Perspectives That Serve #3 - Ambition

Ambition is an attitude some of us are ambivalent about. We are not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. Sometimes we think a little of both. I guess it’s true that ambition can drive us to do good things and bad things. It needs to be tempered and modified by some of the other mind sets we are going through.

That being said, ambition, when tempered and directed can be a wonderful attitude to cultivate. Often we think of ambition solely in connection with money. But this doesn’t have to be the case. Ambition can be connected up altruism. I don’t think it too much of a stretch to say that Mother Theresa was ambitious. So I would encourage you to cultivate the attitude or mind set of ambition. Just make sure you are ambitious to do good things with your life that involve serving others.

Ron Willingham talks about what he calls “Achievement Drive”. He says, We release achievement drive when we have a balanced view of selling that is expressed by these attitudes:

1. I feel a professional responsibility to create as much value for a customer as possible.

2. I know that I will, and should be, rewarded to the degree that I create value for other customers.

3. So I will focus on creating as much value as possible for clients, knowing that I’ll be rewarded accordingly.


Ron is right on the money here, both figuratively and literally. I would only add that this is something that works over time and not necessarily in the immediate of every single customer exchange. Don’t walk out and say to your customer, “I provided the value, now where’s my reward”. It doesn’t work that way.