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By salespodder in quirky —

Hardcore Defined

O-oh.

Our Bru Elon.

His mid-November midnight missive to Twitter staffers featured this widely reported nugget;

"Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore.
This will mean long hours at high intensity.
Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade."

Quite some Fork in the Road.

I kinda get this in a way. If you're not on board with where the bus is headed, then get off it.

I too, long ago, made similar speeches to a salesteam. Those happy to be carried along as passengers won't cut it.

Maybe it's just the latest Musk ruse to reduce headcount further.

Yet framing this for the 'stayers' as a form of presenteeism surely cannot be the answer.

I know myself what it's like to put in a hundred hours a week. Working season-long all days straight. Not taking formal holiday for half-a-decade.

You can only do this, productively too, when it's for something you believe in.

With driving aim of fixing something that you hope, think and are determined will change the world (for the better, natch).

Purpose.

Is this fundamental ingredient missing?

How much do you feel that "breakthrough Twitter 2.0" is the rip-roaring banner you could get behind?

And that's before you square, if you can, the sticky issue of 'long hours at high intensity' as sole precursor to 'exceptional performance'.

Maybe the superlative 'extremely' significantly alters the vibe of mere 'hardcore'.

The Sales point here, is the extent to which you and your team feel you are a hardcore operation.

Where is your definition different to Musk's?

What represents 'high intensity'? Or 'exceptional performance'? Or those without 'a passing grade'?

And where's your vaunted destination?

If you need a little hintlet to get started, try first defining softcore?

The sad truth is that I've experienced too many a testosterone bulging salesroom.

They wobble violently between feast and famine. Chaotic crises choke true growth. Ending in disaster.

There is a better way. That can also produce stellar results. Is your enterprise on that path?

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