Mike Zani Discusses How to Build and Manage Sales Teams Using Behavioral Science

Yesware CEO, Joel Stevenson, talks all things sales with fellow entrepreneurs, CEOs, and sales experts. In this episode of The Hard Sell, Joel and guest Mike Zani, CEO of The Predictive Index and best-selling author of “The Science of Dream Teams,” discuss how behavioral science can help build and manage sales teams to enhance talent and drive results.

About the Guest: Mike is the Wall Street Journal best-selling author of “The Science of Dream Teams” and is CEO of The Predictive Index, the leader in talent optimization. He has a remarkably varied background.

After graduating from Brown University, Mike coached the 1996 U.S. Olympic Sailing Team, where he was named Coach of the Year for the sport of sailing. After his career as a sailing coach, he attended Harvard Business School. Mike later partnered with a fellow graduate school classmate to form a search fund called Phoenix Strategy Investments, which searches to acquire companies where there is the potential to apply better management practices to dramatically improve business results. The first company Phoenix Strategy Investments acquired was LEDCO, a computer docking station manufacturer. As CEO, Mike increased LEDCO’s revenue by 350% in four years. After selling LEDCO, Mike acquired and ran ShapeUp, a SaaS wellness platform, and grew revenues by 600% in three years.

At both of these companies, Mike and his team used The Predictive Index®, a workforce assessment methodology, to ensure they were doing the best possible job hiring and managing people. The Predictive Index had been family run since its founding in 1955. In 2014, Mike led an investment to purchase The Predictive Index and has been CEO of the company since.