When Sales and Management Collide

It happens quite often in business. The sales people do their job, get the client interested, come close to sealing the deal, maybe even get it signed...then management knocks on the door.

Management comes along and asks how could we complete the project in such a short time or at such a low cost. Maybe they brought this up earlier and the sales person brushed off these ideas in favor of the sale.

Will it become a "I told you so" deal or not, who knows. Management is supposed to prevent these situations from occurring, but somethings are beyond their control.

And so we are reminded in this week's Parsha by Moshe who admits he is on his last day on Earth and if Bnai Israel follow in the ways of God all will be good for them. Unfortunately, God had a different view of the future. Here in 31:16-18:

16. And the Lord said to Moses: Behold, you are [about to] lie with your forefathers, and this nation will rise up and stray after the deities of the nations of the land, into which they are coming. And they will forsake Me and violate My covenant which I made with them.		טז. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה הִנְּךָ שֹׁכֵב עִם אֲבֹתֶיךָ וְקָם הָעָם הַזֶּה וְזָנָה אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהֵי נֵכַר הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר הוּא בָא שָׁמָּה בְּקִרְבּוֹ וַעֲזָבַנִי וְהֵפֵר אֶת בְּרִיתִי אֲשֶׁר כָּרַתִּי אִתּוֹ:
17. And My fury will rage against them on that day, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will befall them, and they will say on that day, 'Is it not because our God is no longer among us, that these evils have befallen us?'		יז. וְחָרָה אַפִּי בוֹ בַיּוֹם הַהוּא וַעֲזַבְתִּים וְהִסְתַּרְתִּי פָנַי מֵהֶם וְהָיָה לֶאֱכֹל וּמְצָאֻהוּ רָעוֹת רַבּוֹת וְצָרוֹת וְאָמַר בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא הֲלֹא עַל כִּי אֵין אֱלֹהַי בְּקִרְבִּי מְצָאוּנִי הָרָעוֹת הָאֵלֶּה:
18. And I will hide My face on that day, because of all the evil they have committed, when they turned to other deities.		יח. וְאָנֹכִי הַסְתֵּר אַסְתִּיר פָּנַי בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא עַל כָּל הָרָעָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה כִּי פָנָה אֶל אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים:

This is God telling Moshe the future and that the last 40 years of Moshe's life have been for nothing.

If you ever were a teacher or a presenter at a conference you know this feeling quite well. No matter how you explain the subject, there will always be those who can not follow directions. In this case, it led to many problems for Israel then and through the millenia.

Sometimes you will sell a client on a product or solution only to find your company has decided to end the products life and how do you feel as that sales person? Moshe accepted this loss and wrote it all down for us to read today. The Torah shows the good and bad of many people, we know they were not all saintly but they believed in God. Knowing you did your job well even if management seemed to go in a different direction later sometimes is all you have left. Move on to the next sale, it's going to be huge.
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Parsha Vayelech in the book of Devarim, Deuteronomy 31:1-31:30 It is said that the Torah or Bible
could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring a business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom