THE QUINTESSENTIAL SALESMAN BLOG INTRODUCTION

When I began writing the Quintessential Salesman Series, it was based on a very simple concept: that all human interaction whether in business, or sales, or even life; is based on the simple truth that we must first relate to each as human beings. As simple as this sounds it seems the world is hurtling toward the “dehumanization” of humanity. Emails, phone calls, Zoom sessions, and the like have all synthesized us into a numb, two dimensional world that robs us of the most basic and fundamental tenets of connecting with each other—of communicating with one another–and ultimately influencing each other.

The idea came from an unlikely source; a moment in time that shook America and the entire world. On January 28, 1986, seventy-three seconds after lift off, the space shuttle Challenger exploded nine miles above the earth. Despite thorough coverage of the accident by the media, the last few minutes inside the spacecraft were kept from the public.

Only years later would we learn that some of the members on board did not die in the explosion. And in those last few, terrible moments; as the spacecraft came crashing to earth, the last unofficial words recorded in the cabin was a single voice saying, “Give me your hand.”

They were not words of anger or regret. They were “human” words: words that resonate at the very heart of what it means to be human. When I first heard this story it made a lasting impression on me, and it occurred to me that it is in the simple act of reaching out to one another that the true strength of what we are, and who we are, is the most meaningful.

“Give me your hand,” reminds us in a way that no other words can, that we are never really complete as evolved creatures or master works of creation until we have the ability to connect with one another.

And of all the words that could have been spoken that day, “Give me your hand” leaves us with the undeniable truth that the simplest of all human gifts– are perhaps the most precious.
We may one day traverse the galaxy. Walk on distant planets and live in great cities beneath the ocean, but no matter how far we reach, no matter how high we climb, the one thing that will not change, and has not changed since the dawn of our existence, is our need for one another.

When I think of the words, “ Give me your hand”, I am reminded of Luciano De Crescenzo, a famous Italian writer and director, who once said—”We are each of us, angels, with only one wing, and it is only when we embrace each other….that we can fly.”

In the days and weeks to come I will be putting excerpts from the Quintessential Salesman on my business blog entitled, “The Quintessential Salesman Business Blog” and I invite you to visit and contribute whenever possible. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.