So this evening I attended a College and Career Fair held at a local K-8 school, which extended invitations to the high schools and other groups in our community.  There were a number of folks representing various aspects of UH Maui College, but the uniformed career reps (firemen, policemen, chefs) were the hit of the night.  Some things never change.  Too bad there were no professional ballerinas or princesses.  But I digress…

We UHMC people who represented a broad aspect of the college (as opposed to nursing, culinary and dental assisting) were banished, oops, I mean assigned to a break out room that a few of the parents accidentally wandered in to now and then.

Suffice to say: It was a slow evening.

Nevertheless, we did have some interest, mostly from parents who were thinking about a return to college for themselves. I mean, really, we don’t run across a lot of ten year olds who are looking forward to a degree in liberal arts.  So I had time to think about the whole thing.

Do you ever watch yourself from the outside and see something unexpected?  Well, out of boredom I did that and realized:

I have a strategic “soft sell” sales technique designed to hook people in without overtly appearing to do so. Further more – I’m really good at it.

Strange realization, for sure.

So I began to think about this further and remembered – I’ve always been a good sales person.

And since I am not in sales, that felt weird.  What is the implication?  Does it mean I’m manipulative?  Well … (truth be told) I kinda am.  Man, that’s an odd thing to admit about oneself.    Makes me wonder whether I have a flaw that should be corrected or a skill that should be better utilized.  I don’t know.  What do you think?

And while we’re at it … do you have any traits that can be either positive or negative, depending on the situation?  Just thought I’d ask…