{"id":627,"date":"2011-12-07T05:00:47","date_gmt":"2011-12-07T13:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/markccrowley.com\/?p=627"},"modified":"2011-12-07T05:00:47","modified_gmt":"2011-12-07T13:00:47","slug":"tough-on-the-outside-but-human-on-the-inside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-wmplo.xyz\/mark-c-divi5\/tough-on-the-outside-but-human-on-the-inside\/","title":{"rendered":"Tough On The Outside But Human On The Inside"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-733\" title=\"The Pursuit of Happyness\" alt=\"The Pursuit of Happyness Bookcover\" src=\"https:\/\/staging-wmplo.xyz\/mark-c-divi5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/images.jpeg\" width=\"194\" height=\"259\" \/>In my most recent professional role, I was in charge of nationwide sales leadership for nearly 1,000 stock brokers \u2013 aka investment product sales representatives.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to this position, I spent a large part of my career managing in Washington Mutual\u2019s retail bank and with people whose natures were generally quite cooperative and accommodating.<\/p>\n<p>When I moved into the investment division, I discovered fully-commissioned brokers behaved very differently than branch employees.\u00a0 Because they perceived themselves to be self-employed, they seemed predisposed toward being less trusting of management and always wanting more.\u00a0 Higher commissions.\u00a0 Better products.\u00a0 More freedom with their time.<\/p>\n<p>Because I hadn&#8217;t spent my formative career years in the investments business, many of the managers in the division were quick to tell me that I couldn\u2019t lead these people the same way I did when I worked with salaried bank employees.\u00a0 \u201cYou have to treat them very differently,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p>This guidance left me with the clear impression that the investment manager\u2019s job was similar to a lion tamer\u2019s. &#8220;The brokers will perform tricks for you when you throw them some raw meat \u2013 but you always need to protect yourself by holding up a chair or snapping a whip&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->What I wanted was to lead these reps in the only way I knew was effective.\u00a0 I wanted to build greater trust, deeper relationships &#8212; and (professionally) appeal to their hearts.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet it was widely assumed by my new management team that these people long ago had turned off their hearts in the exclusively brain-driven pursuit of making money.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s when I first confirmed my new team of brokers all were indeed human beings afterall and that it was our company\u2019s standard approach to leading them which was undermining their effectiveness.<\/p>\n<p>I was in charge of planning a three day conference in which all the company\u2019s brokers were attending.\u00a0 In seeking ideas for a keynote speaker, managers recommended Lou Dobbs \u2013 host of CNN\u2019s <em>Moneyline.<\/em> The belief was that the reps had one interest \u2013 making money \u2013 and that Dobb\u2019s with his financial expertise would have great appeal.<\/p>\n<p>Rejecting this, I hired Chris Gardner, a former stockbroker himself who endured extended homelessness while being the sole parent to his toddler son.<\/p>\n<p>Late on a Saturday afternoon, the reps gave rapt attention to Gardner who described how he lived in shelters while trying to get a foothold as a broker. \u00a0He told emotional stories about rushing to get his little boy to the shelter each night and to find him a bed before they were all gone.<\/p>\n<p>When Gardner was finished, the reps gave him a standing ovation.\u00a0\u00a0 But here\u2019s the moment I first came to see the truly human side of the new people I was leading.<\/p>\n<p>With the meeting now over, the reps normally would have been inclined to rush to get out and on their way home.\u00a0 Instead, nearly 700 people waited in a long line to purchase a copy of Gardner\u2019s book, <em>The Pursuit of Happiness<\/em>, and then waited in a similarly long line to meet Gardner and have him sign their book.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s no question that Gardner\u2019s deeply human story resonated inside the hearts of those reps and had the effect of inspiring them to more optimistically manage their own life\u2019s challenges.<\/p>\n<p>In my first year leading this team of financial consultants, we set an all-time record for revenue and had the highest profitability in the division&#8217;s 25 year history. \u00a0So what&#8217;s the moral of the story?<\/p>\n<p>Never forget, there\u2019s a human being inside <em>every <\/em>person you lead.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sharing these blogs with friends is cool! \u00a0If you would like to receive them directly each week, please let us know <a href=\"https:\/\/staging-wmplo.xyz\/mark-c-divi5\/join-the-tribe\/\">where to send them.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>PS: \u00a0After this article was posted, all of the social media counters on our website mysteriously reverted to zeros &#8212; and all historical share counts were lost.<\/em><strong><em>\u00a0\u00a0All links now are working!<br \/>\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In my most recent professional role, I was in charge of nationwide sales leadership for nearly 1,000 stock brokers \u2013 aka investment product sales representatives. Prior to this position, I spent a large part of my career managing in Washington Mutual\u2019s retail bank and with people whose natures were generally quite cooperative and accommodating. When [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,14,15,16],"tags":[39,45,100,106,127,158,170,197],"class_list":["post-627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heartleadershipinpractice","category-leadership","category-lifelessons","category-wisdomefromotherauthors","tag-business","tag-chris-gardner","tag-heart","tag-human","tag-leadership-2","tag-perseverance","tag-pursuit-of-happyness","tag-success"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tough On The Outside But Human On The Inside  - Mark C. 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