Many of you are also aware of my volunteer involvement with the Canadian Coast Guard. It has been an exciting year on the water as well. This past year I was able to complete the search and rescue navigation program as well as the RHIOT program (rigid hull inflatable operations training – Discovery Channel Episode, Youtube – http://youtu.be/xA8hlhhuj5c) to attain my Coxswain designation to lead a crew. Our crew was given an award of commendation at this year’s Coast Guard Annual General Meeting in recognition of our response to a marine heart attack mayday call. I mention the Coast Guard activities along with the Killing Herb Inc. activities because they all stem from our professional (and life) motto – “If we focus on the success of others, our success will naturally follow”.
The main topic of this article is conversations. Sales and leadership are about conversations, the kind of conversations where we take the time to sit and truly connect with another person. It seems that, in our day and age, electronic communication is slowly replacing our face-to-face conversations. A question for you:
How many people in this world go weeks on end without having a genuine face-to-face conversation with another human being?
Scary. The majority of our human interactions are slowly migrating towards impersonal electronic communication, emails, blogging, tweets, texts, etc… Let’s do our part to bring back talking! This article’s go-forward action is for you to sit down with another individual and have a genuine conversation. A conversation about what? That’s up to you. Just make sure you take the time to enjoy a genuine conversation with a wise person of your choosing. Every person has wisdom within. If we take the time to connect with them (and truly be there, in body and mind, turn off your phone!) their wisdom will be revealed. Just as Henry Longfellow teaches us “a single conversation across the table with a wise person is better than ten years mere study of books.” Enjoy, cultivate and cherish your conversations.