Yesterday, a sales leader that I coach wanted to talk about how to manage the “fire alarms that are going off constantly”. “Dave” said that there is so much going on at work, everyone is running around like crazy and nothing is getting done. It sounded like mice running in a wheel.

The other day, I coached a client through the results of her 360 assessment, a valuable tool where several of her direct reports and managers provided her with confidential feedback on various skills including leadership, ability to motivate others, build talent, execute, innovate and communicate.

For those of you that know my story, you know that I led national sales teams for almost 20 years, and before that, I sold food to restaurants then advertising space for various media companies.

Recently, I have had the pleasure of coaching two different clients in the world of sales.

Lately, I have been doing quite a bit of work with clients around their emotional intelligence, the work pioneered by Daniel Goleman in the 1990s. There are four buckets: Self Awareness, Self Management, Social Awareness and Relationship Management. Under Social Awareness, the element that many managers find challenging to actively demonstrate with team members is empathy, the ability to tune into the other person’s thinking and feeling.

Two days ago, as a nation, we celebrated Memorial Day. Like many of us, I did some fun things – beach, pool, concerts, dinner with friends etc.

I also took time to reflect. Memorial Day has that kind of effect on me.

Two weeks ago I wrote about some changes to the job market. Yes, some things have changed but much has not.

It is still the candidate’s job to convince the hiring manager that they really WANT the job, that they are serious and committed to joining the team.