I am sick and tired of Bastards in life that say one thing and do another. For whatever reason, hypocrisy is something that drives me completely mad!
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying or expecting that everyone lives up to some “Unrealistic Standard” or anything like that – as I can be a hypocrite at times. I am talking about those extremists/bastards who 80%+ of the time, don’t practice what they preach! Many years ago, I was involved in a pretty hostile takeover.
Fortunately, I was in the “Taking Over” company – but unfortunately I was moved into the company being bought (and then ironically became classified as “One of them”). I was given a wide range of diverse clients that was incredibly hard to manage. That is, it wasn’t so much the time required, but it was near impossible to understand all the complexities involved. That is, you had radically different clients, using radically different products in radically different industries – and you were expected to be a complete expert.
This was near impossible as myself and other’s would:
– Have no F&$(#%G idea how their industry works AND
– The Customers Knew It!
What made this incredibly funny was that Senior Management put these “Stretch Targets” on us to grow a mature business by 10%+ per year. Meanwhile your competitors are specialists who can easily meet the specific needs of such clients.
Now, before you think of me being a “Whinger” I just want to explain that I am a strong believer in Stretch Targets and getting those most out of your team and employees. But, if you give all your employees a crazy task which they are not supported for – then no one is going to win.
Anyway, due to this credibility problem that myself and my colleagues across Australia was facing it was barely possible to introduce new products – let alone protect your business from the competition.
We had this new “Crack Shot” from overseas arrive that just “Knew All the Solutions”. The first thing that this person said was that I “Couldn’t Handle My Customers Properly” and that I needed to “Work Harder”. They also explained that they knew how to “Sell” so well, they could talk things around very easily. So okay – maybe it’s my fault? Let’s Learn. So I bring my new boss to one of my top clients. This client was a clever and very impatient man working for a large Australian Company (who was a known leader in their industry). So this “Elite Boss” walks in and tries their so called “Elite Selling Skills” on him.
Wow – this didn’t work at all! This client clammed up and several days later told me over the phone to NEVER EVER bring this person with me again. I remember one of this clients famous quotes:
– Your Boss is just a Salesman. Bring me someone who’s knows what they are on about.
The boss who was “Elite” then said I just don’t know how to work with my clients and being a “Typical Bastard” didn’t take any responsibility for the clients reaction to him as it was somehow “My Fault”. I was still fairly young at the time, but years later all these events started to make sense to me. This Boss was one of those people who just lives by:
– Saying One Thing. Sounding Good. Doing something else. Blaming Others.
The good thing about this so-called “Boss” was that they lost their position a few years after I left. Well that’s Karma for you! All I can say is, if you Talk A Big Game – Make Sure You Can Deliver!
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