Jobs that Deserve More Credit

Here is another installment in the "posts I never truly finished for EgoTV" category. 

Firemen, Policemen, Doctors, and Teachers are all jobs that deserve high praise and generally recieve it.  On the other hand, there are several jobs that deserve credit but generally only recieve it in small circles.  Below are a few of these.

Sales People
When people think sales, many of them think about the stereotypical used car salesman and the dinner-time telemarketer, and a few bad words come to mind. This is unfortunate. Without sales, no business can get off the ground and no business can succeed. A lot of people will tell you that sales is about being able to bullshit – and that is true to some extent – but it’s also about a lot more. It’s about knowing how to interact with people; when to talk and when to listen; when to push and when to give in, but it’s also about knowing your product and competition inside and out. Mostly though it’s about closing, and this is something that takes a special skill. Anyone can buy a drink for the hot girl at the bar, but not anyone can get her home.

Novelists
Uh, is this guy talking about books? Yes, yes I am. Books are to entertainment what the mid-range jumper in basketball – generally not flashy, but equally effective. Sure, television and movies get all the credit, but before they can be made the story must first be written. Authors must be able to write of course, and be good storytellers, but again, it is so much more than that. Authors have to be creative enough to come up with something compelling and interesting and worth reading, and then they have to do what it takes to execute. Take Dan Brown (The DaVinci Code) for instance - regardless of if you like his style or his books. He had to come up with a story line, do the necessary research into the Vatican and religious symbology plus understand the geography of Europe, mix fact with fiction, create characters we could relate to, and tell a compelling story. You don’t just wake up one morning and write a best-selling novel. One book could take years and years and years, and for most writers it’s a side hobby.

Movie Director
Thanks to ‘Entourage’ I can add this to this list. Movie Directors have to not only have a vision for a successful movie, but they have to deal with studio heads, manage actors (and their different personalities and egos), manage film crews, special effects, budgets, schedules, shoot locations, etc. Being a movie director is about a lot more than sitting in a high chair and yelling ‘cut’. To be successful you have to be a salesman, a marketer, an artist, a psychologist, a team-leader and a team player.