Las Vegas Market: Archie Manning offers lessons
Football great tells bedding industry that adversity builds character
David Perry -- Furniture Today, February 3, 2010
 World Market Center CEO Bob Maricich, left, and Andrea Maricich greet former NFL great Archie Manning. |
LAS VEGAS — Former National Football League great Archie Manning has a message for the mattress industry: Adversity can build character.
"When you've been through adversity," said Manning, former quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, "that is a time when leadership has to come to the front. That is absolutely essential. Every salesperson out there has to accept some responsibility for leadership. You need to set goals and do the hard work."
Manning was the featured speaker at a Bedding Kickoff event held at the World Market Center Tuesday night. Other bedding events are on tap here to spotlight the WMC's commitment to the bedding category.
Better days lie ahead for the mattress industry, he predicted. "We'll come out of this," he said. "You can be a better person, a better family guy, a better salesperson, a better employee once you've dealt with adversity and stood up to it."
Manning also discussed the issue of the day: the upcoming Super Bowl. His playing day loyalties belong to the Saints but his son, Peyton, quarterbacks the Indianapolis Colts. "I will be pulling for the Colts and my son," he said. "That is who I hope wins the game. If they don't win, I will be a better loser."
Bob Maricich, CEO of the World Market Center, said Manning was a great choice to speak to the bedding industry because he knows what it's like to get knocked down - literally - and to rise again to fight another day. He noted that Archie Manning was sacked 339 times in his career.
"There isn't a better guy to talk about winning when the going gets tough," he said.
Maricich said that although the bedding industry has had a tough couple of years, "The people in the category are winners. We wanted to do something for the sleep industry. It's one thing to win in good times, and it's another to win in tough times."
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