Yesterday at Hotel AG, we lost a piece of business to a competitor. The competitor is a much larger company than Hotel AG, but it is never fun to lose. These situations are difficult to accept, but you basically have to understand that you will not be hired for every job or every piece of business.

The real issue is how you handle it if it happens to you. The carnal side of you wants to say something or do something, but in my experience, it only hurts you. I believe you have to just be a gentleman and move on. What many people do when these things happen is say something you can never take back; the result is it usually harms the relationship.

Last night when I thought about this, I had to put myself in the client’s shoes. Frankly, knowing all the components that went into that decision led me to believe that hiring the other company was the best thing for that client. Furthermore, I realized that if I had been in their shoes, I would have done the same thing. Ha. This doesn’t help if you are working up a good case of mad because you are basically siding with the client!

So, I had to just understand that God is in control and not me. In the movie “Rudy,” the priest says something that is very profound. He tells Rudy “In all my years as a priest, I have come up with two indisputable truths, one–there is a God and two– I am not him.”

I believe taking an inventory of where you are in life and how you got there is always a wise exercise. It is amazing how humble this can make you. As you look at the string of events that lead to where you are in life, I believe many of us can see the hand of God that has protected you and in many cases, kept you from situations that could have ended badly. I have this spiritual vision of God placing his hand on my back to help lead me through the door and at other times I see his hand on my chest keeping me from going through the door. When you make decisions, you need to know where his hand is.

Years ago, I used to get so mad when a work trip flight was delayed or cancelled. I was traveling with another broker on one such trip when the flight was delayed. He looked at me and told me that maybe it was God protecting us by keeping us from being in a certain area at a certain time. That shut me up pretty quick, and I have always remembered that view point since. I remember one day I was driving home from the office, and I was in a lane on the interstate that I never drive in. Translation: I was in the slow lane. Ha. Anyway, there I was in the slow lane, and I was at peace and happy just hanging out, listening to music, and driving slow. A minute later, there was a tractor trailer truck that blew a wheel off (and I do mean the whole wheel) and that wheel hit exactly in the lane where I would have been.

Sometime you just don’t get the job, but it is important to accept that there is a reason for everything; while we may not know the reason, there is still a reason. You might have to settle down and listen to the music in the slow lane for a while, but it will all be ok in the long run. KT