Misperception of the "Big guy"

We hear it often about top execs or ultra-successful people: they're cold, calculating, selfish, political, etc. After all, they have to be, to be to be successful, right?

Wrong.

The majority of the successful people I've known are respectful, inspiring, honest, sincere and fair. They have to be or they'd be facing failure at every turn.

Successful people are sometimes vilified by others who don't want to do what it takes or be what it takes to be successful themselves.

Successful execs have a lot of pressure and time constraints, but so do most of us. The best of us still take time to focus on relationships.

An employee of ours told me once about how great one of my friends, Rich, was. "Oh, he's just great, a real normal, down-to-earth guy." When I told her that Rich ran the largest division of an orthopedic company, she replied, "Oh, well he's different than the rest of those execs, then. He's a real person."

We can't profile execs anymore than we should anyone else. They're human beings and when they are successful, it's usually because of the good things--not the bad things--they do.


Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com