Who is Brian Kim ?

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…on a theme I’ve covered before (about the growing toxic obsession with productivity) I present this piece of crap article from Kim’s productivity blog.

Kim talks about additional stuff kids should be taught at school. 5 key things in fact – including :

#4. Sales

Obviously I’m not advocating people becoming a salesman after school, but learning the art of selling is what I’m advocating. If you think about it, we all sell everyday. We sell ideas to our boss. We sell to our friends when we pitch ideas on what to do this weekend. We sell ourselves in job interviews.

You could say that sales is a great combination of social skills and communicating effectively, but with some other components you should pick up that will be useful.

Listen. Really listen.
Actively listen.
Learn how to be convincing.
Be persuasive.
Think of objections and counter them ahead of time.
Stress benefits instead of features.
Listen to the other person. (yes I know it’s a repeat, but it’s for emphasis)
Develop empathy.
Think in terms of how you can help serve the other person.

Selling is one of the few skills that can be utilized in any job or career. It’s one of the most important cross marketable skills you will ever develop.

….How about that ? But in addtion to Salesmanship, he also figures they should learn :

#5: Time Management

Speaking of other skills that can be utilized in any job and career is time management. The majority of students never really learn to value their time and mange it while in school. Procrastination is all too rampant (studying right before class, doing homework and essays the day it’s due, partying the night before the exam). This lack of time management often carries over into adulthood, which becomes a major liability.

Learn to make a to do list. Learn to prioritize. Learn to break things down into 30 minute blocks of time. Learn about actionable items. David Allen’s GTD system is your best friend here along with Dan Kennedy’s No B.S Time Management. Again if you’re unfamiliar with these people, Google is your best friend, but I’m sure the majority of readers will know what I’m talking about.

Maybe they can prioritise which toys they take out at playtime ?

I am’ almost too angry to write about it.. ..and so will finish this entry later. Suffice to say I find this as sick as selling make up to 5 year old girls.
edit : >  I wrote a bitter and hopefully insulting post on Kim’s site,  expressing my feelings about is abhorrent  views on how to stealth youth from our young.   I checked back this morning and the post was gone.

I fully respect he has the right to retain editorial control  (hey, he’s got a book to sell..) but,  do his readers know that he’s cutting things he doesn’t agree with ?  I admit the post was full or vitriol.  He got both barrels.   But I didn’t use any bad language even though I did call him a pervert.

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