m convinced that you have gained that resilience and toughness to make it through tough times.

Worrying is a waste of life

There will always be things that you wish you could tell your younger self. It’s important to note that you don’t have to learn all of the lessons on your own. Don’t be a student of the school of hard knocks, ask for help and seek experienced insights early and often. Here are some bits of advice to my younger self.

Don't be impressed by:
1. Money
2. Job titles
3. Affiliations or network size
4. Years of experience
5. Appearances
6. Imitators
7. Big words

Be impressed by:
1. Kindness
2. Trustworthiness
3. Genuine generosity
4. Humility
5. Integrity
6. Tireless educators
7. Shared optimism

We can do it better

I do not define marketing as hype, advertising, promotion, scamming with selfish, narcissistic short-term thinking. Marketing is telling true stories that spread stories that change people’s opinion or their actions. One key element is that there is a community of people that care about what you are doing and want to go where you are going. Essentially every successful community that I can think of needs people from a diverse background, experience, and a point of view. I think that if the people in your community are moving in the same direction, then everything is going to be alright.

 

Luck is all about the amount of work, preparation, and time you put into your craft. As a marketing professional, the more we can connect those people and amplify them, the more likely it will be that our marketing will succeed. When we are willing to take responsibility for the work we are doing, then we are bringing something to the world. If you do it better, it will work better…
Contact me via e-mail for marketing workshops.

A good fit

I’m always trying to identify how I can be of service to others. I’ve had mentors in my career, and I’ve also learned from being in the trenches for many years. When choosing a mentor you should ask yourself whether you admire this person for his or her achievements and industry experience. I think your mentor should ideally be someone who shares your professional outlook and perhaps has even accomplished the goals you hope to achieve. I’m a student of the selling game and am constantly looking at best practices and at people who have positive influences both on people and revenue. Therefore, I think that it’s really important to pick your mentor carefully as they have to spend time with you as well.

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What do you know about your buyers?

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Psychometrics is a scientific discipline concerned with the construction of assessment tools. Being able to identify the psychometrics of B2B buyers - for example, their needs, challenges, and motivations - will help you effectively tailor marketing messages and sales strategy for what your buyers are looking for, and ultimately winning them over in the sales process. Creating buyer personas gives you an inside look into your target audience’s buying decision process, and what they hope to achieve. This will save time and overhead by allowing you to create the most efficient and concentrated marketing strategy based on your most profitable targets and how they act and behave. Contact me via e-mail for sales and marketing workshops.

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Learning by doing

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Why is experience in life considered to be the best teacher?
I think experience is one of the best teachers because when you do something you are actually involved in the whole process. And this helps you understand your behaviour and reaction towards a given situation. Learning by doing and teaching by experience can produce higher learning results and have a more lasting effect. Too many people in sales get a little bit of success and get carried away thinking they know it all, and don’t need to practice, study, plan, or review because they think they are already great. Sometimes that’s just the ego, but I think it’s imperative to remain humble. Do you think that happens in any other profession, sport, or activity?

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
— Aristotle