In this Expert Insight Interview, Ravi Hutheesing discusses pivoting your passion into your profession. Ravi Hutheesing is a descendent of India’s first family, including the prime ministers Nehru and Gandhi. He was the guitarist in the Grammy-nominated band Hanson, performed at the White House, Madison Square Garden, SNL, etc. Later, he became a pilot, aviator, and speaker, helping the industry attract new student pilots.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• Ravi’s book “Pivot”
• Why everyone should try to pursue their passion as a career
• All of the factors necessary for success in any walk of life

Pivot

During the first COVID lockdown, Ravi was actually on a three-week trip to the coast of Chile, and the border closed while he was there, so he ended up staying for six months. So, what did he decide to do while being stuck on the Pacific coast with a beautiful view for six months? Write a book.

“Pivot” is a very autobiographical book about Ravi’s pivots throughout his life, but the context has to do with the pivots we all had to make during the pandemic. When we have this type of catastrophic event that shifts our mindset, it allows us to reinvent ourselves and reinvent the way we want to lead our lives.

Pursuing Your Passion

Nowadays, we have so many tools and resources at our fingertips; we can do things that we could never do even 10-15 years ago. It is somewhat of a luxury to be able to pursue your passion and build a career out of it. Many people don’t have that opportunity, or at least they think they don’t.

While it is a luxury, it is also hard work. It is not easy to pursue your passion, but then again, it is not easy to do most other things either. So, you might as well do what you love because you will have to put in the effort and the time anyway.

Being Prepared for Opportunities

Ultimately, persistence prevails. And it’s not just about being persistent but also having the attitude of lifelong learning, willingness to fail, and tolerance for risk. Opportunities present themselves disguised as hard work, which is why most people miss them.

These things factor into your success, but when you’re doing what you love, you generally have a higher tolerance for risk, a willingness to fail, and a stronger desire to learn because you’re pursuing your passion.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Paul Ruppert discusses the emergence and history of text messaging. Paul Ruppert from Global Point View Ltd is a sales strategist, growth consultant, and advisor. He has a profound background in messaging and global telecoms.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The emergence of text messaging in Europe and the US
• Who contributed the most to the rapid growth of text messaging
• Why texting was much more prevalent in Europe than in the US early on

The emergence of GSM Text Messaging

Over the past 25 years, Paul Ruppert has been at the forefront of the messaging business. He almost fell into it by chance, starting off working for the mobile network operator now known as AT&T in the late 1990s. The beginning of his career coincided with the emergence of text messaging as a native or inherent element of GSM radio-formatted phones.

GSM stands for Global System Mobile, and the technology emerged out of Europe. At that stage of the game, text messages were limited to 160 characters. One of the powerful elements of this limitation is that the messages were short enough to be processed immediately by our brains.

Teenage Girls’ Contribution

By next year the number of mobile phones in the world will exceed the actual population of the planet. In some areas of the world, it is easier to find a mobile phone than it is to find fresh running water.

This illustrates that the pervasiveness of text messaging took off very quickly, led primarily by teenage girls. Paul’s friend Graham Brown wrote a book covering the emergence of text messaging and how the cohorts that drove it were initially middle-school students.

Europe vs. US

Interestingly, when text messaging first came around, it was much more prevalent in Europe than in the US. John remembers the early days of GSM phones in Ireland and how all of his friends suddenly began texting him instead of calling.

The primary reason for this was the native capability of the GSM phone, as it was essentially picked up and developed in the European market first. The non-GSM technologies primarily available in the USA, including CDMA, TDMA, and iDEN, did not have text messaging as part of their functionality.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Patricia Morgan discusses stress and the idea of stress management. Patricia Morgan is a professional speaker primarily dealing with stress management. She is also the author of several books, including From Woe to Wow: How Resilient Women Succeed at Work and the award-winning Love Her as She Is: Lessons from a Daughter Stolen by Addictions.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The global increase in stress over the past few years
• What stress is and how does it impact our everyday lives
• How external factors can affect our levels of stress

Stress

It’s not like stress hasn’t always been there, but it seems like more people are talking about it than ever, perhaps because of the experience we all went through with COVID and how that impacted people differently.

Overall, people seem to have gotten discombobulated and knocked out of their rhythm over the past couple of years. Perhaps it has to do with working from home for the first time or being denied some trappings and accouterments typically associated with success. Whatever the case may be, stress has become a more significant issue than ever.

Disruptions

It seems that stress has begun to manifest itself in different ways now that it’s become so prevalent. According to Patricia Morgan, stress is pressure put on us to adapt or change. We have had more than our share of change during this pandemic, so every time we put out the energy to shift, adapt, and change our patterns, it takes extra energy.

Most of us are in a state of “flow.” Normally we get up, and we don’t even have to think about our daily routines. However, our patterns have been incredibly disrupted recently. We live in a time of disruption and disturbance, but unfortunately, many people aren’t aware of that.

Conflict

Conflict is another massive part of the equation because we are hard-wired for connection. Our pre-frontal cortex needs to remain intact so that we can connect. We have evolved to create a sense of safety when connected with other people.

When people don’t control their power very well, they end up “barking” into the world, and we often don’t know whether to fight back or give up, flee, and hide. As much as we might feel grounded in our personal problems, global conflicts, and external stresses significantly affect our nervous systems, putting us on edge.

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.

Why are some salespeople extraordinary and others not? This is an age-old question that is not easily answered.

Sometimes even the best salespeople can’t tell you exactly what they do differently so it takes some expert observation and investigation to be able to unlock and codify these best practices.

Kim Ades and Frame of Mind Coaching has figured this out for you and in this #SalesChats she will share some of the secrets to extraordinary performance in Sales. Tune in to hear her interviewed by host John Golden.

Recorded Live April 21th, 2022

EPISODE QUESTIONS:

Q1: What are the Qualities that Separate Extraordinary Salespeople from the Rest?

Q2: What are Bad Sales Habits?

Q3: What are Key Differences Between High and Low Sales Performers?

Our Guest

Kim Ades

Kim Ades is the Founder of Frame of Mind Coaching™ and Co-Founder of The Journal That Talks Back™. She is an author, speaker, entrepreneur, coach, and mom of five.

Links › Kim Ades | Linkedin.com | Twitter

Our Hosts

John Golden

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 is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Martha Neumeister

Martha is a social media strategist, responsible for all social media platforms of Pipeliner CRM. She is a communication expert with social media affinity, which she has been focusing on throughout her professional career. She has a bachelor´s degree in Entrepreneurship & Management and a master´s degree in Online Marketing which supports her in her career as Social Media Strategist.

About SalesChats

SalesChats is a fast-paced (no more than 30 minutes) multi-media series that provides leading strategies, tactics and thinking for sales professionals worldwide. It can be found on Twitter (#SalesChats), as a live Google+ Hangout, and as a podcast available on iTunes, SoundCloud and right here on SalesPOP! If you think you would make a great guest for #SalesChats, please contact co-host Martha Neumeister.

SalesChats is co-hosted by John Golden, CSO Pipeliner CRM, and Martha Neumeister, Social Media Strategist Pipeliner CRM.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Paolo Pironi discusses the concept of self-managed teams. Paolo Pironi has worked with Google, led three tech startups to exit, and is the founder of Elevating Pioneers. He now helps high-growth pre-IPO companies with consulting projects and training programs for their managers.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The advantages of having a self-managed team
• The importance of self-accountability in hybrid workspaces
• How to hire the right people and train them for self-management

Self-Managed Teams

Imagine what it would be like for everyone in your entire team, from your senior management, through middle management to the junior employees, to know precisely what is expected of them and what they need to be doing day in and day out. That’s what self-management is all about.

Of course, the more junior team members may ask the more senior team members for help, and the latter would be readily available to provide that help. Either way, this should not affect you as the leader. You should be spending time refining the company strategy and making sure you find the best possible way to communicate that strategy outside and inside of the company.

Hybrid Workspaces

The whole construct of work is changing nowadays. During COVID, many people went virtual, and now we have an increasing number of “hybrid” workspaces, with employees coming in and out of the office as they please.

In an organization like this, you need a clear understanding of what you can do, and you need the people to be able to manage themselves. The self-managed team is not a new idea. It is based on the concepts of management best practices that have existed for a while. The problem is that you can’t “wing it” with remote teams, and you need to be very deliberate with it.

Good Hiring

The concept of self-management doesn’t come naturally to most people, so much of it comes down to recruitment and ensuring that you have the right people. This is why hiring is such a crucial step.

Taking personal accountability and managing yourself can be very empowering. Still, it isn’t easy to set up a self-accountable team or, in most cases, one that can be coached to start thinking that way.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Dr. Natalie Nixon discusses harnessing wonder, rigor, and creativity to move an organization forward. Dr. Natalie Nixon is a creativity strategist, global keynote speaker, author, and president of Figure 8 Thinking. She advises leaders on transformation by applying wonder and rigor to amplify growth and business value.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The crucial role of creativity in innovation
• Why companies need to learn to put more trust in their employees
• What it means to show up to work “from the gut up.”

Creativity and Innovation

Dr. Nixon first started to tinker with the ideas of wonder and rigor when working with companies to help them build cultures of innovation. As she discussed innovation with different people, she discovered that people had different definitions.

She then realized that innovation starts with creativity because creativity is the engine of innovation. The challenge, however, is that in most of the “hallowed halls” of corporate America, using the word “creativity” doesn’t come across very well, primarily because people don’t seem to understand what creativity is.

Invisible Work

In organizations, we are hard-wired for activity and constant motion. Also, we live in a world where people have become somewhat intellectually lazy, and intellectual curiosity isn’t celebrated in the way it should be.

That said, some companies design the space and the time in a way that other companies may look down upon. This allows for apparent downtime, which Dr. Natalie calls “invisible work.” She argues that this is the key to unlocking our most productive selves.

Working from the Gut

Modern management requires trust to let people be fully human and embody their work. We often forget that the brain is connected to our spinal cord. We disembody our brains and show up to work from the chin up, maybe from the heart up, but not from the gut up.

Showing up to work from the gut up is actually what is required, especially now in this 4th industrial revolution where automation, artificial intelligence, and robotics will be taking over basic tasks.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Michael & Kathryn Redman discuss a fascinating book that they authored called Fulfilled: The Passion & Provision Strategy for Building a Business with Profit, Purpose & Legacy. Michael & Kathryn Redman are the husband-and-wife team behind Half a Bubble Out, a marketing and business consulting firm.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The problems faced by every aspiring entrepreneur
• How exponential growth leads to more difficulty
• The need for leadership and structure for success in business

Growing Pains

The lead into Michael & Kathryn’s book is fascinating, dealing with the problems they discovered when they first started a business. This beginning stage was challenging, but it taught them valuable lessons about running a company.

They started their business in the spare bedroom, moved it into the converted garage, and finally moved into what they call their “real office.” They had a pretty clear idea of what they wanted to do during this period, but they realized they had to think about things like marketing, communication, etc.

The Big Break

Michael had always been a good salesperson, and Kathryn was also in sales at the corporate level. Still, suddenly, they realized that it would be challenging to balance working for their existing clients and going out there and continuing to sell their services.

This got to the point where they got overwhelmed and wanted to focus on just one of those things, and it usually wasn’t selling that they chose to focus on. Over time, as they refined their message and started gaining momentum, they got into the groove and finally hit that opportunity they had been waiting for, enabling them to grow exponentially.

Leadership and Structure

Unfortunately, they discovered that in the process of growing that fast, they made some really poor reactive decisions. They hired people who probably weren’t the best fit for the position, nor was the company the best fit for them, worked with clients who sucked the life out of them, etc.

This was all because they didn’t have the leadership and structure needed for such a rapid expansion. If your business goes above your ability to lead, it will most assuredly come back down, and if it has enough downward momentum, it could pull you down with it.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Felipe Zamana discusses how to be a creative leader and challenge the status quo at work. Felipe Zamana is a creativity professor, researcher, speaker, and strategic advisor dedicated to exploring creativity applied to educational, cultural, social, and organizational development.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The differences between creative and non-creative leaders
• How our environment affects our creativity
• Why leaders must step outside their comfort zone

Traits of Creative Leaders

The difference between a creative and a non-creative leader is how they think. “Regular” leaders do not think about doing things differently or stimulating your team to think differently. On the other hand, creative leaders always focus on improvement, not just on financial growth but also on creating a suitable environment for their team.

There are two elements to building a creative environment. First, there’s trust. If you’re not comfortable sharing your ideas with others, you don’t share, and if you don’t share, people don’t get new ideas. The second element is support. Each team member needs to feel that their group supports their ideas and growth.

Finding the Space to Be Creative

To build an environment where people can be creative, you have to give them their space. If you’re always working without time to think, explore, or experiment, you can never be truly creative.

Many people think that the more they work, the more ideas will pop into their minds, but the complete opposite is true. We need to rest to allow our brains to find new pathways between existing ideas to come up with something different.

Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

If you always stick to the same environment and the same group, you’re depriving yourself of the opportunity to learn from people in other domains. You need to venture outside your comfort zone and deal with things that are not necessarily your specialty to develop new ideas.

Hints from people in other walks of life could lead to ideas that only you can have because of your specific background and experience. This is why it is crucial to keep exploring areas outside of your expertise if you wish to reach a new level of creativity.

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.