Superman has superpowers. But Superman has a fatal flaw: he can’t be all places at all times. As a result, a lot of things don’t get done. Really important things, like feeding starving children, keeping airplanes from falling out of the sky, and finding a presidential candidate we can actually support. When you can’t be […]
Read MoreJenean manages an enterprise sales team for a rapidly growing technology company. She sits in Seattle with half of her team selling out of the Seattle office. The other half of her team, however, sells out of a Boston office, and one of her sales reps works in London. This is not some rare occurrence. […]
Read MoreOne of the favorite things my wife and I like to do together is try out a new brew pub. We live in the Pacific Northwest, and a new microbrewery seems to pop up every week, so there’s no lack of options to explore. A few weeks ago we were sipping beer (Okay … she […]
Read MoreClassic sales dogma says this: ABC. Always be closing. If you’re still following that acronym, please stop. Now. You’re ruining sales for the rest of us. Replace it with this: ABG. Always be giving. ABG Versus ABC Here are four critical differences between ABG and ABC: Always be giving starts by providing important, valuable information […]
Read MoreI just unwrapped the cellophane from a brand new Moleskine journal. I get a thrill every time I break open a new notebook, move the tassel to page one, and embark on filling its 240 pages. This is Moleskine journal Volume 21, the other 20 five-inch by eight-inch volumes line my shelf, like soldiers at […]
Read MoreIt’s the technology we love to hate, but can’t live without: our smartphone. That’s the conclusion an MIT research study reached about the personal impact of inventions in the last century. The smartphone handily beat out the alarm clock, the television, and email. Do you agree? As amazing as our smartphones are—with apps for doing […]
Read MoreI’ve never met a business leader who’d actually say, “Oh no, metrics don’t matter to me.” Have you? I didn’t think so. So why ask the question, “Do your metrics matter?” Because I’ve found the way most business leaders operate is like they’re practical atheists when it comes to metrics. I know, I know that’s […]
Read MoreAll coaching is not the same. I know this because I tried to make it all the same and fell flat on my face. When I first began working with executive leaders one-on-one, I had an assembly line approach to the process and found it to be extremely ineffective. Then I wised up. One of […]
Read MoreAll leadership roles are not the same. And while we might agree with that statement on paper, in practice we violate it regularly. In practice we promote a high performing individual contributor—a leading salesperson or a leading researcher—to the role of frontline manager and are surprised when that person struggles to win the support of […]
Read MoreClimbing a mountain is hard work. Some mountains, however, are harder to climb than others. Compare climbing Mary’s Peak, a popular hike a few miles from my house that tops out at 4,000 feet above sea level, with climbing Mount Everest, which rises to 29,000 feet. You prepare very differently for a climb up Mary’s Peak […]
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