25 Reasons You Don’t Sell Snake Oil

1. You’re a leader because you offer everyone more value; snake oil salesmen think they know how to manipulate others.
2. You accept responsibility; they avoid it with lies, damned lies and statistics.
3. You compete against yourself daily; they always sell the same tired two-dimensional idea.
4. You always make yourself useful; they seek only short-term personal gain.
5. You respect creative people; creativity confuses and scares them.
6. A problem intrigues you; they hope it will go away if they ignore it.
7. You encourage humor in yourself and others; they promote only drama and trivialities.
8. You welcome synergy and diversity; they want everyone to line up behind them.
9. Numbers are a tool for you; the same numbers serve as their “invisibility cloak.”
10. You enjoy ideas and new perspectives; they tend to feel threatened and afraid about anything different.
11. You encourage stakeholders to become leaders; they tell their stakeholders to buy more snake oil.
12. You prefer success over control; they think one is the same as the other.
13. You recognize that people are the key to success; they see people as consumers and commodities.
14. You strive for universal, ongoing improvement; they seem to know they’re perfect.
15. You offer stakeholders frequent success; they just sell repackaged products or services.
16. You motivate us with recognition and appreciation; they think that’s too much trouble.
17. You help stakeholders grow to their full potential; they print coupons and special offers.
18. Your company’s culture celebrates quality and inclusion; they engineer disengagement.
19. You see the cost of doing everything better as a challenge; they consider quality a sales ploy.
20. You explain in a few words WHY you’re in business; they keep telling you what they do, and how.
21. You share your canoe with great people; their yacht is reserved for rich friends.
22. People tell you what’s really going on; they find it easier to just gather statistics.
23. You always have a plan B; they’ll stick to plan A and keep their fingers crossed.
24. You prevent problems; they ignore them . . . until panic is their only option.
25. You know joy is in you; they think it’s hidden somewhere inside things, numbers and process.