As I write this, the media is covering the train crash in New Jersey. The governors of New York and New Jersey spoke about the horrifying news, and they also praised civilians who worked shoulder to shoulder with first responders to serve by helping the victims get out of the mangled train. I’m sure we’ll soon hear about citizens banding together to support those who need help. Relationship, service and support—a fundamental formula for life.
Our son has been a New Yorker for five years. This summer he contracted a life threatening heart valve infection, while visiting Austin, Texas for a bachelor party. His friends, who have known him for less than five years, jumped into action. We got to see the relationship, service and support behavior that the governors praised this week.
The friends who were with him in Austin missed work to stay with him until we could get there. His friend’s parents drove from Dallas, Texas to make sure he was ok. In their words, ‘once you’ve come to our home you are family’. Our good friend’s oldest son is a physician in Dallas and he made time in his day to take a call to help us decipher what the Austin medical team was saying. These people all demonstrated that culture of relationship, service and support.
The owner of the company our son works for sent a case of Texas BBQ to the hospital. It was the best I’ve ever had and I’ve been to Texas more times than I can count. The owner also made adjustments so our son would have the right health coverage during the two month recovery when he was unable to work. That same owner introduced us to a renowned New York cardiologist who made time, at no charge, to give us advice even though he had never met us. Relationship, service and support.
You might be asking why I’d write about this on a business blog. The reason is that business is just a subset of life. Our son’s boss and that cardiologist, gave us tremendous support during this time of need because, above all, it’s how they run their lives. That culture of relationship, service and support is what led them to success in the subset of their lives called business.
I write about and consult on a subset of business called sales. I teach that the best salespeople practice the culture of relationship, service and support that is at the core of the people who helped our son, and they do it in big life and the subsets. Practice and promote a culture of relationship, service and support and you’re already well on your way to success in the subset of life called business.
©2016 Rick Wong, The Five Abilities® LLC
