How the Mamba Mentality drives sales performance with a sales leader at Square

As the Head of Strategic Sales at Square, my success is inherently tied to the performance and satisfaction of our sales teams. To drive revenue and hit escalating targets, we have to equip them with the essential skills, resources, and support they need to excel. 

Famed basketballer Kobe Bryant’s “mamba mentality” inspired my sales leadership style. Mamba mentality comes from Bryant’s, “The Black Mamba,” a persona that distinguished his competitive drive from his off-court life. It’s all about the relentless pursuit of excellence and continuous improvement.

When we adopt a mamba mentality and coach sales reps like coaching basketball players, we can develop abilities through dedication and hard work. It’s a growth mindset. Recognizing that each individual – like each customer – is unique, my greatest challenge is balancing personalized coaching with efficiency and scalability.

Supported by cutting-edge technology like Gong, we’ve found that balance. More importantly, we’ve cemented a culture of continuous learning and improvement that’s creating winning teams and driving new revenue. Let me take you through how we treat customer interactions like championship games, analyzing them one game film session at a time.

We know that sales professionals really thrive when individualized coaching unlocks their highest potential. But to deliver impactful coaching, we need deep insights into each rep’s strengths and areas for improvement. Since it’s impossible to listen to every customer interaction from start to finish to gather those insights, we had to innovate.

Taking inspiration from the sports world again, we introduced ‘game film sessions’ where our teams gather to analyze Gong’s recordings and AI-powered insights — just like when sports teams review game footage to improve. This collective approach has transformed our team dynamics. By learning from each other’s experiences and sharing growth opportunities in near real-time, we’re always elevating the entire team. 

These sessions have sparked collaboration, peer-to-peer learning, and a shared sense of accountability at Square. Thanks to Gong, we can aggregate insights from every customer interaction, spot trends, and improve at scale. As a result, we’ve boosted performance across the entire organization much faster than ever before. 

What’s most exciting about these game film sessions is their direct impact on our win rates. During these reviews, we’re not passively watching or listening — we’re actively coaching in real-time. When reps receive feedback, they make crucial adjustments while deals are still in play, which is essential in longer sales cycles. Instead of waiting for a post-mortem after a lost opportunity, we improve our chances of success mid-deal. 

But the benefits don’t stop there. This approach has also transformed how we onboard new reps. We’ve integrated Gong reviews into our employee ramp program, with new reps reviewing interactions at least three times per week. The results have been astounding. New hires are ramping up faster, contributing to the bottom line quicker, and building their confidence early on. 

Another impressive outcome from our game film approach is how it not only improves individual performance but leads to stronger team collaboration and problem-solving. This culture of continuous development is making our sales team more agile and adaptive, better equipped to handle rapid changes in our industry. 

Beyond that, it’s opening new ways to revenue – helping us innovate and find growth opportunities we wouldn’t have spotted otherwise. We’re growing week over week, month over month, and quarter over quarter with our new approach. When we hit our annual numbers, it really feels like winning a championship.

The mamba mentality is ingrained in our sales DNA — every customer interaction is a chance to learn, and every win is a team celebration. Tools like Gong help us operationalize that mindset, driving higher win rates and building the foundation for sustained excellence. 

By instilling discipline and growth mindset into everything we do, we’re unlocking our organization’s potential — not just for today, but for tomorrow. Our team is poised to adapt, evolve, and win in an ever-changing market.