In 1978 director John Landis released an ensemble movie comedy called Animal House, a story was about a group of college misfits. Unable to gain acceptance at the snootier fraternities they pledge, the rejects band together at Delta House and join a motley crew of oddballs and sociopaths whose primary mission seems to be to disrupt Faber College’s straight-laced status quo. As the story unfolds, various illegalities land the Deltas in hot water.
Dean Wormer, the stern college dean with the deep, commanding voice, is wonderfully played by Canadian actor John Vernon. Dean Wormer wants to kick the Deltas out. Omega House, a neighboring jock fraternity, also despises the Deltas and urges Dean Wormer revoke their charter.
Delta House’s shenanigans eventually allow Dean Wormer to place them on “double-secret probation.” From that they are finally kicked out of school, instantly eligible for the Vietnam draft. After receiving word they’ve been kicked out, the Deltas gather to discuss their options.
John Belushi, a rising star at the time from his sketch comedy work on the fledgling weekend TV show Saturday Night Live, gives a brief, impassioned plea for his frat brothers not to give up. Belushi’s character, John Blutarsky, has attended Faber longer than anyone, seven years, but still isn’t close to graduating. Bluto speaks with confidence and passion, but is flexible with the facts.
After blaming the Germans for bombing Pearl Harbor he reminds his friends, “Nothing’s over until we say it is!”
Charged up, Bluto runs out of the room expecting the rest to follow. No one does. He runs back in, tries again, and eventually convinces his friends that if they’re going down, they need to go down in flames. They do so, totally screwing up Faber’s annual parade and avenging their dislike for goody-goody Omega House.
Belushi was 28 when he starred in Animal House, his first major motion picture. The film was tolerated by the critics but adored by moviegoers. It grossed $140 million (more than three decades ago) and remains the number one college genre film of all time.
Almost overnight the movie catapulted Belushi into the stratosphere of American comedians. A national phenomenon, he struggled to deal with all that went with it and died of a drug overdose five years later in Hollywood. He was 33.
The segue from Animal House to business is navigated on a windy tightrope but I shall try.
In business, two types of individuals run sales groups: leaders and managers. But titles don’t automatically come with appropriate talent sets.
Leaders, for example, inspire results through others. Easy to say but tricky to do, inspired sales organizations can move mountains. Sustained, profitable success increases office energy; it is wonderful and infectious. You call feel the positive vibes the moment you step inside the building.
Managers differ from leaders because their primary focus is inspecting and tracking results. This is why so many sales organizations are, at best, quasi-motivated. If the sales force feels that what they do is just a job, that’s exactly how they’ll execute their daily work. No passion, no energy, no pride, no emotion.
Globally there’s an increasing appetite for sales leaders. But the qualified talent pool is too slim and dwindling. True leaders are in high demand and short supply.
Managers are a different story. Managers abound. Far too many are average at best and will not grow much beyond where they are today. They have the title but not the tools; sales managers are often perceived generically interchangeable for a very unfortunate reason: In too many cases, they are.
Since true sales leaders differ from managers, let’s look at eight common leadership traits:
- Leaders have excellent communication skills. They are quite adept at using multiple channels effectively and speak to be understood.
- Leaders are superb applied listeners. Listening is the number one skill I urge my client companies to hire for. Everybody hears but few listen well. Applied listening is filtering, processing, filing, and recalling what you hear when it’s most important. Great leaders are superb at this. Most of the rest of us are not.
- Leaders have vision and confidence, and share that vision clearly.
- Leaders have an awareness of everything, a specialty in something, and surround themselves with strong, trusted talent in clearly defined roles.
- Leaders honor their chosen profession and respect others in it.
- Leaders mix inspiration with perspiration and sprinkle in dashes of this and that as the needs of the business demand. They act, react, and adapt quickly.
- Leaders are accountable, in good times and bad. Ownership and sharing credit motivates. Blame de-motivates.
- The “real life” of a leader is balanced well enough that he or she brings daily energy and can-do confidence to the office. Leaders inspire by example. Hard working leaders inspire hard working followers. Slackers inspire slacking. Leaders know this and act accordingly.
The sheer number of companies that blur the line between leaders and managers surprises me. People are hired and expected to be interchangeably effective leading and managing. The company is surprised when the boss specializes in one but not the other. This is a most unreasonable expectation. Leaders lead, managers manage. While some can flex to the other, each of us has a different set of leadership gifts. Few are terrific at both.
Too often companies hire managers and expect them to lead. Discuss this up front. What is the true need of the job? If you need a leader, hire a leader. If you need a manager, hire a manager. If you need a blend of both, pull the two needs apart and about them up front. Hiring companies should be willing to bend their expectations. They will, in all probability, get a compromise candidate who may be good at both but not great at either.
A sales force cannot look to the future if its nose is an inch the grindstone. In order to move your company forward, chances are you’ll need both good leaders and skilled managers.
If so, be smart. Hire the right person for the right role, and for all the right reasons.