The Value of Managing Up and Leading Down
Every successful VP of Sales or Sales Director understands that the most challenging headwinds they face can be from within their own organization. The C-Suite that either micro-manages or is too remote and uninformed can be a major obstacle.
Combine that with the trailing 10+ year cultural trend of ‘squishy’ C-level actors, and you have your primary answer right there about what keeps sales leaders up at night.
That’s why it is so critical for top sales leaders to be able to manage their managers. This is not a new concept but in today’s business climate, it rises to the top of most valuable skills required for success.
Before we get into the strategies of why and how to ‘manage up’, let’s take a very quick walk through the previous 75 years or so of Corporate America and where the CEOs came from.
During the period of approximately 1950-1975, which many consider “The Golden Years” for American industry, sales experience and sales leadership was the most common background to become CEO. In general, those with sales as their primary career path are focused on growth and external processes.
The results of this approach were reflected in the successful results of the era!
By the 1980s, when the biggest business trends were around M&A, the shift to Finance backgrounds became the hottest track to the top. This remained intact throughout the 1990s.
Starting in the 2000s, as technology became the dominant factor in many businesses, Operations became the ticket to the CEO’s office, and it remains the leading path to this day, when considering the varied backgrounds of many leaders.
But that trend seems to be in the early stages of fading. The Sales track is on the rise, but for now, Finance has regained the top spot at approximately 30% of the Fortune 500 CEOs with a singular background or track.
In the manufacturing sector specifically, Operations remains the #1 path to becoming CEO.
For the moment. IMHO.
Why is this important for us to understand any of this as sales leaders and sales executives?
And for the front-line sales teams to understand as well?
Awareness of these trends is the underlying factor in why it is so important, a requirement in fact, for sales leaders today to be highly skilled at ‘managing up’ (their own leadership) and to ‘lead down’, meaning to providing leadership, as opposed to management, of their own direct reports and their teams.
A quick observation and my personal perspective; management is more about ‘control’, or ‘processes’ with an emphasis on ‘telling’.
Leadership is more about setting examples yourself, allowing for feedback and flexibility, with an emphasis on ‘listening’.
A great sales leader is one who knows how to manage the expectations of their manager, not easily accepting punitive processes, meaningless KPIs, and directives that come from a different galaxy.
The great sales leader is pre-emptive with their actions, not just responding to the latest assorted nonsense.
The greatest sales leaders can do that PLUS do the about face to their team and provide leadership by example, using guidance and coaching, with empathy and connection.
By doing so, they will motivate their teams, build loyalty for the company and for the role.
They will set examples of how to lead their teams with trust, providing them with an environment of freedom and expression, and enabling them to use the skills and attributes they were hired for!
This is what I refer to as Leading Down, which is not hierarchal but is transcendent.
Managing Up, on the other hand, is a narrow, unemotional and the ‘anti-process’ process.
It requires confidence, strong communication skills (better than your manager) and enough real-world experience to give examples that back up your assertions or requests.
To some, this may sound counter-productive, even rebellious or mutinous.
But to counterbalance and eventually reverse the troubling leadership trends of the last 40 years, it will take courageous and competent sales leaders to help turn the battleship across industries and across corporate cultures.
The coming 10+ years of American business will be focused on growth rather than cost control.
In addition to that, organizations who recognize the cultural leadership ‘sea change’ we are already in, what the landscape already is, and what the expectations are at both the employee and the customer levels, will be the organizations who outperform others who seem to have more resources, more technology and more money.
For sales leaders who are setting their own personal sights on taking a primary role to lead the coming ‘Next Golden Era’ in American manufacturing, the time is ripe, and the mission is clear.
It’s time for Sales to recapture leadership of the C-Suite. Who’s in with me?
About the Author
Mark Pomerantz is a 40-year veteran of the print industry, primarily with OEM technology suppliers serving print service providers. Mark now operates independently through his company, SalesWisdom, providing services such as fractional sales, marketing, and special projects.
