Stop Managing, Start Leading: Unlocking the secrets to building a high-growth sales team

by Simon Jackson, Damian Hughes (Foreword by)

Overview

The ultimate guide for sales managers and leaders ready to elevate their game.

Sales leadership is one of the most demanding roles in business. Balancing ambitious targets, team dynamics, and a rapidly changing environment leaves little room for reflection or growth. Many leaders default to reactive management—solving problems as they arise, relying on quick fixes, and chasing short-term wins—without ever addressing the real barriers to lasting success.

Stop Managing, Start Leading is a leadership transformation manual designed to help you break free from these habits. Packed with practical tools, proven frameworks, and decades of hard-earned insights, this book provides the roadmap to shift from managing tasks to inspiring people. It’s a guide to creating a high-growth team culture, driving meaningful results, and building a leadership legacy you can be proud of.

Inside, you’ll discover:

The one key shift that transforms managers into true leaders. Strategies to prioritize your time and focus on what truly matters. Proven techniques to inspire, engage, and motivate your team for sustainable success. Tools to overcome hidden obstacles and unlock your team’s potential.

Whether you're a new manager or a seasoned leader, this book will equip you with the mindset and strategies to lead with confidence, elevate your team, and achieve enduring success.

Inspire. Lead. Grow. The transformation begins here.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781788608459
Publisher:	Practical Inspiration Publishing
Publication date:	09/30/2025
Pages:	210
Product dimensions:	6.15(w) x 9.22(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Simon Jackson is a business performance coach and mentor with over 25 years’ experience in sales and leadership. He has held senior roles with BT and Vodafone and worked as a senior consultant with Accenture, supporting global brands on leadership development and strategic transformation.

Today, Simon partners with organizations across sectors to develop leadership capabilities and drive sustainable growth. A qualified coach and member of the International Coaching Federation (PCC), he’s passionate about helping people perform at their best. Drawing on insights from neuroscience and social psychology, he combines practical frameworks with a deep understanding of human performance to inspire change and improve results.

Simon’s motto, ‘challenge to change’, reflects his focus on empowering individuals to become the best versions of themselves. Whether through coaching, mentorship, or training, Simon equips sales leaders with the tools to succeed and leave a lasting legacy.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Simon Jackson’s Stop Managing, Start Leading truly captures what it takes to lead modern sales teams – with the kind of clarity, empathy, and insight I value. This book equips leaders with the tools to ‘get on the same frequency’ as their people: listening deeply, empowering through coaching, and building a secure, performance-focused culture. Having witnessed Simon’s coaching in action, I can confidently say this book will help take any sales leader to the next level.

Brian McCarthy, CRO, Rubrik

Simon’s book is a true playbook for success at every level of an organization. It’s practical, insightful, and deeply impactful. This will be my go-to book gift for my team and colleagues in 2025. Brilliant work!

Brad Copeland, President, FileBank Inc

Simon is a master consultant and one of the best presenters and keynote speakers I have had the privilege to work with. His book is a testament to taking his insights and having the credibility and presence to be able to deliver those live to clients with amazing results.

Chris Norton, CRO Positive Intelligence, Inc, Founder and author of The DNA of Success

Stop Managing Start Leading is a breakthrough book in sales leadership – practical, inspiring, and long overdue. It’s for sales managers, CEOs, and reps ready to trade control for coaching, pressure for purpose. Backed by real data and stories, Simon shows how true leadership – not management – is the key to high-growth sales teams.

Aaron Norris, Executive Sales Coach and author of Sales Life

By focusing on personal accountability and growth, Jackson offers a blueprint that resonates even with veteran executives. It’s an engaging reminder that to truly lead others, we must first learn to lead ourselves.

Jamie Anderson, President, UserTesting

Simon reminds us that the real differentiator is leadership rooted in values, clarity, and coaching. This isn’t a theoretical manual, it’s a field-tested guide built on years of insight and grounded in lived experience. Anyone serious about building a high-performance, people-first sales culture should read this. It’s an important addition to the leadership bookshelf.

Matt Webb, CEO, Mentor Group and author of Infinite Selling

This is a practical and inspiring guide that echoes much of what I’ve championed through SUMO – mindset, resilience, and real conversations. One line that stood out for me: ‘It’s not through changing your team that you’ll achieve success, but by changing yourself.’ A message more leaders need to hear. If you lead a sales team – or aspire to – you’ll find plenty in here to reflect on and apply.

Paul McGee, The SUMO Guy; international speaker, Sunday Times best-selling author

This book is full of the kind of wisdom that only comes from doing the job, day in and day out, with real teams and real targets. Simon knows and understands the pressures sales leaders face and offers practical ways to make coaching a genuine part of the job, not just an added extra.

Simon hasn’t overwhelmed the reader with a long list of coaching tools or complex leadership models either. Instead, he’s carefully curated a small number of practical, focused exercises and frameworks that are genuinely useful – and specifically designed with the realities of sales leadership in mind. This is a realistic, encouraging and much-needed guide for anyone who wants to lead well and help their team thrive.

Kim Morgan, MA, MCC, Founder and Chairperson of Barefoot Coaching Ltd

This book flips the outdated idea that salespeople need managing. They don’t – and as Simon shows, what they need is leadership. Through clear frameworks and thoughtful guidance, he shows how high standards and great performance come not from control, but from purpose, clarity, and learning. He doesn't shy away from the challenges leaders face when pulled in different – and often conflicting – directions. Instead, he provides a practical roadmap for navigating them. For anyone serious about leading in sales, this is essential reading.

Andrew Hough, Founder and Director, Institute of Sales Professionals