There was once a time when a person’s worth was defined simply by their professional career, their professional accomplishments, and how many cups of coffee in a day they needed just for the safety and protection of those around them. For me, I have had many experiences working for/with these types of people who were focused on not just achieving their goals, regardless of how they went about doing it, but also ensuring that their “brand” was that of a bombastic, relentless, ruthless, cold blooded, fire breathing, Voldemortian* agent of the “Baron and Baroness Bomburst from Vulgaria.”**. While I am quite certain those types of characters still exist in today’s business world, at least now those people may need to pretend to be a little kinder, honest and more sensitive.
So, what is it that defines us now?
I am often reminded of the character from “Seinfeld,” the great sage, Newman, who once opined with acuity “When you control the mail, you control information.” In the context of that particular television episode, the remark is a very funny one-off in an ironic and perceptive sort of way – especially coming from such a nincompoop who would much rather eat a Chunkie chocolate bar, walk a beat in Hawaii, or even just wear a UPS brown uniform instead of the USPS. But, with some thought and perspective, he does nail it. Maybe not on the mail delivery side. The true value of possessing, interpreting and properly dispensing information must be followed up with the ability to deliver.
In my professional life, I have always been in the “service and information business.” But, then again, we are all in the service and information business. Even if our product is not tangible - not physically manufactured. Whether it is counsel, medical, artistic, manual, clerical, academic, whatever…. We are selling an idea, a service, an opinion. Whatever we are putting out there, it has our figurative name on it - our legacy fingerprints. We’re all salespeople. The common thread to this notion is the gathering, manipulation, dissecting, and the use of information to then assemble, interpret and transmit, with our individual brand and signatures attached, to then pass it on. It all starts with the validity and accuracy of the information that we possess. We are as good as the information that we disseminate. We are only as good as the service that we offer.
*Yes, I just made that adjective up. Thank you “Harry Potter”
**No, I didn’t make that up. My generation. See “Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang"
