Sheer Clarity

Taking over the reins of a successful generational company as someone without the family name is a prospect most people would find daunting. Being responsible for carrying on that legacy could even be considered a burden. But that’s not the case for my guest today. For him, an obligation to the employees of the company, to the next generation of leadership, and the legacy of the Higley name is a responsibility he has happily taken on.

Today we’re coming at you from right in my backyard in Northeast Ohio with another great leader and friend who I’ve known for over 10 years, Gareth Vaughan. Gareth Vaughn is the President and CEO of The Albert M. Higley Co. He received a BEng in Civil Engineering in 1991 from the University of Trent in the United Kingdom, and in 1993, an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Cincinnati. Gareth joined The Albert M. Higley Co. in 2001 as a Regional Manager and was elected President in 2010 and named CEO in 2017. Gareth’s mentorship from Bruce Higley contributed significantly to his leadership style and combined with his values and commitment, he is truly a great example of what it means to be a leader by attraction.

In this episode, Gareth and I talk about how the Albert M. Higley Co. has responded to the pandemic, the guiding principles the company is committed to, how Gareth’s childhood experiences propelled him into a high-performance career, what it means to dive headfirst into a brand-new role, battling imposter syndrome, lessons in leadership with humility, and so much more!

Key Topics:

• How Gareth and I have connected over the years (1:22)
• The evolution of The Albert M. Higley Co. (2:37)
• The Albert M. Higley Co.’s commitment to becoming a better and more profitable company during the pandemic (5:28)
• The guiding vision that steers the company during good and difficult times (7:39)
• Articulating a 20-year plan (9:23)
• How the company is flipping the concept of making money on its head (10:30)
• The importance of strong company values (11:10)
• Gareth’s warning to potential employees (12:14)
• Gareth’s childhood in Cape Town and London (13:19)
• The difficult experiences from Gareth’s time in high school (15:18)
• How Gareth transformed his life from high school into college (16:09)
• Gareth’s early career and move to Columbus (17:08)
• The career-changing call from a headhunter (18:06)
• The surprising request Gareth made while interviewing for a role at The Albert M. Higley Co. (19:01)
• Diving headfirst into a brand-new role (20:05)
• The discomfort of becoming president (22:19)
• Battling imposter syndrome (23:48)
• Lessons in leadership from Bruce Higley (25:36)
• Gareth’s approach to building on the existing legacy of The Albert M. Higley Co. (28:50)
• Why a focus on legacy makes Gareth’s job simpler (30:45)
• What working with Bruce and Gareth taught me (32:31)
• The huge impact Bruce had on how Gareth responds to his team (34:00)
• How Gareth’s mother taught him about strength (36:43)
• The advice Gareth would give to his 23-year-old self (38:39)
• And much more!

Mentioned in this Episode:

• The Albert M. Higley Co.
• Sheer Clarity | Battling Imposter Syndrome
• Sheer Clarity | Starting from a Place of Self-Reflection with Mike Swiger

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  And feel free to drop us a line at [email protected]. 

Follow Sheer Clarity on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook! 

Today’s interview is with a leader in a non-traditional category who I’ve known for years, Mike Swiger. Mike is the Executive Director of True Freedom Ministries, an evangelical, non-profit organization dedicated to reaching people locked in jails and prisons, the homeless, and those trapped in addiction across Ohio. While a student at Case Western Reserve University, Mike was convicted as an accomplice to a crime his older brother committed and ended up serving 17 years for involuntary manslaughter. While incarcerated, he became a Christian and began the process of preparing himself for a better life once he was back home.

In this episode, Mike and I talk about how he ended up in prison and the unconventional path he took into the non-profit world, what you think about when you have the time to examine your own heart, how the pandemic is affecting prisoners, what Mike has learned over the years about leadership, the lessons we can learn from lifers about vulnerability, and so much more!

Key Topics:

• Commonalities between leadership in non-profit and for-profit enterprises (2:00)
• The True Freedom mission (3:03)
• The unique path that led Mike to his current role and ministries in the non-profit world (4:30)
• Why high performers have a hard time prioritizing self-reflection (6:05)
• How Mike used his time while incarcerated to start to heal and transform himself (7:50)
• The book that helped Mike gain valuable perspective on himself (8:29)
• The choice you have in how you respond to your trauma and live your life (9:22)
• Mike’s spiritual awakening in prison and the clarity it brought him (12:17)
• Recognizing that you are in control of your destiny (13:36)
• How the pandemic is impacting prisoners and Mike’s prison ministries (16:10)
• What the pandemic has taught Mike about leadership (18:28)
• Being the rock of reassurance for your team (20:41)
• What we can learn about hope from the Stockdale Paradox (22:34)
• Recovering from the damaging effects of false hope (23:45)
• The devastating news that became a defining point for Mike in the early 90s (25:35)
• Finding joy through extremely difficult circumstances (26:47)
• How I used my career to guide me during my first prison visit with Mike (30:29)
• Deep insights from the hearts of lifers (32:01)
• Heightening connection by stretching your discomfort with vulnerability (34:40)
• Why you need to ask yourself the difficult questions right now (36:52)
• How you can get involved with True Freedom Ministries (38:18)
• And much more!

Mentioned in this Episode:

• True Freedom Ministries
• David A. Seamands’ Book | Healing for Damaged Emotions
• Dr. Edith Eva Eger’s Book | The Choice: Embrace the Possible
• Jim Collins’ Book | Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't
• Keith Alper’s Book | From Like to Love: Inspiring Emotional Commitment from Employees and Customers
• Sheer Clarity | Loving People and Loving What You Do with Keith Alper

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  And feel free to drop us a line at [email protected]. 

Follow Sheer Clarity on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook! 

When we stop preening and performing, that’s when we open ourselves up to our people and the community around us and embrace the fact that a good leader is one who recognizes it’s not about them. If you’re still wondering what love has to do with leadership, this episode is for you.

Keith Alper is the CEO and co-founder of CPG Agency and author of From Like to Love: Inspiring Emotional Commitment from Employees and Customers. With over 30 years of expertise in marketing, branding, business strategy, and event production, Keith has produced events, video/film, broadcast, and major entertainment projects across the world. His uniquely strategic, creative leadership helps steer the agency while leaving room for his love of producing large-scale projects. An active member of the entrepreneurial community, he serves as a high-level strategist, innovator, board member, and consultant for many Fortune 500 companies, CEOs, and executives, as well as large non-profits.

In this episode, Keith and I talk about how he’s been able to do what he loves his whole life, meeting his business partner while working at Six Flags as a teenager, how he brings authenticity and a focus on engagement to all his businesses, what loss has taught him about love, why great leaders are those that understand it’s not about them, your five basic needs as a leader, and so much more!

Key Topics:

• Keith’s early dreams of a career in show business (2:55)
• The single toughest experience of Keith’s life (3:45)
• How Keith met his business partner of over 35 years (4:54)
• Why coaching young people is Keith’s favorite aspect of his business (6:09)
• Being ahead of his time with Geniecast (6:45)
• How Julian Assange lit the spark for Geniecast (7:50)
• Don't build the pipeline, build great content (9:34)
• Using Geniecast to combat Zoom fatigue (10:36)
• The messages I’ve been getting about creating video content (12:07)
• Key elements of good content (13:53)
• How engagement is driving how we communicate (14:45)
• The need to genuinely connect with yourself first (15:59)
• Working on your mind, body, and soul as a daily practice (18:55)
• Why great leaders are those that understand it’s not about them (20:26)
• How Southwest Airlines embodies love at every level of their company (21:15)
• The exponential value of hiring people who love their job (23:09)
• Why I use the voice dialogue model for self-development (23:56)
• Being the kind of leader who genuinely loves their people (25:15)
• Recognizing that you can’t save every employee (26:47)
• Why doing good for your community is a power driver for your company (28:05)
• Leadership lessons from the CEO of Carnival, Arnold Donald (30:23)
• The obstacle you create when you’re focused on performing (33:13)
• When I started waking up to what love means (34:30)
• Why it’s important to take a day off to escape (36:45)
• Keith’s evolution as a leader (38:14)
• Why diversity and inclusion are vital for all companies (41:13)
• What we can learn from Ken Frazier, CEO of Merck, and Randall Tucker, Chief Inclusion Officer at Mastercard (42:44)
• The five basic needs for every leader (46:25)
• Why I’m talking to you (47:11)
• The advice Keith would give to his 25-year-old self (50:31)
• And much more!

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Geniecast
• CPG Agency
• Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO)
• Keith Alper’s Book | From Like to Love: Inspiring Emotional Commitment from Employees and Customers
• Sheer Clarity | Why Leaders Must Move from Push to Pull Leadership with Toby LaVigne
• Dan Sullivan | Strategic Coach
• The Executive Leadership Council

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  And feel free to drop us a line at [email protected]. 

Follow Sheer Clarity on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook! 

Today we visit with Rob Follows.  Rob is the Chairman and CEO of STS Capital Partners.  Rob helps people who are ready to sell their business, giving them the freedom to contribute their time, treasure and talent to make the world a better place.

As leaders, we can create success from challenges in life.  If we view adversity as a friend and teacher, there’s a potential for significant self-understanding. 

Listen as Rob shares his stories of adversity and the lessons he learned from it.He also explains how reflection and meditation are keys to self-understanding, the importance of finding a mentor, and putting a life plan in place.

Key Topics:

Rob gives us an overview of his company, STS Capital Partners

• The two things that led Rob to look for a mentor and the resulting mental exercise that helped him look forward and create a plan for his life
• Rob explains how he aligned his life to his end of life objectives
• Rob explains how adversity built his inner strength leading him to make decisions to define his happiness
• As a leader, Rob explains how he became unafraid to receive honest feedback
• How life planning, making a list and putting a 5-year date on it, leads to a focus on self-understanding, improvement, and learning
• Kevin shares his sheer moments of clarity from his discussion with Rob
• Rob gives advice to his 23-year-old self

Every organization has or should have core values in place.  However, just writing them down and displaying them on a poster isn’t enough.  The hard part comes in living them.

Today, I’m talking with Buddy Teaster, CEO of Soles4Souls. Buddy talks about his organization, what they do and how their core values have been integral to Soles4Souls’ success. We go in depth about what it means as a leader to put your core values into practice and how that benefits not only your organization’s bottom line, but also provides meaning to everyone in the organization.

Key Topics:

• Buddy Teaster is the CEO of Soles4Souls. His organization collects unwanted shoes and clothing and puts them to good use – providing relief, creating jobs and empowering people to break the cycle of poverty
• Buddy is based in Nashville. He speaks to the devastation recent tornadoes left behind and how the community came together to help one another 
• He also speaks to how recovery efforts are affected and other challenges they’ve faced due to the Coronavirus
• Buddy gives actionable advice to leaders when a crisis hits 
• Meaning and Transparency are two of Sole4Souls core values. Buddy goes in depth about how these values have been so powerful for the organization
• How a leader can deal with being riled up due to frustration from constantly defending their position and why that is so important
• Buddy discusses his path to becoming the CEO of Sole4Souls
• How long it took to reconcile with his father after choosing to take his own path
• Kevin goes over his moments of sheer clarity during this episode
• Buddy gives his 23-year-old self some advice

In business, it’s important to not only make sure your executives, directors, and managers have the skills to lead, but it’s also crucial to help your employees unlock their own potential.  Ryan Niles is the CEO of Niles Industrial Coatings and Niles Plant Services. It’s his purpose to help his employees be the best they can be in all facets of their lives.

In this episode, Ryan opens up to Kevin McHugh about his moments of sheer clarity as a leader, the values and characteristics he believes have helped him in his own journey and advice about tackling change and learning to trust. Stay tuned.

Key Topics:

• [2.05] Ryan talks about his two companies and what his focus and purpose is for his employees
• [3:30] Ryan explains his approach to getting to know each of his employees
• [5:06] The response from Ryan’s employees when he launched the DISC assessment, what they’ve learned and the benefits they’ve seen
• [11:06] Ryan talks about the lessons and challenges he had growing up and how he used those to be successful in life
• [16:25] How encouraging employees to try new things and not be scared to make mistakes has resulted in success for the company
• [18:58] Steps to take if you feel you have a crappy boss
• [21:00] Change is hard!  How to push through the fear
• [26:06] Ryan discusses values he learned from his  father and uncle
• [28:14] The biggest people lesson Ryan has learned
• [31:54] Kevin goes over his moments of sheer clarity during this interview
• [36:14] Ryan’s advice to his younger self

No matter how well trained and educated you are, it’s important to remember that who you are as a person can sometimes bring as much value to your team as your qualifications. This rings true for our guest on the show today, Annie Yoder, who is Director of Development at Rea & Associates, a 300+ employee accounting firm with a national footprint. Annie is a trained CPA, CFF, and CPE but significantly she does no accounting work at her firm, having rather moved into a position that is strictly concerned with the interpersonal. In today’s episode, Annie shares the story behind how this happened and gives listeners a few golden nugget tips on the subject of good leadership, trust, and self-reflexivity. She talks about the lessons learned from her mother and her Amish upbringing, the idea that everybody has value and that people who hurt others themselves are hurt. Our conversation moves to the role she plays at Rea & Associates, and she shares some of the ways she leads employees to their growth, and the exercises she takes coworkers through to help them build trust in each other. We also hear from Annie about her growth process, the things that made her take a look in the mirror, and the idea that a person takes themselves everywhere they go. Ultimately, our interactions cause ripple effects in each other which have huge potential to help us be more compassionate humans or trustworthy leaders, so tune in to hear how these have taken effect in and through Annie today.

Key Points From This Episode:

• What led Annie into accounting: her need for financial stability.
• How Annie has transitioned from being a CPA to Director of Development in her firm.
• A skillset of connecting dots, or leading people to answers they seek that Annie has.
• Coaching, conflict resolution, and ‘home-finding’ duties Annie does during her day job.
• Whether it is usual for qualified accountants to move into People Development.
• Four pillars that Rea & Associates prioritizes: people, clients, growth, and firm.
• The cornerstone at Rea & Associates which is investing in their employees.
• How investing in people leads to a feedback loop benefiting everybody.
• Ways that Annie’s Amish background and mother’s prioritization of education has shaped her.
• Annie’s career path from her MBA to litigation support as a CFE leading to the present.
• How her auditing and litigation support ‘dot-connecting’ background helps Annie today.
• Transactional vs relational interactions and Annie’s mom’s lesson that all people are valuable.
• Dealing with hurt people who hurt you, and whether both parties can grow.
• How people can help each other find a sliver in themselves to see the good in everybody.
• Ripple effects caused by interactions that lead people toward positive growth.
• How conflicts with coworkers, reading, podcasts, and Annie’s husband help her self-reflect.
• What Annie’s boss taught her about advocacy and trust by making her feel safe.
• Building trust between coworkers Annie uses: encouraging consistent behavior.
• The two branches of the trust tree: competency and character, and their offshoots.
• Future-focused thinking and other ripple effects of Richard Rea’s legacy in the firm today.
• Advice Annie would give to her younger self: stop worrying so much.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Annie Yoder

Annie Yoder on LinkedIn

Rea & Associates

Trust Chart

The Speed of Trust

Richard Rea

Sheer Clarity

J. Kevin McHugh

JKM Management

Sheer Clarity on Twitter

Neal Sherman is the Founder and President of TAGeX Brands, a company that liquidates restaurant equipment and other unused assets. Neal formed the company more than 30 years ago after seeing a lot of restaurant operators getting stuck without a paddle when it was time for them to shut down their businesses. 

Neal not only focuses on liquidation of assets but also the redeployment of assets and keeping equipment, furniture, and fixtures in the food industry out of landfills. He helps keep the world a little greener and he also helps people from the restaurant and food service deal with closures, remodels, and the corresponding equipment that comes into the market. 

Neal has also built a marketplace called RestaurantEquipment.Bid, which is an auction platform for unused restaurant equipment.

• What Neal focuses on everyday in his line of business
• How Neal got into the restaurant equipment liquidation business
• Kevin discusses the importance of being self-aware and focusing on being a leader by attraction
• What Neal learned from his father’s work ethic and the critical nature of relationships
• The 3 things Kevin has learnt from Neal's childhood
• Neal's take on whether being a great leader and relationship-oriented person can be learned
• Why inner peace is necessary in order to be able to truly help and serve other people
• Neal's advice to his younger self
• Where to learn more about Neal's TaGeX Brands and  restaurant equipment businesses

Whenever a restaurant or any other business in the food industry decides to close shop and shut down it’s business operations, one of the most stressful things for the owners tends to be the disposal of their store equipment. This, on top of the paperwork and letting go of their employees can give anyone a headache.

Neal Sherman worked in the food industry more than 30 years ago and it was there that he came to find out about this particular dilemma that restaurant owners often go through when it’s time to close shop. What should they do with all of their unused equipment? He took it upon himself to help these people and thus TAGeX Brands was born.

In this episode, Kevin McHugh is joined by Neal Sherman to talk about how he got into the business of liquidating restaurant equipment and what he focuses on in his line of business. Neal also shares his advice for nurturing great relationships and the importance of having inner peace in order to serve others. Stay tuned.

• Sheer Clarity 
• J. Kevin McHugh
• TAGeX Brands
• RestaurantEquipment.Bid
• Neal Sherman on LinkedIn

JKM Management Development was developed by J. Kevin McHugh himself in 1990. They provide executive life and leadership coaching and the development of leadership teams that operate with extreme trust and honesty-based on the Sheer Clarity principles.

They work with founding entrepreneurs, Fortune 500 executives, and closely-held family businesses of every size and shape. They have helped these entities develop and integrate trust, honesty, and a certain sense of vulnerability into their organizations.

Kevin McHugh is the President of JKM Management Development, a management consulting firm specializing in increasing organizational performance and coaching business leaders to develop emotional awareness, conflict resolution capabilities, and maximize executive effectiveness. 

Over the past twenty years, Kevin has traveled the world facilitating retreats and off-sites within North America, South Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Europe.

McHugh has also served as an executive coach to hundreds of CEOs, helping them to improve their personal and professional leadership competencies. His clients include: American Funds Distributors, Anthem, Estée Lauder, Parker Hannifin, Sprint-Nextel, The Entrepreneurs’ Organization, CEO Roundtable, and Vistage.

• [02:47] Kevin explains what leadership by attraction means
• [04:14] How to cultivate and develop the ability to practice leadership by attraction
• [09:07] Kevin talks about the emotional intelligence pyramid and the role it plays in leadership
• [10:57] What self management or self-regulation means and what it involves
• [13:35] Why time and curiosity are important  for leaders who want to practice in self-management
• [16:30] Roadblocks that Kevin faces when helping leaders to overcome their insecurities
• [18:34] How leadership by attraction works and why it’s considered as a lifelong journey

Some people are natural born leaders and that’s great. But leadership is something that can be cultivated and developed, especially when you’re looking to practice leadership by attraction. And for Kevin McHugh, there are steps that you can take to become the leader that will inspire the people who are set to follow you.

In this episode, J. Kevin McHugh is interviewed by John Corcoran of Rise25 where they discuss what leadership by attraction means, how the emotional intelligence pyramid plays a role in leadership, and the challenges that leaders and CEOs face as they try to work on their own brand of leadership. Stay tuned.

• Sheer Clarity 
• J. Kevin McHugh

JKM Management Development was developed by J. Kevin McHugh himself in 1990. They provide executive life and leadership coaching and the development of leadership teams that operate with extreme trust and honesty-based on the Sheer Clarity principles.

They work with founding entrepreneurs, Fortune 500 executives, and closely-held family businesses of every size and shape. They have helped these entities develop and integrate trust, honesty, and a certain sense of vulnerability into their organizations.

Lisa Stein is the Founder and CEO of Revolutions Inc. She is a tech entrepreneur from Columbus, Ohio who previously worked in an industrial design firm and Cardinal Health. 

Lisa also founded a software company that was called ORIS Intelligence which was purchased in July last year by PriceSpider.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

• [01:19] Kevin McHugh introduces his guest, Lisa Stein
• [02:38] Lisa talks about her company, what she does, and what keeps her focused 
• [06:09] Lisa reminisces on her childhood and her family’s entrepreneurial background
• [08:29] How growing up with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) child with a supportive family worked to Lisa’s benefit
• [10:26] Lisa shares what she learned from working for companies and how this helped ignite her entrepreneurial side
• [11:58] Lisa’s first entrepreneurial venture and her first mentor as a budding entrepreneur
• [12:51] The value of a mentor and learning from others before embarking on entrepreneurship
• [15:47] Why the fear of failure will always exist and what you can learn from the inevitable experience with it
• [19:04] What Lisa has learned about leading people and why there is no downside to transparency and in owning up to your own mistakes
• [20:12] How being a woman in her 50s has helped Lisa expand her self awareness and her ability to accept her own shortcomings
• [22:53] Lisa looks back at experiencing being fired and what she was learned from that moment
• [24:56] Lisa  and Kevin talk about receiving negative feedback and how you can see it in a positive note
• [27:24] The value of having effective and consistent communication when working and managing a remote team
• [32:45] The importance of institutionalizing the company’s value system and having every person in the team on board
• [34:31] Kevin and Lisa talk about the imposter syndrome and how it can affect you more than it can affect your team
• [36:22] How being optimistic about your chances of winning and working with people with collaborative energy is a recipe for success
• [37:55] Kevin shares his takeaways from the book Good to Great
• [39:54] Lisa talks about what it’s like running a generational family business
• [42:47] Kevin's summary of sheer clarity moments from this episode
• [44:18] Lisa's advice to her younger self: Worry less about what other people think and don’t assume that people’s behavior has anything to do with you
• [46:05] Where to learn more about Lisa's companies

Being a leader is a tough job, but learning how to accept that your team might be failing because of you is an even tougher pill to swallow. But this comes with the territory, and learning how you can improve things to make everything work better for everyone is crucial in bringing your company to a pinnacle of success.

Lisa Stein is the CEO of Revolutions Inc., the largest retailer of durable medical equipment in the US. She comes from a family of entrepreneurs and she has been exposed to the ups and downs of entrepreneurial life from an early age. And Lisa has so many things to share with budding and established entrepreneurs alike when it comes to business.

On this episode of Sheer Clarity, J. Kevin McHugh talks to Lisa about what it was like growing up within such a vibrant entrepreneurial environment, and how this shaped her view of what it means to be an entrepreneur. They also talk about the value of efficient and consistent communication when working with a remote team, why it’s important to remain transparent and open as a leader, and how self-awareness helps you become the best version of yourself. Stay tuned.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

• Sheer Clarity 
• J. Kevin McHugh
• Revolutions Inc
• SpinLife
• Lisa Stein on LinkedIn
• PriceSpider
• Good to Great

JKM Management Development was developed by J. Kevin McHugh himself in 1990. They provide executive life and leadership coaching and the development of leadership teams that operate with extreme trust and honesty-based on the Sheer Clarity principles.

They work with founding entrepreneurs, Fortune 500 executives, and closely-held family businesses of every size and shape. They have helped these entities develop and integrate trust, honesty, and a certain sense of vulnerability into their organizations.