The Influence Gap with Bernadette McClelland

After every game, win or lose, Jen Mueller walks into the locker room and does four to six interviews, most of them over in two minutes and 15 seconds. So she’s learned to make one question count. Jen is an Emmy award-winning producer and sports broadcaster with 25 years in the business. She’s been the Seattle Seahawks’ radio sideline reporter since 2009, which has earned her two Super Bowl rings, and spent 19 years on the Seattle Mariners television broadcast team. She’s also the founder of Talk Sporty to Me. Jen and Bernadette McClelland get into why you can be authentic and prepared at the same time, and how to ask a question with only one answer. They also discuss Jen’s keynote, I Talk to Losers, and why tough conversations get muddy in business when nobody agrees on what the win looks like. WHAT WE COVER: Why preparation is far bigger than the game plan The question with only one answer, and how it puts a reluctant buyer at ease Being direct and kind at the same time What high-performing teams do after a win Why athletes measure success by process, not the scoreboard ABOUT JEN MUELLER:Jen Mueller is an Emmy award-winning sports broadcaster, the Seattle Seahawks’ radio sideline reporter, and founder of Talk Sporty to Me. Her fourth book, Cook Like a Rookie, is out early next year. Learn more: talksportytome.com WANT TO GO DEEPER ON DECISIONS THAT DRIVE REVENUE?Stop guessing and access your personalised Missing Revenue Radar 👉 salesleaderofinfluence.com

Most CEOs looking for a sales leader ask for a rock star from their industry. Henning Schwinum says that brief is close to meaningless, because everyone's a rock star on their LinkedIn profile. Henning has spent more than 25 years leading sales in Fortune 500 companies and startups. In 2019 he co-founded Vendux, which matches CEOs with fractional sales leaders, and he's the author of the new book Right-Sized, Right-Skilled. Henning and Bernadette McClelland get into the player-coach trap that keeps small sales teams stuck, why fractional engagements go sideways (it's almost never the executive's skills), and the "don't call my baby ugly" syndrome: founders who pay for help and then won't let anything change. WHAT WE COVER: Interim vs. fractional, and what each one means Why three reps might need 10 hours of leadership a week, not a full-time player-coach The matching criteria that matter more than industry or President's Club The 15-minute weekly check-in that keeps an engagement on track Why your network decides whether a fractional career works ABOUT HENNING SCHWINUM:Henning Schwinum is co-founder of Vendux and author of Right-Sized, Right-Skilled. He spent more than 25 years leading sales in Fortune 500 companies and startups.Learn more: vendux.org, or find Henning on LinkedIn. WANT TO GO DEEPER ON DECISIONS THAT DRIVE REVENUE?Stop guessing and access your personalised Missing Revenue Radar 👉 salesleaderofinfluence.com or visit 👉 bernadettemcclelland.com

There’s a word I’ve had a complicated relationship with for a long time. Which is slightly ironic given my background, the work I do, and what I believe sales leaders need to do more of — not less. So in this solo episode of The Influence Gap, I’m coming clean about it. But this isn't really an episode about a title or a label. It's about what happens when you're responsible for a revenue number through other people — and the decisions you make about when to step in, when to step back, what to question, and what your team needs from you. I share my own relationship with coaching before unpacking the five leadership decisions at the heart of my new book, Sales ≠ Revenue: The Five Leadership Decisions That Do. Because coaching isn't about carrying the number for your team. And it isn't about having all the answers. Sometimes the most important shift isn't what you do for your people. It's what you help them learn to do for themselves. In this episode, I explore why that matters — not only for the capability of your team, but for the revenue result you're ultimately responsible for. 📕 Sales ≠ Revenue: The Five Leadership Decisions That Do Available October 14. Pre-order on Amazon: Quarterly Revenue Masterclass: https://www.bernadettemcclelland.com/masterclass

The revenue you're expecting three months from now isn't being created three months from now. It's being created today — in the conversations you're having, the ones you're avoiding, and the decisions you make when the number is under pressure. In this solo episode, Bernadette McClelland walks through a simple, confronting way to look at your future revenue differently, using a Past → Today → Future exercise you can do right along with her. This is Part 1 of a two-part series — next week she covers the five leadership decisions that sit inside the gap. WHAT WE COVER: Why the dashboard shows the outcome, not what created it The Past → Today → Future exercise Why a revenue gap is often a leadership gap The live exercise you can do right now with a piece of paper A first look at the five decisions coming in Part 2 Did the exercise? Message Bernadette on LinkedIn: "The decision I circled was…" This episode is built on the premise behind her new book, Sales ≠ Revenue: The Five Leadership Decisions That Do, out October 14. Get on the list: bernadettemcclelland.com/booklist WANT TO GO DEEPER ON DECISIONS THAT DRIVE REVENUE? Stop guessing and access your personalised Missing Revenue Radar 👉 salesleaderofinfluence.com

She carried her Google badge through airport security back when TSA had no idea what Google was. Twenty years later, she was telling Texas Instruments' senior leadership that ChatGPT was an emergency worth paying attention to. Holly Shipley spent 20 years at Google and Texas Instruments before founding her own AI strategy practice. That mix of digital and hardware experience meant that when generative AI broke in 2022, she already understood the pieces — she became TI's internal AI advisor and sat at the table with the labs building it in real time. Holly and Bernadette McClelland get into the difference between a strategic AI decision and pure FOMO, the three things every leader needs to prep before rolling out an AI tool, and a wild real story about 700 AI testing agents at OpenAI who found a shared file system, started messaging each other, and coordinated to avoid getting caught cheating on their own tests. WHAT WE COVER: Strategic AI decisions vs. pure FOMO The three-step prep every leader needs before rolling out an AI tool The "washing machine principle" for where AI actually belongs The 700-agent OpenAI story and what it means for your business's security Why a personal AI account is a bigger risk than most leaders realize ABOUT HOLLY SHIPLEY: Holly Shipley spent 20 years at Google and Texas Instruments before founding her own AI strategy practice, advising executives — largely at women-owned and small-to-medium businesses — on the real risks and opportunities of generative AI. Learn more: hollyshipleyconsulting.com WANT TO GO DEEPER ON DECISIONS THAT DRIVE REVENUE? Stop guessing and access your personalised Missing Revenue Radar 👉 revenueleaderofinfluence.com