11-4-2013
If you count all the "Seal? team travel -- sea, air and land -- it?s been roughly three million miles of travel since I started my business 1999. Coming up on November 14, is a seminar I will be doing for the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association. Over those three million miles I?ve learned quite a few lessons. No matter how old or young you are, you always continue to learn new things along the way. Here?s one I learned on my way to Boston.
What?s your one sentence?
Henry Luce, founder of Time, Life, and Fortune magazines ran in the circles of United States Presidents. He knew John F. Kennedy really well. His wife, Claire Booth Luce, was the 1st United States Congresswoman. They were quite the power couple. Besides being the 1st US Congresswoman, Claire was famous for many things in her life including writing plays for Broadway. She was the cosmopolitan woman. During a night of dining with John F. Kennedy, she asked the then Senator of Massachusetts, ?What?s your one sentence?? In other words, what do you stand for? Claire thought that any man or woman should and could be defined in a simple one sentence statement.
Think about what you stand for? How do your clients see you? What do your friends think you stand for? It?s often a question sometimes we don?t want to answer because it might take some looking in the mirror at ourselves and figuratively undressing ourselves in the mirror. Claire had a famous quote for the mirror too: ?A man has only one escape from his old self: to see a different self in the mirror of some woman?s eyes.? Hmmm?good point Claire.
In the 1960s, my cousin, Barney Oldfield discovered a troubled young man in Houston whom he thought had the potential to be a great professional fighter. He just needed some direction. Barney provided that direction to George Foreman. George went on to be one of professional boxing?s greatest champions and is one great guy today. When George fought Evander Holyfield for the world heavy weight championship in 1991, he was 42 years old. Holyfield was 28. Nobody thought Foreman should be in the same ring with Holyfield. At 42, George Foreman never sat down between the rounds of that fight. He went the distance even though he lost the decision to Holyfield that night. Three years later he fought Michael Moorer, and won back what he lost in 1974: The World Heavyweight Championship. George?s famous one sentence is: ?Stand up for what you believe in or you will fall for anything.? Well said and well done George Foreman.
I personally like rapper 50 Cent and his one sentence: ?When you?re %&^$^ (expletive) broke, love won?t get you on the bus.?
As lore would have it, John F. Kennedy thought about what Claire had asked him that evening as he was diningwith her and her husband Henry. In his inauguration address after being elected in 1960 as the 35th President of the United States, you might have heard JFK?s one sentence before: ?And so, my fellow Americans?ask not what your country can do for you?ask what you can do for your country.?
Over the years I have thought about my one sentence. It?s an interesting question. Mine is ?Focus and dominate.? If you?re advertising, take that position where you can dominate your share of voice in the media you are advertising in. If you?re going to do something, give it everything you have. As a sales rep, when I first came into advertising sales, I wanted to be the best in the world at selling media. When I became a sales manager, I wanted to become the best sales manager in the world. As a speaker and consultant, I?m still working on my dream of being the best speaker and media consultant in the world.
The other night I was watching the movie Pearl Harbor with my 15 year old, Henry Kennedy Luce. It?s a great movie as many of you know. I think the best part of that movie is where John Voight, who played FDR, was addressing his cabinet after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It?s also a great motivational piece for sales meetings. 3.44 seconds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFhY6IaUJ40
A little piece of history on my way to three million miles to Boston: My mother was on FDR?s lap during his 1932 Democratic election open top parade through Harrisburg, PA. There?s a reason she was sitting on his lap.
Sean Luce is the Head National Instructor for the Luce Performance Group International and can be reached at sean@luceperformancegroup.com or www.luceperformancegroup.com.
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