Leadership Series #1: Lead From Within - Today, I felt this is the right timing to start the series combining my professional experiences / observations and the other one as professional coach, well trained and influenced by Co Active mindset and model.
I used to think sales (& marketing) leadership was about leading others.
I was wrong.
After years in front lines, one thing has become increasingly clear to me:
The hardest person to lead is yourself.
Leadership feels easy when the numbers are good.
But what happens when the customer says NO?
When the competitor wins the deal?
When the order you were counting on disappears from the forecast?
When the pressure starts coming from every direction?
That's when leadership gets real.
Because your team isn't only watching what you do.
They're watching who you become under pressure.
Do you blame?
Do you panic?
Do you lower the ambition?
Or do you stay grounded, face reality, learn quickly and keep moving forward?
I've learned something important over the years:
Energy travels.
Fear travels.
Confidence travels.
Accountability travels.
The Leader Within dimension in Co-Active Leadership starts with self-acceptance, self-authority, values and integrity.
This is the foundation, the starting point for every other form of leadership. Co-
Active Leaders Within take responsibility for their world by accepting themselves
fully (co) and living their lives within integrity in accordance with their personal
values (active).
For me, the lesson is simple:
Before we can lead a team, influence a customer or change a market, we have to be able to lead ourselves.
Any leadership doesn't start with the customer.
It starts in the mirror.
And perhaps that's the toughest sales call of all.
What does pressure reveal about your leadership?
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