Fruit from a poisoned tree; a look at employee turnover and how leadership contributes.

"There are seven things that will destroy us: Wealth without work; Pleasure without conscience; Knowledge without character; Religion without sacrifice; Politics without principle; Science without humanity; Business without ethics." - Gandhi

Once thing that I have learned is that what is bad at one company is good at another. By the same token once you get to the new company you find out that they have issues that were worse than the previous company just in different areas. This is often found out after the fact. Business technology companies often have tremendous turnover, I can attest that I have seen many heads come through the doors to do nothing but turn around and go home. A sales team of 5 will see 3 new faces by the end of the year and those may change out every 8 to 18 months. There is no loyalty from either employers or employees; what we have is an ever intensifying battle to pressure people to produce more for less or be replaced.

When I was at Minolta I felt like I was part of a local team and that team was part of the greater group that was part of the greater good. We were shunned to own anything but a Minolta camera, and at events no one would ever dare be seen with a Canon or Nikon. We were loyal to the products that our company produced even if they were in different divisions than we personally worked in. I worked in the office equipment division, and was part of the equipment sales group. This feeling of belonging allowed us to bare the intense pressure and competitiveness that is found in office equipment sales. When Konica and Minolta merged there was still this feeling albeit not as strong. The leader at the time Jun Haraguchi was very dynamic and was a leader among the men. After the merge he went to each branch office and made himself available. This type of exposure brought a lot of loyalty in tough times.

In contrast I have been at IKON for almost 2 years now and very few leaders inside the organization know me other than the ones that I have been bold enough to force myself on. I have watched top leaders show up, walk across the sales pit to the corner office, stay 45 minutes and leave just as quickly as they came. Most never knew that one of their greatest leaders had come and gone. In fact what you find in many organizations this size is a fear to reach up or to open up communication to those that we report to. In fear we do not want anyone with a relationship with anyone higher than ourselves. And when new information is presented we want to be the one to present it. One of the sad things that I have seen over the last 6 years is the great talent that has come and gone due to the lack of care from management.

Everyone is replaceable. That is the code by which we all live by. And from what I have seen this is a fallacy. This is what desperate leadership says when they have no other way to issue control to an unruly crowd. The fact is that not everyone is replaceable and in fact you do not want to have to replace people they are the lifeblood or currency of the business. People own the relationships that bring the business; what IKON has proven is that companies buy from people not brands. What IKON doesn't understand is that it is much more costly to pay someone to recreate the relationship than it is to just treat people with dignity and respect the first time. I guess they figure to do that might be taken as weakness rather than as strength. The cost to hire someone can be amazing both from a hard cost; ads, recruiters etc and from soft costs; personnel time during interviews and the on boarding process, not the mention the loss of productivity during the vacancy and during the ramp up period. So why does the leadership of companies not take a closer look at their turn over and seek to find out why employees leave their company? Do they just figure if you left then they didn't want you anyway?

10 Ways to Send Them Off!

1. Salespeople don't leave companies they leave their management – The pressure on top salespeople is tremendous and they must feel that they are in a stable environment. Sales people leave companies when they cannot trust their leadership. Salespeople must be able to identify with the vision of the company and the cadence of the leadership that is in front of them. Good local leadership determines the longevity of the employee.
   
2. Work/Life balance is nonexistent – When people are out of balance they burn out and become overloaded. People do not stick with a job that constantly pressures them over the edge.
   
3. Compensation / Assignments Change frequently – 2 cardinal sins for any employer is to make changes to compensation or territory assignments. No one wants to feel like they will not get the benefit of their hard work. Long term people work harder if they feel that they will be in the assigned areas and that they will be compensated as they were expecting. There is nothing worse than having to fight for your commissions. Companies should avoid the pitfalls of saving a few dollars by creating complicated compensation plans and focus on what will it take to be successful by helping employees "sell through tough times."
   
4. No emotional connection points – People do not work for a "concept." People work for people and work harder if they have a connection or feeling of commitment or obligation. Emotional ties can get top sales people through tough times. Without a solid connection salespeople will look for "greener pastures."
   
5. Lack of development – No one wants to feel like they have nowhere to go. And we all want to feel like we are progressing and will "get to the promised land" eventually.
   
6. The feeling of insignificance – Lack of recognition for a "deal well done" is another sure fire way to run off your best employees. Recognition is very important in the world of sales, and typically sales people love to be recognized by their superiors and peers.
   
7. Being unable to get along with co-workers – Having someone that is unbearable or that doesn't fit into the team's culture is a deal killer for sure. No one is so good that they should be allowed to take down their peers.
   
8. Being unable to get along with their boss – This is an age old problem and speaks to poor leadership. A good leadership should set a positive culture and maintain the office integrity.
   
9. Politics overtakes the office – Especially during the increasing pressure of our economic times we find that everyone feels insecure. Offices start allowing "self propaganda," either to stave off would be job takers or to ensure our position within the organization. Most people do want to have to perfect being "fake," so providing a "politick free zone" will help your employees focus on what is important!
   
10. Lack of respect and integrity – Everyone wants to be respected both for their individuality and for their contribution to the organization. An individual, office or organization cannot prosper long term without a strong sense of integrity.
    

Executive sales positions are very demanding and the local leadership of an organization has a responsibility to make their employees feel secure. Security comes from having ones needs met. Abraham Maslow was one of the first to look at these phenomena. "Maslow was an American psychologist; he has been most recognized for his concept of a hierarchy of human needs. He was really the leader of humanistic psychology, he was one of the first to look at what constituted positive mental health. Most of his predecessors were focused on the abnormal or ill." ¹

Within the layers of the pyramid we find areas of need. A person's job can touch many of these areas and can be a part of someone's life that brings great rewards or can be what brings you to your destruction. The leadership team of an organization is what sets the pace for a great work environment or a total disaster. A great leader with only marginally talented people can always greatly out perform a poor leader with great talent. A good leadership team is what makes a group, whether it is a local sales team, an area branch or an entire group. Each level has leaders that are responsible for the culture and the success of the group is dependent on them. Far too often companies allow leadership to just "push out" employees thinking that "if we had the right people" instead of identifying what the root causes are for the group's lack of performance. Very rarely do leaders look at themselves as the reason for their group's failures. And from an organizational standpoint executive leadership all too often allows managers and local leaders to "blur the lines" between what is good business and what is bad.

This blurring is the death of any group. Especially in sales; the short term successes from this blurring does nothing but make salespeople lose respect for their managers, teammates and company. The deals that are won by this short changing of the process and the "blurring of lines" are what make companies appear sleazy and what earns the public's distrust. Mid level and executive managers and leadership sometimes fall into the trap of not promoting the altruistic vision of an organization and enforcing the rules so that the employees can feel secure that they are not going to get caught in this blurring. Sales people know that if they will blur the lines to win a deal they have no problem doing the same to dislodge you. You are only valuable when you are producing and any deviation could cause your loss of employment. Managers offer up their wins and star performers to leadership as proof of their success when really all they are offering is fruit from a poisoned tree.

This poison if left unaided is what can kill the team, branch or organization. The problem is all too often a leader will offer up these false offerings of success to move forward knowing that what he/she is leaving will be a mess for the next leader that replaces him/her. Many have tried to disprove Maslow's theory but only because it was presented as an absolute, no one would disagree that there is a hierarchy of needs and that we all share many of those needs although it would also be true that our needs may vary from person to person and that one level may be higher on one person's list than another. I would propose that there is also a hierarchy of needs within a sales organization by salespeople and that those needs are all very similar.

Fruit of the poisonous tree is a legal metaphor and I think it is fair to use in reference to a company's leadership. If the leaders are poisonous then any of the fruit of their work should be considered poisoned as well. What seems to be accepted in today's troubled times is that companies are willing to compromise themselves by hiring "snake oil salesman" in an attempt to attain short term success. I do not believe that anything good can come from a company that is willing to compromise their integrity just to gain some sales in the short term. Customers gathered from the orders of such poisonous leaders cannot be maintained long term nor can the salespeople that are brought up under such leadership be successful long term.

Companies that ignore the salesperson's hierarchy of needs are going to not see stability in their workforce because ultimately what you compromise to keep you lose! Just some opinions from a pirate that is getting older and wiser…

Pirate Mike…

¹http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bhmasl.html

Leading Pirate style...

Leaders are created and not born just like salesman. Some have more of a propensity for greatness than others. Good leaders have many traits that we can admire and adopt for ourselves. I have had some awesome examples of leaders. I feel like I am very fortunate to have had and still have some great mentors at many different levels.

I believe that leadership can come in many forms, and can be very personal. I take leadership very seriously. I have a tendency to exhibit my individuality in my leadership style. I like to let others know that I am unique and enjoy sharing my passion. I like others to see this through my lifestyle and by the way that I act and react.

I like to extend my hand to those around me to identify myself as one that embraces their humanity. I like to celebrate people’s diversity and be a guiding factor to their success in the endeavors we engage in. I like to lead in little ways. I enjoy being the odd duck and am not afraid to be counted when there is a confrontation. I encourage disagreement and discussion. I do not want anyone to give me a pat answer, when I ask for their opinion I want it as honestly as they can deliver it.

I try to play devil’s advocate in most of my thought processes so allow myself to see both sides of an issue. I am very opinionated, but open minded enough to change my opinion when new facts are evident. I try to participate in the lives of those around me; I do not want to be seen lying around and failing to act. I make decisions quickly and react to my environment as thoughtfully as I can.

I lead by doing; when those that see me respect my thoughts and actions they have given me the greatest gift. I thrive on excellence and cannot stand it when I allow myself to settle. I make plans, plot my actions, hold myself accountable, measure my progress and reassess the situation as often as I can when in a project.

I will do what others will not. This is the key to my success. I will do want YOU will not, this is my advice to you. Look around and see what the masses are doing, then turn about face and go the other direction. As a pirate I tend to be a bit aggressive in my actions at times. Sometimes I do not ask permission. There are many days that I would rather draw a sword than a pen. Not that I forsake the pen, as that would be grossly inaccurate as well. But rather I am not shy to embrace the rule of the sword and understand and comfortable with the eventuality of my fate.

I put the war pain on every day and am grateful for my time that I have to sail and fight. I work in an environment where only the strong survive and where many a want a be warrior gets sacrificed. Over the last 4-5 years I have seen many a college graduate fail do to lack of leadership and lack of passion. You must live with passion and let it fill every area of your life.

Struggle as I may, I enjoy the fight and the feeling of victory. I am no stranger to tragedy and can cope with an emergency with the best of them. I am strong when I need to be and soft as I really am. I do not see the benefit to living as a rogue with no emotions. But yet I love to hold a lady bug as she forages along my hand. I like to watch the sun rise and fall into the water. I am not a stranger to the darkness as it shields my progress toward a common goal of overtaking my enemy.

I never let my goals or enemies out of sight or mind. I keep them close to my heart. I love a good battle and encourage competition from a formidable foe. I will take my steps without looking and draw my arm with passion. I love to put a face with my battles and a name to my failures.

I allow passion to carry me like the winds of the ocean as they sweep me off to my destination. I let emotion riddle me with fleeting thoughts. I like to sit on the bank and think great thoughts. I love to discus great mysteries and allow my mind to discover new avenues of contemplation. A great debate is a treasure. To live with passion is to be an addict to the one of the most powerful drugs of all. To let adrenaline set in is to feed the monster like a junkie.

I am quick to draw a sword and just as quick to lay it aside to embrace friend or foe. I do not take advantage but yet do not allow for mistakes from my competitors. I celebrate a victory and morn a great defeat. I allow myself to make mistakes and support others in their endeavors. I believe in the team concept and am not unfamiliar with taking the bull by the horns and wrestling him to the ground.

I have starred a tiger down and out struck a viper. I have out run a lion and rode an ostrich. I have walked and talked with the animals, and have waited quietly for their responses. I commune with nature and love to teach another my secrets. I do not cast my pearls before swine but am not stingy with the truths that have been revealed to me. My mouth carries my voice loudly but my heart quietly waits the responses of others. I listen as intently as my emotions show my intensity.

I like to lead in the small things and let the large things take care of themselves. I like to be first, and charge the door of uncertainty with the vigor of a dea agent. I believe in others and only seek their respect in return. I like to be the first into battle, and will stay until it is over. I go out in the face of a storm and take off the raingear to be one with my fears. I love to lay by the shore and watch the clouds drift by in mindless shapes.

I love to lead pirate style.

Seven Deadly Sins… The qualifications of a copier salesman…

I have uncovered or become aware of some odd understandings relative to work over the last couple of months. I am not sure really sure how to articulate them, but what I can do is describe them to you and you can figure them out for yourself.

The idea of 7 deadly sins is not spoken of in the bible directly but was used in early Christian teachings to illuminate the idea that man was prone to sin. Catholic teaching broke sin into 2 classifications, venial and mortal sin. The 7 deadly sins are capital or mortal sins.

Listed in the same order used by both Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th century, and later by Dante Alighieri in his epic poem The Divine Comedy, the seven deadly sins are as follows: luxuria (extravagance, later lust), gula (gluttony), avaritia (greed), acedia (sloth), ira (wrath), invidia (envy), and superbia (pride).1

Every day I walk a simple path. I talk to people and listen to their problems. After considering the causes and effects of their situation I ask them questions to probe into what they have done to fix their problems and how that effected their situation. I pay close attention to the things that bother them the most and try to get them to prioritize their problems and find out what they are willing to do to fix or remove the problems. I identify the people involved in the problem and the people that are affected by it. I try to assess how much the problem costs them in both hard and soft costs. Once I get a picture of who is involved and the process that they go through to solve their problems, I get an idea if this is something that they want to fix now or in the future.
At the end of the day I have to sit with myself and put together a plan of action and present it to the people that are responsible to fix the problem. If they buy into what I have put down they agree and act, if not they disagree we discuss it further. If we cannot come to an agreement we both go our separate ways and they continue with the situation that they have as it was before I came along.

This is the life of a document management equipment and services professional. We are sometimes referred to as the "copier guy." I am sure that in this day and age we should be called the "copier person," as the gender reference is quite unnecessary. In this game either sex has the same opportunity to participate in the 7 deadly sins that are so profound in this industry. When I talk about being a corporate pirate most laugh and think I am joking or exaggerating the situation but if you could be a fly on the wall in our building and the many buildings just like ours you would not sleep at night.

Ok that is probably an exaggeration, but it would shock you and in many cases disgust you. After almost 5 years this industry many times makes me feel ashamed of the people I work with and for. I many times have said that your success with a company like mine as a customer is dependent on your connection to it. If your rep is not good, neither will be your experience with the company they work for. Manufacturers and dealers of office equipment and document management services work on a very basal level. And in many cases the parent company or distribution organization is quite evil by nature. Your only hope is to have a buffer "rep" to keep you whole in the experience, or at least minimize the beating (both financial and emotional) you will take from it.

I most of the time try to overlook how others act and the underlying tones that are so prevalent in my business. I try very hard to balance myself and offer solutions to problems and charge people a equitable price somewhere between the extremes that are going to be presented by my counterparts. I also try to the an expert in the areas of topic so that I bring value and am not making money without earning it and putting in the work needed to earn the business for the long term.

I was privy to a conversation which displayed the ugliness that is so frequently seen that makes even the most native business person wary of people in our industry. When dragged into the conversation I was a presented a scenario and asked a question. I answered, "oh that is greedy you can't do that well I mean you can but you will be exposed and the customer will hate you for life." Everyone looked at me like I was a Martian speaking Swahili. I for a brief moment remembered why I consider leaving this business almost daily. The sad thing is it is the culture that has been fostered for many generations of salespeople and managers and is not needed at all.

You could almost say the 7 deadly sins are the 7 needed qualities of a "copier salesperson."
Companies interview perspective employees and make sure that they have ample quantities of each of the 7 deadly sins and forgo any real qualifications. My first boss said, "Michael even a monkey can do this job." He further illustrated, "I could tape a lease to the back of a blind dog, kick him out of the building and eventually he would come back with it signed." He would later prove himself correct and become wildly successful as a salesman, sales manager and then a branch manager for a fortune 1000 company.


So let's for fun look into the world of a copier salesperson just briefly and examine the qualifications first hand shall we.

Qualification of a good copier salesperson 1

Latin: luxuria (extravagance, later lust)
In copier sales an effective sales manager will show a young salesperson how to drive their desires for things which of themselves are not evil but to excess are lustful. Whether it is sex, money, power, control if you are still breathing surely you don't have enough of any of them. A good copier salesperson will never be satisfied, and will always be disappointed with how much they sell, how much they make (see greed), how quickly they get promoted, how long their vacation is. A great copier salesperson will stop at nothing to further their lust of all things corporate.

Qualification of a good copier salesperson 2

Latin: gula (gluttony)
In copier sales the best sales representatives will be easily identified by how well they gorge themselves on all things corporate. Copier salespeople are not temperate or aware that they should have any natural limits to anything the desire (see above). A good manager will gather his or her sales people together on a regular basis and teach basic gluttony. This is really quite a simple thing to learn, you just take your newbie's out and feed them a $200 dinner, drink 2 or 3 bottles of very expensive liquor/wine, and have grand discussions on how they too can have more than they can legitimately use for themselves. A good sales manager will take the new people out shopping and show them how to buy things they don't need or will ever use. The virtue of overkill will be a daily practice until they even employ it in their own lives.

Qualification of a good copier salesperson 3

Latin: avaritia (greed)
Money is just the beginning of greed. A good sales manager will make sure to teach the principle if the customer is spending $10 and is unhappy they will gladly spend $20 to be happy, even when the solution costs $2 and can be sold at a profit for $4. Why would you save the customer $6 when you can increase their budget based on the pain they have and make an extra $16, $8 of which you will get to keep. Managers are quick to instruct their salespeople to get what is theirs and a bit more. It is so bad that over time it becomes so common that the goal is to see how much you can charge someone without them going bankrupt before they make their first payment and lock themselves into the deal or before they realize how bad they got screwed. Greed goes way beyond the customer but reaches into the team that they are on and the associates that they work with. Greed says that you must sell everything in your neighbors' pond before reaching into your own. A good manager will promote greed as it facilitates the need to sell more and makes everyone more competitive as they must to survive.

Qualification of a good copier salesperson 4

Latin: acedia (sloth)
This is a principle that is taught by the manager that has to be managed all the time. It is the manager's job to manage focus of their salespeople and ensure that their needs are met first. Sloth is taught as a privilege. If you over achieve and sell more than anyone needs, and ensure the managers needs are cared for you can do absolutely nothing. They are taught to sleep in, stare at their computers, take time off. It is the reward for proper lusting, greediness, gluttony as well as the other 3. When you have overloaded on the other 6 deadly sins you must Sloth. Slothing becomes a way of life. You wake up driven by the lust of being over full (gluttony) and greed and the reward for over achieving is Slothfullness.

Qualification of a good copier salesperson 5

Latin: invidia (envy)
A good and experienced manager will stack rank their salespeople and grade them against all of the other salespeople across the organization regardless of how much of an apple vs orange comparison it really is. A good copier salesperson cannot stand to see another have success and becomes driven by the lust of success to overachieve and be as greedy as possible so that they can overcome and surpass all of their comrades. A quickly rising manager will ensure that every one of their sales reps cannot stand to even hear of someone else's success or participate in an activity with someone they think could possibly out do them. Envy resents anything that is good that happens or is good about anyone that they see. Envy is very closely related to Pride, and it drives the lust of self worth which is the fuel that makes pride gluttonous.

Qualification of a good copier salesperson 6

Latin: superbia (pride)
A sales manager cannot graduate until they are good at making each sales person believe that they are the best and deserve everything and more. Days of sloth are awarded to those that can be the fullest of themselves. Copier sales people gorge themselves with the lusts of the flesh and material goods until they cannot move or afford to move then are pushed out the door with belief that they are the only person alive and that they deserve more. They are rewarded for becoming a prima donna. A good manager will know how to control their prima donna's and let them all think they are 1. A practical organization will parade their top performers around and show them that they are invaluable and that they can have anything they desire fueling their lusts. Then the manager just begins over and finds new untapped desires and drives them to gluttony with greed, and keeps them competing with envy in the fearlessness of their pride. When they fall over from exhaustion they give them days to recuperate by awarding them time to Sloth. If they are having a bad month they will use their pride to control them with the envy and wrath of their fellow associates.

Qualification of a good copier salesperson 7

Latin: ira (wrath)
Wrath is a byproduct of the final two deadly sins Envy and Pride. It is quite ugly and not as common but is a product of greed and envy. When someone else has success a good copier sales person becomes instantly envious and because they are excessively greedy they fuel this emotion with wrath, which satisfies their pride in that they should be the only one that can be so successful or rich or whatever the deadly sin promotion is for the month. It is most obvious when the greed of one sales person takes an account from another to fuel their lust of one of their desires. Since they cannot satisfy this gluttony with their own accounts they must do it with someone else's. It is much more pleasurable to satisfy themselves with someone else's accounts. This lust and greed creates the wrath of the sales person that is feeling envious of the success of the greedy and gluttonous sales rep. A good manager deals with wrath in the most obvious way, with a good dose of pride. "You are not going to let so and so do that to you are you?" "You know you are twice the sales person they are!" Then an experienced sales manager will look for a lust that can fuel the envy and promote the rep that has wrath to go out and be greedy enough to show up the original rep. Wrath is a great way to push someone to compete with the others when the other 5 are having little effect. Sloth is reserved for those that have been over gluttonous for some time and had a lot of success being lustful and greedy.
The seven deadly sins require a lot of effort to perfect so typically a good manager will only focus and practice one at a time till they manage a group of major account executives or specialists. In which case the sales people are quite advanced and can practice multiple sins at a time. This requires a very greedy and prideful manager that can truly harness the energy of their people and use it to fuel their own desires (lust) and gluttony. And of course a good manager works their sales people to death chasing after the dream while they practice the greatest of all sins; Sloth…

In the end a good copier salesman or saleswomen (which there are many) are taught that they deserve whatever they can take from someone else and that it is ok at any cost. They are taught to pull out the stops and go for broke. They are taught how to gamble as professionals and to know when to risk it all for the payoff of the ultimate permanent full time sloth which is held as a carrot to a donkey.

I hope you have enjoyed this enlightenment…

PS – There are organizations that promote the 7 virtues and moderate their sales people keeping them "connected" and customer centric. But they are far and few between, and almost nonexistent in the copier business.

This is why I live a simple life on a 34 foot boat, forsaking the trappings of Dallas and all that is offers. Not that I haven't had my moments being caught up in the limelight. I was after all a 2 time president's club winner and a 1 time circle of excellence winner for that unnamed fortune 1000 company that way talked about above. I am the prodigy of that sales manager that eventually became a branch general manager ;)

Life is fast, life is hard, life never lasts long enough to learn how simple it really is. We complicate it so that we can feel superior to everything else that God has created, when really we were created from the very dust that everything else walks on - Pirate Mike

I am sure that this is considered blasphemous to those that are in my industry as we all want to believe that we are saints. (It is part of our pride) – Pirate Mike