One of the qualities of successful people in all walks of life is keen observation of their surroundings. They notice things about people, human nature and the world in general.
Many of us, unfortunately, go through life with our eyes half-closed.
Imagine where we would be without these inventions – and their very observant inventors:
* The first hint Sir Isaac Newton had leading to his important optical discoveries originated from a child's soap bubble.
* The idea of printing was suggested by initials cut into the bark of a tree.
* The telescope was the outcome of a boy's amusement with two pieces of glass in his father's workshop.
* Velcro was invented by a Swiss engineer named George de Mestral, who based his idea on his observation of the way burrs stuck to the fur of his hunting dogs after a walk in the woods.
I'm not observant or smart enough to conceive inventions like these, but when it comes to people, I try not to miss much. I try to notice everything about them – their appearance, the way they dress and the car they drive. I am always tuned into their hobbies and interests, likes and dislikes, and any personal information about them. When I meet with someone in their office, I'm always looking at pictures on the desk, books on the shelves and the general décor, because such detailed observations offer many clues about the person.
Such observations are handy in business, too. That's why I developed the Mackay 66, which continues to be the most downloaded handout on my Web site, www.harveymackay.com. It's a questionnaire that has helped me and our entire national sales force at Mackay Envelope Co. humanize our selling strategy by getting to know our customers better and personalizing our services.
Consider this: We have two eyes and two ears, but only one mouth, which shows we should see and observe and listen twice as much as we speak.
A friend of mine, Tony Cherne, a Minneapolis contractor, would often engage his field superintendents in discussions concerning a project and then suddenly turn his back and ask the question: "John, what color is my tie?"
Often, and I mean often, the answer was something other than the right answer. Then he would turn and say, "John, you must observe everything that's going on with the project, not guess."
Believe me, it made a difference the next time they met. Being a keen observer is very important in life.
A pair of streakers interrupted a New York Yankees baseball game back when Yogi Berra was the catcher. In the bottom of the ninth inning, two young people suddenly ran onto the field stark naked, slid into home plate, and then ran off again.
Asked later whether the streakers were boys or girls, Yogi replied, "I don't know. They were wearing bags over their heads."
Was this just another Yogi-ism? Or was he just too polite to state the obvious?
Sometimes it's the smallest things that are easily overlooked. As we all know, often the devil is in the details.
A fellow is crossing the American border on his bicycle. He has two big bags on his shoulders. The guard asks, "What's in the bags?"
He replies, "Sand."
The guard says, "Get them off – we'll examine them."
The fellow takes the two bags off and empties them out. The guard looks through them, finding nothing but sand. The fellow puts the sand back in the bags, puts the bags back on his shoulders and proceeds to cross the border on his bicycle.
Two weeks later, same thing. "What have you got there?"
"Sand."
"Get them off, we'll examine them."
Every two weeks for six months this went on with the same result.
Finally, one week, the fellow didn't show up, and the guard ran into him downtown. He said, "Buddy, you had us crazy. We knew you were smuggling something. But we just couldn't figure out what. I absolutely promise not to say anything – but what were you smuggling, anyway?"
Smiling, the smuggler answered, "Bicycles."
Mackay's Moral: If what you see is what you get, be sure you are looking very carefully!
Harvey Mackay is author of the New York Times bestseller "Pushing the Envelope." He can be reached through his Web site, www.mackay.com, or at Mackay Envelope Corp., 2100 Elm St., Minneapolis, MN 55414.
