A lesson I learned across sales floors, meeting rooms, and borders
By Boniface Asante, MBA, ACIIG
Many professionals are excellent at doing the work.
Far fewer are intentional about winning the work.
I know this because for a long time, I didn’t know the difference myself.
Early in my career, I believed strong execution would always speak for itself. Meet the target. Close the sale. Deliver the analysis. Hit the deadline. Move on. That mindset shaped how I approached work, especially in my early years in corporate Ghana, where performance was measured clearly and relentlessly.
For a while, that approach worked.
Then slowly, quietly, it stopped being enough.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that something else was working in my favor. Something I wasn’t conscious of, didn’t have language for, and certainly wasn’t doing intentionally. I would only understand it years later, after moving into corporate America and encountering ideas that helped me name what I had been practicing without knowing it.
That idea is the difference between doing the work and winning the work.
Doing the work: Necessary, but not sufficient
Doing the work is about delivery.
It means:
Executing what you’re assigned
Meeting expectations
Producing outputs on time and to standard
Fulfilling your job description
In Ghana’s insurance industry, doing the work mattered deeply. Targets were clear. Pressure was high. The environment rewarded discipline and consistency. You learned quickly that excuses didn’t sell policies, results did.
Doing the work builds competence.
It builds credibility.
It earns you a place in the system.
But over time, I began to notice a pattern: many people were competent. Many were working hard. Many were meeting expectations. Yet only a few were trusted with greater responsibility, influence, and opportunity.
The difference wasn’t effort.
It wasn’t intelligence.
It wasn’t even experience.
It was how they engaged people.
A sales lesson I didn’t understand at the time
Early in my career as a life insurance sales executive in Ghana, my team often went out together for marketing and prospecting. There were many occasions when a colleague would speak to a potential client, explain the policy details, and still fail to close the sale.
Then I would approach the same client and end up selling the policy.
At the time, I didn’t think much of it. I assumed it was luck, personality, or timing. But looking back, the difference wasn’t persuasion. It was approach.
I wasn’t focused on my sales target in that moment.
I was focused on the client.
Instead of pushing products, I tried to educate.
Instead of rushing to close, I asked questions.
Instead of leading with features, I tried to understand the client’s situation, concerns, and priorities.
I offered perspective before asking for commitment.
What I didn’t realize then was that I wasn’t just doing the work of selling. I was winning the work of trust.
That trust didn’t always result in an immediate sale, but when it did, it was durable. Clients stayed. They referred others. They listened.
I was giving value before asking for value.
Years later, when I encountered Give to Grow by Mo Bunnell, that realization finally clicked. The book put language to what I had experienced intuitively: sustainable success comes from generosity of insight, not pressure for outcomes.
When leadership shows up before the title
Another defining moment came when my sales team manager became unavailable for a period of time. There was no formal announcement. No interim appointment. Everyone simply continued doing what was expected of them.
But I noticed something: the team needed coordination. They needed clarity. They needed encouragement.
So I stepped in, not because I was asked, and not because I was aiming for a promotion, but because the team needed support to survive and perform.
I helped organize activities.
I checked in on colleagues.
I took interest in their challenges beyond just numbers.
I focused on keeping morale, discipline, and direction intact.
To me, I was simply helping.
What I didn’t see coming was that when the opportunity arose, I was officially offered the position to continue as the newly appointed sales manager of the team.
The promotion came quickly.
Faster than many expected.
And with it came resistance, skepticism, and inevitably sabotage.
Yet the team succeeded.
Not because I was the most aggressive manager.
Not because I chased targets harder than everyone else.
But because I had already invested in people before I had authority over them.
That team went on to become one of the best-performing teams in the branch at the time. And within a relatively short period, I rose from sales executive to sales manager and eventually to branch manager within Ghana’s insurance industry.
Again, I didn’t fully understand why it worked.
I was doing more than the job but not in hours or effort.
I was doing more in intent.
Winning the work: What changed my perspective
Years later, during my MBA studies in the United States, I experienced another moment of clarity.
In a business analysis case competition at Georgia State University, multiple teams worked with the same dataset and the same problem. Most teams delivered well-structured reports and stopped at presenting findings.
The winning team went further.
They connected insights to real business risks.
They highlighted opportunities hidden in the data.
They outlined clear next actions for decision-makers.
Same data.
Same tools.
Different outcomes and very different levels of trust.
That was the moment I finally understood what had been working for me all along.
Doing the work vs. Winning the work
Inspired by Give to Grow, here’s the distinction I’ve seen repeatedly across sales, analysis, leadership, and strategy:
Doing the Work
Analyze what you’re assigned
Deliver what’s requested
Meet expectations
Wait for the next task
Winning the Work
Ask why the request exists
Anticipate risks and opportunities
Share insights that weren’t asked for but matter
Give value early, without chasing credit
Doing the work earns you reliability.
Winning the work earns you trust.
And trust is what gets you invited into bigger conversations, earlier decisions, and future opportunities.
Across Ghana and America, the Principle Holds
Corporate cultures differ. Contexts change. Systems vary.
But whether in Ghana or the United States, one principle has proven consistent in my experience: people don’t promote outputs, they promote confidence.
Confidence in your judgment.
Confidence in your intent.
Confidence that you are invested in outcomes, not just tasks.
Winning the work is not about working harder or positioning yourself aggressively. It’s about helping others succeed, clients, colleagues, leaders, often before there is anything in it for you.
A message to young professionals
If you are early in your career, here’s what I wish someone had told me sooner:
Do the work well. Master your craft. Be reliable.
But don’t stop there.
Learn to think beyond the assignment.
Seek to understand the human and business context.
Offer perspective, not just execution.
Invest in people, not just performance metrics.
Execution will keep you employed.
Relationships and perspective will make you indispensable.
Final reflection
For years, I thought my career progress was driven by effort and results alone. Only later did I realize that what truly differentiated me was an approach rooted in giving, educating clients, supporting colleagues, and stepping up without being asked.
I didn’t know I was winning the work.
Now I do.
And the question I continue to ask myself and invite you to consider is simple:
Are you just doing the work… or are you intentionally positioning yourself to win the next one?
Author Profile
Boniface Asante, MBA, ACIIG is a Business Development Leader at NewcoUSA Industrial Servies, the surface engineering division of Triosim Corporation, where he drives revenue growth, market expansion, and data-informed commercial strategy. With over a decade of experience across corporate Ghana and the United States, he specializes in business development, sales leadership, market analysis, and operational optimization. Boniface brings a relationship-first approach to growth, blending execution excellence with strategic insight to build high-performing teams and sustainable results.
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/boniface-asante
Facebook: https://facebook.com/nanayaw.boniface1
Email: bonifaceasante30@gmail.com