Culture For Breakfast

Jacob Lee didn't set out to run multiple locations for a franchise that conducts boutique pet grooming, but that is exactly what he is doing now.

Jacob joins me to and shares his journey from being an individual contributor, to now thinking fully "on the business". He claims he is not the "prototypical leader", but his insights into leadership and caring for people are indicative of someone who leads well!

We talk about the importance of learning, mentors, and not overlooking the simple things that mean so much.

We have all done it! Everyone can think of at least one instance when you thought you had a great person on the hook to come and fill a key role, and something went wrong.

Kali Shever, one of FireSeeds' lead recruiters, joins Culture for Breakfast with great insight and a controversial breakfast opinion. She identifies key components that kill searches you will not want to miss if you have a key hire on your company's horizon.

BuildWitt's COO, Jason Richmond, joins Culture for Breakfast for one of the most interesting and emotional episodes to date. Jason gets vulnerable with us about his battle with alcohol and how it has impacted his leadership both in the workplace and at home.

We live in a culture that screams at us to have all the answers and to not be wrong, but Jason paints a different narrative. In this episode, we talk about the paradox of leading through vulnerability and the impact it will have on your ability as a leader to hire, train, and retain top talent.

Arden Long has been heading up the hospitality arm of FireSeeds executive recruiting for years. This is no small task seeing as FireSeeds has helped with hundreds of Chick-fil-A leadership searches. She is also a mom of two kids!

In this episode, Arden educates us and walks through what is Mom Guilt and how it affects moms in the workplace. She brings insight into the perspective of working moms and solutions for businesses for engaging with and retaining top talent when that talent are awesome moms who are having kids.

Dan Simon Sr. is about to release his new book and he joined me to give us a sneak peak of the content. We dove into the concept of having a good community and how that will cultivate an environment of collaboration and trust.

Collaboration is a hard value to develop in any scenario, much less in business, and having a team that gives honest and open feedback is essential to building and growing a team. Dan has great insight into what it takes to create and grow your business in such a way that collaboration is woven into the fabric of your culture.

David Harper has seen a few companies, to say the least. He has helped structure compensation plans to incentivize C-Suite executives since the 70's, and there is one thing he is passionate about...CULTURE!

David has written two books:

1) The Great Eight (https://www.amazon.com/Great-New-Paradigm-Leadership/dp/0986233609)

2) Collaboration Effect on Profit (https://www.amazon.com/Collaboration-Effect-Profit-Overcoming-Sustainable/dp/B0CZ89TN8P)

In both of his published works, David drives home the fact that your business MUST have a foundation of culture, and he has a few things to say about what that culture should look like. Listen in to hear what David identifies as the Great Eight, and how collaboration has a direct impact on profit.

Troy Meachum got a promotion recently. He changed titles from Chief Cheerleader to Chief Encouragement Officer at ACR Supply in North Caroling. Troy's dad built ACR and his first desk was an old door siting on a pallet of anti-freeze...no joke! Troy has continued his dad's legacy in growing ACR, but he now spends 50% of his time encouraging, cheerleading, and developing leaders in this business!

Walter and Troy had the opportunity to connect and discuss how ACR has gone from its humble beginnings to building out a three-year leader development program that has employees turning down offers to go work for $30,000 more. If you are wondering how to build a leader development program from the ground up and retain your best people, be sure to tune in and hear what Troy has to say!

It's the question we get every day... How are you training, developing, and caring for your young leaders? After the great resignation business owners and leaders are desperate to retain and train top talent in order to see the impact of those leaders on their business, but how?!?

Nick Madden, from Red Door Escape Rooms, joins me on Culture For Breakfast to talk through how they have grown to 16 locations coast to coast, serving 1,000,000's of customers. As they have seen this incredible growth, they have used Habits to help develop their leaders and train them to be leaders who take ownership and lead effectively. It is fascinating to hear Nick's insight into the encouragement and challenge he is sharing with his team both inside the business and in their personal lives. Don't believe me, listen and I hope you will learn something....I did!

We have an exciting episode this week for you. Walter Kearns is joined by Kyle Baker from Sophia Consulting and Integration LLC. Kyle is passionate about culture at the ground floor of his business being the same as the one represented in the Vision, Mission, and Values of the company.
In this episode, we discuss how culture can get lost when you don't give your people a voice or understand the nuts and bolts of what is happening in the service being delivered. You are going to love the simple, yet highly effective advice Kyle shares for keeping your company's culture consistent throughout your business.