February 6, 2026

Business by the Book

Genesis 37:3  Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.

Nothing causes more problems than playing favorites. Israel, formerly known as Jacob, showed love to Joseph more than all his other children which caused hatred, ultimately attempted murder, and years of family strife.

When I was first starting out as a sales representative, the owner of the company that I worked for spent about a month teaching me how to be successful. He was a great salesman. He loved being around people and his favorite thing to do was to find ways to help them become successful. In turn, he became successful.

On a certain day we made a call on a customer who was a little bit odd. Actually, I should say that he was tremendously odd. He dressed oddly, he spoke oddly, he had no sense of humor, he was rude, and on top of that, he looked creepy. At the end of our meeting my boss told this man that we would see him that night at a certain restaurant for dinner. Dinner? Really? We have to spend time eating with this man.? As we drove away my boss told me something I will never forget.

“Bill, when I started my business this man was one of my first customers. Today he is in the top ten customers our company has. He is a weird duck, no one likes him, and no other sales person from any of our competitors even tries to earn his business. But if you learn to appreciate and respect people you do not naturally like, you will build a solid customer base. Starting out, make yourself like people you don’t like.”

He was right. I took his advice and within three years I was promoted and relocated twice, all because I did not play favorites when it came to my customers. They were all special; they put food on my family’s table. Upon becoming a manager, I determined to put the same philosophy into place, it worked equally as well in management as it did in sales.

We are all naturally drawn to certain people for various reasons. But overcoming the instinct to play favorites will pay rich dividends to the leaders of any group of people: be it large or small. Again, in relationships, nothing causes more problems than playing favorites.

Dr. William Howe