“You manage things; you lead people.”
~ Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper
I’ve always like that quote and admired Grace Murray Hopper. I’ve written on the idea of Leadership vs Management in the past AND it came up again in a conversation I was having with a frustrated sales manager.
Manager: why don’t “they” just do what they’re supposed to do without me having to micro-manage?
Lynn: like…
Manager: EVERYTHING.
Obviously the frustration level, in that moment, was high. For the record, the manager did start to laugh (at themselves) several seconds later.
So we started talking about why they were leading an inside sales team. This particular manager had never gone through the following process to figure it out for themself:
Your Leadership WHY
• Begin by asking yourself “why do I want insert your vision for the team?”
• Then ask “what will that get me?” for your first answer.
• And again “what will insert your 1st answer get me?”
• Over and over again, continue to ask yourself what you will get from that result, until there is NOTHING else.
The best thing abut figuring out WHY you are leading an Inside Sales Team is: when you become frustrated, you can look to your why for reassurance that you’ve made the best career choice for you.