ARE YOU
WHAT YOU SELL?
(Especially
if you own a small business?)
By
Donald W. Hudspeth
I. Who
Are You? (And, do you really want to know?)
From the beginning of
recorded time we (well, maybe not you and
me personally but some of us) have been asking ourselves the question: Who
are we? Are we children of God or space aliens? -- a fortuitous combination of matter and
energy? Thales said “All is water,”
presumably he meant to include ourselves. Heraclitus said “All is change.” You
cannot step in the same river twice and time is like a river. Democritus said the world is made of atoms. (Did
the thought determine the reality? How does science work anyway?) Are we like
fish in the water looking for a God that is all around us? From the beginning we
have been off to the races to determine what we are made of. Descartes asked
the question “How do I know any reality exists at all? I could be influenced by
an evil demon that causes all my thoughts about myself and reality to be
false.” (For his answer, see below.) Obviously, I cannot answer such profound and
perhaps futile questions. But, like the song “Who
are you?” I want to know.
II.
You Are What You … (If I think about a pizza all day long do I become a pizza?)
A quick survey Online of
endings to the statement “You are what you …” includes the following results:
eat, grow, read, and hear, think about, measure, and spend money on. The “You are what you eat” and “grow” results were
related to the dietary movement and the problem of obesity.
A. Reading.
The article on reading said
we reveal ourselves by who we identify with. (When I was a kid I liked super
heroes and Robin Hood - the idea of
living “free” in the forest appealed to me more than the robbing, but I think I
also liked Robin Hood’s challenge to corrupt, uncaring authority. Does that say
anything about me now?
I practice business law and
sit in an office reading and writing for a living. I do not know martial arts
nor am I particularly fit. Yet, I read
novels about, among other things, super espionage agents, helpful wizards and
“shapeshifters” that get the “bad guys.” What do these readings say about me?
It seems more like a case of vicarious adventure or identifying who I am not – or at most, manifesting a “denied
self” -- than a statement about who I am day to day.
What about Ralph Waldo
Emerson’s essays, among others, on Compensation, Self Reliance and
Spiritual Laws? Or, Thoreau’s book Solitude
or essay on Civil Disobedience? Would or could reading that
change my life? Or consider Plutarch’s volumes on the great men of history,
fictionalized as they may be. Does what we read or hear have
the power to change and influence us? Do they determine who we are? It would
seem that they can greatly influence us, especially if their content becomes
something that we think about often, like how to make pizza. Does reading about great men help make us
become or want to become one – or does being already receptive to such
literature make us more receptive to the lessons offered?
B. Hearing.
What we hear is obviously
important. Take music. Music tames the savage beast. It may even improve test
scores (the so-called “Mozart Effect”). Does music permanently change us? Are
we what we listen to? Do we become a different person if we listen to Frank
Sinatra instead of Frank Zappa or Jay –Z? I do not know that our goals, or our
genetically and environmentally programmed self, change – as a result of music,
except to develop a taste in music. But, to the extent environment is important
to our development, music would be a factor.
C. Thinking.
Do we, as James Allen wrote, become what we
think about and declare? I believe it was Napoleon Hill in his book “Think
& Grow Rich” who said that “What the mind can conceive and believe it can
achieve.” Under this success system our thoughts are said to control our
destiny. This must mean goal-oriented thoughts. Thinking about pizza is not
going to make me become one, but it may guide my behavior so that I get one. In
that case the thought is not determinative of who I am except to express that I
like a certain kind of food.
D. Measuring. (Or,
Standardized test scores as a basis of reality.)
In his column “You Are What
You Measure, Dan Ariely, discussed the power of
metrics. Give people frequent flyer miles, he says, and they will do absurd
things to get them. More down to earth, Mr. Ariely says that while at MIT he
was measured on his ability to handle his teaching load. He found that the
rating system affected his teaching because he could earn more points doing
other things. In other words his conduct adjusted to the system of measurement.
This result is seen in our use of standardized testing to measure student and
teacher achievement. Do the tests produce better students and teachers or
students who know how to take the test?
I heard on the radio David
Hestenes, a physics professor at Arizona State University, explain that he was
shocked to find that under his (and everyone else’s) standardized way of lecturing
only those (10% or so of) students who could teach themselves were doing well
in his classes.
The rest of the students were not learning much of anything – at least not from him. So, the good
professor changed his method to one of an interactive and team approach to questions
and answers. The results were much better.
The underlying point here is
that we tend to become what we measure. This principle would seem to underlie
much of our law as well in that we measure and accept or hold people
accountable for their measured and documented conduct. Think speed limits.
E. The Chicken and the Egg
(and whose turn is it to make dinner?)
The problem with these answers
to the question of who we are is that each
of them presents the “Which came first,
the chicken or the egg?” quandary. Do we become who are (partially of course) in response to Emerson, or are we affected by
Emerson because of who we already are (because our mother was a teacher, we
grew up across the alley from the library, etc.?).
F. Money and Art.
Of course other acts may
express who we are as well. There is the saying that “Money lets us be
ourselves.” If we have the money, the car we drive and the art we buy not only
tell others something about ourselves, but may also reveal something about
ourselves to ourselves as well. A painting, like music,
may bypass reason and the psychological defense systems. In that way purchasing
or admiring the art piece may say more about who we are than our rational analysis
or thoughtful expression. For example, a picture of two sisters may reveal deep
yearning for love wanted or lost. A wood cut of Jesus at the Well may reflect a
value system of not judging.
But, even money and art may not tell the world who we are. We may have inherited the money and not care about it. Sometimes we spend money just for immediate gratification. Sometimes money can get in the way of knowing who we are and becoming what we could be. As William Wordsworth said: “The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers. If we do not want the money or money is a curse, as it is reputed to be with the Onassis heirs does it still define us? Maybe it does because it plays such a dominant role in our lives.
G. You Are What You Sell. (Unless You Sell Donuts).
Because each of the above
answers has its shortcomings (and in that
case another wrong answer won’t hurt, right?) I want to suggest a new
answer to the question “Who are you?”
That answer is: You are what you sell. Naturally, this answer is strongly
influenced by my past and present experience as a business person and business
lawyer. But, my thought is that “what we sell” is a short form statement of our
knowledge, our values and experience. A
teacher appreciates learning, wants to help others to learn and, unless bound
and gagged and tied up with a rope (in which case I would ask what are you reading?) will act accordingly. A tradesman knows and
values the custom and usage of his trade and manifests who he as he applies
himself to his trade.
This is not to say that a person
literally is what he sells. A person
who makes pizza is not a pizza – unless he is. And, it is not
necessarily true that what the person sells is something the person values. It
may be a means to an end. We must define what is being sold to have the mirror
of what’s underneath. For example, a garbage person may not like or value the garbage
in itself. But, he or she may enjoy having a job, driving the truck, value the
service as necessary and good for the community, know that many people depend
on him or her, and have self esteem for that, independent of social status. The
occupation and acceptance can tell us a lot about the person.
A person who sells drugs
does not necessarily use or like drugs, but he or she is a person who sees the
benefit from the sale as greater than the personal or social cost. Therefore,
the willingness and act of selling drugs, for personal gain in spite of the
likelihood of eventual harm to others, tells us a lot about the person’s
motivations and value system. And that says a lot – as much as reading or music
– about who that person is to himself and others.
Selling takes more proactive
work than buying; thus, it may express even more of who we are than a purchase,
i.e. spending money. By “selling” I mean a career choice, not a garage sale.
And, the act of selling, including the thoughts and deeds of preparing to sell,
encapsulate other factors, including what we think about.
A philosopher might argue
that selling is just one example –perhaps a profound and more archetypal
example – of the maxim “You are what you do.” (which I did not find Online in
response to the query “You are what you…”). Under this positivist approach what
we do is who we are and all the machinations existing or experienced underneath
(say child abuse or a Harvard education) are interesting but irrelevant.
This may be a grander
statement – or corollary (I’m not sure) of the Column, You Are What You Measure
alluded to above. If so (this was not
Ariely’s argument but the positivists’), then the explanation seems to
fail. Where “measurement is the truth of
all things” “intelligence” becomes “what
an intelligence test measures” – an explanation most of us consider circular
and rejected in educational science long ago. The fallacy of the argument is
that the measurement or testing becomes the
reality instead of the expression of
it – which is kind of like saying that fishing is the act of counting the fish
caught instead of putting the hook and bait in the water. (This is not to
disagree with the Ariely Column that we adjust our behavior according to what
is measured.)
Reasonable minds can
disagree, but for those of us in business what we sell -- what we motivate ourselves to do “with a
shoeshine and a smile” says a lot about who we are. For example, I loved the
academic life, but found the lack of action and ability to test and get
feedback on my ideas stifling and unfulfilling. As a business person I loved
being a man of action who could marry the thought to the deed and see what
happened – to “actualize myself through actualizing my ideas.” But for me business alone lacked the
intellectual approach to life which I appreciate. (My father was a business
person; mother was a teacher.) So, law for me is perfect. It combines the
intellectual with what Aristotle call practical wisdom and results. I have the
benefit of both thought and deed; that is what I sell. That works for me and
best expresses who I am – in what I do, how I do it, and the values expressed
in doing it.
III.
Conclusion
As listed above there are
many popular approaches to determining and expressing who we are. These include
eating, reading, hearing, measuring, art, music, spending money and what we
do. I would like to add to the list “You
are what you sell.” Because owning and operating a business can be so
challenging and rewarding, interesting and exciting, enveloping and
encompassing, this answer may work as well for many of the small and medium
size business owners who are my clients. To quote myself “Running a small business is like having a
small child. When it cries, you have to be there.” And because you have to “be
there” when the small business needs you, owning and operating the business is
more than a vocation; it is more even than a career. It is a way of life. In
that sense and for that reason, especially for many of my business owner clients,
it is probably true to say “You are what you sell.”
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