In this episode of our “Driving Leadership” series, Emergent’s Bill Berthel speaks with Steve Lowe, owner of Valley Signs in Clayville, NY and co-founder of CNY Birdies Fore Babies, a non-profit organization that organizes an annual golf tournament to promote increased awareness about infertility and raises funds for couples who are trying to have a child. Steve traces his leadership journey, shares stories about the challenges he faced in assuming ownership of an established business and offers advice to other leaders.

A Conversation with Owner of Valley Signs

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There really are patterns in life. Effective leaders can recognize those patterns and use them to optimize the performance of their teams. Listen as Bill and Ralph give examples of patterns you can exploit to enhance your leadership – and how to do it.
 

 
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*Note: The following text is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors
 

 
Bill Berthel: Welcome to the Get Emergent podcast. This is the space where we discuss leadership team and organizational topics and better practices. We like to provide concepts and ideas that you can turn into pragmatic experiments to help you develop your higher potential in your work and your leadership. I’m Bill Berthel.
Ralph Simone: And I’m Ralph Simone. And Bill, I’m fascinated with this topic today because I have no idea what it means.
Bill Berthel: Ah, you do. You do.
Bill Berthel: Once we get into the conversation, you’re gonna.
So the title of you’re not paranoid, there are patterns, right? It’s really about looking for and looking at the patterns. The reference to paranoia, right? Paranoia is defined as an ability or a sensing of patterns and sequences. Typically, the paranoid think those patterns are out to get them, right. It’s a negative thing, but we’re going to flip that. There really are patterns in our life, in the world. The way things are structured and really effective. Leaders can read those patterns and utilize them in their leadership to optimize the results of their teams and their organizations. That’s what we’re talking about today.
Bill Berthel: I love it.
Ralph Simone: I’d actually like rather look at that paranoia as an intuition, so much.
Bill Berthel: Is that right? It’s this beautiful ability to tap into that, right? We can take cues from the patterns and the models that are around us when we start to see that, whatever you believe in, intelligent design, divine creation, nature’s blueprint, right? These are all possible sources. Wherever these patterns come from, they’re abundantly around us. They’re very real. They’re very real.
What kind of patterns would leaders be looking for or uncovering in their organizations
Ralph Simone: Preston, I’m curious, what kind of patterns would leaders be looking for or should they be looking for or uncovering in their organizations?
Bill Berthel: I can think of three specific to leadership and really talk about those kind of meta, patterns or models, if you will. But we’ll give some specific examples. But just think about the simplicity of most people on this planet live somewhere where there’s a change of seasons, right? We experience that pattern, right? Especially here in the northeast of the United States. We have four pretty distinct seasons. I guess our winters are getting more mild and our summers might be getting hotter and drier, but still pretty distinct seasons. Summer always follows spring, winter always follows autumn. While not completely forecastable, we can understand whether patterns each season will bring. So a really simple model of patterns most of us could relate to. We can look at just about any leadership model that’s been published for patterns. So the Harvard business School is notorious for their two by two models, right? Almost every theory Harvard provides follows, that specific pattern right. Plotted on a quadrant and x y axes gives us four different dynamics to think a

You’re Not Paranoid, There are Patterns

 

 
In the context of today’s episode, AI means more than artificial intelligence. It means Applied Impact. Listen as Ralph and Bill demystify artificial intelligence and discuss ways to harness technology to drive productivity and make a positive impact on your leadership and within your organization.
 

 
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*Note: The following text is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors
 

 
Bill Berthel: Welcome to the Get Emergent podcast. This is the space where we discuss leadership team and organizational topics and better practices. We like to provide concepts and ideas that you can turn into pragmatic experiments to help you develop your higher potential in your work and in your leadership. I’m Bill Berthell.
Ralph Simone: And I’m Ralph Simone.
Bill Berthel: So, Ralph, we’re going to talk about AI today. That’s a pretty hot topic.
Ralph Simone: Yes, it is. And, you know, I was a front-runner on AI. I have to tell you this. You, in m my old consulting days, I remember this is 1520, maybe 30 years ago, I was talking to my wife about AI, and she goes, what’s that stand for? I said, artificial intelligence. She goes, well, you ought to be pretty good at it because you got what I would describe as artificial intelligence and spades, my friend. So I was always interested in it.
Bill Berthel: But today, we are going to talk.
Ralph Simone: A little bit about artificial intelligence, but I’m looking at it from a little bit different angle, and this may help demystify AI, but applied impact. So when we think about AI and coaching, our, work with leaders, we’re thinking about the applied impact. I think the same thing holds true with artificial intelligence. I think are so nervous, and some of that nervous, probably rightfully so, because there’s a trend that over the next, right? In seven or eight years, millions of jobs will be changing or potentially eliminated.
Bill Berthel: Right, right.
Ralph Simone: But I think that there will be other jobs that will be created, and there will be other opportunities, and I think there will be other opportunities to really get the applied impact out of all this AI buzz. That’s what I’m kind of excited about.
Bill Berthel: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there are centuries of changes in technology, right. Something usually, you know, is the predecessor to the technology we have now. And there’s often some legitimate resistance to that change. Right. There might be some fear of the way in which I do something is going to go away, or I think in this case, it’s really close to the human element possibly being compromised or taken away from some work.
Ralph Simone: Trey, it was interesting. I hadn’t thought about this, but as you know, and I’m very excited about this year, hopefully have a book coming out slow down to go faster. Yeah, yeah. And the applied impact of utilizing AI in the process. And this is a story that I know you’ve heard before, but I’m probably a better speaker than writer. I, tend to be clearer, perhaps tighter in my spoken word than in my written word. And I remember I’ve been working on this book for a number of years, and a breakthrough came from my son coaching me. He saw me grinding out. I would dedicate 90 minutes, four days a week to work on this because I read somewhere that, you know, if you’re going to write a book, you have to spend time writing every day. And he was lookin

Redefining AI

 

 
Today’s advice: limit the essential elements of your leadership to a vital few. Listen as Ralph and Bill discuss the critical importance of focus, and learn how you can sharpen your focus to optimize your leadership, and ultimately energize your team or organization.
 

 
Prefer to read the transcript?
*Note: The following text is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors
 

 
Bill Berthel: Welcome to the Get Emergent podcast. This is the space where we discuss leadership, team and organizational topics and better practices. We like to provide concepts and ideas that you can turn into pragmatic experiments to help you develop your higher potential in your work and your leadership. I’m
Bill Berthel.
Ralph Simone: And I’m Ralph Simone.
Bill Berthel: So, Ralph, we’re talking about the topic of focus.
Ralph Simone: I love this topic.
Bill Berthel: You do?
Bill Berthel Simone: Oh, yeah. This is what I call one of my natural gifts, one of my unique strengths, the ability to focus.
Bill Berthel: Well, I’m ready to learn a lot from you because I see it as a, pretty significant gap for myself. So I’m excited about this one.
Ralph Simone: I think the gap exists for all of us, including me. But I want to start with a story because I think this story, coming from a client experience, puts this in perspective. The challenge that we have. I was doing a meeting between a manager and a leader who we are coaching. And they had three goals for the coaching process. One was to improve their ability to hold others accountable.
Bill Berthel: Okay.
Ralph Simone: The second was to get their arms around the 10,000 things that they have to do. Now, I’m sure it was hyperbolic. However, I very quickly pointed out if they saw the relationship between the inability to hold people accountable and, the 10,000 things they have to do.
Bill Berthel: Oh, interesting. Probably a correlation between accountability and the number of things we have to do and the capacity we have to do them in.
Ralph Simone: Yeah. So which things do I focus on? What do I follow up on? What is okay to let go of? And I think organizations are constantly, they have so many things, and this is where focus comes in. And I play around with this. I love to play around with variations of. I think this is a variation of either an Emerson or a Thoreau quote. But focus, focus, focus. Make the essential elements of your life and your leadership number a vital few. We think we have this infinite capacity that we can do more. The more automated things become, the more things we think we can do. And I think it’s causing us to lose that discipline of really focusing on those essential items.
Bill Berthel: Yeah, I think you’re right. I think we’re well intended. Right. We have a lot of interest. We want to get a lot of things done. We see a lot of opportunities. But even with that good intention, we’re overwhelming the capacity of our resources. And so focus is a way to get it back to what you call it, the vital few.
Ralph Simone: The vital few. I like to get Paredo in the mix.
Bill Berthel: Right.
Ralph Simone: Wilfredo Paredo, the Italian economist who studied the unequal distribution of wealth, 20% of our tasks yield 80% of our results, 20% of our customers. And we seem to intellectually know that. I hear people talking about it all the time, and yet we’re trying to do everything. And I remember some of my Covey training. He said, if we see everything as important, we try to do everything. And what do we get? We get overwhelmed.
B

Focus

 

 
We often make critical decisions and changes before doing the introspective work necessary to identify what really matters most to us. Being more intentional about identifying what’s most important to us in our lives and careers is the first step in creating a roadmap to get there. Listen and learn more.
 

 
Prefer to read the transcript?
*Note: The following text is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors
 

 
Bill Berthel: Welcome to the Get Emergent podcast where we discuss leadership Team and organizational topics and better practices. We like to provide concepts and ideas that you can turn into pragmatic experiments to help you develop your higher potential in your work and leadership. I’m Bill Berthel.
Ralph Simone: And I’m Rolf Simone.
Bill Berthel: Rolf, this topic today I’m really intrigued to learn more mapping what matters most. As our title, what does that entail? What does that mean? Mapping what matters most?
Ralph Simone: Well, first of all, it implies that we’ve done the introspective work to identify what really matters most to us in our careers, in our lives. And then we create the map, or the plan, or the roadmap, if you will, to get there. And I think too often people are in action, they’re on the road before they even know where they want to go.
Ralph Simone: Right?
Ralph Simone: it happens at different ages and stages, but this idea of being more intentional, not only about what you want to do, but who you want to do it with. And I think sometimes people would benefit before they even make a career choice to think about the type of lifestyle they want to have.
Bill Berthel: Interesting.
Ralph Simone: What matters most then begins to drive the plans and the activities and the actions along the way.
Bill Berthel: So, this really starts with identifying what matters most before we go in action with a plan or a map. The map is a plan in a way, but first it’s really identifying what matters most.
Ralph Simone: Begin with the end in mind, where do you intend to end up? And then begin to create the plan to get there. We talk in a lot of other podcasts about why.
Ralph Simone: So why precedes what and how and why I want to do this. Is it something that really lights me up? Is it my calling? Is it my purpose? And so, we spend a fair amount of time in mapping what matters most. Identifying what matters most through having people reflect on their purpose, activities and things that provide meaning to them. The m things that they value. We’ve talked about in other podcasts, you value what you do, you do what you value. But really giving some thought to what are those five to seven self-chosen, self-selected values that you will use to guide your behavior along the way? Some intentions. What are your intentions for what matters most? And then ultimately creating some weekly plans to get there. Ah, I think it starts with a couple of key questions. I like to ask people to identify essential relationships and activities. So sometimes people get a little hung up on what their purpose is. We can certainly take people through the creation of a mission statement and values, but just simply sitting back and identifying essential relationships and activities that Manor most. Because those things will inform what’s most important to you.
Bill Berthel: I love this. I was just, coaching a young engineer the other day. And this is where he was starting. He was talkin

Mapping What Matters Most

 

 
There’s an old saying: we judge others by their actions, we judge ourselves by our intentions. For example, we might assume an employee who’s late for work is lazy or unreliable, without considering that there might be a valid, unavoidable reason for their tardiness. Such “attribution errors” are among the most common causes of conflict on teams. Listen and learn to identify and avoid unfair judgments.
 

 
Prefer to read the transcript?
*Note: The following text is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors
 

 
Bill Berthel: Welcome to the Get Emergent podcast, where we discuss leadership team and organizational topics and better practices. We like to provide concepts and ideas that you can turn into pragmatic experiments to help you develop your higher potential in your work and in your leadership. I’m Bill Berthel.
Ralph Simone: And I’m Ralph Simone. And I’m almost coming out of my chair over the title of today’s podcast because I’m judging why you have me on as a guest.
Bill Berthel: Stop.
Ralph Simone: So, the title. You got to tell people the title. Bill, what’s the title of today’s podcast?
Bill Berthel: Well, Judging  Judgment.
Ralph Simone: Oh, beautiful. Beautiful. So, it’s my wheelhouse. Making judgments, Right. Wrong. Good. Bad.
Ralph Simone: Let’s go. What are we even talking about here?
Bill Berthel: I knew you’d be able to contribute  to today’s conversation
Ralph Simone: Maybe more so than you would like.
Bill Berthel: Never.
Bill Berthel: Never. No.
In social psychology, it’s known as the fundamental attribution error
Bill Berthel: Come on. Really want to talk about this concept that. Honestly, Ralph, I think we’re all attuned to. unless you’re a saint, I think we’re all doing this. In social psychology, it’s known as the fundamental attribution error. Let me give you an example. Instead of the fancy title.
Ralph Simone: That sounds fancy, though, I kind of like that.
Bill Berthel: It’s rooted in our bias. It’s an attribution effect.
Bill Berthel: Right.
Bill Berthel: Examples help me.
Bill Berthel: Right.
Bill Berthel: An example of this fundamental attribution error would be, attributing a coworker’s lateness. They’re tardy for work. To the fact that they’re unreliable rather than they got stuck in traffic.
Ralph Simone: Unreliable. Flaky.
Bill Berthel: Yeah, whatever, right.
Ralph Simone: I get this. Right. Okay.
Bill Berthel: The adjectives are coming out.
Bill Berthel: Right?
Bill Berthel: So, in turn, one, would give themselves grace if they were late.
Bill Berthel: Right.
Bill Berthel: Because we’d know what happened, perhaps.
Bill Berthel: Right.
Bill Berthel: What’s the old saying? We judge others by their actions. We judge ourselves by our intentions. That’s really the heart of this attribution error space.
Ralph Simone: So the attribution error becomes an ungrounded assessment. We’re actually drawing a conclusion without all of the information.
Bill Berthel: Absolutely. And particularly in the social psychology place, which this is really important for leaders to think about because we are leading people. It’s typically a judgment about that person’s character or personality is where we make the attribution error.
Bill Berthel: Right.
Bill Berthel: So the example of that person was late. They’re unreliable. All of a sudden, we&

A Conversation with Owner of Valley Signs

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