Sounds reasonable to me. I would also presume that it depends on your position, and the nature of the business itself. I’ve worked almost exclusively with sales, which requires blending the social with the professional. You can send the smartest, most professional rep in the business out in the field, but he’ll never do as well as the rep who treats treats the shops he deals as friends. I worked with such a guy once as I was coming up. Knew the product inside out, but just couldn’t understand why our competitors were gaining floor space in the shops he dealt with. We replaced him with a guy new to the industry, who was just learning the product, but he was just friendlier. We made back our losses and then some.
I see what you’re saying, but at the same time, I could watch a new rep interact with others in the office for half an hour and tell you how well he’s going to do in the field. A guy with a chip on his shoulder, whether it be about religion, politics, class, etc, is almost uniformly going to do poorly. The guy who never met a stranger and never disliked anyone who didn’t dislike him first is the sure bet.
I’ll definitely give you Sales. That’s a job where you HAVE to be all things to all people and a friend to the world. I was coming at it from a ‘closed shop’ position, IE ‘in’ the office/shop/production facility etc.
For sales, my position would be a guarantee of failure.