This doesn’t really have anything to do with wireless and more to do with being better at what you do. But I guess you could apply it to wireless too now that I think about it.
I learned a lot this week at a training (of all places, go figure!) While it wasn’t a training directed at me particularly, it was a training that I got to be a part of. The cool part was that it didn’t have anything to do with technology and had more to do with the way people communicate, work together and empower each other to achieve a goal.
One of the fun things that I get to do is participate in a program called 1MillionCups, by the Kauffman Foundation, every first Wednesday of the month with my local Chamber of Commerce. It’s a place where entrepreneurs come together with local businesses, mentors, experienced professionals and people who just have a strong desire to help. Two small business owners and entrepreneurs are selected each month to come and stand up and give a 6 minute presentation about what they are trying to accomplish, how they are doing it, and what road blocks they have in moving forward. That is followed by a 20 minute question and answer session where people from the audience give them ideas and feedback on how their experience could help them. It’s pretty spectacular to see a community come together to help support people who are trying to create something and usually make a difference in their neighborhoods. The concept with 1 Million Cups centers around the idea that if you can share a cup of coffee with someone who has done what you’re trying to do they can help you in ways that you don’t even know. So imagine being able to share 1,000,000 cups of coffee?
Back in the training that I was in this week, I got to see the same thing. Sales teams huddled up to help each other out. It was incredible to see sales executives let their guard down about what they didn’t know and be humble enough to ask for help from their peers. In exchange for their openness, everyone in the room came to them with different ideas on how they could help move an account forward, get a meeting, and figure out how to better serve the customer.
It was really awesome to me to see the concepts and process that I have seen so many times in my community work incredibly in the conference room. What I saw wasn’t even “teamwork” at this point. It was people helping people. Sharing ideas. Making each other successful.
As an industry unfortunately I don’t see that as often. I see people being helpful, but it’s usually only to those they can trade in their time for some benefit. There are a few small pockets of people around who truly want to assist, but there’s too much of people helping for their own sake.
It was incredibly refreshing to sit in what some may consider a snake pit of a sales people and see the true side of them: they love what they do and they love the challenge of the hunt. More importantly they love it so much their willing to help each other out not for quotas and monthly numbers to hit, but because they’re passionate about it.
What have you done lately to share your passion with people where there is no return?
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