The Difference You Bring

I chatted over a drink with a chap that was once at an international finance summit. Attendees included Gordon Brown, in his then capacity as the UK’s purse-string holder.

He noted that in the technical detail of such forum, he posed one key question for Brown. After joking that he’d soon inherit the top job (a thesis to which Brown apparently displayed a fateful deference) the questioner asked what would he do to be different.

The answer was that Brown seemed to abhor the antagonism and vitriol in politics, so wanted to re-introduce the notion that everyone shared the same core values. He wanted a tighter feeling of togetherness, with all concerned pointing in roughly the same direction. In short, he wished to propel a sense of Britishness.

Whether you agree with his left-of-centre stance or not on general policy, it is intriguing to note that he had a plan for bringing a difference. It’s a thought that many sales operations would benefit from further developing themselves.