Dateline: The ETS Chauncy Conference Center, Princeton NJ, 10 October

Damn if DeAngelis didn't manage to get me all re-fired up about Enterra Solutions again (it had been . . . oh . . . at least 96 hours since the last time, which is a long stretch of neglect for Steve). The man is simply so persistent in the sale. I mean, I thought I never gave up with an audience (typical 8-of-9 behavior, I should explore Steve's birth order with him some day), but this guy is simply tireless! He's the Bill Clinton of start-up CEOs; he just won't give up until you're clinched as an employee, client, partner, fan, voter--whatever. He is a walking lesson in closing the deal, and for that reason he is fun to be around, and learn from.

I like to watch Joel Osteen, the smiling pastor, on TV, simply to take notes on how he works a room (plus he's just plain intriguing in his message). Watching DeAngelis go non-stop from 0900 to 2000 today was a real lesson in being the happy warrior. Osteen wants to save souls, Steve just wants to build useful companies. Both make this world go round, and watching either makes me realize that, as much as I admire his conceptual skills, Marx was simply so wrong on both religion and capitalism. The leadership ranks of each simply feature too many happy warriors, or guys and gals who do it joyfully simply because they don't know any other way to approach it.

And thank God for them.

Lesson: better enjoy it, my friends, whatever it is, or move on to something else.

I did today, and it beat me. No stories to blog. Tomorrow's flight south will have to suffice as next opportunity.

Got almost 200 PPT slides from right-hand alter ego Bradd Hayes recently. Just looked them over last night. It was the closest feeling to being a kid on Christmas morning that I've enountered in many a year.

Now if I can only find the time to work them over. Reality is, I'll probably just use them as is and discover what I like best/least in trial by fire with audiences, shaping the material as I move forward.

Now that has me thinking like a happy warrior!