What if the missing ingredient in sales enablement isn’t a tool—but balance? I recently sat down with my friend and longtime enablement leader, Roderick Jefferson—author of Sales Enablement 3.0 and the forthcoming Stroke of Success.
We planned to talk tech (yes, the kind with letters “A” and “I”), but we started with something more human: how grit without self-care breaks teams, and how leaders can recalibrate for sustainable performance.
Roderick nearly didn’t survive a stroke. That experience didn’t just change his life; it clarified his leadership.
His big takeaway: when what you do overtakes who you are, the system fails—you, your team, and ultimately the customer. That insight reframed our conversation about enablement entirely.
Join me and Ben Tagoe, CEO of Objective Management Group, on Wednesday, October 22 at 11:30 EST to learn how to hire right the first time.
Ask 10 people to define sales enablement and you’ll get 12 answers. Roderick’s view: the phrase itself is too narrow. It can put sales on a pedestal and everyone else in orbit. Instead, think go-to-market enablement—a connected ecosystem that integrates strategies, processes, platforms, and people across the entire customer lifecycle, from demand to renewal and expansion.
Enablement, done right, should:
Metrics, platforms, playbooks—those are table stakes. The strategy is what ties them to outcomes customers actually feel.
“We used to force buyers through our funnel. Now the work is to understand their journey—and align the business around it.”
The “missing ingredient” isn’t a shiny platform. It’s balance.
Leave out any one of these and performance becomes lopsided. Roderick calls it gumbo—you taste, adjust, and rebalance continuously.
Roderick maps today’s enablement work to seven interlocking pieces. If you’re rebuilding (or rescuing) enablement, start here:
“Enablement leaders are translators—speaking Sales, Marketing, CS, Product, and Finance, then turning it all into one revenue language.”
One study I cite in my book shows people value what they help create. That applies to both customers and your internal teams. The fastest way to kill an initiative? Roll it out at people, not with them.
Use AI to co-create with sellers, CSMs, SEs, and managers:
When people can see themselves in the work, they use it.
Feeling overwhelmed? You’re not alone. The good news: AI raises the ceiling and the floor. It gives you tools to move faster and get more precise—if you implement thoughtfully. Different teams are at different maturity stages, so copy-pasting a peer’s stack rarely works.
Roderick’s practical list to increase efficiency and productivity—without throwing out all your previous work:
“If you’re not using AI in some fashion, you’re behind. But you can catch up fast—if you calibrate to your stage of growth.”
If renewals are on fire, the spark often started in discovery. Selling that overpromises sets CS up to fail. The remedy:
When front and back of house flow together, customers stop feeling like the “kid in the middle” of a parental argument.
High achievers—especially in corporate—often wear the “I have all the answers” mask. Roderick’s challenge to leaders:
And to my enablement peers: remember the airplane rule. Put your own mask on first. Over-givers burn out. Burnout breaks systems.
Week 1: Purpose & Baselines
Week 2: Co-Create with the Field
Week 3: Pilot 2 AI Workflows
Week 4: Front/Back Integration
Ship, learn, adjust. Balance is a practice.
Enablement won’t be “saved” by another platform. It will be elevated by balance—across IQ (thinking), EQ (human connection), and AI (acceleration). Define your purpose, co-create with the field, design across the lifecycle, fix the handoff, and measure what matters. Then iterate—at the speed of AI.
Question for you: Where is your balance off—IQ, EQ, or AI—and what’s your first 7-day experiment to fix it?
I’m Carole Mahoney, sometimes known as the “Sales Therapist” and author of Buyer First. If this resonated, share it with a leader who’s rebuilding enablement the right way—human first, tech accelerated.
💡 Don’t miss our next live session — What a Failed Sales Hire Really Costs You --and How to Avoid It) — on October 22 at 11:30 EST. Learn how to hire right the first time.