The price of change

I'm not going to start a lengthy discussion about change. It's upon us, it's scary, and we have to deal with it.

But to deal with it effectively, I believe we have to know the price we have to pay to experience the benefits that change can bring.

Here's my paraphrase of an Einstein quote:

The same thinking that got us into this mess can't get us out of it.

That's a scary thought. It means we have to change the way we think. Which means we have to change our philosophy. Not a simple task.

I've been in the middle of change for quite a while now. The company that I worked for previously went belly-up, so I decided to start my own business. I'm still starting that business and it's been a difficult road. I often don't know what to do. But I do know this. I have to shift my philosophy from the way I used to think to a new way of thinking. 

Here's an example. Sales. Ugh, what a horrible word. It conjures up all kinds of unpleasant images that make us feel icky. Yes, I just said icky. 

The reason it makes us feel that way is that we're thinking how sales has been done in the past. Not the distant past, more so the recent past - like the last 50 years. 

Let me explain. Sales used to be a demonstration of communication, trust, authenticity, and honor. Sales were made by shaking hands. Commitments were honored because our word had been given. Now I know this is somewhat idealized - I know there were shysters and everything wasn't Mayberry perfect. But there was more honor then than what followed.

And then TV came along. The relationships were gone. Now we had to coerce, and persuade, manipulate and cajole, use scarcity, and tactics and suddenly there were hundreds of books being written about how to "DO" sales.

How in the world did people sell before all these books were written? I'm sure they did, but it was most likely a fluke of nature. 

Wasn't it?

Or maybe salespeople back then used to have character. Maybe they knew how to build relationships. Maybe they were okay with being authentic and honest. Maybe they didn't over-complicate things.

And maybe that's what we should go back to. Maybe part of the price of change is giving up our reliance on tactics and going back to providing real authenticity - if even we think it makes us look bad. 

It's a shocking idea but that's the challenge I'm issuing to myself. Be authentic or go work in a factory making widgets. Those are really the only options. And because the second option makes me ill, I'm gonna stick with the first one.