Did you know that the average person spends 40 percent of his or her job on sales? That works out to 24 minutes per hour.

In a fascinating conversation with Jonathan Fields, Daniel Pink said that “the technology that was supposed to obliterate sales has turned more of us into sellers.” Pink, whose latest book is on this topic, makes the point that blurring lines at work has put a form of selling into everyone’s job description.

We are all in sales.

Lawyers won’t tell you they are in sales, but that’s what they do every time they wine and dine a potential client. Customer service reps won’t tell you they are in sales, but the results of every service call can mean the difference between a product return and return business. Researchers won’t tell you they are in sales, but they’re selling ideas, projects, and their budget needs to their bosses (and their bosses). And CEOs… Well, you get the picture.

Watch the video. It’s long, but it’s worth it.

My friend Geoff Livingston said in a speech recently that “no one wakes up and says, ‘I am a lead generator.'” And yet we are. A lot of food for thought here–and implications for the world of work.

Photo by PinkMoose (Flickr).