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Breaking down complex topics about management and leadership skills, the changing needs of the pharmaceutical industry, the workforce, employee engagement and culture, and the market.
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Essential Leadership Competencies: Coaching Your Team to High Performance
People leave managers, not companies — that’s why leadership competencies matter. Essential leadership entails setting clear goals, coaching teams toward success, and fostering an environment where people can grow and thrive. To inspire your team and reduce turnover, it is essential to understand and master these key competencies. Strong leadership is built on training and continuous reinforcement of both hard and soft skills.
Exemplary Leadership Skills You Need as a Sales Manager
As a sales manager, your exemplary leadership skills, including your ability to lead, have a significant impact on your team’s performance and the overall success of your organization. Exemplary leadership is the ability to inspire trust, guide teams strategically, and cultivate a culture where people can perform at their best.
Investing in Success: Essential Training and Development Opportunities for Your Sales Team
Essential training for sales teams must go beyond the basics. It should cover clinical acumen, relationship management, strategic and business insight, selling skills, and adaptability. These focus areas empower sales reps to become trusted advisors, navigate complex systems, and execute with confidence.
Time Management for Leaders: 8 Proven Strategies (Includes Free Checklist)
The most effective leaders are not the ones who do the most. They are the ones who consistently focus on what matters most. In today’s fast-paced environment, where distractions and decisions come nonstop, time management for leaders has become one of the most valuable professional skills. If you spend your days reacting to issues rather than planning for outcomes, you are not leading. You are simply managing the chaos.
The Impact of Setting Personal Development Goals for Work on Professional Growth
Personal development is the continuous act of assessing your life values and goals and building your qualities and skills to reach your potential. Employees consider it imperative to their job and future, while employers cite personal development as a way to advance company abilities. This relationship highlights how both personal and organizational success are often interconnected.
Managing Mixed Talent: How to Build Synergy Between A-, B-, and C-Players to Boost Team Performance
High-performing teams are rarely made up of just star players. In reality, most teams are a mix of top performers, solid contributors, and those who may be underperforming or still developing. This blend, often referred to as mixed talent, presents both challenges and opportunities for managers aiming to build a cohesive and effective team. The question is not how to eliminate performance gaps, but how to turn this variation into a strength.
The Science of Motivation: How Leaders Can Inspire Peak Performance
In any organization, motivation is the lifeblood of performance. Teams that feel driven, supported, and inspired tend to outperform expectations, innovate faster, and contribute more meaningfully to organizational goals. But motivation isn’t a one-time push, it’s an ongoing effort that requires intentional leadership.
Can B-Players Become Great Leaders? Rethinking Who Gets Leadership Opportunities
B-players are the steady, reliable team members who consistently deliver without seeking the limelight. They are frequently passed over when leadership opportunities arise. They may not be as assertive or vocal as their high-performing counterparts, but they bring something essential: empathy, consistency, and loyalty. These traits are valuable in day-to-day operations and key to building trust and sustaining long-term team success.
Motivating the Middle Level: Proven Ways to Engage and Retain Average Performers
The challenge for leaders is how to keep this group engaged. Promotions, high bonuses, or burnout-inducing stretch goals are not always viable or effective for this segment. What’s needed are sustainable, thoughtful strategies that honor the middle level’s contribution and inspire long-term commitment.
Emotional Intelligence: The Skill That Holds Every Role Together
The people who handle those moments best — the ones who stay composed, connect with others, and bring out the best in those around them — almost always share one thing in common: a high level of emotional intelligence.
Execution Isn’t a Checkbox. It’s a Coaching Culture
Every pharmaceutical leader understands the pressure of execution. Strategies are carefully developed, processes are refined, and performance goals are clearly defined. Yet despite this structure, results often fall short.
Why Companies Struggle with Engagement and Leadership Buy
It’s a cycle employees recognize all too well, and they see right through it. The truth is that engagement and leadership buy-in can’t be manufactured with slogans or restructurings. They’re earned or lost through everyday leadership behaviors.
Why Systems Don’t Scale Leadership—People Do
The problem isn’t the systems themselves. It’s the assumption that systems can replace what only people can provide: judgment, adaptability, and the human connection that transforms average performers into exceptional ones.
The Power of Energy Management: Helping Pharma Reps Stay Sharp and Motivated
When managers recognize the importance of energy, they shift the focus from just hitting targets to creating conditions where reps can perform at their best. That change not only protects against burnout but also helps teams sustain motivation and deliver consistent performance in the long run.
Is Pharma Sales Broken?
In a recent conversation with a former pharma CEO, we reflected on just how much the industry has shifted. He began his career in the early ’90s as a sales rep at one of the largest companies, a time when relationships drove prescriptions and product differences were minimal. Those days are long gone.
Personalized Coaching Plan: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of Middle Performers
Walk into any sales organization and you’ll see a familiar pattern. Top performers are celebrated and stretched with new opportunities, while struggling employees receive extra coaching to get them back on track.
The Sales Manager Gap: Why Hiring Externally Isn’t Fixing Performance
The assumption is that if someone has been a manager before, they don’t need training. But skills aren’t validated beyond an interview, and those hires bring gaps with them. Meanwhile, internal talent gets overlooked.
Is Trust the Real Currency of Sales Leadership?
Deadlines, pressure, and constant change are part of leadership in every industry. When the heat is on, technical expertise and training matter — but what truly holds a team together is trust. Trust is the foundation of leadership. Without it, nothing else sticks.
Watch Our Latest Videos
Leading from Within: Keith Willis on Building High-Performing Teams and Effective Leadership
In this episode of The Sea Captain Way podcast, Keith Willis, President and Founder of Core Management Training, shares invaluable insights on leadership, team development, and the power of recognizing individual strengths.
Networking and Proactivity: Keith Willis on Advancing in Pharma Sales
In this episode, Keith Willis explains why managers are pivotal in shaping sales careers. He shares how networking and taking proactive steps help reps create opportunities, stand out in competitive markets, and build long-term success in pharma sales.
Bringing Your A-Game: Keith Willis on Coaching, Training, and Career Growth
In part two of this conversation, Keith Willis shares why top pharmaceutical companies invest in coaching and training to build stronger sales teams, and why reps should do the same for their own careers. He explains how self-development, coaching, and skill-building help you stand out in interviews, succeed in competitive territories, and create long-term career opportunities.
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