Loser to Winner Over Lunch

Here’s an excellent demonstration of our Quote of the Week: On Winners & Losers at work.

My first  job after college was –  a job.   And actually – I didn’t like it very much, wasn’t very good at it and frankly felt like a loser.  But – I figured I would get used to it.   The job.  Not feeling like a loser.

After about six months, my boss, Kay,  invited me to lunch.   After the waiter took our order and was out of earshot,  Kay said,  “I’ve been wondering…what happened to that vivacious young woman I hired?” 

Somehow, I managed to hold onto my chair and breathe through the urge for fight or flight.  Both were major possibilities.  It took a while but the breathing must have helped because through all the defensive ruckus in my brain I finally heard a  sane sounding voice in my head saying, “Good question.   Where DID that vivacious woman go?”

And then,  out came the answer.   I explained that in college, I had been very involved with an assortment of activities and causes on campus,  even in charge of some things, had definite purpose, felt needed and that I missed all of that.

So – you know what she did?

She found a way for me to win.

She put me in charge of a special project.  I had twice as much work and loved it!

I stayed at the company for 17 1/2 more years – as a Sales Rep,  General Manager and Executive Vice-President.

What if Kay hadn’t asked that question that day?

How long til I would have quit or gotten fired?

Six months?  A year?

What a waste of time and energy that would have been for both of us.

It won’t always work this way.  But isn’t at least worth a try?

Here are some additional tips to help you find the winner in those who seem “disguised” as losers:

copyright 2010 – Business Class Inc

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