Don't Eat The Marshmallow Yet!: The Secret to Sweet Success in Work and Life by Joachim de Posada & Ellen Singer

Author:Joachim de Posada & Ellen Singer [de Posada, Joachim]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2005-09-06T04:00:00+00:00

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up.

It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.

WHEN THE SUN COMES UP, YOU’D BETTER BE RUNNING.

“Wow, Mr. P. That is a hell of saying.”

“Yes, Arthur, that is why I have kept it in my wallet for twenty years.

“So, we are ready every day to run faster than our competitors and stay on top of research and market demands.”

“What else makes you successful, Mr. P?”

“We always have to obey the thirty second rule. Anyone who masters the thirty second rule will be more successful than people who don’t, even if those people are smarter, more talented and better-looking.”

“What’s the rule, Mr. P?”

“No matter what you do for a living, you are first and foremost in the business of connecting with people. Those people will decide whether to connect with you within the first thirty seconds of meeting you.”

“So you either make a good first impression or forget it?”

“Something like that. If people decide that they like you, everything about you is cast in a favorable light. Do you leap around when you get excited? Someone who likes you will regard that as enthusiasm. Someone who doesn’t like you will think your leaping is a sign of idiocy. An interviewer who likes you might interpret your good manners as considerate, while one who doesn’t like you might label you as weak. If a manager likes you, your self-confidence will be viewed as strength of character. A manager who doesn’t like you will consider you arrogant.”

“And this is all based on perception?”

“Yes. One person’s genius is another person’s dumbness. It all depends on how you are pictured in the other person’s imagination. Capture the imagination and you will capture the heart. The thirty second rule is one business dictate that you can be glad about, Arthur. You connect naturally with people. It will serve you well always.”

“Thanks, Mr. P. That means a lot, especially coming from you.”

“Some experts estimate that twenty percent of your financial success comes from your skills, talents and knowledge, while eighty percent comes from your people skills, your ability to connect with other people and gain their trust and respect. Whether you are interviewing for a job, trying to get a raise or selling a product or service, the better you are at connecting with other people, the better your chances of getting what you want.”

“That makes sense, Mr. P. I’ve met a lot of people who said they were smart—and they probably were—but since they were rude or nasty, I didn’t put much faith in what they said. And yet I’ve met other people and, without even questioning their expertise, believed they had something of value to tell me.”

“Because you liked them?”

“Yes, because I liked them. And no matter what people say about not making snap impressions or not judging a book by its cover, I think we all do it all the time.

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