How I Lost Millions Of Dollars Viewing People As A Cost, Not An Investment (Avoid My Mistake)

I’ve hired the cheapest person and paid immensely for it.

Early in my leadership career, I viewed people as a cost.

For years, okay, over a decade, I managed my company’s sales team. I did a decent job. But, I thought, if a sales leader would cost the company over six figures, I might as well do it myself.

After my last yearly review, I noticed I’m unable to give the sales team the daily attention it needs, and when I do, it pulls me from my other highest-level activities.

This year, I decided to hire an experienced Sales Manager.

So far, the results are promising, but I know that managing the sales team forced me to lose focus on strategic areas of the company and has cost the company several million dollars in opportunity costs and thousands of hours of my time.

I was trained to view people as a cost.

Your team is not a cost; they’re an investment.

When you do everything yourself, you miss out on the opportunity of growth that comes from investing in other people, which allows you to utilize your time and effort on higher-level activities.