How to Have A Better SKO
Work on Purpose
February 01, 2023
It’s the ultimate critique of a meeting. It’s bad enough when someone says it, or more likely, texts it to their colleague during a routine presentation. But it’s worse when it happens at an important event like your annual Sales Kick Off (SKO).
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
5 (Well-Intended) Sales Behaviors That Erode Your Business
Work on Purpose
January 25, 2023
I’ve long said: Sales makes the wheels of commerce spin. Whether you’re a solopreneur or leading a multinational team, the ability to sell keeps your business moving. As we enter (what seems to be) a period of economic uncertainty, organizational leaders and salespeople become anxious about keeping revenue flowing. This can prompt poor sales behavior that actually erodes business.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
What to Do When Someone Takes Credit for Your Work
Work on Purpose
January 17, 2023
You brought up a great idea in a meeting, and the team ran with it…they ran so far, in fact, the idea is no longer yours. It’s now a ‘team effort.’ Or maybe you offered your boss a keen insight, one they took right to the executive team, proudly presenting it as their own. Perhaps you stayed late, expertly perfecting a client pitch, only to have your colleagues to take all the credit the following morning.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
How to Say 'NO' To Taking on More Work
Work on Purpose
January 11, 2023
All forms of, here’s another thing for you to take on. You don’t want to be viewed as a “quiet quitter” yet you also recognize, bandwidth challenges are real. Especially in large organizations, where opportunities to work outside of your job description are seemingly endless. Knowing how to maximize your energy (and still get your work done) is imperative.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
How to Feel More Joy at Work
Work on Purpose
December 27, 2022
Could your office be impacting your sleep? What about how much you laugh? I’m not talking about the unanswered emails sitting in your inbox or the looming deliverables you’re behind on. I’m talking about your physical space – whether at home, in an office building, or some of both.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Re-Discover Your Potential with These 3 Mental Hacks
Work on Purpose
October 04, 2022
Children are inherent dreamers. They have imaginary friends, create new games, and change direction all the time, viewing the world as a place full of possibility. I watched my own children start a new “business” every weekend, from lemonade stands, to jewelry made from sticks, to “ice sculptures” (i.e. frozen water balloons).
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Three Trending LinkedIn Phrases I’m Tired of Hearing
Work on Purpose
September 28, 2022
The language is always the tell. The subjects we talk about and the words we choose tell our team, our organization, and the world what’s important. Changes in language often precede changes in priorities – a shift in wording is an early indicator that the landscape is shifting.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Bored at Work? It’s Costing You More than You Think
Work on Purpose
September 21, 2022
Another day, another…email, deliverable, meeting. Fill in your respective sigh. After repetition, even things that were once exciting can become mind-numbing. In addition to being personally tired and grouchy, being bored at work has major career consequences.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
The Hidden Time-Suck Holding You Back
Work on Purpose
September 14, 2022
Several years ago, I ordered a package of concert tickets. The package was for a variety of artists all performing at the same venue, spanning over a couple of months. The morning of the very first concert some friends called to invite us to an impromptu party that night.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
How High Performers Respond to Change
Work on Purpose
September 06, 2022
As you look back on how business has changed over the years, and how people responded, it’s a pretty safe bet to say, the person who didn't want to create an email address or get a website 20 years ago is probably not a CEO today.
Like it or not, our ability to manage change, both on the giving and receiving end of it, has a huge impact on our career success and our personal happiness. Yet after two (or more) years of seemingly nonstop change, mustering up the energy to ‘pivot’ again can sound like a tall order. Can’t something just go as planned for once?
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Why We’re Weird about Self-Promotion (And How to Get Over It)
Work on Purpose
August 23, 2022
A few weeks ago, I attended a professional development seminar. On the first day, the leader of the workshop asked the group – “How many people are guilty of underselling themselves?” 98% of the room raised their hand. Almost every single person in the room.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
How to Give Feedback that Sticks
Work on Purpose
August 16, 2022
Whether your feedback is positive or constructive, giving feedback is an opportunity to make a difference in your organization and build deeper relationships with the people we work with. Yet, too often, we fire off a “good job!” email or “could be better” comment without taking a minute to think through our impact.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
What I Learned from 3 Days with The World's #1 Leadership Coach
Work on Purpose
August 09, 2022
Marshall Goldsmith has been voted the world’s #1 leadership coach; He’s coached Alan Mulally (Ford), Hubert Joly (Best Buy), and countless other esteemed CEOs. Now, Marshall has a cohort of 100+ leadership coaches from around the world (the MG100), of which I’m thrilled to be a part.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
How to Make (And Keep) More Friends at Work
Work on Purpose
August 02, 2022
There’s an old-school belief that in order to be professional, you shouldn’t be friends with your colleagues, much less your subordinates or boss.
I’m calling BS; Work is a GREAT place for friends. I suspect the notion of ‘no friends at work’ was likely propelled by a generation of leaders who operated in a rigid hierarchy that under indexed on empathy, compassion, and sometimes basic human decency ...so, unsurprisingly, they weren’t making a lot of friend at the office.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Is Your Company Headed for Trouble? Here Are 3 Red Flags to Look For
Work on Purpose
July 27, 2022
Is it just a weird vibe or is doom on the horizon? In the public eye, the downfall of an organization seems to happen quickly. Yet, behind closed doors, there are often clues that demise is imminent long before the trending LinkedIn story.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
How to Own a Failure (And Still Preserve Your Reputation)
Work on Purpose
July 19, 2022
Maybe it was small, maybe it was big. You messed up, and every time you think about it you start to cringe. And as much as you desperately want to sweep it under the rug, you know, you’re probably better off dealing with it.
It helps to remind ourselves, failure plays a role in any successful endeavor. Steve Jobs was fired from his own company, Oprah lost her anchor position covering local news, and after driving overnight through a snowstorm in 1961, the Beatles were told by huge music executives that they would never succeed. You can probably think of many less famous examples as well
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Is Hybrid Work Actually…Working? Here’s What the Data Says.
Work on Purpose
July 13, 2022
Did you put on real pants, fight traffic, and eat a suboptimal lunch today just to sit in your corporate office…on a zoom call? You’re not the only one.
We know there can be huge benefits to in-person collaboration and relationship building. We also recognize (well, most of us) that demanding a 5-day in-office work week poses a big obstacle for recruiting, engagement, and retention. Which leaves us somewhere in the murky middle.
Some of our clients have shifted to 100% remote indefinitely, others are fighting an (uphill) battle to return their teams back to the office full time. The vast majority are somewhere in between- trying to figure out the awkwardness of a hybrid model. It’s emblematic of a larger shift in the workplace.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Purpose Under Pressure: How Breakthrough Leaders Drive Results
Work on Purpose
July 05, 2022
On a good day, most well-intended organizations strive to be a top-choice employer, create deep relationships with customers, and drive rapid sustainable growth. The challenge is that pressure from outside investors or shareholders often pulls leaders in the opposite direction. The leadership team may want to focus on the long game, but the urgency of quarterly capitalism shifts the leaders’ attention to short-term activities that can actually erode long-term value.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Top Performers Know: Your Peers are Allies, Not Your Competition
Work on Purpose
June 28, 2022
I was talking to one of my friends over the weekend who went to an Ivy League Business school. She told me, “On the first day, our professor told us to look around the room. He said: These are the people you will work for, the people who will work for you, and the people with whom you will build a new world of work. This class is about learning, it’s also getting to know each other, and building your network.’”
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Are Lonely Salespeople Costing You Customers?
HBR
May 02, 2022
As customer interactions have shifted to Zoom, sales jobs have become increasingly transactional and lonely. Recent research suggests this is a costly problem that goes beyond a hit to morale: It’s actually causing three problematic behaviors — social awkwardness, impaired memory, and conspicuous overspending on customers — that could damage business performance. The authors offer eight strategies managers can implement to help salespeople feel less lonely and ensure your team is approaching customers with confidence.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Have Remote Employees Lost Touch with Customers’ Needs?
HBR
January 03, 2022
Before their companies went remote or hybrid, non-sales employees usually had some sight line to customers. However, as time marched on, non-customer-facing teams started to lose their connection to customers. They didn’t run into a sales rep in the elevator or sit next to a customer success agent in the cafeteria. The anecdotal, hallway conversations stopped. Losing sight of customers means internal teams are more likely to double down on their own metrics and agendas, putting the organization at risk for silos (in the short term) and at risk of being out-innovated and eventually becoming irrelevant (in the long term). Here are three ways leaders can bring your customers to life for teams who don’t interact with them.
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Tags: Leadership, Business Strategy
How to Scale Your Sales Team Quickly
HBR
May 24, 2021
Startups and other fast-growing organizations face a common challenge: In the early days of an organization, people join because they’re passionate about the mission. Yet too often, as the team grows in size, the tether to the original vision weakens, and new salespeople aren’t as successful as those who were there from the beginning. To ensure your new team is as passionate as your original team, leaders should follow these three tactics: 1) establish storytelling as a company norm, so every sales member carries your mission into customer conversations; 2) institutionalize deep discovery into your sales process, teaching new salespeople to ask strategic questions to understand customer goals; and 3) invest in human-to-human sales enablement, which provides the team with the assets to win business, including presentations, market data, tech tools, and a well-organized pool of case studies.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
How Qualitative Language Drives Quantitative Results
HBR
February 26, 2021
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Tags: Leadership, Business Strategy
Financial Targets Don’t Motivate Employees
HBR
February 26, 2021
It’s natural for leaders to emphasize the importance of hitting financial targets, but making numbers the centerpiece of your leadership narrative is a costly mistake. Financial results are an outcome, they’re not a root driver for employee performance, and a growing body of evidence tells us that overemphasizing financial targets erodes morale and undermines long-term strategy. Leaders looking to motivate employees must instead use their time with their teams to build belief in the organizational purpose, the intrinsic value of the employees’ work, and the impact they have on customers, and each other. To do so, the authors recommend three tactics: 1) Reevaluate how you use your leadership airtime; 2) Discuss your customers with specificity and emotion; and 3) Resist the urge to widely share every measure of financial performance.
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Tags: Leadership, Business Strategy
3 Mistakes That Stymie Corporate Purpose Initiatives
HBR
December 01, 2020
Many organizations are shifting to a purpose-driven strategy, which can be an effective north star in helping guide your employees. But purpose is only valuable when it’s real. So how do you ensure your purpose is more than a tagline? Three mistakes can stymie even the most well-intended efforts: 1) a lack of clear metrics to measure your progress; 2) failing to infuse purpose into your sales function; and 3) missing the opportunity to activate purpose in your employees.
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Tags: Leadership, Business Strategy
3 Ways to Improve Sales Forecasts When the Future Is Unclear
HBR
September 11, 2020
The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has made it difficult for sales teams to set forecasts — at the same time they’re under increased pressure to hit their targets. The authors recommend three practices to help improve the accuracy of sales forecasts during uncertain times: 1) Increase the granularity of your analysis by looking at what’s happening in your customers’ sectors; 2) Leverage your senior executives, who during this time of social distancing may be more available to attend virtual events with high-level customers and gain intelligence; and 3) Honestly assess how urgently your customers need product or service.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales
Selling with Noble Purpose - How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes Your Proud
Wiley
August 01, 2020
Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to choose between making money and making a difference.
Selling With Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud, 2nd Edition is an update of the acclaimed book that changed the game in sales. Using real-world data, compelling stories and psychological research, Selling With Noble Purpose explains why salespeople who genuinely understand how they can make a difference to customers outsell those who only focus on internal targets and quotas.
Sales leadership experts McLeod and Lotardo reveal how a Noble Sales Purpose (NSP) can drive a team to outstanding sales numbers. Whether you’re an executive, manager or aspiring sales leader, you’ll discover how to find your own Noble Sales Purpose and create a sales force of True Believers. This new edition covers:
How firms overcome ferocious competition and how you can do the same
Why sales organizations with a clear NSP outperform traditional sales teams
How to avoid the trap of behaving like a transactional salesperson
Why well-intended leaders often unknowingly erode purpose and differentiation
How to use your NSP to increase customer engagement
Why an NSP gives you clarity during times of uncertainty
In an era where organizations often believe that money is the primary way to motivate salespeople, Selling with Noble Purpose offers and exciting and sustainable alternative.
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Tags: Business Strategy, Leadership, Sales
Leading with Noble Purpose: How to Create a Tribe of True Believers
Wiley
February 01, 2016
Profit doesn't drive purpose. Purpose drives profit.
We made some incorrect assumptions about work and those assumptions are killing us. We allowed a narrative that is solely about earnings to replace what we know to be true about human motivation.
Human beings are hardwired to seek purpose, but according to data, most people don't feel a sense of purpose in their work. Work has become a grind, an endless series of tasks that lack meaning.
Building upon her bestseller Selling with Noble Purpose, leadership expert Lisa Earle McLeod tackles the employee engagement crisis by showing leaders how to put workplace meaning front and center. McLeod, whose clients include organizations like Google, Hootsuite, and Roche, asserts that many organizations are unconsciously squandering their greatest asset—their people's passion. By putting profit before purpose, organizations eroded the very thing that makes a business great.
The narrative of profit, earnings, and bonuses was supposed to improve employee performance, but it had the opposite effect. It stripped the joy and meaning from work in ways that have a chilling effect on morale, performance, and ultimately profit. In this new book, McLeod shows leaders how to:
Win the hearts and minds of employees, clients, and stakeholders through a Noble Sales Purpose
Reframe your approach to metrics so that they accelerate performance
Create a tribe of True Believers who drive revenue and do honorable work
People want to make money and make a difference. Leading with Noble Purpose shows leaders how to do both.
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Tags: Change Management, Leadership, Sales
The Triangle of Truth: The Surprisingly Simple Secret to Resolving Conflicts Large and Small
Penguin
February 01, 2011
"A must-read for anyone who wants to be more successful."
-Keith Ferrazzi, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Who's Got Your Back
This engaging and eye-opening book presents a bold model for rising above either/or thinking, recasting the debate on everything from sex and politics to business and religion.
With refreshing wit and honesty, business consultant and columnist Lisa McLeod reveals why most of what we've been told about conflict resolution and compromise is wrong-and why the answers to even the most complex problems are closer at hand than we might think. A rare combination of personal insight, business wisdom, and humor, The Triangle of Truth is a just-in-time read for anyone who is tired of the arguments, angst, and stalemates and is ready for real solutions to our problems, large and small.
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Tags: Project Management, Sales
Lisa McLeod: Virtual and Hybrid events
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August 09, 2022
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
How to Have a Great Sales Kickoff
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November 13, 2020
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Selling with Noble Purpose, Second Release
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August 31, 2020
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Lisa McLeod: Virtual Keynote Speaker
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July 08, 2020
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
McLeod & More: Noble Sales Purpose Training
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May 11, 2020
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Why 'A Culture of Accountability' Backfires
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April 28, 2020
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Lisa McLeod: Bestselling Author and Keynote Speaker
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April 22, 2020
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Sweaty Palm Conversations
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April 21, 2020
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
How Fear Changes Your Brain
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April 21, 2020
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Is it ok to cry when you fire someone
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April 02, 2020
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
How to Focus on Helping Others
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April 01, 2020
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
Decisions in Crisis
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March 31, 2020
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
3 Ways to Help Your Team Through a Crisis
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March 27, 2020
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Tags: Leadership, Sales, Business Strategy
The Importance of Checking In: My Quarantine Experience from 1978
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March 24, 2020
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What is Noble Purpose?
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February 19, 2020
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McLeod & More, Inc.
