“Blood alone move the wheels of history… Some people will tell you ‘salesman’ is a bad word. They will conjure up images of used car dealers and door-to-door charlatans…”, said Mussolini entering WWI.
Psyche.
This was said by Dwight Schrute, a salesman of northern eastern Pennsylvania, in episode 17, season 2 of The Office.
He is right about the common perceptions of salesman, to which he also responded “It is our duty to change their perception”. A good place to start is to acknowledge that “Selling is like preaching”. Selling is not about tricking the customer to buy stuff, but communicating a solution to customers. However, we can say all the good qualities a salesman should have, but it is really hard to uphold yourself to a high standard in execution. An example of this would be DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort in the Wolf of Wall Street at 1:21:51. Although many would agree that they are entertained by his speech, it does not change the fact that he is just a piece of sh*t. But one thing that remains undeniable is that he is really good at what he does. His confidence, knowledge, skills, and wealth just overwhelm everyone around him. People want him to help them to get rich, and he is able to do that. He is just a one heck of a dude. However, he gave up a lot along the way. He gave up his family, honesty, health, freedom, and many other things.
So instead of end with a conclusion, I would like to ask couple questions: How can we maintain our integrity when pursuing wealth and success in the world? How can we have the wealth of Jordan Belfort without becoming like him? Some might think I am materialistic, but I think that this is a very noble goal because there is nothing wrong about getting rich. My concern is that how can we stand our ground when being in situations where we must make a decision? I mean, who can deny a night with Margot Robbie?
By Alex Chen
BoweryJE22 3 thoughts on “Dwight Schrute, Jordan Belfort, and Margot Robbie”
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As a personal fan of The Office, I really appreciate the usage of this quote and I did not realize how important it really is. I also found it interesting how you tied in Jordan Belfort in this example, as he is often viewed as a bad guy but he is actually very skilled at selling to others.
Alex, these are some great insights. I always admired Dwight’s enthusiasm and commitment to excellence in the Office. He’s always willing to go the extra mile, even if that means creating a fake fire and trying to evacuate the whole office. Jordan Belfort is an extremely charismatic man and has the “silver tongue”, however he is extremely unethical and goes against all the traditional “characteristics of a salesperson”. Finding a way to make money, but doing it honestly without putting the customer in jeopardy is very important.
As much as I love The Wolf Of Wallstreet I don’t think it’s a good framework for sales. Jordan Belford only helped his employees get rich. By breaking the law he put his employees and customers at risk.