“Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant.” Matthew 20:26 NASB
Our inclination should always be to serve vs. sell. The great disparity is expecting no immediate return on investment, even after a level of service (value) has been rendered. Rendering more value above any immediate reward reveals intentional wisdom and discipline. If your approach is contrary to a transactional approach, you’re likely ahead of the harvest.
I once read a statistic that noted the sales industry is the largest breeder of alcoholics. Why do you think this is? This could be the result of experiencing periodic levels of rejection from expecting an immediate return on service; expecting nothing in return for knowledge and expertise (value) shared within an industry will grant much larger reward later.
From an intuitive, entrepreneurial thought process rendering more value above reward could mean a large “paradigm shift” (change). However, human nature can distort our view of change and reveal change from two different perspectives…pleasure & pain. Unfortunately, when incorporating change, the pain typically arrives prior to pleasure. Simply getting passed the initial pain threshold will allow personal & professional growth to take place, resulting in the pleasure of winning.
This concept helps to consider the game of golf. When playing golf, the players are not competing against each other rather, against themselves and the golf course. In business, to achieve professional growth we’re not competing against competitors (other players) rather, against ourselves and the marketplace is the golf course. Striving to be better servers of industry is sowing a seed that will bear fruit later in a professional career.