Welcome to Inside Sales Enablement, Season three, where we take a leap into the enablement time machine and...
> Take a look back with those who played a part in enablement history.
> Pause in the present and hit on a few modern themes
> And then shift our focus to the future and what it may bring for enablement teams.
Hello and welcome! I'm Erich Starrett. I started out as an ISE "Insider Nation" devotee of Sales Enablement Society founding father Scott, Santucci, and trailblazer Dr. Brian Lambert. I then collaborated with them to build OrchestrateSales.com, the global home for the podcast and related resources for Enablement Orchestrators and sales enablement history.
Why? Well as a sales enablement history nerd with a passion for the continued elevation of the profession. I see it as the Sales Enablement Smithsonian and, more specifically, an opportunity to serve you - the global enablement community.
Together, we will revisit the wisdom of the treasures therein as well as uncover some new ones with a series of special guests, which may even include you.
The foundation of cross-functional and enablement orchestration was established in the three founding principles signed into existence by the hundred-ish fore-founders of the SES back in Palm beach in 2016, for which this week in the studio is the seven year anniversary.
So in celebration after a year of hiatus, we're knocking the dust off the orchestrate sales.com property.
In the first episode we had Sales Enablement Society founding father Scott Santucci as our special guest, focusing on before the SES and how it almost didn't even exist.
Today, Scott rejoins me in the orchestrate sales studios, as we land alongside the a hundred-ish, fore-founders in Palm beach, back in November of 2016, where, and when the Sales Enablement Society officially began.
Mentioned in this episode:
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Welcome to the Inside Sales Enablement Podcast.
2
:Where has the profession been?
3
:Where is it now?
4
:And where is it heading?
5
:What does it mean to you?
6
:Your company?
7
:Other functions?
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:The market?
9
:Find out here.
10
:The Inside Sales Enablement
Podcast starts now.
11
:Erich Starrett: Hello and welcome
to inside sales enablement.
12
:Season three, where we take a leap
into the enablement time machine
13
:and take a look back with those who
played a part in enablement history.
14
:Pause in the present and hit on a
few modern themes, and then shift
15
:our focus to the future and what
it may bring for enablement teams.
16
:Hi, I'm Erich Starrett.
17
:And I started out in the inside sales
enablement audience, listening to sales
18
:enablement society founding father
Scott, Santucci, and trailblazer Dr.
19
:Brian Lambert, and then collaborated with
them to build orchestrates sales.com.
20
:The global home for the
podcast and related resources
21
:for enablement orchestrators
and sales enablement history.
22
:Why?
23
:Well as a sales enablement history
nerd with a passion for the continued
24
:elevation of the profession.
25
:I see it as the sales enablement,
Smithsonian, and more specifically,
26
:an opportunity to serve you the
global enablement community.
27
:Together, we will revisit the wisdom of
the treasures therein as well as uncover
28
:some new ones with a series of special
guests, which may even include you.
29
:The foundation of cross-functional and
enablement orchestration was established
30
:in the three founding principles signed
into existence by the hundred-ish
31
:forefounders of the SES back in Palm
beach in:
32
:the studio is the seven year anniversary.
33
:So in celebration after a year of
hiatus, we're knocking the dust off
34
:the orchestrate sales.com property.
35
:In the first episode we had sales
enablement society, founding father
36
:Scott Santucci as our special guest,
focusing on before the SES and
37
:how it almost didn't even exist.
38
:Today, Scott rejoins me here in the
orchestrate sales studios, as we land
39
:alongside the a hundred ish, four
founders in Palm beach, back in November
40
:of 2016, where, and when the sales
enablement society officially began.
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:Scott.
42
:, but let's get in a time
machine and head to Palm Beach.
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:So back to the article, thinking through
how we keep the organic nature of
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:spreading whatever it is we were doing,
but also trying to find a way To have
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:strength in numbers, I was inspired by
the Continental Congress the colonies
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:used in 1776 that ultimately led to
one of the most unusual documents,
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:the Declaration of Independence.
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:We resolved to have a meeting where
we'd invite delegates representing
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:all of the flavors of our community
and put it out there on LinkedIn.
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:Given the emergent nature of the
role, we decided we're going to
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:Build an organizational model
completely in support of our members
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:experience and designed for growth.
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:In other words, we're not going
to build silos and go down the
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:path more chosen that's broken.
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:Going back to that point in time, you
ended up landing in founding positions.
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:Before I dive into those, anything
you'd like to say about the
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:Continental Congress, how that landed
in that outcome, and is that what
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:you envisioned from the beginning?
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:Scott Santucci: Okay, so If we know
our history, our founding fathers
60
:made the Declaration of Independence,
then they fought a very long war, they
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:won their Declaration, they won their
independence, they created this government
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:under the Articles of Confederation,
and then they created a Constitution.
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:design of how to organize would
be more akin to the Constitution.
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:We're not there in that story.
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:We're in the hey, how do we get A group of
delegates from different states together
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:and convene to decide whether or not
we're going to declare independence and
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:declare independence from who for what.
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:So this is step 1 and all the
prerequisites before and why would
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:we even do this in the 1st place?
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:That's not how you do meetings.
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:That's not how you set up groups,
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:so if you go back, I said, okay,
I'm willing to put my political
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:capital in my high paying management
consulting job with a bunch of other
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:stuffy management consultants to
carve out space in this really
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:stuffy thing to get 20 people there.
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:Let's work backwards from that from
what that experience needs to look
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:like to make that a good good event.
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:Our goal was to get 20 people there.
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:We're going to double down on the
social media lessons learned that
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:I never would have learned if I if
Jill Rowley didn't challenge me and
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:we didn't compare notes afterwards.
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:I had to first figure out how
to explain this meeting to the
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:management consulting people and see
whether or not we could get a room.
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:what would that cost us.
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:How do I prevent it from other partners
they're using it to try to pitch,
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:how do we give it that distinction?
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:How do we set up what the things are
and how do I help people realize that?
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:Okay, we have to work in a lightweight.
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:Creative way, but these are business
people that are going to be really annoyed
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:if we don't, be buttoned down to, how
do we balance those particular things?
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:So that got really stressful.
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:But along the way we would put things
out and there were two key incidences
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:that I thought were pretty unique
between . September and November.
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:So people are like what's the agenda?
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:It's I don't know.
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:How am I supposed to
know what the agenda is?
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:I don't know yet.
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:You're either going to come or
you're not going to come, right?
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:So he says, what does the meeting?
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:And I said, I don't know, Terry.
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:It's going to be this and this, and
we're going to cover this and it's
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:going to be this kind of format.
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:I'm going to run it just like the sales
and the ones that we did at Forrester.
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:And . Okay.
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:I'm in.
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:Okay, cool.
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:And that was from, he was
going to fly in from amsterdam.
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:Think of the commitment that guy is taking
and the fact that he's doing it and he
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:has to explain why he's going to do it.
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:And he doesn't even have an agenda.
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:Erich Starrett: I'm having empathy for
you thinking, wow, , this guy's doing this
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:and I don't know what's going to happen,
but you put all the cards on the table.
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:You did not overset expectations,
people trusted you and wanted
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:to be a part of that experience.
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:And they made the bet.
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:Scott Santucci: But I think that the
thing is that it's the shared risk.
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:That's important, right?
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:Be aware that some of the people
here are flying in and they're taking
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:some risks to anybody who was in
that 100 or are involved in that
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:we're taking some degree of risk.
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:, there isn't a button down approach.
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:This is brand new.
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:Jen Marie did a lot of
work to, organize it.
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:Nicole did a lot of work to support it.
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:Raul did a lot of work.
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:We had a special role for Jen
Burns that I'll talk about later.
127
:I love her role that she had
in that founding meeting.
128
:We invited Gerhard see what happens
but I think where it really got a lot
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:of momentum, and this is something
that , maybe you could broker this.
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:Okay.
131
:I've begged for years for Bob Britton to
just talk about this one little issue.
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:He said, Hey, I like what this is.
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:It's the land of misfit
toys and it about it.
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:And what that did is it validated a
lot of the things that we're doing.
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:And in that moment he was just being Bob,
being designed or engineered or whatever.
136
:And the spike that we
had in activity was huge.
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:So we went from a situation from,
worrying about whether 20 were going
138
:to be there to suddenly we've got 40
people who are committed . Now I'm
139
:having conversations annoying the
hell out of the events people at AGI.
140
:The room that you were going
to give us isn't big enough.
141
:Do I have to cap attendance?
142
:Then we go from were goal was 20
we get to 40, then we're at 50.
143
:We got to change venue again, who's
going to get who's going to feed
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:these people, all these expenses and
people are getting anxious as hell.
145
:What kind of signage do
we need to have these?
146
:This is the feedback that I'm getting
on the . On the AGI side, should we
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:escalate it to the management team?
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:Then we get to 75.
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:We had a hundred people show up
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:. thE other thing too, is
that the conference..
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:Some people were flying in early
that night, . Some people were in
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:there for the sales enablement thing.
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:And some people were, we're
here for, the AGI thing.
154
:And the crowd of people that
knew me from Forrester, it
155
:was a different vibe than the.
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:Sort of a corporate vibe of
a management consulting firm.
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:I'll let you imagine
those differences there.
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:Shouting.
159
:Hey, Santucci
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:so what happened is that Brian
arranged for everybody to meet
161
:beforehand for a breakfast beforehand.
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:So people came in, with
a really great attitude.
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:And how we ran that meeting was I first
gave a presentation, maybe I can find
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:that that was about 20 minutes that
just went through, here's the history.
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:And then we had three
positions that we took.
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:There's the North star is
the VP of productivity.
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:The 2nd, 1, is that we
recognize that there's a lot.
168
:Of flavors of it, and we
need to be inclusive of the
169
:flavors, not stomping them out.
170
:Is in order to make it work within a,
the latticework of a, of an organization,
171
:it's got to be set up and managed and
run like a business within a business.
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:ANd I think that was by far the most
popular topic among among those groups.
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:Zero debate about the definition because
since this is a about a vision and a
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:North Star, there's no debate what
happens with definitions is they
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:become grounds to exclude people.
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:My turf.
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:This is what it is.
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:Absolutely.
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:And when you debate that
all you do is argue.
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:You don't, you don't
create consensus that way.
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:So none of that was occurring.
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:It was, this is a position.
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:Do you agree with the
position or don't you?
184
:Yes or no.
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:And debate it, argue it because we're
going to put it on paper and we're going
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:to, we're going to take a position here
that the hundred of us are representing
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:all the people who aren't there.
188
:So that's how that meeting worked.
189
:The first topic was, if we do
this, what will our mission be?
190
:And then had a draft.
191
:For people to react to, I learned from
that example that I shared with you
192
:about the VPs of sales on one side and
the VPs of marketing on the other side.
193
:Give somebody something for
people to react to rather than
194
:a clean white sheet of paper.
195
:Each table, I think there are about
eight tables there, had to come up with a
196
:position for each one of those different
parts, and then argue their position or
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:state what their reaction was to that
position statement, and then we would
198
:say, okay, what about these elements do
we agree, and then whichever table had the
199
:best one, we sent them out in the room to
write it up, Moved on to the next topic.
200
:So the format was in each
one, it's like a gate.
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:It was a mini agenda within an agenda.
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:Hey, here's the frame of reference.
203
:Here's how we got here,
then here's the first topic.
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:What would our charter be?
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:I didn't come up with it, the 100
people in the room came up with it.
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:Erich Starrett: Everyone's DNA was in it.
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:was in it.
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:Yeah.
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:I love it.
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:Scott Santucci: Yeah.
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:Each table had their
like a tournament, right?
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:Each table reacted to it.
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:Each table talked about it.
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:We all agreed.
215
:And then then we assigned
one table to go write it up.
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:We also had people meeting outside to
say,, how would you set up chapters?
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:What would that look like?
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:Daniel was out there cause he already
got told he was going to be a chapter
219
:leader, but Jill Guardia was there.
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:Carol Sustala was out there.
221
:If we did it, what, how would
it, how would you make it work?
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:So the main topic were
these three positions.
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:So the next position was,
Hey what are the flavors?
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:In other words, what's the
scope of sales enablement?
225
:We had some discussion there we talked
about different viewpoints, how we
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:in Virginia were being welcoming of
marketing people, product people,
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:anybody who had a hand in driving
more sales, anybody we wanted to
228
:welcome as part of this discussion,
we didn't want to exclude anybody.
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:We didn't want to say one group
knows more than the other.
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:And the guy who runs the technology
marketing leaders group, Mike lock
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:in front of everybody, one person by
himself, and he scolded everybody from
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:being not inclusive of marketers enough.
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:And I'm like, amen, brother.
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:I agree.
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:This is too heavy on sales
mechanics or whatever.
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:We're never going to
build an inclusive group.
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:If we don't have more tentacles
to be inclusive or even the word
238
:choices to make people that way.
239
:I love that he challenged everybody on
that and he was , 100 percent right.
240
:So what do we do to accommodate
these particular views?
241
:Is it reasonable that anybody's
going to be able to be the VP
242
:of sales productivity, which
is what the end state goal was.
243
:Are we going to be able to promote
and elevate the role if we don't
244
:have the ability to work among
and within an organization?
245
:Of the hundred people there,
I'd say 40 of them were VP
246
:level folks, major corporations.
247
:And none of them thought that's doable.
248
:You can't make this a function that
you wall off so well because You
249
:can't connect into the matrix of
how big corporations are organized.
250
:You have to be a fabric.
251
:You can't be a silo.
252
:We had some tough times.
253
:We had one guy stand up and say.
254
:Hey I disagree that we can
be the VP of productivity.
255
:If we put that out there,
I'm going to get fired.
256
:That's when I thought Robert
Peterson shined the most.
257
:He basically said, so you're just going
to basically say that all organizations
258
:have to be organized the way that
they're organized this way forever.
259
:That doesn't make sense.
260
:You can change your
organizational structure.
261
:That's in your control, right there.
262
:There's the value of having
an academic in the room.
263
:Because if somebody in a corporate
environment won't ever think
264
:they can talk that way, but it's
ridiculous to think that you can't
265
:ever change your organization because
you can, it's in your control.
266
:And by the way, in that moment,
Sheevaun said, I'm going to do that.
267
:I want to do that role.
268
:That's going to be my role.
269
:Erich Starrett: And she proved it.
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:Scott Santucci: Yeah.
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:She, and she's proved it right.
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:She said that in that room right there.
273
:And another person that really was
exciting to me around that space
274
:and time was Chris Kingman, and
he challenged us all saying, you
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:guys are a bunch of old people.
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:He didn't say it this way.
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:Okay.
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:I'm just paraphrasing.
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:Erich Starrett: You have
creative license, Scott.
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:Go.
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:Scott Santucci: I do get creative license.
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:But clearly everybody knows
if you're listening to us,
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:I'm bragging on him, right?
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:Of course.
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:Yes.
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:But he says, Hey, you guys
are a bunch of old people.
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:You're not representing the
voices of any millennials.
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:I'm like, damn, you're spot on.
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:He's exactly right.
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:How do we create more room
to have those voices heard?
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:Erich Starrett: What about were there
key players that spoke out in the
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:sales enablement is a cross functional
problem and to be successful should be
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:run as a business within a business?
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:Scott Santucci: I talked about
Mike challenging everybody
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:, you're being exclusive.
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:You're not factoring in marketing.
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:I very much agreed with that.
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:I think after that, the
discussion about business within
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:a business had so much energy.
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:Each table had their own spin on it.
301
:And each table had their
own way of talking about it.
302
:That was additive.
303
:In group public environments,
it gets presented as one way and
304
:people debate how that won't work.
305
:But what happened in the room was
this is a great foundation and on,
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:on this foundation, I can change
this out or swap this in, but I
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:can still make the foundation work
308
:instead of it's an answer.
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:It's an architecture.
310
:And because of this architecture, this
allows me to do these kinds of things.
311
:And with people with a large span
of control is really helpful.
312
:So the debate wasn't debate.
313
:It was, yeah, and you could do this
and we could build this on top of that.
314
:And this structure has to be here
and you have to bound it this
315
:way because of these reasons.
316
:It's not a creative debate to let
everybody have their own answer.
317
:It was because this is a architecture,
the boundaries create the things
318
:to enable success to happen.
319
:If we embrace the constraints of
this, it allows us to do way more.
320
:If we keep tweaking it and debating
it 80 ways to Sunday it's worthless.
321
:So I wouldn't say there was any one.
322
:It was so collaborative.
323
:If anything.
324
:I had to be really mindful to
to stop the conversations and
325
:say, so what do we agree on?
326
:What will we publish?
327
:Because we still had to write
up, the things we agreed on.
328
:Then before we go, everybody
has to sign this document.
329
:So we made this thing in the
back that everybody had to sign.
330
:And I also had a rule.
331
:It must be unanimous.
332
:Oh, that's great.
333
:Whatever we agree on, we have to document.
334
:That's why people in the room
went and documented those things.
335
:We assembled it together.
336
:Then we have to read it out.
337
:We have to have a unanimous agreement.
338
:But before we do any of that, we
have what my favorite role was.
339
:I mentioned Jen Burns.
340
:Yeah.
341
:Jen Burns role the entire time
wasn't really to participate.
342
:It was to take notes for
people who weren't there.
343
:Her job was to challenge all of us
collectively from the point of view
344
:of people like her, in the room.
345
:And I, I just think it's a stroke of
genius because Jen's a little bit cynical.
346
:Anyway, you'd never know it meeting
her, but she is, and to give her this
347
:kind of cynical role to challenge us
and be combative, and she was so great.
348
:It's you guys said this and this,
what the hell does this mean?
349
:And she was, she played the
role perfectly and I was like,
350
:these are all great points.
351
:Do we agree that we're now
just speaking our own language?
352
:Let's answer her questions.
353
:They're legitimate questions.
354
:Let's answer them.
355
:And it was great because it made
things even tighter, which facilitated
356
:the, okay, let's go through.
357
:Have we been thorough?
358
:Did we do this?
359
:Did we do that?
360
:Did we do this?
361
:Do we unanimously agree on these things?
362
:And we got unanimous agreement.
363
:Great.
364
:Now what I'd like you to do is based
on that, go sign that document because
365
:you guys all did it and that you're
assigning this, you're committing
366
:yourselves to making this work.
367
:And that was the meeting.
368
:Erich Starrett: That's phenomenal.
369
:I would love for the museum to have
the signed document and the Jen
370
:Burns notes, the bad cop notes.
371
:Scott Santucci: But we have some
pictures of one of my favorite
372
:pictures is Jen's with the
microphone sort of challenging us.
373
:Erich Starrett: Scott, what a neat peek
into the room where it happened literally.
374
:Do you feel like they apply today?
375
:Scott Santucci: We did publish, what
the rules were for the meeting and
376
:people were expected to read periods.
377
:So would I say.
378
:That meeting format is applicable today.
379
:100%.
380
:Would I say giving people
pre reads and having well
381
:documented rules before meetings?
382
:Absolutely.
383
:I think that's important.
384
:And the forcing function of saying,
we're going to accomplish these things
385
:and no one leaves until they're done.
386
:I would say having a gated process
to follow definitely is something
387
:that is is very important.
388
:And then you could say, what were
the outcomes on the three positions?
389
:Are the three positions still valid?
390
:I think the point is just
like you would critique.
391
:Okay.
392
:The Declaration of Independence
says nothing about how the
393
:country is going to be organized.
394
:It basically just says, hey, king,
it's silly that you have power.
395
:We think that power, we
think God gives us the power.
396
:And we think that the, that a good
ruler is at the consent of the governed.
397
:And these are the reasons
why we think you're a tyrant.
398
:And because of that, we break up.
399
:That's...
400
:That's the gist of what the
Declaration of Independence is.
401
:When those people signed it,
they were committing treason.
402
:What happens to you in 1776 is
you get drawn and quartered.
403
:So by signing it, they're
signing their death sentence.
404
:These people came to a meeting where
thEy didn't know what to expect.
405
:Some people from their time, some
people made the risk of of doing
406
:it, and they signed their names to
something they had the courage . We
407
:created the right environment
so that the debate could occur.
408
:They argued and they allowed
the best ideas to emerge.
409
:Erich Starrett: The formalized.
410
:Three positions of the society.
411
:Scott Santucci: This group of people in
relation to the topic of sales enablement
412
:are saying these are our positions so
I would say that the sales enablement
413
:society is built on those three positions.
414
:Those three possessions are the
founding bedrock of what the sales
415
:enablement society was built upon.
416
:One, you're going to promote and elevate
the role with the end destination
417
:to be the VP of sales productivity.
418
:Two, there are four flavors of sales
enablement that have to do with
419
:friction points between human resources
and sales, marketing and sales.
420
:administration and sales
and finance and sales.
421
:So these friction points exist.
422
:The only way those friction points
can be resolved is if you look
423
:at it through a business process
lens, not a departmental level.
424
:lens
425
:Position number three.
426
:The only way to do that.
427
:Is if you're building competencies
based on running your department
428
:as a business within a business
429
:said differently, what does it mean?
430
:It doesn't mean sales enablement
is the head of training.
431
:It doesn't mean sales enablement
only means this and it excludes
432
:that sales enablement isn't defined
as a charter department and you
433
:declare victory with a budget.
434
:No,
435
:you have to build a charter, you have to
run it as a business within a business,
436
:you have to always find more ways of
adding value, you have to find more ways
437
:of any more money, you have to find more
ways of satisfying your constituencies.
438
:tHat's the contrast.
439
:That's the bedrock of which the sales
enablement society was built upon
440
:organizational structure, the concept of
an experience, all of that comes later.
441
:100 people, 40 of whom were from
VP titles in huge companies.
442
:60 from a variety of other subject
matter experts that you can go and trace
443
:down, who those people were that sales
enablement, we take these three positions.
444
:Erich Starrett: What
a great legacy, Scott.
445
:And one that there's such opportunity
to still, it's still so relevant today.
446
:What do you see next as the
founder and father of the society?
447
:And how would you
encapsulate all of that?
448
:As the walk away this is how
we can benefit from it today.
449
:Scott Santucci: oKay.
450
:So what I would say is.
451
:I'm not really caught up in the founder
of sales enablement or anything like that.
452
:What I am is focused on
solving a business problem.
453
:The business problem is this companies
B2B companies spend an exorbitant
454
:amount of money on sales and marketing.
455
:They're not getting the return on that.
456
:They focusing more and more on activities
and activities and getting further and
457
:further focused away from customers.
458
:The growth potential for any business
is to understand their customers.
459
:Understand what their commercial
experience is and design
460
:their system accordingly.
461
:Given that if people were practicing,
because I've been practicing each
462
:of those foundational principles,
what does productivity look like?
463
:In order to have that conversation,
you have to have lots of debates with
464
:operational people and finance people.
465
:You can't just immediately just
walk up and say, here's a document
466
:from Gartner or somebody and
says, here's what it looks like.
467
:Give me stuff.
468
:I believe that there are some
great metrics the building off of
469
:that idea, I co created with TCB,
this concept of commercial ratio.
470
:Anybody can adopt commercial ratio.
471
:I
472
:a hidden cost model to help
demonstrate quantifiably,
473
:verifiably, and objectively what.
474
:sales productivity looks like.
475
:It is not subjective.
476
:You can debate all you want to about
individual sales people or whatever.
477
:None of that moves the needle.
478
:So in terms of the bucket of what sales
productivity looks like there's been a
479
:lot of great work that's done around that.
480
:We can create space to have
those conversations and
481
:share what those lessons are.
482
:The next bucket . I think that
people have gotten so focused.
483
:On defining a job and a department
and who owns what, that the idea
484
:that sales is a team sport, if you
want caught revenue, that's great.
485
:But revenue you have to factor in
a lot of accounting factor that in
486
:that growth is a team sport is lost.
487
:That most people are no, it's
about the MQL and sales won't do
488
:this and marketing won't do that.
489
:None of that is helpful.
490
:The basic facts are, is that
what you do with your product
491
:has a lot to do with sales.
492
:What you do with finance and how you
measure things and how you set up your
493
:organization has a lot to do with sales.
494
:How you deploy your Salesforce and
how do you simplify what you're
495
:doing has a lot to do with sales
496
:and the role and responsibilities
that you cast and whether or not you
497
:have marketing people actually in
the trenches doing things, or whether
498
:they're just making stuff , on the
sidelines has a lot to do with sales
499
:because, to customers, they
can sense the misalignment.
500
:80 ways to Sunday sooner or later.
501
:They're going to opt it, opt out if,
and they have so many other choices.
502
:Then the third bucket would be running
as a business within a business.
503
:That's not rocket science.
504
:Somehow people take it rocket
science because they worry about
505
:whether they're writing the
perfect charter statement or not.
506
:Or they worry about all of these
things that don't matter and
507
:they're not paying attention.
508
:They're not right.
509
:They're not envisioning it like
they're eight years old and setting
510
:up their lemonade stand, what matters?
511
:What kind of lemonade are you making?
512
:Do you have two scoops of sugar in it?
513
:Or do you have or do you have people
making so many different variations
514
:of lemonade, you have no idea how
to keep track of your inventory?
515
:Do you, do you get the
lemonade out to people on time?
516
:Do you follow up and feedback with them?
517
:Or do you just assume because it was
a hundred degrees out and they're
518
:going, Oh, thank God for this.
519
:That they, they think
your lemonade is awesome.
520
:Maybe when it's 80 degrees out
and no one's there, maybe it was
521
:because of other other conditions.
522
:So there's all of these basic, simple
things that people just ignore that
523
:if you're running your group as a
business, one of the business, you,
524
:you can be not only adding more value
to the business, but you can also be
525
:identifying functions that aren't adding
value to the business and, acquire them.
526
:You can actually do hostile
takeovers and things like that.
527
:There's so many things that you can
do if you're running your department
528
:as a business with a business.
529
:If you're just taking orders from
people and saying, I want to report to
530
:the head of sales or I want to report
here, I want to report there because
531
:they get me you put yourself at risk.
532
:So I think though the wisdom and
the power of those three positions.
533
:By staying constantly focused on building
out from them is a gigantic opportunity
534
:to constantly doing what I observe
that's happening is a constant
535
:reinvention of, name changes, or we
call it this, or we've always called
536
:it that and constant disagreement.
537
:You get nowhere.
538
:You don't look serious to, to, to CEOs.
539
:You become on the chopping
block for every CFO.
540
:And I know these things because
I'm having these conversations
541
:at the executive levels.
542
:So I think that the opportunity really is
these are foundations to be built upon.
543
:They're not just statements
out in the world that hey,
544
:people aren't ordering that up.
545
:That's not the way you build things.
546
:In 1776, nobody thought that a group of 13
colonies were even going to win the war.
547
:Let alone be the biggest
economic power in the world.
548
:Erich Starrett: And the battle
continues seven years later, Scott.
549
:Thank you so much for being a catalyst
for all of this and for your time today.
550
:It's super meaningful to hear you,
especially on this anniversary every
551
:time I speak with you, I uncover new
fascinating tidbits of enablement
552
:history that inform such a huge
opportunity that still exists today.
553
:Three foundational positions.
554
:A gift that you and the collective
group and the collective
555
:wisdom have given the world.
556
:Maybe we can frame it up on
the way that you and the group.
557
:Framed that first experience
around exactly that , the
558
:experience that it's everything
there were seven Es of experience.
559
:I believe that were the foundation
for that first global meeting.
560
:That followed up about a year thereafter.
561
:Would you consider that to be the
key element of that next meeting
562
:as the three founding positions
were in this inaugural Congress?
563
:Scott Santucci: Yeah, I think just
like the country had to figure
564
:out they had to fight a war.
565
:Let's not just gloss over.
566
:Oh, Declaration of Independence.
567
:And then there was the Constitution.
568
:Along the way, a whole bunch
of people who were volunteers.
569
:Somehow George Washington to keep
everybody together and keep them fighting.
570
:Somebody had to provide that,
Thomas Paine gave him great things
571
:of what they're fighting for.
572
:And they did the impossible.
573
:Then they had to figure out
how to govern themselves.
574
:There was a point in time that
some of them were willing to accept
575
:the king of Germany to run them.
576
:They couldn't run themselves.
577
:And of course that caused
people to just lose their crap.
578
:That's what led to the constitution.
579
:So it's part of, it's part of like
really understanding how things work.
580
:And how human nature works.
581
:Okay.
582
:The declaration that was great.
583
:It was a great event.
584
:Now, what do you do there
and follow up from that?
585
:What are all the battles that happened
between, that was November 16th.
586
:What about the next big event?
587
:It's what can this group of sales
enablement people accomplish?
588
:Can they accomplish growth objectives?
589
:Because that's what we set out
to do in:
590
:these things, let's prove this
group of people can do that.
591
:So how do you set up a charter with
the whole goal of running yourself
592
:like a business within a business,
embracing the constraints that were
593
:told to us are really empowering, and
then setting up an organizational model
594
:to achieve growth objectives that no
one would sign up for beforehand.
595
:The next topic really should be an
understanding of why the charter for
596
:2017 was set up the way it was set up
because I just fundamentally do not
597
:believe people understand or appreciate
why the things were done the way they
598
:are, how they were set up 100 percent to
practice and build upon the foundational
599
:things that were set out in that meeting.
600
:So I think that's way more important.
601
:The principles are secondary.
602
:Organizational structures are secondary.
603
:The goal is what are we
trying to prove here?
604
:What's our purpose?
605
:What are we trying to do?
606
:And we're trying to demonstrate in
front of the entire world, we're going
607
:to do an experiment just like the
United States is a big experiment.
608
:It's the way they talked
about it,:
609
:We set ourselves up as
a big experiment too.
610
:Can a group of people come
together and drive a growth agenda?
611
:And the answer is yes.
612
:That was exceedingly successful
based on the specific stated
613
:goals that were set out.
614
:What was accomplished during what
period of time with no money only
615
:volunteer resources and part time work,
616
:Understanding those mechanics is far
more important than what the principles
617
:were and everything like that.
618
:Erich Starrett: Got it.
619
:So would you call that body of
work, then the constitution?
620
:And do you feel like you accomplished the
constitution or is that still to come?
621
:Scott Santucci: I don't know.
622
:Erich Starrett: Fair answer.
623
:Scott Santucci: what I would say
is our founding fathers had the
624
:history that there were two things
that you had to do in order to get
625
:the Constitutional Convention going.
626
:One, you had to figure out,
did the law exist in the first
627
:place and why would you do it?
628
:In other words, what is our purpose?
629
:If we're going to convene,
what purpose do we have?
630
:Everybody had an equal vote.
631
:So how do you get agreement on what
do you want to do in the first place,
632
:Step two then is what is the
construct that you put together?
633
:What is the organizational structure?
634
:Our founding fathers, the first
part, there was no precedent
635
:in history to sort out.
636
:But the latter part they used models
637
:Like Madison, who had the Virginia Plan
that most of it is built on, studied a
638
:lot of other, he studied the Roman model,
he was very influenced by the Florentine
639
:Republic he made some corrections and some
adjustments, he talked to his buddy Thomas
640
:Jefferson, who's very much anti anybody
to where they get the checks and balances.
641
:And they argued vehemently to
where no one group would have
642
:more power than the other.
643
:Because they knew that they wouldn't be
able to get buy in from everybody else.
644
:They had all that precedent.
645
:We had precedent from
other things to steal from.
646
:But the big issue was how do you go
from having that meeting to, okay,
647
:why should I listen to you and how
do you get volunteers to do anything?
648
:And then how do you model out
the exact problems that you wanna
649
:exist to solve in the first place?
650
:So what I would say is
there's probably two parts.
651
:Part A, how do you define how do you
move from a state that isn't working
652
:to a state that's workable and give
it an identity when nobody even knows
653
:the vocabulary to talk about it?
654
:Just like.
655
:How in the world would you come
up with a constitution when
656
:a constitution didn't exist?
657
:And there was no basis on how to do it.
658
:And you had 13 colonies acting like their
own, they were printing their own money.
659
:They were all more or less
their own individual countries.
660
:How do you get them to agree?
661
:That's one problem.
662
:The second problem then would be.
663
:How do you construct it?
664
:I would say those are the two biggest
missing pieces that are the most inclusive
665
:to the entire sales enablement story.
666
:Erich Starrett: And still being
defined and built as we speak.
667
:So it sounds like the answer is, we
aren't at constitution as of yet.
668
:Scott Santucci: I Would say that
the Constitution did exist in:
669
:I would say that post that people have
chosen to not, if you don't follow the
670
:law if you don't set up the adjudication
process to evaluate things if you don't
671
:put cases in front of the Supreme Court
there's the Constitution doesn't work.
672
:I would say that's what's happened.
673
:THere was a constitution.
674
:I don't know what the name changes
and things like that, whether any
675
:of those things have been changed
or whatever, or where we just go to
676
:corporate bylaws and think that you
can just check checklist corporate
677
:bylaws and think that's the same thing.
678
:I don't know, but I do know that it's
directly related to the concept of
679
:running a business within a business.
680
:When you set up a business, you
don't just do checklists and say,
681
:okay, we're a thriving company.
682
:I would say categorically, there was
a constitution that was followed.
683
:There was a power base
established that was followed.
684
:It did work.
685
:It worked exceptionally, exceedingly well.
686
:And I would say in my observation it's
not being followed, discussed, thought of.
687
:It's been ignored.
688
:And I think these are the same kinds of
problems that prevent sales enablement
689
:entities from thriving inside their own
companies, it's like a meta problem.
690
:Erich Starrett: And it sounds to
me like a meta opportunity, Scott.
691
:Scott Santucci: Correct.
692
:Erich Starrett: For the society to
further solidify and regain authority.
693
:Scott Santucci: Yeah.
694
:Or it could just be like it
could be for just a group of
695
:four people that, want to do it.
696
:It, it doesn't need to be for the society.
697
:Anybody can say, I want to dedicate or
learn more about the founding principles.
698
:You got to go through the battles
and that's what the debate and the
699
:cross referencing and the challenging
does is it turns an idea into
700
:something solid, it transforms an
idea into an executable insight.
701
:And then when you have stories about
how it works, then it becomes real.
702
:Erich Starrett: Scott, I have an "ask."
703
:I would like to raise my hand
to consolidate all of this.
704
:I would love to get those
additional pieces of information
705
:if you can find them.
706
:My ask is the opportunity
to present those to you.
707
:Let's call it the constitution and to
take a look at what would it look like
708
:whether it's 4 people or 400 right to
reinvigorate what occurred 7 years ago
709
:and, get a little bit more of the secret
sauce, the things that happened behind
710
:the scenes, a lot of which you've shared
today, and maybe fill in some of those
711
:blanks and have something that can be
offered out to the potential "we.".
712
:Is that a collaboration you'd be
willing to do with me and to share that
713
:history and create the opportunity?
714
:Scott Santucci: Sure.
715
:I would say that a good idea
might be, let's start with
716
:from colonies to continent, continental
convention to declaration of independence.
717
:Erich Starrett: Okay.
718
:Scott Santucci: Get those things down.
719
:You don't know that but you're mixing
too many things with the declaration.
720
:There's so much there.
721
:Saying, here are the foundational
elements, these three things.
722
:Just because they're three and
because they're stated simply doesn't
723
:mean they're not super powerful.
724
:There's tremendous implication
in each one of those three
725
:individually and then collectively.
726
:Understanding the strategic
importance and impact of those
727
:things is a really big deal.
728
:A big opportunity.
729
:Erich Starrett: You have my curiosity and
I'm excited to, I'll say unpack each of
730
:the three and join you in that journey.
731
:Scott Santucci: Awesome.
732
:Erich Starrett: Scott, thanks so much for
your time again and happy anniversary.
733
:VoiceOverGuy: Thanks for
joining us to become an insider
734
:and amplify your journey.
735
:Please make sure you've
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