Big Man = The Sales Man Everyone Wants
As a serious student of archaeology, I was expecting to decode Mayan text and unearth priceless artifacts. Yet somehow, I stumbled upon one of the most ancient truths of humanity: the importance of persuasion, and ultimately, sales. Not healing with crystals or meditation—the realm of selling is the powerful secret! It took me a couple of years to come to such an odd conclusion, but it all started with a 1970’s documentary on a “Big Man” from Papua New Guinea.
This man, I’ll call him George, was always on his feet walking to the homes of his kinsfolk and neighboring settlements. He was the jungle, door-to-door salesman and he was selling his vision: a grand celebration with singing, dancing, and most importantly, the giving of pigs, which would be killed and eaten by the community at this party. He didn’t have the most pigs, the most wives, nor was he the anointed leader. What George did have was a fundamental understanding of his tribesmen, their wants, and their motives. He knew how to persuade, gain commitments for pigs (in other words, wealth), form alliances, and motivate peers to keep working (a difficult thing to do in a beautiful jungle!). As a result of his perceptiveness and his persistence, a large community ate a delicious, ceremonial BBQ as opposed to having the pigs horded and wasted. Instead of disorder, bickering, and the fractioning of groups, George solidified relationships and moved their economy forward to another cycle.
So do Big Men (or Big Women) only exist in small aboriginal societies? No way! World history is littered with individuals who convinced others to buy-in. Saint Paul convinced different Mediterranean cultures to buy into Christianity. Christopher Columbus understood the goals and motivations of the King and Queen of Spain, and he sold them on his high-risk venture.
So why do sales people get a bad rap now? Probably because there are many who don’t sell well and a few that sell well but dishonestly. Yet, when someone sells well and honestly, the experience and the exchange can actually be quite wonderful with both the seller and buyer coming out in a win-win. In the professional world this exchange is money in the salesman’s pocket and a solution or a satisfaction in the customer’s pocket. A Big Man – Sales Man can also be a motivating coach, a popular politician, a game-changing entrepreneur, and an inspirational mother.
Some modern Big Men are so good at communicating that people line up to hear them speak, and be knowingly sold to! The Big Man in higher populated, stratified societies also knows his tribe very well, persuades them to take beneficial actions, brings people together, and moves the economy forward. Therefore, every great cause and awesome company needs Big Men or Big Women. Want to be that highly sought after Big Man? Then obtain and grow your human insight. A few sales books under the pillow makes for a good start, a few more anthropology books are even better!
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After spending over 30 years in the electronics business and having a very successful career, I had an epiphany, “How I spend the second half of my life is more important than how much I spend.” I liquidated all of my assets and went back to school to become an archaeologist and museum curator.
I was following the course of a “Big Man” but had two important things said to me by my deceased son, Ammon Montoya. “Dad, don’t be so much of a “Look at Me,” and “Don’t be so caught up in your own bullshit.” I have now cast aside being a materialist and seek to follow the “Hopi Way” and become more of a minimalist. I am in the pursuit of making my life simpler by living more of a subsistence life style. I now live on 1/4 of what I was making 20 years ago and am much richer for it.
“Humble Circumstances does not mean one is Poor”
I admire the Puebloans and other Native Americans, as well as indigenous peoples, and those who live subsistence lifestyles who have figured out how to live in the so-called civilized world but not be part of it.
Hi Don,
Wow! Thank you for sharing your unique life experiences. I agree, that sales, business, and life is about nurturing authentic, human connections and not about showing off.
I hate the stigma that sales = bad. This post turns that antiquated association on it’s head…bravo!
Hi!
What was the name of that documentary?
Hi Nicholas,
The documentary is Ongka’s Big Moka: The Kawelka of Papua New Guinea. It’s a great documentary that helped me look deeper into my own culture, I hope you enjoy it too!