behavior as “independent,” which really meant, “I don’t like listening to
other people,” or, “I’ve got my own way of doing things,” or, “I’ll figure it
out on my own.” More often than not, however, they were unable to “figure
it out on their own.”
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING TALENTED
AND BEING A CHAMPIONOn a flight home from Detroit, I was seated next to a former coach of
the Detroit Red Wings, who now acts as a scout for the organization. Curious
about the critical mass components that a professional hockey scout looks
for, I asked what features were most important to him when considering a
top draft pick. I was intrigued by his answer.
He replied, “Like every other team, we’re looking for great athletes.
Great athletes are a combination of strength, speed, and agility. But to be
real honest with you, strength, speed, and agility are a dime a dozen. The
most important component for us is what I would call coachability. We have
seen too many kids who have all the physical gifts but won’t listen to coach-
ing. They have experienced enough success doing things their way that
they refuse to listen to anyone else’s way. If you want athletes, you recruit
strength, speed, and agility. But if you want champions, you recruit athletes
with coachability.”
The first idea that stirred in me from this conversation was a close par-
allel between the critical mass for sales success and the critical mass for ath-
letic success. Before the scout brought up coachability, he talked about
strength, speed, and agility. The strength of sales professionals comes from
their competitive drive. Their speed in achieving results is due to achieve-
mentality. The feature that enables us to wrangle out of difficult situations
is due to wit—intellectual and emotional agility.
What I found most amazing from his comments was that his organiza-
tion had come to the same conclusion that we had regarding the ceiling be-
tween good and great. There is no doubt that teachability (or coachability)
is the emotional hinge upon which the door of potential swings.
FINDING AND ADDRESSING WEAKNESSES
People at the top had, at some point in their careers, identified and ad-
dressed the weaknesses that were holding them back from fulfilling the
potential they felt within. It is worth noting that these individuals chose
48 SELLING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE