​Cloud Giveth

Without the Cloud, businesses can't thrive in today’s economy. The proof is everywhere. The Cloud has helped companies, large or small, become much faster, cheaper, better, and smarter than before. 

Companies don't have a choice about adopting the Cloud. Customers have made that decision for them. Customers demand speed, efficiency, low cost, and excellent experience. The Cloud facilitates this. Companies that are flexible and make customers' lives easier win; companies that don't, unfortunately, get "blockbustered." 

Without the Cloud, companies can't create innovative business models to penetrate and capture a market from entrenched players. The Cloud is democratic. It allows anyone, anywhere, anytime to target and capture someone's market presence. Besides death and taxes being certain, you can add that someone right now somewhere out there is tirelessly working to disrupt your business with an innovative business model. Today CEOs are no longer paranoid; they are hyper-paranoid.

Without the Cloud, companies can't make money. Companies have to make big investments to leverage the Cloud for both growth and scale. Not a day goes by without you hearing about an upstart becoming a unicorn (achieving a billion-dollar market valuation). The Cloud has created enormous wealth. But the days of “free cash flow” are over.

Cloud Taketh Away

The Cloud allows companies to be on offense in capturing and increasing their market share. But they also have to be very good at playing defense. They have to be competent in defending their cloud environment from cyber attacks.

Just as companies use the Cloud to make money, cybercriminals are also using the Cloud to make money. The cybercriminals know where the money resides. 
Cybercriminals are constantly looking for vulnerabilities in your cloud environment. They know that all they need to do is find one vulnerability, and they hit the jackpot. 

Cyber Insurance

To protect your business, you can do one of two things: Obtain a costly cyber insurance policy to pay off cybercriminals when they hold your business hostage. Or, you can invest in cyber security by proactively identifying potential vulnerabilities as you keep adding new applications, servers, devices, etc., to your cloud environment necessitated by the growth of your business.

You will have to invest in cybersecurity to protect against cyber attacks. Or you will have no alternative but to pay a hefty ransom and stay quiet, so no one knows how vulnerable your cloud environment is to cybercriminals. Companies have to pay a "cloud tax." The only thing you can control is how much you can reduce this tax. 

Reducing Your "Cloud Tax"

You can only reduce your "cloud tax" by using technology. One of the technologies companies are using to proactively identify vulnerabilities in their cloud environment is artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).  
According to Dr. Umesh Hodeghatta, Head of Cybersecurity and AI Solutions at BusinessAnalyticsR, whose company recently implemented an AI/ML based cyber security solution for Walmart, "Exploitation of vulnerabilities can be predicted much more efficiently using AI and ML to protect your cloud environment. Doing this manually is not only time-consuming and laborious, but it's error-prone and ineffective in thwarting cybercriminals. Furthermore, cybercriminals have access to the same technologies, so you must be better, smarter, faster in finding vulnerabilities than they are."  

Companies do have competency in AI and ML, but it is directed toward growing and scaling their businesses, not protecting their cloud environment. Companies simply don't have the expertise in multiple technologies necessary to protect their cloud environment, such as data, AI & ML, and cyber/information security.

Another challenge companies face is that it is difficult to find cyber security experts. According to Bloomberg Radio, there are close to 500,000 open positions in the area of cyber security. So unless you have a large budget, it will be very hard to find the talent you can afford to build out your defense against cyber attacks.

What to Do?

Cyber security is still viewed by many companies as a cost center. However, it needs to be viewed as a business continuity center. For example, suppose your cloud environment's security is breached. You will not only lose money by paying cybercriminals, but, worse, it will tarnish your reputation with customers, partners and investors. That is much more costly than the ransom you have to pay. Ransom payment may be in millions, but shareholder losses can be in tens of  billions.  

If successful, cybercriminals will not only have breached a vulnerability in your cloud environment but exposed your corporate culture of not taking cyber security seriously. You will be made to look foolish and butt of jokes on late night comedy shows. The question you will be left asking as a CEO and CISO is: "Did we do everything possible to protect our cloud environment?" Unfortunately, that question needs to be asked right now and every day moving forward. You have no choice.  It's too late to ask this question after the breach. 

Today, a CEO and a CISO’s  job security depend on their success in staying ahead of the cybercriminals. The best way to stay ahead of cybercriminals is to gain a competitive edge using AI and ML methods to not only ensure business continuity, but keep winning by capturing and growing markets. To be a business champion, companies have to be great on both offense and defense.

If you want to learn more about using AI & ML methods for cyber security, watch this webinar by Dr. Umesh Hodeghatta:
https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/16781/372481/applying-machine-learning-in-cyber-securit

If you want to learn how to secure your cloud environment using AI & ML methods in retail, please register for the free BrightTALK event scheduled on September 15th:
https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/16781/506802?utm_source=NUSigmaUSquareAnalyticsLab&utm_medium=brighttalk&utm_campaign=506802

                                                                                                      #####

The 2021 US Open came down to two players: Jon Rahm from Spain and Louis Oosthuizen from South Africa.

Jon Rahm played well but needed to make a difficult birdie on the 17th hole and 72nd hole. He did and led by one stroke.

Louis Oosthuizen could beat Rahm if he duplicated that feat or, worse, tied Rahm into a two-hole playoff.

Golf is cruel since good, and bad things happen on the finishing holes of a tournament, which is typically 71st hole and 72nd hole.

Rahm played these two holes flawlessly and put himself in a position to make two birdie putts to lead the tournament.

The only player who could beat Rahm or tie him was Oosthuizen.

Oosthuizen made two big mistakes from the tee that cost him the tournament. On the 17th hole, he hit his drive out of bounds. Oosthuizen had to take a penalty and proceeded to bogey the hole. If he had hit the ball on the fairway or even put the ball in the rough on the right side, he would have walked away, at worse, with a par. The one place he could not hit it was on the left, and that's where he hit his tee shot. This one mistake cost him the tournament.

On the 18th hole, he hit a drive into the rough. He could not go for the green in two. He had to lay up and try to make an impossible eagle from about 70 yards out. He did get the ball close and birdied the hole and lost by one stroke.

The final score indicates that it was very close. But it wasn't since the drive on the 17th decided the tournament. Once Oosthuizen hit it out of bounds, he had no chance to win.

So what's the lesson here?
You must get off to a great start that puts you in a position to win. This means in a tournament and even every hole you play. Rahm did that and won. Oosthuizen didn't and lost.

To play well in golf, you must hit the drive in the fairway. Then you must hit the next shot on the green. If you do, then you can walk away with a par. But you are also putting yourself in a position to get a birdie. This sounds simple, but you will pay if you don't do that sooner or later. And this is what happened to Oosthuizen on the 17th hole. 

Oosthuizen played well, but it came down to one mistake.  If he makes par on that hole, he would have most likely tied Rahm and anything could happen in a playoff. 

To win a US Open, you not only have to be a complete player, which all pros are, but you have to execute when it matters. That's what separates the winner from the rest. And that's why John Rahm is the 2021 Men's US Open Champion. He could execute on Sunday when others could not. That is the difference between winning and losing at a highly competitive event.

                                                                                                          #####

I highly recommend John P. Davis’ book “How to Get a Sales Job.” It is a short practical book that will give you confidence to do well in your next sales job interview.

John can speak to this topic since he transitioned from working on Wall Street to take an entry level sales job. He brings a lot of depth and breadth to getting a sales job.

Though John’s book is about getting a sales job, I think the book will help people get a non-sales-related job too. You still have to sell to get a job. And this book will teach you how to sell yourself to get a job.

For those pursuing a sales job, this is a must-read book. After reading and studying this book, you will show up, stand out and likely secure an offer. You will have a conversation that will make you look like you know how to sell like a pro and drive revenue. 

Generating sales is a financial heartbeat of most organizations, especially those who engage in business-to-business (B2B) selling. Companies need competent sales professionals to grow. That means they need salespeople who can follow their sales process efficiently and effectively to drive revenue. John P. Davis’s book will help you look like a sales pro companies are looking for. 

The one thing the book emphasizes, which I wholeheartedly agree with, is that interviewing for a sales job is a proxy for doing your job. You must demonstrate your ability to follow the sales process by having a “sales process” to get the job.  

After reading this excellent book, I had a lot of questions for John. I narrowed it to five and sent it to John. Below you will find his answers to my five questions, and he also included three books that have influenced his thinking.

I want to thank John for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer the five questions and provide valuable information to those who want a sales job.

Disclaimer: I did not receive a copy of the book from the author. I purchased my own copy.

Five Questions

Question 1:
When someone wants to switch to a sales job, what kind of questions should one be asking to know whether one is cut out for sales?
 
Perfect question to start. I highlight a lot of this in the first chapter of my book because it’s so common for candidates. Two types of questions come to mind.
 
The first type relates to your compensation. Are you willing to take a pay cut in your base? Do you understand how the commission will work? Do you think you can outperform your peers? Are you willing to start at the entry-level and work your way up?
 
When answering these positively, you start to feel confident that you can make a successful shift into sales. But that’s also when the fear kicks in. You start to wonder why you’d put yourself through such a significant change. You contemplate risk and reward. It’s a lot to digest on your own and difficult to make your decision based on money alone… which brings us to the next type of question.
 
The second type of question is related to your quality of life. Are you done with a 9-5? Do you want to work from home? How cool would it be to take customers to sporting events? Do you want to make your own schedule? Are you tired of working holidays?
 
I found that the quality-of-life questions drove me into sales more than the compensation. Yes, I wanted to make more money, but I wanted a change of pace. I was done with the office, rush hours, and routine. I saw sales as an overall better lifestyle. This dynamic alleviated my fear of pursuing sales because I saw certain rewards outside of pay. The life of a sales professional is unlike any office job out there. It’s hard to resist. Ask yourself these types of questions and see if you’re ready for sales.
 
Question 2:
When someone is interested in making the switch to sales, how should one answer the lack of sales experience?
 
Too many candidates dwell on their own lack of sales experience. They cite it as a reason for not getting into sales, and it’s the first thing an interviewer will dig into. However…
 
Everyone has sales experience. This is the first thing that I teach my clients. Some experience is more obvious than others, but it just takes a bit of critical thinking to figure it out for yourself.
 
Hiring managers are looking for people who have prospected a target group of people, set up a series of meetings, presented pricing, and negotiated contracts. That’s it. If you sold magazines door to door in middle school, you have sales experience. If you run the front desk of a gym, you have sales experience. If you drove for Uber, you have sales experience.
 
Take your time to identify your own experiences. After that, it’s your job (and your job alone) to convince a sales manager that this experience is transferable. The best way to do this is to stress your ability to learn and your coachability. If you convince someone you have even minimal sales experience and that you’re coachable, you’re halfway home.
 
One thing I’ll say is this – do not ever let someone tell you that you have no sales experience. I was told in an early interview that I’d never sell anything. I did not let that stop me. It was just an inexperienced manager looking for a rep in the late stages of their career instead of a younger and more eager rep to coach.

Question 3:
Do you recommend that if someone wants to work in sales, don’t apply for a job but instead make a cold call or use LinkedIn as if prospecting? Should one show how they would sell by the way they interview from prospecting to close?  
 
I talk about this a lot in my book. There is a full chapter on preferred Contact Methods. This is so important, especially if you want to work for a top-notch sales manager. The best sales managers want to see you in action. They will not read the applications that come in through the company’s website. This is like if you’re trying to sell something to Apple and you fill out a “Vendor Inquiry” form on Apple’s website. You’ll never hear back. Instead, choose the path of action.
 
Demonstrate that you can reach out cold. Demonstrate that you can earn, book and set up a formal meeting. Demonstrate your phone skills and email etiquette. Demonstrate a close. All of this can be done by using LinkedIn, email, and the phone. Relying on a website application may get you an interview or two, but they’ll mostly be with the lethargic sales manager who is looking for a candidate at a good company as opposed to a candidate with a willingness to hunt for new business.
 
I prefer action overreaction all day, every day.
 
Question 4:
If you run a word cloud generator of what the salesperson says in a job interview (both phone and in-person), what five words should show up as having the highest weight?  
 
Customer Relationship, Hunter, Motivated, Hungry, Quota.
 
These five words pop up most. Everyone that I interview talks about how good they are at maintaining customer relationships. This is an interesting point because I don’t care as much for how good you are with customers… I care about how good you are at finding prospective customers. There’s a big difference.
 
Hunter, motivated, hungry… everyone says these in an interview. The problem is that they just repeat them over and over again. Actions speak louder than words. I once had a cold call from a candidate who asked me within 5 minutes if I’d accept an in-person interview. That same candidate tried to close me for the job in the next 5 minutes over the phone. The whole conversation lasted 10 minutes, and I almost hired him. I ended up hiring him later, but the thing is – he didn’t have to stress that he was a hungry, motivated hunter. He demonstrated it to me. Demonstrate these things. Don’t just say them out loud.
 
Quota: Everyone tells me they are over quota or crushed their quota. That is great. Some people talk about it too much. There is a lot to say about quota… if you’re smashing it, why are you leaving? If you are way under quota, why bring it up? My advice on quota is twofold - always tell the truth and get specific.
 
I’ve interviewed reps at 200% of quota who had 1 deal that their manager gave to them when they joined the company. It would happen with or without them. I’ve also interviewed reps at 50% of quota who did 15 transactions on their own from start to finish. This is more impressive in my mind. So just tell the truth and be specific about your sales activity related to quota and less specific about the percentage itself.
 
Question 5:
Bank of America is no longer requiring broker trainees to make cold calls which have been a fundamental part of a sales job in the past. The reason for this change at BofA is that no one picks up the phone anymore. So what prospecting skills do salespeople need today to succeed?
What have you found to be the most effective way to prospect today?  
 
Sales reps don’t call people.
 
They get nervous, they hate it, they think people don’t answer, they don’t know what to say, they post articles on LinkedIn. There are 50 other reasons why reps don’t call people. I hear it all day long. Sales reps just don’t call people anymore. The worst reason is that they “have too many deals in play.” The majority of them use this as an excuse not to cold call.
 
So Bank of America is technically correct. No one picks up the phone anymore. But it’s the sales reps who are at fault, not the prospects.
  
There is no secret sauce here. Prospects still pick up the phone so you still need to call people. Use email as a tool to bring attention to your call. Use LinkedIn to do the same. Use marketing where necessary. But pick up the phone. It works. In an emergency, would you send an email? No, you’d call. My quota is always an emergency, so I call.
 
I will leave you a few key points on cold calling.
 
· Emails can be forwarded around the company, so be careful about sending the wrong message.
· Cold calls cannot be forwarded, so it’s okay to mess up.
· You get more and better information when calling versus emailing.
· People like to talk on the phone.
 
Three Book Recommendations
 
My first recommendation is for anyone in sales or anyone looking to get into sales is “New Sales Simplified” by Mike Weinberg. I have read it a few times, and I always give a copy to the business development rep on my team. It’s the #1 book out there for finding new business and filling the top of your pipeline – frankly, the only thing that matters in sales. And Mike Weinberg is tremendous. Look him up and get his book today.
 
My second recommendation is “Shoe Dog” by Phil Knight, the founder of Nike. This is a tremendous story of sales, hustling, and business. He was selling Nike’s out of his basement and competing globally with Adidas. You won’t be able to put it down, and it will help motivate you to do more.
 
The third recommendation is “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. This is not for the weak of heart. It’s wicked long… but packs a powerful punch. It’s about being productive and why that matters.
  
What John is Working On
 
He is currently working directly with former professional athletes and graduating D-1 student-athletes interested in entry-level sales. Reach out to him for more information, especially if you are an athlete, league representative, or coach. He can be reached at davis.jpd@gmail.com.

Resources
Please listen to John P. Davis’ appearance on the podcast “Sales Enablement” with Andy Paul:
https://www.ringdna.com/podcasts/how-to-get-a-sales-job-john-p-davis-episode-911
Please check out John P. Davis’ article on Sales Hacker:
https://www.saleshacker.com/how-to-interview-for-sales-jobs/
Please check out John P. Davis’ article on Sales Vane:
https://salesvane.com/sales-job-looking-for-the-highest-paying-job-in-the-world/

Contact Info
Email: davis.jpd@gmail.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/john-p-davis-548a7b22

​                                                                                                          #####

​The 2021 Women's US Open Golf Tournament had a lot of drama. It had Lexis Thompson, who looked flawless halfway on Sunday. At one point, she was leading by five strokes and looked like a sure winner. Philippine's Yuka Saso, playing with Thompson, looked like she was out of the tournament at one point. But in golf, especially the US Open, anything can happen.

And happen it did.

Thompson stopped looking flawless, and Yuka steadied her game. Saso fought her way back and got into a playoff and then beating Japan's Nasa Hataoka in the playoffs to win the Women's US Open.

I think three things were responsible for her win:
1) Copy a great player
2) Stay calm
3) Trust the process

Copy a Great Player
During the broadcast, the announcers on the Golf Channel compared Yuka Saso's swing to that of Rory McElroy, a great player on the men's tour with four majors. From watching the tournament, it was obvious that Saso had a very good repeatable golf swing. To succeed in golf, one needs a solid swing that is repeatable under pressure. And Saso showed this at the end that her swing was well-honed for a major golf tournament.

Saso has never met McElroy, yet from watching the videos, she has replicated her swing that is a carbon copy of McElroy's swing.  Now we can all do this when it comes to writing, speaking, acting, etc.  You just have to reverse engineer it and then see what works and how you can do the same. I think this is an excellent way to become a good speaker.  People who are great at what they do tend to be very open about what they do.  You just have to dissect it and make it your own.  That is what winners do.  Don't try to figure it out yourself.  That is not how greatness works. 

Stay Calm
Saso did not play well in the beginning on Sunday but remained calm. She did not get flustered seeing her opponent was running away with the tournament. Saso could not do anything about Thompson's performance; she could only control her performance.

A winning professional in any situation knows how to stay calm when things are not going well. You do not want emotion to take over your objective on what you have to do to win.

Winning does not care that your feelings are hurt, or you hit a bad shot. Winning does not care what you think. Winning only cares about winning.  You just have to learn to deal with this and become a winner. 

Trust the Process
When Saso was interviewed after she won, she kept saying that she just trusted the process. This indicates that she was well trained mentally. Saso knew she would encounter difficulties but must stick to the process that got her to the US Open and in the final pairings. She did stick to the process and won.

In golf, Winning cares only about who posts the lowest score. You just have to trust the process that will get you that score. You can't abandon what you have done for hours, days, months and years when it matters.  You have to stay faithful to the process and then see if you need to refine it, if necessary.  Sometimes you can do everything right and lose. Occasionally, you can do a lot of things wrong and win. This is life.  Just get over it and see if anything went wrong with your process.  If not, continue to trust it. 

Saso won one of the most prestigious tournaments. We all can learn from how she did it and succeed in something prestigious in our profession. 
                                                                                                            #####

I guide people become independent by making money, growing money and having FU money. If you crave independence, then you should contact me. I focus on thriving on high stakes stage whether it's for a job interview, career advancement, a sales presentation or a high-stakes speech.
I wrote a practical, no-nonsense book on success titled Winning Speech Moments: How to Achieve Your Objective with Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere. The main idea of the book is that if you want to succeed in anything, you must create a winning speech moment. That is all people will remember. Just Do IT and WIN!

To get started with executive coaching I offer Intro to Coaching program that consists of two sessions for $300 where I help people answer a simple, yet difficult question: Tell me something about yourself.  You must nail this to make a good first impression.  Let's get this right for you so you can get ahead. 

Get the Free Speech Checklist
Email: joza@winningspeechmoments.com
​Phone: 732-847-9877
                                                                                         Time is Money, Communication is Wealth

How many times have you heard that you must develop strong relationships to succeed in business?

This was true in the past, but I don't think it is true today. 

The reason for that is that people don't have time, money, or energy to develop business relationships. 

Like Maverick in the movie "Top Gun," people have need for speed. People want things done that is fast, affordable, and well. Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen when people are involved. People slow things down that is if they don't screw up.

How long have you had to wait when you last visited a doctor?

I recently had to get cataract surgery for my eyes, so I had to visit Ophthalmologist's office several times. The average wait time after I arrived at his office was close to one hour. Since it took me one hour to get to his office, I left my house 15 minutes before the appointment and called from my car five minutes before my appointment. I reduced my wait time to just 10 minutes. This is what you have to do when you are dealing with people.

I am currently working with a highly recommended contractor to get work done at my mother's house. I thought I developed a good relationship with him. I was wrong. It was a real pain to get the roofing work done. Then It took me a month after the roofing work was completed to get the attic fan to work. More work is still to be done, and he has gone quiet again. I can get his attention if I go on Google and give him a one-star review.  This is what you have to do when you are dealing with people.

More I work with people, more I want to do business with Amazon. They never fail to provide excellent customer experience. 

Amazon does three things well: responsiveness, relationship, and reliability. I trust Amazon so much that I prefer paying more when I can get items cheaper elsewhere.  Amazon provides excellent customer experience every time.

I can't remember the last time I spoke to anyone from Amazon. They go out of their way to avoid my talking to anyone. I am not looking for relationship with anyone from Amazon; I am looking for just excellent customer experience.  

So are relationships with people important today?

No.

You should look for a relationship built on experience not relationship with people. Companies like Amazon can scale their relationships very fast and it's long lasting. Building relationship with people is time-consuming, unpredictable, and frustrating.

That's why it is very hard for a sales person to be better than Amazon sales. And they do it without salespeople.

So do you really need to spend time building relationships with people to do business?  

​                                                                                                             #####

The most important question you can ever ask yourself or someone to make sense of a difficult situation is, "What's going on here?"

Marvin Gaye recorded a famous song asking, "What's going on?" He was trying to get people to make sense of the Vietnam War, poverty, racism, and social justice so people can peacefully take action to effect change. I somehow never paid close attention to the message behind that song. However, I recently understood the importance of this question when I read the modern classic Remains of the Day  by Kazuo Ishiguro.

James Stevens, a high-end butler, is focused on being a great butler for a large house in the book. He doesn't know why the British leaders and the German Ambassador are meeting in the house in the late 1930s. They are meeting to see how the British can appease Adolph Hitler so his army can occupy Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. 

Mr. Cardinal, son of the house owner's friend, visited the owner when the meeting is taking place. He knows what's going on. He asks, "Do you know, Stevens, what's going on here?" To which Stevens replies, "I'm afraid not, sir." 

Stevens did not know, nor was he curious. What was going on in the nearby room would start World War II and ruin his owner's reputation as a Nazi sympathizer. Furthermore, Stevens also did not know nor care that he was about to lose a potential life mate in Miss Kenton, a housekeeper, who was in another room. 

When Stevens got older and had time to reflect, he had regrets of not being attuned to what was going on at that time. But it was too late.

We are all like Stevens. We often don't ask this simple question when we are dealing with a difficult situation. But asking the question makes you live in reality. Unfortunately, for many, living, in reality, is hard. Many prefer to live in a "matrix" where everything looks fine. But later, as they get older, they have regrets about how they could have been so naïve. 

Asking this simple question is hard. But objectively answering it is harder. Doing something about it is the hardest.

So look at some examples where you can ask this question with what's going on around you.

• Why do CNN and MSNBC report on what some hosts on Fox News say or do? 
• Why are Republicans replacing Liz Cheney, a congresswoman from Wyoming, from a leadership position? 
• How did China become an economic power so fast? 
• Why we still have systemic racism? 
• Why do we have a problem with illegal immigration? 
• Why are many countries moving toward nationalism? 
• Why is US debt approaching $28 trillion? 
• Why are women still not equal in most of the world? 

Do you know what's going on in each of the difficult situations above?

First, you have to ask the question. Second, you have to answer it by putting yourself in other people's shoes. Third, what are you going to do about it? You alone can't fix anything, but you can do your part so you don't have any regrets later in life.

For example, my family and I were angry about how George Floyd was killed by the police in Minneapolis in May 2020. We asked the question, "What's going on here?" Though none of us has ever had a bad experience with the police (in fact, we donate every year to the local PBA for the outstanding work they do). Unfortunately, our experience is not the experience for many African Americans and Hispanic Americans.

We showed our support for a change in policing by participating in a local march for change. And we also voted for Joe Biden in November of 2020 since he talked about this issue and wanted to make a change.

Now that Joe Biden is the president, his justice department is bringing civil rights charges against the police who used unnecessary force. In addition, President Biden is working with Congress to pass bipartisan legislation to enact police reform.

We did our part by asking the simple question, "What's going on here?" Thought this question was for a national issue, but it applies to just about anything that requires a change. Change can only happen if you ask, think, act and persist.  

If you don't ask this question, you can't get to the root of the problem. You will end up accepting and mouthing other people's thoughts and opinions. You can't outsource the answer to this question to anyone. You have to do the hard work.

Next time when there is a problem you see in your life, at a company, in a country, or in the world, you may want to spend some time asking, "What's going on here?" After you come up with an answer, you will know how to approach the problem or situation. At the least, you will not have any regrets later that you did not even ask this question when it mattered.

                                                                                                     #####

In the blog post "What makes you great at your profession?" I pointed out the importance of asking a fundamental question on what makes one great at your profession to improve. However, there is a negative side to being obsessed with being great at your profession. Again, I will use the modern classic "Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro as an example.

As I pointed out in the blog post, "What makes you great at your profession?" James Stevens gives a lot of thought to what makes one a great butler. He came up with two attributes: dignity and attachment to a distinguished household.

I wrote this blog post because there is a price one pays to be great at something. We always focus on the gain and not the loss of being great. But as you will see from reading this post, you always lose something to gain something. And sometime trying to be great at something can have deleterious effect on you personally, professionally and/or financially.

With Stevens, two monumental things are happening at the same time. One, he is about to lose Miss Kenton. Second, he is going to let his employer disgrace himself by being a Nazi sympathizer.

Stevens' employer has been hoodwinked by the Germans about their true intentions. He is hosting a meeting between the British Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, and the German Ambassador where a decision will be made. That decision will involve the British Prime Minister to appease Adolf Hitler and allow Germany to occupy part of Czechoslovakia, known as Sudetenland if, in return, Hitler promises to preserve peace but not invading any countries.  

For Stevens, two monumental things are happening at the same time that is going to give him regrets later but is completely oblivious of it as it is happening. He can't see anything besides what he is conditioned to see happening.  

Miss Kenton
James Stevens is about to lose Miss Kenton forever. She informs Stevens that she has received a marriage proposal. Miss Kenton is trying to gauge whether Stevens has any romantic interest in her. She tells Stevens on two occasions that she has still not made a decision. Stevens doesn't say anything to make her not accept the proposal.

Miss Kenton tries one more time to make sure that Stevens has no interest in her by asking, "But I can see you are very unhappy about my going out tonight." Stevens is focused on being a great butler for the big meeting that will be taking place in the mansion. He does not say anything to prevent Miss Kenton from accepting the marriage proposal.  

When Miss Kenton comes back from her meeting, she wants Stevens to know what happened as she asks him, "Are you not in the least interested in what took place tonight between my acquaintance and I, Mr. Stevens?" 

Stevens shows no interest as he replies, "I do not mean to be rude, Miss Kenton, but I really must return upstairs without further delay. The fact is, events of a global significance are taking place in this house at this very moment."

Stevens is only focused on being a great butler by maintaining his dignity and doing his job well, so his employer plays a significant part in serving humanity. To Stevens, Miss Kenton leaving him for another man is insignificant.

Significant Meeting
Stevens leaves Miss Kenton to attend to his butler duties when he runs into Mr. Cardinal. The latter is a young man well acquainted with Stevens. Mr. Cardinal is a godson of Stevens' employer. In his meeting with Stevens' employer, he learned the significance of what is taking place at the mansion. He tries to convince Stevens to do his part to save his employer from being duped and disgraced.

Like Miss Kenton, Mr. Cardinal gives Stevens several chances to save his employer from ruining his reputation as a Nazi sympathizer.  

Mr. Cardinal asks, "Stevens, do you know what is happening at this very moment as we sit here talking?"

Stevens has no curiosity at all about the significance of what is taking place. He just wants to be a great butler.

When pressed further by Mr. Cardinal, Stevens replied. "It is not my place to be curious about such matters, sir.' 

Mr. Cardinal asks if he has seen how his employer has been hoodwinked by the Germans for the last three to four years regarding their true intentions. To which Stevens replies, "I'm sorry, sir, I have failed to notice any such development."

Stevens could not save Miss Kenton from leaving him, nor could he save his employer's reputation. He was oblivious to what was happening that evening. From Stevens's viewpoint, he was very pleased with how everything turned out. He maintained his dignity and served his employer well so his employer could do his part in "helping" humanity. 

So my point in using this example is to show that being great at something is fine, but it has the potential to create blind spots that could make you vulnerable to losing something else. There is no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to being obsessed with greatness. 

In closing, I want to use a real-world example in Deborah Birx, President Trump's White House coordinator for the pandemic response,  that shows when one is obsessed in serving one's employer, it can produce catastrophic result.  In the Op-Ed in Washington Post by Matt Bai titled "The Birx dilemma is a lesson for the ages,"  he writes that appeasement "doesn’t work for nations facing down aggressors. It doesn’t work for a political party that’s been taken over by a nativist bully. And it doesn’t work when you’re serving a president who demands unyielding loyalty and a willful disregard for the truth." The catastrophic result, according to her that more than 400,000 people didn't have to die from Covid-19.

Deborah Birx had earned her stellar reputation as doctor who was involved in the global fight against AIDs.  Because of her greatness, she was picked to advice President Trump.  And that's where she developed a blind spot in protecting him over the American people.  Though she may try her best to salvage her reputation, but most irreparable damage has been done. 

Sooner or Later, we all will face this dilemma like James Stevens in "Remains of the Day," and Deborah Birx in real life.  How will we handle it?  

                                                                                                         #####

When was the last time you asked this question? You probably have never asked if you are like me, let alone even thought about asking this question. 

But how would you answer this question if you are asked at the final stage of your job interview? The answer could determine whether you get the job or not. I think it's a great question that will tell a lot about how you think, act, and excel in your profession. 

After reading the modern classic "Remains of the Day'' by Kazuo Ishiguro, I started thinking about this question. In the book, James Stevens, a butler, asks, "what makes a great butler?" He gives a lot of thought to this question as he is traveling in England's countryside.  
​
He comes up with two attributes of a great butler: dignity and attachment to a distinguished household. 

Dignity
By this, Stevens means a butler gets the job done for his employer without anyone even knowing it. There are other attributes, such as competence, that are important, but it's dignity that stands above all for being a great butler. Stevens believes one could develop dignity through hard work, experience and self-learning.

Stevens gives three examples of what he means by dignity in a great butler. I will use two of the examples in this post.

The first one is a story Stevens heard from his father, who was also a butler. Stevens considered his father to be a great butler.

The story is about a butler who had traveled with his employer to India and the incident that showed the butler's dignity in handling a dangerous situation.

One afternoon the butler entered a dining room and saw a tiger relaxing below the dining table.
The butler calmly approached his employer in a drawing-room (today it would be called a living room) where he was having tea with his guests. The butler let out a polite cough to get his employer's attention and whispered in his ear that there was a tiger in the dining room. He asked for his permission to use a shot-gun to take care of the situation. 

Soon, three shots were heard.

A few minutes later, the butler appeared in the drawing-room to refill the teapot. When the employer asked if everything was fine, the butler replied, "'Perfectly fine, thank you, sir...Dinner will be served at the usual time, and I am pleased to say there will be no discernible traces left of the recent occurrence by that time."

Stevens mentions that his father always laughed when he would repeat when butler added "no discernible traces left of the recent occurrence by that time." He was laughing since the butler is saying to his employer you don't need to explain anything to your guests since there is no evidence of anything occurring.  

The butler in the story did not panic. He got the job done and, most importantly, maintained his and his employer's dignity by not having the employer's guests get frightened and ruining their pleasant visit. 

The other incident of dignity involved Steven's father when he was a butler. This story was relayed to Stevens by someone named Mr. Charles, who was present when it occurred. One day Mr. Charles and two of the guests of an employer got in a car to be driven around by Stevens' father. The guests were drunk and got rowdy. They started criticizing Stevens' father for what they perceived was his driving mistake. They also started criticizing Stevens' father's employer. That was the breaking point for Stevens' father. He stopped the car, opened the back door, and just stood there showing his displeasure at the two guests.

The guests had no idea what Stevens' father was going to do next. He just stood there with the door opened. Soon the two guests realized that they were at fault, and one of them muttered. "I suppose we were talking a little out of turn there. It won't happen again." Stevens' father gently closed the door and continued his driving as if nothing happened.

Stevens shows that his father did not lose control, confront the guests, or return home immediately. He calmly handled a difficult situation with dignity. No one got hurt, and the employer didn't have to know what happened. Everyone's dignity was preserved.

Attachment to a distinguished household
The second trait to being a great butler is belonging to a distinguished household working for a renowned man. 
The reason for this is, as Stevens explains, that movers and shakers of the political and business world meet at such mansions where big decisions are made. A butler's job is to make sure everything goes smoothly. The great butler makes sure that the employer looks good and plays his part in solving big problems. 

As Stevens gives more thought to this, he says, "association with a truly distinguished household is a prerequisite of 'greatness.' A 'great' butler can only be, surely, one who can point to his years of service and say that he has applied his talents to serving a great gentleman – and through the latter, to serving humanity."

What makes one a great public speaker?
I am a public speaker, so I thought about this question like James Stevens.

I believe a person is considered a great public speaker if he or she achieves the following:
1) moves people to action
2) speaks the truth
3) takes personal risks
4) changes the world in a positive way
5) becomes immortal through his or her speeches

Based on these criteria, the list gets very narrow, and we're left with Socrates, Jesus, Lincoln, Gandhi, JFK, MLK, and Malcolm X. 
​
The negative side of being great at your profession
There is also a negative side to being obsessed with being great at your profession. To learn more on how this obsession ends up hurting James Stevens, I encourage you to read my blog post titled, "Being great at your profession creates blind spots."

​                                                                                                          #####