ECHO

Echo, a simple term that conjures up visions of someone hanging their head over the side of a mountain and screaming "HELLO" at the top of their lungs and waiting to hear the familiar sound of "HELLO... Hello... hello" reverberate back to them with each subsequent hello getting softer and softer.  I think of this term in a slightly different way after a discussion I had with a salesman when I was on a flight for a business trip.  His definition really means something and I never take it for granted. 

The salesman looked me straight in the eye and said to me, "Remember, approach everything keeping ECHO in mind."  His definition of ECHO was an acrynom for "Every Contact Has Opportunity".  I have always kept that saying in the back of my mind because I never know who I'm going to meet. 

He went on to explain his ECHO theory may not give you immediate returns, but it will some day pay off for you.  Some of you may call it Karma, or the Golden Rule, but his definition had a different twist.  He told me that I may wait years or even decades before the ECHO returns, but it depends on what I did during that first encounter.

We have all heard the saying that first impressions mean a lot, and under the ECHO theory, the will influence the outcome of our interaction with whomeve we meet.