How racing lessons help his leadership

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk. Episode 248: Colin Nanka Colin Nanka is the Senior Director, Enablement for North American Sales and Leadership Development at the world's leading Customer Relationship Management Company, Salesforce.com. He is a proven sales leader with over 20 years of sales experience including time at Salesforce and Xerox Corporation. In his spare time, he competes in multi-day, self sustained, adventure races in the world's most treacherous terrains, including the Sahara Desert, Gobi Desert, Iceland, Grand Canyon, Atacama Desert and, most recently, in Antarctica.

The Learning Leader Show

"Success starts with a choice. Find someone above you, below you, and at your level. That's mentor-ship."

Show Notes:

• Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence?
  • Understanding of their strengths - self awareness
  • "Do what you say you will do" "DWYSYWDO" - integrity
  • The combination of vision --> execution
• How have you sustained excellence?
  • Know how to prioritize
  • Tiered accounts
  • Invested 4-6 hours on Saturday and Sunday while others were not working
• "Going in on the weekend" - The sheer amount of hard work AND extra work differentiated from the rest
  • Going door to door in Canada - "It takes 20 knocks to get 1 opportunity"
    • "Good pipeline solves all ills"
    • "Flood the market with good will"
• Marc Benioff's management process, V2MOM, an acronym that stands for vision, values, methods, obstacles, and measures
• Why do crazy races all over the world?
  • "I hit a crisis. I was very successful and then had a couple bad years. It hurt my confidence."
  • "I realize there is more to life than just working. The elements of nature... A give back -- be of service to others."
  • The 2011 Sahara Desert race - Trained for a full year. 6 days a week, 160 miles/week.
• "Success starts with a choice. Find who's the best, learn from them."
• Mentor-ship = "Above you, below you, and at your level." Have all three.
• The practice of "playing up." Play against someone who is better than you in order to stretch and grow.
  • Constantly put yourself in positions to be stretched
• Using Gallup to find your strengths -- "A very wise investment"
  • Colin's #1 strength - Learning. Curiosity
  • The compound effect of learning, growing, approaching each conversation with a curious mind
• What have you learned from the adventure races?
  • Dealing with failure. How to learn from others. "We all get better from sharing ideas."
• Biggest mistake new managers make?
  • "They are constantly surprised about the "people" side"
    • How to have tough conversations
    • They try to do it all -- You need to be a multiplier -- Trust, Coach, Empower
    • "If you don't lengthen the leash, you aren't allowing them to grow"
    • First 30 days - "Focus on winning hearts and minds"
    • Do a full day off site meeting with no focus on the business. Get to know them.
    • Utilize my "Get To Know You" document
• Understand your team value system:
  • Vision
  • Values
  • Methods - Critical success factors
  • Obstacles
  • Measure -- The Marc Benioff model
• The #1 value is TRUST -- Ensure this is established early on. Empower the team to make decisions. As the leader, be a facilitator
• Roger Federer -- Finding joy in what you do. Loving the practice, the process.
  • Do things daily that bring you joy in life
  • "Before I do anything for the company, I do something for myself. To bring me joy."
• Hiring a coach? Why?
  • Colin has had a coach for 10 years
• "Just put 1 foot in front of the other" -- 19 hour race in Iceland
• Be: 1) Strong 2) Relaxed 3) Grateful ("It's hard to be angry when you're grateful")

"Learn the rules like a pro, so that you can break them like an artist." - Pablo Picasso

Social Media:

• Follow Colin on Twitter: @ColinNanka1
• Read: Colin's story
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community
• To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12