Lessons for Leaders
Strategies, tactics and tangible advice from leaders for leaders
Hello friends…
I often try to find some room to sprinkle in an overall leadership topic here and there alongside other things sales related.
This week however, I thought I’d focus on Leadership lessons from all genres, not just sales leadership -focused material.
It’s something I’ve been thinking, listening, and reading about a fair amount lately, so figured it appropriate to dedicate a complete week to.
In this week’s edition of Stretch Weekly -
Aydin Mirzaee talks The Art of Servant Leadership with David Cancel
Amy Stanton gives us 5 Leadership Strategies That Build Trust
Adrian Shepherd outlines 7 Leadership Lessons from Netflix’s Cobra Kai
Plus, this week’s snippets to help you lead from the front. By no means is this an exhaustive guide, but a collection of recent insights I’ve found valuable. Hope you do as well.
THANKS for reading!!
-Grant
And lastly - as always, if you find this newsletter valuable- subscribe or share it with someone who might as well 👊.
STRETCH SHARES
The Art of Servant Leadership
You can tell by this podcast, that David Cancel cares about leadership. He thinks about the tactics, strategies, structure and thrives at it. A few points of emphasis that stood out to me:
People will make decisions that you disagree with - all the time. But that's okay. "Failure isn't the issue - the issue is if we don't learn from it".
Learn how David manages his meeting structure and process even though he's "Anti-meetings" (prefers the term "Rituals" instead...)
Why and how he holds Skip-Level Meetings: Random 1-1 Skips, Random Group Skips, not in front of a computer (walks outside, etc.)
He prefers to manage Drift with a "zoom-out" level while using “zoom-ins” on an individual level. “Getting to know the individual personally is better than managing by sheer metrics”.
His advice for leaders: Learn from other people. Study psychology first. “1% of building a company is the product/pricing/tech. 99% is the people”.
Leadership Strategies That Build Trust
You never master the art of leadership. Great opening statement by author Amy Stanton in this great read on leadership. She gives us 5 small ways we can start communicating in a way that other people trust:
Change up your feedback style, so people know you mean what you say
Effective leadership isn’t about singing people’s praises all day long. In fact, studies have shown it’s the “negative” feedback (when communicated appropriately) that ends up being most helpful to people—not necessarily positive reinforcement
Look for leadership examples outside of work
Whenever something goes wrong, take accountability first
Allow others to make their own mistakes
Actively self-reflect, and ask for feedback often
As a leader, the last thing you want is to work in a vacuum of your own thoughts. You have much more to gain by hearing other people’s perspectives than you have to lose
7 Leadership Lessons from Cobra Kai
As a child of the 80’s - I unapologetically enjoyed watching Netflix’s Cobra Kai. So when I came across this BOSS (see what I did there?) article from Adrian Shepherd on Leadership Lessons from the show - I was ecstatic.
If you don’t know Johnny and Daniel like the rest of the world does, some of these may come as a surprise, but give this a quick read and see if you agree.
Leaders must be authentic
Leaders must convey their unique selling point
Leaders must listen and learn
Leaders must provide quality
Leaders must understand that teamwork is the key to their success
Leaders must understand the work-life balance
Leaders need to understand that the key to improvement is consistent effort
STRETCH VP POST 👇
Leading the Leaders
History has some great examples of wildly successful leaders being influenced and mentored in how they think and act by others. The greatest leaders had their own leaders and mentors. Abraham Lincoln, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg…
I also personally reached out to some of the more influential sales leaders today in SaaS. I asked them for someone they follow, look up to or someone that has impacted their career- in hopes they’d pass on the tribal knowledge to me and you.
Call it the Stretch VP Tribe of Mentors.
STRETCH SNIPPETS
🗣 Fellow published an excellent overview with top leadership advice from leaders like Michele Romanow, David Cancel, Lara Hogan, Guy Kawasaki, and others.
🤔 Keith Tanaka - SVP at Lucid pens an insightful post about receiving feedback as a leader himself and how trust is built with transparency.
🎱 What makes a great frontline sales leader? Ian Koniak gives us his top 8!
🔥 Powerful post on how leaders and employees are burning out at record rates - along with some good nuggets on how to thrive amongst the chaos.
💬 David Cancel tells Scott Leese and Richard Harris that as a revenue leader, "The truth is always outside the building, the truth is always in your team. Truth is never in a spreadsheet, in a chart or a report. That is the rearview mirror…Early signals are the customer and your team.
📈 Learn from Andy Paul’s legit list of 56 Top Habits of High Growth Sales Leaders.
⁇ What makes a good sales leader? Ryan O'Hara says great leaders inspire people with "WHY."
👀 Check out these 4 ways to be both a more compassionate and wise leader from The Leadership Agency.
🇺🇸 George Washington provides some lessons in leadership that are as crucial today as they were in his time. Courtesy of Evans Kerrigan
🧠 Mindset
Thanks for reading!
My hope is if you find this valuable, consider sharing it with friends (or signing up if you haven’t already).
— Grant 👋
About stretch vp: confessions, learnings, and insights from sales leaders in SaaS
Compiled and aggregated from a network of sales leaders in SaaS, Stretch VP showcases learnings, insights, and experiences as well as best practices to overcome common hurdles, obstacles, and setbacks in your quest for excellence as a sales leader in SaaS.
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