Use Goal Setting to Achieve Greatness

Goal setting is integral to success in any endeavor. Instead of relying on the goals set by management and the organization, top performers strive to exceed base targets and engage in personal goal setting to get there. This allows them to consistently achieve greatness and maintain a clear direction for their careers. 

Here are some of the tips that we share when talking with people who want to become top performers: 

Goals Should Be Challenging, But Achievable  

Setting goals that are easily achieved can defeat the purpose of goal setting. The desire to do better should be behind any goals that are set. 

Challenging goals should:

a. Present a challenge while still being achievable; unachievable goals can be discouraging rather than encouraging, and don't provide the same benefits that realistic goal setting can.  

b. Be aligned with your personal and professional desires; the more involved you are with the goals you set, the more likely you are to achieve them.  

c. Reflect the core priorities of your organization; in this way your goal setting can benefit you and your company and lead to recognition and other career benefits.  

Goal Setting Should Be As Specific As Possible 

Goals that are intangible or unclear are difficult to achieve because even if the goal is reached, there is no way to identify the achievement. 

Specific goals include: 

a. Goals to reach percentages above previous milestones. 

b. Goals to achieve a specific outcome within a set amount of time. 

c. Goals to hit highly specific numbers. 

Specificity also helps high achievers describe their contributions to the organization in clear terms.  

Goals Should Always Include the Steps to Achievement  

People commonly fall short of the goals that they set for themselves because the goals they set did not include an outline of how the target outcomes would be reached. Setting goals without including steps to achievement is like trying to drive to an unfamiliar address without directions. 

To support success in reaching their goals, top performers tend to create a map of incremental steps describing how the goals will be reached.  

Goal Setting Should Be a Constant Process 

Goal setting is all about growth, whether that growth is in sales numbers, career achievement, or personal fulfillment. To support that growth, goal setting should be a constant process. High achievers may allow themselves time to celebrate success, but you will always find them setting a new goal once a previous goal is reached. This ensures that goal setting supports constant advancement. 

Wherever you are in your career, you can follow the example of how top performers use goal setting to achieve their success to find the same success in your own career.

Leading By Example

Every leader knows this: we must Lead By Example. In fact, we are always Leading By Example, whether we do so consciously or unconsciously. 

What leaders do every day, how we behave, the things we get involved in, how we set priorities — our people watch, observe, and emulate. What we do, always trumps what we say. So the issue isn’t about Leading By Example, but Are We Setting The Right Example? 

 If we conduct meetings that are a waste of time, what kind of sales calls do you think your sales people will have? 

If we spend our time sitting behind our desks, hiding behind paperwork, where do you think your sales people will be? 

If we blame our people for poor performance, or others, how do we expect our people to take ownership? Likewise, if we make or accept excuses. 

Our actions and behaviors ALWAYS set the example for our people! If our actions aren’t aligned with out words, guess what people will do—they’ll emulate your behavior. So, whether you like it or not, you are already leading by example. 

The key question is, as it always is, Are You Setting The Right Example? 

• Are you asking more than you are telling? 
• Are you disciplined in the way you manage your own personal workload? 
• Do you maintain a schedule, do you focus on your priorities, and do you get things done? Are you continually learning, do you look to continually improve? 
• Do you care about your people, do you care about your customers, and is it obvious in your behaviors? 
• Are you using the processes, systems, and tools you have put in place to improve effectiveness and productivity? 
• Do you create value in every interchange with your people? In every interchange with your customers? 
• Do you meet your commitments? 
• Are you interested and interesting? 
• Do you have a disciplined approach to problem solving? 
• Do you hold yourself accountable, do you take ownership for your goals, your behaviors, and the results you create? 
• Are you collaborative and open? 
• Do you respect your people, your customers, your peers, and your own management? 
• Do you trust and are you trustworthy? 

If we want our people to stop pitching, to engage the customer in conversations, then the most effective way to do that is to stop doing it ourselves—stop telling, start asking. 

Start engaging your people in conversations, ask questions, learn, make suggestions, grow. It not only develops your people, but it sets an example they will start emulating in their behaviors. 

We are always Leading By Example. There are no time outs in leadership. Everything we do or say has an impact.

The issue is, are we having the impact we want, or are we creating unintended consequences?

Under-Promise And Over-Deliver

If you deliver a better service than you promise, your customers are delighted. If you don’t live up to your own guarantees, you will be flooded by complaints. 

This is what makes the model of under-promising and over-delivering so relevant for companies. Customers will be positively surprised that you exceeded your promises and this increases the likeliness of them coming back to you for their next order and spreading the word that you are a great company to deal with to their family, friends and colleagues. 

But how does this apply to leaders? 

Studies from political science have found that the biggest reason that people hold politicians in such low esteem is that candidates make so many promises when they run for office that they can never deliver on them while in office. 

 Anyone who wants to be a genuine leader must realize that they must maintain absolute integrity, rather than relying on empty rhetoric. It is easy to make promises, but it always requires effort to accomplish what needs to be done. Those who are truly effective as leaders under-promise and over-deliver, never creating unfulfilled expectations. Nothing demotivates anyone as much as raising hopes and expectations and failing to deliver. 

Strong leadership always begins with both a commitment to absolute integrity. That is why every service academy (West Point and Annapolis immediately come to mind) place a premium on integrity in leaders development. How can anyone believe in any leader they do not fully trust?

SMART Leadership

There has been more written about the various aspects of leadership and what it means to an effective leader than nearly any other topic. 

However, effective leadership involves so many nuances that there is always more that can be learned about what it means to be a great leader! 

Therefore, it makes sense to understand that smart and meaningful leadership often requires one's willingness to become SMART. What does it mean to be a SMART Leader? 

A SMART Leader has real strength; combines moderation and motivation; realizes how attitude and aptitude produces impactful leadership; use and rely on both reason and personal responsibility; and make trust and trustworthiness their first priority. 

Leadership STRENGTH combines having inner strength and fortitude, as well as motivating others and gaining their respect by leading in a strong and meaningful manner! Weak leaders often confuse this concept and take it to mean being inflexible or heavy handed. 

Great leaders combine MODERATION and MOTIVATION. Leadership moderation means being open and willing to listen with an open mind to alternatives and alternative approaches. When a leader behaves in this manner, their behavior invariably motivates others to become more involved, caring more, and being more committed. 

 Great leaders maintain a positive and proactive ATTITUDE, but must also commit to capitalizing on their APTITUDE by gaining broad experience, expertise, and knowledge through a commitment to training and learning. True leaders need talent and a positive mindset! 

A great leader must have the ability to REASON, while assuming personal and professional RESPONSIBILITY for their actions. A leader’s capacity to maximize potential to achieve objectives often depends on the combination of both of these behaviors. 

Great leaders are committed to absolute TRUSTWORTHINESS. Unless a leader maintains absolute integrity, the organization's stakeholders at every level will rarely be interested in following their lead or becoming involved. 

Do you want to be a SMART leader, as well as proceeding in a smart manner? Then commit to these five basic steps and concepts, and focus on how you can, rather than why you can't!

Your Results In ANY Endeavor Are the Result of Your Choices

In anything you do, your results are the consequence of the choices you make. There are three fundamental choices that determine your results, and it is important to spend time examining all three. 

The three choices are your choice of beliefs, your choice of focus, and your choice of actions. 

Your Choice of Belief 

What you believe is the foundation of ALL your results in life. Your beliefs are your blueprints. But we spend far too little time reflecting on what we believe, why we believe it, and whether or not the beliefs serve us. 

If you believe that you can succeed against great odds, that belief will allow you to take actions that produce some result. Do you believe that you can compete against bigger competitors and win? Or, it is your blueprint that bigger competitors beat smaller firms? Those two different beliefs will provide you with some result, but one will be vastly different. 

You get to choose your beliefs. You can shed old beliefs and replace them with new, healthier beliefs. Your beliefs underlie your focus. 

Your Choice of Focus 

Your results are, in large part, the result of your focus. If you focus your attention on negative ideas and events, your results will suffer. Likewise, if you focus your attention on positives, you will produce greater results. 

You choose where you allow your mind (the most complex and powerful thinking device in the known universe) to focus. Your beliefs underlie your focus, and combined, your beliefs and your focus drive your actions.

Your Choice of Action  

This is where the rubber meets the road: action. The actions you take and the actions you choose not to take also determine your results. 

Did you take the actions that nurtured the relationships that you need to create and win an opportunity? Or did you spend the day with the weapons of mass distraction, surfing the Internet for sports scores and gossip? 

Your results are made up of the actions that you take, and the actions you fail to take. Taking the right actions leads to greater results. Taking the wrong actions leads to poor results and, potentially, a career change.

Never Take it Personally

If you ask a non-salesperson why she so adamantly wouldn’t sell to earn her living, more than likely she’d say something like, “I couldn’t deal with all that rejection.” To a non-salesperson, a prospect’s “no” is seen as a harsh personal repudiation, a direct assault upon her sensitive ego—it’s so humiliating. A master salesperson is apt to roll her eyes at such a comment. As the gangsters say, “it’s only business”; a master salesperson never feels personally rejected. 

Learn to never take “no” personally. Instead, take responsibility for it. In baseball, no batter gets a hit every time up and no salesperson closes every prospect. Selling is a numbers game, a law of averages marathon. My father-in-law always says, “You have to get the “no’s” out of the way, in order to get to the “yes’s.” 

We live in a free country; everyone has a right to say no. To take it personally, to hang on to it for dear life, to keep replaying it over and over and over again is to surrender your power to someone who isn’t even a customer. Why would you do that? What possible benefit can it bring you? 

If you go to your next presentation with that kind of baggage strangling your concentration, you’re allowing a “no” to do double damage to you and your career. 

A salesperson must have skin thick as a rhinoceros; prospects can be downright insulting at times. It should go in one ear and out the other. You’re there to make a sale, that’s all that matters; indulge in anything peripheral to that sacred purpose and you’re being self-destructive. 

Never take it personally; it’s only business.

8 Points for effective leadership at any level

Leadership isn’t about a title; it’s about influence and the leadership traits you exhibit that come from within. 

What kind of leader are you? What kind of leader do you aspire to be? 

Here are 8 Points for effective leadership at any level: 

1. Give your team credit for the victories. Your team did the work. They did the heavy lifting. Take none of the credit, even when it was your idea and even when you worked harder than anyone. The victory belongs to your team. 

2. Take the blame for the mistakes, the missteps, and failures. Your team may have had their share of missteps, failures, and setbacks, but the responsibility is yours. Because you are their leader, you own the mistakes and failures. You take responsibility, and then you lead the team to better results. 

3. Invest as much time and energy as you possibly can in building relationships. If you want to get things done, invest your time in building relationships up and down your organization. Invest in building relationships with your clients and suppliers. You’ll need these relationships in the future, and you want strong relationships before you need strong relationships. 

4. Spend more time in informal meetings than required meetings. You will learn so much more in informal meetings than in formal meetings. If you want to understand where to find the roadblocks, obstacles, and bottlenecks that need your attention, meet with the people who don’t report to you directly. 

5. Say the same thing over and over again, especially when you believe you have said it too often. If you want people to believe, you have to say the same thing over and over again. You will feel like people are getting bored with what you say. You will feel like they want something new, like they need something new. They don’t. You just need to be more creative and find new ways of saying the same thing and new stories to tell. 

6. Build leaders. One of the main challenges you will face as a leader is identifying and building more leaders. Your role is necessarily to further the organization’s goals and your legacy is going to be found in the people who can pick up and take the organization further than you did. Don’t worry about having a painting of you in the boardroom. Worry about all the portraits that come after yours. None of the faces that follow yours will be dependents; they’ll be leaders. 

7. Embrace the “new” new thing. If you want to doom your organization, the fastest way to do so is to resist change. Leading is about the future. Leaders look around corners, embrace, and lead “what’s next.” You protect purpose and values; you embrace the new ideas, the new technologies, new trends, and new demands. 

8. Change when necessary, not because the calendar changed. You embrace the new and you change. But you do it when it is necessary, not just because the calendar flipped to a new year. You can’t whip your people from one new shiny object to the next. Much of the time, you will find that the reason your initiative failed isn’t because it wasn’t the right idea but because it was poorly executed.

Confident vs. Arrogant Leaders

There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance. This is especially true given both entail a strong belief in one's own abilities. When it comes to the responses they provoke, however, that's where the similarities end. 

Confidence is inspiring; arrogance is a turn-off. 

Confidence gets hired; arrogance is shown the door. 

Building confidence takes work; arrogance is simple. 

In fact, it's easy to come off as arrogant. 

 Avoid these behaviors so you don't leave the impression of being a Class-A jerk people would rather avoid instead of the confident leader they want to follow. 

1. Openly ask for feedback. Confident leaders are constantly looking to find out what they can improve upon. Therefore, they actively solicit feedback from ALL levels in the organization. 

2. Be willing to take an unpopular stand. Great leaders look to be respected by others. They don’t seek to be liked by all because they realize that, at times, the decisions they have to make will not be the ones everyone will agree with or like. 

3. Don’t show off. Top leaders realize that their value is in drawing the best in all around them. They don’t show off or try to make themselves stand out as wonderful to anyone. 

4. Own the consequences of your decisions. Great leaders absorb the blame and share the fame. They take ownership of what wrong. 

Some business leaders are unquestionably arrogant — people whom you may have heard about or even for whom you have worked. Be a leader people want to follow and not one people would rather avoid.

Motivating Another Person

This one is a tough one since we can’t actually motivate a person to do something. Motivation has to come from within. 

But we can spark people and push them in the right direction. 

1. How do you ask for things? Are you vague? Do you make assumptions? Do you use “we” too often? "We" is good to use except when you are trying to get someone to take direct accountability. Then the use of “we” allows the other person to NOT take the accountability. 

2. Make sure you remove judgment but hold the person accountable for their part. 

3. Candidly step back and see the lesson you want learned and take a good look at whether you are hindering or helping the problem. This is best done through a series of questions. 

Here is an example many parents can relate to: Your teenager not turning in their work. 

• What is the worst that will happen if I do nothing and let her fail? 
• If I take control and check on her work and assignments what lesson will she learn? 
• If I take something away, like TV, time with friends, what message will that teach? 
• How hard will it be for me to let her fail? 
• How will I handle that and why will it be difficult for me? 

4. Go through each option with the other person so they OWN the result. Let them continue to walk through and handle each situation. Ask them to set the punishment if they do not follow through and the reward if they do. Then stick to it.

Who Will You Be This Year?

2014! It’s the start of a great year! 

And as it begins, think about this: You are your own greatest asset. 

What are you going to do for you this year? 

Your obligation to yourself is to fulfill your potential. Your obligation to yourself is to achieve all that you can achieve by increasing and improving your capacity to do so. You are only limited by your own vision, and your willingness to take action to realize that vision. 

2 important questions:

1. Is what you are doing helping to enrich and improve your life, as well as helping to ensure you reach your full potential? 

2. What are you going to do for your health to ensure you have the energy and the capacity to accomplish all that you want to accomplish? 

Time is short. 

This year will be gone before you know it. Your personal and professional development is your responsibility alone. It is not your company’s job to develop you to your full potential. 

You cannot—and will not—reach your full potential and generate the results you are capable of generating for yourself and for others by sitting around waiting for someone to discover you and your potential. 

The sooner you recognize that your growth is your responsibility alone, the sooner—and the faster—you will begin to reap the rewards of developing your own skills, attributes, and abilities. Your personal development is an obligation you owe yourself. 

No one is going to check on your progress, and no one is going to hold you accountable here. You alone own the outcome that is your personal development. You are your only real asset. 

Get started! What are you waiting for?

Motivate Your Sales Team

To succeed in business, your company needs a great sales team. But great sales teams don't grow on trees. In fact, developing a capable and effective sales force might be one of your most challenging jobs as a sales leader. 

Here are a few tips to help you: 

Hire Quality, Not Quantity: The number of salespeople on your staff isn't nearly as important as their ability to set up and close a sale. A few skilled and proven sales reps will not only outsell a fleet of novices, but also form a solid core for future staff expansion. If geographic coverage is a concern, consider leveraging technology to help a smaller, more competent sales team cover a wider area. 

Communicate Expectations: Many sales teams fail to meet their leader's expectations simply because they never knew what was expected of them in the first place. Don't make the same mistake! Your sales team should have a clear understanding about what you expect from them. They should also feel free to voice their concerns and seek assistance should problems or unexpected setbacks arise. Team meetings, group e-mails, and status reports are essential, but it never hurts to meet with team members individually, particularly if a team member is falling short of the goals you have established. 

 Sales Training: It's easy to overlook training as a resource for building and motivating a sales team. However, training provides your sales team with the tools they need to reach their goals as well as much-needed confidence for the sales process. Consider scheduling regular training sessions with your entire staff, covering not only sales technique, but also team-building strategies and exercises. 

Set an Example: One of the best ways to motivate your team is to lead by example. A positive, can-do attitude is contagious, but so is a negative one. Since your team will follow your lead, it's important to maintain an upbeat presence with your staff. If sales is your forte, you might even want to lead the charge by assigning yourself sales calls and mentoring new sales staff.

Accomplishments

It’s that time of year. Students are returning from summer break and going back into the classroom. One of the first questions I will ask in my classes is: “What are your key accomplishments?” For many, this is the first time anyone has ever asked them to prove their worth. 

 In fact many of us don’t keep records of our accomplishments. To help, here are some ideas about keeping track of your accomplishments: 

Use LinkedIn. It’s a good idea to regularly update your LinkedIn profile. If fact, your profile should be a public record of your successes! Anyone who looks at your LinkedIn profile should see your capabilities and accomplishments. However, be careful you don’t share sensitive company information. 

Treat your resume as a strategic visioning document. Most often, after a job search, resumes get buried in a cabinet or folder. What if you kept your resume where you could read it on a regular basis? You may not be looking for a new job, but you are looking forward. Treat your resume as a career-planning tool, rather than a static, one-time use document. 

Share your accomplishments with friends and followers. By sharing your work related success, they live a little longer and help you build influence in both your industry and community. In addition to updating progress on your 5K training, let friends and family see your work contributions as well. Write these with a fun and upbeat style. 

By documenting your success as they happen, you’ll be more conscious of the role you play. Tracking “wins” is also great for your confidence. The habit of tracking them leads you to look for new ways to create them. 

How are you tracking your accomplishments?

Staying Objective When Hiring Sales People

I’ve seen it so many times! A manager either falls in love the sales candidate or develops an instant dislike. In either case, at some level, the candidate reminds the manager of someone they either really like or really dislike. 

If you find yourself moving too far in one direction or another, pause and make a note of the fact and why it might be happening. It helps if you can identify the person you are thinking about or with whom you are comparing the candidate. 

This often helps you better understand your feelings and often results in being able to disconnect your feeling for the candidate from the other person. If you’re going to make a good hiring decision, it’s critical that you remain objective to the very end of the hiring process. 

That’s one more reason to consider using an assessment. To do otherwise can skew the decision, often in the wrong direction.

Are you conducting too few interviews?

I’ve often felt that many companies are too fast to hire into slow fire. One of the hiring traps that companies fall into his hiring someone after the first, and sometimes only, interview. Even the worst sales candidate can come across as being presentable during that first interview. 

It’s like being on a first date; they are on their best behavior. Once you really get to know the person, however, you may not want to take them anymore. 

By the second interview, the candidate may have loosened up a bit because he or she knows that they are under serious consideration or they would not have been asked back for second interview. 

By the third interview, most candidates will begin to let their guard down. Now you can begin to see different aspects that make up the real candidate. It’s usually by the third or fourth interview when you discover that the person is a non--stop speaker or some disguised bad habit that comes to light. 

To this end, our sales assessments can help you “peek” under the tent and see what the candidate would rather you didn’t see. It’s best to find out this stuff before you hire and not after.

Why People Quit Their Jobs

Last month, I was on my way back to the office after facilitating a training program. I stopped for coffee and overheard the man behind me talking on his cellphone. 

“We need to be stricter with our hiring practices.” he said. “We want to keep them past a year.” 

I could not help myself. I turned around and introduced myself. I told him “I certainly recommend that you take a close look at your hiring practices. But remember, even if you hire the best people, the reason people leave is primarily because of a bad boss. So take an even closer look at the boss." 

But did you know this? 

The Gallup organization polled more 1 million employed U.S. workers and found that the No. 1 reason employees voluntarily leave their jobs is not the company, not the work, but is because of a bad boss. 
Plain and simple: People join good companies, but leave a bad boss. Turnover is less about selection and more about leading effectively. 

In fact, this points to a fundamental question: Are you a Leader or a Boss? 

While both may be “in charge”, a leader guides, teaches by example, and supports people. A boss, on the other hand, likes people working for rather than with and actively reminds them who is at the helm. 

Leaders use “we” when a boss uses “I” and “Let’s do this” as opposed to “Do this.” They inspire by acting with humility rather than ordering, criticizing, or humiliating. 

I love this quote: “If you think you are leading and no one is following, then you’re just taking a walk.” Sometimes a picture tells a better story, so here’s a great graphic that caught my attention making the rounds on social media recently. It sums this idea up so nicely… 

Do people who exercise make better leaders?

Medical experts have been stressing for decades the health benefits that exercise provides. Recent studies have also been conducted into how exercise can play a part in performance in the workplace – particularly for those in leadership positions. 

While you may be skeptical, it seems there may be a strong case for the argument that people who exercise make better leaders. 

 Here are some of the reasons why: 

Less sick days - Those who are physically fit are less likely to pick up the dreaded office bug that goes around. Absenteeism costs companies millions of dollars every year. While it is reasonable to expect anyone to fall ill from time to time, when a leader takes unplanned time off work it not only impact their own work, but also the team’s work. 

Increased energy - Are you ever surprised at how much energy you have right after exercising? That’s because regular exercise gives you increased and sustained energy levels throughout the day. This is particularly important for leaders who need to remain focused and pro-active all day. 

Higher Confidence - The fitter you are, the more self-confidence you’re going to have. You look better, feel better and feel that you can accomplish the goals that you have set for yourself. As a leader, confidence is vital. If you don’t believe in yourself, how is your team going to? 

Effective Stress Management - Anyone in a leadership position will be familiar with stress. Strict deadlines, difficult people, budget issues, and long hours are extremely demanding. Some leaders seem to take this all in stride. Chances are that they are the ones who regularly hit the gym or find ways of keeping themselves active. Exercise releases the physical and emotional tensions that are experienced on a daily basis, which means that fit leaders have lower stress levels. 

Taking care of yourself physically is a critical element in effective leadership. You can't do great things at work if you don't feel good. The best leaders eat well, exercise, and take care of themselves.

Believe it or not, it’s mid-year...

In 6 months, we will be thinking about New Year’s 2014! You may not think twice about your New Year’s resolutions at this point in the year. Yet, just 6 months ago, everything seemed possible! 

Losing 10 pounds, quitting smoking, finding a new job, and taking a new class were achievable goals. For many people, once they accomplished their goals they quickly set new ones. For others, however, demanding lives, frustration at the lack of immediate success, and the passage of time may have pushed those goals to the “back burner.” 

However, many motivational psychologists say revisiting resolutions at the midyear point and taking even small steps to reinvigorate them can boost our determination, making them achievable before the year is over. From this “second chance” perspective, the opportunity exists to refine those original goals that may have been too big or overwhelming. 

Whatever your original New Year’s resolutions, revisiting them will re-engage and energize you. Owning them again with whatever “tweaks” you need to apply can give you the drive to see them through this time. With unexpected benefits along the way, a feeling of even great satisfaction may follow in January 2014 when, because you’ve achieved your goals, new resolutions will be in order!

Hire slow, fire fast…

What do college football coaches spend up to 70% of their time doing? 

Watching game film? 
Coaching players? 
Preparing game plans? 

No. College football coaches spend up to 70% of their time recruiting talent to play on their team. 

Does that surprise you? If you hire like most companies do, then it probably did. Most companies hire the wrong way. They hire quickly and hold on to poor performers too long. 

 The best thing a great leader can do is always be recruiting and have a constant flow of talent to evaluate and hire. Your goal should be to hire slowly – after a structured and careful assessment and evaluation process – and then don’t hesitate to let people go who have not shown performance. 

 The key here is that if you have a steady flow of talent and candidates to choose from, then you’ll be much less likely to make quick and ill-advised hiring decisions. Plus, you’ll be less likely to hold on to poor performers who are likely to never make it in your environment.

Advice to new graduates: Work In Sales!

There’s a persistent perception that sales is a “last resort” job. I don’t know where it comes from, but I get angry when I hear people say, “I’m just a sales rep.” When you choose a sales career, you are not settling for a second-rate job. 

Selling is challenging and you should be proud of your job. What you may not have thought of, however, is that sales experience is vitally important if you ever hope to have an executive level job. Surprised? When I work with professionals near the top of their non-sales careers and eager to move to the C-Suite, they often lack sales experience. 

You may think: 

“What does selling have to do with being a COO or Division Vice President?” 

“Why would the head of finance or a business unit need sales experience?” 

It does not matter what role you have. If you are an executive, you are going to have customer-facing responsibilities, and there’s no better place than sales to learn how to interact effectively with customers. You may be called on to help resolve customer satisfaction issues or to participate in important sales calls. You may need to speak at customer events. Yes, even COOs. 

As a key representative of your company, you’ll be expected to interface with your counterparts at other companies, where you’ll need to be conversant in your company’s offerings and why people need them. 

Again, sales is the best place to develop this knowledge, because you hear directly from customers why they like what you sell. Even if you didn’t need customer-facing skills, you’d still need a thorough understanding of sales. Why? 

Because sales is the lifeblood of business – Any company exists to sell something. As a leader in your company, you need to be able to enter into discussions and decisions about top markets, top sellers, and sales strategies. If you do not understand what’s going on in your sales organization, you don’t understand what’s going on in your business. 

It’s that simple.

Burn the Ships!

The great NFL Hall of Fame coach, Vince Lombardi, had it right: "The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor." Most often, people fail to achieve their goals, not because they are lazy or lack self-motivation, but because they never "fully committed" to succeed! 

 In 1519, Hernando Cortes and a small army left Cuba and set out to conquer Central America. Cortes was going to accomplish his goals, no matter the consequences. The myth states that once Cortes' troops landed in what is now Mexico, he ordered the ships destroyed by fire. 

In burning his ships, Cortes took away all options to retreat and, I am sure, got the full buy-in from his troops to make it a successful campaign. They had no choice. Either drown in the sea or conquer this new world. 

Do you allow "what-if" scenarios to dominate your thinking? Do you find yourself questioning your job or other significant decisions or commitments? A lack of commitment not only creates apathy, but it is emotionally draining and erodes your creativity. Without a clear commitment, you will be defeated even before you start. 

It’s time to "Burn the Ships"… 

You cannot achieve success by timidly venturing forward. You have to take bold action and decisive steps to go after your dreams! Burn the Ship! 

Look at your life and really ask yourself: "Am I committed enough to my goals and dreams to put it all on the line?"