Do you remember the film Apollo 13? I never get tired of watching that movie and am on the edge of my seat, even knowing how it’s going to turn out. The brilliance of the entire team under duress is riveting to me.
It’s such a gripping example of what a high performing team can accomplish with a shared goal in mind, under the worst of pressure. This is an even more extreme scenario than “I may lose my job” or “if this doesn’t pan out” — this was “people will die on my watch if we can’t solve these seemingly insurmountable challenges”. Those astronauts and scientists exhibited supreme emotional intelligence, leadership, and determination, even in the face of impossibly grim circumstances.
In their book, “The Leadership Challenge”, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner report their findings based on 20 years of leadership research and ask the question “what was your most powerful leadership moment?” Most everyone who gives their success story says that they were at their best when they were playing a challenging, high stakes game, with an intense deadline. Those specific factors caused them to rise to the occasion, be bold and influence people to make things happen. Many were surprised by what they had accomplished and quite proud.
So – what is your high stakes game? What are you doing to keep yourself engaged and thus engaging your sales team to perform at their best?
