Managing the Way

Heather Marquez joins us to talk about why keeping true to your core values during change is necessary and important for keeping your company on track. Not only is she passionate about making sure teams are on track but also doing change better. Change can be hard and we know that.

Where you can find Heather:

• Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathermarquez/
• Her Website: https://actioncoach.com/

Full Transcription below (may contain typos...):

[00:00:00] Heather: [00:00:00] we took the team who was in a lot of conflict and strife. We identified some of the core values that the company had. the values that the team felt were very broken. And we did a 10 week study on those values where we. Talked about those values. And every week, everybody committed to taking particular actions in favor of living out those values more fully.

and that was about three years ago. And to this day they still, every week post one of the values posters in their office and they rotate it every week and that's continues to be a piece of their language [00:01:00] 

Keerstyn: [00:01:00] welcome Heather Marquez.  do you want to give us a brief bio or intro of how you got into work?

and then what you do now? 

Heather: [00:01:09] Sure. so I started my illustrious career as a 16 year old kid in retail, a cashier with a large retailer and, worked in retail for about 25 years, doing a variety of things, including. Leading teams running a $20 million business unit in the last 10 years, I was also in addition to running my store, I'm involved in all of the executive onboarding, all the continuing education for our executives and found that I really had a passion for that.

And so when I decided to make the break from retail, I broke off into creating my own company around leadership development. And then I layered in the business coaching side of things because leadership development is a passion, but it wasn't really utilizing all of my skills [00:02:00] around operations, things like that.

So now I. Work with leaders, business owners and their teams, and help them really maximize the potential of their teams while protecting the vision of their organization and making better decisions to move in the direction of that vision. Yeah, 

Keerstyn: [00:02:19] absolutely. Absolutely. So when your clients come to you, what are some of those things that they are struggling with in terms of whether it's the operation side or the leadership side?

What does that look like? 

Heather: [00:02:32] it really comes down to three categories, time team or money, pretty much everything can fall into one of those categories. And that's really where we spend a lot of our time on depending on where they're at with things in their business. Okay. 

Keerstyn: [00:02:48] Cool. And then what are some of those things that you bring them to?

Those almost like heaven spots, where they are thriving and not struggling anymore. What are some of those and how do you get them 

Heather: [00:02:58] there? [00:03:00] Yeah. one of the things that I love about what I get to do every day is I have a variety of certifications. And resources and tools that I use, to really customize solutions for the business owners I work with.

And although we really start by creating a strong foundation with getting really clear on their vision, where is it that they're going, what do they want out of their company? The ultimate goal is to work towards a commercial profitable enterprise that. Works without them. and so a lot of that is really just digging in and helping them get clear on, for example, we'll take the time aspect, where are they spending their time?

How are they utilizing it? And what are the things that are really requiring their skill versus others. And that tends to lead us quite a bit into the team side of it, because what I often find is there are business owners out there that love what they do, And they love the hands-on part, but the higher [00:04:00] level leading the organization, dealing with the operations isn't necessarily what they went to school for or what they were passionate about.

And so that's out of their comfort zone, first of all. So they tend to go back into the things they're comfortable with, but two, they haven't learned to delegate well enough and in an appropriate manner so that it empowers their team to take things off their plate so that they can really spend time working.

On the business versus in the business. And, at the end of the day, it's really about helping that business owner get back to the reason that they started their business to begin with and then have time for the hobbies that they've probably forgotten they even had. and in time for their family, I don't necessarily think that there's such a thing as the perfect balance.

Between work and life. I think we all have instances where something is required of us. In a manner that we have to spend more time on one versus the other, but it's a matter of having whole life balance. And [00:05:00] when I work with business owners, we really focus on getting them to a place where they can feel good about taking the weekend off and spending it with their family or being done in 40 hours a week.

Versus the belief that a lot of business owners hold of. If I'm not working 60 or 70 hours, then I must not be a good business owner. That's not what it's about. It's about. Tapping into your team and building a team that can help you so that you don't have to be working that. Yeah, 

Keerstyn: [00:05:28] absolutely. Absolutely.

so one thing that I want to jump into is can you talk a little bit more about those certifications and those different tools that you bring to the table in terms of helping these people build up solutions, to be able to have that 40 hour work week and of that 60 hour work week or. being able to spend time with their families.

What does that look 

Heather: [00:05:47] like for you? Yeah. part of it starts with an assessment of where they're at, and assessing their team. So I use a lot of assessments around discs, Mo disc motivators, [00:06:00] values, emotional intelligence, those kinds of things. And then we have a really cool tool called the performance gap indicator, where we can measure where an organization is on five.

Nonfinancial key performance indicators. And once we get a level base of where we things out, we can start to hammer out the vision. And part of that is addressing what pops up with the assessments. So if the vision is to have this high performing team, that's getting along and there's reduced conflict, then we go back to the assessments and we start educating the team on things like.

Communication and personality styles. What does that mean to work well together? And how do you communicate in a way that you're heard? it might be having a team that is transitioning from managers to leaders, and there's a lot of different leadership tools that I would use in that case. and one of the things that I do, that's really the most.

Fun I think is we start off doing a planning and strategy [00:07:00] session where we do just a big brain dump. And so I'm a certified mind map instructor and, that's a tool where you can use it for creativity planning, just doing a brain dump, thinking through things. When I'm giving a speech, I plan all of my speeches and workshops using a mind map.

And, that allows us to see everything in the owner's head and then to prioritize all of that and then start to break it...

Matt joins us on the podcast to talk about why we need to find our 'fits' in our team, position, management skills, and culture. Not only do we foster these to create psychological safety, but we do this so that we actually thrive in our workplace. Matt gives ways to find you fit, what to do with this information, how to embrace your team with this, and so much more. 

Where to find Matt:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattley/
His Website: https://flipthescript.io
His Email: [email protected]

Full transcription below: (May contain typos...)

Matt: [00:00:00] [00:00:00] sure. so where companies might struggle with the psychological safety is that the feedback loops that kind of need to be built in, throughout the process, saying, Hey, we're. we're diverse. We can measure that it's a metric, it's a quantitative, but the qualitative piece of how do people feel about it, which is that next step into actual inclusion, which is the bedrock of starting any psychological safety.

 Keerstyn: [00:00:52] welcome to the podcast, Matt. We're really excited that you're here today to talk a little bit more about what you do and who you are.

Could you please give just like a brief [00:01:00] intro of what you're involved in these days and how you got involved with 

Matt: [00:01:04] it?

Sure. my name's Matt Lee, I've worked, for flip the script, coaching consulting actually own it. we're really focused on helping leaders in transition. it's gained confidence and clarity on what they're doing. so that's both through coaching and consulting. As the name says, organizations working on employee engagement, individuals working on that sense of purpose and alignment with that purpose.

Keerstyn: [00:01:32] Yeah. Interesting. So what are some of those pains that oftentimes your clients come to you with? are they really struggling in the employee engagement side or are they just at a loss for what is the problem? And they're just struggling to get over this weird issue that they don't really know what is 

Matt: [00:01:50] yeah.

So on the, organizational side, a lot of it is your. They're coming with the symptoms and they're trying to figure out how can we address these? And a lot [00:02:00] of those symptoms come up with either a high turnover rates. That's a pretty big one. and also just employee engagement. If they actually have those surveys, like the scores are low, we just don't understand.

Sometimes it's a. we just went through a catastrophic event, which could be a positive, catastrophic event, like a product launch went awesome. And now we're in the last two years, three times larger than we were before. We didn't know. We just kept promoting people from within and all of a sudden we're at this point where we've got people in roles that don't necessarily align, or we just had to, we purchased another company.

So it's a merger acquisition, or possibly because of. The market we've shrunk in size, and we're trying to figure out where people fit now because everyone's been wearing multiple hats. And so that's, those are a lot of the symptoms that are pretty common, or just you've been doing it for a long period of time.

And people are looking for either a fresh start or they've lost that sense of their why. so coming in and looking at. Yeah. What are the [00:03:00] PhETs than the forfeits that we normally look for are the fit of job? Is the individual aligned with the role that they're doing a fit of the manager at? Does the person managing, have a good sense of the skills needed to do that in general?

And for the specific person team fit team dynamics and then culture fit, has the organization potentially shifted or is the culture. Implicit and not explicit. And so we're missing some alignment. So that's on the organizational side. That's how it works. 

Keerstyn: [00:03:31] Yeah, absolutely. That's really interesting. I'm glad that you mentioned those four fits because I think that's a really vital thing that people don't realize that there could be a miscommunication or a problem between one of those fits and you might fit into one bubble, but you might not fit into another.

What are some of the things that, you kind of prescribe or, help with when it comes to that job fit? What. What are some of those things that you do to get them through that and to get them aligned back with their job and aligned [00:04:00] with their why? 

Matt: [00:04:02] Sure. one of the biggest ones that, and I think fairly easy is that finding a tool that has a good behavioral assessment match.

and so if you can get a good behavioral assessment, Job target. and the tool that I use most frequently is predictive index. Cause I think it's just a great framework for talent optimization. but there's others there out there. People use Enneagrams or Myers, Briggs. They can do some of that, work or your five voices.

but if you can make a fit between what the job, as a role needs. And then the individuals who were either in those roles or applying for those roles, that's one of your biggest indicators of job success. Like you can also go cognitive people do wonder like a predictive index also has a cognitive assessments.

It's very similar to wonder. but those are good for jobs success to start out that doesn't move beyond just the job. it doesn't help with the management or the team dynamics. So I really rely on the behavioral [00:05:00] assessment piece. And then when you talk about that why that becomes part of the.

talk the talk and walk the walk and then, make sure you're not walking in circles because I think that third piece is where organizations miss it on culture is figuring out what your culture is, make it explicit.  and then on the level of, culture, it's the, the walk, the, walk, the talk, the talk, walk the walk, and then make sure you're walking, not in circles.

And then the talk is making your culture explicit, not implicit. So make sure it's out there and people can find it and read about it. Then making sure that your management is actually living that out. That's walking the walk, and that needs to be something that's done consistently so that people can also see it.

And then having a make sure you're not walking in circles is what are the metrics and measurements. And one of the big ones is. The just employee engagement survey, and you can use a generic ones that come with, packages like predictive index has one, or else you can get very specific to your [00:06:00] specific cultural pillars and align and see what that looks like.

You can work with organizations. I think a fast mirror is one that you can create specific to your particular business engagement surveys. 

Keerstyn: [00:06:14] Yeah, absolutely. What should people be looking for in these engagement surveys? I feel like there's 1,000,001 things out there, and you can ask 1,000,001 questions about anything to your employees, but what are some of those specific, either questions or items or even concepts that we really should be asking to our employees?

Matt: [00:06:35] Yeah. And it'll boil back down to the forfeits. that's a good question of engagement of high feel. I understand the direction of the company that might speak to your fit with the culture with the organization. I feel that my voice is heard, or I feel that my position matters in the way the business carries things out.

I feel that I can [00:07:00] take, issues. To my manager to talk about them. And so looking kind of thinking of the forfeits, what are the temperate types of questions that...

Matt Cunningham joins me on the podcast to chat about what leading with kindness looks like and how we can do it through conversations that actually produce value. Not only are conversations the key aspect of being a great leader, they also produce understanding for one another. Kindness is the key to these conversations though. Without kindness, we as humans lack empathy for our employees, valueable communication, and relationships that produce far greater results.

Find Matt on:

• His website: https://epickindness.com/
• Email him at: [email protected]

Full transcription below (may contain typos...):
[00:00:00] Matt: [00:00:00] start with kindness, ask great questions through managing the conversational model. So have that skill based, have that soft skills skillset homed to, to the best that you can.

And finally use a product like Waypoint. So make sure that you are set time and goal and space for these people that you're managing and these team members that you're working with to genuinely find out how they're doing. 

Keerstyn: [00:00:24] This week on the podcast, we have Matt Cunningham. He is a business coach. who owns Epic kindness, but she, he is also joining forces with our team here at Waypoint. just start selling way point too. really being an influential person within our team. We're really excited that he's joining us. and so to get to know him better, we decided to do a podcast. 

not only does he talk about the benefits of simply just having conversations with your team? He also talks about leading with kindness. And talks about why it's so important as a leader, as a manager, as an [00:01:00] employee. And it was simply just a person. In general, we go through some of those ideas that you might have about leading with kindness and if it's genuinely valuable and if it's the way to go. And I believe it is after I hearing Matt talk a little bit more about it. so yeah, we'll jump right in and. get ready to learn about leading with kindness 

welcome to the podcast, Matt. I'm really excited that you're here with us today. some background for all of our listeners, Matt Cunningham. Has just joined us, and is working with us, as a Salway point. he is a business coach, who has been in the industry for about 20 years.

So has a lot of knowledge and background. and, yeah. Do you want to tell us a little bit more about yourself and how you got involved in your work and what you do now? 

Matt: [00:01:45] Sure. Sounds good. really for the past 20 years, I have spent time helping people be better communicators. I focused on management, management practices and how people generally just don't oftentimes don't know how to manage [00:02:00] people.

They get promoted and they have not had experience managing others. And there's some challenges that come with that and managing people in general has some challenges. So for the past 20 years, I've been a manager, I've been a leader, I've been a business owner and, I've taken a coaching approach as often as I could.

Which is basically seek to listen, find out what someone's trying to say before you try to understand and help them solve. A lot of managers do that really well. And a lot of people don't. So I, I started, gosh, I started about five years ago. I started a coaching business and I am a professional, executive coach and I help managers kind of work through some of those challenges with their people to help them retain them.

Not only that, but. Also too, to just help them in general, as they communicate and have more conversations and better conversations with their team. 

Keerstyn: [00:02:51] Interesting. So what were some of those pains that you saw in the workplace as a manager and as an employee? what were [00:03:00] some of those struggles that managers were going through and, yeah.

why do they need this? The 

Matt: [00:03:06] biggest pains I saw in general were. Managers, struggling to connect, right? You have a team you're working hard, everybody's doing their day to day, and there's a struggle to engage. There's a struggle to connect to. There's a struggle to help people feel connected to the team or to the company.

So what I, that's the biggest thing. And then inevitably managers are trying their best. They're working hard. They're going through all these experiences. they're getting promoted. They're in meetings and their team members are leaving. 

Keerstyn: [00:03:37] Yeah. And why are they leaving? 

Matt: [00:03:41] The number one challenge in the U S right now is employees feeling engaged.

They just don't feel engaged. They don't feel connected to the company. They don't feel connected to their leader or their direct hire their direct manager. And they struggled too. Everything is, looks better somewhere else. And oftentimes I think people don't realize [00:04:00] until they've laughed at the grass really was never greener.

Just looked a little bit better. And, yeah, they. They take off and they run into the same challenges because those connections are happening everywhere or those disconnections as it might be. Yeah, 

Keerstyn: [00:04:13] absolutely. What are some specific things that managers can do to start upping this engagement rate, start retaining their people more, making the grass actually greener versus having it look a certain way, but it not actually being true.

Matt: [00:04:30] I, the number one thing that managers can do is connect, get regularly scheduled, conversations with their team and keep those conversations. It is truly, a struggle for managers to do that because of the schedules because of the day-to-day work. And I know that people get sent to different events or conferences or trainings, and they learn how to communicate better and they learn some great [00:05:00] skills and that is extremely helpful, but they come back to work and the schedule takes back over and they may not be able to use those.

So the number one thing that people can do is just schedule regular touch basis, regular one-on-ones with their team. And find out how they're really doing. And I'd say the second thing that they can do is make sure that they're understanding what a, a great effective conversation looks like.

Managers oftentimes get so busy trying to solve that. They forget that it's just the person sitting next to them, just like them. And there's, you're dealing with the same challenges. And so understanding what good conversation and communication looks like is key. 

Keerstyn: [00:05:41] Yeah. And how do you actually have the effective communication?

I know that some people are like, Oh, I'll schedule the one-on-one, but then they go to, and they're like, what do we actually talk about? what are some good questions or good, scenarios that would, play out in these conversations? 

Matt: [00:05:58] That's great. That's a great question. [00:06:00] I, the biggest thing that you can possibly do is get yourself some questions lined up that are open-ended questions.

Start your questions with what or how. Make sure that you're really trying to engage and listen to the answers. but really to answer the question, just get a list half, have some things written down and prepare yourself for what that might look like and there's tools out there. It's one of the reasons I, I joined Waypoint.

Wait points tool on helping people connect and really keep their one-on-ones and setting goals and having a slotted time that you're going to meet with them. All t...

Tania joins me on the podcast to talk about her previous career and how it has shaped her to be an EOS implementer. As working in the TV industry she learned a lot that has helped her teach others how to be a quality leader in the workplace. Not only does she talk about specifics in the work place but also how it has helped her in her own career.

Find Tania on Linkedin here!

Full transcription below: (may contain typos)

[00:00:00] Tania: [00:00:00] So using the accountability chart, which is. Looks like an org chart, but functions so much differently because you're structuring around the most important functions of an organization first. So structure first and then defining what does the seat look like? how am I going to hold you accountable?

And then you put a name in the seat. So you've got somebody who has the skills, knowledge, and ability to do an incredible job with excellence and success. [00:01:00] 

Keerstyn: [00:01:00] welcome to the podcast, Tanya. I am really excited. You're here today. Can you just give us a brief, understanding and background of how you got involved in your work and then what you do now? 

Tania: [00:01:09] Sure. my background is, as a professional EOS implementer and how I got here, was growing up in an entrepreneurial family and I experienced firsthand the highs and the lows of business cycles.

So out of college, I worked in television and after a quick stint in front of the camera, I was drawn to the creativity. Behind the camera. And it led me to start my first business, which was a media production company and like any small business. I was really good at a craft or, producing a product or a service, but not necessarily had a lot of experience running a business.

And I grew the company to the [00:02:00] point of needing to hire a team to help me get it all done. And I was terrified of having a team be reliant on me for their livelihood. It does give me a ton of empathy for business leaders though. So that's good. and knowing about EOS back then would have likely produced different results.

Ultimately, I shut the company down and went to work for a regional insurance and risk management services firm. And I spent 15 minutes there. Or 15 minutes there. That's really funny. That's not very much experiences at

 so I spent 15 years there and was instrumental in helping it grow from 10 to over 30 million in revenue and leading marketing innovation and technology teams. It gave me a ton of intelligence and insights into the business side of everything. being an owner and becoming a [00:03:00] member of the leadership team and also the board of directors.

What was there that I actually discovered EOS and EOS stands for entrepreneurial operating system. As a member of the leadership team, I helped build the company's vision, help cascade it throughout. Every level of the organization to help get more traction, which really is discipline, accountability, and execution.

And I became an internal implementer of our EOS systems. Okay. And I had so much passion for the impact that it had on our company and our people. It led me to found growth spark. And for the last year and a half, I've been working full-time to help as many business leaders and their teams get more of what they want out of their 

business.

Keerstyn: [00:03:56] Yeah, absolutely. That's awesome. I'm really glad that you went through all of that. [00:04:00] Cause that's an interesting take on it, especially that internal implementer. What were some of those things? Did you go through the training to become an implementer or was it just thrown at you or what did that transition look like?

Tania: [00:04:14] The transition. we had used an implementer out of Chicago, Todd smarts, and, he is a master he's Yoda when it comes to this stuff. And, he has a philosophy though that, Graduating EOS companies. So he can bring on more is how he runs his EOS practice. And as we graduated after about two or two and a half years, working with him. Somebody needed to lead our sessions. And so he did a great job at providing me with insights, and tools, techniques, that kind of thing, coached me before each of our sessions [00:05:00] and, between getting that coaching, running our sessions and mostly watching the impact in our company.

It was, all of those things that led me to say, I know that there are more companies out there that. Can use this, that need this, that wanted, that might not even know it exists. yeah, that's, it's a huge passion. I use the words a lot living in my zone of genius, which actually comes from Dan Sullivan's unique ability, concepts of, but, this is me living in my zone of genius when I can help other companies get more of.

What they want, which is often around people process or profit. not always, but, when they start to harness all that human capital energy and move it forward in alignment. And creating an [00:06:00] environment of accountability. It is game-changing and, that's really where I live. Like my best professional life is hearing those stories and watching the impact.

Keerstyn: [00:06:12] Yeah, absolutely. That's awesome. I'm glad that you went through those three things to the people, the process, and then the profit too. What are some of those things that you do to help that people side, within the organizations that you work for? Obviously, I'm sure it's a ton because people are the number one, asset of businesses.

But what are some of those things, and tools and processes that you bring them through? 

Tania: [00:06:38] one of the biggest is making sure that a company is really clear on what it means to be the right person in the company, which means that they fit the core values and the culture and being in the right seat.

So using the accountability chart, which is. Looks [00:07:00] like an org chart, but functions so much differently because you're structuring around the most important functions of an organization first. So structure first and then defining what does the seat look like? how am I going to hold you accountable?

And then you put a name in the seat. So you've got somebody who has the skills, knowledge, and ability to do an incredible job with excellence and success. So right. People, right seat. That's huge. And there's more to it than that though. that's a bit of a foundation of EOS because when you break down any organization breaks down into six key components and obviously the people component is huge, right?

Because people are your biggest asset, usually your biggest pain in the ass too. So you need to get rid of some of the pain around that. So it also helps create TeamHealth. What we're [00:08:00] striving for is open, honest, cohesive teams. People that can raise their hand and say, I have a problem. We need to solve it.

And also the health piece. I'm a huge Patrick Lencioni fan. And, the reason I bring that up is in his five dysfunctions of a team trust is the foundation of everything and it leads to greater results. So if you can build more team health, you can build more trust and that's, it starts at the highest levels of the company and it cascades down and.

I think the third thing then beyond the people component, the right people, right seats and the team, trust and health. The third thing is creating better leaders and managers within the organization. that old adage of people don't leave companies. They leave managers. So how can we create a better.

[00:09:00] Relationship or environment. And, so helping companies do that as well. And I think that, when ...

This week we have Mike Sudyk, Founder and CEO of Waypoint, on the podcast to talk about why DISC is so important to us and our organization! We have not only is DISC part of Waypoint, but use is consistently to make sure that we are playing in our strengths. One valuable piece of information that Mike shared was to have consistent conversations (one on one’s) with your team to continue to work on:

1. Adapting the way you communicate to help your employees better understand what is expected but also to feel empowered to go do their work!

2. Continue to learn how to work together on a deeper level (and be more productive in the process).

3. Consistently invest in relationships that are meaningful to you and your team (because your company cannot survive without a solid team behind you!).

Feel free to check out how Waypoint integrates DISC by clicking this link here!

Full transcription below (may contain typos...):

[00:00:00] Mike: [00:00:00] I was not operating in my true strengths with, the natural style versus the adaptive style. So in my case, I was. Natural style higher D but my adaptive style was lower D because I felt I w had to reserve myself and be like, not be as like driving forceful.

Like I was trying to like, Be more reserved because I didn't want to disrupt too much. Like I didn't want to, I didn't want to offend the people I was working with. And that kind of, I think came from, having bad experiences being too forceful or too Hey, we're going to drive, we're going to do this.

We're going to go in this direction. So you're trying to curb that. And so just the whole notion of a natural versus an adaptive style for me was a good dose of self-awareness to say, Okay. W why do I feel like I have to act that way? and sometimes it's appropriate, but the, what goes along with that is saying, okay, you can't operate in that [00:01:00] forever. 

Keerstyn: [00:01:00] Let's speak on the podcast. We have Mike Sudek. He is not only the founder and CEO of Waypoint, but is also my boss and manager. I'm really excited to have him on today because he talks a bit more about disc. And why is a key aspect of Waypoint? he talks about how he. Make sure that, our employees, whether past or current. 

employees have fallen into those strengths that, he does not have and the ways that he has really embraced, Embrace. The disc scores that he has and make sure that he is playing in his strengths. So we'll jump right 

today in the podcast we have Mike student. He is not only our founder and CEO of Waypoint, which is a sponsor for this podcast, but is also the CEO of ECE group who has been, Creating great software teams for the past 20 years.

So thank you for joining us today, Mike. 

Mike: [00:01:58] Kiersten. It's a pleasure to be [00:02:00] interviewed by you and it's great to be on the show. 

Keerstyn: [00:02:04] Oh, I'm glad to hear that. so today we're basically going to be talking about disc and, disc profiling disc test, and why it's really important to have, your employees not only tested, but also yourself.

So you can learn a little bit more about yourself and the process, but also be able to, Make sure that your employees are working in their own strength. I've made a subset of questions that Mike hasn't seen yet, that we're going to run through 

Mike: [00:02:31] here. 

Keerstyn: [00:02:32] all So the first question I have for you, Mike, are what are your desk traits or your strengths rather?

Mike: [00:02:38] So I am, 80 out of a hundred on the D I am 99 out of a hundred on the I 39 S and 32. See, so I definitely skew D and I, I is obviously my strongest, so I'm a people person.

And, so it's interesting when you talk about, testing your team [00:03:00] and I feel You always think people are like you right now. You always think people are going to communicate the way you communicate. and my experience has been, as I've learned to manage people and manage more people and interacted with more people and worked with people that are, maybe my junior and then people that are my senior, you especially become more aware of strengths and, and how people communicate and their disc score.

And. For me, it seems like it's really like on learning. You're unlearning how you communicate because you gravitate towards your natural style and you naturally think that's going to be great for people. So you have to slow down and how you, like you communicate or interact and then say, okay, how is this person gonna hear this?

And me being very like, hi, I'm like quick to want it. I talk about different things. I want to just jump into ideas, move really fast. And for someone that's not like that, it can be very chaotic. And yeah, just like you said, like this question [00:04:00] was what's your disc score and for me.

it's high, but it's realizing that, just realizing that I'm that way is really eye-opening, the self-aware 

Keerstyn: [00:04:09] absolutely. my next question rolls into that, but it's were there any surprises that you found while getting your disc score back and if so were, what were they. 

Mike: [00:04:20] One of the things that they, they talk about, like an adaptive style, as opposed to a natural style.

And it, one of mine was, I was, I think, a higher, I was not operating in my true strengths with, the natural style versus the adaptive style. So in my case, I was. Natural style higher D but my adaptive style was lower D because I felt I w had to reserve myself and be like, not be as like driving forceful.

Like I was trying to like, Be more reserved because I didn't want to disrupt too much. Like I [00:05:00] didn't want to, I didn't want to offend the people I was working with. And that kind of, I think came from, having bad experiences being too forceful or too Hey, we're going to drive, we're going to do this.

We're going to go in this direction. So you're trying to curb that. And so just the whole notion of a natural versus an adaptive style for me was a good dose of self-awareness to say, Okay. W why do I feel like I have to act that way? and sometimes it's appropriate, but the, what goes along with that is saying, okay, you can't operate in that forever.

there's a detriment to acting outside of your natural style that, you just need to be cognizant of, and to say, Hey, you're going to get burned out, or you're going to be dissatisfied or. Whatever, if you're operating too much out of your natural style. 

Keerstyn: [00:05:50] Yeah, absolutely. So what were some of those things that got you back into your natural style in the workplace, or, just in general to get you back to where [00:06:00] your wheelhouse was?

Mike: [00:06:02] I think one of the biggest things is. And so one of the biggest things is surrounding yourself. People that compliment your styles. So you don't want to, I think it's natural to surround yourself with people that operate the same way you do, because there's a natural synergy. As much as I hate that word.

There's a natural synergy with people that, Just are, have the same disc profiles you right there. So you're going to gravitate towards them. You're going to tend to hire people like that. You're going to, you're going to hire, you're going to work with people like that. Your clients might start to look like that in some regard.

And but it's important to. surround yourself with people that have a compliments, a complimentary profile so t...

Connie joins me to chat about goal setting and what we should try to aim for when making goals that will lead to positive metrics. Not only does Connie help us understand what we should be looking for in these goals but also give great examples on how to do make these goals.

Where to find Connie:
Linkedin

Full transcription below (May contain typos):

Connie: [00:00:00] [00:00:00] so they may measure number of client, meetings and instead of a weekly goal, and somebody has to own that number.

It doesn't mean that's the person who has to go do 10 meetings. It could be a sales team of five people, but we're going to look into the eyes of that person when they're on the leadership team. When that number is at met each week. And have a discussion about what went sideways.  

Keerstyn: [00:00:43] welcome to the podcast, Connie. I am very excited to have you here today. Connie Schwann is with us and she, is an EOS implementer. do you want to give us a little bit of a better understanding of how you got involved in what you do now and then who you serve currently?

Connie: [00:00:59] about, [00:01:00] actually 13 years ago, I hired an EOS implementer at my last company. I was walking around my company. And my leadership team just kept rolling their eyes at me going, Oh, she'll go away at some point because I knew I wanted something, but I didn't know what I wanted. I, it, I felt unsettled.

we were successful that it wasn't like we were dying on the binary or anything, and we have great team. but something just didn't feel right. And I was invited, by a local business friend, to a workshop. there was a be presented by a gentleman named Mike Payton all about ELs. And I thought, okay, what's the, so I looked up POS found their website and was reading it going, Oh my gosh, this is what I'm looking for.

So I signed myself up and my CFO to go. unbeknownst to her, and this was a person who didn't like going to big meetings and would be so thrilled that I had signed her up. And I announced that on like Monday morning, Hey, guess what we're doing in three weeks? [00:02:00] No doubt. She was so excited. it was awesome.

yeah, that was our guests. But as like what happened? I had an opportunity to do something else that morning. I was requested to be someplace else. And so I sent her by herself, made her even more happy, but she came back from this meeting. So excited and lots of pages of notes. And she said, get this guy in here, you have to meet him.

Now I get what you're looking for. So we hired an implementer. it's about a two year process. And then I ran the company on EOS for another five years after that. And in that period of seven years, Peyton said to me, if you ever get tired of doing what you're doing, call me, I think you'd be a great implementer.

So seven years ago when I closed my company, I thought. What's the next, I decided that I would explore becoming an implementer. And I come from the time when Gino Wickman who wrote traction, which is what dos is based on hand selected everybody that went through his bootcamp. And, so I was [00:03:00] accepted into boutique.

Yep. and I've been doing this for almost seven years now and having a title in my life. 

Keerstyn: [00:03:04] Awesome. Awesome. What were some of those things when you were in your organization that you were looking for? What were some of those pain points that you were just like trying to get over and over, and I'm sure that a flavor of the month occasionally came in and you tried it and it didn't work.

What were, what did EOS solve for you that 

Connie: [00:03:23] you've been 

Keerstyn: [00:03:23] looking for so long? 

Connie: [00:03:25] we had never done anything like the star at our core values. and and that's one of the foundational, exercises in EOS, as we help companies implement it is to, and core values are discovered.

They're not something that you get five staff together and put it, lock them in a conference room with a bottle of water as Steven saltines and tell him to come up with the best. They come from the leadership at the top, because core values are it's. Your culture is who you are as a people. and interestingly, when we went through, but I didn't know that at the time I just felt unsettled.

it just didn't feel right. I felt [00:04:00] one of the things we talked with our clients about is this concept of hitting the ceiling. It doesn't feel good. You don't know what's wrong. As I say, it's not as though we were not doing it. Good work. And we were rolling and really liked us. And we like them and we liked each other, just felt, I kept walking around saying we have to do this something different, but I don't know what the difference is.

Yeah. Once I understood what the 16 components of a business is, I could see where we weren't necessarily super strong. So great example is we have a data component that we teach and what we teach that we help our clients identify the activities they do each week to get the results that they want.

And that's a measure of those every single week. we did what every one of my clients do. I would walk in and look at my marketing guy going, how are we doing? Even all of us were on it. Oh yeah. We're at [00:05:00] 110%, of ever here. And I go, Oh, okay. What does that tell you? Okay. As a CEO of a company, it was just as guilty of running on emotions and that hardcore data.

And there's just a million of those kinds of examples. that we did. And, and interestingly, when we discovered our core values, we had some people leave our company because once they understood what it meant to work with us, not for us, but with us, they knew they weren't that person.

Yeah. I see that happen all the time. And one of those people was on my leadership team. That's hard, 19 years. 

Keerstyn: [00:05:38] Yeah, that's really hard. And I'm sure a weird transition 

Connie: [00:05:41] to yes, it was. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. 

Keerstyn: [00:05:47] Interesting. I really liked what you said about people were just like flying on their emotions and not hard data.

What does, what do your clients feel after the, during that process of let's [00:06:00] get to the hard data, let's try and figure this out. Is it oftentimes. Like a five step hurdle process where they start it and then it's okay. And then they realized that we need to do dive deeper into it.

What are some of those things feeling during that and how do you help them get through that? 

Connie: [00:06:17] one of the things that I w we all do this, not just me, but one of the things I always tell every single client when I first meet with them, is that implementing EOS is a journey. And there's never going to be a day where you suddenly wake up and go, ah, We're running we're to ask you to do a lot of things that may sound really silly that a client may look that going, why does she want us to do this?

But it's that repetitiveness. And you get to a point where you clearly understand that we're running our company on EOS. and so when it comes to, the tool for measuring. Getting strong. The data component is all the scorecard and what we've been taught in [00:07:00] business, all our lives is to measure lagging numbers.

And you look at the end of the month, did we hit our sales fall? Did we have a profit, or whatever your measurables are. Okay. The problem with that is it's now the end of the month and what ca...

Dave joins us on the podcast to chat about why it is vital to know how your personality (and others) works so that you can continue too improve your communication skills, your knowledge of yourself, and your ability to grow. He walks us through not only our selves but also our team.

Where to find Dave:
- Linkedin
-His Website

Transcription below:
[00:00:00] Dave: [00:00:00] it's developing yourself and. And the idea that we can't grow, we can't expect others to grow. We can't expect our team to grow if we don't grow.  

Keerstyn: [00:00:36] welcome to the podcast  Dave, we are so excited to have you here. Do you want me to just give us a brief, background of how you got involved in your work and then what you do now?

Dave: [00:00:43] Sure. Yeah. so yeah. Thank you for having me. I, I've been in leadership roles for all of my adult life and, and it was probably about 10 years ago or so, where I really started turning a corner and getting more intentional about how to. Lead others [00:01:00] organizations and bring resources to them and got connected to John Maxwell and his leadership group and his team.

and, And so it just, it evolved from there to be able to really go to the next level of helping individuals and teams and organizations to find the success and the results that they're looking for and what I've found and what I've come to believe as you and I were talking before it re it really, my focus really is on the people side of things, of developing people, our greatest appreciable asset.

It doesn't matter what you sell. It doesn't matter what your organization's all about. Doesn't matter where you're located. It doesn't matter how many people you have. The one common denominator is that people are our greatest appreciable asset. And so I have found that to be the sweet spot of my leadership focus is to help individuals and teams and organizations to develop their people.

[00:02:00] Yeah, 

Keerstyn: [00:02:01] absolutely. So you said about 10 years ago, you became a little more intentional about your leadership. What were some of those things that really struck you when you started to be intentional? 

Dave: [00:02:13] Yeah. I, what I found was. a lot of people, I just stumbled into it. Like I said, I've always, you've been involved in leadership in some way, shape or form, but I really got involved with a lot of local businesses through chamber of commerce and what I was finding, it was just this common need that people had to learn and to grow about themselves.

And so I was really looking for. It just seemed that the door was just really opening up to be able to help people in that realm. My focus is, as I said, is not really on strategy. Like I, I'm not really like a business strategist. I'm not great at helping somebody along those lines, as much as it just comes down to the people thing.

I've spent my whole life developing and [00:03:00] working with people. And so that's really where the doors seemed to open up. Yeah. 

Keerstyn: [00:03:05] So what are some of those things that you do to help people get on the road to development? I'm sure at the very beginning, what does that look like? 

Dave: [00:03:14] when I, when people ask what I do, in the simplest terms, in three words, it's I speak a train and I coach I'm a speaker trainer and coach.

and so the. the model that I typically use in whatever venue that is or whatever, that, whatever the, the framework of where that speaking training or coaching may develop is I've always used like the baseball diamond analogy, which I really like is the idea like you start off first base is developing the leader within you.

it's developing yourself and. And the idea that we can't grow, we can't expect others to grow. We can't expect our team to grow if we don't grow. So it all begins with ourselves. It's discovery. we do a lot of [00:04:00] stuff with discs, personality profiles to help you figure out what are, where are your strengths?

How are you wired? And then w move that to second base, which is about developing your team. If you can develop yourself, I think you'll be better equipped to develop your team. And so the focus there is how do you take the vision that you have as a leader, as a business, to grow it from me to we, where more people they get it and they understand, and they want to.

They want to go where you're going and that's the team side of things. and when you can develop yourself and you can develop your team, then organizations and companies are really just a collection of teams. It's a team of teams. And so that's the third base is then helping organizations on a wider macro level to develop themselves that way.

and then what I say, th then the home run, of course, Baseball diamond isn't complete without home base. So the home run for [00:05:00] me and my perspective is to help individuals and teams and even organizations and even communities to move beyond success, to significance. And I think to me, that's what home run is when you are then using your gifts and your talents and your abilities and your experiences.

To make a difference beyond yourself. It's not, it goes beyond just making a dollar and it's about making a difference. And, and I think that's something that is, that I have found is just a common thread that I think is just inherently wired in all of us that we all have that want that desire somewhere deep, that we want to make a difference.

It's that legacy talk what's gonna. Outlast me after I'm gone. what difference have I really made? what imprint have I really made on the world? And, that's the, you asked, what's the, where do you start? yeah, that's where you start. I think that's the trajectory around those 

Keerstyn: [00:05:57] bases.

Yeah. Yeah, [00:06:00] absolutely. So you mentioned disk in there and I would assume that every part of that uses disc in some way. 

Dave: [00:06:07] Yeah, of course. Yeah. 

Keerstyn: [00:06:09] Do you want to explain this a little more for our listeners? 

Dave: [00:06:13] So yeah, just goes into the, basically it summarizes, everybody puts you into a predominant. We all have.

Different dope elements of our personality, that, how we react to things, how we make decisions, how we respond to pressure, how we deal with other people. And. And so the four parts of that personality go are important for us to understand, what am I a domineering kind of person?

And am I an inspiring kind of person? Am I a little bit more of a steady, I just kinda to keep things happy and moving along. Am I more of a compliant person where I. I like things to be done. And the focus is there. and the truth of the matter is that we are all a combination of all of those, but you [00:07:00] most likely have one or two that are the dominant side.

So it's important for us to understand that about ourselves. So that does come into play in. In base and first base is figuring out, how am I wired? you have to know how you are wired. You have to know yourself. If you want to grow yourself, if you want to grow other people all around you.

And so then the definitely then that moves toward the second base is not just how here's, how I'm wired, but now I've got to find out how are the people around me wired. And that becomes critical when it comes to. One of the number one problems that teams deal with is communi...

What does hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and leadership have to do with one another? A lot actually. Joel Swanson joined us on our podcast recently to chat about what the hike taught him and how his story inspires his clients daily. Not only did he teach us some valuable things like how to trust your people and get through the hard things, but also gives insights on how he teaches this to his clients daily.

Where to find Joel?
Linkedin
His Website

Full Transcription below (may contain typo's...):
[00:00:00] Joel: [00:00:00] And so I kept going and there was a big trail sign that I came up on the back of and stole anybody parking lot with a trail sign. And I came to the other side of the sign and looked at it and the sign said, and a fuller Ridge. and at that point, when I saw that sign, I realized I'd gone all the way across for Ridge without even realizing it because I was expecting something so much scarier than actually was real.

And I, I remember dropping my pack and kicking a pine cone. I was pretty frustrated with myself and frustrated with the situation, but the, that whole idea of going to gemba and going to see for yourself, Played out a lot throughout that hike. 

Keerstyn: [00:00:46] welcome to the podcast, Joel. I'm really excited that you're here today. Can you just give us a brief intro and bio of who you are, what you do and how you got involved in your work? 

Joel: [00:00:55] Sure. My name is Joel Swanson and I am in Minneapolis.

[00:01:00] I am married, I've got three kids and I am a certified EOS implementer of doing I've been doing that for about six years and I got into it originally. when a client asked me to implement for them and I didn't know anything about EOS at the time. And so I did some learning and. Did an implementation and it didn't go very well, honestly, but I was really impressed with the system.

And so I decided that was the direction I wanted to go with my career. So I've been consulting for, and working with running small, mid sized businesses for my whole career and, with EOS. That's what I do now. And I love it. Awesome. 

Keerstyn: [00:01:40] That's really interesting that a client came to you just randomly and asked you to do that, regardless of if you knew.

I didn't think about it. I'm sure that you had an implementer type personality and that just really helped, boost their ideas of you and, felt comfortable doing that. That's really fast. 

Joel: [00:01:55] It was fun. And it was a compliment. Certainly they've 

Keerstyn: [00:01:59] been 

Joel: [00:01:59] a client for [00:02:00] about 10 years and a few different derivations.

So it was a pretty natural extension for me to do that. 

Keerstyn: [00:02:06] Awesome. That's really sweet. I love that.  So for listeners, obviously we, me and Joel had a conversation prior to this and we basically are going to be talking about a fight that he did from Mexico to Canada.

That was five months long. And basically how, he now incorporates leadership concepts with his stories from that. so Joel, do you want to just give us a brief. Background and, the why of why you wanted to do this. What made you do this? And then some of the things that have come out of it, because of that.

Joel: [00:02:35] Sure. So the, I hiked a trail called the Pacific crest trail in 2009, and this is a literal hiking trail that goes all the way from the Mexican border to the Canadian border, through Oregon, California, Oregon, and Washington. And. I had been an outdoors person my whole life, but I'd never done it. A lot of backpacking.

And then I [00:03:00] was probably 23 and somebody, I just heard of it and I went okay. And Googled it. And my eyes got really big and I'd heard of the Appalachian trail, which is another long distance hiking trail. The Appalachian trail is some long trail that's out East, somewhere. when I saw that the PCT went all the way from Mexico to Canada, that was something that really captured me.

And so I started looking into it and, had never done backpacking a lot of other outdoor things and camping and stuff, but I've never actually done backpacking. And so I started doing that and learning about that. And, probably seven years later, I guess it would have been, I. I quit my job and went and did that height.

And it took five months from Mexico to Canada. And whenever anybody hears about this, they always ask her a couple questions. And I'll just answer those quick, because these are the ones that you're. 

Keerstyn: [00:03:57] Thank 

Joel: [00:03:57] you. Yeah. So one, did I carry a [00:04:00] gun? No, guns are heavy. I was, I ever like I did. I said any wild animals.

Yes. but not in a dangerous sense. It wasn't like I got. I scared off grizzly bears or something like that. animals tend to want to stay away from you if you're in the wilderness rather than come to you. Did I go alone? Whether it's the next question everybody asks and the answer is sorta, I started, my dad actually was kinda my backpacking partner and he started with me.

And so we did the first two weeks together, and then he had a, I think it's called a job that he had to go back to. Yeah. And then beyond that, there was a couple of places where there was some things that were legitimately dangerous. And so there's a couple of guys and I, that said, we're going to stick together for this one or two week section.

But after that, other than that, no, I didn't explicitly stay with anybody. 

Keerstyn: [00:04:58] That's awesome. Thanks for [00:05:00] answering those because I probably would have asked about those. Absolutely. So what were some of those things that kind of resonated with you after the fact, when you think about leadership and this hike, obviously I'm sure it was the hardest thing.

You've. All I've ever done probably, or one of the hardest things that you've ever done. So what are some of those things that you first think of when you think of leadership, but also this hike and some comparisons between the 

Joel: [00:05:26] two? pretty much everything I learned comes from a story that makes me look bad.

so we'll just throw that out right out there. So the thing that amazed me even very early on in that journey was that so much of. The things I was experiencing and learning had direct ties back to business. And for me, I've learned a lot of things in business and most of them have common.

I won't say most I've learned a lot of things in business and many of them have come from my experience in business, [00:06:00] but some of the most important ones haven't come through actually being in business it's came through the experiences that I had hiking that I've really transformed. Who I am as a person.

So there's a few that I like to share, especially the first is really about a concept called goat, gemba and gemba. for those of you who may not know is a Japanese word, that means like a place where the value is created and it's part of lean manufacturing and the Toyota practical problem solving system.

The idea of saying, we're not going to solve this problem by sitting in a conference room, we're going to solve this problem by going and actually looking and seeing what's happening out there. And so go to wherever things manufactured, sit next to the rep who's on the ph...

Mike joins us on the podcast to chat about what it is like being part of a family business and how we can learn to be proactive instead of reactive. As an EOS implementer, he has walked the walk and understands why it can be hard to get to where you need to go, but it is possible to do strategically.

Where can you find Mike?
Linkedin
His website

Full Transcription below (May contain typo's...):

[00:00:00] Mike: [00:00:00] There was, everything was urgent and important all the time or at least that's what it felt like.

 We had about seven family members involved, at the time through various points of that journey. So I had three, I had my father three uncles. I had my cousin, my brother, and then ultimately I didn't feel like that was enough. So we hired my wife, in the latter parts of it as if it wasn't complicated enough at that point.

And so there was a lot of blend in mixing of. you have ownership, you have leadership, you have employee, then you have family member. Like all those dynamics were just intermixed. And so you never knew where you were coming from and who you were talking to in the way, it was all intermixed.

And so that created a lot of confusion. In hindsight, when I look back at it, because there were certain assumptions that in our family business, Hey, your family, you're dedicated. You're [00:01:00] gonna, you're gonna be here all hours, day and night. And you're gonna make sure you're opening and closing.

there was like these assumptions that would go on among all of us. And then if certain family members didn't do that, it was like looked down upon, There was no intention of that, of that happening to look down upon it. But that's a feeling like an underlying current that was there.

Keerstyn: [00:01:48] welcome to the podcast, Mike. Kotsis. I am really excited to talk to you today about EOS and entrepreneurship and how you help your people grow. Can you just give us a brief background [00:02:00] of how you got involved in your work and then what you do now? 

Mike: [00:02:03] Sure absolutely first, thanks for having me here today.

Excited to be on the podcast and to connect with you and to share the message with, with others. Yeah, so a little bit of, background, for me, I won't go all the way back, but just before becoming an EOS implementer, I was running my family's business, Atlas wholesale food company in Detroit.

So ran it for seven years. my grandfather started, the company came over from Greece and. we're Greeks and what do you do? You get in the food business? and so we, had service specialty items to a Greek town and. family diners around Metro Detroit. And man, I learned about my family and a whole new way.

being a Greek and ethnic family that, there was a lot of screaming and shouting and, I had come from the corporate world before that, and it was just a culture shock. I was wondering like, what the heck did I get myself into? and, I quickly realized like, Hey, they're just, [00:03:00] everybody's excited.

Whether it's something meaningful or not, we would just get really excited. And I just found myself in this place that, that I just knew, we had to get some agreement of where we were going to take the company and how we were going to do that. I didn't know how we were going to do that or what we were going to do at the time.

It just knew we had to agree. And over time we were able to generate that agreement and be able to develop that plan of where we were going to go. And, made some key people changes around the team. And at that time I wish I knew about EOS. I didn't, but it would have helped us to do everything.

We went through so much faster and simpler than the way we did it on our own. But ultimately we grew the company during the last downturn in our economy. Seven two Oh nine timeframe. And, the best part about it was is that we had a team of accountable people in place. We were profitable, we were growing and, just realized at that time that everybody else is going through that same type of thing, whether [00:04:00] you're a family business or not.

And I just felt this calling within me to help others. And I. I didn't know how I was going to do it at the time or what I was going to do. I just started doing it through a Walsh college at the time, had peer groups for family business owners in Southeast Michigan. So this is in the Troy area and I started helping some other, friends and colleagues of mine to navigate through some of the challenges, similar to what I had gone through.

And that's when I had discovered EOS. And I, I realized that was the vehicle that, that I could use to help do instead of sitting down, talking about what we might do, which I felt like we were spending too much time doing, rather than actually doing it. UOS was a framework that, eliminated all that.

what are you going to do? How are you going to do it to actually just doing it and being with the team and helping the facilitate their vision and plan. And so this was a little over nine years ago that I, ultimately made the plunge and became an [00:05:00] EOS implementer and started my own business.

Yeah. 

Keerstyn: [00:05:03] That's a fascinating background, especially with the family business and the downturn of. The recession basically. And then how you guys got out of that and on a more positive note too, that's very impressive. And, definitely impactful. I'm sure. I think I, you definitely, I'm sure I have a million stories about, how you guys got through that and why EOS would have been a positive.

they that in for sure. For sure. What was some of those things that you struggled with your family business and specifically, was it like one or two things that you could, just talk about and maybe how you guys went through it and then how it would be applicable now with EOS? 

Mike: [00:05:43] Yeah, sure. There was, everything was urgent and important all the time or at least that's what it felt like.

 We had about seven family members involved, at the time through various points of that journey. So I had three, I had my father three uncles. I had my [00:06:00] cousin, my brother, and then ultimately I didn't feel like that was enough. So we hired my wife, in the latter parts of it as if it wasn't complicated enough at that point.

And so there was a lot of blend in mixing of. you have ownership, you have leadership, you have employee, then you have family member. Like all those dynamics were just intermixed. And so you never knew where you were coming from and who you were talking to in the way, it was all intermixed.

And so that created a lot of confusion. In hindsight, when I look back at it, because there were certain assumptions that in our family business, Hey, your family, you're dedicated. You're gonna, you're gonna be here all hours, day and night. And you're gonna make sure you're opening and closing.

there was like these assumptions that would go on among all of us. And then if certain family members didn't do that, it was like looked down upon, There was no intention of [00:07:00] that, of that happening to look down upon it. But that's a feeling like an underlying current that was there.

And so that made it more challenging. And, just a funny story, just to give you the example of the types of issues that we dealt with. Like we, in an old building on the East side of Detroit, near the city airport and. There, this building was right off of the freeway. It still is still there.

And my cousins runni...

Justin joins me on the podcast to talk about personal development and the benefits too investing in your self. Not only is he passionate about helping organizations figure out how to invest in their people but is also passionate about helping individuals find what truly gets them excited everyday.

You can find Justin on:
Linkedin
His website
His phone number: (574) 596-6957
His email: [email protected]

Transcription below (May contain typos):

[00:00:00] Justin: [00:00:00] You have to own the personal disciplines. Of your personal life daily. if I'm not taking care of my personal self daily, then I can't possibly take care of my team. I'm going to be a little disheveled. I'm going to be a little disorganized. And so own it daily kind of encompasses, clarifying the win, executing the win, celebrating and evaluating your performance and your people and your numbers.

it's refusing to be offended. It's using the simple, direct, respectful communication. It's removing issues daily. All of the own it daily comes into one line called success, loves discipline. [00:01:00] 

Keerstyn: [00:01:10] Welcome to the podcast, Justin. I am really excited that you're here today. Do you want to just give us a brief intro of how you got involved in your work and then what you do now for your clients?

Justin: [00:01:20] Yeah. So I was, I've always been like a, an athlete and kind of, as I got out of college, I played a little college basketball, so I've always been a coach personality and just had, I think entrepreneurship in my genes. Cause when I was 23, I'm a, I retired early from college and so I went into Edward Jones.

They offered me an opportunity to pick it office anywhere in the country. And I kinda cut my teeth on really. Building relationships with high performing individuals that had a lot of wealth. And I just had a blast building relationships, but I'd rather have a case of gout than actually do portfolio reviews.

[00:02:00] And After I left Edward Jones, they had offered me a limited partnership. I went into my brother and I started a character and leadership youth mentoring program. And it just exploded. We went from, I think, five volunteers to, 300 coaches is going into public schools impacting. 3000 students a week and we were teaching five core values.

So I was the business guy of that nonprofit. My brother was the curriculum and the coach, the head coach leading the students and the coaches. And that's when I just realized, man, I had a passion to build team and about seven years in to launching that nonprofit called five star life. I just knew I had to get back into the marketplace.

And so I started my own leadership training company in 2012 called entree legacy group. So that's how I got here and what I do on a daily basis. I, any given day, I'm working with, 20 to 30 different. leadership teams and I'm helping them [00:03:00] implement, the entrepreneurial operating system.

I've been doing a lot of keynote speaking. I'm just passionate about teams and I'm passionate about growing 

Keerstyn: [00:03:07] things. Awesome. Yeah, that's a great background. That's really cool that you started that nonprofit and really found a passion for coaching people and helping. People and organizations grow.

Absolutely. Awesome. So yeah, one of the things that Justin does, that's really unique, he is he has the six practices for successful leaders. Do you want a quick run through what all seven are? and then we can dive deeper into them. 

Justin: [00:03:32] Yeah, so real quick, these seven practices of great leaders, it of came from I'm up.

I'm a really simple guy, Kiersten. And so for me to grab a hold of something, it had to be simple and it had to be repeatable and had to be actionable. so for me, the first three practices are what I would call. blocking and tackling, like it's just foundational practices, every single team and [00:04:00] every single individual needs to apply to their life or their business.

So the first one is clarify the win. Whatever you're doing, you have to clarify it. What do you want? And obviously when I'm working with EOS, we have the vision traction organizer, and there's really eight questions you have to answer. But at the end of the day, you got to clarify the win. What do you want?

And once you know what you want, the second practice is you have to execute, right? And the, when so many people are too busy doing. A hundred different things and they're going like quarter inch deep and they're not executing in the vein, in the activity. That's actually going to get them a result they're just busy and they don't know how to separate effective, active work from the, from the minutia.

And so executing that is huge. The third practices celebrate an event, how you weight the win. So how many teams are starving for. Their boss to recognize [00:05:00] them or their, the department had to recognize their performance. So you've got to celebrate those victories on the same side. On the other side, the coin though, celebrating and evaluating are two sides of that same coin.

If you're a leader that does not know how to evaluate or you don't like confrontation, or you're not willing to put the real numbers in front of people, you can't evaluate failure. And so for me, winning or losing, I want to be evaluating performance. So those are the first three practices. And the last, I think the last four, what I would call.

The emotional IQ practices or the momentum building practices. And this is where, you might have great goals, have great disciplines. Maybe you know how to look at the numbers and face reality, but you suck at dealing with people. And so these four 

Keerstyn: [00:05:52] practices 

Justin: [00:05:54] are what I call, the first, the fourth practices, USD, our communication uses.

[00:06:00] Simple direct, respectful communication. And then if you're willing to be super direct and very respectful, then you need to also practice five is refuse to be offended. So many cultures are toxic because people get offended in a wedge. It gets built or a brick wall gets built between you and them. And now you're dead to me and I'm not willing to run through a brick wall all for you because you've offended me and I have not gotten.

No for that offense and offense over time erodes the relationship and it creates apathy, bitterness, and people don't understand that offense is a toxic killer. It's the beginning of a toxic culture. The sixth practice is pretty simple. Remove the ripple, every company, every person we have issues, whether they're personal relational issues or whether [00:07:00] they're performance issues or whether they're process issues, but companies are ripe with issues.

Cause we're a bunch of people working together, And the best teams solve issues. And then lastly, Probably my favorite practice is just recognizing you have to own it daily. The turtle wins the race, the, in that little book, the childhood book, 

Keerstyn: [00:07:24] a 

Justin: [00:07:25] rabbit, because it's this methodical disciplined.

Daily grinding. You've just got to own it daily. And so I've made my line is success, love, discipline. And if you don't love discipline, you will never find the success that you really want. So that kind of wrapped up these seven practices of great leaders. 

Keerstyn: [00:07:51] Yeah, absolutely. I'm glad that you wal...