MT. ARLINGTON, NJ – The IARA Summer Roundtable Conference in San Diego, July 26-28, will feature Richard Fenton as the keynote luncheon speaker, author of Go For No, a book about the willingness to accept failure as a way to achieve success. Signed copies of his book will be available for all attendees.

A question posted on Fenton’s Web page asks: "Is it Richard's 25 years of experience as a salesperson, sales manager, sales training director, author, professional speaker, and seminar leader that makes him uniquely qualified to teach and motivate people to reach increased levels of performance?”

“The answer is no. What makes Richard qualified to speak about success is his willingness to fail,” said Matt Marks, IARA executive director.

This is not to say Rich hasn't had his share of success. As an account executive in the fleet sales department for the nation’s largest Chevrolet dealer, Fenton learned to sell from his father. Widely regarded as the top sales executive in the automotive industry for more than 30 years, Fenton's dad had a profound impact on his thinking and sales ability.

After leaving the car business, Fenton quickly put his sales experience to work, landing a position with Walt Disney Productions in its distribution division, responsible for selling and distributing major motion pictures.

Yet, deep down, Fenton had a burning desire to become a professional speaker and trainer – a desire he’s had since the age of 8. As Fenton tells it, “I set up plastic dinosaurs all over my basement and invited people over to hear me talk about them. As I recall I charged everyone a nickel to get in.”

Fenton would spend the next 30 years chasing his dream, planning for it, dreaming about it, and flirting with it – everything but actually doing it. “I was simply too afraid to fail,” he said.