by Colleen McCarty, VP Talent & Organization Development

Can we get away from the Olympics? No, not sure we even want to in these few exciting weeks…

Ann Killion of the Mercury News wrote an article about Phelps’ amazing medal run and ended it with a quote from Phelps:

"My mom and I were joking," Phelps said. "My middle school English teacher said I'd never be successful."

Killian went on to say

“that teacher probably won't be getting an autographed photo of Phelps, with eight gold medals hanging around his neck.”

But that got me wondering how many of us succeed due to nurturing and positive encouragement? And, conversely, how many of us succeed because someone said we wouldn’t?

For those of us whose success is based on obstinacy, is that a key to being a better Sales Person? There are many traits touted for success in Sales: assertiveness, self-motivating, ethical, sociable, persuasive, knowledgeable are just a few. I certainly would not argue with any of these. But one I don’t see on the lists is “contrariness.” Is the word No just the starting line of our race?