I read many things across the web including certain columnists from Sports Illustrated.  Peter King writes an insider’s view to professional football that I find fascinating.  Plus, the guy is a coffee (actually lattes) addict like myself so I always appreciate his weekly coffee tips.

This quote from his article last week caught my attention:

But I will say one thing about the firing: It’s always dangerous when you start polling players and people in the building about the job the head coach is doing. If you’ve got a conviction about the coach, act on your conviction, and the beliefs of your closest associates, like president Dick Cass and GM Ozzie Newsome. Wide-net polling … not a good idea. Too many agendas can influence the only one that’s important, which is winning.

Now imagine it written this way:

But I will say one thing about hiring: It’s always dangerous when you start polling salespeople and people in the building about the job the sales candidate could do. If you’ve got a conviction about the candidate, act on your conviction, and the beliefs of your closest associates, like the owner and the expert sales recruiter. Wide-net polling … not a good idea. Too many agendas can influence the only one that’s important, which is selling.

How true is that?  We have seen it first-hand in one of our accounts where the manager is greatly concerned with what his operations people say about a salesperson.  I am still stunned.  This leader is trying to build a consensus among a department that has never been in sales nor hired salespeople…ever.

The agenda that is in play is the fact that the company has been rather stagnant for a few years so the operations people have settled into a comfortable groove.  The manufacturing area is running at somewhere between 50-75% of capacity.  I believe the thought of a strong salesperson closing new business is the hidden agenda.  The operations people will have to crank up their productivity to keep up with the increased workload.

Leadership requires making decisions with conviction.  If they are wrong, own up to them.  If they are right, smile and move on to the next topic.

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