BEING BALANCED AND PEACEFUL

Two of the basic and foundational qualities required by any human being pursuing mastery are to be balanced and peaceful.

These qualities bring with them the ability not to worry but remain calm and composed in any situation. The key element to achieving this state of balance and peacefulness is the element of “positive active acceptance”. This element makes a person view the situation from a state of being OK without any fear, shame, or guilt. You view the situation as it is without ascribing any negative meaning to the situation. The thought process is being OK with the current situation and thinking what you can do next in that situation. This thought process gives scope for viewing various possibilities and roadmaps for actions.

 Every human being has three options when they face any situation. The options are resistance, passive acceptance, and positive active acceptance.

 In resistance, the thought process is one of not being OK with the situation and feeling that something is wrong here. The tendency is to justify one’s non-responsibility for the situation, blaming the environment and complaining and pointing fingers at other people. All these tendencies take away one’s balance and peace in that situation. This invariably leads to stress, strain, and a feeling of disharmony and unpleasantness.

 The second human tendency is to adopt a passive acceptance stance. Here the thought process is one of resignation and cynicism. It is one of giving up to the situation out of helplessness. Self-doubt and self-pity are two of the most detrimental forces known to man.

 In the state of positive active acceptance, the thought process is one of accepting the situation as it is and then thinking about the next steps to take to remedy the situation. This leads to possibility thinking and action. In positive active acceptance, the state of the person is one of peace and balance, giving rise to dynamism, power, control, and progress.

 Selling is an emotional contact game. For a salesperson to be effective, he has to always manage his emotions. In every sales situation, you are dealing with human beings who think logically but invariably decide emotionally. When emotions go up, intelligence goes down.

 Hence, being emotionally stable and in control is a hallmark of every master salesperson. A salesperson’s balanced and peaceful state helps him maintain control over the sales process and achieve and establish a long-term win-win business relationship. As with all other human beings, even balance and a peaceful mindset can be developed with conscious, deliberate practices.

 This quality would not only make a salesperson become more effective in his profession, but also enables him or her to be a better evolved human being.

 One such person who was a symbol of peace, calmness, and balance in all situations was my personal mentor, guide, and my former boss, the late Mr. Jaikumar Patil, the chairman of the Laxmi group of industries, Solapur, India. This group is a very diversified group, being a leading player in the field of agricultural, industrial, domestic pump sets, industrial motors, solar pumps, etc.

 During my tenure as the marketing manager as well as CEO of the Laxmi Sales Corporation, the marketing and the sales wing of the Laxmi Pump Group, I had the opportunity to closely observe Shri J. K. Patilji’s leadership and management style. I have learned a lot about how to start, nurture, and lead business teams toward success on a long-term basis.

 His one unique and distinguishing quality was being peaceful and balanced in all situations. I observed Shri J. K. Patil’s demeanor and disposition when there was a flash strike by workers instigated by a rival union in the middle of a peak season. His unruffled manner with a sense of detached objective disposition helped the group to neutralize the diabolic and selfish intention of the rival unions and get the labor unrest resolved.

 Similarly, whenever we got awarded some huge tenders worth Rs.100 million plus orders, Mr. J. K. Patil was always balanced and centered, not allowing it to get to his head. This distinctive rare quality of being peaceful and balanced in all situations enabled Laxmi Group to scale new heights in varied business sectors from agricultural pump sets, industrial motors, and solar pumps to the entertainment sector, automobile and transport sectors, FMCG product distributions, etc.