Elite Sales Strategies

5Your Role as a Sense Maker

What is essential is invisible to the eye.

—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The world looks very different when you view it through a new lens. During my life, I have sought out lenses that provide a clearer view of myself, other people, the world, and the nature of reality. Unfortunately, not everyone shares that goal. We live in a time of extreme polarization, one in which people refuse to acknowledge—let alone respect—other people's perspectives. One of the keys to personal and professional growth is to get outside yourself, so you can not only respect but also understand others' lenses. Let me give you a few examples of how other One-Up experts have helped me reach that goal.

In 1995, I was walking past the new nonfiction releases at Barnes & Noble when I noticed a book with a strange cover and a provocative title: The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History by Howard Bloom. The book was a master class in memetics, showing how ideas compete. You might believe that you possess ideas, but ideas possess you. They're like viruses, infecting individuals and spreading. The strongest ones compete to prevent others from replacing them. If you are going to be infected by ideas, you should shop for those that are proven to improve your life and your results, rejecting the limiting beliefs that will constrain every area of your life. Influenced by Bloom's work (and our friendship), I will describe what I think of as a higher-resolution ...