Politics has to be one of the ultimate sales jobs for the sheer complexity of it all. There are sales methodologies and trainers out there today who teach about all the influencers the salesperson must convince in order to get a favorable decision. There's the economic influencer (or buyer, if you will), the user, the operational, etc. That all pales in comparison to the constituency a politician must persuade, particularly at the national level.

Being in sales taught me a lot about about persuasion and people. I relate that knowledge to what I see going on in politics today.

This is a guest article from Dave Kahle's weekly Ezine. While the topic is about human dynamics in the work place, I think you can quickly make some associations with how we do our politics today. One of the worst problems we have today is how quickly we seek to demonize someone else. We ignore one of the prime habits of Covey's Seven Habits: Seek First to Understand and Then to Be Understood.

Read the article and I think you will see what I mean. You might even pick up some things you can use in your work and personal life.

http://www.davekahle.com/nl/april08out.htm

By the way, if you're in sales (and aren't we all, like it or not?) or management, I recommend subscribing to Dave's weekly Ezine.