In this very competitive business world, one has to compete aggressively to win (against competition, climbing the corporate ladder against peers and colleagues, against company divisions etc). One has to have a good strategy. One has to know one’s competition. One has to have differentiation. Nothing new, we have all heard or read this from management and marketing books. It’s actually pretty basic and fundamental.

What we seldom read about or being taught would be “the need to compromise on one’s integrity or do whatever it takes to win”. We were never taught that we had to be sneaky and be hypocrites to influence and convince someone or a situation. Perhaps these traits can only be picked up by a person who has personally been harmed previously by someone unscrupulous.

The world today has few good men. Sadly, we meet lots of people who are not entirely sincere, with hidden agendas and will do harm to us in order to achieve their own selfish goals. Perhaps, this was what made them successful before. Perhaps in their minds, they cannot win if they compete fairly without deception and they would in-fact be naïve to believe that competition will not do deceitful acts to beat them. They would think that competition has no business ethics nor will they compete professionally. If competition beats them, competition must surely have undertaken some corrupt practices or taken some unethical steps to win. They are unable to acknowledge that competition has won fairly; as (in their minds) winning in such a manner never existed.

So, what do we do?

– Do we need to be twice as sneaky to win?

– Do we have to be hypocrites …… and be deceitful by telling a twisted sales pitch?

– Do we pretend and wear a mask? A devil in disguised as an angel?

– Or should we be naïve and hold on to our “idealism of integrity”; fight our battles upfront openly, professionally, hoping that we would still come up tops?

Sure, our goal ultimately is to beat competition!! And with the common saying of “it takes a thief to catch another thief”, should we then be naïve to believe that dignity and integrity will have an edge over people who resort to stabbing from the back?

We ask ourselves ……… am I naïve ….. isn’t winning the most important thing, regardless of how we stab competition? A stab is a stab. Is there such a thing as a “respectable” stab?

Well, after all the writings above, I’d surely prefer to be naïve than ever to be called a “coward back stabbing person” with no integrity. I’d rather fight my battle like a gentleman and win in a dignified manner. I will not deceive anyone by preaching something that is wrong to throw people (customers, peers, colleagues) off-course. I will not advise people to practice a certain behavior and I myself practice exactly the opposite. I will not have doubts and be suspicious on others if they have beaten me fairly. Instead, I should look at myself to see how I could be better in future.

Yes I am naïve and Thank GOD for that!!

Hence, if I do not win in a sales career or beat my peers for an upward promotion that I want due to my idealism of keeping my integrity intact, then perhaps I’d change jobs.

(How we behave at work would also be most likely how we would behave at home) At least, I know that I am not teaching nor giving an example to my younger staff or more importantly my children to be a deceitful, hypocritical back stabbing coward.

Hopefully they will grow up to be sincere, honest individuals (maybe naïve) that people will respect.

Lastly, in John Murphy’s book – INTEGRITY is a LEADERSHIP essential that provides great competitive advantage because it is most difficult to copy. It cannot be faked or manipulated. It just glows within you. We are then deemed to be trustworthy and authentic (vs. fake)!!

 Cheers, 11 Feb 2011 – dedicated to a sales team I know facing a “musuh di dalam selimut” situation. (“enemy under the blanket”) translated literally!!

Dedicated to my dear friend “Im x 2” ( ………… and not because you lost)

Winning or losing is part of a Sales Professional’s journey. Great sales person do not like to lose. However, the fact is – nobody wins all the time. All we can strive for would then be that “we win more often than we lose”.

Should we lose, we will then need

a) to evaluate if we were late, at the wrong place or lobbied the wrong decision maker

b) to not blame others and critically confront our imperfection or our subordinate’s poor follow thru

c) to check our ego and gracefully admit that indeed competition did something better than us

d) to not make others’ feel bad as it is most likely our fault that we lost. Our fate is in our own hands not in our competitors’ hands.

e) to evaluate if our competitors won fairly, professionally and ethically. If they did, perhaps we could emulate some of their ways. If they did not, then do not even think of stooping to their level in the next sales bid.

Life is too short to feel sorry or to make others feel sorry. When we lose, we are emotionally upset and our egos bruised. Do not let emotions or ego control our actions by making silly comments/remarks or have any suspicious thoughts on our competitors’ prowess …..

Be a gentleman ……. exit gracefully, learn and be better …..

We will then be a GREAT SALES PROFESSIONAL …………and not an “egoistic salesman” who blames the whole world and everybody but ourselves.

Let’s strive to be GREAT …. It is a continuous journey. Let’s not admit that we are ALREADY GREAT !! Then we are truly bluffing ourselves.

ImX2 … you have done well. You WON !! You were the better sales person …. Ignore what others have to say ….. your  conscience  is clear, you have done what is right …………. and only GOD can judge you fairly.

God Bless

Willie @ 18 Dec 2010

Emails are not meant for 2 people sitting in the same office to prolong issues by writing lengthy justifications.

Focus to resolve issues with great SPEED.  Confront issues face to face with great sincerity to reach a common understanding.

Ironically, emails which is a tool to get message across quickly so that decisions can be made …………………  has now alas become a tool for people avoiding confronting real problems to get them  resolved and also hiding behind nonsensical justifications on why things are not and cannot be done !! 

Sad .. truly sad ….. but true !!

As we move forward into 2011, the following could be inspirational be it in our professional or personal lives.

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You must accept that you might fail ; then, if you do your best and still don’t win, at least you can be satisfied that you’ve tried.

If you don’t accept failure as a possibility, you don’t set high goals, you don’t branch out, you don’t try—you don’t take the risk.

You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.

Rosalynn Carter  (wife to ex-USA President Jimmy Carter)

Willie – 3rd from right ……… what a feeling !!

REKOR Bisnes Award Night @ Mulia Hotel Jakarta @ 3 Nov 2010.

NIRO Granite – won the award for the most innovative company in design development for porcelain tiles category.

A manager who delegates without stipulating deadlines or having a “lack of attitude” to follow thru is even worse than his subordinate who fails to deliver on time. 

Solve the problems if you can. And solve it immediately too. If you can’t, then you had better tell me. If I also fail, then I would enjoy sinking with you rather than you sink alone or you pull me along when I had no chance (or too late) to even try to solve the problem together with you.

 Consistency – No one has the energy to check on you all the time. Be true to yourself. If you have agreed to do certain things, then do it every time correctly /accurately and on time. 

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 What ??? You are SORRY ??? !!!

Today, in striving to achieve excellence ………. saying “Sorry” when we fail to deliver to our customers (internal or external) is just not good enough.

 The one who failed will have to ask …..

– how can I compensate (in dollars & cents or additional work) ?

– how do you want me to be accountable ?

– what punishment / penalty should I endure ?

– how do I make it up to you ?

 Only then can the customer really feel that you are indeed SORRY.

24 Oct 2010