Ep. 2 of the next + future podcast

Why do Chief Revenue Officers last just 18 months? In this next + future podcast episode we unpack the accountability without authority trap that’s holding sales leaders back—and what high-growth teams actually look like.

Guest Simon Jackson (author of Stop Managing, Start Leading, sales leadership and performance coach to CROs and VPs of Sales) shares what separates leaders who build lasting success from those who burn out or get pushed out.

We cover why the move from top salesperson to sales leader is a career change, not a promotion.

The misalignment between CRO titles and real revenue responsibility, why promoting your best salesperson can backfire, how intrinsic motivation builds more resilient teams than commission alone, and what AI replacing entry-level sales roles means for the future leadership pipeline.

If you’re a CEO, CRO, an emerging sales leader, or you work alongside revenue teams—this one’s worth your time.

Topics

• 0:00 Intro and teaser highlights
• 0:36 Welcome and guest introduction
• 1:27 Simon’s background and “Stop Managing, Start Leading”
• 2:15 Simon’s recent adventure: family trip to Thailand
• 2:55 Unpacking the book’s opening line: “Have you ever considered the problem might be you?”
• 3:51 Common patterns: sales leaders who blame others
• 5:07 Why the average CRO tenure is only 18 months
• 6:15 The evolution of the CRO role: from Sales Director to Chief Revenue Officer
• 7:57 Role clarity, misalignment, and siloed working
• 9:19 Building your playbook: strategy vs. default behaviour
• 11:23 The “accidental manager,” 82% of first-line managers with no formal training
• 14:00 Promoting salespeople into leadership: a career change, not just a promotion
• 16:11 Alternative career tracks for high performers who don’t want to manage
• 19:39 The “coin-operated salesperson” myth and intrinsic motivation
• 22:45 Self-determination theory: autonomy, mastery, relatedness, and purpose
• 23:43 Long-term leadership: knowing yourself, building a legacy
• 27:14 Can you do sales well with a bad strategy?
• 28:05 The four systems that underpin a high-performing sales organisation
• 33:53 Coherence, consistency, and why being consistently wrong beats randomly right
• 34:25 Marketing and sales alignment: are objectives actually joined up?
• 34:40 Best & Worst: what the best CROs are doing right now
• 35:20 Worst-case prediction: AI replacing entry-level sales roles and the pipeline problem
• 36:37 Wrap-up and where to find Simon’s book

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