Foreword

I count myself extremely fortunate to have met Alice Alessandri and Alberto Aleo a few years ago. They were visiting the United States, on a personal learning journey, reaching out to the authors of works in the field of values-driven leadership and business ethics, which had been helpful to them. They had already launched their innovative training and leadership development programs for sales and marketing professionals in Italy, and they were looking for ways to share their unique perspective on this often underestimated and even maligned career path. They were keenly aware that if business ethics is often jokingly referred to as an oxymoron, the concept of sales ethics in particular was probably one of the primary reasons for this dubious distinction.

But having lived the contradictions, pressures, and perverse incentives of the world of sales and marketing, they were determined to find a way to reframe this career, to elevate it, and to identify an approach to this work that optimized the mutual benefits to the salesperson, the business for which he or she worked, prospective consumers, and the larger market system that relied upon marketing that could be sustainable and trusted.

In this unique and very practical book, Alessandri and Aleo have painted a picture of what is possible when sales persons see their role in a larger context; when they define their purpose more broadly than simply filling a short term quota; when they frame their contributions in ways that serve their own self-respect as well as their pocketbooks; and when they behave in a fashion that elevates the role of sales person to a profession.

As the creator of the “Giving Voice to Values” approach to values-driven leadership development, I am extremely gratified that Alessandri and Aleo have chosen to share their considerable experience in sales and sales training, as well as their deep personal commitment to ethical and personally satisfying business practices. The fundamental approach behind GVV—that is, asking not “What is right?” but rather “How can we get the right thing done, effectively, in business?”—is at the heart of this book and I am proud to help make this wise and profoundly pragmatic set of lessons available to current and future business professionals around the world.

Mary C. Gentile, PhD
Creator/Director, Giving Voice to Values
www.MaryGentile.com