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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Snakes and Ladders…and Entitlement

by Rick Baker
On Sep 7, 2010
Snakes and Ladders.
 
That’s the name of a board game many of us were introduced to when we were children.
 
It is a game that demands no skill.
 
The outcome of the game is caused only by the kind or cruel roll of dice.
 
With Snakes & Ladders everything rests on chance.
 
When the dice deliver luck we players of the game quickly leap up ladders and experience the joy of getting closer to our goal. When the dice bring no luck we players slide down the snakes and face the annoyance of starting over to recover the ground lost.
 
Even young children lose interest in this pure-luck game soon enough.
 
In real life ladders are meant to be climbed…not leaped. In real life there's no toss of the dice to take you up ladders in leaps and bounds. Similarly, there's no toss of the dice to take you down the slippery-slopes.
 
Regardless of how we define success and failure, they don't happen as consequences of pure luck*.
 
We learn this early.
 
So, most children soon tire of the Snakes and Ladders game and very few adults play it.
 
Most people lose interest when they face only chance...most people lose interest when they face no challenge beyond that contained in chance.
 
Put another way, most people feel a need to have influence on outcomes.
 
When I hear people complain about their children exhibiting an attitude of entitlement I wonder what they use as the measuring stick. And I think about that Snakes & Ladders game.
 
Footnotes
  1. Snakes & Ladders http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_and_ladders
  2. Regardless of how we define success and failure, they don't happen as consequences of pure luck*. This comment is intended to apply to people who have the good fortune – the good luck – to be born in places like Canada, where the privilege of opportunity is pretty much unlimited.

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Beyond Business

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Sales Tweet #37

by Rick Baker
On Sep 7, 2010
Sales Tweet #37 Record your next 'please-call-me-back' message. Does the recording 'blow you away'? (It better)
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
If less than 50% of your voice-mail messages get returned when you are cold calling then you need to figure out why you end up wasting so much of your time. Perhaps your voice-mail messages are ear-shattering or stumbling and bumbling? If you want to start this self-review process on the right foot then check out the "Talking Tom" app. That should put a smile on your face and that's a good start for cold calling.

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Sales | Thought Tweets

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