Stop Paddling & Start Rocking the Boat: BUSINESS LESSONS FROM THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS

In 1987, Lou Pritchett, the vice president of sales at Procter & Gamble, had a radical idea. He phoned Sam Walton and invited the visionary chairman of Wal-Mart on a two-day canoe trip. There on the South Fork River in Arkansas, Lou made Sam and offer no profit-minded person could refuse: the chance to forge a partnership between the two colossal firms.This now legendary trip marks the culmination of a lifetime devoted to building customer relationships. Sam wrote Lou, "Thank you for what you have personally done to bring our two companies together and develop a relationship that I think will be outstanding and beneficial to both of us for a long time to come. You are a real friend."

In 1987, Lou Pritchett, the vice president of sales at Procter & Gamble, had a radical idea. He picked up the phone, called Sam Walton and invited the visionary chairman of Wal-Mart on a two-day canoe trip. There, on the South Fork River in Arkansas, Pritchett made Walton an offer no profit-minded person could refuse: The opportunity to forge a partnership between the two colossal firms.

This now legendary trip marks the culmination of a lifetime devoted to building customer relationships. Walton wrote to Pritchett, "Thank you for what you have personally done to bring or two companies together and develop a relationship that I think will be outstanding and beneficial to both of us for a long time to come. You are a real friend."

What you've got here is Lou Pritchett unplugged -- his living, learning and leading in one of the world's foremost corporations. It's not about formal training or theory applied. Nor is it a quick fix for chronic slumps in selling, marketing and managing. It's about learning from your mistakes and savoring your triumphs, mastering your weaknesses and fortifying your strengths. It's about initiating and sustaining a "love affair" with your customers and your own employees. And it comes from four decades of hands-on sales and general management experience, working side-by-side each day with employees and customers and shouldering responsibility with honor and grace. That's what Stop Paddling and Start Rocking the Boat  is all about.

If you can absorb everything around you, moment by moment, and can turn each sight, sound and sensation into practical business know-how, then your chances of success in business -- and in life -- are great indeed. Just take it from an Ol' Soap Salesman and read on...