So there you have it!

Been on a committee or team? You know what I'm talking about.

You may have even been solipsistic ( http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=solipsist )without being aware of it.

To return to metaphor of our painting, different team members DO need to plug their ears in order to get their job done. If marketing person worries about staff salaries, he'll be pulled off-task. If HR person worries about trials and tribulations of CFO, then why have two positions? The team members both don't hear "chatter" and shouldn't hear "chatter".

The leader, on other hand, MUST. It's his or her responsibility to know as much as possible, and to hear from each person and then make decision.

The leader can't afford to "tune out". The leaders who are effective are able to 'listen to' both forest AND trees. Oops, that's mixing metaphors. The leader is like conductor of orchestra -- drummer beats drum, violinist plucks strings, leader must coordinate sounds so that together they all make music.

RESPONSBILITY

Furthermore, with authority comes privilege AND (as those who crave it often disregard) RESPONSIBILITY.

It's Ulysses privilege, for instance, not to have to row. It's his privilege to command ear wax in his rowers' (employees') ears. It's his privilege to allow himself to hear this alluring sound.

I propose too, that it's his RESPONSIBILITY. He needs to know what's out there - what this song is like - because it's part of work environment. He can't afford to turn away from information.

The price he pays is that look in his eyes, which I leave to your own interpretation.

The sailors don't have to go through this, having been saved by their leader.

Back to our analogy: The fundraiser doesn't have to be concerned about rising payroll taxes and insurance premiums. When she does her job, she focuses on raising funds. She is 'allowed' to play her unique tune with 'wax in her ears.' She is free to concentrate only on her part. Therefore she can come to leader and say, "I must have X amount of dollars for Y in order to raise money you need and this is crucial to our mission."

The director of agency, on other hand, has just met with Program Director, who says that if there isn't X amount of dollars for Y program, federal funding will cease, and agency will fail.

Meanwhile, payroll must be met.

Thus look on Ulysses' face.

One last point: The song of Siren was alluring. The leader both GETS TO and MUST listen to it.

My husband and I had scheduled to go out to dinner that evening with prospects, and my husband had a busy day otherwise. When he was around, he would ask me "How many do you lack?" I was almost in tears. I just had to make director today, but I was short. Once, when my husband was out, I called some in-laws to see if I could find him. In conversation I mentioned that I was real busy working on my business and told them a little about products. They said they would love to see products. Around 2:30 PM, my husband dropped off a catalog to them.

I was working on a local prospect at same time. This prospect wanted to join up, but absolutely would not allow anyone to debit his checking account or charge his charge card automatically. He is just real peculiar in that way. After three phone calls he suggested that he just pay a year in advance and company send him products each month. This resulted in several calls to my upline and (COMPANY). The representative at (COMPANY) said that was first time they ever heard of such a request. It was finally decided that they were not set up to handle that situation. I was frustrated.

Our guests for evening had shown up at 3:00 PM and was watching all that was going on. I imagine they were feeling a little put-out by my having to direct most of my attention to my business. About 4:00 my in-laws called back and wanted to order. This was a sheer stroke of luck. I had no idea they were seriously interested. I asked my husband to drop what he was doing and go pick up applications.

At about 5:00 I called cell phone of my prospect who did not like auto-drafts. He and his wife were dining at Steak & Ale and asked to get together that evening to discuss matter. The problem was I already had guests for evening, and I was trying to get all my sign-ups to fax me their applications, review them, and then fax them into company. On top of that, I was talking with every prospect I could. There seemed to be no way it could happen!

I ended up talking to him on his cell phone three times while he was having dinner. Finally he agreed to sign-up and, since I was going out to dinner with my other prospects, he would leave completed paperwork in front seat of my car.

Our dinner prospects signed up. They were prospects which I had felt good about, but to my surprise, both of them signed up individually. They are an unmarried couple and both liked what they saw!

Upon returning home I anxiously checked my car. There were no applications from prospect who did not like auto-drafts. So I called him on his cell phone. He said he had swung back by his office (he owns his own local service business) to review information I had given him and was trying to decide what to order. He agreed to drop by house in a bit.

In mean time, I was on phone with other prospects helping them complete their applications. Some disappointed me and fell through. Others came through when I did not think they would. I was pulling my hair out!

The prospect who did not like auto-drafts showed up at house. My daughter ushered him and his wife into our basement office. I spent two hours going over business with him, all while taking calls from prospects I was working with, and working on completing applications and faxing them in.

Finally, prospect visiting me decided to join, and join big ordering business kit, value pack, and some marketing materials.

At 11:00 PM, I had all distributors I needed to make director, and all of applications had been faxed in. It was time to call my upline. At advice of my upline I faxed all applications to (COMPANY) a second time to be sure they had received them all.

I spent a few more minutes with my upline planning a future event here in Atlanta which he could attend. My new member who did not like auto-drafts had joined as a pacesetter. Being highly motivated, he offered to pay cost of admission and provide transportation for our local organization to attend an upcoming motivational seminar in a neighboring city.

Still being hyper from an extremely busy and stressful day, at 1:00 AM I called (COMPANY) to be sure they had received paperwork and was processing it. Everything was fine. I had made director!

That is how I went from my first sign-up to director in just nine days of hard work. The icing on cake is I have additional sign-ups scheduled over next few days, and so do some of my teammates.

It is important for you to understand that this was not easy. During those nine days I had family and personal issues to contend with that just could not be put off or ignored.

Typically, six to eight hours a day was spent away from business, plus about another four hours for sleep. I had a 15 month old son who wanted constant attention, and screamed at top of his lungs when my attention was diverted to talking with prospects.

What made me successful was hard work and constantly putting opportunity in front of prospects. I put most my effort in signing up my good prospects, all while never turning down an opportunity to tell someone about my business. Taking advantage of these opportunities is what resulted in my in-laws signing up. Something I never expected. Persistence closed deal with prospect who did not like auto-drafts. I worked very hard to ease his concerns, and it was that effort that sold him on me.

Of course, constant support and encouragement of my upline was a lifesaver at times. Their encouragement would cause me to make just one or two more calls before calling it a night. It is that little bit of extra effort that makes difference between a winner and a loser.

What's next for me? A long deserved good night's sleep. Then tomorrow, I am going back to building my business. I have several people I need to help make director this month, so I don't have time to waste!