Revenue Builders

Truly great leaders transform the people and teams that they work with. We’ve been lucky enough to have some conversations with some truly transformative leaders on the Revenue Builders Podcast. This week, we’re sharing some of our favorite golden nuggets from some memorable guests.

Tune in as MongoDB CRO Cedric Pech, War Veteran & Mentor Anthony Anderson, Former CEO of Iron Mountain & Chairman for Fairwinds Bob Brennan, and JD Brookhart talk emotions in times of chaos, different types of leadership and leadership issues, and how to help people reach their true potential. Learn what it takes to be a great leader on this episode of Revenue Builders.

Here are some key sections to check out:

01:08 Cedric Pech on transactional leadership vs transformative leadership

16:13 Anthony Anderson on emotions and understanding the why of everything he does

26:42 Bob Brennan on what it means to keep people from themselves

30:24 JD Brookhart on building trust in a team and how bad character can affect the morale of the entire team

Additional Resources:

• Connect with Cedric Pech: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cedricpech/
• Connect with Anthony Anderson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-anderson-441177129/
• Connect with Bob Brennan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbrennan236/
• Connect with JD Brookhart: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jd-brookhart-ba647977/
• How to Lead through Economic Change: https://forc.mx/3M8NBrU

QUOTES

Cedric quotes a French author on training people on the sales process: “If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them task and work only but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. When you define the sales process, when you train the people on qualifying things, these are all incredibly important things to do you make them competent at doing that.”

Anthony on navigating your environment in times of chaos: “This kind of what you're being told and what you're supposed to act on but ultimately what you're observing and what you're feeling. So some of the chaos of war is not just what's happening outside. It's what's happening in your heart and in your mind.”

Check out John McMahon’s book here:

https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064

“The best sales leaders are actually business leaders.” Murray Demo joins John McMahon and John Kaplan on a new episode of the Revenue Builders Podcast. A six-time CFO and board director for Citrix, Easy Software, Centrify, Qualtrics, and Lacework, Murray joins us to discuss the importance of the big picture for sales leaders. He explores how leaders can start to zoom out from just sales success into constructing a full-scale business strategy, and shares advice for CFOs and CROs approaching economic downturn.

Everything is a trade-off when you’re making complex business decisions, but how can you be sure you’re making the best decision for the long-term health of your company? Murray suggests getting on the ground meeting people and staying informed on what’s happening at every level of the organization. Dig into even more advice for sales leaders in this episode of Revenue Builders.

Here are some key sections to check out:

08:29 The key metrics to look for in sales performance

13:47 Balancing fiscal responsibility with agility

20:40 Compensation programs’ impact on company performance

29:37 Expectations of cost justification and commitment

42:38 Defining a good company

56:31 Defining a down round and how to handle it

Additional Resources:

• Connect with Murray Demo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-demo-59a31117/
• Visit the Lacework website: https://www.lacework.com/
• More resources for leaders facing economic change: https://forc.mx/3neLAR7

QUOTES

Murray - Where the best leaders come from: “What I have found, though, is the best sales leaders are actually business leaders, they made a transition from carrying the bag and trying to make their number and tunnel vision and closing business, which is what you have to do to start your career, but as you progress up, the ones that are the most successful, they turn into business leaders and trying to solve a problem more at a company level than just for a specific sales oriented activity.”

Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064

What’s the ultimate factor to success? A competitive and committed mindset, according to today’s guest JR Butler. A lifelong athlete, he saw the opportunity for sales teams to recruit from groups with a next-level work ethic and passion for growth: athletes and veterans. Drawing on his own experience of transitioning to the sales world, JR founded Shift Group, a company that develops these specially qualified groups into elite sales professionals. Today he joins John McMahon and John Kaplan to discuss how leaders can build a success-driven culture, develop A-Players, and make great hires in today’s challenging market. Dig in to great insights for building an all-star team on this episode of Revenue Builders.

Here are some key sections to check out:

03:48 The impetus for starting Shift Group

07:40 Learnings from being coached by his father

19:15 The pros and cons of hiring athletes in sales

24:52 The mindset of an athlete who wants to be great

30:07 The importance of having a culture of success

34:21 Why would somebody want to work for this company?

38:54 Practice starts from the top down

42:44 What is a sales boot camp?

52:30 Rapid fire questions and answers

Additional Resources:

• Support the Line In the Sky Foundation: https://www.lineintheskyfoundation.org/
• Watch “The Russian Five” hockey documentary: https://therussianfive.com/
• Connect with JR Butler on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jrbutler/
• Visit the Shift Group website: https://www.shiftgroup.io/

QUOTES

JR - Learnings from his dad: “My dad has a saying, he says plant tomatoes, get tomatoes, and what he means by that is sports, hockey specifically, is a meritocracy. Like nobody really cares what your parents accomplished, what you did, where you're from. It's like, how hard are you willing to work to get better every single day? And that's what you're gonna get rewarded for.”

JR - Being a great teammate: “When I think back to every team I've ever played for that was great, everybody in that locker room played for each other. And that was it, like a full stop. It was like the old Patriot saying, you did your job because you knew the guy next to you was going to do their job.”

Tony - Leaders walk the talk: “What I see is great leadership is like, you're not just telling people what to do, you're showing them what to do, and you're not afraid to do what you're asking your team to do.”

Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064

A company's ability to recruit and hire top talent is directly related to its ability to scale effectively. In this episode, we pulled together some of the best moments from three of our best interviews on recruiting and hiring in a growing organization.

These leaders share their top tips for getting beyond the resume, creating efficiencies in the hiring process, and key things to look for when hiring sales talent and sales leadership.
Join us as we take look back on the best moments from Mike McSally (Talent and Recruiting Expert), Hollie Castro (Chief People Officer at Miro), and Bill Cea (Managing Director at Foster Beck) in this latest episode of Revenue Builders.

Here are some key sections to check out:

01:55 Mike McSally on challenges with the recruitment process

07:58 Hollie Castro's efficiency method for team interviews

19:38 Bill Cea's interviewing components, including the importance of quantifiable success and hiring for cultural fit

Additional Resources:

• Connect with Mike McSally: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemcsally/
• Connect with Hollie Castro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollie-castro-mba-nacd-dc-6526452/
• Connect with Bill Cea: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-cea/

QUOTES

Mike - The Six-Second step of checking resumes: “The average recruiter, even with all the advancement in technology and machine learning and AI, their eyes are trained to look for two or three certain buzzwords. And they're going to spend about six seconds determining my 30 years of domain expertise.”

“If those buzzwords don't pop out and make it easy for them, they're just going to move right on to the next candidate. So, you know, not only does it just suck the life out of talented people that are trying to engage with the right employers, employers are missing out on great talent because of this broken six-second step that happens all too often.”

Hollie - Embedding values into career competency: “Our values are embedded in our sort of career competency. Each team is given a competency that they are supposed to test that aligns with our leadership competency. So we've embedded that all the way through.”

Bill - The importance of past performance: “Past performance is not indicative of future results, but there has to be a past performance because we can determine the attribute that's most important, which is a quantifiable success.”

Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064

In this episode of the Revenue Builders podcast, our hosts John McMahon and John Kaplan talk to five-time (2 as player and 3 as coach) Super Bowl Champion Thomas “Pepper” Johnson. Pepper shares the good and the bad of the many leadership styles he encountered while playing and coaching alongside some of football’s greatest legends in the NFL. He stresses that talent does not equal success - focus, hard work, and a team-player attitude ultimately determine your fate. Pepper’s advice for leaders: find your own voice and be comfortable in your skin.

Additional Resources:

• America’s most trusted all-natural transdermal vitamin patch provider: https://buyb1.com/
• Learn how you can help reduce climate change and help rebuild the planet for future generations: https://www.breezypointenergy.com/
• Connect with Pepper on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pepper-johnson-3a698312/
• Check out Pepper’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pepj52/?hl=en
• Follow Pepper on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pepj52?lang=en
• Listen to More Revenue Builders: https://www.forcemanagement.com/revenue-builders-podcast

HIGHLIGHTS

• Focus on the game, not your pride
• Being a leader goes beyond the game
• Why Pepper never watched ESPN while playing in the NFL
• Leadership lessons from Harry Carson and George Martin
• Carry your own weight
• Make sure you're ready for your turn
• A strong culture is passed down from one generation to the next
• Never let distractions steer you away from your true potential
• One man is not bigger than the team
• Leadership styles learned from Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, and Nick Saban
• Leaders need to find their own voice

QUOTES

Pepper on his legacy as an NFL player: "I really didn't realize the impact and the goals... and making my name in the league while I was playing. I really didn't see myself in that form. I was focused on doing my job and trying to win ball games as much as possible."

The common trait that differentiated NFL League players from the rest, says Pepper: "Those were the guys that allowed distractions, whether it was on the football field, or it was off the football field, allowing them to not really perform the way that they should've been performing. [There were] some teammates that I've had going even back to high school that I thought really had the talent to go to college and could play in the league because I've seen guys in the league with lesser talent. But when I had a conversation with those guys that made it in the league, a little more dedication was there."

Pepper's tips for leaders looking to find their own voice: "When you're trying to coach people, when you're trying to be your best, then you want to be comfortable. You don't want to feel like you have someone else's thoughts in your head. You have to make them your own."

Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064