In my 20s, I admired and looked up one of the executives in my organization. He was sharp as can be, never got shaken, always took time to listen to us minions, and could make a room full of a 1000 people feel like they could conquer the world. The guy was unreal … until he became real.
As I moved up the ranks of the organization, we began to spend more time together and became friends. As we got closer, I began to see his faults and he fell from Mount Great Expectations down to Earth. Don’t get me wrong, he was still excellent at most of the things he did, but he had his faults and I noticed those more than I noticed his achievements. You see, he was human; and we don’t want our heroes to be human.
Why is this topic part of my security sales blog?
One reason – sales is the easiest and hardest career there is. When it’s hard, we need our spouse, our family, and our friends. Unfortunately, we (most all of us) expect super human behavior from our loved ones – especially our spouses. We rarely see the good things they do, but we have a long list sorted by date and alphabetically of the little mistakes they make. We expect a hero, but we get a human. Our unrealistic expectations wedge a gap in our relationships … and that really sucks.
So, list all the great things, ok things, above average things, and well-intended things that your loved ones do. Stop keeping score of the mistakes and you’ll be shocked how much better your support system gets, and how those hard times in the field just become another day closer to the good days.
As far as the four people listed in the title of this blog, they’ll remain larger than life to me; but my wife, family, and friends will remain loved by me … and they’re the ones that hold me up when I need it.
