The Salesby5 Blog

Being involved in about twenty political campaigns, the biggest being the mayoral campaign of San Antonio, something has come to my attention—the candidate matters! Their brand, their words regarding the benefit they offer, how they will offer that benefit, and of course, their dramatic difference. What is most amazing to me is how their team can help sell or un-sell them! Poor communication, lack of understanding regarding technology, communication etiquette and lack of personable skills all matter to an extreme. One person that does not fit the brand of the candidate can make all the difference in having people want to support with cash or time. One person has the ability to de-motivate a team of people that would do almost anything for someone. This is not just in politics of course! It is life.  If you or the people that work for you are leading other people, you are selling! When they are de-motivating, giving orders, throwing assumptions out and not living the values you preach, they are un-selling, therefore making it easy to compete against you.  Are you setting your team up for success, secondary leaders and a the ability to lead tribes of their own?

As we mentioned on Friday, Dave Ramsey spoke at Catalyst with amazing insight on leadership.  Currently, Dave has about 250 employees in his company.  One of the main points he touched on repeatedly was the problem of gossip.  As Dave defines it, gossip is a negative issue being discussed with anyone who can’t help solve the problem.  Dave takes the stance that it is completely unacceptable to gossip in a company.  If someone is caught gossiping, they may get one warning, but not more, before being fired.  If there is a problem or an issue, it must be taken strictly to someone who can do something about it.

Make a mental list here: If you were to fire everyone today, who would you hire back with enthusiasm?

Make a second mental list here: If your company had a zero-gossip policy, who would be left?  How closely does this list match the list above?  How soon can you fix this and get unity?

photo by passiveaggressivenotes

This morning, Dave Ramsey spoke to us at Catalyst.  He told the story about how Belgian Horses are able to pull about 8,000 pounds by themselves.  If you put two of them together that have never seen one another before, what would you expect, 16,000 pounds?  Actually, they can pull 24,000 pounds.  If you have a matched pair (those that have been trained together), they can pull an astonishing 32,000 pounds!  As you develop unity within your company, with everyone moving in the right direction together, your abilities as a team grow exponentially.  So today, do you have a group or a team with unity?