Remember: Your time is valuable.

We hear it constantly out here in la-la land. "Your time is valuable. Plan your time well; MANAGE your time. Once your time is gone, you can't get it back." We're constantly reminded that we shouldn't "waste" time with this or with that...while it's prospecting time, at least. As soon as we can't prospect anymore though, all bets are off. My oh-so-intelligent boss tells us yesterday that he will "Tttrrryyy to have us out by 6:00 PM." So we can have time to get ready for tomorrow, 'cause we have something to attend early in the morning. Anyhoo...7:30PM rolls around and he tells us to finish up for close. We start to review the days events, which takes mere minutes, then Bossman decides he wants to discuss some things with us. Instead of preparing notes with which to quickly and concisely discuss whateve his key points were, the man procedes to ramble on and on and on about nothing. Well, I am sure that he said something important in there somewhere, but I forgot it...or more precisely, it got buried in the rubble as the Bloviator...well, bloviated. That, and the fact that as he was drawing to a close, some kid's mom called, and the two of them just had a good old conversation. The problem was that as they sat on the phone jawjacking, the rest of us were left to pace around the office...for like 30 MINUTES!! Then, rather than letting us go as he whispered sweet nothings into Mom's ear, the genius just lets us pace about like caged cats. Then, as if to add insult to injury, he releases us as soon as he gets off of the phone. I could've skinned him alive. That's leadership for ya'!!

Speaking of leadership, for you 79Rs out there, here's a simple equation for you:

salesmanship≠leadership

I don't think I need to insult anyone's intelligence by explaining this. Leadership is accomplishing the mission by providing purpose, direction, and motivation (in a nutshell). Salesmanship is the ability to influence others to want something that they otherwise may not. Similar to motivation, which is the ability to influence others to do something that is outside of their nature or desire, but not the same. The latter, most NCOs can do; the former, is something that one is either good at, or not. Simply put, we can create a negative desire, that is something that most can be taught how to do("You will do this, or else, Private!")-and is easily enforced. Creating a positive desire is something that can only be taught to a certain extent, then one is either good at it, or not---THAT, is the essence of salesmanship. Like the old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." New York just ain't thirsty...