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After 25 years in sales — and more than a decade leading enterprise teams — I’ve learned…
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Thom Wright shared thisYour Manager Job Description Is Already Obsolete Monday: pipeline review meeting. Tuesday: pulling CRM updates to build the forecast. Wednesday: prepping the team meeting deck and running the big deal review Thursday: updating the forecast. Friday: following up on action items from the week to make sure everyone did their job. Then you do it again. If that's your week, I'm not trying to be harsh…but AI just took your job description. Let me clarify…Not your job…your job description. The Coinbase headlines dropped yesterday, 14% of their workforce gone, "pure managers" eliminated. Jack Dorsey did the same thing at Block earlier this year, cutting 40% and publishing a manifesto declaring hierarchy dead. Microsoft has been folding manager layers quietly for months. These aren't isolated decisions. They're a pattern, and they're a signal directed straight at anyone who manages the way I described above. If your value is coordination, you're exposed. But the answer isn't to defend the role. It's to evolve past it. There are three levels to this. I’m calling them the Three Cs. 1. THE COORDINATOR manages information. Runs the meeting that could have been a dashboard. Tracks what's in the pipeline. Owns the deck. This role is already gone. Gong, Clari, Claude and a dozen other tools do it faster and more accurately than any human running a manual review cycle. 2. THE COACH changes behavior. Knows why an AE keeps losing late-stage deals, can name the specific moment it happens, and has a development plan in place before the pattern repeats. Teams with structured coaching cultures run 20% higher quota attainment. That's not a soft metric that's meaningful uplift. This role matters and always will. But there's a third level, and it's where the best sales leaders are heading. 3. THE CONDUCTOR does everything a coach does and also commands the technology layer their team operates on. They build agents that handle the coordinator work automatically. They write prompts that surface deal risk before a rep sees it. They use AI to free up their own time so they can spend more of it on humans, not less. A coordinator runs logistics. A coach develops one rep at a time. A conductor brings humans and agents into harmony and produces output none of them could deliver alone. Here's what's coming, and it sounds radical until it doesn't: the sales manager of the near future won't just manage human workers. They'll manage a mix of humans and AI agents. If you can't direct, prompt, and build with AI tools, you'll be behind the people who can. The Coinbase headlines aren't about Coinbase. They're a leading indicator pointed at every manager who hasn't made this transition yet. Coordinator: already gone. Coach: essential, non-negotiable. Conductor: where this is heading. Which one are you becoming?
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Thom Wright shared this🫸 Stop doom scrolling about AI for a second. I had a conversation with my executive coach this week that genuinely reframed how I'm thinking about all of it. He's roughly 20 years older than me. Old enough to have been in the workforce when the personal computer arrived. And he described something I hadn't fully appreciated...the fear back then was identical to what we're all feeling right now. Check out what I found from September 3rd, 1980 from The New York Times that ran a headline: "A Robot is After Your Job." Economists publicly questioned whether full employment would ever be possible again. White-collar workers were convinced their roles would be automated into extinction. A 1995 book called The End of Work predicted a "post-market era" and warned that a workless world would "undermine the very foundations of modern society." Here's what actually happened: the U.S. posted some of its best employment numbers since the 1960s! A Bureau of Labor Statistics study tracked 2,800 employees at companies that had just installed large computers. Nine were laid off. Nine. Steve Jobs, right in the middle of all that fear, called the computer "a bicycle for our minds" calling it a tool that amplifies human capability, not one that replaces it. Most of us weren't around for any of that. I'm 42, so I wasn't either. But what my coach helped me see is this: we didn't become passengers to computers. We became better at our work because of them. AI is the next chapter of the same story. Forty years from now, we'll tell our kids: "I remember when AI came out. Everyone thought it was going to take over everything." And they'll look at us the way we look at someone who hoarded cash because ATMs were going to eliminate banks. The tool is remarkable. The fear is familiar. And if history is any guide, the people who learn to work with the tool are the ones who come out ahead. That's where your energy belongs right now. 🧘♂️
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Thom Wright shared thisCorporate Bro represents this well. Shout out the great, but rare managers out there who actually care. Well done video.
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Thom Wright shared thisThis note is 8 years old. An AE I led at Heroku reached out recently just to reconnect. He sent me a photo of this note. He kept it. For eight years! We're living in a world obsessed with AI agents, automation, and scale. And I'm not against any of it... I sell automation software for a living. But no AI agent is going to write something on real paper, in real ink, that someone keeps in a drawer for eight years. For over a decade, I've made it a habit to send handwritten notes to the people on my team when they join or when they do something worth celebrating. The most powerful thing you can do as a leader isn't the most efficient thing. It's the most intentional thing. He kept this for eight years. I didn't remember writing it. He never forgot receiving it. That gap between what it costs you and what it means to them is where great leadership lives. Five minutes. A pen. A notecard. Still the highest-leverage tool in my leadership stack. Do you have a note like this somewhere? Or have you sent one?
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Thom Wright shared thisIf you've never read the book by Kim Scott Radical Candor, watch this snippet video to see as a leader why this framework is so powerful for building trust, candor and increasing performance across your teams. I've used this for over 7 years and can personally attest this works!Thom Wright shared thisNot the best at giving feedback? Here’s how to challenge someone directly and still show that you care: http://t.ted.com/zgnsGMn
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Thom Wright shared thisThis past Saturday night. Indiana Pacers NBA game. Great seats. 19-win team. Low stakes. Or so I thought. Late in the game a foul gets called. The crowd erupts. Everyone already had a verdict, you could feel it. 20,000 people absolutely certain they knew what happened. The referee paused. He went to video review. They put every angle on the big screen for us to look at the play. First angle: overhead. Crystal clear. Obvious foul. Case closed. Second angle: bench side. Less certain. Third angle: completely different read. Looks like no contact at all. He stood there. Took his time. Reversed the call. So, the angle that looked most definitive was actually wrong. Here's what is so interesting about this... Neuroscientists have studied this. When you're highly confident in a decision, your brain doesn't just interpret new evidence through a biased lens, it literally stops processing evidence that contradicts you! Confidence becomes a neurological blind spot. That referee did something most of us never do. He paused his certainty on purpose. Salespeople and leaders, think about what that costs us when we don't do this. The deal you had at 90% that went dark at the finish line because you were working your champion's angle and never once looked at it from the CFO's view. The rep you decided was a performance problem six months ago and have been managing out ever since when the real issue was something you could have fixed in a conversation. The customer who went cold and you told yourself they just didn't get the value when actually they were seeing something from their side of the table you never bothered to ask about. We were certain. So our brains stopped looking. The most underrated skill in sales and leadership isn't confidence. It's knowing when to pause it. Deliberately. Under pressure. When everyone around you already has a verdict. The referee didn't look weak when he reversed that call. He looked like someone who cared more about getting it right than being right. That's the job. When's the last time you went back to the tape?
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Thom Wright posted thisFor a long time, I thought confidence was what people were looking for from me. A quick answer. A strong opinion. A decisive tone. No hesitation. But over time, I've come to believe clarity matters more. Clarity about what matters. Clarity about what doesn't. Clarity about what deserves your energy. Clarity about what needs a no. Clarity about what success actually means to you. A lot of people spend years trying to become more confident. I think a lot of us would be better served getting clearer. Because confidence can make you sound ready. Clarity helps you decide.
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Thom Wright shared thisOoof! Sales leaders, this one was hard to listen to. First, follow Jeff Hancher if you aren't already as he delivers great practical leadership insights. Second, if you are a high performing sales leader, listen to this and really think about your self and how you are viewed by your leadership.Thom Wright shared thisMost high performers don’t struggle with talent. They struggle with being led. And that’s the part no one tells you. If you only align when you agree… If you move faster than your leader can support… If everything turns into a debate… You might be harder to lead than you think. At higher levels, everyone is capable. What separates people is coachability. In the coming days I want to challenge you to ask your boss this question: “What makes me hard to lead?” Real change can come from this single question. I would love to hear the results. Please message me! This latest episode of The Champion Forum Podcast will challenge how you show up and help you grow because of it. Episode link: https://lnkd.in/d2xtcgEs #Leadership #HighPerformance #CareerGrowth #SelfAwareness #LeadershipDevelopment
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Thom Wright posted this***Manager Challenge: Next week, be on time (or early) for every 1-on-1 with your direct reports*** Not "running 5 minutes behind, be right there." On time or Early. Yes, most of us are double-booked and sprinting from one call to the next and haven't eaten lunch. And if you're already Slacking or texting your direct report when you're running late, good. That's basic courtesy and it matters. But that's not the challenge. The challenge is: you don't need to send that message at all. For one week, be intentional. Protect that time. Because when you're consistently late to your people's 1-on-1s, you're sending a signal whether you mean to or not, their time is less important than whatever I just came from. 👉 One week. Every 1-on-1. You might get a few strange looks from your directs who are used to waiting on you. Good, notice that! 🗒️ Then at the end of the week, ask yourself: What did I do differently to make this happen, and can I do it again? Being on time isn't a soft skill. It's a leadership signal. Show your people they're worth being early for. It's the start of a new month, a natural reset. I'm taking this challenge with you. Who's in? Drop a comment below. Let's hold each other accountable.
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Thom Wright reacted on thisThom Wright reacted on thisAfter 18 months of one of the most rewarding chapters of my career, today marks an exciting new beginning. When I stepped away from my corporate career in late 2024 to take a strategic sabbatical, I knew I wanted the time to be intentional — not just a pause, but an opportunity to build, learn, and contribute in a different way. Working alongside Karly Elbrecht and Maggie Books to help operationalize the GTM strategy and systems at Camino & Company exceeded every expectation. Watching that business grow and improve across every dimension — together — has been a genuine gift. I’m deeply grateful for that partnership and proud of what we achieved in such a short period. I can’t wait to watch Camino & Company continue to grow and thrive in the community. Today, I’m thrilled to share that I’ve joined Affinity.co as Vice President, Strategic Sales. For those unfamiliar, Affinity is the relationship intelligence platform purpose-built for private capital — helping PE firms, VC funds, and investment teams systematically leverage their most valuable asset: their relationships. In a world where the warmest introduction wins the deal, Affinity gives investment professionals the network intelligence and automated activity capture to compete at the highest level. I’m energized by the opportunity ahead and couldn’t be more grateful to Sean Kearns and Ken Fine for the opportunity and warm welcome. To the Strat team, I look forward to lots of learning, pivoting, growing, winning (some losing), and celebrating together. Excited to get to know you Danielle Lazarov Christine Roth Gianfranco Vinci Jen Castaline William Groethe. To my new colleagues across Sales, Marketing, Solutions Consulting, Customer Success, RevOps, Product, Finance, Legal, and People/HR — I’m excited to roll up my sleeves and join you in building an AI-forward GTM motion that focuses on helping our customers get more value from the relationships that drive their business. Day 1. Let’s go! #Affinity #AIForward #PrivateCapital #RelationshipIntelligence #SalesLeadership #NewChapter
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Thom Wright liked thisThom Wright liked thisThere is a lot to leading in today’s complex world of B2B, especially if you want to do it with a high level of precision. You know this to be true, the results of not doing it well have very real and measurable impact: - Revenue decline or stagnation - Employee attrition increases - Poor cross-functional engagement - Costs increase from inefficiency and ineffectiveness. And while this is happening, many leaders wonder: ‘Do I even know all of the things that I need to be great at?’ What we want is the feeling of a powerful battleship heading out to sea... .... but instead it can feel like a black box at times. And far too often, investments aren’t made into sales leaders in the same way they are with sales reps. Assumptions are made that leaders like you already know everything that they need to do and how to do it well. Often a very incorrect assumption. It can feel lonely, unsure and frustrating. Maybe that feels like your experience right now. Feel free to drop me a DM. Looking forward to dropping content on this over the next weeks. #leadership #sales #leader #growth
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Thom Wright reacted on thisThom Wright reacted on thisThis summer, iNDustry Labs is launching its inaugural AI Leaders of Tomorrow Fellowship. This program will embed top Notre Dame students directly into AI projects with regional companies. Selected from a competitive applicant pool spanning engineering, business, arts and letters, and the sciences, the fellows will spend 12-weeks receiving hands-on training in Generative AI and Robotic Process Automation while building real solutions alongside industry partners and Notre Dame faculty mentors. This program is just one more way iNDustry Labs is connecting Notre Dame talent to the companies shaping the future of the South Bend-Elkhart region. Learn more about how iNDustry Labs is tapping into faculty and student talent to help regional companies unlock business value here: https://lnkd.in/geKJtF-d
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Thom Wright reacted on thisThom Wright reacted on thisDay one is in the books. I've officially joined Asana as Head of Global Channel & Alliances! 🚀 After seven incredible years at UiPath, I'm bringing everything I love about partnerships to a company that's reshaping how the world's teams work together. The product is exceptional, the team is world class, and the partner opportunity is enormous. To everyone at UiPath who made the last chapter so meaningful, thank you. To the Asana team, thank you for the trust and the unbelievable first day! There's a lot more coming soon. Stay tuned to hear about everything we're working on.
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Thom Wright liked thisThom Wright liked thisWhile many are trying to predict what Agentic AI and the future of jobs will look like, Pascal and team wrote a practical, step-by-step guide to building and orchestrating that future. It is a book that clearly explains what it takes to supervise an agent or a human/agent team, and provides practical frameworks for scaling productivity instead of creating new bottlenecks, identifying the right things to automate, finding the right implementation approaches, helping employees to become irreplaceable in the age of AI, and defining who is responsible for each agent. I am a very fast reader and usually pretty quick to comment, but to be honest, I blew a couple of deadlines as I had to think, scroll back, and rewrite my two cents multiple times. Proud to be a contributor to this work and congratulations to Pascal BORNET, Tarja Stephens, Dr. Rachel Wood, PhD, Frederique Covington Corbett, Ph.D., Shigeki Yamaguchi, Rakesh Gohel, Helen Yu, Nima Schei, MD, Lasse Rindom, Simon Ellis, Maxim Ioffe, Mohsin Khan, and Paul Kurchina.
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Financial Literacy Teacher
Junior Achievement of Kentuckiana
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Economic Empowerment
Teaching middle school students in Lexington, KY the power of learning about finances. Skills from savings, managing your allowance money, what the stock market is and other personal finance skills.
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Chief
“Our average rep hits 50% of quota.” Oof. That's not a rep problem. It's a process problem. If your SaaS sales team's performance is consistently unpredictable, you’re missing real gaps in your ops. Reps manually scoring leads in outdated CRMs. No automation for routing or segmentation. Etc. AI can help, but before you add it to the mix, you need to define 4 things for every sales process: ⭕ Who is responsible for the process ⭕ What tools are used to execute, track, and facilitate the process ⭕ The value the process brings to the organization ⭕ The cost of the process Analyze these details and you can to identify gaps that AI can help close. Performance doesn’t break at the report. It breaks in the workflow. Fix the gaps first. Then AI can do what it’s supposed to: make the system even smarter. ➕ Follow for more insights on using AI in your SaaS ops.
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AiSDR
SDRs miss quota because they’re drowning in repetitive work They spend 70% of their time on tasks AI could handle fast Here’s what most teams get wrong They either automate nothing or try to automate everything The better approach is to split tasks by what’s repetitive vs what requires judgment Teams that use AI well save 2+ hours per rep daily and often see revenue lift The breakdown 👇
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Homerun Presales
Presales Leader: “We want to show our impact.” Homerun: “How are you sharing your presales data across the org?” Presales Leader: “We have 3 SE fields in SFDC.” Homerun: “We need to chat…” Your SE/SC/SA team learns incredibly value information as they work their deals. That means you should be sitting on TONS of 'presales data' that no one else in your company has… but everyone wants. Examples? ----- 💰 SALES: What are the technical blockers putting deals at risk so we can strategize before we lose them? 🛠️ PRODUCT: What are the product gaps that are losing us deals so we get you work-arounds before we lose them... and so we can prioritize our roadmap to be more competitive? 🤝 POST-SALES / CUSTOMER SUCCESS: We want a pre-sales to post-sales transition that doesn't kill all the goodwill that you built up getting them to close... so tell us EVERYTHING you did, showed, talked about, tested, proved, are concerned about, and committed to during the entirety of the technical sales cycle! We want it ALL! 👋 PRODUCT MARKETING: What defines good vs. bad ‘technical fits’ to guide our ICP definitions, collateral creation, and lead gen efforts? 📈 C-SUITE: How can we close more deals, faster as a company to hit our revenue targets and growth goals? ----- You have the Presales Data to help all these teams be more successful… so… 💬 Share it 💪 Make an impact 💸 Show your value 🪑 Earn your seat at the table ----- Not sure how to capture all this presales data? Or even what data to capture? Worried about adding ‘admin burden’ to your SE/SC/SA team? Request a demo of Homerun Presales and let us show you the way: https://lnkd.in/g_85xBB2 There’s a reason Homerun is the #1 presales platform... that customers call Homerun "world-class presales in-a-box" with all the ‘presales AI’ you need... that we have an 8-year track record of success working with your fellow presales peers from publicly-traded companies to startups. Let’s chat. 😎
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Sales Caddy AI
Most AEs spend their days reacting. To leads. To timing. To whatever hits their inbox next. But top performers don’t just react — they *engineer control.* They protect their time. They prepare with intent. They measure what matters. And they stay on the line. Sales Caddy gives you the guardrails to make that discipline repeatable — prompts that drive action, data that reinforces habits, and clarity that compounds. Because revenue doesn’t reward effort. It rewards control. #sales #b2b #revenue #salesleadership #ai #salescaddy #revops #salesprocess #salesperformance #accountexecutive
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SugarAI
Confidence in sales doesn’t come from hope. It comes from knowing. Knowing which deals are real. Knowing which actions move the needle. Knowing your team has clear, consistent next steps. That’s what SugarCRM delivers: 🔍 Clarity across your pipeline 📍 Next best actions for every rep 📈 Confidence in every interaction One customer crushed their sales goal by 44%. Another grew upsell revenue by 58%.
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Klyveno AI
Hitting quota isn’t just about working harder. It’s about removing friction from your pipeline. Many sales teams still struggle with: • Manual prospecting • Inefficient pipelines • Deals getting lost in the shuffle That’s not a motivation problem. It’s a systems problem. With AI powered lead capture, predictive deal scoring, and accelerated demo booking, teams can focus on what actually drives revenue,meaningful conversations and closing. The future of sales performance is intelligent automation, not more manual effort. If your team is aiming to crush quota this quarter, it might be time to rethink the workflow.
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Execution Discipline for CROs and VPs of Sales
Most SaaS sales organizations don’t struggle with execution rigor. They struggle with what happens after rigor is introduced. Deal standards improve. Qualification language tightens. Forecast calls sound sharper. But under pressure, something breaks. Coaching collapses back into deal inspection. Managers review what is happening, not why it keeps happening. Skill gaps stay invisible until results flatten. The system holds. The capability doesn’t. Execution rigor without enforced coaching standards eventually eats itself. Most CROs don’t see this as a leadership problem at first. It looks like noise. Or variance. Or a talent issue. By the time it’s obvious, the damage is already done.
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Startup Project Podcast - AI Startups with Product Market Fit
AI That "Vibe Codes" Your Business: From Sales Insights to Instant Action AI is moving from insights to action in ways that'll blow your mind. Gong's exec breaks down how AI now orchestrates entire sales teams - automatically surfacing missed upsells, reminding reps about forgotten opportunities, and letting leaders "vibe code" their business by instantly rolling out what works in one region to another. The wild part? What used to take months of analysis and change management now happens with a click. AI learns what's working, identifies the gaps, and deploys solutions across your entire workforce. This isn't just about productivity - it's about fundamentally changing how businesses adapt and scale. ➔ https://lnkd.in/g-yCJdST
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Flawless Inbound
🚨 Blind optimism in sales isn’t harmless. It’s COSTLY. The fix? Realistic forecasting backed by the right tools, processes, and accountability. On Pipeline Pressure, Zach Irish and Scott Sears CPA show how to turn hope into accuracy. 🎧 Watch the full clip #SalesLeadership #Forecasting #PipelinePressure
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Clari
What’s slowing down your AEs? 🐢 The answer: they are stuck in Salesforce, drowning in admin, and swivel-chairing between tabs. Clari Product Strategist Sanket Karamchandani explains how AEs can leverage Groove automate workflows, personalize at scale, and close deals faster. Learn how top sellers are turning busywork into booked meetings and increased revenue. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gSsj5yN2
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2Win!
Two sales teams. Same product. Same quarter. Radically different results. Team A runs flawless demos. Every feature gets its moment. Prospects nod politely and promise to "circle back." Deals drag on. Team B shows fewer features. Prospects lean in. Executives ask about implementation. Deals close in half the time. The difference? Team B gets something most miss: demos aren't educational events. They're persuasive ones. Here's the trap: When you turn demos into feature tours, you're teaching prospects about your solution without giving them a reason to buy it. Capability without context is just noise. The teams that win don't just show what the software does. They connect capabilities to specific business impacts that matter to each stakeholder in the room. That means speaking three languages in one demo: ✅ Operational impacts for end users (less time, fewer errors, better workflows) ✅ Departmental impacts for managers (close loans faster, reduce cycle times, increase throughput) ✅ Strategic impacts for executives (market share gains, competitive advantage, cost reduction) Most teams spend 80% of demo time on operational details and hope someone connects the dots. Elite teams flip it. They open at the strategic level, prove capabilities operationally, then climb back up to reinforce the value. And here's what nobody talks about: Buyers judge what life will be like using your solution based on how your sales team interacts during the evaluation. When prospects see you and your SE interrupting each other or looking disorganized, they're not just judging your presentation skills. They're extrapolating what implementation and support will look like. Seamless collaboration during the demo signals seamless delivery after the contract. What's your team doing to move from feature tours to persuasive demos? #SalesEnablement #DemoExcellence
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CoachEm
Most sales kickoffs create energy but rarely change outcomes. Every January, sales teams leave SKO energized and aligned. By March, most of that momentum is gone. That does not mean the strategy was wrong. It means SKO was asked to do a job it was never designed to do Real performance change happens in the weeks that follow, when managers are under pressure and reps fall back on habit. Without a coaching system to reinforce priorities, even the best strategy fades fast. I wrote this piece after watching the same pattern repeat across sales organizations year after year. The difference between teams that compound and teams that reset is not motivation. It is reinforcement. If your Q1 always starts strong and ends flat, this is for you. Why Sales Kickoffs Fail: https://hubs.la/Q03-NzZS0 #SKO #SalesKickoff
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