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Kick-off 2013, President's Club, and how to eat a whale.

This weekend I attended the 2013 Sales Kick Off (SKO) for my company. It was a great event, dare I say extravaganza.

In this post I won't really discuss the SKO specifics, but more about the inflection and resulting motivation it imbued.

At SKO, my company announced the 2012 President's Club winners at a lovely dinner on the first night there. Our President of Sales gave a brief summary of every winning rep, and a snapshot of the successes they had that led them to win the honor of this trip. It was inspiring.

I have attended many President's Clubs with my previous employer, enough to instill an understanding that my ability to claim true success meant going to "Club". Since joining my new company, my sales have been less than stellar so far. I am building, and expect 2013 to be the year of change. Back to the Future.

As they read off the winners I had a mix of emotions....reflection on my past successes, an odd acceptance of my current situation of "growth and acquisition" mode, and a longing that was a bit new...in my past,  'Club' became expected....a future 'Club' win will be a much deeper testament to success. I started over and so my immediate obstacles will, when vanquished, be much higher accomplishments. There is a sort of peace in all of this.

One thing I did not feel towards the Club Winners was ANY form of envy, at least not in the traditional sense. This year, it was simply a non-option for me. The only way 'Club' would have even been possible for me would have been by some early and massive windfall, and would most likely have been more of an example of luck than long-term and strategic investment in building my business. I was proud and happy for my team mates, but see myself at a different stage in my current role. What I felt was that peace I mention above, and a wave of inspiration. My time will come, and I must view my success as inevitable, if I am to make it so (a self fulfilling prophecy).

My company also armed me with examples of success by doing the following: showcasing substantive differentiators I can use to beat my competitors, defining examples of best-practices used by some of my peers that got them to where I am heading, and how to navigate/engage/adopt the necessary paths and/or resources to empower my success. (Disclaimer: Day 1 of SKO was a bit of a pep-rally, with minimal impact. Day 2 was more of the substantive content, and impacted me deeply).

So....I am inspired...I am excited....and I am committed. The work ahead of me will be rewarding and the end results I now see as inevitable.

I've got my knife and fork and understand that to eat a whale, you have to do it bite by bite. And I am hungry.

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