I love stories and parables. I find that they are the best way for expressing ideas and concepts in a meaningful and memorable way. This is the reason I wrote The Journey to WOW as a parable instead of a traditional business book. The following is an excerpt from Win at Work: navigate the nasties, get things done and get ahead. I think it sums up how to be successful very nicely!
Excerpt from Win at Work
“There was a small manufacturing company in Southampton, England that had been going through some tough times. Revenues were down almost 30%, and every department was feeling the pinch. Jonas, a 24 year-old salesman who had just been called into the president’s office, wasn’t expecting good news. He was the youngest and least experienced of the four-person sales support team – five-person, if you count the manager who had been laid off two months previously.“
“Five minutes later, Jonas left the office in shock. Not because he had been let go, but because the president informed him that as of that day, he would be the only one left. They’d had to make some very tough decisions, he’d been told, and could only afford one person in the department. They had felt that he was the one who could best find ways to make a difference during this tough period. His modest salary increased by ten thousand pounds.”
“For anyone who knew Jonas, this good fortune came as no surprise. He was well liked and remarkably good at what he did. That he had a bright future ahead of him was abundantly obvious, and the company would have been foolish to let him get away.“
“Jonas’s story, while inspiring, is not unique. When you follow the paths of people who have achieved significant success at work, you will find that his experience is part of a common theme. Ultimately, it was something he had done that had caused his success to happen. There was no luck involved, no invisible hand of fate, no nepotism, no office politics. His fortune was foreseeable and legitimate. On the surface, it might appear that he had defied all odds. Dig a little deeper, though, and you see that he didn’t beat the odds, he had changed the odds.“
“It is a poignant illustration of how much control we have over our success in life. We might not be able to influence world events, but we most certainly can exert great influence in our own little parts of the universe. We can impact our families, our friends, our coworkers, our companies, our lives. We have an opportunity, every day, to change the odds in our favour.“
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If you care about customer experience, this is ‘required reading.’ Find out why people are raving about The Journey to WOW!
