Selling is tough on the ego. It gives your self-esteem a pounding. Almost everyday sales begs you to quit. It calls you a wimp and dares you to throw in the towel; many people do.

Most sales people don’t throw in the towel however. They take the pounding and yet have this amazing ability to get back on their feet and get back in the fight. Sales people learn not to take everything personally. They’ve learned that failure is part of the game. They accept the fact that some people just aren’t going to like them and there is nothing they can do about it. Sales people know that selling is NOT an easy game and they love it.

Sales isn’t easy and the best sales people wouldn’t want it any other way, pounding and all.

Today is my birthday. I’m 44.  To celebrate, I came to Rio for a few days.  I have never been Rio. It was one of the places on my bucket list.

Like anytime I visit a new place, I have to check out all the big tourist spots.  In Rio that is the Cristo Redentor or, as I like to call him, the “Big Jesus.”  The Big Jesus is a giant statue of Jesus that sits on a mountain top looking down at the city.  It was pretty cool.  The view of the city from up there was astonishing. It was absolutely beautiful.

Being a such a tourist attraction, it was packed with visitors taking pictures. What was absolutely conspicuous was the amount of people taking pictures with their mobile phones, me included. (I took this picture with my Iphone) I would say almost half, if not more, of the people were taking their precious vacation pictures with their mobile phones. Only, four years ago, on my 40th birthday, this was inconceivable.

The pace of technology is amazing. However, even more interesting to me is our adoption and use of technology. Growing up in the 70′s, there was film, flashes, and Kodak was a big , successful company.  We printed our pictures at little Kiosks in the parking lot of the grocery store. We didn’t get to see the pictures of our vacation until we got home and took them to the kiosk. Our phones were big, bulky contraptions that sat on a wall or on a little desk in the hallway, attached to the wall by a cord.

Today, our phone IS our camera and our camera is our phone. Even more compelling, we trust our precious vacation memories to the thing we call our friends and family on.

It’s amazing to me how and what we do today, that we didn’t do when I was a kid, when I was in high-school, in college, in my first job, and even when I turned 40, just four years ago.

To my kids these aren’t changes, it’s all they know.  But, as they get to 40, they will see things as I am today, and be astonished with the changes. Getting older gives us perspective, we see changes come and go. We see the new get old and the old disappear and we see things that didn’t exist born.

Change happens, I saw it vividly while standing at the feet of the Big Jesus!

Unfortunately, behind the scenes there has been a lot of chatter on Augusta’s all male policy and IBM’s new CEO Virginia Rometty.  For years IBM has been a sponsor of the Masters and IBM’s CEO has been given an invitation to the club. That is, until this year. Why? Because IBM’s new CEO isn’t a man. I think this poses some serious challenges for the membership of Augusta National Golf Course, which includes notables such as;

• Bill Gates
• Warren Buffet
• Jack Welch
• Pete Coors
• and Sam Palmisano (Former IBM CEO and Rometty’s predecessor who hand picked Rometty)

Even more than for the members of Augusta, I think this poses some serious challenges for Virginia Rometty and IBM.

This open letter from Eileen Burbidge on TechCrunch summed it up nicely.

Dear Ms. Rometty,

Even though I have not had the pleasure of even meeting you, I was pleased when you were appointed CEO in January – expressly because your predecessor and still Chairman Sam Palmisano established that this was because you “earned it; zero to do with any progressive social policies” which is fantastic. I was pleased to see it established that you earned your new position and were given the recognition for your contributions to the company – and expressly not hindered because of your gender. I don’t believe myself to have ever been hindered by my gender in my career, and I’d like there to be more public examples of this.

With all of this and the fact that I have a great deal of respect for you established, I simply want to ask you why you and your company continue to sponsor the U.S. Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Country Club.

In addition to your company’s tremendous history of leadership in establishing gender and social equality in its workforce, your appointment as CEO continued to demonstrate IBM as a merit-led corporation. However, your company’s sponsorship of this tournament – and refusal to comment publicly on its membership policies is disappointing. Your silence is deafening.

It suggests that you feel the commercial benefits of sponsoring this tournament outweigh the matters gender equality and self-respect. Even if you “don’t care much” about golf personally (it has been reported that you do occasionally play),the fact that you will be the first in a long string of IBM CEOs to not be awarded an honorary membership – strictly due to your gender – and are seemingly OK with this, is deflating.

I suspect one reason you have achieved a lot throughout your career and will continue to do so is because you speak your mind and follow your convictions. I can also appreciate that you don’t need to do anything for the “women in tech” cause, for other women, or just to be a role model. You should obviously do things firstly for yourself or your shareholders, and to that end, I can also imagine that you may not see it as a part of your corporate responsibility to deal with matters that do not have direct impact on shareholder and employee value. I would like to point out that this does. Your shareholders – and surely at least 50% of your workforce (if not more) would welcome your statement on the situation, even an implicit one made by choosing not to sponsor this tournament any longer, and to instead focus your company’s resources and marketing budget on other events.

I humbly submit that you should take a stand for what your company represents and how it represents itself. By being one of three major television sponsors, you endorse this tournament, its host venue and its current membership policies – along with its snub to you personally and professionally. I wish you would make a statement and clarify your own views about this.

I put to you a question that was asked of Augusta National’s chairman Billy Payne: What do you say to your granddaughters? And extend that to: What are you saying to your female employees? Beyond those groups, what do you say to your sons or grandsons when they ask why you didn’t say anything?

Unlike other IBM and major CEOs before you there is no indication that you will be granted honorary membership at Augusta National – on the sole basis of being a woman. Out of respect for yourself, women like you, women like me, women who work in your organization, and men and women to come, please establish that this is no longer acceptable in 2012.

Respectfully yours,
Eileen Burbidge

Augusta can have what ever policy they want. This isn’t about Augusta changing their policy. It’s about IBM supporting organizations that don’t align with their values.

Much of the arguments supporting IBM have centered around this being a business decision and that Rometty’s responsibility is to the shareholders and taking a political stance is not in the company’s best interest or that of shareholders.  I submit, this is a bullshit argument. Precedent has been set for years. Almost every Tiger Woods sponsor pulled their sponsorships from Tiger after his infidelity become public.  Why the discrimination of women wouldn’t fall into this category is perplexing to me.

Augusta’s policy has been blatantly revealed.  Augusta National has always given honorary  membership to the CEO of IBM, regardless of WHO it was. Now, they’ve stopped the policy because the CEO is NOW a woman.  In essence, Augusta has flip-flopped. It’s not that they aren’t giving it to the CEO of IBM, it’s they arent’ giving it to a woman. If the next IBM CEO is a man, he will get an invitation.

IBM has a tough call to make and so does Virginia. She and IBM have to ask themselves, what and who do they want their brand to be associated with? Just as sponsors had to determine if Tiger’s behavior was worthy of sponsorship, Augustas behavior should be under the same scrutiny.

If infidelity and the objectification of women is not worthy of sponsorshop, is the discrimination and exclusion of woman worthy of it?

It’s all about association. We ARE who we hang out with.

Now that I’m in the airport, there is no free Internet in the lounge or the airport. There is Boingo and a T-Mobile hotspot, neither of which I have an account for. Therefore, my only access now is through my phone and my iPad using 3G. (I could pay for the hotspots, but I’m too lazy to go through the sign in process.)

I don’t know if my flight to Brazil is going to have Internet service, so I’m scrambling to get as much done as possible before we take off.

I am increasingly reliant on the cloud. For those of you non-techie community members, the cloud is a geeky term for applications that run on the Internet and not on your computer. Salesforce.com is an example of a “cloud” application.

I use Dropbox for my files. My CRM is in the cloud. I use Qucikbooks Online for my accounting. I don’t buy much music anymore, because I use Pandora. Almost everything I do now is in the cloud and therefore when I don’t have an Internet connection, it’s a bitch.

The cloud is amazing. It makes software that much more efficient to build and manage. It makes data and information accessible regardless of device. The cloud has changed the “access” game. The cloud is here to stay. I’m a huge fan . . . but, it can be a bitch!!!

The cloud relies on connectivity and when there isn’t a connection, it’s a bitch! The cloud ecosystem is developing faster than the connectivity ecosystem. I’m not talking about connectivity technology. I think the technology, the speeds, etc. is doing just fine. WiFi, 3G, 4G, LTE, etc are all adequate for now. It’s the ubiquity of coverage that isn’t keeping up. A ubiquitous cloud world requires ubiquitous connectivity. That means planes, hotels, airports, side roads, ski resorts and more. It’s becoming less and less “OK” to not be able to be connected. Not being connected in a cloud world increasingly means being disconnected from your life and your business. More and more of our personal and business data is in the cloud. More and more of our personal and business processes rely on the cloud. As this reliance increases, the consequences of NOT having a connection grows.

For most, the lack of a connection is a mild inconvenience. For me, it’s past that. The lack of a connection affects my productivity. Soon, the lack of connectivity could completely grind us to a halt, effecting our ability to do even the simplest of things.

I’m hoping ubiquity of coverage comes faster than it is now. Because without it, the cloud is a bitch!

Update: I just found this. They gave it to me when I checked into the Red Carpet club and I was too dense to take a look.

Double update: there is Internet on my flight. Maybe the connectivity gods have heard me.

Triple update: United “juked” me.  There was no Internet on my flight. That means I spent 10 plus hours unconnected. That was 10 hours of perfectly good work time tossed.

Damn!  I hate when that happens.

In no way do I get satisfaction in the pain or woes of others. So Kodak’s apparent demise does not make me happy. I feel for the company and it’s thousands of employees. Rochester New York is most likely going to change forever over the next 10 years and I feel the people and the city.

Disclaimer aside, Kodak’s woes mark something positive. They mark change. Film, the core of Kodak’s business for almost 131 years, has joined the horse and carriage, buggy whips, typewriters, records, record players, tapes, tape players, dvd’s and dvd players (shit any type of physical music and music player), and other forgotten human advancements in the land of outmoded technology. Kodak’s demise marks the end of another era. It marks the end of another physical technology and the triumph of digital. It also marks progress. Kodak’s demise is a stark reminder that change and progress are inevitable, that time marches on and waits for no one.

Will Kodak as a company carry on? Will they be able to reinvent themselves? It’s a tall order.  I don’t know if they can. Too many companies just can’t make the transition.  To this day, I can’t figure our why the typewriter company Smith and Corona didn’t become the worlds leading manufacturer of computer keyboards and mice and let a start-up like Logitec own the space.

What I do know is the message in Kodak’s woes is crystal clear, nothing stands still and progress is inevitable. To me that’s a good thing. Imagine if we all still needed buggy whips.

The Doer:

The Doer delivers. They meet or exceed expectations regularly. The Doers meet quota, achieve goals, execute and deliver consistently.  The Doers are the backbone to work. The Doers go the extra mile. They have a phenomenal command of the craft. The Doers apply industry known rules and information better than anyone. We rely on the Doers to get things done, run our businesses, sell our products and to move things forward.  The Doers are the engine to work. Doers are good, just not great.

The Innovator:

The Innovator advances the craft. The Innovator brings an intellectual understanding and critique to the craft. The Innovator creates new, alternative processes, methods and approaches. The Innovator dissects current processes and methods looking for ways to improve. The Innovator isn’t happy with the status quo. Innovators add efficiency, accelerate delivery, reduce risk, improve outcomes, minimize latency, and more.  Innovators effect the craft as a whole, not just its delivery.

Innovators don’t deliver. They don’t actually do the work. Innovators are solely focused on advancing or improving the craft, not actually doing it. Innovators are good, just not great.

The Useless:

The Useless are just that, useless.  They can’t deliver and they don’t advance the craft. The Useless are unable to make their goals, don’t improve processes or approaches.  The Useless bring little value. Need I say more?

The Great:

The Great are a rare breed. The Great innovate AND deliver. The Great is the heart surgeon who has a 100% success rate AND created a new procedure to do the surgery that was less invasive and shortened recovery time by weeks.  The Great not only deliver but look to deliver better by innovating.  The Great use innovation to be even better.

The Great are hard to come by. The Great are comfortable doing the work and disrupting the system at the same time. The Great have tremendous vision for what they do. They see what exists as a path to creating more. The Great are creators and executors and attack the craft in that manner. The Great have tremendous command of what exists. They leverage that knowledge and command to push the craft to new levels. The Great don’t accept what exists and are dedicated to expanding their craft to make it better.

Are you a Doer, an Innovator or Great?

What are the essentials to become a great sales manager?

The answers ranged from being a good communicator, to moving from getting results yourself to getting results through others, to accountability, to providing support and setting high expectations. The answers to the questions were good but to be expected.

Here are a few excerpts from the some of the answers:

A great sales manager understands that her salespeople are unique individuals. They have their own way of gaining clients. They should be nurtured as well as held accountable. A mistake sales managers make is trying to force a process on their sales people; a process they can’t do effectively. -Dianne

Great managers make sure they equip their people with the right strategies, processes, systems, tools, training, and resources to succeed. -Dave

When one of the sales people is having trouble, the sales manager steps in to assist and steer the person in the right direction and must take corrective action if necessary – so one of the traits needed is to have the ability needed to confront a subordinate who is not meeting the goals and objectives in a constructive way. — Bob

Equally important, the sales manager also needs to be able to analyze your position in a sales opportunity and guide you through the next step. — Todd

To be a great sales manager, he himself should be a great and super sales man. As many other replies, a great sales manager to be a good coach, motivator and super communicator. — Raj

These are all good descriptions of good sales managers. However, I don’t think they are what make great sales managers.  Great sales managers have a very unique skill that is almost impossible to find and more importantly impossible to teach. It’s the ability to get more out of people than people can get out of themselves.

We all have our own motivations.  Each of us strive to achieve. Some of us set the bar high, others low. Regardless of where we set the bar and how hard we work, individually we are unable to maximize our abilities alone.  To reach our peak, to be the best we can be, requires help — a coach.  Great sales managers recognize this and don’t just look to support or communicate or hold their people accountable, they look to grow and expand them. Great sales managers have the ability to see deeper into people, than people can see in into themselves.  Great sales managers use the power of objective insight to empower, direct, motivate and get more out of people than they get out of themselves.

All people have a blind spot. Each one of us. This blind spot is called Johari‘s window. Our blind spot is that part of us that we don’t see, that everyone else does. We are blind to certain things we don’t like or are inconsistent with our own definition of self. Although we can’t see it, everyone else can.  These blind spots cost us, as we are unaware of our actions. The blind spots are also the personal positive assets that we could be benefitting from yet, we are unaware. Identifying and embracing our blindspots is critical to growth and success. Unfortunately it’s almost impossible to shed light on blindspots without the help of others.  This is where GREAT sales managers come in.

Great sales managers go beyond communication, support, accountability, direction, process, etc. Great sales managers work with our blind spots. Great sales leaders have amazing vision and insight into their people and know how to leverage that insight to get more from them than people can get from themselves.  Great sales managers know how to push people past their own preconceived limits without breaking them. They know how to get people to take risks they wouldn’t normally take. They are able to get people to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Great sales managers take people to higher-levels of achievement.

Great sales managers are the opposite of poor sales managers.  Poor sales managers drive under-performance. When poor sales management is in place, teams underperform. Not only are their people not stretched, they’re not achieving what they are easily capable of. Poor sales management creates an environment where people dont’ meet their baseline capabilities, they under achieve.

Good sales managers are able to get people to do what they know they are capable of and do it consistently.  Good sales managers are the top of the bell curve. There are lots of them. Good sales manager are plentiful and can run a good sales organziation. They will keep the satus quo. They will get people to meet their baseline capabilities. Good sales managers won’t hurt their people, but they won’t take them to the next level.

Great sales managers get people and teams to outperform themselves.  Great sales managers take people and teams to the next level. Great sales managers can see in people what they can’t see in themselves and then know how to tease it out of them in a productive, non-threatening way. Great sales managers create more value than would be present if they weren’t there.

Finding great sales managers is almost impossible.  Few sales managers have the insight and skill to accomplish this. It can’t be taught.  It’s innate. That’s why there are so many good managers, yet so few great.  Great managers are like Jedi Knights, it’s just in them.  If you find one, snap him or her up. They are as invaluable as they are rare. If you are ever lucky enough to work for a great sales manager, thank them!  Because, you wouldn’t be where you are today without them.

Are you a great sales manager?

Have you ever worked for a great sales manager?

What’s it like to work for a great sales manager, a good sales manager and a poor sales manager?

BTW: This goes for all GREAT Leaders!

Hard means it’s new, different, unfamiliar, outside of our comfort zone.  When things get hard it means we are growing. When things become hard, that’s when the learning begins. If it’s not hard, there is no learning.

Most people run, quit, or quietly walk away when it get’s hard. Their head is telling them it’s not fun anymore.

We need to train our heads to like hard. Hard is where the action is. Hard is the beginning of progress. When things get hard we get better, we grow, we learn, we move forward. Hard is the gate-way to success.

Start liking hard.  It’s when things actually start happening.

Artisans didn’t embrace mass production. They didn’t do things just like everyone else.  Artisans were craftsman.  They differentiated themselves by being better than other artisans. To differentiate, Artisans created their own style.  They pioneered new and different approaches. They personalized their craft. Artisan’s used their unique style and approach to elevate them from their competition and establish their brand. Their work defined them and to this day artisans can be identified simply by looking at their work.

Today we have workers. Workers don’t have a craft.  They have a job. Workers don’t have a journey to become a master. Workers don’t master anything. Workers just do. Workers meet the “minimal expected deliverable” or MED.   Workers focus on the work. They focus on the job, not the result. Workers measure themselves in how long they’ve worked or in how hard they worked, not in what they delivered.  Workers differentiate themselves by working harder, not better.  Workers show up, punch a clock, put in the time and deliver exactly what is asked of them.

The world is filled with workers.  It’s easy being a worker. Counting hours doesn’t require creativity. It doesn’t require extensive knowledge. Counting hours just requires you show up.

The world needs artisans. It’s not easy being an artisan. Artisans expand their craft. Artisans have extensive knowledge of their craft, the industry and the people and companies they affect. Artisans don’t count hours. They measure impact. They focus on detail. Artisans don’t just show up, they create.

Are you an artisan or a worker?  It’s easy to know, just not so easy to admit.  Be and artisan, it’s the better choice.

Laura recently finished this painting and I love it.

I worked with Laura at Avaya.  Believe it or not she spends her days with her head buried in spreadsheets. I don’t know how someone so creative can be so successful using the other side of her brain.

Laura sent Big E and I gorgeous painting for the birth of our 3rd daughter, Ava.  It’s a creative play on a pea pod and pregnancy.  I love it.

Laura’s art is clean, creative, sharp, and detailed. Her work has layers. Each layer brings you deeper into the painting. It’s great stuff to look at.

Go check her out. I think you’ll like.