What if the biggest mistake sales leaders make is focusing on all the wrong problems—and it's costing you results, energy, and team engagement?

This episode of The Influence Gap with Bernadette McClelland features a no-nonsense, insight-rich conversation with Darren Mitchell, one of Australia’s top 20 sales influencers and host of the Exceptional Sales Leader Podcast.

Discover how “blind blaming,” chasing outcomes, and product-centric mindsets are limiting your sales results—and how asking deeper questions, shifting your coaching from deals to people, and leaning into empathy can transform leadership impact. You’ll hear why the best leaders step out of the spotlight to lift others, why sales coaching is the first thing to be dropped (but is actually the number one driver of high performance), and how to make the leap from competent to exceptional sales leadership—even if you don’t fit the typical “sales profile.”

Tune in for candid revelations, actionable ideas, and a rapid-fire round that’ll keep you thinking well after the episode ends.

00:00 Welcome & Introduction

01:15 Darren Mitchell joins and reflects on starting his podcast in Covid

02:07 Launching the Exceptional Sales Leader Podcast03:16 Over 900 episodes and counting04:05 The myth of solving the wrong sales problem: "blind blaming"05:29 The origins of "blind blaming" and what leaders miss07:18 The real issues upstream of pipeline & the biggest blind spots08:01 Sales leaders and the manic focus on results11:22 Is your market really finite, or is your thinking?12:57 How to ask questions that set you apart14:33 Context vs. content and the art of great questions15:19 Coaching styles and avoiding surface-level sales questions17:20 AI in sales coaching—what it can and can’t replace19:33 Are you coaching people, or just the deal?21:30 A Telstra story: year of the coach & what real coaching looks like24:29 Telling vs. asking—teaching your team how to think25:51 Mindset vs. skill set: what’s really holding leaders back?27:02 The power of empathy & coaching the whole person28:21 Leadership is not what you do, it’s who you are29:00 From competent to exceptional: what prevents the leap32:05 Engineering mindsets in sales leadership34:15 Rapid fire questions and wrap-up36:29 How to connect with Darren Mitchell and closing remarks