Best Lesson Stephen Covey Ever Taught Me

byJDelVecchio

273 followers

11 years ago

Man, going into business and getting yourself known and out there isn't easy.

While I've been given great advice, I've also been given some terrible advice too. I've had the experience of successfully starting and improving organizations and I've also had the failure of overloading more than I can handle. My character has been tested more than I could have imagined. I've had to rework my thinking numerous times as to what makes someone truly successful and continue to do so.

Some of my tests have been how I handle sales.

I wonder - how many people have learned sales scripts? How about making sure you're clean cut, look professional, and act professional? How about the component of "act as if"?

This video from Stephen Covey, with is utter intensity, taught me so much that matters on BEING a professional compared to APPEARING to be a professional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACukmJ_5HSo

In the video Cover compares the personality ethic and the character ethic. The glacier picture explains everything.

Do you translate? Are you everything you say you are?

The personality ethic is basically what we see through the five senses. And while we may follow our instincts on the judgment of a person, we never know how much character ethic someone truly has until they're tested.

We can always think it's about "who you know" and not "what you know." But there's such an irony there: after you land an opportunity based on who you know, aren't they going to want to see what you know?