FLIGHT PATH
Welcome to Flight Path — where career paths aren’t linear, leadership isn’t boring, and pivots are basically a superpower. I’m Rebecca Woods. Let’s take off.
FLIGHT PATH
Mike Mosquito and Rachel Brown
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Mike and Rachel reflect on the Executive Sales Forum after Rachel's keynote presentation
Welcome to Floyd, the podcast where we explore the journeys behind bold leadership, innovation, and lasting impact. Each episode we sit down with leaders, innovators, and bold breakers, build that success by doing the work, learning the lessons, and sometimes ignoring the map altogether. Whether you're navigating leadership, healthcare, technology, entrepreneurship, or simply trying to figure out what's without your mind. Before we take flight, talk. Get ready for stories. Welcome aboard.
SPEAKER_01Hello everyone. Mike Mosquito, along with Rachel Brown. We just finished our keynote and first works workshop session here at the Bluebird Leaders Executive Sales Forum. We're here in Boston this week. We had a great time on stage this morning.
SPEAKER_02It was so great. The energy, I mean, any bluebird event is just the best.
SPEAKER_01Right. And so we've had a packed audience of participants from sales leaders to CIOs that are here just trying to engage and learn a little bit more of how to work better collaboratively together. Rachel took us through a great exercise this morning. That was awesome.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. I I was I was very glad that everyone participated and because it could have fallen very flat because it ended up being a little bit silly, you know. When was the last time you did a mad lib? So getting everyone to engage in a mad lib at nine in the morning, a little difficult, but it was fun. It was really fun.
SPEAKER_01It was very fun. And I really took to heart the the build a business 15 minutes. That was amazing because I really think our our our mushroom for anxiety company really could take off.
SPEAKER_02Works 60% of the time, every time.
SPEAKER_01Was that the that's our that's our tagline?
SPEAKER_02That was great. It's memorable.
SPEAKER_01Our mushrooms work 60% of the time, our mushrooms work 100% of the time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Excellent.
SPEAKER_01So for us, it's really about how do we how do we take this information and how do we use it? Depends on what your role is. And you know, I had a session on sales um execution. So great, right? And so everyone, no matter what your role is, you're in sales, you're selling something, whether it's yourself.
SPEAKER_02Everything is sales. Everything is sales, you're selling yourself anytime you walk into a room. That's some of the conversations I love that came out of your presentation is the little things you can do to set yourself up for success, to be more consultative, whether it's dressing a little nicer, making sure that you're presenting in the room in the right way and listening and coming approaching any of those conversations, really looking to learn and see what you can add, but to primarily be able to take something away too.
SPEAKER_01Right. And I think that when you present in a workshop in a forum like this, you're giving folks some tools that get their mind going. That's what you do. You start our morning out with our mind, you know, firing up.
SPEAKER_02Got into open mode of thinking, right? Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right. And and then we're we're in a group setting, so we're at our tables and we're able to interact. Yeah. And a lot of these are when you go to these conferences, it's talking head, right? Yeah. And you forget the talking head before you get to the next session. What tidbit did you take away? Unless you're actively writing or or you're recording, did you really take anything away? And so that's what I like about being able to offer these workshops and come to a forum setting is that you're able to interact in close proximity of others that have maybe like ideas, or maybe giving you a new idea.
SPEAKER_02Hopefully different ideas. Hopefully a different perspective.
SPEAKER_01Right, 100%. Yeah. And that's what I think I saw, especially getting the candidate feedback we're getting with sitting CIOs in a room.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh. I'm so thankful that those CIOs are dispersed amongst these tables and willing to give honest feedback, an honest perspective. Like, tell me what I am doing right, tell me what I'm doing wrong, what works, what doesn't. I mean, this is an invaluable opportunity as a founder of a company, as a sales leader, as a salesperson, again, anyone looking to sell anything, how rich that information is. To if you come to it with curiosity and an open mind and not my way or the highway, or you guys just don't want to listen to it, like that's not the right approach. You're not actually gonna come away with anything, but if you come in with that open mind, ready to learn, ready to be a sponge, I've I've already taken away so much.
SPEAKER_01From a sales standpoint, you can't say, well, I've been doing this for 30 years. If you're using your tactics from 30 years ago to sell today, you might want to go in and find your rock and chair. This is this is not for this game, it's no longer for you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, it's it's evolving so rapidly, especially nowadays, and everything is in a how do you be different? How do you approach it? Maybe a little creatively, but in a way that again gets to the root of a problem and you build that relationship over time. That's I mean, one of my biggest takeaways already so far is relationship, relationship, relationship, and an authenticity, being genuine, because people can sniff out in authenticity instantly, mile away.
SPEAKER_01Right. And again, you that building of the relationship removes a lot of that you feel like you need to do to mask, you know, maybe not having all the skills you need to sell or to introduce or become that advisor that's needed in our industry today. We need those advisors that come with candor, that comes with the truthfulness, it comes with being a a person that you can rely on to deliver information. I think they're having a session right now, and I I heard Gerald say, he said, one thing he hates is when someone books his calendar there that he doesn't know. And I have had that done countless times. Someone puts something on the. So it was it's good to hear that feedback in the room for especially the young sales leaders that are coming into industry.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I I'm finding so much value in this. Like, because that is the kind of thing, like I'll be honest. I sat in a team meeting one time and that was an idea that was presented, but even then I was like, that feels icky to me. That does not feel like the right way to actually go about. That's not the culture that I want our team to have. And so so much of my early career is kind of instinct and just what feels right, and good to know at least some things are on the right track, but to get this kind of insight again for me at this stage of my career, completely invaluable.
SPEAKER_01You want to be able to ask, hey, am I on the right track? Yeah, a lot of people don't they feel vulnerable to ask, hey, was this correct? Is this right? Yes, you learn much faster if you're able to get that feedback. Give them that feedback a wheel.
SPEAKER_02One of the best conversations at my table in particular was someone had brought up in one of the uh sales individuals, they're like, at the end of a meeting, towards the you know, not every single meeting, not every single time, but actually asked for honest feedback from the person they were selling to is like, what did we miss? Like what like what did I not hit the mark on? And I am immediately gonna be going in to implement that or even go back to people I've sold to, and I was like, clearly bought, like, thank you. Awesome, something worked right, but like where can we improve? And always again having that openness and curiosity, that authenticity to build a real relationship and not to come into something assuming you know everything, right?
SPEAKER_01Because you're not gonna learn. That's closed ear. Yeah, that's closed ear engagement, and there's no way if you learn. And if you're the smartest person in the room, first of all, you're not right. First of all, we already know you're not. And so how do you take that feedback, massage it for your own mental needs, and then act on it to be better, to get better, um, to be able to be seen better from others. And all of us can always improve something that we're working on. Maureen tells me on the podcast all the time about things I can improve on.
SPEAKER_02And she is right, always.
SPEAKER_01She tells me that too. And so, really, it really is in this room today with this forum, we're taking folks through two days or a day and a half of deep immersive interaction so that they can hear from thought leaders, hear from sitting executives, hear from folks like you that are that are firing their brains off. And it's great to have one of our our young leaders really interact in a room like that and have everyone nodding, yes, yes, yes, we understand this is fun and I'm learning something because that sticks. Yeah, right. It's not just some sound bites.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's been really, really special to get to be in this room and and it something again different from really any other conference or setting that I may have had a first keynote experience in. Like this room, it's it's safe. There's people that like hey, are gonna help me improve and be better, but it's a space to come in and do your best to come in and prepare and know that you're gonna get that kind of engagement and that I can be myself. Like, you can't walk, I can't walk into any room and be like, all right, kids, we're gonna do the math, like we're gonna do something silly. I'm gonna ask you to be vulnerable, but because I'm gonna be able to come in and be vulnerable. And this was just the perfect room to be able to do that in.
SPEAKER_01It was so nice. Two great sessions kick off the day. Looking forward to next. I'll see you at SOAR, right? We got SOAR in September.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's on the calendar, obviously.
SPEAKER_01Do you have your outfit yet?
SPEAKER_02I need to get the outfit. I was hearing some of the inspiration today, and I was like, oh, I gotta get shopping.
SPEAKER_01Start shopping.
SPEAKER_02I know.
SPEAKER_01Rebecca told me 33 seconds after we left um Colorado what I was wearing during the next one.
SPEAKER_02So I can't wait to see it.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh, she told me what I was wearing last year. So with all that pink you saw, that was her. Beautiful. Yes, so looking forward to seeing you at our next events and our forums. Always glad to have you. Always glad to have you get our room started this morning.
SPEAKER_02It was the best.
SPEAKER_01You keep doing what you're doing, and your podcast is coming out on the buzz here in our second season. This lady's already been on our show, so you're gonna get to see her shine.
SPEAKER_02I can't wait.
SPEAKER_01Looking forward to seeing all of you at the next Bluebird Leaders event, wherever you are in the country. Make sure you go to bluebirdleaders.org and find out where there's an event near you and participate. And if you haven't joined Bluebird Leaders, you need to. Essential. Essential to you. We're here in Boston this week at the Bluebird Leaders Sales Executive Forum. I'm Mike Mosquito with the Buzz Podcast. We're here with wonderful leaders, and we look forward to seeing you real soon.