NSFW: Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross. This film has a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The above video was first sent to me by a star EMC sales rep in 2000.
EMC was then the 800-pound gorilla of data storage, and I was fresh out of college at my first job. Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with my field engineer, Bryan, TrueSAN Networks owned my ass. For $40,000 base, I would be paid to perform. Bryan and I were crammed into a four foot-wide fire exit doorway, we often slept under our desks, and we had to prepare for formidable competition. Namely, EMC and NetApp.
It was an exciting time to be David fighting Goliath.
EMC was famous for producing armies of A-grade salesmen. They’d hire former football players, train them to a berserker-like level of confidence, then unleash them with field-proven scripts. At the ends of quarters, wolf packs of EMC salespeople would descend upon borderline prospects, sometimes staging office sit-ins in their Men in Black attire, calmly notifying the exec in charge of buying decisions, “We’re not leaving until we get a PO [purchase order].” They were the Yankees, Dark Side, and X-Men, all wrapped into one.
They had sales rallies in rented out football stadiums, and their tribe devotion was otherworldly. I saw an “EMCDNA” license plate on a tricked out BMW on highway 101 once. I smiled and kept listening to Secrets of Power Negotiating by Roger Dawson. “One day,” I thought as I puttered along in my minivan, a hand-me-down from my mom, “I’ll beat those guys…” Read More
In this long overdue episode, join me and Kevin Rose as we catch up on topics ranging from start-ups and new projects to relationships and sexual enhancement through chemical cocktails. Thanks to Glenn for his usual Jedi videography.
Notes, Links, and Resources
The 4-Hour Chef – The new book. It’s going to be NUTS. CLEAR card for skipping security lines — Use code “RANDOM29″ at this link to get 67% off — $29 for the first 6 months. DuoLingo – Language learning. Rally – Crowdfunding and cause marketing. Lift – Elegant app for changing/improving behaviors (Plus: The WaterPik). Vittana – Imagine Kiva.org for education. Central Kitchen – My first restaurant investment (SF-based). BufferBox – (Update: I ultimately did not end up investing) Distributed pick-up points. The Graveyard Book – My new favorite audiobook, performed by Neil Gaiman. Trust Me, I’m Lying – Ryan Holiday’s guide to digital media and related cat-and-mouse games.
For previous episodes of The Random Show, click here.
Last but not least, The Random Show is now on iTunes! If you simply want audio-only, or if you’d like to watch the episodes on your iPhone or iPad, here you go:
Imagine what could be done if we had an X-men-like group of the world’s best scientists, independently funded and uninfluenced by industry, tackling the most important questions in nutrition?
I am thrilled to be a part of their Board of Advisors, alongside a diverse group of experts including David Berkowitz (Ziff Brothers Investments) and Nassim Nicholas Taleb (of Black Swan fame), among others.
Born from a shared vision of its co-founders, Peter Attia, M.D. and Gary Taubes, this non-profit will fund research that applies first-of-its-kind, rigorous scientific experimentation to the field of nutrition… Read More
Jack Canfield, as co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul, has more than 500 million books in print. Among them, he can count 47 New York Times bestsellers. Jack also provide me with the early advice and introductions that got The 4-Hour Workweek published, despite 26 rejections.
In the above video, which was filmed as a livecast, the tables are turned. I was honored to be interviewed by Jack and Steve Harrison, the founder of Radio-TV Interview Report (RTIR). In this conversation, we answer questions such as:
- How do I make writing (which I find hard) easier?
- How do I minimize writer’s block and overcome it when it creeps in?
- How have I improved my own writing?
- How do I handle or even plan controversial content?
- Is all PR good PR? (Short answer: No)
- What have I learned from Jack?
- How do you introduce your content to so-called “influencers” (a term I still dislike)?
- How do you craft the pitch and make the approach?
- What advice would I give to someone who wants to write their first book?
- How does one become more action-oriented during the process, and throughout life?
- How does the philosophy of Seneca apply to writing and selling a book?… Read More
