Moving The Rock

Why do great companies miss quarterly revenue targets?

The truth is, as leaders experience success they become less flexible, less curious, and lose their ability to anticipate and respond to change. Instead of seeking data to understand what is happening and how to respond, they prefer to rely upon gut instinct honed over years of practice. Unfortunately, this can cause leaders to look at new events through old eyes. What’s needed is an operating model that allows sales and customer-facing teams to leverage what they know (their experience) and what they don't (new data and insights) to ensure they can sustain the success their leaders, investors, and board members expect.

Figure That Sales Leadership Out - Part 12 of 12: Can You Reach The Peak And Repeat?

It's one thing to reach success. It's another to sustain it. Can you take new ground with and for your team, hold it, and then add to it by taking more ground again? Can you muster the courage to not trick yourself into the blinds or shadows that take advantage of your complacency? In this episode, we wrap up our series with a discussion about where we are investing or spending our energy as leaders. We've got a finishing piece to put in place for you. It's a piece you need, because if you are not ready when the time comes that opportunity could be lost.

How Companies Get from Great to Growth

Companies that create best-in-class products and services, establish themselves as market leaders, and earn the loyalty of their customers deserve to be considered “great.” Today, many of these companies are stalling. Leaders realize that what got them to where they are won’t get them to where they want to be. What does it take for emerging and mature companies to get from great to growth? Join us as we discuss observations of the companies we have engaged with, as well as our own experiences over the years.

SPECIAL EPISODE with Kathy Peters, Co-Founder of iCarenetwork - A Case Study of Readiness and Resilience

Are you ever really ready to lead a startup? When you hear her story, you will recognize that Kathy Peters and her partner Rich Figallo are absolutely the right people at the right time to lead their market. Not just because of the expertise they bring to the table, but because of the readiness and resilience that allows them to effectively anticipate and respond to change. Join us for a fascinating introduction to what is absolutely a company to watch.

Figure That Sales Leadership Out - Part 11 of 12: Should You Run The Race In A Lower Gear?

Is running a sales force and achieving higher annual growth targets a sprint or a marathon? When you are starting out, you recognize that in order to make it to the long term you have to survive the short term. So, you commit to the high gear. Maybe your highest gear. Of course, it doesn't take long to recognize the pace you have set is unsustainable. You want to have access to bursts of power when you need them during the race, and you want enough energy to finish strong. The enthusiasm that gets you up in the morning has to be tempered with the knowledge that not every hill is worth dying on. Join us as we discuss the topic and explore its implications for building and retaining successful leaders and teams.

Figure That Sales Leadership Out - Part 10 of 12: Can You Let Go To Step Up To A New Role?

As leaders, so many of us earned that title by being supremely committed to a goal and continuously elevating our own execution in pursuit of that goal. What do you do with this ‘hero's mindset’ when you can't work any harder and there are no more hours in the day to sacrifice? How do you take yourself and your team to the next level? In this episode, we’re talking about letting go. Why is this an essential leadership trait? Eventually, we all get to a point where taking our (and our team’s) performance to the next level requires a new approach. It’s about more than time management. It’s about leadership.

Figure That Sales Leadership Out - Part 9 of 12: How Do You Decide What’s Next?

As a leader, knowing your next best course of action requires you to make sense of what’s going on around you as well as within you. Awareness has two sides and is one of the benefits that comes with the experience and maturity you gain over time. In this episode we discuss how leaders develop awareness and perseverance in the face of change. And we introduce you to the four seasons of change to help you navigate the process like an experienced pro (or master).

Figure That Sales Leadership Out - Part 8 of 12: Have You Mastered The Three Meta Roles of Level 5 Leaders?

Since Jim Collins first presented his concept of Level 5 leaders in his book, Good to Great, companies have been looking for ways to predictably elevate their people to this highest standard of leadership. Can leaders be developed into “... seemingly ordinary people quietly producing extraordinary results?” Can you give leaders the power to operate with a “…level of humility and modesty, while cultivating a ferocious resolve, an almost stoic determination to do whatever needs to be done to make the company great?” Check out this episode and let us know what you think?

Figure That Sales Leadership Out - Part 7 of 12: Can You Master Perception?

In physics as in life, everything that's happening from the perspective of the observer. In other words, reality is subject to the perception of the person involved. One sales or leadership conversation can produce at least three versions of the truth: Your truth, their truth and the truth. As a leader of leaders, do you have the ability and presence of mind to anticipate this challenge and not allow it to cloud or delay the commitment you are looking for? Join us as we solve this important and thought-provoking leadership challenge.

Figure That Sales Leadership Out - Part 6 of 12: Can You Escape The Quarterly Trap?

As sales leaders, we are all familiar with the punishing pace of delivering monthly or quarterly numbers. Why is it that some people seem to struggle from period to period through a repetitive cycle of stress, while others achieve a steady state of flow? The answer is in the ability to master your PACE. To rise above reacting to what’s happening to you, like being the pinball, to leading change, like being the manufacturer of the pinball machine.

When Are Sales Problems Not Really Sales Problems? with Special Guest Ed Porter

Monthly and quarterly revenue numbers make it easy to know how well a sales organization is performing. Because sales is a lagging indicator, when numbers grow or shrink it’s always an indicator or symptom of something else, something deeper going on. In this episode, James is joined by Ed Porter, founder of Bluechip CRO. Together, Ed and James access 50+ years of combined experience working with sales and customer-facing team leaders, to explore the root causes of some of the most common sales challenges faced by scale-up and growth stage companies.

Figure That Sales Leadership Out: Part 5 of 12 - Are You Winning, Losing, Stuck, or Inspired?

In this episode we extend our conversation from Part 4, where we discussed being prepared by being practiced. Here we address the practices that allow leaders to shift into a state of poise, a state of being that makes you ready for any moment? When the boat rocks as it inevitably will (all boats rock), how can you as a leader access a level of awareness within yourself that will allow you to model the behavior required to permanently elevate your entire team? Listen in and join the conversation.