Two main findings emerged out of a survey on how much time and energy people are devoting to moving others at work: 1. People are now spending about 40 percent of their time at work engaged in non-sales selling persuading, influencing, and convincing others in ways that don't involve anyone making a purchase. Across a range of professions, we are devoting roughly twenty-four minutes of every hour to moving others. 2. People consider this aspect of their work crucial to their professional success- even in excess of the considerable amount of time they devote to it.

The opposite of autonomy is control. Control leads to compliance; but autonomy leads to engagement. When people are compliant, they do the absolute minimum that they can get away with. But when people are engaged, they actively take responsibility and contribute more than expected. You pick which destination you like, when you decide between autonomy and control. And don’t get me started on how engagement is the silver bullet to most companies’ problems!

The existing data show that 1 in 9 Americans works in sales. But the new data reveal something more startling: So do the other 8 in 9. They, too, are spending their days moving others and depending for their livelihoods on the ability to do it well. Whether it's selling's traditional form or its non-sales varia-tion, we're all in sales now.