If your profession is sales, regardless of the type of product you sell, you're actually selling safety. That's what people want: to make a decision that will make them feel safe. Safe from being told by a superior that they paid too much for what they bought. Safe from spending too much money and not having enough left for other things. Safe from feeling, after the purchase, that they didn't do enough due diligence and could actually have bought something better.

Si vous êtes vendeur/commercial, peu importe votre produit, en fin de compte ce que vous vendez c'est la sécurité. C'est ça que les gens veulent: prendre une decision qui les permet de se sentir à l'aise. A l'aise par rapport à un chef qui insiste qu'ils ont trop payé pour ce qu'ils ont acheté. A l'aise par rapport à avoir dépensé trop d'argent au point de ne plus en avoir assez pour obtenir d'autres choses. A l'aise par rapport aux regrettes qui peuvent surgir, apres avoir fait un achat important, de ne pas avoir entrepris suffisament de diligence là-dessus et d'avoir pu acheter quelque chose de meilleur.

Si trabaja como vendedor, poco importa su producto, lo que Ud. vende es la seguridad. Pues es lo que más desea la gente: tomar una decision que les permita sentirse seguro. A salvo de las críticas de un jefe que se queje de que pagaron caro al comprar algo. A salvo de gastar demasiado dinero y luego no tener suficiente para obtener otras cosas. A salvo de sentir, después de hacer una compra importante, que no la evaluaron a fondo y que pudieran haber comprado algo mejor.

如果你的专业是推销员，无论你的产品哪一种，你推销的实际上就是安全性。这是一切买方都寻求的：做最会让他们感到安全的那种决定。如此，买重要的东西后能够不担心上级批评他们付的价格太贵；能够不担心花了太多钱而又无法买其他还需要的东西；能够不担心有关买到的产品没尽职做到足够的研究并应该买更好的。

This week's thought...

En la vida profesional, lo que deberíamos buscar a hacer no es ganar la más grande cantidad de dinero posible sino aplicar y aprovechar de nuestros talentos al máximo grado posible. Esto es, teniendo en cuenta mi propia experiencia, lo que más nos hace sentir satisfechos en el empleo a largo plazo.

Dans la vie professionelle, ce que l'on devrait chercher à faire n'est pas de gagner la plus grande quantité d'argent possible, sinon d'appliquer et profiter au maximum de ses propres talents. C'est ainsi que l'on peut jouir de la plus grande satisfaction dans son emploi à longue terme.

职业生活中，我们应该试图运用本身独特的才干，而不集中一切努力在赚最大笔钱的工作。长期而言，我们这样以来会得到最完善的成就感。

I recently spent a week taking care of my father while my mom took a well-deserved break from her responsibility of being his primary caregiver. Dad has Parkinson's disease, which slowly but surely robs you of your muscular functions. It's a cruel process; your whole life you've been able to move your arms and legs however and whenever you wanted, and then little by little you can't. Every day you wake up and can do less for yourself than the day before. You're increasingly dependent on others for eating, moving from place to place, using the bathroom, etc.

As a son, I found myself doing things for my dad that I'd never expected to be doing for him. Think of what you do to take care of a baby: all of that I was doing for my parent.

It brought to mind the words of Tim Rice and music of Elton John in The Lion King song "The Circle of Life." There really is a circle of life: you're helpless in the beginning, and most of us are helpless in the end. During all the time in between, surely we should be making the very most of our time on this earth.

Most every CIO I know is operating pedal-to-the-metal....maxed out....in endless meetings....more often than not in urgent mode. But does it have to be this way? Yes, technology is changing faster than ever. Yes, there are more demands on the C-suite's technology SPOC than ever. Yes, the tech-based threats to a company are more insidious than ever. Yes, "job security" is an oxymoron now more than ever.

One thing CIOs can do to start improving the situation: Lock onto a company that can be your trusted technology partner, then treat them like one. Jettison any master-slave attitude. Tap into the partner's ingenuity. Ask them "What would you do in this situation?" Throw them tough questions and watch how they respond. I work for such an SI and we love getting challenged by CIOs for new solutions, even when our suggestions aren't taken.

Opening up to and trusting an SI partner that is eager to delight and has a track record of doing so is a key way to work more strategically and enjoy greater success in the CIO role.

My 17-year-old son needed some community service hours for school, so he signed up to serve lunch and dinner at the Catholic Action Center downtown this past weekend, and I went with him. The food there is for anyone who chooses to come to the facility; about 40 percent of the people are homeless, the rest low-income, and there seems to be varying degrees of mental illness across the group.

Most people were very courteous and grateful for the food. Others seemed accustomed to the center being their main source of meals and appeared nonchalant about it. A couple of them were hostile, such as the man who got a piece of fried chicken that was smaller than he expected and started cursing and threatening to "turn this f***ing place upside down" (he ultimately calmed down and ate his chicken).

What I think left the most significant impression on me were the three people we worked with at the center. All three are volunteers.

- Gary. About 64. He was a jump-master in the Army for 25 years, teaching soldiers how to parachute out of aircraft (his son is now a three-star general who commands Fort Bragg in South Carolina). Despite having major surgeries over the years and a lot of metal put into his body (including 2 bullets in Vietnam) the effects of which now make it difficult for him to move around, he works at the center cooking and preparing well over a dozen meals each week. While volunteers like us serve meals, he sits near the serving line and keeps order, e.g. making sure no one cuts in line, snags extra food, etc. He told us that when he was growing up on a farm about ten miles away, he would never have come into the run-down part of town that the center is in. But now, he said, he's more than happy to do it because "most of these people just took a wrong turn in life or had something unfortunate happen to them, and it could happen to anyone."

- Bev. About 60. She works full time at the University of Kentucky in a clerical role. Then she comes and spends up to 20 hours a week working alongside Gary -- cooking, preparing, cleaning. She's the person who got cursed at for giving the wrong piece of chicken, but she seems to take it all in stride.

- [didn't get his name]. About 45. He cleans pots and cooking utensils, all the food-preparation surfaces, and the tables where the food is served and consumed and the areas around them. He is a very large man and formerly worked as a bouncer in local clubs. Not sure what he does now for work, but he comes to the center multiple times each week to give this service.

I expected that working at the center would be a good experience for my son, and I went there mainly to support him. But I left there very appreciative of being reminded that the 'have-nots' in our community can benefit so much from the willingness of the the 'haves' to share time and abilities. It was a great experience, and I fully plan to do it again soon.

When Webex had their IPO at the turn of the century and people really started paying attention to web conferencing, I figured that business travel would start declining markedly. After all, while videoconferencing had already been available -- albeit at a high price and via largely proprietary, challenging-to-use systems -- web conferencing essentially allowed us to share the same material, e.g. PowerPoint slides and white-board drawing, that we'd share if were in a client's meeting room or office. It seemed so much simpler and cost-effective than going through all the hassle of packing and driving and flying and lodging and dining. When analyzed on paper, it certainly appeared so.

But the death of business travel has been greatly exaggerated. So long as humans are still making decisions about how money is spent (how much, with whom, by when, etc), other humans will still need to get out and connect with them face-to-face. How else can you build a client's confidence such that she will choose what you're offering over someone else's offer? Much as industry tries to mechanize purchasing, e.g. via Ariba or other such platforms, and remove the human factor and its accompanying emotion from the buying equation, the fact is that people are making the decisions and these people are ever-influenceable (yes, we all are). The people who want to sell to them therefore need to create reasons and opportunities to get in front of those human decision-makers and connect to build confidence and trust.

A prospective client recently told me over dinner, "I'm trying to be dispassionate in making my decision." I understand why, because he needs to be able to justify his choice to his management and they will expect to see his analysis of how what I'm offering compares to what my competitors are offering. But what all that analysis will not show is which person and team that client has the best gut-feel about. And that guiding sense, combined with solid analysis of the data, is what is most likely to lead to a choice that delivers what the client wants most of all: success. The quality and commitment of people, i.e. humans, behind the offer will determine -- more than company name, industry analyst rankings, the technical tools involved -- the success the client sees.

When I started my IT sales career, I read this paragraph in a book about selling:

"Most people love to buy but hate to feel sold. Feeling sold means feeling like you have lost control -- been taken advantage of, coerced, or manipulated. Most people have had an experience in their life where they have come away from an encounter with a salesperson feeling that the salesperson controlled them. That is why salespeople have to live by 'You are guilty until proven innocent.' Salespeople are guilty by [default] for all the sins that other salespeople have committed on their buyer."

I've remembered that short paragraph because I find it so true. I have absolutely -- and more than once -- felt "sold" and manipulated by salespeople. Because I detest that feeling, I've always tried (perhaps with varying degrees of success) to be as genuine as I can with my clients and prospects. It's important to me that people who buy from me feel good about their choice. It's certainly how I want to feel when I make a major purchase.

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Au début de ma carrière en tant que commercial dans le domaine de l'informatique, j'ai lu le paragraphe suivant dans un livre au sujet de ventes:

"La plupart des gens adorent acheter mais détestent se sentir 'vendu.' Se sentir vendu, comme on dit, signifie que tu ressens avoir perdu le contrôle -- avoir été exploité, forcé, manipulé. La plupart des gens ont également ressenti qu'un vendeur à un certain moment les a controlé. C'est pour cela que les représentants commerciaux portent le fardeau de 'être culpable jusqu'à ce que leur innocence ne soit établie.' Les représentants commerciaux par défaut sont culpables de tous les péchés que les autres représentants commerciaux ont commis contre un acheteur."

Depuis longtemps j'ai gardé en mémoire ce paragraphe parce que je le trouve exact. Je me suis absolument senti -- à plusieurs reprises -- 'vendu' et manipulé à la suite d'avoir traité avec certains vendeurs. Puisque je déteste ce sentiment, j'ai toujours essayé d'être le plus authentique possible quand je traite avec mes clients et clients potentiels. Pour moi il est très important que les gens qui achètent les services que je représente se sentent entièrement à l'aise quant à leur choix. C'est bien le sentiment que je veux avoir lorsque je fais un achat important.