You can't get to the top: unless you take someone with you.

• Author: Wiesner, Pat
• Position: Pwiesner@cobizmag.com

CHUCK WAS A TERRIFIC SALESMAN. FROM HIS FIRST day at being what he playfully called "a peddler," it was clear that he had a real gift for it. Everything he worked on seemed to result in a sale. Everyone -- his customers and teammates -- enjoyed his easygoing manner and fun loving and sometimes seemingly careless way of dealing with problems.

He worked hard. He started early every day, prided himself on being able to make more calls in a week than any other salesperson in the business. He learned everything there was to know about his product. He studied the competition until he could give their presentation as well as his own.

He worked smart. He knew that "selling time" (the time spent talking to someone who can buy your product) was his most precious commodity So he would either meet prospects face-to-face or talk to them on the phone during the work day and take planning and paperwork home at night.

He enjoyed and deserved the spotlight at national sales meetings. The attention he earned was part of his motivation. He was always doing something creative. One time he gave a power-point presentation on the wall next to his table at a restaurant to the delight of the other patrons and the amusement of his client -- who ended up buying, a lot.

In short, he loved his job and the popularity that came with it. He was a great salesman and he shot right to the top. He made more money, had more friends in and out of the company and was the No. 1 prospect for advancement. He had earned the right to try management -- where he could try to bring others to the same success he had achieved. And he soon got his chance.

Less than a year later, though, he was history -- gone.

He had failed as a manager. No one who worked for him benefited from his leadership, and the entire team was just so-so.

He had to be removed as a leader, and he wouldn't take a sales job again, so he left.

What happened? How is it that someone with...