Joe Girard was the greatest car salesman in the world. For decades he held the record of most cars sold in a year. He was the undisputed champion and after a brief but wildly successful career in sales, retired and wrote books, held seminars and was paid big money to do so.
All was fine under the sun until his record was destroyed by a man named Ali Reda in 2017. Instead of being a good sport and conceding that his long-standing record was finally broken (which is bound to happen eventually, just look at competitive sports), Girard couldn't let go and got his panties in a twist, telling anyone who would listen that the new record was invalid and making so much of a fuss, that even the Guinness book of records decided to retire the category and not give credit where it was due.
The truth is we don't know the whole story and can speculate till the cows come home as to what transpired behind closed doors. However, it doesn't look pretty for afar and reeks of un-sportsman-like behaviour.
Girard wrote books about sales, selling a philosophy of his that was centred on being nice to others and always being of service. It now seems that it was all BS and only applied to him when convenient.
The moral of the story is that actions speak louder than words and uncharacteristic behaviours stick out like a sore thumb. Girard has probably irreparably damaged his otherwise well-deserved reputation as a result (it certainly had that effect on me) and also managed to drag other people through the mud in the process.
Had he simply put his huge ego aside for a minute and conceded his successor's victory (however bitter he may have been in private) as well as wished him well, everybody would have been better off.
In times like these, it's even more crucial to be a good sport and nice to others. It just makes our everyday challenges a little easier to swallow and the victories worth celebrating.
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