The Modern Compassionate Leader
12 Essential Characteristics of the Rising Sales Leader
Questions and Answers for Media Kit
Jim Martin
Why did you write The Modern Compassionate Leader?
I spent 30 years in business and half of that in management of others. Throughout my career, I observed management behaviors and the advantages and disadvantages created by managers. When I had a chance to lead others I combined the insights I gained from my observations with my own philosophy of leading others with compassion.
I applied my approach to leading others and continued to learn and bring new insights to my roles. It became clear to me that teams and organizations thrive with competent and compassionate leaders who build success upon healthy, honest relationships with their colleagues. When I concluded my active management career, I felt compelled to share my philosophy beyond my direct relationships to help other rising leaders benefit from the lessons I learned.
Why did you pick these 12 competencies? Aren’t there many more skills required to become an effective leader?
In my experience, the six hard skills and six soft skills outlined in the book represent the core strengths of successful compassionate leaders. The hard skills are the tangible technical skills that I learned in business school and in my real-life education in the world of business and sales. The soft skills are the difference makers that I’ve seen work to create teams that stick together and win together.
This combination of hard and soft skills is essential for today’s rising sales leader. The sales profession isn’t simply about hustle and shoe leather anymore. It’s about understanding people. Customers, colleagues, and managers. It’s about developing mutually beneficial relationships and openly embracing the ambiguity you encounter daily. Compassionate leaders don’t hold back from difficult situations because of personal discomfort. They recognize that solutions and progress lie in spaces of uncertainty. They step forward into opportunities disguised as problems.
Are all the skills in the book equally important, or are some more essential than others?
No two leaders are exactly like. Each person that reads the book will have strengths and gaps in different skills. Similarly, each of us tend to rely more heavily on either hard or soft skills, and compensate those tendencies by trying to improve the other skills. Most readers will possess strengths in several areas and a desire to improve in others.
The book is structured in two parts. The first section is about the hard skills. These are the foundational abilities, the antes to succeed in sales leadership. Without these skills, which have been emphasized as the must have qualities in companies for decades, the rising leader will stall out. The second section is about the soft skills. These are the people skills. The competencies that make the difference between a technically competent leader, and a successful compassionate leader.
Readers may wish to read the book from start to finish. Each skill is sequentially organized so this reader will build momentum from beginning to end. If the reader wants to focus on only the skills where they may have a gap, then isolating those chapters is a great way to leverage this book. Either way, the book is designed to provide a benefit based on the reader’s individual need.
Compassionate leadership sounds like it depends only on soft skills. Is that enough to be an effective leader?
No. You must be competent technically and emotionally. Compassionate leaders do both well. Many managers are wizzes on the financials, devising strategy, and leveraging their products. But they struggle to relate to their teams, to recover from setbacks, to survive a personal crisis. Others are well liked by their people, and enjoyable to work with, but they don’t consistently hit their numbers, nor have the pulse of their customers.
The Modern Compassionate Leader is effective across all these competencies. She is not averse to difficult personal situations, and doesn’t dodge challenging business problems. She draws upon all her hard and soft strengths to become as effective as possible, and an example for others.
What experience did you draw upon to write the book?
I spent 30 years in business working for 5 different organizations, and half of that time leading others. My firms spanned the US Government, heavy trucks, high efficiency filtration for transportation and industry, precision measuring devices and software, and coffee. Each was the best in class operator in their category.
I had the great fortune of learning from others around me all along the way. I had the benefit of coaches and mentors, and the freedom to apply what I learned in positive, nurturing work environments.
When I moved into management, I recognized the paradigm of management development that had taken hold in America’s corporations. Business was business. Produce results and you’ll advance. Don’t get personal with your people, just produce. Think, don’t feel.
That didn’t sit well with me.
Partly instinctively, and partly deliberately, I took a different approach. I got close to the people on my teams. I understood them. I tried to create an environment that recognizes the fact that we don’t have a work life and a home life. We just have a life.
I sought balance in my management approach. I got a lot right, and plenty wrong. But I kept learning and applying what I learned. Overall, my compassionate leadership approach seemed to work to create teams that stayed together and won together. This book is my attempt to share these principles with rising leaders who are walking the same path I walked.
There are so many books about leadership, why is your book different and useful?
Yes. There are countless books about management and leadership. The overwhelming majority of the books I’ve read and the ones that line my bookshelves tend to focus on a single objective. They provide principles and tactics to follow so the reader can become CEO. These books are often written by famous CEO’s or perhaps by championship coaches or sales gurus.
The simple fact is that very few people rise to CEO in today’s traditional companies. That is a noble ambition, don’t get me wrong. I have a different intent for the reader.
I want the rising leader who reads my book to identify the steps they can take to become effective in their role, today. I’ve assembled the competencies and tactics that I believe are necessary to win in the marketplace, while developing the reader’s personal leadership brand. This book is the resource I wish I had when I was walking in the reader’s shoes.
The book is about sales leadership, but can other leaders benefit from reading it?
True, my experience is in sales, and sales leadership is the vehicle I use to tell stories, teach principles, and provide guidance to the reader. However, these principles are easily translated and applied to many other leadership roles across diverse work environments. The common theme is that the best way to lead people effectively is to lead with your head and your heart. Overplaying one of these areas leaves a gap in the other. Balance is the key to successful compassionate leadership, regardless of where you work.
What are the biggest challenges new sales leaders face? Why should they read your book?
In my opinion, leaders in the middle of today’s organizations have the hardest jobs in their company. They stand between strategy and execution. They take strategy directives and tactical guidance from senior management and translate those into alignment and performance with their teams. They simultaneously work across their organization with their functional colleagues to synthesize priorities and reconcile conflicts. It just doesn’t get any tougher.
Today’s rising leaders must be skilled across quantitative and qualitative disciplines. They must be technically adept and emotionally savvy. They must be quick on their feet and slow to overreact.
The Modern Compassionate Leader is designed to guide these leaders through the difficulties associated with their unique role in the middle of their organizations. It is the roadmap to traverse the most challenging moments in their career trajectory, as they try to survive and advance to greater responsibility.
Where can readers get The Modern Compassionate Leader?
The Modern Compassionate Leader is available in e-book , paperback and hardcover formats through major online outlets in the United States.
Has The Modern Compassionate Leader received any literary awards?
The Modern Compassionate Leader earned a 2019 Merit Award from the Colorado Independent Publishing Association for the Nonfiction Business and Finance genre.
Are you available for speaking engagements?
Yes. I am available to speak to sales teams, at corporate events, and to other groups and organizations. Learn more here.
How can you be reached?
Website and blog:
http://jamesmichaelmartin.com/
www.moderncompassionateleader.com
Twitter: @JMMLeadership (http://twitter.com/jmmleadership)
E-Mail: JMMLeadership@gmail.com
