The multi-millionaire
Ladies and gentlemen, I´m sorry for taking a couple of days with no new posts here, but I really had a pretty busy week. Everyone who has been reading some posts on this blog probably knows that I am supposed to be a student; what may not be so clear is that I’ve also been struggling a bit to pay the bills. Along with my father, who’s an experienced sales-man but a rather unseasoned sales executive, I went out today to meet with the president-director and major share-holder of the third strongest company on the beverage business in my state. It just happens that we have exactly the kind of business they were looking for, and so we scheduled what was supposed to be a quick introduction of our proposals. The meeting was very impressive because the prospect values that circled around the table. I’m not posting details about the negotiation here because not only the matter of it is still confidential, but also because this is not a business blog. This is a Self-centered blog, so I’ll tell just what impressed me on a personal level.
I was pretty anxious about this meeting. I’ve met a few important executives in the past, although none as rich or as important as this gentleman. I’ve grown used to old self-important men who mistreated people below them (including me, of course) and didn’t ever spare more than five minutes for small negotiators such as us. Guess I’ve been kicked up and down for a while now. Anyway, I was up for a surprise.
The president promptly received us at arrival. His modest looks rival the regular gentleman of the middle classes, but, of course, with taste. This man quickly understood that me and my father were both rat-racers, who had no real power on the negotiations to follow; we were just there to introduce it and then live the big things for the big guys. But, what was to be a five minute rushed conversation turned out to be a pleasant hour and a half, on which not only did we comfortably presented our proposals but, also, had a private lesson on the matters of the beverage market. He was sympathetic from the begining to the very end of the conversation and, at good-byes, he invited us to meet the factory. We accepted gratefully this invitation, and the president picked one of his assistants out of the cubicle and instructed him to show us around.
It was, after all, a most pleasant encounter, and it brought to my mind several thoughts about decency and humility – both values I mostly think very little of, but that really impressed me in the way it were presented on this man. To the eye of the frequently misanthrope blogger that writes here, he definitely scored one point for mankind.
By the way, if this deal gets closed, it will be enough to improve my life style on about 100%. I ma be able to become a full-time student! And, of course, my posts will become a lot more regular!
