I remember reading an article by former Secretary of State, General Colin Powell on leadership that struck a chord with me a few years ago.  In particular, there was one statement he made that was incredibly powerful.

He said… “Being an effective leader means sometimes pissing people off!”

In my own management career, I’ve had the opportunity to work with other sales managers, many of whom reported directly to me.  As I think back, many of these management professionals were talented individuals, but there seemed to be a common denominator between many of them who failed which is in-line with what Powell says about being a good leader.

Often, we as leaders can get caught up in being popular with our direct reports or sales organization to the extent that we become ineffective as leaders because we’re more concerned with being well liked than holding our people accountable or driving change throughout the organization.  If you think about it, most everybody wants to be liked, but I think it prudent to remember that if we’re solely driven by achieving popularity or fostering an overly-collaborative workplace where sensitivity surpasses the need for results, we are probably not helping our people to become more successful because we’re not focused specifically on their overall success.  Therefore, in the end, they are probably not going to like us anyway because if they are failing, and the company is failing, it results in a lose-lose scenario for everybody.  In business, everything rises or falls with leadership!

Tom Mangini / Founder / The Sales Advisory Board

 Copyright 2009 / The Sales Advisory Board: http://www.thesalesadvisoryboard.com/