A little while ago, I waxed lyrical about learning from histories famous leaders and the leadership qualities that they stood for. Great leaders like Julius Caesar achieved almost impossible targets by fostering some remarkable talents of leadership and invoking faith, understanding and adoration from those he led. When I wrote the article "Are You the Julius Caesar of Sales Management", I wondered how many of you muttered "I hope not". For those, who weren't paying attention in their history class, Julius Caesar was a fantastic leader but was unfortunately betrayed and murdered by his peers. Not, might I add, one of the achievements that you should be emulating as a sales manager.
Sales and sales management, believe it or not, is not all about success and making sales. Sales is a competitive environment and leadership is an important part of your job, but what if you are really good at what you do? What happens if you are a real success? Then you have a real problem. You see, unfortunately there is something called 'human nature' that in a competitive environment brings out the worst in us all. If you are successful in an environment where you are measured against others in the same situation as you, you will undoubtedly foster jealousy, dislike and a determination to be beaten by those who are overshadowed by your success. Your overall bosses will love the energy that you bring and of course the success you bring to the business, but it is a fact of life that everyone else in your near vicinity will resent your success and secretly hope that you fail. So how do you deal with being a success?
One approach is to ignore everyone and concentrate on your own achievements and operate from your power base, namely everything directly in your control. Your achievements will speak for themselves and you will rise through hard work, ability and success. What does it matter if you provoke jealousy in other people? They aren't your problem. This is the Julius Caesar method of rising through the ranks of management. To be successful at this means being firm and resolute and can mean a lonely management environment with little support from colleagues. The trouble with this, is that you have to continuously succeed to maintain your achievements. Any sign of weakness or failure will be capitalized on by those who resent your perceived distance and superiority.
The other approach to dealing with success results in harmonious relationships with those around you. Competitive environments don't necessarily mean rivalry and hatred and what every business really wants is a successful all round business rather than individuals who act alone. In the wake of Julius Caesars death, his successor Augustus learned most from his predecessors mistakes by not only being a powerful and charismatic leader but by reaching out and involving his peers and political adversaries. Fostering relationships within an organisation and behaving as a team player is an asset that any business recognizes. If anything is prided above success it is the ability to make others succeed.
If you have talent and can succeed at anything you will be recognized for it. However, it is not always the best person at a job that succeeds in rising through the ranks of management and talent alone is not enough to keep you in a job. A business is like any political machine in that it works best when there is stability, cohesion and success in all areas of the business. Any one person who appears alienated from this machine will inevitably find it difficult to prosper.
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