Og Mandino

My wife is participating in a class that is designed to improve her sales technique. It is called Integrity Selling and provides an excellent picture of how to ensure your client is getting what they want instead of what you want to sell them. I am sure that there is a little of both mixed in because a salesman by definition is someone who sell things to you and the more they sell the more they make. But Integrity Selling ensures that there is agreement between both parties. Not at all like buying a car.

The class is broken into teams and each team awards a gift to the student that has gotten the most from the lesson. My wife was awarded a book called The Greatest Mystery in the World by Og Mandino. I had never heard of Og (as his close friends called him) before seeing the book. He was a sought after motivational speaker from the 1980’s and 1990’s. He has a series of books about selling and how to improve your life. His biography makes it sound like he would have been a great person to hear.

I started reading The Greatest Mystery in the World and have not been blown over by what he has to say. It is nothing I haven’t heard before. The avenues of thought are almost like he was straining to put something down on paper. The book starts out almost mystical with Og being visited by a hermit like man who is a closet philosopher. He provides structure and vision for Og and then disappears without a trace for almost 20 years. When he comes back into Og’s life, it is in the middle of a field in a rural section of New Hampshire. Something smells fishy to me but it is his story and he is sticking to it. Anyway, the book uses old out of print authors to makes points concerning the ladder to success. I have never heard of any of the authors and it seems like he used books that the copyright had expired so he would not have to pay royalties.

I have not finished “Mystery” yet but I am not anticipating any Earth shattering truths. At lease with modern self help you get a little more glitz, smoke and mirrors.

Icool

Cobb