by Colleen McCarty, VP Talent & Organization Development
Can we get away from the
Olympics? No, not sure we even want to
in these few exciting weeks…
Ann Killion of the Mercury
News wrote an article about Phelps’ amazing medal run and ended it with a quote
from Phelps:
"My mom and I were joking," Phelps said. "My middle
school English teacher said I'd never be successful."
Killian went on
to say
“that teacher probably won't be getting an autographed photo of
Phelps, with eight gold medals hanging around his neck.”
But that got me
wondering how many of us succeed due to nurturing and positive
encouragement? And, conversely, how many
of us succeed because someone said we wouldn’t?
For those of us
whose success is based on obstinacy, is that a key to being a better Sales
Person? There are many traits touted for
success in Sales: assertiveness, self-motivating,
ethical, sociable, persuasive, knowledgeable are just a few. I certainly would not argue with any of
these. But one I don’t see on the lists
is “contrariness.” Is the word No
just the starting line of our race?
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