Managing people in the modern workplace: Episode Notes
Managing people requires a wide set of skills, including the ability to be vulnerable in front of others.
Scott Leese and Richard Harris are two well-known sales leaders who have shared their personal and professional struggles on several occasions.
Despite adopting different management styles, they both advocate for mental health awareness, and are strongly in favour of a work culture based on authenticity.
In this episode of the Stepsero podcast, Scott and Richard open up once more about their experience with mental health, and share some invaluable advice on effective communication at work.
With Richard, we touch on the importance of surrounding ourselves with the right people. Especially when experiencing some level of mental stress and discomfort, it might be a good idea to approach things gradually and consider the following steps:
- Accept that you want to explore your own feelings.
- Have an honest discussion with your closest peers and friends outside of work.
- Open up with your co-workers, then your manager.
With Scott, we discuss the value of owning our narrative, and the importance of being proactive rather than reactive.
Specifically, we examine the power of authenticity, and its pivotal role in creating trust within the team. When leaders are open about their flaws, they automatically create stronger bonds, which might even transcend the specific work environment they originate from.
On top of that, we talk about the power of creating communities where people find voices that they can resonate with.
All in all, both Scott and Richard agree on the necessity for leaders to constantly evolve, as sticking to old-school management strategies could lead to inevitable failure.
Our Guests: Scott Leese & Richard Harris
Scott Leese is a 3x American Association of Inside Sales Professionals Top 25 Award Winner, and one of the top startup sales leaders in the country. Through domestic and international consulting, he has trained an army of salespeople thousands strong.
Leese puts his nearly two decades of sales and leadership experience to use as the CEO & Founder of both Scott Leese Consulting, LLC; and Surf & Sales. A highly sought-after consultant, advisor, leader, and sales trainer, Leese has a proven record of success building and scaling businesses from the ground up.
Richard Harris brings 20+ years of sales and Saas experience working with companies like Google, Zoom, Pandora, Visa, Pager Duty, Gainsight, and others to the table when teaching about sales.
His passion is helping companies close the gap between the old school feature and benefits approach to focus on earning the right to ask questions, which questions to ask and when to do it. Richard believes success comes when people stop talking about what they do and get them to start talking about the pains they solve. He ties all this together by focusing on a more relaxed conversational selling style that helps people go from strangers to acquaintances to trusted business allies.
Richard has been named a Top 25 Inside Sales Professional by the American Association of Inside Sales for the last 4 years. As well as a Top 10 Sales Development Leader as voted by Inside Sales and Sales Hacker. Published in Huffington Post, Inc, and most recently NBCNews.
Richard lives in Northern California with a wife, Cathy, 2 boys, Riley (9) and Bodhi (7), and their dog Lola
References:
Richard Harris Linkedin profile