Following are three oft-repeated responses that I would characterize as
“emotional time bombs.”
Failing to Tell the Truth
Each year, the Heisman trophy is given to America’s premier
collegiate football player. In 1939, the winner of that coveted prize
was the legendary running back from the University of Iowa, Niles
Kinnick.
Kinnick’s legend extended far beyond his exploits on the field.
He gave his life in World War II and was posthumously decorated.
Iowa’s football stadium today bears his namesake.
Greater than all of his accomplishments, however, was this man’s
honor.
On the last day of Kinnick’s award-winning season, the Hawkeyes
were playing for the Big Ten Championship. With just seconds to
go in the game, the Hawkeyes were driving to their opponent’s
goal line.
Kinnick took the handoff and headed to the end zone for what
would be the winning score. Just as he hit the goal line, he fum-
bled. The officials could not decide if he had crossed the goal be-
fore the fumble—and everyone knew that the championship was
on the line.
The officials then did something unheard of: knowing Niles
Kinnick to be a man above reproach, they asked him if he had
crossed the goal. Kinnick replied that he was 99 percent sure that
he had not crossed the goal line.
Iowa lost the championship.
Why is Kinnick’s legacy so great? In the words of William
Shakespeare, “No legacy is so rich as honesty.”—The Daily DoseWhile every person’s standard for truth varies in its rigidity, most would
agree that the failure to speak truthfully about products and the level of
service provided jabs like a thorn in the foot of the client’s psyche. Once a
sales professional gains a label for stretching the truth, misrepresenting,
saying anything to get the sale—or any other phrase meaning lying—it is
hard to shake.
Gay Hendricks, in her book, Seven Secrets of the Corporate Mystic, studied
highly successful corporate leaders and distilled the basic personal charac-
teristics these people had in common. The first shared characteristic was
the belief in practicing absolute honesty. They had all come to the conclu-
208 SELLING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE