How to Improve Your Confidence

Dear Voornaam,

In 2003, I was a partner at The Gallup Organization, an international management consulting company. One day, my boss walked into my office, sat down in the chair across from me, and said, "Dave, listen. I have something I want you to do, and it's something personal to me."Â

I sat up, leaned forward, and listened intently as he described a situation where his ex-brother-in-law, the guy who had just divorced his sister, had stolen one of his most prized accounts, a national clothing retailer. He described the pain he felt when his brother-in-law not only humiliated his sister by divorcing her but also took one of his best clients.Â

He said, "I need you to do me this favor. I need you to drop what you're doing and go after this account as hard as possible. I want you to return this client to us in the next 60 days.

I was new to the job, the company, and the industry. I wanted to impress my colleagues and make a name for myself, so I sat in my chair and said, "Boss, you can count on me. I'm on it."

Big-ticket, business-to-business consulting is uber-competitive, and typically, each deal requires an 18-month (or longer) sales cycle. The minimum size account our company would even consider had to be worth at least $1,000,000 in annual revenue.

I promised my boss I would land one specific account worth at least $1 million in revenue in under 60 days.

I slowly looked around the room, and I asked myself, "How am I going to make this happen?"Â

(To continue reading the story on my LinkedIn newsletter page, click here)