My Journey

An autoethnographic exploration of values, culture, and growth How does inspiration affect a leader’s ability to drive change? Is it possible for a leader to be too empathetic, and if so, does that hinder results? And how does culture factor into all of this? These are the questions I explore here, to better understand what it takes to lead transformative… 

ISP managing director Guy Lloyd and Warwick Business School’s Professor Nick Lee are in conversation with celebrated sales researcher and author Professor Neil Rackham, known for his pioneering sales research and developing the SPIN methodology. Guy Lloyd: What are the big changes you’ve seen in selling activity since you were doing your research for SPIN Selling? Neil Rackham: I think… 

Why leadership inspiration, collaborative learning, and joy impact us all. Wisdom 1: Learning starts with a curious mind “I have seven wisdoms for you. What you do with them is up to you. The only thing I ask of you is to remember them.” “The first wisdom is about curiosity. Any learning starts with a curious mind. Be curious and… 

How are B2B buyer expectations changing and where is B2B sales headed? In the previous edition of the Journal, we ran a story on McKinsey’s ninth global B2B Pulse report (released 12 September), which questioned 4,000 B2B decision-makers across eight major industries. This identified how B2B suppliers are responding to “consumer-like” purchasing demands from buyers. Here we talk to the… 

Grant van Ulbrich is Global Director of Sales Transformation at Royal Caribbean Group. His learning journey has taken him via a Master’s in Leading Sales Transformation to a doctorate in sales transformation, a new book, and the creation of a bespoke model for personal change. Q: What motivated you to create a new personal change model for sales? A: I… 

SAP’s Waldemar Adams explains that compelling storytelling is not just for customer communications – it’s vital when communicating internally. Storytelling is enriching the pure facts to add the purpose, to build alignment, and also to forge a communication which lasts, that people can remember and recall, and create an emotion. A long time ago in Germany, a young Waldemar Adams… 

Ian Helps discusses how burnout forced him to reassess his life and priorities his health. Positivity transforms us for the better. By opening our hearts and minds, positive emotions allow us to discover and build new skills, new ties, new knowledge and new ways of being. – Barbara Fredrickson, Positivity Half a million people in the UK suffer from work-related… 

SAP’s Manal Siddiqui discusses cricket, qualification and his career. Manal Siddiqui has an infectious enthusiasm for cricket and work, these probably being the two things he loves most in the world, aside from his family. Indeed, when pressed, the former under-19 UAE international cricketer jokes: “Cricket is my first love, you know; that’s what I keep telling my wife, ‘You… 

David Norris explains how participation in the Leading Sales Transformation Masters programme is reinforcing an ethos of continuous improvement at industrial giant SKF. Like most companies, bearings, seals, lubrication and rotating equipment systems specialists SKF operates an annual performance review system. At an individual review, David Norris, Sales Director United Kingdom & Ireland, presented his manager with an outline development… 

A Harvard Business School professor’s insights into the science of sales. In this interview with Deirdre Coleman, Frank Cespedes, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, dispels the myths surrounding technology’s impact on the future of sales and why the need to rethink sales also means rethinking sales leadership. He considers the social and financial impact of sales productivity, and stresses… 

Nilgün Atasoy’s wide experience, open mindset and empathetic approach have opened doors in her career. Nilgün Atasoy specialises in expanding horizons. From her multicultural upbringing to her progression in the traditionally male-dominated technology sector, to her trailblazing role as one of SAP’s first female salespeople in the Middle East and a pioneering woman sales manager in Eastern Europe, she has… 

Dutch ICT Woman of the Year, Monic van Aarle is a sales director working with a diverse range of SAP’s customers in the Netherlands. Monic van Aarle has been working at SAP for 15 years and in sales for a total of 37 years – which stacks up to a significant amount of experience. Starting her career in marketing, she… 

Participating in a Masters programme is a significant commitment. We asked two leaders about their journey. “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers” Stephen Gaskell is Director E-Commerce, Retail & Distribution at SONY Mobile. A member of SONY’s leadership programme, he has been on a journey of transformation in establishing his business unit within SONY Mobile. He… 

For Camilla Harder Hartvig, the single trait that has defined her successful leadership has been a willingness to address uncertainty and get comfortable with it. She shares how she’s learned to transform complexity and ambiguity into something that creates enduring value. Some of the most important leadership lessons learned by Camilla Harder Hartvig were forged in the crucible of calamity…. 

Dual WISA award winner, Emma-Leigh Waters only started her career in sales two years ago after a move from finance. Here, she talks about the value of accelerated and experiential learning, how resilient salespeople think, and how trusting the process and finding balance have worked for her. Fresh from scoring her double whammy win at the Women in Sales Awards… 

For Samantha Wessels diversity and inclusion is a business imperative. Here she explains why she is passionate about getting more women into sales and specifically into technology. If you haven’t mastered operations you’re going to suffer. Effective sales operations is an essential component for effective sales management. Sales is at the forefront of the organisation, and can drive organisational transformation… 

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is building its strategy around the proposition that the right mix of private cloud, public cloud, managed cloud and traditional IT infrastructure will play a pivotal role in speeding innovation and growth. HPE is currently in the midst of transforming itself, reflecting the IT industry’s evolution from selling standardized hardware and software to providing more flexible,… 

Some 18 months ago, BT Global Services set out on a major programme of sales and marketing transformation. We talk to Chris Blundell about the story so far. There was a time when Chris Blundell spent his time driving from customer to customer in a yellow van – back in the day Blundell was a telecom engineer. Now, however, his… 

Incoming Executive VP & President of International Business at Allergan, Marc Princen is invigorated by what he does best – building and transforming businesses – and he’s about to apply his extensive leadership experience in his new role in the medical aesthetics, eye care, GI and neurology space. Marc Princen is a newbie having just taken up his position with… 

Tim Walbert, CEO, Horizon Pharma, explains how doing right by the patient can still lead to significant profits, but hiring the right sort of sales representatives is crucial. Tim Walbert helped to launch two of the world’s biggest-selling drugs, Humira and Celebrex, and is now in charge of a $3 billion company with big ambitions – plus he knows what…