In this Expert Insight Interview, Ted Kulawiak discusses his book 21 Lessons Learned in Leadership. Ted Kulawiak is the President of Ted Kaye Sales Management Training and a much-sought-after sales management and leadership coach, business consultant.
This Expert Insight Interview discusses:
- Why leading by example is critical for people in leadership positions
- The importance of trust in leadership
- Why leaders need to strive to be better human beings
Leadership in Action
In leadership positions, you can pontificate all day and “talk the talk,” but leading by example is the only way to truly inspire people. At the end of the day, nothing you can say to somebody will ever be more powerful than the conclusions they come to themselves.
If the people who look up to you see you presenting a worthwhile behavior model, they are much more likely to take after that model. We see the same thing in all professions and walks of life, including but not limited to sales.
Trust
Trust is a significant factor in sales. The actions that the salesperson delivers or shows the potential customer drive the sale’s intent. If the salesperson is working in the customer’s best interest while protecting the company at the same time, it is easy to see that.
When it comes to defining trust in leadership, we can say that it is all about seeing the leader’s actions and how they support both their coworkers and their customers. This is what builds trust.
Being a Great Human Being
We can all strive to be better human beings, but it is particularly important in the leadership context. With the pressure to deliver results, we tend to lose sight of the importance of being a decent human being, and unfortunately, sometimes this is particularly noticeable in sales. Sales teams are the part of the organization with the “number on their back,” so their value is most often measured based on delivering those numbers.
It is easy for a sales manager or sales leader to get into the perspective of playing the numbers game and only looking at employees through that lens. People in these positions often think that the key to success is “cracking the whip” and becoming tougher on their team members. In actuality, more often than not, this results in anti-motivation.
Our Host
John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.
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