How to lead a beast

“This is for my misfits, wherever you all are”?

Some of the best salespeople I ever met weren’t really salespeople at all.?

Most, sort of “stumbled into” sales early in life because they didn’t fit anywhere else in this paint-by-numbers world that didn’t know where to stick them. Sales was an entry-level outlet allowing them an off-the-shelf platform to harness the transformational alchemy of imagination.??

The best salespeople I ever went to war with (arm in arm), weren’t warriors at all.?

They were artists.?

Visceral philosophers.

Fearless drinking companions.?

Compassionate lovers, fathers, sons and daughters.?

Forever restless; prisoners of their own inescapable dualities.?

They were (and continue to remain) the most interesting people I have ever met in my life.?

Most of them had no idea where they were headed; what they wanted to do with their life “when they grew up”.?

They felt everything, all at once, all the time. And they were beautiful to watch while they drank gassed-out ale at 9am and casually penned the most complex Go-To-Market strategies I have seen executed in my lifetime.??

The best salespeople I have ever met in my life were wizards.

They had a gift. You can not teach it. And in my experience, if they’re not careful, this “gift” can often be the agent of their own undoing.

Experience has shown me time and time again that people who feel the most, end up placing the most dangerous things at the very center of their lives. Things that regress and keep them suspended in an idea of who they think they are.?“Things”: a destructive habit; unconscious fears; … an idea that hasn’t even been whispered out loud yet.?And if they’re not careful, it eventually pulls them apart. Brick by brick. Till there’s nothing left but a memory.?(Of what could have been).

Commerce, as it relates to ‘generating wins for a cause which isn’t their own’ erodes their reality-fabric in endless, accumulative iterations.?

If left untreated, “life”, or the construct we’ve architected and renamed it “life” becomes the hemlock coursing through their veins. They become prone to bad choices and self-destructive habits.?

Most of them never seem to realise that they really were ‘the anointed few’ - blessed with the unique ability to recreate their realities as they saw fit. That they didn’t need to remain exiled to someone else’s version of it.?

The ones who don’t conquer the world, or die face-down in a ditch somewhere, continue to? live among us like all the other commuters on the Monday morning train shepherding us to our dark, fluorescent play-pens downtown. They are the unsung midwives of “revenue” single-handedly catapulting entire organisations during “moments of magic”.

But I’m afraid, over time, and without the right leadership, those moments grow rarer and further apart.?

Sooner or later, the old familiar restlessness settles in. Their demons yawn and wake up. And invite other friends. (cynicism; resignation; apathy; …the faintest whispers of anarchy).?

The spells of sobriety fade.?

They eventually move on from the organisation (or are asked to move on).?

And off they go down the merry-go-round in search of a new conquest, yet again. Mistaking a fresh round of interviews, a charismatic new leader and the sensual embrace of a fresh start as signs of moving “onwards and upwards”.?

And the cycles repeat themselves as surely as the tides of the ocean, or the certainty of mortality. (Fragrant with twilight).?

So, how do you lead this unique brand of salesperson??

Short answer:?you don't. You unleash them. You give them the entire horizon to play with.?And most importantly, you understand that you will have to let them go, one day. And it is your sacred duty to ensure that when that day comes, you leave them whole - not hollowed out from the inside.

To lead this individual, you need to have been this brand of beast?yourself. Only then, and then alone will you possess a fundamental understanding of the cyclical seasons of their hearts.?

To lead a beast, you need an even more powerful, raging beast who has learnt to calm their own storm; practice the art of stillness; command a steely focus unsullied by ego, envy or artifice.?

You need someone capable of enough love and compassion to manipulate the very fabric of space and time.?

You need someone who is capable of being fearlessly fearful; Unashamedly vulnerable; …unimaginably ferocious.?

If you’re a founder who doesn’t identify with this ‘leadership-persona’ and/or haven’t hired a sales leader who does, then here’s my humble recommendation: Please, for the love of god, don’t hire these rare, magnificent beasts because you will never succeed in harnessing their true potential. You’ll get scraps. You’ll get swiped at. You’ll lose sleep. And you will be better served hiring honest, hardworking every-day-salespeople who will consistently keep your bottom line alive.?

You can not “own” souls who were born into this world only to learn to dance in between the raindrops. They may follow you, for a time, but they will never surrender their terrifyingly beautiful, wild hearts.?

? Zawad Rahman, 2024