PARTING WORDS
Bumping into People
Jim Lee, LPC Executive Editor
B
e on the lookout as you go through life because you might accidentally bump into someone you deem important. Or someone who has achieved a great deal of success in their life. Or someone who is viewed as an expert in their chosen profession. I think we all like to shake hands or have a friendly conversation with people like this. Afterwards we go as fast as we can to tell our friends and family we met someone like this. It is a good feeling, don’t you think? I recently had an experience like this myself, of all places, on the golf course. I was paired with three other golfers at a golf event. The three knew each other, so I introduced myself. As I went through the introductions, I realized who I was playing with. One person was a former NFL coach who had two Super Bowl rings and was known for his defensive style of play. Another was a former all-star NFL center who had blocked for some of the great running backs. The last was a college all-American basketball player and very successful college coach who was known for his intensity. And yes, afterwards, I did make a big deal out of it with family and friends.
Be on the lookout as you go through life because you might accidentally bump into someone you deem important. Or someone who has achieved a great deal of success in their life. Or someone who is viewed as an expert in their chosen profession. As I reflected on this “celebrity” experience of mine, I thought about how over the years I had “bumped into” many important, successful experts in loss prevention. I recalled how each had a personal trait that separated them from others. This led me to thinking about a magazine event coming up in October where I will have the pleasure of bumping into many of those experts again. So, I took the roster of attendees of the upcoming event and labeled each person with what I thought was the memorable personal trait that separated them from others.
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Here is a partial list. Perhaps you will recognize a friend, colleague, or even a boss from the list. I will bump into a person who had a meager start in the business, but has a mountain full of accomplishments and has never forgotten where he came from. I will bump into a person who is ultra-competitive and always needs to win. His losses are so rare that when it does happen, he may not enjoy the winning as much. I will bump into a person who does not hide his feelings, thoughts, or hopes. He shares them with others and feels self-content from doing so. I will bump into a person who believes that physical exercise as basic as walking 1,860 days in a row makes her healthier and creates a positive uplifting attitude that she shares with others. I will bump into a person who has experienced some bad times and challenges, but realized that they were temporary setbacks and fought back the disappointment to achieve even greater success. I will bump into a person who believes that giving help is a win-win situation, and that even a gesture of friendliness makes another person feel better and makes herself feel better as wwell. I will bump into a person who recognized that he does certain things well and others not so well. So he spends his time being the expert in his good areas and avoids his faults. I will bump into a person who always leaves some time to enjoy the day, be a little silly, and laugh. I will bump into a person who witnessed others making more money, being smarter, and maybe being better liked. But, he realized his life has been shaped by his everyday relationships and not by the lives others. I will bump into a person of a mature age who has heard the myth that only the young can enjoy life to the fullest. The truth for this person is that older people do not consider their younger days to be their best days, so he enjoys his senior time more than any other part of his life. There are many others who have a personal brand that I will bump into at our meeting. It will be a bigger “wow” experience than meeting those famous people on the golf course…none of whom knew anything about shrinkage or asset protection.
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013
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LPPORTAL.COM
