Many years ago I was at a sales meeting. I was about a year and a half into my career, and admittedly, the first year had been a bit of a struggle. But I’d been able correct the course over those last six months and was beginning to show remarkable improvement. During one of the breaks, our division manager came over to me and handed me a book. “Read this,” he said, and walked away.
Today, I don’t remember the title of the book. But I do remember that I didn’t read it. About a month after the sales meeting, I was working with my unit manager, in preparation for a ride-along with that very same division manager. Ironically, the book was sitting on the back seat of my car. She picked it up and asked, “Where’d you get this?” I told her that the division manager had given it to me. “He did. He’s never given me anything,” she said, and sat the tossed the book onto the back seat.
Personal Development is Important to Your Career
A week later I picked the division manager up at his hotel for our ride along. My unit manager was riding with me that day, as well. The division manager struck up an conversation, and during that conversation he asked, “what did you think about that book I gave you?” Of course I had to tell him that I hadn’t read it and he simply replied, “Oh.” We went on to have a good day and I closed nearly every one of my sale’s calls. After the day, I was on cloud nine. After we had dropped the division manager off at the airport, I asked my unit manager, how she thought it went.
“Well, he pulled me aside and said that you were very impressive today. However, he’d like to see you take a little more interest in your own personal development. He feels that will make you a stronger salesperson and ultimately prepare you for a greater role in the organization.”
Embrace the Opportunity to Learn
The moral here is when someone shares an opportunity for you to better yourself, embrace that opportunity. If it is a book, read it. If it is a DVD, watch it. My division manager initially approached me in a crowded room of my peers and chose me. I let him down. Had I read the book when he gave it to me, my upward mobility in the organization might have begun shortly after that ride along. Instead, I had to wait another 12 months before he could make it out for return visit.
Your personal development in any organization is just as important as you learning about the company’s history, products, culture and customers. Don’t set aside the opportunity to better yourself. Become a voracious consumer of personal development resources. The more you learn, the more you earn.
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