How NOT to enrich a relationship: My own cautionary tale

This post is part of our Weekly Tips series.

 

2018 ended on a humbling note for me in some important ways, including a couple of screw-ups on my part. Nothing earth-shattering or life-threatening, just lesson-inducing. I’m sharing the most recent screw-up—and the learning it recalled—because, as usual, I think we can all benefit.

The screw-up: I got triggered by a question that someone (innocently) asked me via email and indulged in my reactive state by sending a lengthy and negative reply. What’s worse, it was relatively late in the evening and I prefaced it with, “I don’t really have the bandwidth to talk about this right now” … yet I continued on. I next admitted to being triggered in a self-congratulatory way (‘Look how insightful I am!’) And then I proceeded to dump all over her in writing. Class act LOL.

Sales mastery: An anthology for transforming your approach and results

This post is part of our Weekly Tips series.

I’ve been writing a lot about screw-ups lately (mostly mine). This week brings a little reprieve in order to focus on sales mastery. Don’t worry, there are more screw-ups in the queue.

In looking over the 229 tips I have written to date, I’ve apparently had a lot to say about what’s wrong with conventional sales training and practices.

A bright light on my bruised ego

This post is part of our Weekly Tips series.

I got a pretty big hit to my ego the other day, and I’d rather not tell anyone about it, only I’m doing it anyway. In some ways this missive is all about me, though in other ways it’s really about all of us, and the ways we deal with professional disappointment. This topic matters because I don’t believe we ever achieve our full potential for success until we learn to fail well, and disappointment is failure’s close cousin. I’ve always admired others who speak about their less stellar moments with candor, clarity, and humor.