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This coming November, the United States is faced with a clear choice, between more of the same old politics or change.  McCain has tried to steal Obama’s catch-phrase of “change”, but come on, let’s get serious.  What does a 72-year old know about change?  John McCain has been a US Senator for over 25-years and during that time, our country has stuck it’s heals in the sand and fought change tooth and nail.

I was a child when John Kennedy was first elected president, but I can still recall the excitement that hung in the air like smoke on the water.  The United States fully rebounded from the Second World War and our stature as a world leader was confirmed.  By electing a young and charismatic president, we sent a strong signal to the world that our country was ready to move into the future brimming with confidence and we were electing a young, new leader to get us there.  In his short tenure as president, John Kennedy inspired a nation of young people to look beyond their own self interests and to reach for their full potential by striving to serve the world’s greater good.  John Kennedy was a rare and visionary leader and because of that, he posed a threat to the old guard.  True leaders are far and few between.  Leaders cannot be created or promoted.  Leadership cannot be taught or learned.  Real leadership come from the soul.  Leadership is derived out of an ingrained sense of purpose and servitude.  There is no substitute for leadership.

Our form of government is the world’s greatest not because our leaders created it, but because it has created leaders.  Democracy is the best form of government because it fosters an atmosphere of leadership development by creating the environment and the conditions that allows for men and women to strive to reach for their full potential.

As Peter Drucker wrote in ”The Practice of Management”, “Leadership is the lifting of a man’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a man’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a man’s personality beyond its normal limitations. ”  “Nothing better prepares the ground for such leadership than a spirit…that confirms in the day-to-day practices…strict principles of conduct and responsibility, high standards of performance, and respect for the individual and his work.”

This entire campaign has put on display an old man striving desperately to cling to his good old boy power with old ideas and worn out tactics of bullying and disrespect for anyone that may disagree with him against a brash, intelligent, young leader with new insights and fresh creativity borne of his multi-racial cultural upbringing and his advanced education.

Obama understands better than anyone that our country needs a change in direction.  As every business 101 student can tell you, change is inevitable and change is almost always for the best.  Change makes us stronger by keeping us on our toes and preventing us from resting on our laurels.  And more importantly, whether you like it or not, and whether you are ready for it or not, change is coming.  You might as well accept it and prepare your best to meet the challenge.  Nothing stands still.  The world continues to revolve and not acknowledging it won’t stop it. 

The United States stands on the precipice of a changing future.  We can either lead the world with new ideas or we will be surpassed by others with new ideas.  Barack Obama has the vision to lead our country into a new tomorrow.  A vote for Barack Obama is a vote for hope.  Vote for Barack Obama.     

As a salesman, I have never had any interest in learning or reading about the practice of management.  True, I’ve been a sales manager for three different companies, but I never quite had the same passion for managing as I’ve had for selling.  For the most part, I have always believed that I could manage a sales team or group by the seat of my pants.  Surely, I thought, as a successful salesperson, all I had to do was imbue my sales team with the same tools that I possess.  But I was wrong.  The tools that make a person successful in sales are NOT the same tools required to succeed in sales management.  Unfortunately, the standard career path in sales is that you take your most successful salesperson and promote them to sales manager.  This might work out OK, for the most part, but in order to rise above mediocrity in any field, but especially in the field of management, something more is required.  Management is a specialized field that deserves our best coaches, motivators and teachers.  Managers can make or brake a company.  Managers are entrusted with young and malleable minds and owe it to their employers to give their very best effort.  So how do you do that?

I had heard about Peter Drucker for years.  According to the few references that I would occasionally come across, Peter Drucker is considered by many successful CEO’s, management experts and business consultants as one of the best, if not THE best authority in the field of management that has ever lived.  Well, I finally decided to give him a try and as luck would have it, the first Peter Drucker book that I read was too heavy for my tastes and I got bogged down.  That book still sits on my shelf to this day, laying there, half read and half unread.  Luckily for me, that wasn’t my last attempt at reading Peter Drucker.  Even though I couldn’t get completely through that first book, I did find enough interesting points to merit further consideration.  And boy am I glad I did.  Had I let my lack of interest in that first book close me off to Peter Drucker books forever, I would have been worse off for the loss.  But I did give him another try.  I have only read two more books of his and a small article that he published, but now I am of the opinion that he is a genius.  Seriously.  The second book that I came across is called “The Effective Executive”.  It ties the role of management in quite nicely with the role of sales.  Just that one book gave me so much respect for Peter Drucker that I became a disciple right away.  But it was the next book that really sold me.  It is called “Managing for Results”.  This is a very powerful book and should be required reading for employees at all levels.  There are some parts of the book that he gets into some accounting concepts that I had to skip right over.  But for the most part, his writing style is simple and direct, at least in these last two books.

Peter Drucker lived to be over ninety years old and only recently died.  He taught at Harvard and wrote over twenty or thirty books and volumes of articles and papers.  He has influenced some of the greatest business leaders of the past three or four generations, including Jack Welch, Sam Walton, Tom Peters and many others.  He started writing in the late forties and early fifties and many of his books have been reprinted and distributed many times over.  The lessons that he imparts are timeless and his management practices can be found in many of the most successful corporations the world around.  I’m sorry that it took me so long to be introduced to Peter Drucker, but I guarantee that it’s better late than never.

As an avid golfer, I’ve noticed that I always enjoy my rounds more when my playing partner(s) and/or opponent(s) are at least as good as I am or better.  Playing with someone below my level of skill is not really as much fun as it is when I play with or against someone of equal or great ability.  It seems that my level of play always rises or falls to the level of the competition.  If the person(s) that I am playing with is playing well, then odds are that I’ll also play well.  But if the level of play is poor, I’ll somehow manage to also play equally as poor.  I’m sure that there are many factors for this, all of which are psychological, but one thing is certain; I have much more fun and enjoyment whenever I play against tougher competition because it makes me play better than when I play against weaker competition.

You can understand this phenomenon even more when you are a spectator.  Just ask yourself, would you rather watch a sporting event with 1) two weak teams 2) one weak team against a strong team or 3) two strong teams?  As an avid sports fan, I can tell you the best contests are those that pit two high caliber teams against each other.  That’s why championship games like the Superbowl always garner such high television viewership and ratings, because it’s in our nature to want to see the best vying against the best.

But yet, when it comes down to our own lives, we foster no such ambition.  In fact, we prefer that our lives be easy and with as few obstacles and challenges as possible.  We don’t want to face any adversity, as if life is supposed to be nothing but easy.  But life isn’t supposed to be easy, because life is a game and games are more fun when they challenge us.  The bigger the challenge, the more interesting the outcome.  So don’t let adversity, challenges and obstacles get you down.  Be a winner and don’t quit.  Find a way to muster the internal fortitude to rise to the challenge.  Focus your energies on coming out on top, someway, somehow.  In life, you only get to play one game, and the shot clock is ticking.