#BehindTheCurtain 25: How to Empower Your Team to Make Better Decisions w/ Bill Reed

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:08.789 Welcome back to be to be growth. I'm Logan lyles with sweet fish media. 2 00:00:09.029 --> 00:00:13.150 Today is another episode in our behind the curtain series that we're normally dropping 3 00:00:13.310 --> 00:00:17.629 on Sundays for listeners of the show. Normally it's James and I most often 4 00:00:17.710 --> 00:00:21.309 here on this series. Today I'm joined again by bill read, our chief 5 00:00:21.429 --> 00:00:25.260 operating officer and all around great guy. Bill, how's it going today? 6 00:00:25.300 --> 00:00:28.980 Man, it's going well. Thanks, Logan. Absolutely. For those just 7 00:00:29.140 --> 00:00:32.619 listening to this, you can't see, but I am always excited to talk 8 00:00:32.619 --> 00:00:36.490 with bill, always excited to record and share his wisdom and knowledge with with 9 00:00:37.130 --> 00:00:40.929 you guys as the listeners. But I'm also just pumped because it's Good Friday. 10 00:00:40.929 --> 00:00:44.729 We're having a great Friday and we're both wearing broncos hats, so our 11 00:00:44.890 --> 00:00:47.850 side known, you know, kind of behind the scene, since this is 12 00:00:48.250 --> 00:00:51.399 the behind the curtain series. Just a little peek behind the curtain there, 13 00:00:51.679 --> 00:00:55.039 Bill. We're going to be talking about this phrase that you use a lot 14 00:00:55.240 --> 00:01:00.679 this thinking on decisionmaking. You caught the fulcrum of decisionmaking. Let's go ahead 15 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:03.719 and dive in and kind of unpack this term and then we're going to get 16 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:08.989 into some examples of where this approach to decisionmaking really can help or harm your 17 00:01:10.349 --> 00:01:14.590 organization, depending on how you actually implement it. Sure, absolutely so. 18 00:01:15.030 --> 00:01:18.900 When we talk about the Fulcrum of decisionmaking, what I'm really talking about is 19 00:01:19.500 --> 00:01:23.819 the effort to push the decisionmaking process to the people who are closest to the 20 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:27.540 customer. Off and I'll say to the lowest common denominator, but I like 21 00:01:27.659 --> 00:01:32.140 to avoid that terminology, to say really what we want to do is we 22 00:01:32.260 --> 00:01:37.010 want to push the decisionmaking process, of created process and then actually the authority, 23 00:01:37.489 --> 00:01:41.730 the empowerment to the people who are closest to the customer. And the 24 00:01:41.769 --> 00:01:46.730 reason for that is because, you know, often as managers or administrators or 25 00:01:46.769 --> 00:01:51.120 executives, we may at one time have been on the front lines, but 26 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:55.560 for most of us it's it's been a while, and so it's a dangerous 27 00:01:55.560 --> 00:02:00.200 thing to make decisions from afar. And I think I often say that if 28 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:04.390 you want to know the answer to a problem, go to the people that 29 00:02:04.430 --> 00:02:07.189 are on the front lines and ask them, because they have the answer. 30 00:02:07.270 --> 00:02:12.469 Yeah, absolutely, I mean in lots of different places and lots of different 31 00:02:12.509 --> 00:02:16.139 industries and across the world right now people are trying to solve some pretty complicated 32 00:02:16.219 --> 00:02:20.699 problems, and so I think this has some implications there, as well as 33 00:02:20.780 --> 00:02:23.060 whatever business that you're in. It kind of reminds me too, of the 34 00:02:23.099 --> 00:02:29.819 way that I always evaluate sales trainers. Right, how long has it been 35 00:02:29.979 --> 00:02:34.849 since you actually sold something? Right? That's always my first question for anyone 36 00:02:35.009 --> 00:02:39.050 offering sales training or any sort of content around sales is, tell me what's 37 00:02:39.090 --> 00:02:45.000 the gap between the last time that you were actively selling having conversations in the 38 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:47.599 context of what you're training now? If they've never, you know, not 39 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:53.039 done cold calling for ten years and they're training on something else that they do 40 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:57.759 have application in, then okay, but if they're training on prospecting and cold 41 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:00.189 calling and they haven't, you know, made a cold called dial in ten 42 00:03:00.270 --> 00:03:04.870 plus years, then I'm going to say, Hey, there's a disconnect here. 43 00:03:04.909 --> 00:03:07.310 And I think the correlation here is, you know, like you said, 44 00:03:07.349 --> 00:03:13.180 as you move up in in leadership, you may have these ideas of 45 00:03:13.659 --> 00:03:15.819 how it was done, how we solve this problem, even just I mean, 46 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:19.060 it doesn't have to be ten years. It could be six months ago, 47 00:03:19.340 --> 00:03:23.060 right, if you're in a fast growing, fast changing business like we 48 00:03:23.139 --> 00:03:27.530 are here at sweetfish, so I know there was a story from from Brian 49 00:03:27.610 --> 00:03:30.530 Tracy, I believe that you've shared with the team before build that kind of 50 00:03:30.849 --> 00:03:35.289 unpacks this idea in real world terms, right. Yeah, let me share 51 00:03:35.330 --> 00:03:38.530 that. That's so some of you may be familiar with Brian. It was 52 00:03:38.650 --> 00:03:40.639 years ago that he told this story and maybe you've heard it, so I'll 53 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:45.400 do my best to relay it, but I think it illustrates this concept very, 54 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:49.039 very well. He tells a story about an organization that had built a 55 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:54.560 new hotel and they had underestimated the traffic or the need for elevators right. 56 00:03:54.789 --> 00:04:00.110 So they got consistent complaints and it was really getting in the way of their 57 00:04:00.150 --> 00:04:03.870 business in several different ways. So they got together as an executive board and 58 00:04:04.509 --> 00:04:11.099 they were really on track to to dismantle part of the building and rebuild elevators. 59 00:04:11.139 --> 00:04:13.939 It was a, I think, a two or three hundred thousand dollar 60 00:04:14.379 --> 00:04:17.459 projects for them and somewhere along the line somebody said, you know, you 61 00:04:17.540 --> 00:04:20.019 know who we ought to talk to. We ought to talk to the maids, 62 00:04:20.259 --> 00:04:25.649 the cleaning staff and see what kind of ideas they have, because they're 63 00:04:25.689 --> 00:04:30.009 the ones in many cases getting the complaints. They're the ones that are have 64 00:04:30.170 --> 00:04:35.410 proximity to our guests and let's let's just see what what they have to say. 65 00:04:35.529 --> 00:04:41.079 And so they did. They went to one particular Gal who had worked 66 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:45.560 for them in other organizations for a long time and they asked her the question, 67 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:49.560 what can we do to solve this problem of guests complaining because they have 68 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:55.310 to wait too long for the elevator? And very, very quickly she said 69 00:04:55.350 --> 00:04:59.949 to them, well, put mirrors on every floor in the waiting a area. 70 00:05:00.629 --> 00:05:03.310 And took a little bit for them to process that, but what she 71 00:05:03.389 --> 00:05:08.300 said is, Hey, people love to look at themselves. If you put 72 00:05:08.459 --> 00:05:13.139 mirrors behind and you'll notice many times when you're in a nice hotel, there 73 00:05:13.180 --> 00:05:15.620 are mirrors. As you stand and look at the Elevator Bank, there are 74 00:05:15.660 --> 00:05:20.180 mirrors behind you. But she made that suggestion. They put those mirrors up 75 00:05:20.339 --> 00:05:26.329 because you know whether you have to lose. And sure enough that solved ninety 76 00:05:26.329 --> 00:05:30.329 five percent of their problem. So I was always fascinated by that story. 77 00:05:30.410 --> 00:05:33.689 I learned that early in my career and tried to apply it throughout my career. 78 00:05:33.810 --> 00:05:39.160 In fact, I every day at sweet fish is we're growing and as 79 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:42.439 I have a little more distance from the front line, from the customer. 80 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:45.959 I try to applay that concept, you know, with with the example that 81 00:05:46.040 --> 00:05:50.829 Brian told they had two choices. They could rip out the entire Elevator Bank 82 00:05:51.230 --> 00:05:56.550 that they typically put in a very expensive part of any any multi story building, 83 00:05:56.750 --> 00:05:59.829 with a cost them two or three hundred thou thousand dollars. Instead, 84 00:06:00.310 --> 00:06:02.470 they went to this sweet little Gul who'd work for them for a long time. 85 00:06:02.990 --> 00:06:06.019 She gave me the answer and they ended up sending two or three thousand 86 00:06:06.019 --> 00:06:11.259 dollars on mirrors. Imagine that. I hope she got a nice little bonus 87 00:06:11.300 --> 00:06:15.579 or something for that idea. That led to some huge cost savings. Yeah, 88 00:06:15.740 --> 00:06:19.370 absolutely. Yeah, you know, this kind of thing, logan is 89 00:06:19.529 --> 00:06:24.610 really a culture thing. It's not a matter of sending a survey or, 90 00:06:25.649 --> 00:06:30.370 you know, the CEO making an appearance and asking a brilliant question. This 91 00:06:30.529 --> 00:06:32.720 is really a matter of culture. Do you, as an organization, have 92 00:06:32.839 --> 00:06:36.240 the kind of culture where a gal like that would, on her own, 93 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:41.360 come to you with a suggestion like that? I think this really just tounch 94 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:45.800 from relationships and if you have the conduit, if you have the kind of 95 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:50.990 relationships where people feel safe and people feel comfortable and probably most importantly, if 96 00:06:51.110 --> 00:06:56.189 people feel valued, they'll come forward with those and and, believe it or 97 00:06:56.230 --> 00:06:59.589 not, they don't expect a bonus, they don't expect the gift. They 98 00:06:59.670 --> 00:07:02.620 just want to do it because they love the organization and they want to be 99 00:07:02.699 --> 00:07:06.100 better at their job and they want the company to be better at what they 100 00:07:06.139 --> 00:07:10.620 do as well. Yeah, absolutely. I mean I had a conversation with 101 00:07:10.699 --> 00:07:14.379 with a guest on one of our other shows, crafting culture, that dives 102 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:18.889 into this idea of culture with every single episode and we're talking about attracting, 103 00:07:19.009 --> 00:07:26.689 recruiting and retaining especially millennial and Gen z talent and this idea. You know, 104 00:07:26.689 --> 00:07:29.649 I'm a millennial myself, fun on kind of the back end of that 105 00:07:29.930 --> 00:07:32.920 generation, so I can associate with this. A good bit is that, 106 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:40.600 you know, especially those two generation bands, if you will really prioritize what 107 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:44.629 is my purpose, what is my contribution here to something that's meaningful, and 108 00:07:44.709 --> 00:07:46.870 I think you know that speaks to what you're talking about there, is that 109 00:07:47.029 --> 00:07:50.350 when you enable that, you're not only getting good ideas that are going to 110 00:07:50.470 --> 00:07:55.350 help the business, might help you avoid spending money or going down the wrong 111 00:07:55.910 --> 00:07:59.300 trail or just throwing money at a problem that doesn't get solved, but is 112 00:07:59.420 --> 00:08:03.899 also going to be a great piece for retaining those employees who do have good 113 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:09.339 ideas which otherwise, you know, would just go unheard. So I think 114 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:13.490 that's a great connection to the culture aspect of it. You know, there's 115 00:08:13.529 --> 00:08:16.649 some other examples I'm sure that you could speak to. I know that that 116 00:08:16.730 --> 00:08:20.209 your wife works in the medical field right now, speaking of areas where organizations 117 00:08:20.250 --> 00:08:26.370 are trying to tackle very tough problems and things are changing quickly, decisions need 118 00:08:26.529 --> 00:08:28.920 to be made and there are a lot of stakeholders. You want to speak 119 00:08:28.920 --> 00:08:31.600 to that and then we'll get to you know, any example here at sweet 120 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:37.679 fish of this for pushing the decision making down to the not the lowest common 121 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:41.230 denominator, but the people closest to the customer? I think that speaks to 122 00:08:41.269 --> 00:08:45.710 the customer experienced aspect of it. I like the way you kind of tweak 123 00:08:45.789 --> 00:08:50.549 that wording. Yeah, absolutely so. My wife works in the hostess in 124 00:08:50.629 --> 00:08:54.830 fact, and so you know, with with covid nineteen, you can imagine 125 00:08:54.830 --> 00:08:58.139 there right in the middle of the fire here as we as we speak, 126 00:08:58.220 --> 00:09:01.659 and it's been interesting for me. I know nothing about medicine, but just 127 00:09:01.820 --> 00:09:05.940 standing outside the circle and looking in from a business standpoint, it's really a 128 00:09:07.179 --> 00:09:11.330 tragedy logan that the decisions are being made at an administrative level. In fact, 129 00:09:11.730 --> 00:09:16.450 in my wife situation, their entire administrative team, they're all of their 130 00:09:16.490 --> 00:09:20.169 executives, are working from home and we're working from home right, so I 131 00:09:20.370 --> 00:09:24.559 get that. But you know there are people who aren't. My wife goes 132 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:28.720 to work every day and suits up like a Hasmat worker and takes care of 133 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:31.399 people. They lost two people yesterday the covid on her shift, and so 134 00:09:33.159 --> 00:09:39.269 they are dealing real time with problems and man, God bless them, but 135 00:09:39.350 --> 00:09:46.309 those executives and and administrator trying to make decisions and create policies and procedures that 136 00:09:46.429 --> 00:09:50.389 they're not there. Not One time had they showed up on the floor suited 137 00:09:50.470 --> 00:09:54.500 up and jumped in or at least just just walk the floor so that they 138 00:09:54.500 --> 00:09:58.620 could see and talk to the to the doctors and the nurses on the front 139 00:09:58.740 --> 00:10:01.740 lines. Things are changing so fast and an environment like that, that's often 140 00:10:01.779 --> 00:10:05.700 the case of medicine. It's often the case in small business. Things move 141 00:10:05.860 --> 00:10:11.730 so fast that you have to take the journey as a leader to the place 142 00:10:11.769 --> 00:10:16.210 where the action is right and that's not happening there and it's really a tragedy. 143 00:10:16.250 --> 00:10:18.570 It's causing people. I don't think it's too dramatic to say it's costing 144 00:10:18.610 --> 00:10:24.559 people their lives. I love that example right there. Obviously it's a it's 145 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:28.639 a bit of a sober one to but it is timely to really think about 146 00:10:28.039 --> 00:10:33.320 the impact of this change in the way that you make decisions as a leader. 147 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:35.470 Just got a pause and say, you know, thank you to your 148 00:10:35.509 --> 00:10:39.870 wife and all of the essential workers, both in healthcare, at grocery stores, 149 00:10:39.870 --> 00:10:43.549 all sorts of places right now, that don't have the ability to work 150 00:10:43.590 --> 00:10:48.029 from home, as well as the leaders that are going through these challenges of 151 00:10:48.149 --> 00:10:54.100 trying to manage frontline essential workers that that they are separated from and in a 152 00:10:54.139 --> 00:10:58.820 lot of cases maybe they don't have the opportunity or there are reasons why they 153 00:10:58.220 --> 00:11:03.179 can't necessarily go to the front lines. I think the the shift in leadership 154 00:11:03.259 --> 00:11:07.250 mindset that you're advocating for here, Bill, is, whatever the case, 155 00:11:07.649 --> 00:11:11.610 what can you do to get the decisionmaking to the front line? And we 156 00:11:11.730 --> 00:11:16.490 as leaders have to put on our journalist hat, going back to you know, 157 00:11:16.929 --> 00:11:20.039 US wearing hats today, put on that journalist hat and it goes back 158 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:24.000 to you know what John Maxwell says in the title of one of his books. 159 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:28.000 Good leaders ask great questions, right, or maybe it's great leaders ask 160 00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:31.639 good question I don't know. Anyway, will link to that in the show 161 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:35.710 notes. But you have to ask those questions to get to kind of the 162 00:11:35.750 --> 00:11:39.429 the end degree, and so whatever that case is, whether you're in healthcare 163 00:11:39.470 --> 00:11:45.990 or wherever, if you can't be at the front lines for whatever reason, 164 00:11:46.029 --> 00:11:50.340 ask those questions so that you can get information from they're much like a journalist 165 00:11:50.340 --> 00:11:54.100 would. Take it to the end degree to find out what's the real story, 166 00:11:54.220 --> 00:11:58.220 what's really happening on the ground, and use that to inform your decisions. 167 00:11:58.259 --> 00:12:03.370 And I think whatever the case is, whatever industry you're in, when 168 00:12:03.409 --> 00:12:07.370 you take that approach you're going to be better off. We've seen that even 169 00:12:07.409 --> 00:12:11.370 internally, you know, where there are not lives on the line here at 170 00:12:11.370 --> 00:12:15.330 sweet fish in the work that we're doing, where we're serving customers and doing 171 00:12:15.450 --> 00:12:18.960 great things, but you know, we've made a shift in the structure of 172 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:24.519 our audio and video team here there and you've kind of been involved in the 173 00:12:24.679 --> 00:12:28.200 promotion that happened there. Shout out to Jeremy Wellman, our new manager of 174 00:12:28.919 --> 00:12:33.029 audio and video. He's not new to the team, but he's taken on 175 00:12:33.429 --> 00:12:35.830 new responsibilities. You want to talk about that scenario a little bit where this 176 00:12:37.309 --> 00:12:39.950 methodology of decisionmaking has kind of played out for us? Bill? Yeah, 177 00:12:41.110 --> 00:12:45.980 absolutely so. Jeremy has served a number of different roles in the organization. 178 00:12:46.100 --> 00:12:48.820 He's one of those guys. By the way, I often talk about good, 179 00:12:48.860 --> 00:12:52.539 good people that are made of the right stuff. Jeremy's one of those 180 00:12:52.539 --> 00:12:56.539 guys. So, as an executive is a decision maker myself, I'm constantly 181 00:12:56.580 --> 00:13:01.370 on the lookout for people who who have the right stuff, and Jeremy certainly 182 00:13:01.490 --> 00:13:07.889 does. So the investment made in him is absolutely worth every every minute, 183 00:13:07.889 --> 00:13:11.330 every dollar that we make. But in order for him to be truly successful, 184 00:13:11.769 --> 00:13:15.879 we've got to get out of the way right as leaders, we can 185 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:22.480 operate most effectively to help Jeremy build his his world, build that department out. 186 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:28.429 We can operate best as guides and facilitators and mentors, as opposed to 187 00:13:28.590 --> 00:13:31.950 boss has. I've never wanted to be a boss. I don't want to 188 00:13:31.950 --> 00:13:33.470 be called a boss, I don't want to be looked to as a boss. 189 00:13:33.509 --> 00:13:37.110 I really want to be a resource and so that's the approach I've taken 190 00:13:37.149 --> 00:13:43.460 as we've developed and and assisted Jeremy in defining the new role of audio and 191 00:13:43.539 --> 00:13:48.419 video in our company. Yeah, absolutely, I think that, you know, 192 00:13:48.740 --> 00:13:52.220 in these sorts of scenarios, I think what other leaders can learn from 193 00:13:52.220 --> 00:13:54.889 what I've seen in your approach, Bill, is, you know, trusting 194 00:13:56.049 --> 00:14:01.210 the the expertise the leader that that they are leading and their conversations with the 195 00:14:01.330 --> 00:14:05.009 folks that are on the front line, in this case the folks who are 196 00:14:05.049 --> 00:14:09.730 editing video and editing audio, to where you're asking the questions, to where, 197 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:11.960 you know, to the things that would apply, no matter if they're 198 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:16.360 editing video, designing graphics or writing copy. Right, the same sort of 199 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:22.039 questions would apply. What's broken in this process, where we missing communication? 200 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:26.149 Those sorts of things. Those are your responsibilities as a leader and then it's 201 00:14:26.269 --> 00:14:31.669 on you to look to those leaders and those direct reports. That will up 202 00:14:31.710 --> 00:14:37.669 to you to get their feedback and listen to their expertise on this is the 203 00:14:37.789 --> 00:14:43.100 specific problem. You Guide them there with with your expertise and and experience as 204 00:14:43.179 --> 00:14:48.860 a leader, but rely on their expertise in in the roll or the function 205 00:14:48.940 --> 00:14:50.860 that they're carrying out, in the job that they're doing, and I think 206 00:14:50.980 --> 00:14:56.889 sometimes we miss that. They expertise in in leadership and in riding and the 207 00:14:56.009 --> 00:15:00.769 expertise in what the function is and I think ran you allow both of those 208 00:15:00.809 --> 00:15:03.649 two meet in the middle, then you have better decisionmaking it. I mean, 209 00:15:03.809 --> 00:15:07.360 is that kind of a good way to summarize it there, but yeah, 210 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:11.120 it's a great way to describe it. The reality is Jeremy is just 211 00:15:11.320 --> 00:15:13.519 way better at what he's doing that I would ever be. So we talked 212 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:18.639 earlier about people who maybe have gotten away from the front lines or away from 213 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:20.990 sales and haven't done it for maybe a few years. The reality is I've 214 00:15:22.029 --> 00:15:28.870 never done audio video. So I'm super thankful and recognize his subject matter expertise. 215 00:15:28.230 --> 00:15:33.350 I've got a quick story about the very first subject matter expert I hired. 216 00:15:33.429 --> 00:15:35.500 This was long, long ago, far, far away, but I 217 00:15:35.620 --> 00:15:41.179 had a guy named Mike. Mike was ten years older than me and ten 218 00:15:41.299 --> 00:15:45.059 times better than me, as it turned out, but we hired Mike and 219 00:15:45.139 --> 00:15:48.379 he was in a production position. I remember being back in the production area 220 00:15:48.460 --> 00:15:50.529 one day and we were we were trying to solve a problem we had just 221 00:15:50.649 --> 00:15:56.090 grown and we were we were adding square footage and looking at how we would 222 00:15:56.330 --> 00:16:00.570 configure the setup and and what was the just for context for people, what 223 00:16:00.730 --> 00:16:03.169 was the business? What was the just, the the sure text? So 224 00:16:03.250 --> 00:16:07.120 it was a marketing firm. We did mostly fulfillment and distribution works. So 225 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:11.799 we had a large, you know, we had a twenty Fivezero Square foot 226 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:18.429 facility where we created and distributed mostly marking, marketing collateral material. So as 227 00:16:18.509 --> 00:16:22.309 we stood there talking about our options and trying to solve a problem, I 228 00:16:22.389 --> 00:16:26.350 remember Michael Looking over his left shoulder. This is twenty years ago, Logan 229 00:16:26.629 --> 00:16:30.509 so, but but I remember really well. He looked over his shoulder and 230 00:16:30.629 --> 00:16:33.899 said, Bill, why don't you go up front and sell something? He 231 00:16:33.980 --> 00:16:37.539 said, you hired me to do a job, let me do it, 232 00:16:37.259 --> 00:16:44.059 and I was so offended for about ten seconds and then it just hit me. 233 00:16:44.340 --> 00:16:48.330 I mean that was a that was one of the most profound leadership lessons 234 00:16:48.370 --> 00:16:51.090 I learned. Listen, Bill, you hired me to do a job, 235 00:16:51.129 --> 00:16:55.450 let me do it. Go Do Yours. In essence, it was a 236 00:16:55.490 --> 00:16:57.690 lot nicer about it than that, but that was the message. I turned 237 00:16:57.730 --> 00:17:00.879 around, I walked up front and I'll tell you. I owned that business 238 00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:06.359 for almost ten years and I never went back, never went back to production. 239 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:10.200 I love it. What was it that took you from being offended to 240 00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:14.920 hey, he's making a good point and I need to walk away and kind 241 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:18.990 of back off, not to to stop leading but to stop overstepping into his 242 00:17:19.109 --> 00:17:22.670 expertise. Right. Well, the reality, and in a situation like that, 243 00:17:22.789 --> 00:17:26.910 it was he was far better equipped and experience to make those decisions than 244 00:17:26.950 --> 00:17:30.539 I was. I'm very comfortable leading, as you said earlier, we kind 245 00:17:30.579 --> 00:17:36.900 of each bring something. I'm very comfortable and leading in general, but we 246 00:17:37.099 --> 00:17:41.579 really needed subject matter expertise there, and so I was offended for a moment 247 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:44.690 because we all have egos and I'm pretty you know, at that point I 248 00:17:44.809 --> 00:17:48.890 was pretty used to make a decisions. But that that went way very, 249 00:17:48.930 --> 00:17:53.130 very quickly when I realized that the only way for us to get better as 250 00:17:53.170 --> 00:17:59.160 an organization is for us to get better as a team, and that, 251 00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:03.279 just for me, turned out to be at least one of the basic elements. 252 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:07.480 Turned out to be hiring people that are better at what they do than 253 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:12.309 I am or ever was, and the situation with Mike was was a perfect 254 00:18:12.349 --> 00:18:17.190 example of that. Mike worked for me for another seven years. He was 255 00:18:17.230 --> 00:18:19.390 with me the through the day I sold the business and then went to a 256 00:18:21.190 --> 00:18:23.710 partner of mine who had been in other business centers with stayed with him for 257 00:18:23.829 --> 00:18:27.140 fourteen years and still with him. As far as I know, Mike is 258 00:18:27.220 --> 00:18:30.420 still with corey as open to day. I love it. I love that 259 00:18:30.579 --> 00:18:36.140 story. For any leader who's having those sorts of conversations right now, lean 260 00:18:36.380 --> 00:18:40.579 into that with with this in mind, that you know as you as you 261 00:18:40.900 --> 00:18:45.130 hire people, you know we've talked here about hiring for cultural fit, as 262 00:18:45.170 --> 00:18:49.970 you build your team, everyone's going to have different expertise, different strings, 263 00:18:51.049 --> 00:18:56.119 just like the avengers. For anybody WHO's catching up a marvel comic universe movies 264 00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:59.799 in Chronological Order. I think that's probably been googled a lot these days and 265 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:03.279 as we're catching up on movies and quarantine. But think about that. You 266 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:07.200 know if someone needs to move cars out of the street, you're going to 267 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:11.150 let the hulk do his thing right and not say, well, I don't 268 00:19:11.150 --> 00:19:15.589 know how you're doing that. I would kind of do it this way. 269 00:19:15.309 --> 00:19:19.269 Your job is to put people in the right places and then and then kind 270 00:19:19.269 --> 00:19:23.660 of back off a little bit. There's accountability, right, there's there's leadership, 271 00:19:23.700 --> 00:19:29.259 there's working through those problems, but letting them make the decisions that they 272 00:19:29.299 --> 00:19:32.940 are best suited to make. I think just bringing it full circle to what 273 00:19:33.099 --> 00:19:36.980 you shared at the beginning well build. This has been a great conversation for 274 00:19:37.099 --> 00:19:41.650 anybody listening to this that wants to reach out pick your brain on on leadership, 275 00:19:41.809 --> 00:19:45.569 culture, operations, the things that you are helping with here at sweet 276 00:19:45.569 --> 00:19:48.890 fish. What's the best way for them to reach out or stay connected with 277 00:19:48.009 --> 00:19:52.319 you? Sure best way just see a quick email bill at sweetphish Mediacom. 278 00:19:52.839 --> 00:19:56.880 I love it and just a reminder to anyone listening that I'm not yet connected 279 00:19:56.920 --> 00:20:00.960 with you can hit me up logan at sweetfish Mediacom as well. Please connect 280 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:03.839 with me on Linkedin. My last name is spelled L Y elies. I'm 281 00:20:03.880 --> 00:20:07.869 pretty easy to find there as always. Thank you so much for listening. 282 00:20:07.190 --> 00:20:12.789 Bill. Thanks for another great session on leadership, operations and everything that. 283 00:20:12.910 --> 00:20:17.630 You bring a lot of wisdom to the table here at sweetfish. I really 284 00:20:17.670 --> 00:20:23.140 appreciate it. Man. Thanks, slogan. I hate it when podcasts incessantly 285 00:20:23.180 --> 00:20:26.500 ask their listeners for reviews, but I get why they do it, because 286 00:20:26.539 --> 00:20:30.779 reviews are enormously helpful when you're trying to grow a podcast audience. So here's 287 00:20:30.779 --> 00:20:33.420 what we decided to do. If you leave a review for me to be 288 00:20:33.500 --> 00:20:37.890 growth in apple podcasts and email me a screenshot of the review to James At 289 00:20:37.930 --> 00:20:42.049 sweetfish Mediacom, I'll send you a signed copy of my new book, content 290 00:20:42.130 --> 00:20:45.769 based networking, how to instantly connect with anyone you want to know. We 291 00:20:45.890 --> 00:20:48.609 get a review, you get a free book. We both win.