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Attack!

Guest post by: Brian Sullivan

Article Overview: Why Going on Defense Is NOT an Option.

Attack!

A few months ago my ten year-old son and I went on a Father-Son Male Bonding Road Trip together. Jake had recently been learning about all the great leaders who changed the world in Washington DC and thought it would be “cool to check out.” We started our trip at the gates of the White House and talked about some of the great leaders who lived in that building. I asked Jake to name a president who he thought was a great, and his pick was JFK. I asked why he thought JFK was great and his response was, “He wanted to land a man on the moon. That is cool. And what was cool is that nobody thought it was possible.” He then asked me to name one that I thought was a great leader and I mentioned Ronald Reagan. I told him how Reagan fought the oppression of communism as he stood at the base of the Berlin Wall and loudly said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!” And the wall eventually came down.

Our next stop was the Washington monument and as we approached I asked Jake to tell me what he knew about George Washington as a leader. He said he learned that George Washington was somebody who stood up to the British and was so good at it that he eventually helped start a new country. “He must have been tough!” Jake said with squinted eyes and a clenched fist.”

We then looked off in the distance and decided our next stop would be the Lincoln Memorial. After skipping a few rocks off the water of the Reflecting Pool in front of the Memorial, we walked up the long flight of stairs and stared at Lincoln sitting in his easy chair. I once again asked Jake to tell me what made Lincoln such a great leader. He said, “Lincoln was brave. He thought slavery was bad and tried to convince everybody that is was wrong. And he didn’t back down.”

As we walked out of the Memorial we found ourselves standing in the exact place where Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech and imagined what it would have looked like through MLK’s eyes. I asked Jake what he thought made King a leader. He responded with, “He told others that black kids and white kids should be able to go to school together. And Dad, didn’t he get killed because if that?”

With tired legs and hungry stomachs we jumped in the car and headed north to the battlefields of Gettysburg. The next morning we stood together at the top of a hill knows as Little Round Top. He asked me to tell him what happened here. I told him the story of a leader named Joshua Chamberlain, who led the 20^th Maine infantry in one of the most famous battles of the Civil War. I shared with him how, despite being outnumbered by the Confederate regiment and almost out of ammunition, Chamberlain did something that most would consider to be a stupid move. Rather than retreating, he ordered his men to “Fasten Bayonettes, and storm down the hill in ATTACK mode. I told him how historians believe that had Chamberlain retreated, the battle of Gettysburg would have been lost and the history of our nation would have changed.

As we wrapped up our trip, I asked Jake to tell me what he learned about the greatest leaders in history and what made them so special. He responded with, “Dad, I noticed that almost every time one of these guys became famous, bad stuff was going on. But I think it’s pretty cool that each time, none of them retreated. They were all on the ATTACK! They didn’t wimp out.”

I thought about what Jake said and realized he nailed it. That in almost every example, these leaders became famous because they chose ACTION over complacency…despite the risks.

So what does all of this mean to you? Well in this down economy, now is the time to ATTACK your business. And here is your Battle Plan:

· Invest in yourself and your company NOW more than ever. Go to that meeting or seminar that you thought to avoid and learn something new that will make you a sales or leadership weapon.

· Salespeople, make at least three EXTRA sales calls each day, knowing your competition is waiting for things to “get back to normal.”

· Manager, seek out that “A” player on your team and find new ways to help make them even more valuable to your organization

· Keep Attacking!

Truth is, you only have two choices heading into 2010. Retreat or ATTACK! Choose to ATTACK and you will look back at this year as the period in your career where you became smarter, more productive and more assertive…the time you became famous in your company and industry.

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Article Tags: action, communication skills, economy, hard times, insurance sales training, leaders, leadership, medical sales training, precise selling, sales tactics, sales training, Washington DC



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