Scott Ragsdale

Wasted talent … a theme which drives many of these entries.

so many exceptionally talented people … who could of and should of, but didn’t….

Tomorrow I want to re-discuss the idea…”you are only as good as your last sale…”

When I was in university, I fell 40 feet rock climbing … I broke my arm, my hand, my leg, my tail bone and had multi-skull fractures. I was in a coma for a couple of weeks and nearly died.

Stupidly, a friend and I had gone drinking beer at a place called “the rock” in the Berkeley hills one Friday afternoon. The rock is a mountain cliff with beautiful views of the S.F. bay and surrounding areas.

Stupidly, I got drunk and fell off the mountain.

After taking a year and a half off school to rehabiliate - I went back to University, but I could no longer swim at the same level as before and “retired.”

One day… the football coach heard about my accident and contacted me to speak to the football team … he wanted me to discuss the consequences of drinking, etc.

As my American readers understand … speaking to your university’s football team is a very big deal …. so I really prepared for it.

My speach was at a hotel, after an alumni dinner right before school and the season began … there was the team and their parents as well as several alumni.

After the dinner, the coach called me on stage ….

I explained to the team that I had been just a fairly good swimmer…. although I had dreams/goals of becoming great, I never achieved close to my talent …. one of the several reasons why I never achieved my full potential was because I let drinking, partying, and picking up girls (superfiscial pleasures) get in the way of my focus and goals.

I got really into the speech….it all clicked for me….because I was speaking from the heart.

I said to them something like:

“some of you guys have the potential to become NFL players and make a career with football and potentially millions of dollars playing the game you love … so do not let something as stupid as drinking/partying get in the way of your focus.”

At the end of my speech, I got a long standing ovasion and invited to have dessert and coffee with the Captains of the team.

I remember one of the captains … a “brad pitt” look a like that was built like Zeus…6′6″ (2 meters) and 240 lbs of pure muscle (120 kilos) a stud …

definately, this guy could pick up just about any girl he wanted… but he asked me, “how do you “not” drink….? don’t you feel uncomfortable?” I was shocked …. here is the ultimate male specimen basically telling me that he drinks because he needs to be “buzzed” to have the confidence to speak to women….. unbelievable.

at the same table listening to our conversation was the star player and his mother…. another guy built like Zeus, but even bigger …. he explained as well that drinking a couple beers made him more “loose” ….. and made several jokes and we all laughed.

I left that evening very proud … and over the season got invited to VIP parties with the team, and became friends with several of the players.

Sadly, around 9 months later, the guy who was bigger than Zeus… the star of the team who was projected to be the 4th overall pick in the NFL draft which was only a week away ….

without question this man was soon to be a multi-multi millionare, broke his neck in a drunk driving accident and is paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of his life.

I reitterate: The accident happened about 10 days before the NFL draft and he was expected to be the 4th person picked in the draft.

Surely, this man and his mother (whom was at that dinner and table that night I spoke to the team), surely they have thought about my speech and our discussion at their table that night. It is a terribly sad story.

Don’t let anything get in the way of your focus.

Up until that football players accident … I spoke to most of the sports teams including the basketball team where Jason Kidd was the star, I also spoke to high schools… but after this guy’s accident, I lost the drive and I never agreed to speak again.

The world is full of exceptional people …. people who have the talent to be great football players; great salesman; great leaders; etc.

but how many people fail to achieve their full potential because something gets in the way of their focus?

I had an interesting discussion with an american friend who lives in Europe. This person has never worked for me, so the company/management in discussion is not naseba, nor any naseba manager. However, I think the discussion is something we can all relate to, at least, I can …

Apparently, yesterday, my friends boss challenged a decision he had made. The boss has given this person a lot of freedom to do things the way he see’s fit - but this time, his boss overruled him.

I got several angry emails from my friend talking about how unfair the situation was … how the boss “thinks he is always right” …. and how my friend wants to quit, moan…moan….moan…

I do not think this friend reads my blog, so I will be brutally honest with my opinion of the situatuion:

This guy has become a spoiled baby who is so used to doing things the way he wants, the one time he is challenged by his boss … suddenly he shouts like a child not getting his way “I’m being micromanaged!!!”

On my run home from the office, I thought a lot about my friend and his spoiled baby response — and how I had once been, and reacted exactly the same way with my previous boss.

Its very hard for me to give this guy any input because this friend is the type of person who is always right, thus I never get involved giving him my thoughts or opinions … until yesterday.

At my previous company, there were many times Marcus (my previous boss) said or did things I did not agree with … and the few times he overruled me, I bitched and moaned like a spoiled baby, that I had become.

However, reflecting back … I can’t think of one time where I was right, and Marcus had been wrong … Obviously, he had the experience, and as my boss/chairman he knew a lot more than I did.
(just like I am sure my friends boss, because of his experience has a better understanding of whatever he had overruled than my friend does)

I tried to explain this to my friend - however, he got even more upset —- and he told me his boss micromanages too much ….”just like you” (this guy has never worked for me)

But I reminded him about the numerous times he had told Sophie and I, almost boasting about his role because he felt empowered by his boss because he was given so much freedom to do things the way he wants.

When the boss doesnt challenge him - he is the best boss in the world, but now since he is being challenged, the boss micromanages????

So I asked, with the point of trying to get my friend to reflect:

“.. why did your boss over rule a decision you had made? Was it because your boss felt it was in the best interest of the company?”

But with success … my friend has become somewhat of a total bitch and refuses to reflect … he kept responding “the guy thinks he is always right…”

Although I do not know my friends boss, I have been told the guy has a lot of experience, is extremely commercial and seems to know what he is doing. I don’t think he just stumbled to the top of the proverbial management mountain.

It reminds me so much of my relationship with my previous Chairman … I had the freedom to do things the way I wanted, but when my Chairman interfered and or changed a decision I had made, because he felt it was in the best interest of the company, I moaned and bitched like a spoiled child - suddenly I was being micromanaged.

Reflection is difficult. This friend sincerely believes he is the victim of an overbearing boss….completely, forgetting that this same boss is the one who has helped him develop and become the manager he is today.

When your boss challenges you, and or overrules decisions you make - instead of reacting like a child, and moaning that your boss is an asshole …. reflect on why he you are being overruled, and ideally learn and climb higher.

On the subject of how one person’s positivity can make all the difference in someones life…

One of the people I mentioned in the ode to the pirate ship of fools blog entry last week, “Candy,” has been keeping me up to date on his training program because he and I are both entered in a 100 mile race at the end of July. (because of him challenging and encouraging me, I entered the 100 mile race) Although we have never met, he is like my mentor for this ultra-marathon training and his input, enthusiasim and support is helping me stay focused.

The guy lives in London and runs 37+ miles, 4 times a week … I got an email from him today telling me how he “ran an easy 40 miles last night.”

His positivity and enthusiasm is motivating, and reading about all his crazy endurance training has really helped me wake up in the morning and get through long, challenging runs. It also has helped motivate me to run home from the office in Monaco after work (one long long long mountainous climb from Monaco to La Turbie which is absolute hell) There is no way I would be doing this had he not suggested I do more hill training to prepare for the 100 mile run in July.

Of course, there are times when I do not want to run (this morning is a good example and I am sure at the end of today, I will think twice before choosing my running shoes over my car keys) …. but thinking about this guy some where in London running “an easy 40 miles…” puts things into perspective and helps me focus.

Conversely, to the above discussion …. a friend of mine is training for a half marathon - this morning at the gym, I overheard her talking to an american friend of hers, and telling this friend how her legs are very sore and she jokingly, said maybe she will stop training … and this american friend passionately, almost too enthusiastically, told her that she should stop running because running is not good for her knees and she might get injured.

Surely, this young woman will think about her soreness tomorrow when she wakes up before she runs, and I bet she will follow her friends advice and stop training.

What her friend should have said: of course you will be sore in the beginning, but as you keep training your body will get into better shape … but most importantly, at the end of the day, pride lasts longer than pain.

The world is full of many great, talented people who fail because of losers in their life. Even just one bad influence; one bad friend or bad manager can completely destroy someones career, and potentially ones life.
Whitney Houston…Mike Tyson immediately come to mind.

My big theme with all my employees: “don’t let the losers in the world bring you down…”

The word “LOSER” can describe many types of people, and surely we all have our own opinion of what exactly a “loser” is …

I consider pedophiles, thieves, and liars to be losers ….

However, just to be clear and so not to hurt too many previous employees feelings, I DO NOT consider someone who quits naseba to work somewhere else to be a loser.

I don’t even consider someone who quits naseba, head hunts our staff and or tries to steal our clients to be a loser.

naseba is not for everyone.

However, in my opinion, a “loser” is someone who is failing in his own job/life, and instead of stepping up, reflecting and changing for the better, they sit around hoping and praying the people around them fail — and do everything in their power to get people to fail with them.

Regretfully, the world is full of people who go through life, instead of trying to improve themselves, they try and bring others down with them.

As my father used to say, “Misery loves company.”

Recently, we promoted someone in our Dubai office, the guy did such a good job as a young manager, Saleem requested this person transfer to his office and help him develop the new office space.

It makes me smile to see the success of this person because he was once being held back and mismanaged by a bad manager - but once the bad manager was demoted and quit, as I expected would happen, the people he had been in charge of managing, started succeeding, especially the one whom will soon transfer to work with Saleem.
(Bad management is not the topic of todays blog - not letting a loser stop you from succeeding is)

Fabien told me that the day the previous manager was demoted, the guy took his team to dinner, told them he was going to quit, and tried to get them to quit with him - I guess he even got upset when they refused to quit with him.

Unfortunately, the guy who was demoted did not reflect on why he was demoted — he was more than 2 million euros off his target and he recruited very poorly throughout the year. There was no conspiracy.

Instead of working hard to prove I was wrong in having him demoted, he proved I was right.
He proved I was right not because he quit, but by trying to bring other people down with him.

Don’t let the losers in the world bring you down.

Although one bad influence can screw up everything for someone, one good influence can inspire and change ones life for the better. Tomorrow, I will discuss various positive influences in more detail.

yesterdays blog was a repost of a blog I wrote two years ago, “ode to Marcus Evans..”

Recently, we have had several readers from M.E. as well as old friends from M.E. send me emails or comments, thus I felt it would be useful to repost.