If you are planning to vote in the Republican Presidential primary in the coming months, you are a potential prospect for Newt, Romney and all the gang. I got to thinking about how similar this is to what we go through as sales people when we try to get that first appointment with an ideal prospect. It takes a combination of getting attention and establishing credibility. If you can do those two things, you are generally going to stand out enough to get an appointment. If you only do one, you will not sell the prospect on the value of spending time with you.
It's healthy for people and organizations to celebrate victories—that's a given! Some managers miss the chance to lead effectively when it comes to setting and celebrating goals. Effective leaders focus on two things in this area. They decide what goals are worthy of celebration and how big the celebration should be. 
There is a natural tension between goals to be achieved in a sales organization and the values to be followed. This tension is good. There is an interesting truth about values. In a tough economy your natural instinct might be to double down on your focus on goal attainment and not worry so much about the values of the organization (sounds like something we can focus on once the economy comes back). That would be a big mistake. The values the organization chooses to be guided by are more important in a tough economy—similar to how the importance of a lighthouse increases in a bad storm.
