Does Dude Have What You Want

We all have our own cabinet of trusted advisors. Your BFF since the 3rd grade, pastors, parents, brothers and sisters and others who have played significant roles in our lives. It’s to these “wise sages” we turn for advise when facing decisions and dilemmas . We seek them out because we trust them to look objectively at the situation and to advise us with our best interest in mind, seeking no personal gain or hidden agenda.

While trust and forthrightness are important when seeking out guidance, are they enough? Should you be asking you friend who just had his car repossessed to help you set up a personal budget? Should you ask your uncle who has lived in the same apartment for 40 years for Advice on buying a house? While my father could probably give me great guidance on how to get across to a problem student, I probably wouldn’t ask him the best place to drill an oil well.

If you have something you want to accomplish in life and you want to do it well, then you should seek out the most successful person you can find at that task and ask them how they did it. When I went into sales I started by reading books by people who had been leaders in the field. Then when I would start a new sales job I would find the top dog and sew my pant leg to his/hers. When in the Army, I talked my way into a job I had no clue how to do. I then went to the post library and checked out a couple of manuals on the subject. Every time I was assigned a task I had never done, I went and asked my counter parts in other units how they would do it. As a result I received awards for superior performance including a perfect score on a major annual inspection. All on work that was mostly plagiarized ideas from other individuals who had “been there, done that”.

Most things you are trying to do in life have already been done by someone else. When heading out on a trip, do you just start driving cross country or do you get a map and follow the roads others have taken? Remember this quote I heard from a really good salesman: “If you do what “Dude” says, you will get what “Dude” has. Does “Dude” have what you want?”