Transitioning OUT of Management

Early in my sales career, I had it set in my mind that the only logical path for my career was to move from an SDR → AE → Snr AE → Manager → Leadership. It was upward mobility. It was the ladder that society told me everyone was supposed to climb. You get a job, you work to get promoted. You get promoted, and you work harder to get another promotion. You climb, climb, climb. Success is associated with the title you hold, right? So after 4.5 years as an IC, I made the transition into management. 

Fast forward to today and I’ve been very fortunate to spend the last three years of my career in front-line sales management. This time has been split across building and leading a BDR team and most recently as a Named AE manager. Looking back on these years, I’ve learned so much about what it means to manage, lead, and be a better seller. I’ve also learned one of the essential lessons I needed to learn. 

That lesson → I don’t really like front-line sales management. 

Initially, when I realized this, I thought it was something I could overcome. I thought it was because I wasn’t managing the type of team I wanted to be working with. I still had it in my head that this was the path I was supposed to take. I associated a new title and a promotion with happiness. I associated this with success. It is what would make those closest to me proud of me, right?

I know I had a strong ‘why’ for getting into management. As an AE, I thoroughly enjoy working with junior reps and helping others succeed. Coaching sales professionals is one of my key passions. Putting myself on the back burner and removing myself from the spotlight of being the hero and focusing on building others to be the heroes is not an issue for me. I coupled that passion with the thinking that it was a promotion I was supposed to go for, and it was a no-brainer. Management was the way. 

However, as the quarters passed. My frustrations continued to grow. My patience ran thin. My happiness was minimized. It wasn’t until I read “Solve for Happy” by Mo Gawdat at the beginning of 2022 that I started to take inventory of my life and worked to realign my priorities. Throughout this long exercise, I was able to break down the barrier in my head that led me to have an inflated ego and realized that the perception that I needed to climb the corporate ladder to be successful was not what ‘happy’ meant to me. The traditional path to success was not something I wanted to continue pursuing. 

I then went to the drawing board to map out what it is I want out of life and what I want to pursue with my career. I ran my personal SWOT. I drafted multiple pros/cons lists. I used a career scorecard - shout out to Amy Volas! I narrowed down exactly what frustrated me with my management role and looked to see if they were areas I could influence. In the end, I realized that the majority of things that negatively impacted my happiness were things that I tried but failed to control. So, while these specific areas were within my control I realized I am not a leader who can pull the best out of people the way I know to pull the best out of myself. 

When I looked at what made me happy in the role, it was clear that I am most happy when I am selling. When I am right there in the trenches with my team. Researching accounts. Building account plans. Customizing prospecting tracks. Working POCs and negotiating big contracts. For the last few years, I was supporting others in these areas. I still stand by the fact that I thrive on helping others succeed in these areas but the joy of supporting others in these areas was overshadowed by the things that frustrated me. 

A running joke amongst a few of my management peers is: why did you get into sales management? Because you were tired of controlling your own destiny and wanted to make less money. While this is clearly a joke, it’s not too far from the truth. Everyone knows you can make more money as an IC. It’s pretty easy to come to terms with this. But the tired of controlling your own destiny is something that is not as easy to work through. And for me, this was one of the things that swayed my decision. I’m not a full-on control freak but I do have high standards. I have a certain expectation of professionalism and my management style just doesn’t get the most out of my people to drive our ceiling of excellence above the norm.

It takes a special person to be a front-line manager. I applaud everyone who finds that to be the purpose behind their career. For me, it just wasn’t in the cards. But as they say, you don’t know if you don’t try. So while my IC career is now a few years behind where it could be, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I know I’ve made a difference in others’ careers and that’s pretty damn cool.