Leadership Coaching: How To Get Promoted With Eric Turbiville

POSTED ON May 26, 2021

Imagine that you’re giving a speech on a podium in front of a hundred people. How would you feel? Are you giving off the correct body language and confidence? Those are some of the things people look for in a leader – to have that executive presence. Without that, your next promotion may take some time. Join your host, Samuel Gbadebo, and his guest, Eric Turbiville, in a discussion about the characteristics needed in a leader. Eric is the author of The Perfect Leadership Triad. He worked for Novo Nordisk as the VP of Sales. He then changed his career path to becoming an Executive Coach with his own organization. Don’t miss this episode to discover how you can reach that next step in your career.

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Leadership Coaching: How To Get Promoted With Eric Turbiville

We have with us, Eric Turbiville. He’s a special guest because he comes from the pharmaceutical space. He worked for Novo Nordisk as the VP of Sales but what’s interesting about his career track is he then took that on to become an Executive Coach with his own organization. He is a respected author with his book, The Perfect Leadership Triad. It’s so interesting to know his experiences because he has all the insight and value from being a VP but he continues to enhance that value and get much deeper insights by coaching executives in multiple industries including healthcare. This is going to be an amazing episode. As always, thank you for reading the blog. I do hope you enjoy this interview.

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Eric, how are we doing?

I’m doing well. How are you doing, Samuel?

Just another day in 2021, trying to make things happen. Everybody we have with us, Eric Tuberville. Why don’t you tell the audience who you are and what you do?

I am a former Pharmaceutical Executive. The most recent position that I held in pharma before leaving was Vice President of Sales for Novo Nordisk, where I led teams of up to 800 people. I spent about over 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry. A couple of years ago, I left to pursue my passion, which is inspiring, coaching and developing people as a Credential and Executive Coach. I do coaching of executives, pretty much director and above in organizations. I also do leadership development workshops. I’m the author of a fairly new book called The Perfect Leadership Triad, which is a book about leadership. The book is based on my beliefs around three key principles of leadership and that is focusing on your people, your coaching and your performance.

That’s an interesting jump. What you did is very unique. Most people, when they get to that space that you were in as Vice President, what are they thinking to do? As far as career progression. Most people at that time say, “I want to try some entrepreneurial,” or most of them say, “I want to continue this track and take it to a different level.” What’s usually going on?

Most executives are focused on the career ladder, moving up in an organization. For me, it was a little different because I live in Dallas and I did not want to relocate to the Northeast for family reasons and such. My career was limited because there were only so many executive positions that were based in the field. When executives are in the home office, they tend to want to grow in an organization and take on other responsibilities and other roles. I have seen a lot of my peers move up in organizations up to the president, CEO of organizations and grow their careers. For me, I wanted to become an entrepreneur and pursue my passion.

How long had that bug been there? Was that always there during your career or did it blossom one day? What did you do that from?

It blossomed towards the end of my career when I realized that I wanted to spend the end of my career, my working years, doing something full-time that I really did love to do. As I mentioned, that’s inspiring, coaching and developing people. I get to do that all day. That’s my job. No meetings, no Zoom meetings, nothing like that. I just get to do what I enjoy doing.

Talk to us about what got you to the pharma in the first place. Take it back to college. What was your major? What were you doing and why pharmaceutical stuff?

I was a Spanish and Psychology double major. I didn’t select the pharmaceutical industry. It selected me. I graduated in May. I was supposed to start law school in August. I needed a summer job. I saw this ad for a pharmaceutical rep. You’ve got a car, you’ve got benefits and you’ve got money which I hadn’t had in college. I took the position and I loved it so much that I delayed entry into law school for another year. Ultimately, I never went back to law school because I loved what I was doing in the pharma industry. I started as a sales rep and it was fun. I enjoyed it and it felt like I was having an impact on patients. It was like you were helping somebody in their lives.

[bctt tweet=”Money shouldn’t be the number one motivator for you to do your job.” username=””]

You change up gears then. You are right. Pharma was an opportunity you never saw coming. When you’ve got into your career when you perform as a sales rep, what is your progression through different spaces? It’s organic. You are performing, you did well, you thought about leadership and you’ve got to management. Was there much more to that story?

It was pretty organic because I figured it out and I tell the story in my book. One of the first managers that I had was the exact opposite of what I write about in the book. He was very business-focused and did not care much about the people that reported to him. I made a decision one day and I was like, “I can do that job. I care about people. I want them to perform and do well.” That was one of the things that motivated me to want to go into leadership in pharmaceuticals. I did the traditional route. I was a rep, a trainer, a first-line manager and then I was promoted to be a second-line manager. I went over from sales to market access for about 7 or 8 years. I worked as an Account Executive and then a Director over account executives, then a National Director, and then moved into a VP role. It was a pretty standard progression.

For our audience that are sales reps and working in pharmaceutical sales will ask you this. There are so many spaces in pharmaceutical sales, genetic sales, molecular sales, biotech sales and medical device sales. Now that you are in this position where you coach a lot of people on these different spaces, would you say that the trajectory for a sales rep and then to move on to executive is similar in all these different spaces within healthcare or these nuances within the fields are dramatically different?

There are a lot of similarities. The one thing I would say is a lot of companies to become an executive, you have to have either market access and marketing experiences. I never really had a marketing experience. I had six months of marketing as a preceptor and I figured out real fast, I’m not a marketer. I’m a sales guy. The one thing I would say is that I have friends who left pharma to go into a device or other areas and they didn’t want to become managers because they would make more money as a rep than a manager. The reps in some of these companies are making more money than their managers. I have never believed that it’s a number one motivator for people but if it is a major motivator for you in some of those verticals, you may not want to go into management.

However, when you ascend that ladder and get to where you were vice-president, then even the compensation matches whatever your dreams were. If you were a sales rep, wanting to get higher and you also want to make money, would you say that’s fair?

Yeah, definitely.

With our sales rep audience, since they are all similar within the different healthcare fields, what would you say sales rep should be thinking about as they are performing. Think about your performer. He wants to get to leadership. What things he or she needs to keep top of mind?

Keep in mind if there are opportunities on any team that you are on to take on additional responsibilities. Take on projects or other types of responsibilities that maybe your manager will give you. The other thing I would say is to start acting like you already have that management position. Start doing, thinking, acting like you are the manager and you will start developing the skills that you need to be the manager.

I want to bring up a belief out there that you can move up when you are a top performer but there’s also this belief that you don’t have to be a top performer to move up. Can you speak a little bit about that? If you are not a top performer, you are a solid performer but you are doing good enough, what type of things can that type of person demonstrate that can allow them to still get into a management role in a daily role from a self-reflection?

I think that most people will agree that top performers don’t always make the best leaders. They are great individual contributors but they are not always leadership material. I like to look at top performers but also very solid performers like you were referring to and look at the skills they developed along the way. Look to see if they have emotional intelligence, which is vital to be successful as a leader. I will give you an example. As a VP, one of my directors was out on leave, we had a first-line management position open. I was going to be part of the initial interviews. There was a woman that was a specialty sales rep for us but I met her at a meeting and I was so impressed with her and she really wanted to interview for the DBM position. I was like, “This is way outside of what we normally do,” but I was so impressed with her as a performer, her skills and her ability to present herself. I interviewed her. In the interviews, she did better than people who were currently managers and people who were trainers and had worked through the career progression ladder. I said, “How did you develop these leadership skills?”

MSP 50 | Leadership Coaching — Leadership Coaching Most executives are focused on the career ladder They tend to want to grow in an organization and take on other responsibilities and roles

She was a member and a leader for the Healthcare Business Women’s Association, HBA, which I would strongly encourage female leaders in the healthcare industry across the board to look into HBA because there are some great opportunities for volunteer work, leadership work and to develop those skills. She told me she developed those skills in HBA. Ultimately, I didn’t hire her because there was another manager who came in that transferred but she was the second-best candidate. She was a sales rep. It’s building those leadership skills, that emotional intelligence, ability to have empathy and get people to follow you along the way because they trust you.

I want to transition to the next level in that. Think about the manager that now wants to become an executive. As you share it in a bit, they demonstrate a lot of skills. They have emotional intelligence. They are a leader but they want to take things to a different level. What do they need to keep in mind and what should they be thinking about as they have their eye on that?

I would say one of the most important things in their network because I have seen very qualified people not get promoted because the hiring managers don’t know those people very well. Having a relationship and a mentor that is at a higher level, understanding who is going to be able to hire you and knowing what your plan is so that you can start networking with the people that are going to be able to hire you. Does that seem super qualified people not get promoted because they didn’t have a network? I have seen people that you look at and you go, “Are they that good?”

What I have seen a lot is, you have a manager, he wants to be an executive and the opportunity is not there because he doesn’t have the network. Maybe the skills are falling short on the decision as far as the deficient makers are concerned. Something is missing, but then you do find them in a different company, a smaller company and they do now have an executive position. How often do you see that and do you advocate for that type of thing?

Yes. I have seen that a lot and I do advocate for that. You can hit the ceiling at a company and there are a lot of variables as to why that happens. You hit a ceiling, you leave the company and you end up as an executive in another company. I have seen that so many times and I do support that. I think that if you feel like you have hit a ceiling in your company and you are not feeling like you are growing anymore, you should start looking for other opportunities. That lack of growth and development is one of the top two reasons people leave jobs. We have always heard it’s the manager. It’s the main reason people leave jobs. It’s the company but they leave for other reasons too.

They want to grow. Follow me on this. You hear a lot that there shouldn’t be a time limit but is there a time limit? Is there a time you can say, “In X amount of years, I should not be in this position any longer?”

I would say you have to be careful because I have seen people who were on fast tracks to get promoted every twelve months and there’s no way in twelve months that you can excel in a position, know it or understand it. I have seen people that run from one position to another position and they are running from stuff their whole career. There’s that side of it where people don’t stay in positions long enough to prove themselves. On the other hand, there are times when people stay in positions too long. I can remember, I was a first-line manager and I was in an organization that I hit a ceiling at. I will never forget, I was working to get promoted and in two different positions that didn’t work out for me and I was an internal candidate. Finally, the VP said, “Maybe you should be happy being a first-line manager.”

Did they give you that talk?

Yeah, we’ve got that talk. I thought, “That’s a pretty good signal that my career here is not going to progress much more.”

Again, let’s quantify it. What’s too long in your opinion?

Are you referring to any given position?

[bctt tweet=”If you want to be a leader, you need to take on all kinds of responsibility and act like you’re the manager.” username=””]

If it’s different depending on the position, please explain that. I’m trying to get to several what can people keep in mind if this is probably too long.

I honestly think that if you have been in a position over about five years, you probably are going to be a little limited but there are exceptions to that. Maybe it was because you couldn’t relocate because of the ages of your kids or certain situations and the promotion requires a relocation. I would say, in most positions, it is about five years, and then you better move on before then.

When you were a rep, I’m sure you heard this kind of talk, “Did that person get tapped on the shoulder? Did he move up into whatever position?” As VP, how did you look at talent? Were you normally going over talent? Do you have people that you wanted to be groomed specifically? Was it whoever shows up in this space and does this well then we will consider them? How did you look at it when you are a VP?

I always believed in succession planning. I spent a lot of time talking about our people when I was a VP. The first hour of every one-on-one that I had with my directors was about their people. Specifically, it was about their first-line managers that they were supervising. What their goals were, how you rank your team, who’s the strongest leader, are they able, do they have the runway to get promoted to other positions? Again, I was very people-focused around that because I knew that having the right people on the team, the right leaders would drive the business. I’m being very formal about that and letting people know. If their desire is to get promoted and they are on your radar in the succession plan, you let them know because I have been in companies where they have a succession plan and the people that are on that plan don’t even know it. It is crazy. You’ve got to tell them. They are on there to keep them motivated. Let them know that you are watching them.

You were very intentional about bringing talent. What usually happened when you thought someone had it and they didn’t? What was typically the problem? How often did that happen?

It usually happened at the first line leadership level and they couldn’t make that switch to being a leader versus an individual contributor. I call it a super rep syndrome for a first-line manager. They still think that they are a sales rep and they are interrupting the sales rep when they are out in the field. They are trying to take over calls. They want people to do things the way they did it rather than what’s comfortable for the person that’s involved. That’s where the disconnect happened. Once you’ve got past the first line, if you had skills, you were going to be able to go to the second line and maybe a third line VP type position.

This comes up a lot, too and I would love to get your thoughts on this as well. You have this ambitious rep. They are after it. They are doing what’s supposed to be doing and for whatever reason, there’s a disconnect between the manager and the rep. The rep feels like, “I don’t know how I’m getting it further in my career outside of this manager.” Consider everything you have seen in your scope. What would you advise the rep to try to do to position themselves to move ahead without rocking that manager and making their lives more difficult within their position?

I used to joke, “If you don’t like your manager, wait a year and you will have a new one,” because in pharma, at least during my career for many years, there was a reorg every 12 to 18 months. People got shifted around. When I coach people, mentors or someone who’s struggling with their manager, not feeling like they are going to be able to move on in their career, move up, progress or maybe they are not getting along with the manager because of personality type things. I always say, “If you love the culture, company and the products you are selling, don’t leave because of a manager. Work your way through it.” There are times when you ultimately do have to leave because the manager is abusive or is not treating people right but you have to hope that the other leaders if you have a problematic leader in place, that everybody else sees that.

Your recommendation to this person is to be vulnerable enough that your contribution will be noticed by someone.

Yes. As a VP, I have had people who wanted to get promoted. I knew their leader was not promoting them.

Intentionally?

Yes. I have intervened in those types of situations. I let that person know that, “I see you, I see what you are doing. You are doing some great things. Hopefully, you don’t feel like no one notices because we do notice.” I know other people notice.

In my program, I’m working with a champion to get your sponsors and mentors together, I get the question of, “I really want to reach out to this sponsor or make this person my mentor but I don’t know if that’s going to make my manager feel overreaching from my position.” What are your thoughts about that?

I don’t think it’s overreaching. I will give you an example. I have a son that works for Oracle. He came right out of college. He started working for Oracle in sales. I talked to him a lot about having a mentor. Most people, when you ask them to be a mentor, will do it. As long as you let your manager know that you are seeking a mentor, that’s a couple of level higher, most managers don’t get upset at that as long as you keep them in the loop and they don’t feel threatened that you are telling on them or doing something like that. My son, who works at Oracle, talked a lot about him having a mentor. He said, “What if they say no?” I said, “I promise you, they are not going to say no to you.”

As long as you bring value to them and they will bring value to you, they will help you. Sure enough, he went to a VP. He’s an entry-level sale kid. Young guy. He goes to a VP, the VP agrees to mentor him and he has been promoted in 2.5 years. He’s getting ready to get promoted for the third time because he has that network. These are the people that are making the ultimate decision on a lot of these promotions too. Let your manager know that you want a mentor and let them know who you are thinking of or get their suggestions on who you might have as a mentor. Go seek out a mentor that can help you at least a couple of levels higher than you. I have never said no to somebody who asked me to mentor. I mentored lots of people in my career.

I know you coach a lot of different types of people from C-Suite to a sales rep. Where and which type of person is the majority of your time spent?

The majority of my time is coaching VP levels. What I love as an executive coach is that most C-Suite and VPs don’t get coaching of any kind. They are expected to know pretty much everything when they get hired for the job and while they may be learning along the way, there’s no time for most executives to get coaching from their bosses. It creates a beautiful gap for me to come and coach.

If you can share, talking about this gap, what’s missing that you noticed out of all the VPs you have been coaching and people around that level? What have you noticed is missing or that needs to be developed?

Decision-making is one of the big ones. For many executives, they don’t always have executive presence, which really encompasses a lot of characteristics and traits but you usually think of it when they walk into a room, people want to listen to them. They don’t have to be extroverts. Introverts can have as much executive presence as extroverts but decision-making, executive presence, learning to ask good questions of their people and coaching their people. Coaching is a huge gap. There are very few leaders, especially executives, who truly coach their people.

You get quite a bit there. Executive presence, coaching and decision-making. I’m assuming if they were brought into that role, they have some strong level of decision-making. When you say decision-making, what are you speaking to?

I have had some clients that want to overanalyze. They analyze and it becomes paralysis. I always believe that you get 70% to 80% of the information and you make a decision. If you need to course-correct, you course correct later but you have to make a decision, especially in our marketplace nowadays. Things are happening very quickly. You have to plan for it, you have to move quickly and make decisions. That’s probably the biggest one I see. The other one around decision-making that I see is for new executives. They don’t always have the confidence to speak up and make decisions quickly. They start trying to get leadership by consensus and getting people’s input is very important so that they feel like they are part of the decision in many cases but you can’t let a team make a decision. You are the leader. You have to make it.

[bctt tweet=”You don’t have to be the top performer to move up the ranks.” username=””]

When you say that, you are not talking about trying to play politics. You are not talking about that.

No, not at all.

You are talking about these decision-makers ready to decide because they want to make sure they have all the facts and input from everybody they can get it.

That would be the one person. The other type is a newer executive so he doesn’t quite have the confidence yet or understand the decisions that need to be made, usually fairly quickly.

When you talk about executive presence, tell me a little more about what you are talking about.

I will use the podium as one example. You are talking to a team of 800 to 1,000 people or you are talking to a team of 10 or 20. Your body language and your voice show that you are not confident. You don’t get people’s attention or they are not actively participating because they are watching you going, “What’s going on? Is this a leader? Who is this?” The more important part of executive presence to me is having characteristics and traits like people trust you that you are trustworthy, you are candid and you are open. Those are part of having an executive presence. All of those characteristics make for a great leader. When I’m coaching somebody around executive presence, I like to try to find out quickly where the gaps are. There one company that I’m a partner with that can measure the executive presence and I use one of those surveys and such to be able to figure that out.

That’s an interesting one because you would think that someone at that level demonstrates that already but you are saying they are either gets it at a higher level or people that get to that position sometimes don’t demonstrate it.

There are a lot of people that get promoted because they are technically extremely competent. I will give you an example. I was coaching an executive at a major music label and he was technically very competent. The problem was he lacked emotional intelligence and executive presence. He was going to get fired if he didn’t turn it around so I worked with him for several months on his executive presence and his emotional intelligence. He would just say things but he didn’t have a filter. It came across as grossly offensive, insensitive, just a variety of things and his direct reports were not doing well with him. He was able to turn that around and he became more confident with his team. He developed some simple things that he would do before he would talk. Not just counting to five but we had some techniques that we used with him to be able to stop and trust that people have good motives.

That makes me wonder and of course, what you can share. I’m curious to know what’s the most dramatic change that you have experienced coaching someone at this level. Wherever they started and you saw them blossom into almost a completely different person and prepare for betterment.

I was coaching a new sales VP. He had just been promoted into that role. He took over geography that had been led by someone who had a very strong will who directed his people and basically told them what to do rather than coaching them and letting them have some autonomy. The team was very much tied to that previous leader like add a little click.

That’s how they saw things getting done. Does it need to be delivered to us that way?

Yes. When this leader came in, her style was totally different. She was very candid but she didn’t play favorites. She wasn’t a political animal. She wasn’t trying to go to become the president of the company or something like that. Initially, she got very low reviews when I did the qualitative 360. Very low ratings. We worked together for six months and her ratings went from out of five, maybe a 2 or 3.5 to 4 within six months. I don’t take credit for that. She took it seriously and she evolved as a leader. There were a lot of frustrating moments for her taking over that team but she ultimately did it and gained respect. One of the things that that team realizes is that it’s okay for a leader to be different than our previous leader.

She worked with them in a way that they adopted her style as opposed to her changing the way she does things to accommodate the previous style.

As a side note, her business unit went from the bottom to the top within just over a year, which is a big organization, that’s very difficult to do. I don’t attribute it to my coaching. I attribute her changes to her learning curve as a VP because it can be like this sometimes at your learning curve.

We have talked before and you told me that you don’t just coach within the pharmaceutical and don’t suppose within healthcare, correct me if I’m wrong. I want to know what are some of the spaces that you never thought you would be coaching in that you are coaching now?

I’m coaching a CEO of a small high-tech company and I am not a tech person at all but it doesn’t matter because I don’t have to be an expert in that industry that they work in. What I have to be an expert in is how a leader is successful. This CEO has done extremely well. It’s fun because he talks about things and I don’t even understand but I don’t worry about clarifying his technical parts of the discussions. What I focus on is what he’s doing to lead his team.

Coaching is a popular word now. It’s a buzzword now. Thanks to so many of the influencers out there and professors like yourself. Coaching is so much more commonplace. However, there’s a little bit of disconnect on what coaching actually is. I would love it if you could share with us what does coaching means? What are you helping a leader or professional do?

For me, coaching is helping people think differently about a situation. Asking great questions that get to the heart of whatever it is that they are dealing with. I do this little workshop where we start with something that’s going on in the company. Why is the sales department not respected by marketing? Let’s just use that as an example. What we do is we take five minutes and all people can do is ask questions about that statement. They can’t give input, feedback and make a statement. They have to ask a question that may look something like challenging or it starts opening up windows and different ways of thinking about it until you get to the right question. When you get to the right question, then you can answer it.

For me, coaching gets to the heart of asking great questions that allow you to solve your own problems because your answer becomes your own best solution. That’s probably a very different view of some people on coaching because they think techniques and all kinds of other things. You use all that stuff in coaching but at the heart of coaching is asking great questions. The first question that people come up with or the first idea is not the best. You keep asking until you put that ladder against a wall where it’s the right question, you start climbing it and getting down into how you can solve the problem or the challenge.

Could you give a small example of this exercise that helps get to the right question? Maybe an actual question you asked in one of the groups you worked with and they ask a question that they were only allowed to ask?

I’m trying to think back. There was one where it was the market access department of an organization. If I remember right, the question was essentially why is the market access department not respected by X? I can’t remember if it was marketing or sale and why is there a disconnect between the two. The way these exercise works is that somebody will raise their hand and they will ask a question about that statement. It could be, “Is this a leadership issue? Do we do in-market access something that offends or is not effective with marketing?”

No one can answer these questions.

[bctt tweet=”As long as you bring value to someone, they will never say no to you.” username=””]

We put them all up and we make notes. Every question, we take a note on. It takes about 2 or 3 minutes before the light bulb starts coming on and people start getting it. All of a sudden, they will go, “Oh my gosh,” then they’ll ask the question. Within 3 or 4 minutes, you get to the heart of what the right question is. Again, it’s raising your hand, you ask a question and then somebody else raises their hand, ask another question that may or may not even be tied to the last person’s comments. What people want to do is they always want to critique whatever questions are asked and we don’t let that happen. It’s a fun exercise.

Should everybody have a coach?

Is it at every position?

Yes. Sales professionals, first-line leaders, VPs, CEOs and everyone in between. Should they all have coaches?

Yes, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be an outside coach. For me, a sales rep, their coach should be that first-line manager. At times, the second-line manager who works with them and who’s watching them if they are being developed to become another manager or move up in the sales ranks within the field. I do believe that everyone should have a coach. The biggest disconnect for coaching comes from VP and above. Most VPs don’t effectively coach their subordinates or their team. That’s where the disconnect comes where you need to get outside coaching.

When sales professionals get outside coaching, how do you network very well for them or have you seen them to the next level?

I haven’t seen that as much. I do know some do it. I have known sales reps who do, not just the business part of coaching. Some of them get life coaches to help them navigate through the challenges that they are having in their life or help them get perspective on what it is that they really want to accomplish and where they want to go in their career. Life coaches are great. I personally think that most business coaches, if you are a credential executive coach that can help somebody with those life issues too throughout the coaching process. Bill Gates said, “Everyone needs a coach.”

I’m a big fan of that. For example, in our program, we train and coach sales reps. I think it’s still useful because they are going through a lot of scenarios that they are not sure they can bring to their manager, they are not sure they could bring to their colleagues, or they just have no how to navigate, to begin with. To be able to go to an outside source, get a lot of value, go back to your company and do things differently provides values for them in their career.

There’s training that reps get. You sound like what you are doing is more coaching too, which is going to help them navigate their career or network more effectively, move on in their career because they know how to work with other leaders. That’s critical. I don’t see it as often. It would be great. If somebody is a sales rep and they want to progress in their career, even if it’s just for a couple of months, get a coach and have them help you. Find somebody who has got the experience. Someone like you has a lot of experience dealing with pharmaceuticals and healthcare in general because you can help them.

Training, coaching, are both critically important and they can go a long way, especially at the self-professional level. As you were saying, there’s a gap with VP’s but it’s just not available to them. I’m under the impression that a lot of companies are starting to realize the necessity and coaching their VPs and they are looking for outside sources to do that. You were saying that it’s still not being met very well or that’s not for you?

Some companies have recognized how effective coaching is. There’s a Deloitte study that shows that the number one management tool that you can use to drive performance is coaching. More organizations are starting to listen to those outside sources like that and say, “What does coaching look like?” The first thing you have to do is define coaching because most people don’t know what coaching is. I think more organizations are but there are still big gaps in organizations.

That’s why you are here doing your thing.

Eric, this was great. I’m so glad you’ve got to spend time with us. One thing I always ask when someone like yourself comes on the show, what overarching theme would you like to leave for all the readers here? Some of our readers are CEOs, VPs, self-manager, sales reps, and people that want to get into the industry. If there’s one thing you can share with everyone, your overarching theme and how you do things, what would it be?

Find a mentor and find a coach. Usually, a mentor isn’t necessarily coaching you. They are doing other things but you need a coach and a mentor. If you get those things, it may lead to a sponsor that supports you and is going to help you get promoted in your career. Even if you don’t want to go up in your career, having a mentor is still important. Even if you don’t want to climb the career ladder, finding a mentor is vital to your success. I lead for the Southwest region of HBA, the mentoring program. It’s amazing the impact. We do group mentoring and I was a mentor too. In 2020, we had a group of five mentees. 3 out of the 5 wanted to get promotions within their company and during the six months that we did the mentoring program, three of them were promoted, which is amazing. The mentees in the group contributed to that just as much as the mentors. There were 2 mentors and 5 mentees, whether it’s a group mentorship or an individual mentor, find one because it’s going to help you in your career.

Eric, it was a pleasure to see you. Thanks for the time. We are going to follow up with you and find out what you are doing a little bit.

Thanks, Samuel.

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That was part one with Eric Turbiville. Make sure you tune in for part two. Make sure you get his book as well. It’s such an insightful read. He’s nailed leadership. You get to see why he’s so effective in his role as an Executive Coach. If you are someone that wants to get into the industry, whether it be healthcare sales, medical devices, pharmaceutical, genetic testing, you need to reach out to us. Maybe you are out there and you have been trying to get an interview or you’ve been interviewing and you are not landing anything or you know you want to be in the field but you have no idea where to even start, let us help you. Visit the EvolveYourSuccess.com, select Attain A Medical Sales Position, go ahead and register and you will be able to attend one of our group client sessions, see exactly what we do and why we’ve had so much success in helping professionals get into the industry and get to where they want to be.

If you are leading a team and you want to make your sales team more effective anywhere in the healthcare sales space or you want to teach them new methods to get access in different ways, maybe with social selling and you are thinking of what can I do, make sure you check us out on LinkedIn. You can visit our company, EvolveYourSuccess.com, or you can find me directly under Samuel Adeyinka, and shoot me a message. One of our client specialists will reach out to you and have a nice discussion with you about where you can take your company, your organization, your team and the different things that you can do utilizing our programs. As always, I thank you for reading the blog and make sure you tune in for part two with Eric Turbiville.

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About Eric Turbiville

I am a credentialed Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and hold an MBA degree. I am the author of the forthcoming book, The Perfect Leadership Triad: How Top Executives Maximize Productivity through People, Coaching, and Performance. I am also a keynote speaker.

My passion is coaching and developing people using a question-centered problem-solving approach that helps my clients develop smarter solutions. I have had the privilege of coaching and mentoring many executives across multiple industries.

My philosophy is people-focused, coaching-centered, and performance-driven. I focus on helping leaders maximize performance and results. I believe that if people know you care about and respect them, they will be more engaged and work harder for you. I believe that the key to an executive’s success is strong emotional intelligence.

I conduct one-on-one executive coaching, coach high potential employees, team coaching, and onboarding of new executives. My training workshops include leadership development, improving executive presence, sales process and how to hire and develop a high-performing team. My keynote addresses include Why Employees Matter, Building and Leading a High-Performing Team, and The Perfect Leadership Triad: How Top Executives Maximize Productivity through People, Coaching, and Performance.

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