I came from the trading and sales side, where I had made it a point of keeping myself scrupulously insulated from my work. I had had some experience as a salesman before entering the securities business. After finishing college in England I joined as management trainee a firm making handbags, custom jewelry, and fancy goods, and I ended up as a salesman. I developed a theory of salesmanship based on the principle that one must not on any account identify oneself with the merchandise one is selling. Selling is a game where you score when you make a sale. If you allow your ego to be involved, the customer can brush you off and you lose; but if you do not identify yourself with your work you will be able to redouble your efforts when you are rejected, and if you make a sale you come out the winner.
--- George Soros (2003), The Alchemy of Finance, p.41
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