Tips for Twits

Gary and I was in a sales and management class and we were sitting on the same table as a late 30 to 40ish entrepreneur, Greg. When we first introduced ourselves as product managers and designers, he could barely wait for us, these couple 20ish year old kids, to finish our introduction.

Into the class, we worked on a short assignment about selling a product and he went into details into talking about the features instead of higher order benefits. From the start, he was so sure he was to be the one representing the team. He was insistence about his answers. It was obviously wrong in this context and I could see his body language turned from confidence to hostility to frustration as Gary and I cogently put forward our points and the consultant trainer agreeing with us every step of the way.

It was clear that we turned him around and later he became more interested in what we do in Savant Degrees.

This incident had me thinking. When I’m his age, will I have the humility to listen and learn? I believe the only reason why we were able to grow so rapidly in the last few years is because we were like a sponge. We had to learn from everyone, including our peers, our clients, our mentors, our parents etc. Everyone has something to teach and we just need to listen.

I’m writing this now and in years to come, when I’m acting like Greg. Please forward me this.

The Greg Syndrome n. A condition where a person has an inability to learn through open discussion and listening due to pride, ego, seniority, age, expertise(lack of) or a combination of the following.