I stumbled on this video on Storeboard.com. It’s a speech from Barbara Corcoran for the 2013 Entrepreneur Magazine‘s 5th Annual Growth Conference. I almost didn’t watch this video. It showed up in my Twitter stream:

What got me to watch was, it was Barbara. I love the Shark Tank and wanted to learn more about Barbara. I didn’t know anything about her. I was curious where she came from, what her story was, etc. I had been meaning to do some reading about her and thought, maybe the video would school me and allow me to cross that todo off my list.  I’m very glad I clicked on it. It did.

Barbara shares some of the best stories EVER on how she made it and what it takes to be successful. Her stories are killer. They provide some unbelievable lessons on success and making it. But you really have to listen and dig deep.

http://youtu.be/p-9VwfiUsoY

I don’t know if Barb meant to deliver such deep messages, but her stories are far more complex and telling than what appears to be on the surface. The messages for success are many and deeply embedded. If you’re not paying really close attention and listening intently you’ll only get a quarter of the value of this presentation.

I’m not a star-struck guy. I don’t give a lot of credence to “celebrities” be it sports, actors or business. What I do give credence to is their stories. How hard did they have to work to get where they are? Where did they come from? How much of their success was theirs vs. luck, family and environment?  I give credence to peoples stories and Barbara has a great story. A story for sales people and sales leaders that must be heard.

My favorite stories from the video:

Carrie Chiang (Now her Sr. Vice President)

The origins of the Corcoran Report

Her encounter with Donald Trump

How she hires sales people

You can’t help but be left evaluating your own approaches, methodologies, and guts after listening to Barbara’s talk. That’s why I had to share it with you guys and make it a Success Saturday blog post.

Enjoy!