The Making of a Sales Leader with John Sapone
The Rising Leader
How to Be a Great Leader
A lot of it starts with asking them what they want to do. It becomes a real litmus test when it is, I want to be the CRO or I want your job. "I don't know any any successful sales leaders that have ever not carried a bag and been a successful salesperson," he says.
John Sapone is the Senior Vice President of Sales at Snowflake, a technology company dedicated to mobilizing data with near-unlimited scale, concurrency, and performance. Before joining Snowflake in 2019, John served in various roles at ServiceNow, including Vice President Americas of Commercial Sales, Vice President of North America Commercial Sales, and Vice President of US Commercial Sales. He formerly served as the Vice President of Sales at Nimble Storage and Xsigo Systems, as well as the Divisional Vice President of Sales at EMC. He also worked as the Vice President of Sales at Data Domain before joining EMC in 2010. John graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science degree in IST.
John joins me today to discuss his career journey to becoming a sales leader. He describes how helping others succeed empowers him as a leader. He reveals the characteristics of a natural leader and explains the true responsibility of leaders. He discusses how knowing what you really want to achieve can help you gain trust as you move up an organization’s ranks and highlights the value of career experience. John also underscores the secrets to managing disputes in a team and what everyone needs to do to become a successful executive in a company.
“Natural leaders lead naturally. When I’m watching a sales team from afar, I can tell you who’s going to be the next leader—the ones to whom their peers go.” - John Sapone
This week on The Rising Leader Podcast:
● John’s background and what made him want to be a sales leader
● How he rose as the Director of Sales at Data Domain
● John’s passion for empowering others
● The responsibility of leaders
● Leading among a group of peers and the characteristics of a natural leader
● Teaching others the value of collaboration over competition
● Butting heads in a leadership team and how to settle a dispute among peers
● Taking feedback from 360 reviews
● Becoming a “doer” and what it takes to be a trusted resource and go-to person
● Thinking about what success means and being true to yourself and your significant other
Connect with John Sapone:
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