MURIEL WILKINS: I’m Muriel Wilkins, and this is Coaching Real Leaders, part of the HBR Presents Network. I’m a longtime executive coach who works with highly successful leaders who hit a bump in the road. My job is to help them get over that bump by clarifying their goals and figuring out a way to reach them, so that hopefully they can lead with a little more ease. I typically work with clients over the course of several months, but on this show we have a one-time coaching meeting focusing on a specific leadership challenge they’re facing. Today’s guest is someone we’ll call Alex to protect his confidentiality. He’s been working in a sales driven retail sector for over a decade.
ALEX: So, I started at the bottom end, stuck with the same company for six years, slowly working my way up that food chain and ended up in a general sales manager role which, in our industry, is commonly the second person in command in any one division.
MURIEL WILKINS: A…
This article was written by and originally published on hbr.org