All of us should have on our tombstone, "they were a salesman!"

Unless the man who works  is able to "sell" himself and his ideas, unless he has the power to convince others of the soundness of his convictions, he can never achieve his goal.  He may have the best ideas in the world, he may have plans which would revolutionize entire industries. But unless he can persuade others that his ideas are good, he will never get the chance to put them into effect.  Stripped of non-essentials, all activity is a sales battle. And everyone in business or in service must be a salesman.  "Robert E M Cowie"

For years I have been told I must be a great salesman.  Yet for the past 22 years I been the President and CEO of several different companies.  For many years when I was told this,  I bristled at the comment, because I thought it was not the perception I was trying to achieve as the CEO of the company.

Then I came across this quote and it refocused my understanding of selling.  We are all sales people. The owner of the flower shop, attorneys, home builders, bankers, and yes even police and elected officials.  We are all selling something each and every day of our lives.

Sadly, there are people you interact with everyday with great ideas and plans, but cannot "sell" them to anyone else.  Imagine the impact if those "unsold" ideas could be presented and accepted into practice.

Those who understand the fact that no matter what the profession, no matter what the situation, they are a salesman generally will be those on the side of victory in life.

Greatness is only achieved by those who can convince others that their ideas, their products, their cases and their laws can make a difference.  Our goal each day should be to sell something, at the very least ourselves. So go out today and sell something.

The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an eggs-and- ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' the pig was 'committed'.

Do you want to be involved or committed to the project.  Every Rock pusher starts in this state at the bottom of a very steep hill with a vision and then has one final question:

Am I committed to this Rock and this Hill?

You cannot be lukewarm (involved) and be committed at the same time or you will surely fail.  There's a difference between lukewarmness and commitment. When you're lukewarm in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.”

Too many of us today have been trained since birth to “hedge” our bets in all areas of our lives. The result is a bunch lukewarm Americans not really committed to anything, but lukewarm about everything. Because if we are lukewarm it appears that we can never fail at anything.

When Cortez landed in Mexico he was committed, but he carried along with him a bunch of lukewarm sailors.  Things got tough and they wanted to return home.  Cortez knew what he had to do, he burned the ships so there was no turning back, he was not lukewarm.

Commitment means there is no turning back. The uncommitted move on to other things when the going gets tough. Examine where you are on the hill of life with your square rocks, are you simply involved like the chicken or committed like the pig?

Creating a great organization consists of assembling a team to respond like thoroughbreds. When you cluck to a thoroughbred, he give you all the speed and strength of heart and sinew he has in him. When you cluck to a jackass, he kicks.

Greatness is achieved by training a team to respond to your leadership.  As this example suggests.  Brevity is essential. It takes a lot of paitence and hard work to establish a "communication language" with your team, but once its in place it creates a powerful stream of momentum.  

You will find that you no longer have to communicate with a lot of words, sometimes its a gesture or a glance and your team can spring into action.  

However, just like this example there are some who will never understand the language by which you lead.  So today, evaluate your team. Have you create an organization of throughbreds who can "kick in" with great ease, or are you dealing with a team of "jackasses" who just kick everytime you try to lead.