The Monday Night Football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers ended in one of the most bizarre plays one could ever imagine.
What made it bizarre was the replacement officials who were calling the game and the calls at the end that had them awarding Seattle with the win.
The Green Bay Packers had every reason to complain about the call at the end of the game. Huge arguments about how they had a win taken from them by the officials. After the game the head coach of the Packers, Mike McCarthy, entered the post-game press conference and he had every reason to blow his cool, but he was a master of keeping composure.
The level of leadership he displayed was in my mind awesome.
I’m sure Coach McCarthy had to check his feelings walking into the press conference and I’m sure he had the urge to let his emotions take control. Rather he knew as the coach, he needed to display leadership to his players and the Packer organization. In the post-game interview he showed it. He kept the questions on the game and not on the officiating. He knows the task ahead to keep his team focused on the rest of the season.
The lesson Coach McCarthy taught all of us is no matter how much it might make sense to make a quick statement, it’s far more important to keep your focus on the long-term. That’s leadership.
In sales it’s easy for us to allow our emotions to get the best of us and respond to a customer’s question in a way that might not be strategically correct.
When we are face-to-face with our customers or dealing with them on the telephone, we must remember one thing — sales leadership! The comments we make can and will set the tone for the next set of comments we make. This is why I say sales leadership is a continuous process.
Thank you Coach McCarthy for showing us how to manage our emotions and keep the focus on the focus.
Copyright 2012, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
