Industry Magazine C•Suite Atlantic Magazine Spring 2018 | Page 2

HAVING GRIT
How Bad Do You Want It?
HAVING GRIT
I’VE ASKED this question of myself
ever since I was a young boy. Today, I ask it
of Entrepreneurs and Sales Professionals
on a regular basis. No matter where I visit
in the world professionally, the question
seems to be “What is the single most
important ingredient for a salesperson
to be successful?” My answer is one
word—GRIT.
Angela Duckworth, in her best-selling
book GRIT: The Power of Passion and
Perseverance, summed it up as follows:
“In sum, no matter the domain, the
highly successful had a kind of ferocious
determination that played out in two
ways. First, these exemplars were
unusually resilient and hardworking.
Second, they knew in a very, very deep way
what it was they wanted. They not only
had determination, they had direction.
It was this combination of passion and
perseverance that made high achievers
special. In a word, they had grit.”
As a follow up to that, check out my
YouTube 1 video recorded on a run through
London. Standing in front of a statue
of Winston Churchill, I recalled his all-
important “never give in” speech. Nick
Saban, the super-successful football
coach of the University of Alabama put
it this way: “You see, it’s not just about
having the best players. It’s about being
relentless in the pursuit of your goal
and resilient in the face of bad luck and
adversity.”
old! Just took a little GRIT to get through
the verbal bashing.
At twelve years old, I took a newspaper
route of thirty-two customers and a
year later built it to 275. I broke several
baskets trying to stuff too many papers
in them and finally bought a unique bike
built for home delivery of groceries. A
large wheel on the back, a small wheel on
“WHAT IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT
FOR A SALESPERSON TO BE SUCCESSFUL?” MY
ANSWER IS ONE WORD—GRIT.”
So, How Bad Do You Want It?
When I think back on my life, that word
GRIT sure played a consistent role. Check
it out. My first job was at seven years old
where I made and sold potholders. I took a
real verbal beating from my friends (boys)
that I was doing “girl things”. Heck, I was
having fun and selling my potholders for
twice what the girls were and making lots
of money in the eyes of this seven-year-
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the front, with a huge basket on the front.
This worked great, however it was a goofy
looking bike and only came in the color
purple! Again the verbal beatings came
and again I reached down and relied on
GRIT to get me through. A year later, I was
employing five kids to deliver the papers
and went on to Newspaper Boy of the
Year honors. GRIT!
While those kids were delivering the