WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:03.759 And I think if all you're focused on is what the score is going to 2 00:00:03.799 --> 00:00:06.280 be at the end of the game, at the end of the year, 3 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:15.160 you're gonna miss the stuff that really matters in getting you there. You're listening 4 00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:19.320 to the Audible Ready Podcast, the show that helps you and your teams sell 5 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:23.760 more faster. We'll feature sales leaders sharing their best insights on how to create 6 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:28.120 a sales engine that helps you fuel repeatable revenue growth, presented by the team 7 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:32.600 aforce management, a leader in B to B sales effectiveness. Let's get started. 8 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:37.840 Hello, and welcome to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. I'm Rachel clap 9 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:44.079 Miller. Today we are going to talk about leading with purpose. No matter 10 00:00:44.200 --> 00:00:48.000 the size of your team, it's important you're leading in a way that motivates 11 00:00:48.039 --> 00:00:52.119 action. Brian Wallace joins me for this conversation. Hi Brian, Hi Rachel, 12 00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:55.640 how are you. I'm doing great. I'm ready for this conversation. 13 00:00:55.719 --> 00:01:00.000 And let's just kind of start Brian, as we do high level overview, 14 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:04.719 what do we mean when we say leading with purpose? Well, let me 15 00:01:04.760 --> 00:01:08.000 throw something at you that maybe you weren't expecting because it just popped into my 16 00:01:08.040 --> 00:01:11.640 head as you kicked this off, okay, which is there are only three 17 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:15.959 outcomes when you leave this world as a leader, right, You're going to 18 00:01:15.959 --> 00:01:19.439 be remembered for what you did for people, You're going to be remembered for 19 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:23.239 what you did to them, or you're simply going to be forgotten. So 20 00:01:23.799 --> 00:01:27.519 I firmly believe that there are very few people in this world who would would 21 00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:33.560 want to be remembered in any other way than having being remembered for what they 22 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:37.000 did for people. And that's what they mean by leading with purpose. It's 23 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:42.599 getting to an outcome where you are remembered for how you helped people develop themselves 24 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:46.959 in their career and the outcomes that you were able to help them achieve as 25 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:51.680 a result. That's what I mean awesome. And I know sometimes we talk 26 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:56.719 about active consensus building, active hapences as it relates to leading with purpose. 27 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:00.920 How does that play in here? Well, I think it place into the 28 00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:04.760 fact that you've got to be thinking about. You know, it's not the 29 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:07.159 finish line, it's how are we going to get to the finish line? 30 00:02:07.319 --> 00:02:10.360 Right? And I think if all you're focused on is what the score is 31 00:02:10.360 --> 00:02:13.520 going to be at the end of the game, at the end of the 32 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:16.479 year, you're going to miss the stuff that really matters in getting you there. 33 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:23.159 And so active consensus is about getting everybody to row in the same direction 34 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:25.960 and play the role that they need to play in the way that they need 35 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:31.560 to play it, and having the skills to do that really effectively. And 36 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:35.599 I know you know this, like, this is all about how do I 37 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:39.159 drive that because your other option is for people to just go do their own 38 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:45.039 thing? Yeah, and that typically rarely doesn't get us anywhere, right, 39 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:49.719 that's leading with a lack of purpose. Yeah, Okay, So I know 40 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:52.919 we break these down into a couple areas, Brian, So let's kind of 41 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:57.000 go through that as we structure this conversation today. The first is the why. 42 00:02:57.240 --> 00:03:00.879 Let's talk about giving our teams why. We talk about this a lot. 43 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:05.159 I think people think they do this, but they don't talk about how 44 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:07.919 we provide the why. Yeah. I think people have a tendency to start 45 00:03:07.960 --> 00:03:09.840 with the what. This is what we're going to go do, right, 46 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:14.080 or you know a good example is this is what you need to go do 47 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:16.719 to advance this opportunity. Right. We're always talking in the what, and 48 00:03:16.759 --> 00:03:21.759 the why is the thing that matters more than anything, and I can't say 49 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:25.520 it any better than the old Simon Senek Ted talk start with why eighteen minutes 50 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:29.879 of the best Ted talk I've ever seen. And you know he talks about 51 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:32.879 how the human brain reacts to why more than any other thing, and that 52 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:37.000 if you can get people to attach to a why that matters for them, 53 00:03:37.639 --> 00:03:42.280 you've got a much higher chance of them being willing to act. So that's 54 00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:44.800 what matters. And you got to you got to attach the why to them, 55 00:03:44.919 --> 00:03:47.039 right. So, you know, we work with sales organizations all the 56 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:52.000 time. You've got leaders who have account executives, leaders who have account managers, 57 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:55.120 and somebody else has customer success or solutions, consultants, etcetera. The 58 00:03:55.199 --> 00:03:59.840 why for everybody's different, right, So you got to you got to attest 59 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:02.199 the thing that they're going to care about. And that's where it starts. 60 00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:08.560 Nothing else matters if you can't give me a really effective why should I be 61 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:11.919 thinking this way? Why should I consider doing what we're about to do? 62 00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:15.800 Those kinds and by the way, that applies to the customer conversation. People 63 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:17.879 make this mistake all the time. Hey, Rachel, can you introduce me 64 00:04:17.959 --> 00:04:20.439 to so and so? And you're on your team, and we wonder why 65 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:23.439 people are like, oh no, you don't need to meet them right now. 66 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.800 You have to give her a why? Why should she right? What's 67 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:30.600 in it for her? So that's that's why the why matters so much. 68 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:34.560 Really good point because so often I think we feel like we have communicated the 69 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:39.040 why, but we have to remember that the why is different for whom we're 70 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:43.959 talking to, right right, for different priorities. Looks a good thing to 71 00:04:44.040 --> 00:04:47.319 keep in mind. Okay, let's shift to the how. How is often 72 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:53.160 a misstep. We might tell people the what, but we miss the details 73 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:57.480 behind it. They don't have the how how they're supposed to go do do 74 00:04:57.560 --> 00:05:00.759 that? So how can we be better communicating the how? You know? 75 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:05.199 It's funny, I'm having a flashback to when I got my first laptop. 76 00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:10.319 I remember my company brought everybody, every seller in the country, and we 77 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:15.199 had a lot of salespeople on nationally and worldwide, into these conference rooms and 78 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:18.079 there were these beautiful laptops sitting there, and nobody else had had a laptop 79 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:21.560 before, right, They laptops were kind of new, and they gave us 80 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:27.720 about a forty five minute course on how to turn the laptop on. I 81 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:31.120 mean, but the laptop had had the initial versions of PowerPoint and Excel and 82 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:38.199 Word and other things most of us have never had ever really ever used before. 83 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:41.279 Maybe we'd used a little bit of Word on a desktop somewhere and all 84 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:45.120 the way. But somebody woke up eighteen months later said, how come we're 85 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:48.360 not getting the productivity increase out of our people that everybody promised when we bought 86 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:53.079 these laptops. Nobody showed us how to do it. Like it's like here 87 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:56.480 you go, you know, And so the how is like the thing that 88 00:05:56.519 --> 00:06:00.560 matters more than anything after you get past the why, because if somebody isn't 89 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:03.759 going to give me the skills, isn't going to, you know, tell 90 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:06.480 me what good looks like, and then show me what good looks like, 91 00:06:06.839 --> 00:06:10.759 and then someone's going to be there to watch me do it and then give 92 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:14.279 me feedback. Like it's kind of funny. People talk about going to get 93 00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:16.439 golf lessons all the time. Everybody wants to go spend time with the pro 94 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:18.800 on the range because the pro will watch you, right, and then they'll 95 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:21.519 tell you some things, then they'll show you some things, and then they'll 96 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:25.600 watch you do it, and they'll give you some feedback. There's this great 97 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:28.959 loop that is happening, you know, a week over week over week, 98 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:32.199 but nobody wants to do it in this type of environment. This is as 99 00:06:32.279 --> 00:06:36.480 much of a skill as anything else. So if you would agree with that 100 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:41.920 hypothesis, that means somebody's got to be willing to coach, right, don't 101 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:46.120 The coach doesn't have to be the expert or the greatest player in the history 102 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:47.800 of the game. But the coach has got to be able to help me 103 00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:53.120 break this thing down and understand its pieces parts and then help me put it 104 00:06:53.160 --> 00:06:57.639 back together in a way that builds repeatable skill. So that's why the how 105 00:06:57.639 --> 00:07:01.240 it's so important we talk a lot about that, especially around medic is a 106 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:04.480 great example. You medic provides you the gaps in your deals. You can 107 00:07:04.519 --> 00:07:06.519 be in with a rep and say, okay, well you don't have the 108 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:11.639 economic buyer or you have an aligned with the economic buyer, go do that. 109 00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:14.639 Well, right, how is a big part of fire. Yeah, 110 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:16.199 if you stop right I love that. If you stop right there with you 111 00:07:16.199 --> 00:07:19.160 need to go find the economic buyers. The classic example of somebody screaming at 112 00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:21.839 the scoreboard. You know, I can look at the scoreboard and know whether 113 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:26.839 we're winning or losing. Right, it's the how that's the hard part, 114 00:07:27.240 --> 00:07:30.240 right. And here's the other thing about the how. If you are as 115 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:33.079 a leader willing to become a great coach, and you spend time with me 116 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:35.800 on the example you just threw out there about the economic buyer, and you 117 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:40.480 help me think through how are we going to get access to that person? 118 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:43.720 What are we going to do to be effective when we get that access those 119 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:48.040 kinds of things. The halo effect is literally compounding interest, right, because 120 00:07:48.040 --> 00:07:53.879 you've just given me a skill that now I take to every other conversation than 121 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:58.800 I have around that topic, not just this conversation. So you're elevating my 122 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:01.199 game to make me that much more effective when you and I aren't in the 123 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:05.000 room, but I have another economic buyer thing going on in another deal. 124 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:09.480 That's the other reason this how thing is so important. That's good, that's 125 00:08:09.560 --> 00:08:13.480 good. I wanted to bring in another concept that we quite often talk about 126 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:16.920 it as it relates to leading, and that's it called leading from the front. 127 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:20.959 Accountability critical opponent to making this work. How do we make sure that 128 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:26.680 we're leading from the front, holding ourselves accountable? Yeah, it's okay. 129 00:08:26.759 --> 00:08:28.519 It starts with the why and the how. I believe. I mean, 130 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:33.639 you can you can hold people accountable without the why and the how. Good 131 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:35.679 luck, they're all going to quit. They're gonna hate you. I mean, 132 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:39.440 that's what happens. Right, you are viewed as a really ugly dictator. 133 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:43.639 That's not quite the adjective I was looking for, but I wasn't grabbing 134 00:08:43.639 --> 00:08:46.159 it. I'd prefer to be viewed as a benevolent dictator because the reality is, 135 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:48.120 if you're a leader, there are times when you have to be a 136 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:52.799 dictator. I would prefer people remember me as more of a benevolent one. 137 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:56.360 And a benevolent dictator is someone who not only knows when to be benevolent, 138 00:08:56.399 --> 00:09:00.679 when to be a dictator, but also understands that without the why and the 139 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:03.919 how, people are not going to follow from long. But if you have 140 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:07.279 the if you're good at the why and the how, when you do need 141 00:09:07.320 --> 00:09:11.200 to dictate some things, you're going to be in a much better position to 142 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:15.200 get buy in and it will be easier for you to identify your cynics. 143 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:18.919 Now here's what we mean by whole people accountable. What it means is when 144 00:09:18.919 --> 00:09:24.240 you see a cynic you act. I've given you the why, I've given 145 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:26.240 you the how. It's okay if you don't want to do this, it 146 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:30.919 just means you don't get to sell for me. That's all right, and 147 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:35.000 it's it's not a value judgment, but it's you know, there's a reason 148 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:41.799 the greatest organizations in every endeavor in life have these long track records of being 149 00:09:41.799 --> 00:09:46.720 great organizations. And one of the reasons is because once they set the standard 150 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:50.039 with the how, the why, and the how, they hold everybody accountable, 151 00:09:50.120 --> 00:09:54.559 not just certain people. That's the key to this, and that's how 152 00:09:54.559 --> 00:09:58.279 you get in a whole organization buying in. That's good. I think, 153 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:03.720 you know, I meant this before. I think sometimes people who are leading 154 00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:07.720 feel like they're doing this. They're like, I'm giving the why and I'm 155 00:10:07.799 --> 00:10:11.080 giving the how. But in reality and maybe not you know, doing what 156 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:15.200 it's supposed to. Maybe they're not going far enough. They may think they're 157 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:18.000 doing it, but they really aren't. And I know, Brian, you 158 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:22.000 work with a lot of great leaders out there, a lot of leaders who 159 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:26.399 might be struggling. What mistakes do you see most often in the companies that 160 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:30.320 you work with are out in these points over your career. What do you 161 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:33.759 think are the mistakes? Mostly case, Yeah, so let's review a couple 162 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:35.039 we kind of already hit on, and then I'm going to go someplace else. 163 00:10:35.720 --> 00:10:39.519 One is to your point, they think they're doing it, but they're 164 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:43.240 really not. Like they're giving some you know, classic example, Hey, 165 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:46.120 we're going to waunch salesforce dot com. And the reason we're going to do 166 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:50.200 that, it comes to big why is because the company wants a better view 167 00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:52.879 of all the data on our deals. Well, that's good for the company. 168 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:56.519 What's the why for me? Like so that's just a classic example, 169 00:10:56.639 --> 00:11:00.519 Like, well, the why for me should be when you do that, 170 00:11:00.960 --> 00:11:01.919 we are going to be in a better position to get in a room and 171 00:11:01.960 --> 00:11:05.000 talk about live opportunities and help you move them forward, because we're never going 172 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:09.360 to ask you to put that information someplace else, and we're actually all going 173 00:11:09.399 --> 00:11:11.559 to read it before we get in a room, so we can show up 174 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:13.360 at a point of view to help you advance a deal, not read us 175 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:16.840 the newspaper. I'm going to help you win more deals because of how I'm 176 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:22.720 going to come to talk to you and with you about those deals. There's 177 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:24.840 an example, like, there's a big difference in that. Right. The 178 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:28.679 other thing they do is they don't do a very good job of coaching. 179 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:33.600 They might show people what good looks like. But here's the problem with only 180 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:37.639 showing people. If you don't tell people what good looks like, like you 181 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:41.799 got to dissect stuff. Here's what a great golf swing consists of. There's 182 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:45.440 twelve different things, and we're going to work on them one at a time, 183 00:11:45.559 --> 00:11:48.639 or we can work on these two together. Then I show you. 184 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:52.120 So so I'm like, I've got the understanding of not just what it'd be 185 00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:56.039 like watching Michael Phelps swim the butterfly and then jumping in the pool and expect 186 00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:58.480 to be able to do it just like him. Right, I mean, 187 00:11:58.519 --> 00:12:03.240 that's not how this works. So you gotta help me understand. You got 188 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:07.919 to tell me what's involved in this skill that we're about to develop or thing 189 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:11.480 we're about to do. You got to then show me. And then where 190 00:12:11.480 --> 00:12:13.519 a lot of organizations ball down is they show people and I'm like, there 191 00:12:13.559 --> 00:12:16.559 you go, you're good. It's like when we got our laptop, here 192 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:20.080 you go, you're good. Somebody's got to then be involved in the development 193 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:24.360 in terms of watching me or observing me do this thing so that they can 194 00:12:24.360 --> 00:12:28.720 then give me constructive feedback that I can use to continuously improve. That's the 195 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:33.039 second thing they don't The third thing they don't do is they don't hold people 196 00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:35.600 accountable. They let people off the hook. And here are the two groups 197 00:12:35.639 --> 00:12:39.639 they always let off the hook. They let their high skill, low will 198 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:43.759 people off the hook because we get addicted to that person's performance, which sends 199 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:46.120 a message to the rest of the company, which is not good by the 200 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:48.799 way. And then the other people they let the hook are their leaders. 201 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:50.879 I see this all the time. You know, you go into you go 202 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:54.480 into an engagement, and what a couple of leaders are constantly getting up and 203 00:12:54.519 --> 00:12:58.440 leaving the room. And I try to tell people on the front end, 204 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:01.120 if you're leaving the room, guess who else they can leave the room. 205 00:13:01.159 --> 00:13:03.120 If you're checked out, guess who else is checking out. So those are 206 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:07.679 the big three mistakes that in terms of the three topics we just covered. 207 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:11.679 Here's the fourth mistake. People sit in a chair too long when they shouldn't 208 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:15.480 it. And what I mean by that is, if you're trying to do 209 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:20.919 this effectively and you are surrounded by other leaders who will not. You've probably 210 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:24.559 got a decision to make, which is am I going to continue to fight 211 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:28.879 this fight? Or am I maybe going to take my talents someplace else? 212 00:13:30.519 --> 00:13:37.200 And that's just a reality. Sometimes you're surrounded by others who don't want to 213 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:41.200 do this, don't see the value in doing this for the organization or for 214 00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:43.720 themselves or for their people. And that's okay. I'm not making a value 215 00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:46.720 judgment. I'm just suggesting, do you really want to be surrounded by that? 216 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:50.919 Like, there's the old adage that you are a product of the three 217 00:13:50.919 --> 00:13:52.600 to five people that you spend the most people, most most time went. 218 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:58.120 So that's my take on it. Awesome. Well, quite often I ask 219 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:01.840 for a final thought at the end of the is these podcasts, and I'm 220 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:05.039 I will give you one. Well, I wonder if it goes back to 221 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:09.480 how you started, I will give you one. I have been sent here 222 00:14:09.480 --> 00:14:13.159 on a mission on behalf of your people. I have self appointed myself recently 223 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:18.279 as the defender of the individual contributor. And all I mean by that I 224 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:22.159 say that song and cheek, but all I mean by that is I'm begging 225 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:26.159 you on behalf of your people to be the kind of leader that will be 226 00:14:26.200 --> 00:14:30.000 remembered for what you did for them, not what you did too them. 227 00:14:30.039 --> 00:14:35.679 And this is an example of doing four not doing two. That's my final 228 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:39.919 point. Great, thank you Brian, my pleasure right, and thank you 229 00:14:39.960 --> 00:14:45.799 to all of you for listening to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. At Force 230 00:14:45.879 --> 00:14:52.000 Management, we're focused on transforming sales organizations into elite teams. Are proven methodologies, 231 00:14:52.039 --> 00:14:56.639 deliver programs that build company alignment and fuel repeatable revenue growth. Give your 232 00:14:56.679 --> 00:15:01.919 teams the ability to execute the growth strategy at the point of sale. Our 233 00:15:01.080 --> 00:15:05.879 strength is our experience. The proof is in our results. Let's get started. 234 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:11.840 Visit us at forcemanagement dot com. You've been listening to the Audible Ready 235 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:15.840 podcast. To not miss an episode, subscribe to the show in your favorite 236 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:16.679 podcast player. Until next time.