The Unapologetic Capitalist

The key to productivity is to have a meaningful and optimal incentive system. Fear is unfortunately a powerful motivator so it might be tempting to try and change behavior through punitive measures for poor performance or bad behavior. But it is a short term play. You will lose talent. On the other hand, a positive incentive, bonus or “bribe,” can also be powerful for those who are ambitious and motivated. But overly generous bribes can quickly turn someone entitled. So what is the best way to go? Which is better? The carrot or the stick?

Is the Founder of a company the best choice to be the CEO? When should you ask this question? Who do you ask? Join the discussion as Alison Gerlach, The Unapologetic Capitalist, and Todd Uterstaedt, host of From Founder to CEO, contemplate this essential leadership topic as to who is the best CEO to build the most long term value in the venture.

Guest Paul Moore of Wellings Capital discusses making thoughtful real estate investments rather than speculating. Wellings Capital generates long term value by creating multi-generational wealth through multi-family, commercial real estate investing. Wellings Capital has a unique vision that aligns solid returns for its investors with a mission of greater altruistic giving. Join the discussion of Paul’s entrepreneurial adventure through making money, losing money, and ultimately finding that the best way to build wealth is to give.

Bias, whether unconscious or not, can unwittingly keep us from recognizing great opportunities. Your bias can destroy potentially significant long term value. It is VERY important to recognize and understand your biases so that you can overcome them and be a productive and value generating leader. Often times the greatest impediment to success is ourselves, and we don’t even know it.

Like it or not, fear

sells. However, leaders who resort to leading by fear are bad leaders. They

fear the greatest fear of all: the truth. What do you fear? Can you rise above

your fear to be a value generating leader?

Unfortunately, Fear

Sells

* Introduction of Show Topic: I’ve long since

preached that it is the insecure and truly deplorable leaders who have to lead

by fear. It means that they don’t have anything of substance to offer so they

have to make you fearful so you will look to them to save them from the very things

they are telling you to be afraid of. The reality is that these leaders who are

so horrible at their jobs that they have to resort to leading by fear, are themselves

the most fearful of all.  And the

greatest fear of all is the truth.

* Brief Recap of Past Couple of Shows * Show 55 “Win Win” Can there be a win-win?

Yes, there can be a win-win, but only if the focus can truly be on generating

long term value. However, in business we can’t avoid working with people.

People are the greatest asset to any company and can also be the greatest

liability. There is NO win-win if

someone’s win depends on someone else losing.* Show 52 Don’t take the blame…take responsibility* Blame

or fault is backwards looking* Responsibility

is forward thinking* ‘No

one is coming’…acknowledgement and responsibility opens up innovation and

opportunity * Introduction of Discussion Topic…Like it or not

fear sells. Movies and literature throughout time demonstrate the power of fear

over and over again* We can’t ignore that fear motivates* We fear failure, rejection…why do we fear those

things…because we fear judgment by others! 

But most of all, we fear the truth. And we fear that the truth might not

be good enough. Honesty and transparency takes courage and character, two aspects

that sadly most leaders lack. The crappy leaders who are too afraid to check

their egos at the door because they need their ego to hide behind, because

their truth just isn’t good enough.  Leaders

who lead by ego are the biggest fraidy cats of them all! http://unapologeticcapitalist.com/why-isnt-the-truth-good-enough/

* You can recognize the impotent leader who is so

pathetic that they have no tools but fear because they are the ones who so

adamantly tell you what to be afraid of and then tell you who to blame for it Episode 52. Bad leaders place

blame and good leaders take responsibility. These are the NAKED Emperors – or http://unapologeticcapitalist.com/28A

* Leaders of no substance that use fears are the

ones that have to tell you what to think: such as “I’m smart” because their

work is so poor that they are banking on you being gullible or lazy and won’t

pull back the curtain to find out they aren’t smart. Truly smart people would NEVER

have to say they are smart, because their work speaks for itself. The bad

leaders will have to say “I’m rich” again, banking on your gullibility and

sheer laziness and make you afraid to even think for yourself. Believe me, no

one who actually has earned wealth would ever brag about it. Only the posers do

that…again, out of fear you might strip back the curtain and find out they are

impotent.

* Just like in the last episode on achieving a

‘win win’ scenario, the bad leaders of this world will invite their cozy,

crutch buddies “hubris” and “ego”* Hubris and ego insidiously destroy value while
...

 

 

The key to productivity is to have a meaningful and optimal incentive system. Fear is unfortunately a powerful motivator so it might be tempting to try and change behavior through punitive measures for poor performance or bad behavior. But it is a short term play. You will lose talent. On the other hand, a positive incentive, bonus or “bribe,” can also be powerful for those who are ambitious and motivated. But overly generous bribes can quickly turn someone entitled. So what is the best way to go? Which is better? The carrot or the stick?

*

* Episode 26: Cultivating Talent Nature vs Nurture

* Episode 24: Chemistry Matters: When All-Stars Fail

* Episode 53: Discussion with Bill Aulet on Disciplined Entrepreneurship

* Revisit previous episodes on culture:

* Conventional incentive systems will tell us to give a carrot to reward behavior that is above par in order to give incentives for ambition to achieve excellence. And we should give the stick to punish that which falls below par to instill fear that will hopefully discontinue any performance that is sub-par.  However, we live in times that are quite un-conventional.

* Look at the difference and evolution in grading and the US education system in the past 45 years

* Consider how sports’ contracts radically changed in the ’90s leading to compensation for expected value (e.g. “Big Dog” Robinson) rather than bonus for value already added (Michael Jordan)

* Need to manage a current workforce containing a range of Baby Boomers all the way down to the Millennials

* How do we create incentive systems to effectively gain productivity when we’ve lost par? Where has excellence gone? Why do we tolerate and even excuse lower than average performance and behaviors?

*

* Episode 26: Cultivating Talent Nature vs Nurture

* Episode 24: Chemistry Matters: When All-Stars Fail

* Episode 53: Discussion with Bill Aulet on Disciplined EntrepreneurshipSo how is a leader or manager to know how to design and implement effective incentive systems?

* Intrinsic behaviors…if you place a value on something that should be intrinsic, you are devaluing the reward the good behavior should bring.

* Carrot good behaviors…but they need to be ‘above and beyond’ giving rewards for just doing what is expected digs you into the abyss of the “Millennial Hole”

* Punish bad behaviors. No one should be given a bonus for ‘not screwing up’ again. After all…it just takes 1 bad apple to ruin the whole lot. However, if punishments are so prevalent that they instill fear in the workplace, then you’ve created a counter-productive environment.

* Understand what is the bribe?

* A meaningful incentive or ‘bribe’ must be determined by what the person whose behavior you are trying to influence. It isn’t about what YOU find valuable it is about what THEY perceive as valuable. If you are a good leader, you will know this.

* Money

* Experience

* Power/Title

* Know what an effective punishment looks like. What is appropriately painful to the person? It has to sting, but not injure so much that you render the person useless. And what hurts without demoralizing?

* Understand the short term play versus the long term play in designing and implementing an effective incentive system

* Design an effective incentive system by asking the key questions:

* What is ‘par’?

* Why do you need this incentive system?

* Who is effected by this incentive system?

* What behaviors does this incentive system impact?

Is the Founder of a company the best choice to be the CEO? When should you ask this question? Who do you ask? Join the discussion as Alison Gerlach, The Unapologetic Capitalist, and Todd Uterstaedt, host of From Founder to CEO, contemplate this essential leadership topic as to who is the best CEO to build the most long term value in the venture.

Guest Paul Moore of Wellings Capital discusses making thoughtful real estate investments rather than speculating. Wellings Capital generates long term value by creating multi-generational wealth through multi-family, commercial real estate investing. Wellings Capital has a unique vision that aligns solid returns for its investors with a mission of greater altruistic giving. Join the discussion of Paul’s entrepreneurial adventure through making money, losing money, and ultimately finding that the best way to build wealth is to give.

Paul is the author of The Perfect Investment – Create Enduring Wealth from the Historic Shift to Multifamily Housing (2016). Paul also co-hosts a wealth-building podcast called How to Lose Money and is a regular author for Bigger Pockets.

Learn more about Paul Moore and Wellings Capital at https://www.wellingscapital.com/

Bias, whether unconscious or not, can unwittingly keep us from recognizing great opportunities. Your bias can destroy potentially significant long term value. It is VERY important to recognize and understand your biases so that you can overcome them and be a productive and value generating leader. Often times the greatest impediment to success is ourselves, and we don’t even know it.

* What is unconscious bias?

* Biasis a prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another usually in a way that’s considered to be unfair.

* None of us wants to be bias, but we are all guilty.

* Open minded people will be thoughtful enough to derail their unconscious biases in their behavior so their actions don’t reflect their bias.

* If you don’t acknowledge that you do have some biases that are wired in you then you have no hope of being a good and value generating leader.

* Recap of past couple of shows

* Unfortunately, fear sells and even more unfortunately most people are buying. However, leaders who resort to leading by fear are bad leaders. They fear the greatest fear of all: the truth. What do you fear? Can you rise above your fear to be a value generating leader?

* Discussion Exercise: Get out 2 pieces of paper or 2 note cards and grab a pen or pencil.

* Take one of the cards and write down three things you think other people would think when they first see you. When you are done…turn it over. We will get to the other card later.

* Understanding bias

* Conscious bias(also know as explicit bias) is less prevalent than unconscious bias.

* Unconscious bias(also know as implicit bias) is highly prevalent, social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness.

* Biases, conscious or unconscious, are not limited to ethnicity and race.

* Bias may exist toward from any social group. One’s age, gender, gender identity physical abilities, religion, sexual orientation, weight, and many other characteristics visible or invisible are subject to bias.

* Solving ‘unconscious bias’ is more than a $10B a year industry, Forbes: November 2, 2015, “Rise of the Bias Busters: How Unconscious Bias Became Silicon Valley’s Newest Target”

* Silicon Valley brought this industry about, reports showed bias in workforce:

* Women held about a third of all jobs, and even fewer in technical and leadership roles.

* Asian workers were far overrepresented with about a third of jobs,

* Black and Hispanic workers had just a percent or two.

* Does it help? Some say brining up the biases actually encourages stereotypes.

* What are your biases? Activity: Would you help if someone knocked on your door?

* What are the “strikes” against you? What biases do we elicit in others?  New Year Blog Post

* Skin color, hair color, height, weight…all of these physical traits elicit thoughts from different people based on their own experiences and perspectives. Which ones are invisible? Such as religion and political affiliation…maybe even country of origin…and socio-economic status.

* Some overcompensate for their bias.

* If your actions, work product and behavior aren’t speaking for themselves that you have to make sure you are telling people how to assess, then you’ve just raised the red flag.

* You must take responsibility and admit the bias and ONLY then can you move on in a meaningful, value added and productive direction.

* Discussion activity continued: Remember at the beginning of this show I asked you to have 2 cards. Now it is time to take out the2nd card.

I’ve long since preached that it is the insecure and truly deplorable leaders who have to lead by fear. It means that they don’t have anything of substance to offer so they have to make you fearful so you will look to them to save them from the very things they are telling you to be afraid of. The reality is that these leaders who are so horrible at their jobs that they have to resort to leading by fear, are themselves the most fearful of all. And the greatest fear of all is the truth.

* Brief Recap of Past Couple of Shows

* Show 55 “Win Win” Can there be a win-win? Yes, there can be a win-win, but only if the focus can truly be on generating long term value. However, in business we can’t avoid working with people. People are the greatest asset to any company and can also be the greatest liability. There is NO win-win if someone’s win depends on someone else losing.

* Show 52 Don’t take the blame…take responsibility

* Blame or fault is backwards looking

* Responsibility is forward thinking

* ‘No one is coming’…acknowledgement and responsibility opens up innovation and opportunity

* Introduction of Discussion Topic…Like it or not fear sells. Movies and literature throughout time demonstrate the power of fear over and over again

* We can’t ignore that fear motivates

* We fear failure, rejection…why do we fear those things…because we fear judgment by others! But most of all, we fear the truth. And we fear that the truth might not be good enough. Honesty and transparency takes courage and character, two aspects that sadly most leaders lack. The crappy leaders who are too afraid to check their egos at the door because they need their ego to hide behind, because their truth just isn’t good enough.  Leaders who lead by ego are the biggest fraidy cats of them all! http://unapologeticcapitalist.com/why-isnt-the-truth-good-enough/

* You can recognize the impotent leader who is so pathetic that they have no tools but fear because they are the ones who so adamantly tell you what to be afraid of and then tell you who to blame for it Episode 52. Bad leaders place blame and good leaders take responsibility. These are the NAKED Emperors – or http://unapologeticcapitalist.com/28A

* Leaders of no substance that use fears are the ones that have to tell you what to think: such as “I’m smart” because their work is so poor that they are banking on you being gullible or lazy and won’t pull back the curtain to find out they aren’t smart. Truly smart people would NEVER have to say they are smart, because their work speaks for itself. The bad leaders will have to say “I’m rich” again, banking on your gullibility and sheer laziness and make you afraid to even think for yourself. Believe me, no one who actually has earned wealth would ever brag about it. Only the posers do that…again, out of fear you might strip back the curtain and find out they are impotent.

* Just like in the last episode on achieving a ‘win win’ scenario, the bad leaders of this world will invite their cozy, crutch buddies “hubris” and “ego”

* Hubris and ego insidiously destroy value while making you think they are there to protect and defend your interests.

* And what are you really afraid of…that you are actually worthless? That you’ve built yourself on nothing but a bunch of lies…and any moment you will be outed for being worthless? So when you fear you are losing the game, the bad leaders will blame the game itself…it is the ‘refs’ fault…the game was ‘rigged’ it was all a conspiracy. Leaders who are conspiracy theorists are the scariest leaders of all.  They are the ones who project their massive fears an...