Every successful VP of Sales or Sales Director understands that the most challenging headwinds they face can be from within their own organization. The C-suite that either micro-manages or is too remote and uninformed can be a major obstacle. Combine that with the trailing 10+ year cultural trend of “squishy” C-level actors, and you have your primary answer right there about what keeps sales leaders up at night.

That’s why it is so critical for top sales leaders to be able to manage their managers. This is not a new concept but in today’s business climate, it rises to the top of most valuable skills required for success.

Before we get into the strategies of why and how to “manage up,” let’s take a very quick walk through the previous 75 years or so of Corporate America and where the CEOs came from.