Sir Horatio Nelson is known for delivering a number of naval defeats to Napoleons forces. Often outnumbered Nelson was always resourceful and innovative - he would simply find a way to get it done! He was extremely courageous and patriotic, he lost his arm and his eye and finally his life fighting for his country. That is a really brief introduction to who he was, but why am I bringing him up?

In spite of these strengths there were a number of interesting flaws that plagued his illustrious career. First of all he suffered from sea sickness his entire life. Imagine that, a sailor that spent his entire career at sea battled with sea sickness.

His personal life was a little bit of a mess. He was involved in a few scandalous affairs and socially speaking he offended quite a few people that he probably shouldn't have.

So it goes with sales people - often they can have a pretty dominant weakness and still succeed if their desire and commitment is strong enough. At times a sales performer will have social or personal issues but once again if they have the skills and desire to succeed in sales they often do. The lesson is this - too often we select sales people based on the wrong criteria - imagine it is 1804 and you need to pick an admiral to fight off a combined French and Spanish fleet. Nelson shows up, one eye, one arm and lets you know he often gets sea sick. What are you going to do? Would you Hire Him?