Blog

The Results Of Results

By Joe Schum / April 4, 2023 /

“Wow, you got an ‘A’ on that test!” “What a game! You scored an amazing goal!” “That’s your best performance; everyone stood up and clapped for you!” Now what? I come to this subject via a recently – and much appreciated – shared podcast that talked about many rich things, among them the gap, i.e. the missed opportunity, between being strictly results oriented and acknowledging the means and practices that it took  to achieve those results. This is not to say that I’m not results oriented, and that it’s OK to give out participation medals like Halloween candy and everyone…

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Happy New Year+31

By Joe Schum / February 1, 2023 /

It’s been a month since we crossed over into 2023.  Are you still saying Happy New Year? I am. How long did it take you to declare it just another year, and with that, maybe even not a happy one? Nine days in, a Monday, I already had to strain to hear it from anyone.  Launching a Happy New Year at a stranger, or even just someone in the neighborhood, resulted in anything from nonchalance and disinterest to surprise and a smile.  Already a cliche, on to Valentine’s Day everyone! What is going on here? Why are we giving up…

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Fumblerooskie

By Joe Schum / January 17, 2023 /

“Hey Joe – I see you’re based in Florida. Heard a lot of people are moving from California to Florida. You’ve probably seen that happen first hand the past couple of years, right? Wanted to know if you’re interested in how I can create 15 branded social posts for Soul Patch Hippo: Success Coaching? I’ll create the posts from scratch, so they match your branding vision.”   And throw the flag! What got me to open it was that my email box only showed the first sentence and it sounded like someone who knew me.  Though I didn’t recognize the name,…

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Ready [ in-duh-vij-oo-uhl ] [kuhn-trib-yuh-ter] 1

By Joe Schum / December 22, 2022 /

Individual  [ in-duh-vij-oo-uhl ] – a single human being, as distinguished from a group. Contributor [kuhn-trib-yuh-ter] – a person who contributes money, assistance, etc. Let’s put them together shall we?  A single human being, who contributes money, assistance, etc…, feels under appreciated don’t you think? I originally began writing on this subject with the sales professional in mind and then thought, that’s too exclusive.  You see, all individual contributors, regardless of SIC, deliver the goods for organizations daily. There is lots and lots of attention paid to leaders these days.  When I hang out with my peers, we all, generally speaking,…

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iNOT Robot

By Joe Schum / November 9, 2022 /

Issac Asimov, in his sci-fi classic I, Robot said; “You just can’t differentiate between a robot and the very best of humans.”  Well, Issac, I dug the book, and on this part I will disagree.  Are we ready to give up being human beings already?   Richard Branson once said “We are human beings, not human doings.”  And yet, there’s a trend right now to automate pieces and parts of one of the most compelling and personal approaches to improving a human’s performance and condition: coaching. It may be well intentioned based on recent surveys; it certainly is getting a lot…

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Storm of the Century

By Joe Schum / October 19, 2022 /

Meet Ian.There have been many famous ones.  The most famous Ian of course is Ian Fleming.  This according to several websites, not just my adoring fanship for all things 007.  Many are actors like Ian McShane and Ian McKellen.  And there are the musicians like Ian Anderson and an obscure college fave of mine: Ian Dury. This Ian, the one that inspired this blog, is Ian the Hurricane.  A wicked and destructive force of nature that swept through my state recently, taking with it 102 lives (so far) and racking up a current cost range of $65 – 100 billion…

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Preventing Forest Fires

By Joe Schum / August 23, 2022 /

When I was a kid, there were constant, ubiquitous public service announcements (or PSAs) that admonished kids for playing with matches because of all the forest fires we could and would start given to our proclivities as, well, kids.  It ignored the part about first being in a forest which for most of us was only when we went camping with the family which, in most cases, was not in a forest. And what if there is a forest? And we can’t see if for all the trees in there??!! I digress. Back to Smokey. His message was one of…

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Walk Don’t Run

By Joe Schum / July 29, 2022 /
No Running Zone Sign

Meetings with clients are essentially back on!  Whether in person or over the phone and video, it’s happening. And if you’re like most people, you get in, cover what you want – and hopefully what the client or prospect wants – and get out.  It’s just like driving through Rhode Island. So why the hurry?  Years ago when hardware was king and one could still make money selling PC’s and peripherals at the corporate level, I had a sales leader who very successfully created new business with some very large financial companies in an extremely competitive and difficult marketplace: the…

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The Saleship Enterprise

By Joe Schum / June 30, 2022 /

Enterprise.  To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life, And new civilizations. To boldly go where no (wo)man has gone before. OK, shameless homage to one of my absolute favorite shows of all time, and totally applicable to the strangely elusive, ever confusing and hugely rewarding enterprise sale.   This moniker, the enterprise account, is widely misunderstood and misused.  Sort of like the term coaching.  Is it really an enterprise account or just a big logo where one is selling to a small corner of the “starship”?  Merriam-Webster defines Enterprise in a variety of ways.  Interestingly enough, all of…

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Chipping And Putting

By Joe Schum / May 20, 2022 /

Famed instructor, caddie, golf (and life) coach Harvey Penick, tapping into his fabulous wisdom to golf and life, said “That’s the thing about golf; outside of the USGA rule book, there are no indisputable ways the game must be learned or played.”   I gave his thought some thought recently as it applies to the game of sales.  Why do sales leaders go by the “rules”? Penick also believed that the game was best learned from the back to the front. Meaning that in and around the green was the most important part of the game and then you worked back…

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