Here's why sales leaders make effective CEOs

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When I started my career over 20 years ago, I quickly realized that there were specific things that would help me stand out in a crowded field. Later, I discovered that these same skills would shape my leadership style and ultimately drive my success as CEO – the role I currently hold at digital employee experience (DEX) company, 1E.

Sales is a very valuable experience as a CEO, as many of the required characteristics and skills learned apply directly to the role and responsibilities of leading an organization. Here are key learnings from my sales career about what it takes to be an effective leader in today's environment.

Related: So You're in Sales, But You (Secretly) Aspire to Be a CEO. Here's how to do it.

Great leaders create an inclusive and motivated community that makes people feel like they're part of something bigger than themselves. We constantly see this play out on the sales floor, where everyone unifies working towards a common goal. Business salespeople instinctively understand that the value of team camaraderie is just as important as the product or the market.

Building a community is all about people. You can have star players within an organization, but you don't just win with them. You win when you have a cohesive team working in unison. At 1E, we build community by building on good operations, minimal politics, and making sure everyone feels like they're part of the decision-making process. When you have a large community, you build trust within an organization and are able to get people focused on a common outcome.

A McKinsey and Company study found that 70% of employees feel their motivation is related to their work. Employees who feel a sense of belonging and purpose are more motivated and productive. It's critical for leaders to cultivate this in the age of the big quit, where burnout is more common than not.

To be successful in sales, you need to have a high degree of emotional intelligence so you can quickly and accurately read people and situations. It means having a high degree of empathy to meet your customers where they are and understand the barriers to their success.

In the world of sales, it often happens that the most promising people fail to achieve their goals because they lack empathy and the ability to connect with prospects. The best way to connect with people and build strong connections is through authenticity. This criterion also applies to employees. Employees don't want their leaders to pretend: leaders need to be themselves to earn the trust of their people.

Authenticity in the face of adversity is also essential. In sales, there will always be certain obstacles that will get in your way (i.e. product delays), but the best salespeople are resilient. The same goes for CEOs: setbacks are natural and often beyond a leader's control, but employees will watch how a CEO responds in the face of adversity and how they guide the company accordingly.

Related: Here's Why So Many Successful Entrepreneurs Got Started in Sales

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