Meet Michaela.

She puts Force into Salesforce. And Sales into it too.

Last year, she reached 512% of her quota, becoming #1 sales rep in the entire commercial business segment of #CRM company.

Out of tens of thousands of sales professionals chasing President’s Club - the top 1% - she didn’t just qualify. She topped the list.

She moved to the US from Czechia in her twenties.

Close friends still misspell her last name.

People comment on her accent.

She smiles – that’s what makes them remember me.

No pedigree.

No fancy degrees.

No unfair leg-ups.

Just a very particular way of operating.

***

Here are three lessons – plus a bonus story – I can’t stop thinking about.

Michaela credits her results to the people around her.

At Salesforce, she leads a team of 30 and works in a tight duo with a solutions engineer who designs the actual technical solutions they are selling across all Salesforce’s clouds.

Early in the year, she asked him what mattered to him. What he wanted. What frustrated him.

He told her solutions engineers’ work often goes unseen.

She made a quiet promise – this year, you’ll be seen with me.

Months later, after making it to the Presidents’s Club and becoming the person everybody talks about, during Sales Kickoff, her name appeared on the giant screen as one of the top performers.

The solutions engineer got a massive promo as the result of the visibility.

Michaela delivered. More than just the quota.

We caught up during Dreamforce, their annual conference.

She got me a pass. I assumed we’d explore the event together.

Instead, she sent me her calendar –

Our coffee was short.

She had to buy a special bottle of mezcal to pregame and celebrate with her client before a panel.

Later that evening, when I tried to find her, she had disappeared into unplanned drinks and celebrations with her customers.

No confusion about priorities. Ever.

***

One more scene I loved:

Before a client’s panel, she walked into the audience carrying disposable cups, pouring drinks - alcoholic and non-alcoholic - for everyone sitting there.

Michaela is disciplined about what matters – and almost allergic to what doesn’t.

Monthly projections. Activity targets. Small deals to show progress.

She doesn’t play that game.

In November, I asked if she was on track to hit quota again.

She laughed -

If a quick deal would be misaligned, she refuses to close it.

She’d rather wait – and close the right deal at the right scale.

And that’s exactly what happens.

Most of her deals close in the final weeks before fiscal year-end (which is exactly right now, good luck!!) and are often large, considered, high-impact.

She trained for a triathlon for two years.

Race day finally came at Cozumel Island, Mexico.

The morning of, an emergency email arrived from HR: new H-1B rules, midnight deadline, all visa holders needed to be back in the US. Else don’t even attempt re-entry.

She dropped the race.

Packed.

Ferry.

Flights.

Chaos.

Made it back to Houston just in time, back home to NYC hours later, exhausted & stressed out.

But she refused to let the dream die and the anxiety rule her day.

As she woke up on Sunday, she went to her local pool.

Swam the distance.

Biked the distance.

Ran the distance.

xoxo, Katka from Sabotage Works

PS: Our origin story: Our mutual friend Emilka brought us together to attempt a winter ascent of Mt Toubkal, the highest mountain for North Africa.

The night before the summit, in a mountain refuge, Misa got sick.

Fever, chills, shivering.

I was very much against her joining our summit crew heading up 4am.

Misa insisted.

She got ready first and waited for us in front of the refuge.

***

Some people don’t just perform intensely.

They live intensely.

And I’m very glad to have one of them as a friend.