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To Sell Is Human: Don’t Burn A Gatekeeper

Making a Connection with To Sell is Human: The Burning of a Gatekeeper

I hung up on Ken (name changed for privacy) for the last time.  At 3 am I finally decided that we weren’t going to get paid for the show my band just played.  Ken was a promoter for a good venue in Haleiwa on the North Shore of Oahu.  He had caught our set a few weeks prior and made us a good offer to play a future show.  He said he’d pay us prior to our performance and guaranteed us a decent amount – that’s uncommon.  Before the night was over, Ken had disappeared from the venue where he was not only a promoter but a regular waiter.  During my first phone call with Ken, when I started to wonder where he had gone, he said he had to go and get extra money from his house because he came up short with what he had promised...

December 29, 2012 To Sell Is Human No comments
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To Sell Is Human: It’s Not About What You Know, It’s About Who You Are

Peddling our wares in Santa Monica, California because to Sell is Human.

Peddling our wares on the streets of Santa Monica, California

I realize now that I have worked in “sales” during many different parts of my life.  I write it with quotes because I haven’t been a traditional salesman in the sense of, “I have a product and I want to sell it to you for this much.”  But like Dan Pink says in his book To Sell Is Human, I have been in the business of moving others to action.  I’ve been a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Argentina; I’ve been a door-to-door salesman for Dish Network; and for the majority of my life I’ve tried to “sell” my music and myself as an entertainer.  So, I’m familiar with trying to get someone to believe in you and buy what you’re selling...

December 28, 2012 To Sell Is Human 2 comments
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Good to Great #6: Technology Accelerators

The team supporting Jim Collins’ research for his book Good to Great debated whether or not a chapter needed to be dedicated to the use of technology by great companies – whether technology is a principle that took companies from good to great.  The group didn’t feel they had sufficient evidence to argue that  technology in and of itself took an organization from good to great.  However, they did believe the use of technology had a significant impact on these organizations and so they decided the principle deserved representation.

What they found is that great companies leveraged technology to increase momentum; it is not the way they created their momentum.  These companies think differently about technology and technological change...

November 10, 2012 Books, Good to Great 3 comments
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Good to Great #5: A Culture of Discipline

good to greatJim Collins says in his book Good to Great that great organizations maintain a culture of discipline.   This culture consists of self-disciplined people who take disciplined action consistent with their specific hedgehog concept (see earlier post about a hedgehog concept).  Self-mastery frees you to focus on supporting others – you’re not busy screwing up and putting yourself back together.  These type of people do not need to be taught fundamental concepts like honesty, integrity, or hard work – they bring it to the table.  A culture of discipline a perfect example of having the right people on the bus.  A culture of discipline is at the heart of the previous Good to Great principle First Who, Then What where I wrote about the need to focus more on a person’s character than their re...

October 24, 2012 Books, Good to Great No comments
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dying coals

Blowing On Dying Coals

After many life changing events, to include the passing of my father, the birth of a child, and moving my family not only across the Pacific Ocean but across the United States, I’ve remembered this blog.  Like a fire that has some dying coals still glowing, I feel like breathing some life back into this project.

dying coals

Dying coals

I’ve spent a good part of the past year or more studying leadership and becoming familiar with a range of principles I’ve found extremely interesting and valuable.  Next few posts will be about principles I’ve found valuable in Jim Collins’ book Good to Great and making the connections between those principles and other aspects of life.


August 8, 2012 Inspiration, Uncategorized 2 comments
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