NBA scouts have an interesting method of assessing a

player’s assets. They ask five questions about a college

basketball prospect:

1. Does he have a weapon? For example, the “sky hook”

that Kareem Abdul Jabbar had in his day.

2. Does he have a position? Can he play either guard, center,

or forward so well as to leave no doubt as to what position

he should play?

3. Can he get his own look? In other words, can he work

the court in order to get a shot at the basket from his

highest percentage spot on the floor?

4. Can he defend his position? A player has to move his feet

quickly in order to stay in front of his opponent and

keep him from scoring, or at least to make it difficult for

him to score. It takes commitment to play good defense.

5. Does he “get it”? Can he lead? Does he have a work

ethic? Is he responsible? Will he be a team player?

You can make the same assessment about yourself. A

prospective employer will want to know the same things about

you that the basketball scout wants to know about a player.

When making your personal assessment here are a few basic

questions you will want to address:

1. Do you have a weapon? What makes you nearly

impossible to replace?

2. Do you have a position? What’s your specialty?

3. Can you get your own look? Are you self-sufficient? Are

you a self-starter?

4. Can you defend your position? Do you know your stuff?

Can you express yourself?

5. Do you “get it”? Are you a responsible individual? Are

you a team player?

Experience leads us to learn the truth about who we are and what we need to do to succeed in life. This article is about my five truths as I have lived them.

I’d like to tell you about my mentor. Eleanor Ross grew up in Maine and for many years operated a 17-room guest house on a beach somewhere in New England. She was a hard working, no nonsense single mother of three girls when I met her. She was the official reporter to a United States District Court Judge in Maryland.

Over the course of nearly 40 years in the workforce, 35 years as a professional, I have my own idea of what professionalism is.  I define professionalism as commitment:   commitment to service; commitment to improvement; and commitment to brand.

People ask me why, after 38 years, I am still working hard every day in my profession.  I tell them because I’ve finally figured it out!  I’ve gotten pretty good at what I do, I value the people I work with, I know how to acquire the business that I want and I know how to maintain it.  Why stop now?  Then they ask me well, how did you build your business?  And I reply, mistake after mistake until I reached my goals.

I heard a fascinating story today.  After hundreds of hours of flying time, always with a co-pilot/instructor, Joe decided he wanted to get his pilot’s license.  All that was lacking was for him to fly solo.  But he needed to overcome his fear of taking his plane up by himself.  Joe thought about all of the flight hours he and his co-pilot/instructor had logged, the times he had taken control of the plane during takeoff and landing, all of the knowledge he had about his airplane, and one blue sky clear day he decided to fly solo.  Joe decided that he would make the 40-minute flight from Baltimore up to the Delaware  line, following Route 95 and the Susquehanna River, and then back to Baltimore.  This was a familiar route, one that Joe felt very comfortable with.  He knew the flight path so well that he could fly by sight and discard his charts and maps.

Robert E. Brown and Dorothea Johnson are the authors of The Power of Handshaking [1].  Mr. Brown is a sales expert and Ms. Johnson is a protocol authority for business professionals.  They list the basic handshakes as:  All-American, Lingering, Push-off, Pull-in, Two-handed, The Topper, Finger Squeeze, Palm Pinch, Twister, Royal, Water Pump, and Dead Fish.  Pretty self-explanatory, aren’t they?

In Part 1 of this Silent Marketing activity we were introduced to the types of handshakes, and we learned about the purpose of the handshake.  In Part 2 let’s explore one of the handshake types:  the Dead Fish.  A professionally attired businessman introduced himself to me at a business meeting.  He reached out to shake my hand, I reached out to meet his hand, and he grasped my hand with the tips of his fingers.

A great quarterback has the ability to lead his team to victory in the last two minutes of a game.  The superstars do it in the biggest games with the most on the line.  Unitas, Montana, Elway, Brady, are among the superstars.