The Importance of Gratitude and Listening in Leadership

The Importance of Gratitude and Listening in Leadership

Why is it important to always show gratitude as a leader? How do listening and leadership go hand-in-hand? Leadership expert Marshall Goldsmith says that expressing gratitude and listening to others are two essential skills for managers to have. However, many managers tend to hold on to these two bad habits: 1) not saying thank you and 2) neglecting to listen to others. We’ll discuss both of these principles below.

What Makes an Effective Sales Strategy?

What Makes an Effective Sales Strategy?

What makes a good sales strategy? What is the key to designing a sales strategy that drives results? A crucial element of strategic sales management is devising and communicating a clear sales strategy for your team to follow. Your sales strategy should highlight which customers or potential customers each team member should call, how they should prioritize these customers, and which products they should prioritize selling. In this article, we’ll take a look at what makes an effective sales strategy, according to sales expert Mike Weinberg.

Practice Exemplary Leadership—Encourage the Heart

Practice Exemplary Leadership—Encourage the Heart

What do Posner and Kouzes mean by “encourage the heart” in The Leadership Challenge? What can a leader do to “connect with the heart” of your team members? “Encourage the heart” is one of the core leadership principles in The Leadership Challenge by Barry Posner and James Kouzes. There are two guidelines for connecting with the heart of your subordinates 1) recognizing contributions, and 2) celebrating values and victories. We’ll take a look at each of these concepts below.

4 Leadership Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs

4 Leadership Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs

Are you in a position of leadership at work? What leadership mistakes should you avoid making at all costs? There are four leadership mistakes that you may be making without even realizing it: withholding information, taking undeserved credit, practicing favoritism, and obsessing over goals. These bad habits may even be holding you back from receiving a promotion. Learn more about the four leadership mistakes and how you can work to fix your bad habits.

Training a Sales Team: Tips for Sales Managers

Training a Sales Team: Tips for Sales Managers

Why do sales jobs have such a high staff turnover? What can you, as a sales leader, do to improve your team’s performance? One of the reasons for high staff turnover in sales roles is that sales representatives often lack training in the essential sales skills (e.g. making cold sales calls, closing techniques, etc.) Therefore, coaching your sales team is essential to generating optimum performance. In this article, we’ll take a look at some tips and techniques for both training a sales team generally and coaching them in specific skills.

Leadership Principle 1: Model the Way

Leadership Principle 1: Model the Way

What do Posner and Kouzes mean by “model the way” in the context of leadership? What can you, as a leader, do to instill your way of doing things in your subordinates? “Model the way” is the first principle of Barry Posner and James M. Kouzes’s outstanding leadership. You can do this by ensuring that your team members understand what you stand for and believe, and then by demonstrating how your values can increase the success of your organization and the overall happiness of your team. There are two guidelines for “modeling the way”: 1) establishing your values, and 2)

5 Strategies to Drive Business Innovation

5 Strategies to Drive Business Innovation

What makes a business innovative? What can you, as a leader, do to trigger innovation at your organization? Innovative companies regularly introduce new products/services and revise their processes to affect positive changes in their business. From shifts in the economic environment to market research insights, there are many ways to spark innovation. In this article, we’ll look at a few business innovation strategies you can use to generate innovative ideas to adapt or create your own business models.  

How to Create and Maintain a Healthy Sales Culture

How to Create and Maintain a Healthy Sales Culture

What makes a good sales culture? What can you, as a sales leader, do to foster a healthy culture in your business’s sales department? A healthy sales culture is one in which salespeople feel respected, passionate, and happy in their roles. They communicate openly and respectfully with their manager and each other, and they’re willing to help out their colleagues in the pursuit of shared goals. In this article, we’ll take a look at some tips on how to create and maintain a healthy sales culture, according to sales expert Mike Weinberg.

How to Lead by Example: Show, Don’t Tell

How to Lead by Example: Show, Don’t Tell

Why is it important to lead by example? What’s the best way to exemplify what your organization values and stands for? Leading by example is the best way to communicate what’s truly important to your organization—its values. By nature, values are elusive, so explicitly stating them will never be the most effective way to instil them. Moreover, it’s easy to say you believe in certain values, but harder to follow through and live them, so when others see you doing just that—practicing what you preach—you gain credibility, and people will more enthusiastically follow your lead. Keep reading to learn how