No, his social skills are not good, and around the office he might be deemed ‘difficult’, especially at lunch time, but for tenacity and singularity of purpose you’d be hard pushed to beat our fishy friend. The world’s most famous (albeit fictional) great white shark, or Carcharodon carcharias to give him his less catchy title, is, on the face of it, a perfect employee. He’s ruthlessly efficient, goal-orientated, exists on almost no sleep, travels well, has simple (if voracious) tastes and usually gets what he wants.
Physical presence and how you project yourself can be important tools in negotiations and you’re starting from a position of strength if the other party takes one look at you, turns to his colleagues and says the equivalent of, “You’re going to need a bigger boat”. He also manages the trick of having an effect on people while remaining invisible most of the time. Although inventing a scary theme tune that gets played every time you’re about to enter a room is unlikely to work for you, unfortunately.
It might not be PC, but adopt some of Jaws’ ruthless attitudes and you could be eating the competition for breakfast. Where he lets himself down however, is in not seeing when enough is enough, and fixating on one deal when he should just give up and move on to oceans new.
When you find yourself chomping on an oxygen cylinder in full view of a man holding a high-velocity rifle, you really should get the hint that it’s time to bow out.
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