Episode Summary
Women are more than capable of managing teams and leading companies. And without a doubt, we need to have more women at executive tables.
But no matter their gender, age, or race, all leaders need to have an executive presence and truly show up as leaders when they walk into a room.
In this episode of the Taking the Lead podcast, our host Christina Brady welcomes Christine Rogers, the President and COO of Aspireship. They talk about why sales is not for everyone, how to stay true to yourself while moving up the company ladder, and what are the main issues with having a lack of diversity at the executive table.
Guest Profile
- Name: Christine Rogers
- What she does: She's the President and COO of Aspireship.
- Company: Aspireship
- Noteworthy: She is a seasoned sales and marketing leader with over 15 years of experience in recruiting, hiring, training, and managing high-performing sales teams.
Key Insights
- The secret sauce for success is being authentically yourself. When you're new to a company or a job role, it's normal to feel uncomfortable. But as you get more and more comfortable with your skills, you start being yourself, and that's when you thrive. Christine explains, "As I moved and got more confidence and competence in my role, I started feeling like I could be more myself, and I found that bringing my whole self to this really did allow for greater performance and for people to understand my conversations differently — how I wanted to develop them was different, and how we talked was different."
- Bring an executive and commanding presence with you. Whether you're a male or a female leader, the key to success lies in having an executive presence. When you enter a room, does it feel like you're in charge of the room? How do your teammates perceive you? Do you show up as a leader to others? Christine explains, "Feedback is beautiful — you can ask people, not just your besties, not just the people that are for you, but other people to say, 'When I come into that leadership meeting or when we're all talking together as a team, am I showing as a leader? Because that's how I want to show up. Am I showing up that way? This is my goal.' And also get some people to help you out if you're doing a couple of things that are problematic like that and have them signal you."
- Throw hard, not sharp. Being a strong leader that inspires their team is one thing, but being harsh to your employees is another. Christine says that we need to throw hard, not sharp. She explains this concept, "We can say something hard, but not sharp. And there's a difference — you know that sting, that zing — and we know how to do it. And so that phrase that someone said years ago is like, 'Hey, let's throw hard, not sharp.' And I thought, 'That is what I want,' where people know I am going to be fully present, fully myself, and absolutely not allow certain types of behavior to be around me in a way that doesn't work."
Episode Highlights
Sales is not for everyone
“The nature of the course helps people understand what will be expected. Also, they have to complete it within a timeframe of 30 days. It’s 20 to 30 hours. Also, a lot of people would be like, ‘Oh, I just didn’t have time.’ It’s like, ‘This is not that role.’ This is a role where there are timelines and dates, and there’s pressure. And so we created it, and sure, we could give everybody all the time in the world that they wanted to, but that’s not helping test for what we need them to do. So if it’s stressful for you to complete a 20- to 30-hour course in 30 days, this may not be for you.”
Make the hiring process as similar as possible to the actual job
“There are some parts of it where I think we, as leaders of organizations like this, need to help people emulate as much as possible what it’s going to feel like, so that they understand that stress and strain. So even in the hiring processes where I’m giving advice, I’m like, ‘Give a tight deadline.’ If you want that back, you want to see if they can make this deadline. And if they do, do we need it to be by this time? Be very specific. Know these things to help measure pace, to help measure the writing capability. Emulate the role and give them exactly what they’re going to do so that if it’s, ‘Actually, I don’t like that at all,’ great. Now we know that’s not for you.”
Bring different parts of who you are to the table
“A director at this level needs to have these attributes. I need to work on a few of those attributes. And are they a part of the arsenal that is me? Yes. But I needed to bring some of those more forward because in other parts of my life, as an individual contributor, if I am only caring about myself and this is my responsibility, I bring different attributes. When I have to care for a group of individuals, I need to be a little more collaborative. So there are some different parts — and it’s not about being somebody different — it’s about bringing different parts of who we are to the table and saying, ‘This is what’s needed here.'”
