“People who wish to go into the future should have two skills to succeed – the ability to deal with people and the ability to sell,” Shiv Khera, Founder, Qualified Learning Systems Inc., the U.S., said in Coimbatore on Wednesday.
Speaking on “Business Leadership” at an event organised by TiE, he said that anyone who sold a product or an idea was selling. “We are all selling and we are always selling, either for or against ourselves, and it is never neutral”.
Success or failure of a person depended on how good his selling skills were. He urged the audience not to consider ‘selling’ a bad word.
Explaining the relevance of acquiring people skills, he said that when one started off in life, focus on technical skill was 90 per cent, while people skill was 10 per cent. But as one rose up in life, it became the reverse.
“Under the same set of circumstances some people break records, while others break themselves. There are good leaders who actively guide and bad leaders who actively misguide. Hence, leadership is about persuasion, presentation and people skills,” Mr. Khera said.
In business, integrity and courtesy were not strategies, but a way of life. Refraining from doing an act because it was unethical even though it was legal differentiated a leader from others.
To nurture business leadership, it was essential to view training as a process and not as an event, Mr. Khera said. The Hindu was the media partner for the event.
