Leadership... what would your three words be?

I knew an incredible people leader who, as part of his development strategy, would give his people three words to consider for their personal development; sometimes the words were well received, and as I understand, sometimes not so much. As I was listening to him describe this over dinner, I could not help but ask what my three words would be; he looked at me, laughed, and said, "Sobriety, sobriety and sobriety". In fairness, it was a celebration dinner.

I was reminded of this the other night when the discussion of Leadership came up and we tried to articulate the qualities that make up good leadership. As with many of these types of conversations it usually starts with something rather innocuous, and then gets more refined and more serious as the conversation continues,

"OMG — I used to joke around with a colleague who was very grumpy but funny, funny, funny... and my daily question would be, 'Are you bitter, angry or resentful today?'. God I miss him... crazy funny."

The conversation continued to meander over a number of topics but it became apparent the topic of Leadership was not over when someone said,

"At the heart of all Leadership is clarity, vision and competency... How's that?"  

You could see heads nodding when someone added,

"Someone who is quietly confident, trusts and believes in his colleagues, and is able to get his hands dirty, and competently gets the job done."

The final words on the topic were eloquently added,

"Without being an idiot. Is that too much to ask?"

As we laughed and moved onto other dinner topics, I heard the person who started all of this say, "I miss my old boss".

And this brings me full circle back to that incredible people leader with his three words. I can't help but wonder what his three words would be to encapsulate "Leadership"?

By no means is listing the qualities that make up a great leader original — There are countless books, blogs, white papers and opinion on the topic, and I recommend you read as many as you can. What identifying three words does is ensure you have actually put some thought into leadership and prioritized what you think are the most important leadership competencies (there are definitely more than three). For right or for wrong, the three words you pick will represent your guiding principles on Leadership.

And any three words are better than the alternative... because then we aren't even discussing Leadership.  

iamgpe

PS: Mine are Selflessness, Transparency, and Vision.

PPS: Thank you to those around the table.

Sales versus Marketing... a narrative that is getting old.

The other day I was trying to explain the Sales and Marketing function to a friend who is a hard core "finance guy"; as I went about doing so, I couldn't help but flippantly say —

"When things are going well (meaning revenue) Sales gets the credit; when things aren't going so well Marketing gets the blame" 

We both laughed... but surprisingly not that hard.

I could not help but think of a conversation between a seasoned commercial leader and a marketing manager where I heard the manager say, "I understand what you are saying from a sales perspective but marketing is different, and we are going to do this..." As I was listening to the marketing manager I actually screamed in my head, "No, no... nooooo. The commercial leader is correct, and you are not different... focus on the customer, the customer's needs, and work together to generate revenue!" 

I should point out why I have earned the right to have an opinion on this topic. My career (30 years and counting) has been in both Sales and Marketing (almost 50-50), and I have received my fair share of credit and blame; for right or for wrong, I feel I have some insight worth considering. Academically, marketing is the business discipline that encompasses "Product", "Price", "Place" and "Promotion" (The 4 Ps); within the "Promotional Mix" is the sales channel... and make no mistake, this channel is extremely important — Why you may ask? It's because sales is one of very few groups in business that has an intimate and personal understanding of the customer, and is able to communicate complicated messages to generate revenue.   

And for anyone who doesn't think revenue is king, you should go ask any investor(s) you have to offer some insight regarding this point.

In my mind, the only thing that is different between Sales and Marketing is the levers available to each group, and maybe the degrees of separation their activities can be from revenue generation. The objectives of Sales and Marketing are the same — Engage with the customer, offer the appropriate product(s) and/or service(s) to meet the customer's need(s), and generate revenue. I very much appreciate the complexity to do all of this, but in the end it does boil down to this.

Many years ago a Sales Leader* was at a marketing retreat and was asked to speak about the relationship between Sales and Marketing. He was elegant, insightful, complimented his marketing partners, and offered insights on the sales team. At one point he compared sales to a "brochure" that talked back, had opinions, and offered ideas. He went on to say that some in marketing see themselves as "the great orchestrators of all things marketing, and frankly don't like rebuttal from one of their channels". He very eloquently suggested that this was the wrong perspective and that the sales team was a wealth of customer insight and ideas, and it's crucial to work together for success. Besides he went on to ask, "Don't we all have the same objective to engage with customers, offer the appropriate product(s) and/or service(s) to meet the customer's need(s), and generate revenue?" Fifteen years later his perspective still resonates for me —The narrative should always be Sales and Marketing.

So if your narrative is Sales versus Marketing, I strongly suggest you work to change this because no one wins when there is a dysfunctional relationship between Sales and Marketing, It's hard enough to generate revenue at the best of times.. just ask anyone in either Sales or Marketing. And if you're asking how to go about changing the narrative, I suggest you start with Sales and Marketing Leadership because in the end this is a leadership issue... on both sides. 

Let's not even get into those finance people who ask us about our latest expense report.

iamgpe

* His title was Sales Leader but in reality he was just a Great Leader... full stop.

The first one through the wall...

I heard this said in a movie* once.

"The first one through the wall always gets bloody..."

This refers to the simple fact that when you are the first one to try something, run counter to what is currently accepted, or simply want to try to do something different, it can sometimes feel like you are attempting to crash through a wall. And when you have finally broken through that wall, you tend to be left exhausted, beaten up, and more often than not a little "bloody"... all figuratively speaking of course, although sometimes actual blood does get spilled. It also goes without saying that the people on the other side may not be so happy to see you.  

But how is this wall built... metaphorically speaking that is? That's actually an easy question to answer.

All you have to do is propose something... new idea, a new way of doing something, or fish instead of your regular Wednesday night cheese and bacon burger — Anytime you propose doing anything, a wall is instantly created.

Most of the time these walls are very small, insignificant and easy to crash through, sometimes they can be fairly tall and not so easy to get through, and every so often the wall is very, very high, and awfully thick. And although not scientifically validated, there is no doubt there's a correlation between how "different" the proposal is and how "high and thick" the wall will be. You probably already know what makes up this wall —

• The establishment saying it can't be done, or doesn't want it done.
• The fear of failure or the comfort with the status quo.
• People not prepared to invest the energy to make it happen. 
• A lack of understanding or desire to learn.
• Personal gains that do not want to be given up.
• A fear of change.
• The need to challenge and pressure check ideas to ensure they are the best they can be.
• Et Cetera...

Other than a nice metaphor and reference to a movie I like, there really is a point to all of this — Your "proposals" (and the metaphorical walls they create) are indicative of Leadership. Remember that by its very definition, "being first through the wall" means there will be a second, a third, et cetera to follow... and isn't that what Leadership is all about**. 

So the next time you say, "I propose we do this", remember that by definition you are building a wall, and the action you are taking to crash through is defining your leadership. Be bold, and crash through with abandon! 

There are people waiting to follow for sure.

iamgpe

* The movie is Moneyball and the quote comes from the owner of the Boston Red Sox as he is talking to Billy Beane. It's also a great book.

** Yes I know Leadership is a little bit more but this is only a 500 word blog, and I'm taking some artistic licence.