Have you ever walked into a dojo?

You know the drill. Leave your ego at the door. Enter barefoot. Bow to your sensei. Keep your eyes wide and all-seeing as you get into the proper breathing rythm, filling your stomach as you inhale, emptying your stomach as you exhale. You are completely relaxed so that when action is required, you deliver it with a snap.



The business world is a dojo. Arrogance (described as "ego plus ignorance" by world-famous author Robert Kiyosaki in his book Rich Dad Poor Dad) should be "left at the door." Ego, as any self-respecting sensei knows, interferes with ability, and the ego-pandering subscribed to by many bosses to motivate their sales force, often backfires in phoniness and inflated numbers. How many times have we seen the low-profile fellow quietly applying what he knows would get results, outstrip the flashy blowhard touted as top sales material? And then the boss turns around and tries to pump up the quiet guy's ego.



We live in a changing world where intuitive selling has the advantage of adaptability and regimented selling is slow to react to the vagaries of market trends. Making a seasoned salesman stop being intuitive and start following a rigid template like a rookie all over again, could be his undoing.