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Be resourceful or be remorseful

Sunday, May 20, 2007
Daily Herald
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/222329/

Do you remember Robinson Crusoe? In the book by Daniel Defoe, the character is cast away on a deserted island with little more than the rags on his back. He is forced to become a jack-of-all-trades. Making his own tools, he hunts, fishes, plants crops, builds a house and does everything that is needed to survive and, indeed, to prosper.

We can admire Robinson Crusoe as an exceptionally resourceful and inventive individual; much as we marvel at the characters on the TV shows "Lost" and "Survivor."

Resourcefulness -- using your brain to think outside the box and get the information you need or the project accomplished -- is one of the traits I really admire in people.

Webster's defines resourceful as " ... able to deal promptly and effectively with problems, difficulties, etc." Another definition I found is "able to use the means at one's disposal to meet situations effectively."

Resourcefulness is a real asset for anyone trying to get the edge over the competition, whether it's finding a job, keeping a job, making customers happy or landing a new account.

In sales, a common problem is getting to know who the decision maker is and then making contact with that person. Do you know anyone who knows that person? How can you get close to the people who know and influence that person?

In doing research for a speech recently, I was talking to a salesman who said he found out who the decision maker was and waited in the lobby and followed him into the restroom. While they were washing their hands, he introduced himself and gave Mr. Decision Maker a quick commercial on their firm. He got the business. The new customer was intrigued by the determination the salesman demonstrated.

Joe Arpaio, the controversial sheriff of Arizona's Maricopa County, used resourcefulness when he learned male jail inmates were selling the boxer shorts they were issued. The annual rip-off clipped taxpayers for $48,000. Sheriff Joe's solution -- dye the shorts a color no self-respecting thug would wear, let alone peddle. The color? Pink!

Last month, I attended a huge charity event in Phoenix called Celebrity Fight Night. The event raised $6.5 million for the Muhammad Ali Parkinson's Center and other charities. In the live auction, I was bidding against Reba McEntire, one of the entertainers for the evening, on a vacation prize. As the bids for this item got higher and higher, the auctioneer told us that if we each were willing to pay a certain amount, the donor would arrange for a second week so we could each have the vacation item for a specified price. Resourceful? You bet. The auction made double the money on that item.

You have to be thinking all the time. How can I maximize what I want to do? How can I get things done? How can I get the information I need? Be resourceful.

Perhaps the best feature of resourcefulness is that it doesn't have to cost your company any money. Using the brainpower already on the payroll is a great place to start. A company offered a reward of half of whatever savings a viable, creative cost-cutting measure would yield. Did they get any suggestions? You better believe it. And nearly all of them were fairly simple to implement. These folks had been hatching ideas for a long time, but the "We've always done it this way" mentality kept them quiet.

Kids are super resourceful, and quite often it's to try to put one over on their parents. One night a girl got home quite late, after her midnight curfew. The next morning at breakfast her mother said, "Didn't I hear the clock strike two as you came in last night?"

"Yes, mother," the daughter replied. "The clock started to strike 12, but I stopped it as soon as I could to keep it from waking you."

Parents can return the favor, though. A young mother was worried about her 9-year-old son. No matter how much she scolded him, he kept running around with his shirttail out. Her neighbor had four boys and each of them always wore his shirt neatly tucked in. Finally, the desperate young mother asked her neighbor to tell her the secret.

"Oh, it's all very simple," she said. "I just take all their shirts and sew an edging of lace on the bottom."

Mackay's Moral: One of the greatest natural resources is the human brain.

Harvey Mackay can be reached at harvey@mackay.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C9.