The surprising parallels of an expecting father and sales leader

In December, my life changed, I became a father. At the 36 week scan for our first child, my wife and I were told that our baby is breeched and the umbilical cord is around the neck. To ensure this is not a problem, a heart monitor is strapped tightly around the baby bump to track the baby's heart rate for 45 minutes.?

My soon to be daughter did not appreciate this. And proceeded to kick like a future UFC champion, raising her heart rate and winding my wife with some jab/kick combos to the ribs. The attending nurse exclaimed ‘Wow, have a word with your daughter Dad’. So I started to talk to my unborn child, and immediately she stopped. Her heart rate calmed and she relaxed. It was a special moment.

Upon reflection, I realised that this magical response was not my soothing voice with a confusing Australian/British accent, but instead the culmination of months of behaviour training and familiarity. From month 3 of pregnancy, I read a story to my wife's stomach every single night - approximately 170 stories. As a result, our child has learnt the calming sound of my voice.?

This is a perfect demonstration of The Slight Edge, a principle I have lived by for some time now. A simple concept, that success is the result of repetitive productive daily actions over a consistent period. This made me think of my day to day life as a Sales Leader… and the surprising parallels with getting ready for my first child. So, bear with me as I attempt to link the learnings behind the three similarities of sales leadership and preparing to be a father.

• Slight Edge Principle: Small actions over time lead to big impacts

The hard thing about applying the slight edge framework is that the small decisions we make are just as easy not to do, as they are to do. I could easily have skipped a few nights of story time, just like I could easily skip adding in that detail to the CRM, reading those 20 pages or following up with that Customer Decision Maker. Over time, these positive actions result in big changes - I went from a non-reader to reading 30 books a year, lost 10kg, and had a hugely successful FY at work using this “daily disciplines” concept. I saw first hand the behaviour change from my baby, and see in my day to day at work that daily disciplines as a sales person is key to success.?

• The Only Constant is Change: Master the agile mindset

‘Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the mouth’

As Mike Tyson famously said, probably the first time this expression has been used in the sentiment of a birth plan, but it’s true. And this seems to sum up a challenging pregnancy as much as any deal I have worked on, especially in the wonderful VUCA landscape that is ASEAN and pregnancy. The agile mindset does not mean to not make a plan, but to understand that the plan can change, just as the mindset can (I highly recommend the fantastic book ‘Think Again’ by Adam Grant to master this concept). Our birth plan changed right up until the delivery of our baby girl, but the important thing was that there was a plan - without it, we would have been rudderless at a peak point of intensity. Have a plan, however be ok with that plan changing. As we come to the close of the fiscal year and final critical deals are in play it's clear the teams that see success have a plan and the mitigation strategies should the plan change. The daily checkpoints (sometimes hourly) help the team to keep alignment and agility to serve the customer in the most optimised way - I love being part of these teams but sadly they are the exception to the rule.?

• Pressure vs Intensity: Action based mentality?

The benefits of night-feeds is that I can stay up late and watch the cricket and Australian Open, which reminded me of one of my favourite Billie Jean King quotes ‘Pressure is a privilege’.? Pressure was (and is) definitely front of mind for me, both in the context of looking after a newborn (along with the preparation) and leading a sales team. The thing with pressure is that when it manifests as stress, it builds fear, and fear builds inaction. It triggers our reptilian brain, and stops our cognitive limbic brain from processing and thus, making smart decisions. In these moments, I like to swap the word pressure (or indeed stress), for intensity. Intensity is action orientated, it involves doing, not fearing. Small things, like writing a birth plan, or following up with a lead will move the needle.

Needless to say, the similarities of an extremely happy (and deliriously tired) new Dad and Sales Leader are worth sharing, remembering and applying. Let’s see how this goes when applying to sleep training. Hope may not be a strategy, but I will be clinging to it. Happy selling and happy parenting!