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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Sales people should select heroes, learn from them, and emulate their talents & strengths.

by Rick Baker
On Nov 8, 2020

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

I see better ways of approaching Sales.

For example...

Sales people can and should learn from ‘heroes’...as many as possible. First, ask the question – Is this person a hero worth studying? Consider - WHY is this person a hero? Because of vision?, goals? resilience? quick wit? personal magnetism? Then learn the details about those person's most-admirable qualities/strengths, select specific stories that capture the admirable qualities, carry those stories in mind, and draw upon them when the going gets tough. 

Tags:

Hero Worship | Sales | STRENGTHS: People-Focused for Success | Thought Tweets

Speak of the devil's advocate...better still, bite your tongue.

by Rick Baker
On Oct 7, 2020

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Constructive criticism is an oxymoron.

Devil's Advocates ... here's an excerpt from Wikipedia: "In common parlance, a devil's advocate is someone who, given a certain argument, takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with, for the sake of argument."

Those words - "Devil's Advocate" have a nasty connotation....we should not use them or the practice they capture.

Instead, consider using a planned strategy for seeking different perspectives when large problems are to be solved and important decisions are to be made.

Try, for example, using Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats

Tags:

Criticism: Constructive Criticism is an Oxymoron | Hero Worship | Humour | Thought Tweets

Some things are urgent; some things are important: very few things are both urgent and important.

by Rick Baker
On Aug 4, 2020

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

The vast majority of important things are not urgent and so they can be postponed. And, quite a bit of the time, that's exactly what we do.

When important things are postpones their true priority can be obscured and forgotten. And, quite a bit of the time, that's exactly what happens.

  • Napoleon Hill taught "Plan the Work and Work the Plan". 
  • Stephen R. Covey taught the way to sort out tasks/timing into Importance/Urgency quadrants.
  • Pareto taught the "80/20 Rule". 

With these three tools, we have what we need.

Now, it's up to us to use them.

Tags:

Hero Worship | I'm too busy! - I don't have time! | Thought Tweets

Fear is the darkroom where negatives are developed.

by Rick Baker
On Jul 26, 2020

The Thinking Behind the Tweet

I read that somewhere, many years ago. An interesting mind-picture.

A metaphor true to our anxieties.

We should avoid the darkrooms and the dark places where anxiety breeds; we should seek brilliance and concentrate on the brightest of lights.

 

Franklin D. Roosevelt

"...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

[Perhaps inspired by, or even coined by, Napoleon Hill.]

 

 

 

 

Tags:

Attitude: Creating Positive Attitude | Emotions & Feelings @ Work | Hero Worship | Thought Tweets

...the parasites live where the great have little secret sores."

by Rick Baker
On Jul 11, 2020

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

According to history or legend, when the great Henry Ford was caught in a very compromising situation he said, "Never complain, never explain". We cannot believe everything we read, so - perhaps Henry Ford was never in that compromising situation and even if he was perhaps he never said that never-never quip. And, perhaps Henry Ford was simply making timely use of the wisdom expressed earlier by the great British statesman, Benjamin Disraeli?

Regardless, Disraeli or Ford or both, "Never complain, never explain" makes for an interesting story-example of what makes great men great.

 

PS: "...the parasites live where the great have little secret sores."

Many people have a negative impression of Friedrich Nietzsche. I'm not one of them. Just after Disraeli's death, when Ford was a young man, Nietzsche wrote those words. ['Thus Spoke Zarathustra'...written in 4 parts, during the 1880's]

Tags:

Criticism: Constructive Criticism is an Oxymoron | Hero Worship | Thought Tweets

2 types of people succeed in business: (1) those who naturally 'get it' and (2) those who observe well & learn.

by Rick Baker
On Jun 23, 2020

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

There are only 2 types of people who experience meaningful success in business:

  1. Those few, the intuitive, who somehow naturally 'get it' and 'seek & solve' their way for as long as it takes to obtain success. 
  2. Those few who observe and attend to mentors [who are willing to help them], emulate heroes' best qualities and sooner or later, after much work, 'get it'. 

In business, no other types of people achieve meaningful success.

Copyright © 2012. W.F.C (Rick) Baker. All Rights Reserved.