Tricia Penn, CEO of the C-Suite Network with 350,000 members, talks about leading with authentic energy and building communities that drive revenue. She argues that effective leaders blend competitive and collaborative energy, and that content creates community which creates commerce. Vulnerability, listening, and genuine relationships matter more than size.
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Hi, my name is Gerhard Gschwandtner and welcome to Selling Power TV. Today we have a very special guest, Tricia Penn. She is the CEO of the C-Suite Network. Welcome, Tricia.
Thank you so much, Gerhard. I'm so thrilled to be here with you today.
I'm excited that you are going to do a keynote at our Sales Transformation Summit, April 8th through 10th. So my question is, What can people expect from you?
I wanna be useful. And so I'm really excited to be able to share some of the things that I've seen over the years, the things that are working, and I think how we tie what our world looks like today into how we're creating a mission that matters and we're selling something that creates the impact we wanna have with our lives.
You were with the C-Suite Network. That's an organization that has about 350,000 followers. And you are a super connector. What keeps an organization like that vibrant in an age of technology where everything changes and where people feel more isolated than ever?
It really is about that human connection. So much of what we're able to do now is take that real connection, make the real connection in many cases, and then also accentuate it with all of the technology we have available to us today. And the other thing is, We're big believers that content creates community creates commerce. That formula of creating content to let people know where you stand, what you're about, the kind of impact, the mission you're on, you know, those kinds of things, it allows people to connect with you. And of course, we have an enormous community, as you said, and all kinds of content creation and distribution through podcasting and digital content and video content and our events and so on. To be able to have those connections and communities coming together And then, of course, we all want to do business with great people. So that, that makes it pretty easy.
Why is it so difficult for a lot of people, especially leaders, to communicate in a natural, accessible, and authentic way?
This is something that I just find so interesting. And Gerhard, you're the same way. You're authentic, you're vulnerable, and, and also you listen. And those qualities allow somebody to open up to what really matters to them. If you don't care, then you're doing the wrong thing. You need to figure out something else because that is the meaning and purpose of life. And the other thing, it's the people that you create that connection with where you can work through challenges and you can get through to breakthrough success, not just okay, but breakthrough success when you've had those opportunities to really connect and understand where each other even has a win, let alone what success looks like at the other end of a project.
We all need to become The containers for the content that other people bring to you.
I agree with that entirely. And this is something I've been thinking a great deal about, is my energy. So what energy can I bring to a room, an event, an individual that will help to deliver success or lead things where we need it to go? And that energy is so critical. Especially in today's day and age with the pace being so fast, with the pressure being so great as we're at our executive levels and we have every year there's higher targets. It doesn't— you don't go to your executive team or set your executive team's numbers lower in subsequent years. It's higher. So how we bring that energy into a place where we can be super productive. and calm and invite people into that space. As you said, that vessel of, you know, we're gonna get things done and we're gonna, we're not wasting, we're not wasting energy, we're not wasting on things that don't move us forward.
I like to think that there are 2 kinds of energy. There's the competitive energy, antagonistic energy that, um, gets people to a more combative role versus a collaborative energy, like what you bring to the table where You on stage and immediately you fuse all those thoughts together and get everybody to co-create. And that is a gift.
There's a certain part of it that people will think if you're collaborative, you're not competitive. I don't think that has to be a one or the other scenario at all. But I do believe we have to be bringing together and appreciating where there's excellence and helping people to bind to A mission that matters, impact that matters. And we have that incredible opportunity in business and in sales to make that happen because so often we're actually creating the solutions.
I can't wait to see you at the Sales Transformation Summit. There's a link below where you can subscribe and sign up for free and hear Tricia Ben. Thank you so much.
