When you’re in sales, with a huge territory and a big nut to hit every year, the last thing you want is to be dragged into one of those dopey committees that would require a lot of your time and energy.

In Dupont, the all consuming aim of the company was safety.

Sales came in second.

Dupont used to make gun powder back in the 1700’s and unfortunately, they unalived a lot of their employees by forgetting to add water when they were grinding the powder down.

There were daily explosions and employees flying everywhere.

They even had had baffles installed on the windows of all surrounding buildings so no one could drop in unannounced. 🙂

That made Dupont a huge insurance risk, to put it mildly, and they had to insure themselves.

These days you have hundreds of neurotic, distracted and paranoid sales people driving company cars all over the country.

Even in a minor fender bender, if a savvy motorist heard the word, Dupont, their backs immediately went out.

They called their lawyer before they called their doctor. 🙂

This did not make Dupont happy.

it became a recipe for a Dupont safety committee. Ugh.

Nobody volunteers. You are drafted.

When I got the call, I wasn’t happy.

The first team conference call went nowhere, of course.

Nobody had a clue…but I did.

I created the “Eye on Safety Program”

I dressed up like a cop, wrote music, created a newsletter, put out a CD and performed “Lookin’ Out For Stupid” at the National Sales Meeting.

I had the most fun I could have with my clothes on.

Looking back, I think the fact that I had no business experience and a wild imagination helped me a lot.

I even won the big sales award that year.

What a country! 🙂