I agree with a lot of what you’ve written. I suppose the one area where I’d disagree is this: I’d far rather watch Monty Python or Fawlty Towers (or even some comedy not including John Cleese!) than doom & gloom – we rarely watch the news in the evening!

As for pain & gloom in selling – there’s a school of thought that says it’s the best way to sell. Whether that’s true or not, anyone who tries to sell to me by talking at me will get nowhere – such an approach makes me turn off well before they get to any “selling” message! I believe that, especially in networking events, it’s much better to find out about the other person first – tho’ if both want to defer to the other I can envisage one of those “after you Charles!” “no, after you Claude!” exchanges.