Extreme Salesman
At a certain age we are, irrevocably, who we are.
There are certain superficial remedies that can make a condition more tolerable and I feel I have spent this part of my life accommodating and compensating in the right measures.
Extreme: Something done with exceptional and superb discretionary effort. It exists when a person chooses a higher bar for themselves, their behavior and output. It is when their competition is the idealized and optimized self.
I am extreme in those big and little, intricate moments that make up a life. Extreme is meticulous. It’s not just doing something but doing it mindful of what is the best, what is optimal. It is attention to the details and to proper form. Extreme is an awareness that happens when you challenge yourself to do it better. I think of myself as a very precise nuclear detonation. My discipline is keeping the explosion contained, directed to an objective and productive.
Salesman (or salesperson/woman) is a person who can properly communicate complex intangibles, make processes clearly understood and operable and, above all, who cares. An extreme salesperson will never comprimise the integrity of themselves, their company and the underlying product or service. They will never jeopardize the client and the the preciouseness of good will/good faith.
I am a salesman. Just as some people might have been bestowed a nature fitting a CEO and ohers might be artistically inclined and possess all the character components of that type. I like being responsible for revenue creation and production. It is an intimate ‘checks and balances’ and my temperament fits quite snuggly in its glove.
I have been very fortunate to have been an investor and significant stakeholder in many great companies (and I wrote about the process, transition and the ‘why’ here: https://www.adamtownsend.me/sales-salesman-sell-something ) all have been the cream of their industry crop.
I hope all the best salespeople choose to sell only the best product for the best company. There are many sales people urgently selling the wrong products to the wrong prospects. The best salespeople understand their own premium and only sell the best.
One other ingredient of me that did not lyrically fit within a moniker is inquisitiveness. Which is why I have also included a tagline, “Always Interested and Sometimes Interesting”