Every year the leaders of the world, across business, political, education, medical and every other sector, gather in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum.
It’s truly one of the few times a year where there is an incredible exchange of ideas across a huge number of subjects. The subjects selected for the hundreds of sessions being held are those topics that warrant discussion. Obviously, you can imagine that they cross a wide span of topics.
The beauty of Davos is in the way thought-leaders come together and share their ideas with the objective to help improve whatever sector they represent. Ironic how one of the big issues last year was the Euro and the financial crisis in several European countries, yet because this situation didn’t develop until later in 2010, there was not one session on the topic.
This year’s World Economic Forum, which just ended, did not have a single session on the situation in Egypt, yet from all accounts, this was the number one topic in the hallways. The reason I’m sharing this with you is for two reasons. First, as salespeople we need to do a better job of paying attention to what is going around us from both the one-foot level and the 30,000-foot level. This means hearing what others are saying. Second, no matter how smart somebody might be, they are not going to know all the answers. To me this is a confirmation of my belief in listening to others, but then being very mindful that the decisions I reach have to be of my own accord and not someone else’s.
Sales is an incredible occupation. It allows us the opportunity to explore and gain insights and then use them to help improve the lives of the people with whom we come in contact.
What voices are you listening to?
Are you drawing your own conclusions or are you relying on the conclusions of others?
Remember, no matter how smart someone may claim to be, it does not mean they’re going to get it all right.
By the way, if you want a great summary of what happened at Davos this year, below is a link to a blog by Bill Gross who captured the 150 best tweets from the event. Thanks to Mark Sanborn www.MarkSanborn.com for alerting me to Bill’s blog.
http://www.billgross.com/2011/01/davos-2011-in-150-tweets/
Copyright 2011, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
