Sales Leadership Is a Marathon: Coaching, Transparency, and Trust for the Long Run

Sales Leadership Is a Marathon: Coaching, Transparency, and Trust for the Long Run explores how today’s most effective sales leaders are shifting away from pressure-driven, short-term tactics and toward a long-game mindset rooted in coaching, transparency, and trust.

In this episode, we talk with Elise Carbone, a global sales leader, marathon runner, and female in tech. Join us as we unpack how sales leadership has evolved—from old-school motivation and metrics-only management to people-first leadership that builds sustainable performance. Our guest shares firsthand insights from scaling teams in high-growth environments, navigating cultural shifts in leadership, and learning why psychological safety, authentic coaching, and clear communication are no longer optional—they’re essential.

We also discuss why burnout is one of the biggest threats to sales teams today, how leaders can create environments that support both results and well-being, and what it really means to lead like a marathon runner instead of sprinting toward short-term wins.

Join us weekly as we dig into the real stories behind work culture transformation.

Not theory. Not fluff. Just honest conversations with leaders and innovators who've been in the trenches.

Transcript

Marathon Mindset For Hitting Quota

Speaker 2 0:00

When you run forty two K, when you are starting, you're not thinking about forty two. You think about the first five and then the next five. So it's exactly the same as I'm I'm doing. It's like, okay, you've got um, I don't know, a one or two million quota. So how you are going to reach that? First of all, it's looking at what you could do this month and next month and next quarter and how many deals. It's really keeping it very realistic to achieve instead of thinking about the big goal and making sure they understand the vision. So it's not just a number, you just need not like if you have to do one million, it's just because it's not just because I decided you needed to do one. So making sure they understand what they are bringing to the business and how they could do it. So I'm helping them to map that out.

Speaker 0:45

At Elements of Culture, we sit down with experts in leadership and team building to explore the DNA that drives a thriving organization. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Elements of Culture. My name is Tyrion, and I'm joined with my co-host Julie. And today we have the pleasure of speaking with Elise Carbon. She is the head of partner sales at a company called Dell Tech. Elise, we're so excited to have you with us because number one, you're involved in sales, which is a hot topic for us. We could talk all day about sales, but you also have just uh a great background of coming from the startup space all the way into corporate with a very large company. Currently, Dell Tech has over 4,000 employees, but I know you kind of started out in a completely different space. And I'm excited to talk about some of your own personal passions, including fitness, which are topics that we all love and need that balance in our sales lives. So uh before we get into some of those things, Elise, just greet everyone, say hello, and whatever you'd like to share about what you currently do and your background.

Falling Into Sales And Early Leadership

Speaker 2 1:48

Sure. Thank you for having me, Julie and Taryn. So yeah, I'm Elise and I'm based in Theres. And I currently lead the partner sales team for Dell Tech in EME on APAC, which is a wonderful team spread across multiple countries. Um, I didn't choose sales as a career path, which is something we can speak about, but I fall into it as most people. Um my initial background was in human resources and coaching. Um, yeah, very excited to be here, Taryn.

Speaker 2:17

Thank you so much. Yeah, it's so funny because the more people we talk to about sales and their background, it's like we always fall into sales.

Speaker 1 2:27

Nobody speaks sales, nobody decides in college I'm going to go into sales. Um, I think we had one person, Taryn, that's done that.

Speaker 2:36

But he he came by us so honestly. Both his mom and dad were in sales, and he's like, I grew up new knowing that I was going into sales, but I think he was the exception.

Speaker 1 2:46

So at least talk to me a little bit. I'd love to hear a little bit about your evolution as a leader and how you come to this place. And talk to me a little bit about how how has the feel changed? Like leadership looks a lot different. I remember leadership getting out of college and got going into the workforce, and that is not the leadership style that exists today. Um the old leadership style is no longer present, or people are updating it into better leadership techniques. Talk to me a little bit about that evolution, how that's affected you as a leader.

Being The Only Woman In The Room

Speaker 2 3:21

Yeah, sure. So um I say I joined a startup when I was 23 years old, I think 23, 24 years old. And um, so very dynamic environment, very few employees in Europe. We were only like five people, and we started to grow and grow. So very early in my career, I moved into a sales leadership hall, which was very unusual, and I wasn't prepared for that. And the leader I had above me were very, very sales and number-oriented, where everything was relying on you know how much number we were closing and all that things. And I was also the only woman in the leadership team. So when I look back, um, and I I say it often is think we said back then, we cannot do it now. Which is I've got so many examples. So it could be, oh, you look, your dress looks very nice today when you are, you know, the only female in the room, which is maybe a compliment, but not necessarily one when we're a woman in tech. Or also, you know, finding your place and your space, um, which is um something that was very hard for me at first. So I think if we look at today, like today versus um 10 or 15 or 20 years ago, is we leave more space to a more diverse people. That's the first thing I'm seeing. Much more inclusive word and maybe less direct, also more coaching-oriented. That's the two things I see.

Speaker 4:48

Yeah, that's so good. Now it's interesting you say you were the first woman on the team because I still think, even though, yes, corporate culture has evolved a lot, I still think that there's room where we can do things differently and it and improve the way that we communicate and how we make room for everybody. Um, because we're all different. Um, and I think, you know, even just a couple of years ago, myself in environments hearing comments, and it's like it's not necessary, but I think sometimes you find yourself in those environments and you don't, you don't really speak up for yourself. At least I I remember I didn't at times. Um, you had a HR background as well. So I feel like that that meshing of HR and sales and being a woman in tech, you know, how has that evolved?

Speaker 2 5:38

So my HR background is really giving me the human side of like my team can come to me for everything. And I'm always checking with them. It's very important for me that they feel good in what they do and that they understand where we are going. And it might be my human resources background, it might be the way I'm managing, I'm not sure. Um, but that's definitely something I'm bringing. If however, if I look back to when I was receiving comments or starting in my leadership hall, I wasn't speaking out that much. I was very passive and I was like, okay, I'm here to learn, this is the way it is, I need just to get a tough skin. And maybe that made me tougher today. Um, I'm not sure because now I speak out. If I've got something to say, I will, I will tell you. So it's this learning. Is it age? Is it the world changing? It's it's very difficult for young leaders to navigate leadership in sales because we don't have a lot of mentorship and monitoring program. And that's something I found that I could have used to when I started in sales and in, you know, having this sales leader whole.

Transparency And Psychological Safety

Speaker 1 6:50

Yeah, at least you had mentioned your style as more coaching. Yes. Talk to me a little bit about how that's evolved because you're acting absolutely right. There was no coaching 15, 20 years ago. I get uh, well, the coaching I got are words that I cannot say on YouTube. So um so you know, it was a lot more direct, it was a lot more what I would consider motivational, like it was there's a lot of motivation, but there was not actually coaching. Talk to me about what how coaching has changed the way you lead and how does that create a difference in the people you're leading?

Speaker 2 7:24

So it's a leader I had. So I had a VP that um uh we I had a shift in VPs uh at the startup I was in. And uh the first book he gave me was a book called Crucial Conversation. And that's definitely are you familiar with it? Or maybe never know? No, I'm telling you. I will drop, I don't know who wrote it, but it's a fantastic book for young leaders because it's preparing you for any type of difficult conversation. And he told me this is the way I manage people. When something is hard, I'm going to tell you, but don't take it personally. And that's something I'm applying, you know, with my team, prospect, customer internally. And really, this person became the first mentor I ever had. Um, so a lot of my management style is really on what I've learned from him. But um, yeah, it changed, it shows, it changed a lot in how I um I deal with people, how I work, how I look at myself, etc. etc. But yeah, you've right, Julie. It's like back then was like, okay, what's your forecast? What's your pipeline? You don't eat it, it's bad in a very more direct way. You eat it, it's good. Um, so it wasn't like, okay, think about the lessons learned when you are losing a deal, all the things that we have in place and methodology we could uh we could pass to our teams.

Speaker 8:43

Yeah, I I agree with you. I think the mentorship, it has come a long way, but I wouldn't say that's true for every culture, right? I think it depends on the leadership team that implement that because they see the benefit of it. You know, you said you had that that mentor that kind of taught you that was the guide. You had a book that you were talking, that you were kind of working from. It the word that comes to mind, at least, is transparency. So you're being transparent with your team on their wins, their losses, areas that need coaching. And I think sometimes in a culture that's not healthy, we have a problem being transparent. But that's what's needed in order for people to be successful and also to feel like um there's stability in that transparency, right? There's stability in knowing that they're they're fine in their role. Even if there's challenges or things that they need to work through, they know that they're gonna get that feedback from you. And I think that not every culture has that.

Values Reset Through Yoga And Mindfulness

Speaker 2 9:42

True. No, that's true. But it it's also for me, it's also learning and aging in your leadership roles. If you think about, you know, when I started, I wasn't speaking out because I didn't feel that I was, I needed to earn my place in a way. And now if I look, I'm kind of leading by transparency, but also courageous authenticity. So being my authentic self at work and being able to say what I think without without hurting people, and um that's that does it that's so important. And I don't think it's a culture, it's more like it could, yeah, that's a culture, the company culture, perhaps. But in any country, if you lead with transparency, courageous authenticity, and you know, a genuine interest in the people you are working with, uh, it could work anywhere.

Speaker 1 10:32

Yeah, I think authenticity has also taken has taken what I would consider an evolution in the last 20 years. Because I think 20 years ago, transparency was almost and authenticity was considered weakness or bringing your personal life to work, or it was labeled in so many different areas or being emotional. Um, and so I think it was not considered that. But now we're starting to see that authenticity and transparency create psychological safety for the team, for your culture. Talk to me at least. I would love to hear an experience from you from when you first started about you said you had to or you felt like you needed to earn the right speak out. Talk to me a bit a little about psychological safety. Where do you think that thought process came from that you thought you had to earn it? Because I think about new hires, um, and Tara, me and you have had this conversation, but interns. Um, we get interns in, and the first thing I do is like I let them sit and watch everything for two weeks, and then I'm like, where are the holes? What do you think is weak? Where are we behind? I literally pull and extract all this information from them because I feel like it's a new set of eyes on them. But that was not the culture before. Um, we just kind of stayed quiet and had to prove ourselves. Talk to me a little about psychological safety and where how you started to step into that boldness and what that felt like. And I I'd love to hear the evolution of that.

Speaker 2 12:00

Um so maybe 10 years ago, I had like a pivotal moment in my life, I think professionally and personally, when I did a check-in. And so I was working very, very hard, working a lot, trying to always do more um in numbers, do more in my personal life, do more in fitness, and everything was like more, more, more. And then I had to stop for personal reasons. So it made me this, this was really a moment where I say, okay, um, at the beginning of my life, I don't need to achieve everything now. So what are my values? And what are the values that I want to be relying on personally, professionally, you know, with my friends. And that's that's in that moment that I say, okay, transparency, courageous authenticity, being my true self. And you know, it's a way of you are in a meeting, and after that meeting, you feel good because you speak about what things that you don't think we should do. Um, so being able to, when you sit somewhere, you are your true self. And that's that's the moment I so I had this epiphany, if you want to say it, where I also went all in on like a yoga path and meditation. And um, I went I did a yoga teacher training, which uh where I learned a lot about myself and how to to meditate and how to calm myself and approach things differently, and it's really changed my life in a way. Um, I won't say you don't need to do it if you are a sales leader to change your things, but knowing knowing what you want people to remember about you. Um, and being congruent was very important at that time.

Running A Marathon And Mental Clarity

Speaker 13:46

I think that's so good. And I think sometimes, at least we like you said, you get caught up in all the things. You're all in, you're busy, busy, busy in every area of your life. That I think sometimes you don't pause, you don't stop, and to take inventory of, like you said, what are your values? What are the things that you need to reflect on and assess, um, whether it's faith, whether it's fitness, um, and having that the that balance um so that, like you said, people see you and they they recognize you. You're not we talked about this too before, Julie, you're code switching, right? You're code switching like for this environment or that environment, but you can show up and be your true authentic self in each of those environments um without the expectation of having to earn your place. And I think, you know, with breathing and fitness and bringing all that together, you really can have a more fruitful life. Um, and it's so important. Now, Elise, I want to get back to sales, but I want to shelf sales talk for just a moment as a leader because you brought up fitness, and before we started um we before we pressed record today, you said just this past weekend you recently accomplished something that was pretty amazing. So tell us what you're doing right now in the world of fitness.

Speaker 2 15:02

Sure. So I just finished my first marathon in Lisbon this weekend. Uh yeah, which was like a six-month preparation. Wow. Um, and I think it was the best year for me to do it because we are facing a very challenging year in tech in general. Um, geopolitical climate is very challenging, also. So um, yeah, I took that challenge. Um my long run was perfect. They were on the weekends, it was a great way for me to set my week, you know, rethinking about you know what we've done as a team, where we want to go, uh, preparing my meetings were perfect during my long run. So um I'm I'm so happy that I did it. And yeah.

Fitness As A Leadership Advantage

Speaker 1 15:46

Yeah, so at least we were talking, we were talking about wellness and fitness and mindfulness. And so uh what does accomplishing that or even training for that help you do mentally? How does that how do you prep for that? Or does that help you with the sales side of it and the stress management of it? I think it's both ways.

Speaker 2 16:04

So, in a way, it's helping me with my day-to-day job because when I go running, I try to kind of, I mean, do not disturb. Nobody can call me. So it's only like a me time where I run in Paris and just look at the, look at the, you know, FL. I'm living close by the FL Towers. I'm like running through the sands, passing the loop, seeing the FL Towers. So beautiful place, but also to reset my mind. Instead of being the go, go, go, it's kind of uh that moment where I cut and do something else and my leg are running, but my brain can then go free and think about it. So that's a great space for creative thinking for me. And uh I think my team is tired of my running example when I speak about pipeline and focus. I always like, you know, it's not a sprint, it's a marathon or any type of running example. Last week I told them after I'm done, no more ambience. Um, and with my team, it's really helping me, I think, to see yeah, things differently in terms of the challenge we have. Okay, how can we fix it? How can we adjust the plan? You know, bringing my bringing my sales analytic into the fitness to analyze my pace and vice versa. So it's like a a lot of crossing words that I love to see.

Women In Tech And Mentorship

Speaker 1 17:17

Well, Lise, if I could run and see the Eiffel Tower, I would in the lube, I would probably run every day too. I would probably run every day too. Uh I love that. Yeah, I think a lot of people, and we always see this, Tara, and we see a lot of our leaders that we speak to talk about sports, activity, uh keeping your mind and your body connected and healthy and clear. And I think it's it's such a uh trend that we're seeing with really good leadership, is just being mindful of your body and sitting for 10, 12 hours a day at times. And so uh Taryn and I always say, let's take a call and we'll walk, um, get some activity in and move. So I love that. Elise, talk to me a little bit about you had talked about being the first women in uh your leadership team. And I was and I know, like, and I don't know about Taron you, but I I have always had great male leaders who've always encouraged me and built me up. So I've never felt ostracized. I have felt outnumbered for sure. Yeah, uh definitely outnumbered in um meetings, but never ostracized. I've always had great male leadership, and but we're still we're still missing the mark with women in tech, like numbers-wise. Talk to me about the future of that and why do you think that's happening? What we can do to encourage women into the tech space, because I think there is space for them. I think people are well welcoming more women in the tech space. But what do you think that needs to look like and what kind of cultural shift needs to happen for us to get, you know, or even young people, like when I see them in high school or college, like for them to even think about tech? Is there a stereotype around it? Is that why they don't come? Because most pe women I meet in tech tell me they just fell into sales. So it's not like they plan to.

Speaker 2 19:03

Oh marketing, yes, yeah. Or HR. Oh, HR, yes. Um, so funny enough, uh, in partnership, our partner sales team at Dell Tech, I think we have more women than men. If I think about it now, I don't know why. Maybe, maybe that's that's I don't know why. But so um I think monitoring and showing that what we do. Uh a lot of people have no idea what's what's in okay, you are in sales, so what do you do? So explaining what do what do we do, monitoring young ladies, um, making sure to create these safe spaces when we see behaviors that are not right, raising it immediately, and that's on us to do it with more seniority. That's a few things that I would say that could change the space. I'm also part of um Woman in Alliances, which is like a volunteer um organization where we do a lot of webinars and mentoring and just promote what a woman in partnerships and alliances are doing. That's very important. I'm trying to give back a little bit and was like, okay, what the young Elise would have loved to hear about when she was in this position that I can send now to the young ladies or even you know i school uh student or uni student I meet.

Developing Juniors And Seniors Differently

Speaker 20:17

That's amazing. Yeah, I I do think that there's some so much value in that in the mentorship. And and like Julie, I I do agree I had some great leaders as well, but I there are some that were still in that like you know, kind of old old school mindset. Um, Elise, you work at Dell Tech, which is a very large company. Um, you've been there for uh close to 10 years, I believe you mentioned. Yeah. Um, and there's a lot of females, it sounds like. So what types of ways do you personally, whether it's you or other colleagues that you have, how do you currently um approach your mentorship within your team and making room to develop those young leaders? Because like Julie said, sometimes you might have interns or some that are coming in straight out of university that that need that development, that need that understanding to even understand maybe what their path might look like within the organization. So, what does that look like for you as you're developing a team and you're thinking ahead? How do I scale my team? Obviously, with sales, you've got revenue goals, you've got all those things in place. How from the people side, from the human element side of things, how do you scale that from the beginning?

Speaker 2 21:28

So, within my team today, I've got a mix of very junior and very senior. And when I say senior, it's close to retire, so kind of at the end of the spectrum and at the beginning. So for me, it's very important to approach them in a very different way. And um, so the person that are going to retire, not much to develop. You know, I'm learning a lot from them. Um, we've got some coaching momentum also coming from him. And then on for my young ladies, which I've got few of them, um, I love to challenge them and to tell them, okay, don't settle in the role that you are in. Like, what do you think you want to do in the next three years, in the next five years? And then based on what they say, I'm trying to guide them into the learnings, the skills they need to learn, the people they need to meet, and what they would need to do to achieve their goals. And I'm always telling them it could be, you know, within my teams, it could be in sales, it could be anywhere. Just think about where do you want to go. And I'm creating that space. Because sometimes I've got very good people, and I'm very lucky because I'm got I've got amazing sellers, and I don't want to lose them, but I also want them to be happy. I've got a perfect example, which is somebody was on my team uh three years ago, and it was a, I mean, third year in sales, I think. And one moment I just sat around and said, I can see you are not happy, what's going on? And she told me my dream is to quit and just open my well-being kind of mentorship coaching business. And I was like, go for it. You're 30 years old, you don't have any kids, you don't have any, you know, you don't you don't own an apartment, you could go anywhere and just go for it. And then she went for it and she's now very successful. So for me, it's so important to have my person, my people. I call that's not nice, but that's the person that uh are in my team knowing where they want to go. And I'm just guiding them to that way. Um, even if it's not in my team anymore.

Speaker 23:28

I think that's so good. And I think I think it does take a leader who's aware to check in with their people and be like, hey, I noticed like something's off. Like, are you not happy? And and and also with, like you said, with the younger ones, figuring out what their path might look like. Because I think even for myself, like getting into a role with sales and marketing, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know what my path looked like. And I think it it does come with experience, it comes with those conversations with leaders. It does, um, it does take getting into those environments for mentorship and development. And so having that space, I think is important. So go ahead. You wanted to comment on it.

Startups Vs Enterprise Growth Tradeoffs

Speaker 2 24:05

Yeah, I was thinking, you don't see that that much. So when you are in a startup environment, it's so go, go, go. So I'm very lucky to be in this more like bigger company, more corporate companies, um, because we've got more time to just sit back and think about how we are going to develop ourselves instead of being of the rush of growing the business and scaling faster and making the revenue to, you know, raise more funds or get acquired. So that's um that's the benefit, I would say, of where I am today.

Keeping Teams Focused Amid AI And Change

Speaker 24:36

Yeah, I think I love that because we talk with a lot of different leaders, Elise, those that are with larger organizations and the startups. And I think you're right, in the startup mindset, it's go, go, go constantly. And I think there, I mean, there's there's pros and cons for both, right? I think some of the pros with the startups is you can pivot and you can move quickly as an organization making decisions. But I think the larger the company is, you you don't have to pivot, and sometimes you can't pivot as quickly. So there's pros and cons there. But I think creating that environment is so important. Now, um, as a leader, again, you're head of uh partner sales at Dell Tech currently. So we've talked about fitness, we've talked about just like, you know, the personal development side of things. But if you're looking at things, you know, tech is a big part. You know, we talk about AI a lot because that's certainly um, there's so many tools I think that um are flooding the market, right? Um, that are that are being welcomed to the market rather quickly. Um a conversation we had last week with a leader, he said, you know, Taryn, next time we have a podcast conversation, we're probably gonna be our AI avatars. It's not gonna be used. Oh no, no, behind the screen. And I don't know if you saw recent articles that was um released over in um, I think it was, I want to say it was in Britain. Um they released an article where one of the newscasters was actually an AI avatar. And and so it might not be that far off. But, anyways, that's a bunny trail. Um, so with that being said, you know, there's lots of tools. How do you keep your team motivated and on task? Like checking in with them personally in their personal life, the fitness, and being goal-oriented, all of those things. But, you know, as a sales leader, you've you've got numbers to hit, you've got people to keep on track. How do you keep them motivated and really on track as a team?

Breaking Big Quotas Into Small Wins

Speaker 2 26:33

So that's that's like preparing a marathon, you know. I'm going to fold back on an example. Yeah, let's do it. It's like, you know, when you run 42K, when you are starting, you're not thinking about 42. You think about the first five and then the next five. So it's exactly the same as I'm I'm doing. It's like, okay, you've got um, I don't know, a one or two million quota. So how are you going to reach that? First of all, it's looking at what you could do this month and next month and next quarto and how many deals. It's really keeping it very realistic to achieve instead of thinking about the big goal and making sure they understand the vision. So it's not just a number, you just need not like if you have to do one million, it's just because it's not just because I decided you needed to do one. So making sure they understand what they are bringing to the business and how they could do it. So I'm helping them to map that out. And we always do at the beginning of the year. So it's a tradition, is um the famous why. So when they get their quota, they've got like they prepare one slide, which is their why, so their why and what, so why they are doing this and what they are going to do, you know. Is it going to president club? Is it um going on holidays? So what they are going to do with all these commissions. And that's uh that's something we've we look again often, and that's also a good way to motivate them. At least the answer is always to go on holiday. That is, yes, I agree, I agree. For me at least, in a sunny place, right?

Control, Influence, And Adaptation

Speaker 1 28:05

Yes, go on holiday. That is the answer to the question there, because that is the motivation. Um so Elise, talk to me a little bit about um, you were talking about like taking it like once making the goal smaller so it's attainable and they can keep focused on it. Um with the you know, with the political climate, all that's happening with the economy and all that's going on, there are so many things outside um, you know, the sales team's uh reach that they can control. Talk to me about how you, or do you even discuss that with them? Because I think with the motivate them and keep them staying focused on what they are able to do.

Speaker 2 28:44

So it's always I I've got this, I saw something somewhere, and I I don't remember where, but this is this circle of, you know, you can control this, the middle, you can influence, and then there is a thing you cannot control. So I'm always telling telling them control what you can control, you know, influence what you could influence. There is something, some factors that are completely outside that are outside of our circle of influence that we cannot control. We just need to deal with them and adapt with them. And maybe, you know, maybe this year is going to be more difficult than last year. But how can we shift the way we are selling? How can we shift uh the way we are prospecting to make sure we could still achieve a part of the goal, for example?

One Lesson: Go Slow To Go Fast

Speaker 29:29

As we wrap up, Elise, we'll wrap up here in just a couple of minutes. I want to ask you, you know, you mentioned a leader that you had that was just a good mentor, a good coach for you. Um, and it sounds like you yourself have been able to evolve into a really good coach as well, and just the way that you approach things. Um, and you're leaving room for everyone to be seen, to be heard, to identify their own personal goals and development. And I think that's so key as a leader. We talked about transparency and um courageous authenticity, like all of those things. Um, I think as leaders, and I d I do think this comes with experience and personal growth, is you get to this place where you're constantly reflecting, what are the things that I can do better? Where can I grow? What how can I do better for my team or for myself? What's one thing that you've learned, Elise, over your career, whether it's been through, you know, a mentor yourself or leader, what's one area that maybe we haven't touched on, or one thing that you've learned that you could just encourage the listeners with that, hey, this is one mindset, this is one thing that really helped change everything for me.

Speaker 2 30:38

Maybe it's um the go slow to go fast. You know, take the time to reflect. And in sale is so important to look at your data, what you've done, the lessons learned. And it's not because you are slowing down that you cannot reach your goals. That's the one thing.

Inspiring Healthy Habits And Closing Thanks

Speaker 30:57

That's so good, Elise. You know, as a as a runner, you you do have to go slow to go fast. I was again going back to it, you know. But I did it for you, so you didn't have to refer to the right. But it's so true. If you think about a marathon runner, you can't go fast out the gate because your pace, you'll you'll burn out so fast, right? And you're not gonna get to the end. You're not gonna cross that line. That's so true. Leave it to the marathon runner to leave the sales team, right? So, so it's how many people on your team are runners?

Speaker 2 31:32

They started to run. So, fun enough, because I was speaking so much about running, it's a big part. So I also, you know, stopped drinking. Like I had a lot of changes to be able to finish that that marathon. And I think I inspired some of them. So um, some of them started to run, which I'm very proud of. I'm kind of should I build a running club now?

Speaker 31:54

Absolutely. Hey, you know, next time I'm in Paris, I I would like to go run with you around the Eiffel Tower.

Speaker 1 31:59

Happy too. Absolutely.

Speaker 32:03

Well, Elise, thank you so much for this conversation today. Thank you for um just bringing your experience, your leadership style to the table to have a conversation. We so appreciate it.

Speaker 1 32:12

Thank you for having me. Yeah, thank you, Elise.