Why Did I Fire The Best Director Of Sales In The Industry?
A C-suite level executive must think strategically
Strategy — map it out yourself
A C-suite level executive must think strategically
2010 was a prosperous year for the sector in which my company operated. Our company had a strategy, and all the strategic priorities were clean and well-known to all leaders.
But our sales were long way from perfect, even though a couple of month before that we had hired a man who had had a reputation as the best sales director in the industry.
One morning he visited my office and expressed his concern about sales — the chances were we couldn’t meet the quarter targets. We discussed the situation and the possible solutions, and he left. I watched him work for a couple of weeks and then invited him to my office to say his appointment was my mistake.
“We cannot solve problems with the kind of thinking we employed when we came up with them.” — Albert Einstein
When a tactical problem occurs (and quarter sales decline is a one of that kind) many managers tempt to solve it at a tactical level. For ins…