Edge Newsletter Archive - Gong

The 3 Stories Every Company Should Know And Share Often

Kelly Wright — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 00:12:51 +0000

This year has been a year of constant change. We are constantly pivoting to address the changing environment and market. How are the stories we tell help us better navigate this current climate? Most companies’ narratives revolve around products, features, and value propositions. And while those are definitely important, there’s a much bigger opportunity to build emotional connections. When you think about category-defining companies, they’re overwhelmingly the ones who engage their customers’ emotions through storytelling. Throughout my leadership career, I’ve held countless sales kickoffs, all-hands meetings, and keynotes. People tend to retain very little when it comes to wordy decks, bullet points, or numbers. But they remember stories. When you hear a story, “your brain waves actually start to synchronize with those of the storyteller,” according to NPR. We don’t just like stories; we’re biologically programmed to retain them. And the data backs this up. A study by Stanford professor Chip Heath (Made to Stick author) found 63% could remember stories, but only 5% could remember a single statistic. When speaking to a crowd, I often share lessons learned from my own parenting experiences, as these personal stories create a more emotional and human connection with individuals in the audience. People are actively drawn into these stories in a way that makes them easy to follow—and more memorable. Now, even a decade later, I’ll run into someone who will say, “Oh Kelly, I remember that story you told about your son – when he came to your office to get a lesson about sales. How is he doing? I know he was really interested in business.” Companies should do the same. Yes, nail down your mission, vision, and values — that’s a must. Yes, speak to your company’s product — you have to be able to articulate what you do and explain your features and functions. But when it comes time to communicate, frame it all through a narrative lens that drives emotional connectedness. This narrative should communicate your ‘why’ in a way that connects with people. And to do that most effectively, there are 3 stories every company should share: 1. Your company’s origin story A founding story really helps to share the essence of who you are and why you exist. That’s what personalizes a brand and allows people to relate and say, “Oh, I understand why this matters.” So, how did Gong get started? Our CEO, Amit, was the CEO of an enterprise analytics company. All was going well until one day… the team had a bad quarter and missed their number. Amit dug in to try to figure out what had happened. He went to his CRM, but could not figure out the root cause. He listened to some recorded calls, but there wasn’t ample time in the day to listen to enough calls to figure out what had gone wrong. He asked around but got varying opinions from his team on what was happening. Nobody seemed to know. Amit figured this must be a challenge other companies were having too, so he decided to build his own data-driven autonomous system to provide increased visibility and data-driven insights on what was really happening with customers. He teamed up with co-founder Eilon, who had previous experience using artificial intelligence, and that is how Gong got started. This is Gong’s founding story. Your company’s origin story is extremely valuable. It’s what speaks directly to your internal team, your customers, and the world at large about why you exist. This is the essence of your being. Share it intentionally — and often! 2. Customer stories Many customer stories focus on quantitative results. Companies will share use cases like, “this company is using our feature or function, and they got this ROI”. These are fine, and we all want to showcase our actual metric-driven results, but they aren’t memorable. These use cases don’t evoke emotional connections. They are vanilla and quite dry, missing the human element on why the people reading the story should care. What’s better is to be able to tell a story in a customer’s own voice, highlighting not only how your customer is using your product or service, but why it matters. Gartner research highlights how buyers want customer stories. Think about how your customer stories can be shared more like human interest stories that showcase not only how your solution solved a company challenge, but also how you made a personal impact on your customer. Back when I was at Tableau, customer stories often highlighted how the solution helped customers save time, be more self-sufficient, and generate valuable insights, etc. These stories, especially when supported by impressive quantitative results, were good and useful, but they alone didn’t distinguish us from other business intelligence companies out there. The personal customer stories are the ones people remember most. These stories inspire action. Here’s a customer story we just shared at our recent Gong Celebrate event: A customer called herself a “wrangler of chaos”. She describes her life as a wife and a mom to two little girls. She said her life is really all over the place. She shared that what gets her up in the morning is to be able to go to work and be proud of what she is doing and be a role model for her daughters. She strives for a great career while also being present for those special moments: first time walking, first time running, first words. The most moving parts of her story were not when she described how the platform helps her increase productivity and gain better insights. Instead, the most compelling and inspiring moments of her story were how Gong allows her to achieve work-life balance. She shared how Gong not only helps her be better at her job, but also closer as a mother, as a working parent, and to accelerate her own success in ways she had never been able to before. That’s the more emotionally connected story. Share customer stories that are more meaningful, impactful, and memorable. Remember, companies don’t sell to companies. People sell to people. And people remember stories about other people. 3. Personal stories Personal stories connect your individual employees to the purpose of your organization. These allow your team to showcase why they decided to join the company and why the company’s mission is important to them. These stories are incredibly powerful in customer conversations, discussions with prospective hiring candidates, and with the community more broadly. By encouraging your team to share their own personal stories, a viral network effect can start to take place. The word will organically spread about who you are and why people should care. For example, I initially joined Gong’s board after spending my entire career helping build and scale transformative, hyper-growth, category-disrupting tech companies. My passions have always been in sales, data, and culture. In fact, I’m so passionate about sales and how companies engage with customers that I teach a business school course and even launched my own thought-leadership platform on the subject. When I first learned about Gong, I couldn’t believe how one company could tie all of my passion areas into one. The tug was so great, I just had to be more involved. That’s my personal story. And I share it often. I’d love to hear from you. What’s your favorite personal story?

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In Gratitude… Giving thanks is more powerful than you think

Kelly Wright — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 00:17:52 +0000

It’s Thanksgiving season. That time of year when holiday decor shifts from Halloween ghosts and goblins to fall signs saying “Thankful”, “In Gratitude”, “Grateful”, and “Blessed”. We decorate our houses with pumpkins, scarecrows, and fall colors of orange, yellow, red, and brown. While we know how to create the aura and vibe of Thanksgiving, do we also take enough time to reflect on the true meaning of the holiday? We should, as the holiday’s name literally is “giving thanks”. Thanksgiving Turkey! For me, Thanksgiving is about gratitude. Giving gratitude to others and remembering to be personally grateful for what I have. Gratitude is more than just the occasional thank you or showering praise at a company all-hands. Thanksgiving may be the time of year when we intentionally focus on gratitude, but now is a reminder that gratitude is a muscle we should build and use all year long, not just during this season. Being grateful is a state of being, and we all (myself included) would benefit from showing more gratitude 365 days of the year. In my continual thirst for learning, I read, listen to podcasts, and attend as many courses as possible. A recent favorite course I attended was a Stanford class on Happiness. Yale offers a similar course, The Science of Well-Being, which is one of the most well attended virtual courses of all time. A key skill covered in the class is Gratitude. The notion of gratitude comes up again and again. Not only on Thanksgiving. But related to health. And happiness. So, what is gratitude and why does it matter? This article by Positive Psychology highlights key benefits discovered in the research of gratitude, including enhanced well-being, deeper relationships, and improved optimism. Hmmm, can gratitude really be that important? CAN GRATITUDE LEAD TO A HAPPIER AND MORE FULFILLING LIFE? I suggest you take a few minutes to check out the research yourself. Just type gratitude into your search box. You may be surprised at what you find. Doing this myself, in just a couple clicks, I found some surprising benefits of gratitude: stronger immune systems, more compassion, less loneliness, and the list goes on and on. (For a deep dive: check out this video on the power of gratitude by Robert Emmons, of the Greater Good Science Center, who has dedicated his life researching this very subject.) The research shows: gratitude is powerful. Giving thanks and being thankful are more than just little moments to show appreciation. We often concentrate on ways to express gratitude for others. Very important. But, we often lose sight of the importance of cultivating gratitude for ourselves as well. Gratitude has innate power to drive our own intrinsic motivation, healthy relationships, and well-being by finding ways to treat ourselves with gratitude as well. So, we agree: gratitude matters. But how can we cultivate more gratitude in our daily lives? And how can we do this both for others as well as for ourselves? Here are 5 ways to cultivate gratitude: 1. Thank you notes In this day and age of email and text, handwritten thank you notes seem to be going the way of the dinosaur. In my opinion, thank you notes make a big difference. Even more so these days when so few people take the time to write them. I even have a special drawer where I keep meaningful thank you notes people have written to me. Bet you do too. I remember making my kids write thank you notes for birthday and holiday gifts. They were quick to point out that very few of their friends wrote similar notes, managing to get by instead with short texts or phone calls, or even skipping thank you messages altogether. My older son, after years arguing about the need to write notes, is now convinced of the power of thank you notes. He spends ample time writing long personalized cards, not only for gifts received, but also to people who invest time to help him professionally. I chatted with one family friend who received a lengthy hand-written snail mail thank you note from him. Guess what – it made its way into his special drawer! 2. Give Recognition Recognition and appreciation go a long way. In fact, Great Places to Work performed a study on employee engagement to identify the most important drivers of great work. The results of this study may surprise you. When asked the biggest driver, 7% of participants answered “pay me more”, 4% said “give me a promotion”, and (winning by a massive margin) a whopping 37% voted “recognize me”. Despite our intentions to give recognition, we sometimes forget. Or we get so busy, we just don’t make the time. It does take effort to give recognition. And it makes a huge impact! If you want to foster a culture of recognition, leaders must set the example. Here are some ways we give recognition at Gong: Multiple slack channels to share shoutouts (I post daily in my own slack channel called #love-gtm-gongsters) Outstanding Gongsters of the Year are recognized on our website as well as on huge billboards in Times Square Here are some additional ways I give 1:1 recognition: Send personal notes to each salesperson who achieves quota or president’s club Personal slack messages to people who close important deals Thank you’s to individuals who present at team meetings Appreciation to those who teach me something 3. Meaningful compliments Of course, any compliment is better than no compliment. Still, not all compliments are equal. People may think they are giving good compliments, but many unfortunately are hollow. These hollow compliments are less impactful. You know what I’m talking about. Compliments like “well done” or “you look nice”. I remember a boss that often told me “good job”. I never quite knew what he was referring to. What exactly was good? What did he like? What made it worth a call-out? I heard him regularly repeat this “good job” message to others too, making the compliment seem generic and even less meaningful. Think about the best compliments you have ever received. Good compliments not only make people feel great, they fuel one’s sense of pride, and they even boost oxytocin levels. How you praise is as important, or possibly even more important, than what you say. Giving a sincere compliment is easy to do. What are the ingredients of a good compliment? Contains specific details Delivery with the right tone and eye contact Authentic and sincere Focuses on the recipient’s areas of passion or pride Unique and individualized Timely by catching people in (or right after) the moment Recognizes hard work, achievements, or effort (and avoids physical traits) 4. Keep a gratitude journal I heard about gratitude journals for years. Then, the instructor in the happiness course reinforced the benefit of a gratitude journal. I bought a journal and started making entries. I kept it on my nightstand and jotted down a list of what I was thankful for each night before bed. Initially, my daily list was short: my health, my family, shelter, food, etc. But as I continued to write, my daily list got longer. I found many more things to be thankful for – catching up with a friend, a beautiful view, a great exercise class, small moments of joy, or seeing people treat others with kindness. I keep my journal on my bedside table, and try to add entries right before bed. Doing this helps provide a sense of peace and happiness right before I go to sleep. Unfortunately, as life becomes increasingly more busy and frantic, I tend to write in my gratitude journal less frequently. (Counterintuitive though, as when life gets more hectic and stressful is exactly the time when I should make a greater effort to write in it!) Just writing this blog is a good reminder to hold myself accountable again for daily gratitude journal entries. 5. Share your blessings We have a family tradition at Thanksgiving. We always start the meal by going around the table and each individual shares what they are thankful for. This takes a chunk of time before we dig into our big turkey meal. My kids used to bicker about why we had to do what they thought was an annoying exercise. Why couldn’t we just start eating the yummy food that took us days to prepare? I don’t know about you, but these moments are one of my favorite parts of the Thanksgiving holiday. I love to share what I’m most thankful for, and I’m always eager to hear my family and friends, especially my kids, share what they are most appreciative and grateful for. This gives us time to reflect on what’s most important. To embrace the full spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday. We show appreciation for one another, for what we have, for our relationships, for our positive experiences, and the list goes on and on. If you don’t already do this, I highly recommend you incorporate this into your own Thanksgiving celebration this year. Family Thanksgiving in 2018 with my husband Jeff and three kids right before we sit down and share what we are most thankful for. This time of year reminds me not only how lucky I am, but also of the power and benefits of gratitude. Showing gratitude is not only entirely within our control, it is also one of the most overlooked tools for making us happier humans. It’s November. Thanksgiving. Time to give thanks. Time to count our blessings. Time for gratitude. I’d love to hear from you. What are the ways you show gratitude? Happy Thanksgiving!

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Chief Belief Officer – What It Is and Why You Need One

Kelly Wright — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 23:03:20 +0000

Times are tough right now. Very tough. “Duh” you may be thinking – I’m just stating the obvious. We are just coming out of a global pandemic. Remote and hybrid work are here to stay. The labor market is the tightest it has been in decades. And on top of all that, the global recession is racing towards us hard and fast. Yikes. It’s an extremely challenging time to be a leader. I was recently speaking at an executive summit, and someone asked me my main focus during these turbulent times. Given the number of people who approached me and sent notes and comments after the session, seems my answer hit a chord. Although most leaders are heads down driving operational excellence (as they should be,) I suggested that we as leaders have another key role. What is it? Being the Chief Belief Officer. Huh? What’s that? Never heard of CBO? Well, that’s because I made it up. Before accomplishing greater things, one must believe. Believe in the company. Believe in the opportunity. Believe in the team. Believe in themselves. The best leaders inspire belief. My top show at the moment is Ted Lasso. I love how Ted’s locker room “Believe” sign is always front and center. Ted points at the sign, jumps to hit the placard, and constantly draws the team’s attention to the prominent word on the wall. I’ve had Believe signs in my office for years. In fact, I’ve been talking about the importance of Belief for decades. I even wrote a keynote speech emphasizing the importance of belief back when I was selling books door to door in college. And that was when I was just 21! Belief is more important now than ever. Our people feel beat up. There is bad news out there every day – lay offs, physical and mental health crises, economic woes, social unrest, wars, burn-out. Ughh. It’s exhausting some days just getting by. So how do we motivate our people to keep on going? Belief is key. Belief is the secret sauce. One of my favorite stories about belief is the story of the Four Minute Mile. Do you know this story? If not, you definitely should. Let’s go back in time. It was the middle of the 1900s. Scientists and doctors said a four minute mile was physically impossible. The human body just could not run that fast. The mile record had stood at 4:01 for 9 years. Then, on May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile. He ran the mile in 3:59. Yes, Roger broke the four minute mile and amazed the world. He accomplished something that all the science said was impossible. But, this isn’t even the most amazing part of the story… Just weeks later, another runner ran the mile in 3:57. Soon, more and more runners started breaking the four minute barrier. In the last 50 years, the four minute mile has been lowered by a whopping 17 seconds. The current record now stands at 3:43 minutes. Bannister had incredible belief. His belief made the difference. What can we learn from his achievement? Here’s my take on the 4 tips to build belief: 1. Visualize Success Roger fundamentally believed he could break the four minute barrier. He could see himself clocking in at less than four minutes, despite what the experts and science said. You can do this too. Help people feel and taste success. Help your team imagine what it will be like to win. Paint the picture of winning, incorporating all senses. Where will you be? Who will be there? What will you see? How will you feel? What sounds will you hear? Once you help your team create a visual picture of winning, it’s much easier to focus on the goals and build your team’s motivation to drive towards that visualized picture of success. Picture yourself on the beach at President’s Club with all the top performers or having the entire company celebrate together at Sales Kick-off. Visualization helps people achieve their goals. This strategy has been used by olympians like Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, as well as business icons like Oprah Winfrey and Sarah Blakely. Check out this Inc. Magazine article about how visualization can help. 2. Build Confidence with Data Roger had confidence that he could do what people considered undoable. Even impossible. He knew his splits for each lap. When he added up his splits for the first lap, second lap, third lap, and fourth lap, guess what? The splits added to less than four minutes. Roger’s own data proved and solidified that a four minute mile was indeed possible. He built and secured his confidence with data. This is key. Have fun with numbers. Break goals down into small, manageable bits. Here’s an example of how to do this for a sales rep. Look at her stats – total meetings, lead conversions, transactions, average deal size, close rates, etc. Slice and dice her numbers to show what is possible if she improves slightly – even just a tad – on one or two metrics. Compounded incremental improvements have a big impact. These baby steps make it easier to digest and believe. Building belief is often a simple game of data. Break the data down into believable bite-size chunks. 3. Hold Yourself Accountable In order to instill belief in your team, you must first believe yourself. Some of us forget the importance of our own self-talk. Makes a lot of sense though. If you don’t believe that you can accomplish your goals, how in the world will you motivate your teams to believe? Keep yourself in check. If you don’t believe you can or will accomplish your goals, it will be very difficult to inspire your people to believe. So if you don’t believe, you must fix this. ASAP. Find a way to believe yourself. Consider this one of your core responsibilities. Once you believe, your belief will be contagious. Sometimes we believe in our team and individuals on our team even more than they do. Our teams will often derive their self-confidence from our unwavering belief in them. If you don’t believe, and you can’t muster up belief yourself, then get off the train. You won’t be able to inspire belief in others unless you have believe yourself. 4. Break Belief Barriers Let’s get back to the story of Roger Bannister. Not only did he crush a record, he also shattered all belief barriers. We see this all the time in the business world. People may have thought a million dollar deal was impossible. But after one sales rep lands that first massive deal, other big deals land one by one. We’ve all seen this happen. You know what I mean. Another example – people may not think they can close many new customers. Then they see someone else crush it with new logos, and they know they can get there too. Many have so much anxiety and worry in today’s environment that their belief has waffled. Once we can again paint the path to future success, people tend to worry less and just get on with it. Most people in our companies think they are very good at what they do. They are used to being the best. They are accustomed to winning. As a leader, you need to set (and possibly re-set) the belief bar. Then, you need to show people how they can get there. Like Roger Bannister, break down the goal into bite-size chunks. Show your team the goal is achievable. Share your vision with such passion that your confidence and belief is palpable and contagious. Inspire people to: Think Big. Believe Big. Go Big. This is a critical part of your job. Instilling belief doesn’t just happen. Make sure you think and plan carefully on how you will do this. Just like managing people takes time and preparation, instilling belief and inspiring people takes focused energy, attention, and planning. Our role is to build and reinforce our team’s belief each and every day. This is our job. So go out there and be CBO. Be the Chief Belief Officer. You got this. I’d love to hear from you. What do you do to inspire belief?

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8 Traits of High Performing Salespeople

Kelly Wright — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 22:44:39 +0000

early every conversation I have with a sales leader, people ask about my best practices for sales hiring. Having A+ sales reps is more important than ever, especially in this macro environment and tight labor market. So is there a secret sauce to hiring top salespeople? I argue that there absolutely is! But the secret may be counterintuitive to many… Why is it tough to hire the best salespeople? It should be simple. Sales is a numbers game, right? Can’t you just take a quick glance at a rep’s quota performance over time and then hire those who consistently crush their number? Unfortunately, that’s too shortsighted. Prior performance alone isn’t a predictable indicator of future success. (It is feasible for a poor performing rep to hit quota based on many other factors – great account book, inheriting active opportunities, huge inbound lead flow.) Layer in a desire to build a diverse sales team, and again, we all need to broadly expand our aperture of where and how we are looking for the next generation of superstar sales reps. We sales leaders have an obligation and responsibility to diversify the sales talent pool. (This has always been part of my personal purpose – whether it be leading the way to have more diversity in tech, in leadership, on boards, and definitely, of course, in sales!) But, what’s one common mistake that leaders and companies often make when hiring salespeople? In my humble opinion, hiring managers and recruiters way over-index on resumes and prior sales experience. On tenure. On track record of attainment. On deep expertise in the industry. Of course, past experience is relevant and important, but it is not the only or strongest predictor of success. I have worked with thousands, literally thousands, of salespeople in my career. Plus, I’ve interviewed thousands more. The best salespeople have varying backgrounds, experiences, and tenures. Some have spent years, even decades, selling. Others are brand new to the sales profession. Some are extroverts, while others are introverts. Some are subject matter experts, and others knew nothing about the product they were hired to sell. Good salespeople come in all different stripes. But those of us out there who have come across superstar salespeople – the type that could sell anything to anyone, I’d bet we all agree – we could drop them into almost any company, of any size, selling any product, and they would rise to the top. Check out the pattern matching. The best salespeople have similar traits. I’m talking about behavioral attributes. These are different from experience and resume bullets. These behavioral characteristics are innate to these high performers. They are not indicative of what they have done or where they have worked. Instead, they are part of who they are. So, what are the universal behavioral traits for exceptional sellers? Here are the top 8 characteristics of high-performing salespeople: 1. Master Communicator The best salespeople are more than effective communicators. They are masters at the craft of communication. They emotionally connect with others. When they speak, people are drawn in, listen, and pay attention. Why? These salespeople are master storytellers. They don’t share just facts and pitches. Instead, they weave stories into their art. They draw people into their conversations by telling company stories, customer stories, and personal stories. Speaking is just half the equation though. To be a master communicator, one must also be a master listener. Many people appear to be listening, while they are actually processing in their minds what they will say next when the other person stops talking. Most salespeople also talk way too much. Gong Labs did study on talk time. Top salespeople just talk less and listen more. Master communicators are also active listeners. Engaged listeners. They use eye contact. They pay close attention. The best salespeople not only listen, they truly hear and understand. 2. Passionate Great salespeople have a fire in the belly. This passion fuels them and provides deep intrinsic motivation. When you are around these individuals, you can feel their passion. It is electric. Energizing. People with this fire draw people into their orbit, as their passion is contagious. People with inner passion often have unwavering belief. This belief is another key difference between a good salesperson and a great salesperson. Mind over matter. Rockstar salespeople believe in the opportunity. In the ability to win. In themselves. Their passion helps them think big. Believe big. Go big. (Here’s an article I wrote a while back about The Power of Belief.) One of our Gong Operating Principles is #wantmore. You want these people! The ones who always want more. Who are never satisfied. The ones with this deep passion have the fire in the belly to win. 3. Risk Taker Great salespeople take risks. If you think about it, this makes perfect sense – as only true risk takers would be willing to gamble a significant portion of their compensation. Who else would sign up for a gig where your performance is reset back to zero every year, quarter, month, week, or even day? How can you spot a risk-taker? Risk-taking is demonstrated in many ways. Think about the best salespeople you know. Many are thrill seekers. They love adventure. They are constantly taking risks and trying new things. I’d venture to guess that if you looked at the demographics of those who do adventure sports, bet you’d find a high proportion of top salespeople! People who take risks regularly step outside their comfort zones. They always try new things. Show initiative. Constantly put themselves out there. Science shows risk-takers are more successful. 4. Grit Grit. This is a foundational trait for top salespeople. But one that is commonly overlooked. One of my earlier issues of The Edge is all about my experience building grit. Inputs matter a lot in sales. Many people believe in quality over quantity, but quantity really makes a difference. We are always drawn to those amazing closers, but just because someone has a high close rate doesn’t mean they will be a recurring top seller. Much of sales success is determined by the law of averages. The best salespeople are consistent and never-wavering with putting in the most raw effort. Activities, calls, meetings, customers, bookings. Check out the stats. You’ll find a high correlation between top performers and grit. The best salespeople roll up their sleeves. They are not afraid of putting in the work. These top sellers are gritty and will do whatever it takes. 5. Team Player Great salespeople are outstanding team players. They realize the team can accomplish more together than a bunch of individuals acting alone. These team players support and prop up others, often assuming the role of team cheerleader. They help foster a sense of community, camaraderie, and mutual respect. Despite being high individual performers, the best salespeople put team before self. They are not the “beat the chest” or “look at me” types. Their egos are in check. They prop others up and give credit where it’s due. They put the collective “we” first. 6. Resilient Salespeople face failure day in and day out. The sales profession is filled with way more no’s than yesses. Dealing with no’s all day long can be frustrating, stressful, and exhausting. Top salespeople can’t get paralyzed or afraid of failure. When knocked down, they get right back up. They can’t let fear and trepidation hold them back, or they’d never get started. I remember learning very early on to embrace (even to welcome) failure, as every no got me that much closer to a yes. The best sellers are resilient. They have sheer determination. Perseverance. They never ever give up. Quitting is not in their vocabulary. When the going gets tough, the resilient ones keep going. 7. Growth Mindset Growth mindset. This seems to be a catchphrase these days. Everyone is talking about it. Podcasts galore. Here’s one with over a million views. Well, all the hype is true. People with a growth mindset thirst to learn. And crave constant growth. They just want to get better. How can you tell if someone has a growth mindset? It actually is quite easy to spot. Are they intellectually curious? An avid reader? Are they learning something new right now? I, for one, crave learning. Each day creates ample opportunities for me to personally grow, learn, and get better. Of course, I’m as crazy busy as the next person. But, there is always time to learn. Growth mindset is a way of being for me. How do I do this? Well, I read a ton. Two years ago, my tally was 56 books, and last year, the count was 37. I take classes whenever possible, including a recent course on board readiness and online classes on “Humor: Serious Business” and “Happiness”. I even decided to learn an instrument, so I’ve started to learn piano (not good, mind you, but I’m still trying)! The best salespeople are eager to learn. They are coachable. They love self-improvement. They have an insatiable appetite for learning. They are never satisfied and want to always learn more, grow, and get better. A growth mindset is key. 8. Big Heart The greatest salespeople care about others. They want to have a meaningful impact. They derive deep personal satisfaction from giving and helping those around them. They have high EQ – high emotional intelligence and superior interpersonal skills. They have situational awareness and can read the room. IQ alone won’t cut it. Empathy is a natural state of being for them. It is woven into the way these top salespeople operate and behave. They are able to put themselves in the other person’s shoes, fully understanding the other side’s perspective and point of view. Top salespeople have a strong moral compass and strength of character. The best salespeople, and the ones you want for your team, have big hearts. Any way you slice it, they are just good humans. So there you go. The top 8 behavioral traits of high-performing salespeople. I’d wager you that these traits are not only the traits of your top salespeople, but of all your top performers. Yep, these are good traits to look for in all of your hires, not just in sales. I’d love to hear what you think. Any top behavioral trait I missed?

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Mistakes happen – here’s what to do next

Kelly Wright — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 21:30:41 +0000

Ughhh…. My stomach dropped… And my heart started racing. I squinted and leaned in towards the computer to confirm my eyes were not failing me (they weren’t). Even though I didn’t want to believe it… there it was: A response to an email my team sent to key customers and prospects earlier that day. Now, normally, small typos don’t ruffle me — but this reply was different: It pointed out an unfortunate email snafu that we sent. With me as the sender. To 101,451 of our customers. Yes, that’s A LOT of people. Not exactly the vibe we were going for… What happens next? When mistakes happen (as they inevitably will), what we do next as leaders often leaves a lasting impression. On customers, prospects, AND employees. It could be something as small as an email typo or a larger issue like your service unexpectedly going down. But when something doesn’t go as planned, what happens next? How do you and other leaders at your organization react? To gain a little insight into your opinions on the topic, we put out a poll on Gong’s LinkedIn page a few weeks ago to understand what you think. Here’s what we found: The majority agreed it’s best to own the mistake and apologize publicly. Learning from our mistakes Now, most of us would agree that we don’t learn without failure. These moments are life lessons. Mistakes happen. They just do. And growth is uncomfortable. How are we creating a culture of learning, where we accept and learn from mistakes? If you’re not failing every now and then, you’re probably holding your team back. People may be so scared of making a mistake that they refuse to take risks, stifling creativity and innovation. Striving for perfection may be getting in the way forward progress. Plus, think about how much learning comes from each mistake. So, mistakes should and will happen. However, the tone you set with your team around making mistakes matters more than you think. So even if your stomach drops when you learn of an error or blunder, take a moment to breathe before jumping into action. Honestly, when I learned of the email snafu, I was initially a bit stressed and embarrassed. But after a few moments to process, I realized this template error was just an innocent human mistake that anyone could have made. It was just an email typo. These moments are not about teaching your team to chase perfection. Instead: Embrace and normalize making mistakes. As a leader, how do you help your team feel supported when something goes wrong? There are many benefits of leaders admitting their mistakes: It earns respect. It strengthens the team. It allows you to lead by example. And, it builds trust. At the end of the day, it’s all about the culture you’re building at your organization. Do you want a culture that accepts (and maybe even celebrates) mistakes? Or do you want to build a culture where employees are scared to act or admit missteps because they fear unpleasant consequences? As a leader, you play a huge role in setting the tone. The organization is looking to you to understand what the unspoken reaction is when these sorts of mistakes happen. Your 4 step action plan Although the email snafu is a recent example of a slip-up, I’ve seen countless fumbles happen. Some leaders reacted to these fumbles masterfully in way that drove organizational learning and growth while taking care of the issue. In other cases, the leader’s response to the fumble became even more problematic than the initial mistake itself. So, what’s the best way to get back on track? Here’s a 4 step plan for what to do when a mistake happens. These are the steps I strive to follow (and encourage my team to abide by as well): 1. Own The Mistake Take ownership of the misstep. Recognize and acknowledge that a mistake happened. First, flag what happened to the appropriate internal teams who might be impacted. Let them know you’re aware of the issue and are working towards a remedy. This is all about communication and setting expectations with your team. Taking ownership and responsibility for what happened is essential. Apologize. Acknowledge that a mistake was made. Don’t try to minimize it. Mistakes happen. Owning the mistake and apologizing is the first step. 2. Assess The Damage Now it’s time to take inventory. Questions to consider: What’s the scope of the issue? How many people were impacted? How fast do we need to act? This step is all about taking the time to uncover and understand what really happened. Where did things go wrong? This is a critical step because it will inform the appropriate course of action. Two customers receiving an incorrect invoice is a lot different than thousands of customers facing an interruption of service. Whatever you do, don’t play the blame game. While understanding the root of the problem is essential to prevent the mistake from happening in the future, pointing fingers won’t help solve the problem. Accountability and honesty are your friends. 3. Make It Right This is where you spring into action. (Notice this isn’t the first item on the list.) The “correct” actions will vary from situation to situation but here are some key tenets to consider: How can you make it right? Seek to understand how your mistake impacts those affected. Put yourself in their shoes. What will be the best approach to addressing and resolving the issue? What’s the best next step? What’s the best communication strategy? What actions should you take? What remediation can you do? What changes do you have to implement? Maybe you need to issue an apology. Maybe make a donation. Maybe provide reassurance that it won’t happen again. All of these are options that should be considered depending on the severity of the issue and who was impacted by the mistake. This is a moment for you to lean on your team and see them shine. They might have experience with crisis management and know exactly what to do next – if you hear them out. Listen to the experts you hired to build with a plan that will create raving fans. For our email blunder, here’s how we owned the misstep: Be human in your response. Honest. Authentic. Even vulnerable. People will appreciate the real personal touch much more than corporate and legal jargon. 4. Learn And Grow This is the part where you reinforce the tone that mistakes are ok. Reiterate that mistakes can even be helpful with driving the organization forward. It might mean sending a company- or org-wide email. It might mean addressing the situation at your next all-hands. It might mean forming a committee to take action. It might even mean dedicating a newsletter edition to the topic, like I am here. The appropriate course of action will depend on the severity of the issue and the impact of the mistake. But even if it’s something that feels minor (especially when tempting to brush it under the rug and move on), I challenge you to leverage the opportunity for the organization to learn and grow. This is an occasion for you, as a leader, to set the tone on how your company responds to mistakes. At Gong, we went as far as to share our mistakes (and what we learned) publicly. You can see Russell’s post on the situation, as it was his team who manages our email communications. It was refreshing to see a high level of accountability, vulnerability, and even humor from a leader. (I think Russell’s ownership, humility, and tone contributed to why so many people connected with it.) Plus, this was a shining example to highlight to our Gongsters that mistakes, even though unfortunate, will happen and are truly accepted. Take advantage of each mistake to positively impact your org’s culture and future business for the better. If you have any lessons learned from mistakes you’ve experienced (big or small), I’d love to hear your stories too. Please do share in the comments. Now that I’ve shared more of my journey, I can’t wait to learn and grow from yours. Until next time, Kelly

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Every company needs a strategic narrative – here’s why

Kelly Wright — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 22:45:44 +0000

Many (actually most) companies lack a strong strategic narrative. In my first years post-Tableau, while transitioning into advising, board work, and speaking, I met with literally hundreds of executives. Over these coffees, meals, and happy hours, I sat down with over 100 CEOs, more than 30 venture capitalists and private equity investors, and dozens of founders and go-to-market leaders to discuss best practices for growing and scaling a high-performing team. The vast majority of these leaders were leading companies with disruptive and compelling products, with vast market opportunities. Yet, they all wanted to scale bigger, faster. And most felt they could be better at communicating their story to the world. Digging in, it was clear that many of these companies had internal alignment issues. Sales, Marketing, and Product teams were often on different pages. They had different ideas about what they should be building, who they should be selling to, and what exactly their future should look like. When invited into a company, I’d meet with multiple members of the executive team — founders, CEO, chief revenue officer, chief marketing officer, CFO, sometimes the head of HR. I’d ask each person to share the company’s mission, vision, and story. To share why their company exists. Believe it or not, a significant percentage of the time, each person would have a different answer. Baffling, I know! Without a unifying strategic narrative, everyone had their own unique opinion of the company’s mission and why. When five people say (and believe) five different things, it’s no wonder why people are racing in different directions. Building and scaling a company is tough. If people are not aligned with where they are headed, this becomes nearly impossible. Your strategic narrative is your company manifesto. It serves as the North Star for everyone at the company, permeating everything you do from product roadmap, to customer conversations, to website and branding, to industry and investor analyst discussions, to recruiting, and the list goes on and on. Your strategic narrative communicates who you are and why you exist. It is critical to get this right. Where companies get this wrong: 1. They start with product—not with “why” Early on, a company sells to early adopters — people who are enthusiastic about the category and who already believe what you believe. Most companies are good at communicating their how and what. They can talk all day long about their products and features. This works well for early adopters. But once you start selling to people who aren’t already proactively searching for what you have, the how and the what is not enough. Features and functions just don’t cut it. You need a purpose — a story that inspires people with your why. In one of the most influential Ted Talks of all time, Simon Sinek explains the value of starting with “why” —communicating and selling your overarching purpose. In the long run, a purpose-based narrative always beats product-based messaging. 2. Their value propositions aren’t truly differentiated After asking executive teams to explain their value propositions, I would look at their competitors’ websites. Much of the time, the competitors made nearly identical claims. The sites all looked exactly the same. You could flip out the names of the companies, and the websites seemed eerily similar. Everyone professed the same value propositions; one company was interchangeable with the next. Companies need differentiated value propositions. Your unique values that truly differentiate you from the others must pop in your strategic narrative. 3. The organization is disconnected and misaligned Without a unifying strategic narrative, your organization becomes disconnected. The C-suite, board, and employees may all agree on the company’s overarching priorities, but departments still tend to operate in silos. I like to use a map analogy. Say we give everyone a map of New York City. then, we say “go!” So everyone races fast, but they may all be headed in different directions. Yes, everyone is clear on the overall vicinity. But New York is huge! Instead, let’s say you told everyone to go to the Statue of Liberty. People may suggest alternate paths to get there, but at least everyone is headed to the same destination. We need to provide the north star. People must know more than the general vicinity we want them to go. Everyone needs to be aligned on the final destination, so they know exactly where they should be headed. Being aligned on the bigger picture not only helps your employees. Buyers are increasingly more likely to purchase from companies with a strong sense of purpose and direction. So, what are the key components of a strong strategic narrative? 1. Mission As I wrote in a previous article, mission and vision provide purpose and direction. Your mission really does matter. This provides a unifying purpose for why the company exists, providing your True North and a roadmap to get there. In 6-12 words, mission statements convey the essence of your personality and core values. At Tableau, our mission was, “We help people see and understand data.” Gong’s mission is to “Unlock reality to help people and companies reach their full potential.” Boiling your essence down to 6-12 words is no easy task. It’s much easier for companies to communicate their what and how, which is why many companies skip defining, aligning, and communicating a core mission statement. But, this is critical to provide purpose and alignment to all constituents, including your employees, customers, partners, industry and financial analysts, and the community in which you serve. A mission exercise can’t be done overnight. Don’t force or rush it. You need your entire executive, product, and go-to-market teams committed to investing time together to get this right. In my experience, 2-3 months is a pretty fast timeline for mission and vision projects. 2. Founding story The founding story revolves around why your company got started in the first place. It answers the question: what problem was so important that our founders decided to take a significant risk and devote their time and energy to solving it? For Gong, it goes like this. Gong’s Founder and CEO Amit Bendov was previously CEO of an analytics company. Everything was going well. But one quarter, the company missed its number, and he couldn’t understand why. He asked people on his team, but nobody could effectively explain what happened. People gave him all kinds of opinions, not facts. Amit looked in the CRM, but this didn’t tell a full story either. He listened to some recorded calls, but he couldn’t listen to enough or assess sufficient trends to really tell him what was happening. He thought, I can’t be the only one who’s having this problem. My sales team is telling me what they think is happening — but is it true, or is it just opinion? He hooked up with Eilon Reshef, an expert in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, to build a technology platform that leverages data and reality to assess what was really happening with customer conversations. And just like that, Gong was born. Every company has a founding story. But, because this story doesn’t communicate all the features and functions of your product, many companies leave this founding story out of their strategic narrative altogether. But this is a big miss. The founding story is a crucial part of the narrative foundation which highlights the company’s purpose. 3. Description of the status quo What’s the current state around the problem you solve? What’s the problem, and what are the most common frustrations it causes? List three to five challenges companies and your prospective customers have with the current status quo. This description of the status quo should articulate the frustrations that your company and solution can uniquely solve. 4. Desired state What would things look like if the challenges with the status quo were all addressed and resolved? List the corresponding three to five desired benefits — the exact opposites of the status quo challenges — that would characterize a better reality. Just as the frustrations with the status quo map to the challenges your company can solve, the benefits of the desired state should lay the foundation for how your company can help. 5. How to reach the desired state Only now do you introduce your company and start talking about your products. Wait until after the prospect or customer confirms that they believe what you believe. That they are frustrated with the status quo as you describe it, and that they are interested in moving to your suggested desired state. If this is true, you can now introduce your corresponding three to five truly differentiated value propositions, along with how they will help achieve the desired state. Where most companies go wrong is introducing the problems and the company’s solutions without framing it in terms of a bigger picture first. When companies have a strong strategic narrative: It unifies and aligns the entire organization, motivates employees, attracts and retains top talent, and frames all activity with a unifying sense of purpose which helps emotionally connect with all constituents. When companies lack a strong strategic narrative: It creates a narrative vacuum, allowing competitors, industry analysts, and financial analysts to control and dictate the narrative, causing the company to become reactive and without a unifying sense of purpose.

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People as a competitive advantage

Kelly Wright — Fri, 27 May 2022 22:37:11 +0000

“I quit.” Ouch! Whether via Zoom, over email, or in person, the defeating blow is the same. Especially when spoken by a top performer. Yet 47.8 million – yes, million – workers uttered this phrase last year in the U.S. alone. That’s an average of nearly 4 million each month, meaning 2021 holds the highest average on record, and 2022 has shown no signs of this trend slowing down. The Great Resignation… The War for Talent… The Great Reshuffle… call it what you will – it’s making hiring and retaining top talent much more challenging. It’s a trend not to be ignored or taken lightly by leaders. I, for one, take this very seriously. Why does it matter? People are your competitive advantage Companies are always jockeying to find a sustainable competitive advantage. Something that will give them an edge over the competition. As companies search for meaningful ways to differentiate, common themes typically emerge: product, strategy, patents, brand, value. But there’s one key advantage that is often pushed aside and should always be top of the list… People. Your people are your top competitive advantage. Throughout my 30+ years in leadership, I’ve often been asked about my top business priorities. There seems to be an expectation that top priorities are, and should be, always shifting. I’m asked what should be top priorities for a start-up? When experiencing hyper-growth? For public companies? With new product launches? When entering a new market or region? Those asking the questions seem to expect typical answers: revenue growth, cost reduction, operational efficiency, scalable processes, sales team effectiveness. All of these are clearly important, but they have never been (nor ever will be) my top three priorities. Throughout my entire career, regardless of company, stage, or sector, my top three priorities have always been the same. #1 Priority: People #2 Priority: People #3 Priority: People Yes, my top 3 priorities have been, and will always be, the same, regardless of circumstance. My top three priorities are people, people, and people. People develop products. People sell products. People market. People engage with customers. People manage the back office. People set the strategy. People hire people. And people manage those people. People make decisions. In the end, regardless of your product, market, or strategy, it’s people who build companies. If you have the right strategy and product, at the right time, but you have the wrong people, then you are definitely in trouble. On the other hand, if you have the right people (even with the mistakes and shifts you will inevitably make along the way), you will be best set up for success. People are your top asset. Your people are your top competitive advantage. Therefore, we must always treat our people as our number one priority. The reality of sales talent The market is telling us that our biggest competitive advantage is at risk. And you better take notice, fast. If we dive into sales talent specifically, the picture appears especially grim. According to new data from Gong’s Reality of Sales Talent Report which surveyed 300+ B2B sales professionals, 45% reported they’ve actively pursued a new opportunity in the past 6 months. Yes, you read that right. At just a moment’s notice, nearly half of your salesforce is ready to walk out the door. Scary, huh? This presents a massive problem. Why? Sales team churn hinders sales. When salespeople leave, you will lose revenue from not having sales reps in seat. Replacing sales talent is expensive. Hiring a new seller can cost anywhere from 150% to 200% of their annual salary. Ramping new talent doesn’t happen overnight, slowing revenue even more and creating interrupted experience for customers. Cultural ripples often show up within your team, as who wants to work on a team where everyone is leaving? At scale, (think: half your team leaves tomorrow) this has major implications on your business. And the recent wave of tech layoffs and hiring slow downs have only added more volatility to the hiring market. With many companies slowing or pausing hiring, retaining your top performers has become even more essential. But why are so many sales professionals seeking new opportunities?? Is it better compensation packages? Lack of mobility? Struggles with mental health and burnout? It’s a motivation problem… While some companies have turned to increased perks and 4-day work weeks as ways to attract new talent, our survey says… that’s not the biggest problem. When asked, sales professionals said their biggest challenge was difficulty staying motivated. Motivation was the top challenge, quickly followed by mental health/burnout, lack of career growth opportunities, upskilling, and maintaining work/life balance. Note: sales compensation did not show up as a top 5 challenge. We know the past two years of the pandemic and remote/hybrid work haven’t been easy on employees or on us as leaders. But these insights highlight just how strained our workforces have become. Your employees are your greatest strength, but they are fatigued and ready to walk. An unmotivated team can spell disaster for your goals and stagnate revenue growth. What you can do about it To make matters even more challenging, we have learned that motivation actually looks very different at various stages in an employee’s journey. The secret lies in understanding where your employees are in the talent lifecycle. Attracting employees is different from retaining employees which is different from incentivizing them to perform. Money doesn’t keep people in their roles, but it does play a big part in attracting the right talent. Top talent demand fair pay, so this is a big factor in how candidates evaluate new roles. Plus, this is even more apparent today, in the most competitive talent market we’ve ever seen. According to a recent Robert Half survey of more than 2,800 senior managers 48% are providing signing bonuses, 43% are giving more paid time off, and 40% are offering better job titles to attract new hires. Compensation is edging higher with more perks and incentives to attract prospective hires. Additionally, candidates have more and better offers than ever before. When considering what your organization can do to stand out, think about the phases of the talent lifecycle. After dangling the high compensation carrot, you’ve attracted the attention of the best talent. But fair compensation is certainly not sufficient to secure top people. Once in an active hiring cycle, top talent’s priorities shift. One of the main reasons top talent will accept an offer (or start taking calls about other opportunities) is tied to their manager. Any leader and company can tempt talent with top dollar. But not every leader is a great manager, and not every company is willing to prioritize people over all else once pulling talent in the door. Retention is yet another issue. This is where priorities have really shifted in these past years, due to the pandemic, social unrest, and burnout. To retain top performers, mission and mental health become primary drivers. Mission motivates with purpose It excites me to see mission as a top retention lever because having a strong mission has always been one of my passion areas. Employees now, more than ever, are motivated by working for companies that rally employees around their why. A strong mission provides a unified sense of purpose, and thereby strengthens a winning company culture. You should be screening whether your employees are passionate about your mission during the hiring process. Since mission is a huge motivator correlated to retaining your talent, do your part to ensure new hires are passionate about your why. Mental health takes center stage A Gartner 2020 survey of 52 HR executives found that 94% of companies made significant investments in their well-being programs. 94%! Why are companies investing in mental health? According to a recent McKinsey study, by offering mental health support, employers increase employee satisfaction and engagement. Plus, it’s proven to aid in employee retention efforts. Modern Health and Forrester Consulting found that 73% of employees and 81% of managers indicated they would be more likely to stay at a company that offered high-quality mental health resources. Mental health support for employees is no longer optional. It’s the right thing to do – and it drives business outcomes, including both productivity and employee wellness. At Gong, one of our most unique mental health benefits is our Recharge Days at the end of every quarter. (It’s easily one of my favorite benefits.) Once the quarter wraps, the entire company takes a break for two days. No emails, zooms, slacks, or pings. Employees, including leadership, disconnect, refuel, and then come back for the next quarter ready to hit the ground running. Here’s how I spent our last Gong Recharge. It’s all about people You may have the best product or service on the globe, and your timing might be just right for the market. But this doesn’t matter if you don’t have the right team. And, of course, you won’t have the right team if you can’t motivate and retain your talent. Any viable company needs to have a good product, a sound strategy, and sufficient market opportunity. But, when you think about what separates good companies from great companies, these aren’t the primary differentiator. These are table stakes. The difference between good and greatall comes down to people. If you have the right people with the right motivations, you are off to the races. If you have the wrong unmotivated people, everything is at risk. And current job market conditions make this even harder to get right. So always remember: People. People. People!!! I’d love to hear from you – how do you keep your employees motivated during these difficult times? Now that I’ve shared more of my journey, I can’t wait to learn and grow from yours. Until next time, Kelly PS: I want to personally invite you to the Celebrate virtual conference happening on Tuesday, June 21st. You’ll hear how revenue leaders at the world’s fastest-growing companies are adapting to the current market. Save your spot now.

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3 Traits executives need to thrive

Kelly Wright — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 22:21:04 +0000

There is no substitute for learning from personal experience. And this rings true, especially for senior leaders seeking to thrive in their roles. We learn and grow from both easy and challenging lessons that define who we are, how we operate, and who we become. Success comes from recognizing lessons learned and applying them as guiding principles throughout our careers. This is why l’m eager to share a few lessons learned from my own personal experience. And as a big believer in the power of data, each lesson will be backed by research. Here we go… The school of hard knocks For all four summers in college, I sold books door-to-door. This was hardly the “it” job! People thought I was crazy. As my friends sought competitive internships or had fun lifeguarding in the sun, they wondered why in the world did I opt to sell books. As you can imagine, door-to-door salespeople are not always greeted with the warmest welcome when people open their doors. Selling books door-to-door was incredibly challenging. It’s likely the hardest job I’ve ever had. I worked 80 plus hours per week, every week of my summer, selling educational books door-to-door. I lugged a bulky 25-pound book bag over my shoulder as I walked, or often ran, miles and miles from house to house each day. I knocked on doors for 14 hours per day Monday through Saturday, demoing my books more than 30 times per day. Even Sunday wasn’t a rest day, as we met up for team meetings to prep for the next week. Here’s me and my 4 roommates at breakfast before we started knocking on doors for the day. But don’t let those smiles fool you – selling books was both challenging and character-building. However, from this experience, I learned the 3 traits every senior leader needs to succeed. I sold books rain or shine – in sheets of pouring rain and in 100-degree scorching heat. Dogs chased me and nipped at my ankles. Police in patrol cars stopped me after neighbors reported me as suspicious. My bookbag literally caused dents in my shoulders. And my nickname was Blisters due to the massive and painful blisters on my feet. Hundreds and hundreds of doors were literallyslammed in my face. Selling books was hard. But selling books was character building. It was a crash course in life. On people. On relationships. On communication. On success. On failure. On resiliency. On how to never quit. On how to always get back up. Those summers taught me guiding principles I still value today. Hard work. Positive attitude. Commitment. Belief. Integrity. Passion. Risk-taking. Thinking big. Being yourself. Making an impact. Selling books helped develop me into the person I am today. Reflecting on my bookselling days years later, I’m struck by how many of these character-building traits are foundational for a successful career. This got me thinking: how was this summer job the ideal boot camp for leadership? Selling books was instrumental in teaching me some foundational traits essential to be successful in business. 3 traits senior leaders need to thrive are… …Grit, communication, and empathy. While all great qualities, a data-driven answer gives a more nuanced and enlightened perspective to the benefits of each. These traits weren’t just helpful on the bookfield. According to the research, data shows that grit, communication, and empathy have meaningful and enduring impact. Let’s take a look at these three traits. Grit – I believe grit was one of the main reasons I was successful selling books. I not only worked hard, I learned to keep on going and to never quit, even when faced with constant rejection. And this wasn’t light rejection, as the no’s often involved doors being slammed in my face. This work demanded perseverance, drive, dealing with adversity, and the ability to focus on what I could control. Although I never knew how the person answering the door would react, I learned to always put my best foot forward and control my own attitude and response. During these college summers, students often followed me to observe and train. At the end of the day, I’d ask them what they learned. The answer usually went something like: “Kelly, by following you, I expected to see something amazing. But, no offense, I didn’t. You use the sales pitch word-for-word. You work longer hours, do more demos, and talk to more people than anyone else. You don’t do anything extra special. You just work harder.” In today’s vernacular, they were saying I had more grit. In today’s world, companies often put too much emphasis on prior experience and not enough weight on grit. Of course, quality is important, but hard work and grit can get you very far. Research supports this too. In fact, Angela Duckworth has a large body of work on grit (which is why she recently spoke at the Gong Celebrate Summit) but one of her most notable studies is on cadets from the US Military Academy at West Point. To examine predictors of success, she conducted an analysis of over 10,000 cadets entering the program. One study finding was that “grit seems to be independent of cognitive ability and has demonstrated incremental predictive validity, over and above cognitive ability, for achievement, particularly for goals and personal significance.” The research concluded that noncognitive aspects, including grit, can be better predictors of overall success than cognitive abilities. This shows that we should strive to build teams with grit to help us drive high performance and success. We want passionate people with drive who will work hard and roll up their sleeves to do what it takes to get the work done. Communication – What you say and how you say it matters. I learned this (you guessed it) selling books. When knocking on doors, I learned people make a decision in a matter of seconds as to whether they would open their door to let me in or close the door (or even slam it in my face.) The words mattered, but so did tone, delivery, and non-verbal cues. In order to influence someone to open their door, I had to emotionally connect through limited communications very quickly. This is true of all communications, especially in the workplace. The most effective leaders are excellent communicators. The data backs this up. According to Haiilo, 3 in 4 employees named effective communication as the number one leadership attribute. However, less than 1 in 3 employees feel like their leaders communicate efficiently. Definitely room for improvement. Effective communication fosters trust. Drives engagement. And leads to improved results. This is an opportunity for us as leaders. Get communication right, and you’ll boost employee morale. In fact, research shows that leaders and managers directly account for up to 70% of the variance in employee motivation and happiness. Remember what I said about communication impacting results? Empathy – In my four summers selling books, I met over 12,000 families in their homes. I saw everything you can imagine — the good and the bad. I connected with moms, dads, grandparents, caretakers, and thousands and thousands of kids. Selling books made me fall in love with sales, as I got to spend my day hearing so many personal stories. I enjoyed finding ways to connect and help people by understanding their unique situation, needs, and desires. I felt joy when having a positive impact on these families and their kids’ education. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was practicing empathy every day. I was flexing this empathy muscle way before my realization of how critical it would be for my future success. We are hearing about empathy all the time these days. (Finally!) The past two years during this global pandemic have taught us that empathy is mission-critical, not only to business success, but also to building community and mutual understanding. Being able to understand each other’s point of view, embracing diversity of thought, and taking all perspectives into account when making decisions matter. Big time! The positive ripple effect that empathic leaders have across their organizations is staggering. A new study of 889 employees by Catalyst found empathy is an important driver for innovation, engagement, and inclusion. This is even more true in times of crises. The study shows that empathy is more than a nice-to-have; it is a strategic must-have. As our teams go through tough times, struggle with burnout, and prioritize mental health, empathy fosters increased psychological safety and contributes to positive experiences and cultures for individuals and teams. Put yourself in your employees’ shoes as often as you can. Seek to understand. Think about things from their perspective and approach the situation from a place of understanding. HOW WE IMPROVE Wherever you are in your own personal journey as a leader or executive, I encourage you to take inventory. Then I challenge you to take it a step further. Do you recognize, celebrate, and develop those with grit? Pay attention to those who put in the hard work. Those who are passionate with a “fire in their belly”. Invest in gritty team members. They will help your organization thrive. Want to communicate better? Practice active listening. This is one of the reasons I love Gong — it keeps my talking versus listening in check. (Anyone that knows me knows this is a constant area of development!) Then ask for feedback on how you can better communicate. Do you lead with empathy? Seek to understand. Be curious about diverse viewpoints and perspectives. Invest in truly understanding the other person’s point of view. Who knew back when I was 18 that selling books would provide me with character-building skills that I’d carry to this day. These are some of the learnings that stayed with me from The School of Hard Knocks. You’ve no doubt had your own transformative experiences that helped shape who you are today. I’d love to hear from you – what was a transformative experience early in your career? What did you learn? Here is part of my journey. I can’t wait to learn and grow from yours. Until next time, Kelly

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