A superb 4th of July week. Great weather here in New England…not so in other states without power…and certainly the word “heat” was repeatedly in everyone’s vocabulary. The other word that I often heard last week and especially on the 4th was “leadership”, or more correctly, the “lack of leadership”.
In a heated summer of even more heated political campaigns what we would all like to see on the part of our purported leaders is just that…“leadership”. This has nothing to do with whether I support Obama or Romney, Brown or Warren. It’s simply a comment about what I believe that we all would like to see in our heads of government; it’s what we want to see in our economic leaders to create a more definitive path out of this economic morass, and it’s what we want to see in those men and women leading our companies and our sales organizations.
Leadership is that requirement to assess all of the facts, to consult with one’s managers and advisors and then to take an individual stand on a direction with definitive actions. No more excuses like “these are difficult times”, or “this is hard to do”, or “it depends”, and all of the other lame comments such as “This is a new idea/market/product/territory”. There comes a time, when if one is the person in charge, (the buck stops here kind of thing) then that person needs to make the decision as to whether they’re just a manager, or whether they’re also a leader.
Jimmy Carter, was a likeable guy, but a failed leader. He had a tough presidency (remember gas lines and Iran hostages) with a tendency to micromanage everything. He also had no vision or sense of leadership as evidenced by his esoteric comments about liberty such as “aggression unopposed becomes a contagious disease”, which clearly did not inspire anyone.
JFK, on the other hand, exuded leadership with his ability to make the Soviets blink and his own convictions about liberty defined by “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.”
It’s this ability to truly lead, to set a path and firmly back it up with definitive tactics, statements and actions that the majority of us want to see both at the highest level in our government and down at the street level in our companies.
Someone-obviously with no sales experience- recently asked me the question “Why do I believe that most salespeople are “just average”?’ I’ve heard the question numerous times, especially at the ends of the quarters, and my answer is always the same-It’s because their managers are “just average” and show no leadership. These are average managers who are rooted in decades-old sales tactics, are not focused on today’s sales processes and analytics, would not understand leadership if they read the For Dummies edition cover to cover and have little to no ability to stand up and support their salespeople with sales processes, tools and training. Most probably, they got the management job because they were the best salesperson, and we know that that rarely works. Click HERE for a recent HBR article on that.
This week, since we’ve already jumped into Q3 and the very critical 2nd half of the year, I would challenge all of us who believe that we are leaders of salespeople to actually write down by the end of the week, what our true leadership skills are. Just list out for yourself, your specific leadership skills, and then, most importantly, where you feel you need to improve and what you plan to do about it during the second half of the year. I certainly have my own list.
One of my better and more open CEO’s, a strong manager and a darn good leader, just decided to join a Loren Carlson’s CEO Forum as a means of improving his own leadership skills. Another just hired one of my guys as a personal management coach. But, this improvement process can also begin with something as simple as adding a serious sales management book to your summer reading list. Try Cracking the Sales Management Code as a starter.
All tactical examples of moving ahead, of improving leadership skills and not being stuck in the glue of complacency that we too often see around us today in government and in unfortunately in too many businesses. Leadership is about architecting and building change for the future. Are you the architect and builder in your own sales organization? If the answer is not an assured, “yes”, that’s fine. It’s the perfect time of year to do something about it.
We just completed our new Summer 2012 edition of Writing the Winning Business Plan, our 75 page how-to free ebook. Click HERE, go to our website, download the book and email us at anytime for questions, comments or to add your own edits to our winter edition.
Jack
Head Coach
DERBY Management-Associated Industries of Massachusetts
SemiAnnual Sales Management Boot Camp
"Save The Date": September 30th-October 2nd, 2012
Click HERE for a quick overview and email me to set up time for a 10 minute call to talk about this unique experience. Want more detail? Click HERE for full agenda and pricing. Early Bird pricing ends August 15th
