Rust Never Sleeps

Fellow Spineophiles;

Upon taking a few mental health days from blogging, it is great to get to the keyboard and share a few thoughts about the industry and some of the comments that have been posted referring to this blog dying a slow death, that TSB sold out to another TSB, that there were grammatical errors, that the creative juices are gone by asking you a simple question in our post, "where has all the innovation gone?" This is your forum, isn't it?  It has always been about the people, it has never been a PR platform for any one individual.  TSB is not Robin Young shopping his OTW around to other publications, a gadfly, an industry oracle, no we would never be that full of ourselves. TSB stopped hanging onto mommies apron a long time ago.  But before I continue to blog, let me make an observation about some of our readers.  For the most part, the majority of you contribute in a positive manner, many with surgical like precision contrary to the naysayers.  Unfortunately, there is a minority, if not a few individuals that truly believe that they are entitled to dictate what we should write about, how often should we post, and what we should say, let alone how we should say it. They continue to espouse their non-sense. With that said, let me quote Samuel Langhorne Clemens,  Mark Twain for some of gnomes that surf this site, "the reports of TSB's death are greatly exaggerated."  How ridiculous do some of you sound?  You would think that TSB was working for our readers.  Guess what?  We're not.  Not any one individual that contributes to our weekly posts works for any of you.  In all likelihood we will never work for anyone, nor will we ever pander to anyone's desires.  Our objective was and will always be to be honest and truthful about this industry and some of the cartoon characters that make up the usual suspects.

Upon attending some recent industry related meetings the one thing that truly jumps out is that this industry is as toxic as it has ever been.  Many of you and your companies have gone so far off course that the question must be posed, will you ever get back on track?  Upon visiting some of your booths, it became apparent that the delusional have never left the building. Building is a thing of the past, and maybe this is a by product of the kind of leaders some of your companies are putting in place.  As for culture, that is nothing more than a charade.  TSB and his Band of Gypsies walk around some of these meetings and do not see anything that resembles an industry that took great pride in itself. The reason this industry has reached this crossroad is because we lack an ethic and moral that once made us a proud industry.  How pathetic is it watching some of you run around kissing some KOL's ass?  They laugh at most of you, and mock you behind your backs.  As for leadership, it's a joke at best.  Leadership was about doing the right thing, today it is nothing more than a distant memory.  It's all about making money.  Yet, before anyone dare illicit a response, look at the tactics and strategies that have been implemented.  Today, leadership is not about leading, its about beating your managers and sales force over the head with unrealistic expectations.  Where do some of these people come up with their hallucinations?  Could it be that they are the people doing the drugs?  Hey, why not read another book or attend another leadership seminar only to leave those tools at the door when you leave.  Today very few dollars are directed at education for the direct and independent sales rep.  Part of the problem is that many claim to understand leadership and management, yet, few understand sales.  You actually need to be a magician to succeed in this business.  But then again, there are a few Mr. Magic's that are in sales leadership positions.

For those of you that think TSB is dead, we are just catching our second wind.  Over the next few days and weeks we will entertain you with our take on the complaint files against Phygen for IP infringement and some other oldies but goodies.  To those that think TSB is dead, remember what the great Neil Young once said, "rust never sleeps."

Hey, Hey, my, my , TSB will never die, there's more to the picture than meets the eye, hey, hey, my, my. So keep your eyes out for over the days TSB will have arisen from the dead.

Keep On Rockin' Spineophiles