Why Together is Better with Simon Sinek

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.340 --> 00:00:04.330 accelerating value by proof analytics is the podcast for marketing, 2 00:00:04.340 --> 00:00:08.210 communications, sales and operations leaders who want to see their business 3 00:00:08.210 --> 00:00:12.730 value clearly and succeed, learn how leaders are closing the gap between 4 00:00:12.730 --> 00:00:16.790 creative work and business impact through raw conversations. Don't 5 00:00:16.790 --> 00:00:22.360 believe me. Check out the show for yourself from the CFO perspective it's 6 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:29.800 value is what type of revenue generation earnings cash flow that is 7 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:34.100 only adding to the growth of the of the enterprise. You know, another dimension 8 00:00:34.100 --> 00:00:37.920 would be how our margins performing are we, you know, we're getting the right 9 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:43.890 value by seeing margin expansion by creating products services that are 10 00:00:43.890 --> 00:00:48.950 generating you know that incremental value to the organization and I think 11 00:00:48.950 --> 00:00:54.030 from my lens, you know that it's monetary in many dimensions, right? 12 00:00:54.040 --> 00:00:58.880 It's not you know, thinking about okay what say from an employee perspective, 13 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:03.510 other perspectives, but as a leader, as the finance leader, as you're looking 14 00:01:03.510 --> 00:01:09.910 to grow the revenue earnings and cash flow of an organization, it will only 15 00:01:09.910 --> 00:01:15.260 create more opportunities for your employees, for your suppliers, for your 16 00:01:15.260 --> 00:01:20.230 customers based on those services that you're creating. So to me that's how I 17 00:01:20.230 --> 00:01:25.210 view to be value for more. Subscribe to the show wherever you listen to 18 00:01:25.210 --> 00:01:26.960 podcasts, 19 00:01:31.540 --> 00:01:37.050 this is B two B growth. My name is Bendy Block. Welcome back and today 20 00:01:37.060 --> 00:01:42.180 excited to bring you an old episode, a conversation that we had with Simon 21 00:01:42.190 --> 00:01:47.080 Sinek. Now you'll know Simon from books like start with Y or Leaders Eat last. 22 00:01:47.090 --> 00:01:51.360 Why together is better. That's actually the focal point of today's conversation. 23 00:01:51.740 --> 00:01:56.860 I'm bringing this episode back for several reasons. Simon hits on a number 24 00:01:56.860 --> 00:01:59.650 of things that I thought could be helpful. He talks about millennials in 25 00:01:59.650 --> 00:02:04.360 the workplace, he talks about leaders taking on a student mentality. And so 26 00:02:04.360 --> 00:02:07.930 as we jump into this conversation, just be thinking what are some of the things 27 00:02:07.930 --> 00:02:13.140 that the practical takeaways that Simon gives us here, That we can apply as we 28 00:02:13.140 --> 00:02:17.770 go into 2022? I think you'll find this conversation extremely insightful. So, 29 00:02:17.770 --> 00:02:25.420 let's jump in to our conversation with Simon Sinek, welcome back to the BBB 30 00:02:25.420 --> 00:02:29.370 Growth Show. We're here today with Simon Sinek, he is the best selling 31 00:02:29.380 --> 00:02:34.470 author of Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last Simon, How you doing today? 32 00:02:34.480 --> 00:02:38.390 I'm well, thank you. So, Simon, you've been all over the place lately. I've 33 00:02:38.390 --> 00:02:43.130 recently seen your viral video about millennials in the workplace. Obviously 34 00:02:43.130 --> 00:02:48.410 your your ted talk about starting with Why and your recent book together is 35 00:02:48.410 --> 00:02:53.400 better. A little book of inspiration is something I dove into and I've already 36 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:56.690 read through it twice. I've loved this book and that's what we're gonna be 37 00:02:56.690 --> 00:03:01.720 talking about in today's interview. My first question Simon is around kind of, 38 00:03:01.720 --> 00:03:05.730 the structure of the book. You made such a unique book. It's similar to a 39 00:03:05.730 --> 00:03:09.020 Children's book and that there's only a sentence or two on each page, It's 40 00:03:09.020 --> 00:03:13.620 beautifully illustrated and you even infused one of the pages in the book 41 00:03:13.630 --> 00:03:18.380 with the smell of optimism. Um so could you tell our listeners what inspired 42 00:03:18.380 --> 00:03:21.520 you to write a book like this? Sure, I wanted to do something different. I 43 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:25.150 wanted to do something that was a departure for my for my usual work. And 44 00:03:25.240 --> 00:03:28.500 you know, I wanted to capture the essence that runs through the thread 45 00:03:28.500 --> 00:03:31.000 that runs through all my work, which is where social animals and we need each 46 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:34.400 other. And instead of making a big biological sort of anthropological 47 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:38.050 argument for it, which is what I usually do. I took inspiration from, 48 00:03:38.060 --> 00:03:41.420 from Children's books. I have a young niece and nephew, and I'm always struck 49 00:03:41.430 --> 00:03:46.160 by how well the Children's book communicates, you know, a moral or 50 00:03:46.160 --> 00:03:50.210 value. And so even though it's for adults, I made it in the form of a 51 00:03:50.210 --> 00:03:53.410 Children's book, and it just captures that very simple message that we are 52 00:03:53.410 --> 00:03:57.400 better together and we need each other. And I also used the book as a way of 53 00:03:57.400 --> 00:04:01.820 saying thank you. You know, I recognize that my own career, it wasn't because 54 00:04:01.820 --> 00:04:05.770 of me, it was because of all the people who believed in me or took risks on me 55 00:04:05.770 --> 00:04:09.640 or introduced me to people who help me out. So it's my little way of saying 56 00:04:09.640 --> 00:04:12.920 thank you as well and recognizing all the people who helped me along my 57 00:04:12.920 --> 00:04:16.910 journey. I love it, this is time. And I wanted to tweet every single page in 58 00:04:16.910 --> 00:04:19.630 this book and obviously we can't go through the entire thing on this 59 00:04:19.630 --> 00:04:23.460 interview, but I love to touch on a few of the just the incredible bits of 60 00:04:23.460 --> 00:04:26.970 wisdom that you shared in it. And the first one pretty early in the book, you 61 00:04:26.970 --> 00:04:31.510 ask a really bold question. It says, if you say your job is something you don't 62 00:04:31.510 --> 00:04:37.010 plan on doing forever, then why are you doing it now? That is such, that's such 63 00:04:37.010 --> 00:04:41.480 a powerful question. Can you unpack that idea for us? Well, you hear people 64 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:44.590 say that all the time, you say you know, how is work? And they say it's fine, 65 00:04:44.600 --> 00:04:47.360 you know, you know, I don't plan on doing this forever. You know, and at 66 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:49.850 the end of the day, there's a finite number of years we're going to work. 67 00:04:50.140 --> 00:04:55.290 And you know, obviously I'm being sort of I'm sort of exaggerating the point 68 00:04:55.290 --> 00:05:00.290 in the quote, but you know, the goal is is to try and find work that we love to 69 00:05:00.290 --> 00:05:04.050 do the things that we love and there is a finite amount of time. So how long 70 00:05:04.050 --> 00:05:07.000 can we wait? And I appreciate that people have responsibility and bills to 71 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:11.850 pay in mouths to feed. I get all that, but why should we suffer or be working 72 00:05:11.850 --> 00:05:15.760 a job that we don't love simply because, you know, we've convinced ourselves 73 00:05:15.760 --> 00:05:18.870 that we can't find the thing that we love. That's all. And so do you think 74 00:05:18.870 --> 00:05:22.750 that's the crux of it really is the fear that we are going to be able to 75 00:05:22.750 --> 00:05:26.210 truly find something we love. I think it's a, it's a combination of many 76 00:05:26.210 --> 00:05:30.300 things for many people. As I said before, I think some people give up on 77 00:05:30.300 --> 00:05:33.780 finding something they love because they give in to what they say is 78 00:05:33.780 --> 00:05:37.010 responsibility. I think some people believe there is nothing better out 79 00:05:37.010 --> 00:05:39.520 there. I think some people believe that the devil they know is better than the 80 00:05:39.520 --> 00:05:43.270 devil. They don't sometimes the unknown is scarier than the thing that you've 81 00:05:43.270 --> 00:05:48.000 got. There's any number of reasons, some of which are quite legitimate, but 82 00:05:48.010 --> 00:05:52.460 the goal is to find work we love and that is possible. It is possible to 83 00:05:52.460 --> 00:05:55.710 find people with whom we want to, we want to work with every single day. 84 00:05:55.720 --> 00:06:00.510 This next quote from the book, you said safe is good for sidewalks and swimming 85 00:06:00.510 --> 00:06:06.450 pools. Life requires risk if we are to get anywhere. Can you share just some, 86 00:06:06.450 --> 00:06:11.330 some examples of what his risk looked like for you kind of along your journey 87 00:06:11.330 --> 00:06:15.860 Simon I mean throughout my career, when things really started to get going, I 88 00:06:15.860 --> 00:06:21.980 would quit and go do something else, but you know, I, I like a challenge and 89 00:06:21.990 --> 00:06:26.310 not everything I've worked on, worked out well, you know, I quit a good job 90 00:06:26.310 --> 00:06:30.210 with a fast growing career to go work for another company to work on 91 00:06:30.210 --> 00:06:33.840 something that was difficult and it failed. It didn't do well and that's 92 00:06:33.840 --> 00:06:38.290 okay granted, I didn't have family, you know, and I can, I was younger and I 93 00:06:38.290 --> 00:06:41.410 could afford to take those kinds of risks, but I like a challenge and I 94 00:06:41.410 --> 00:06:44.760 like, I like difficult things that I don't necessarily know the answer to. 95 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:49.970 And so I find that when my career sort of finds a pace, it gets, there's a 96 00:06:49.970 --> 00:06:54.120 boredom that sets in, you know what I mean? The challenge is the growth, but 97 00:06:54.120 --> 00:06:58.940 then there's a plateau where I sort of pull my hair out and if I don't, if I 98 00:06:58.940 --> 00:07:01.760 don't make a change, I'll accidentally sabotage what I'm doing anyway, so I 99 00:07:01.760 --> 00:07:06.800 might as well make the change because I'm going to fail either way. Was that 100 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:10.780 did that I noticed for me, I'm gonna fail you, I'm gonna definitely fail if 101 00:07:10.780 --> 00:07:14.740 I stay in what I'm doing, at least I risk some new growth if I moved. That, 102 00:07:14.740 --> 00:07:18.670 that makes sense. That makes sense. Has that been a characteristic in you since 103 00:07:18.670 --> 00:07:22.880 you were really young? I noticed for me that I noticed that probably probably 104 00:07:22.880 --> 00:07:26.450 in my early twenties, but was that something that that developed later in 105 00:07:26.450 --> 00:07:30.060 your career? Has it been that way since you were young? Um Well, I mean, we 106 00:07:30.060 --> 00:07:33.930 grew up as a family traveling all over the world, so every few years we would 107 00:07:33.940 --> 00:07:38.140 change countries and change schools and change everything. So it was probably 108 00:07:38.150 --> 00:07:41.590 ingrained into me from a fairly young age that it doesn't matter if you're 109 00:07:41.590 --> 00:07:44.990 happy at school and you've made good friends, you'll find happiness at 110 00:07:44.990 --> 00:07:48.530 another school and you make new friends, you know? Yeah, and so I think the 111 00:07:48.530 --> 00:07:53.320 ability to change from one to the other, you know, extreme, I probably find it a 112 00:07:53.320 --> 00:07:57.750 little less scary than some people because the way I grew up. Okay, so I 113 00:07:57.750 --> 00:08:01.660 mean, there's a section in the book titled Find a Vision. Can you talk to 114 00:08:01.660 --> 00:08:06.360 us about why this section wasn't named? Have a vision? Yeah, I mean, you hear 115 00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:10.780 this all the time, you know, you hear, you know, people like me and say things, 116 00:08:10.780 --> 00:08:13.920 you know, you gotta have a vision, you know, and I think that's an unfair 117 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:18.430 burden to put on people, like not everybody is steve jobs, you know, but 118 00:08:18.430 --> 00:08:22.110 I do believe that we have to find a vision. I believe that you can find a 119 00:08:22.110 --> 00:08:25.350 vision that somebody else has articulated whether it is steve jobs or 120 00:08:25.350 --> 00:08:29.020 martin Luther king or whatever it is and you believe in it. And that belief 121 00:08:29.020 --> 00:08:32.539 in their vision is so powerful, You make it your own and it becomes your 122 00:08:32.539 --> 00:08:35.970 vision, but that doesn't mean you have to originate the vision. What it means 123 00:08:35.970 --> 00:08:39.350 is I do believe everybody has the responsibility to find division. I 124 00:08:39.350 --> 00:08:43.190 don't believe everybody has the responsibility to originate a vision to 125 00:08:43.190 --> 00:08:47.170 conceive a vision, right? But that, but culturally there's almost this 126 00:08:47.180 --> 00:08:52.120 assumption that each individual should have their own vision and hearing all 127 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:54.930 the time, All the time. What's your vision? What's your vision? What's your 128 00:08:54.930 --> 00:08:58.980 visual? I don't it's unbelievably stressful. I don't have one. Or then we 129 00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:02.650 end up articulating nonsense. You know, even entrepreneurs, like not every 130 00:09:02.650 --> 00:09:05.370 entrepreneurs to have a vision too, but they do have to find one that they're 131 00:09:05.370 --> 00:09:09.910 willing to build their business around to advance. You know? So I think it 132 00:09:09.920 --> 00:09:13.840 alleviates the overwhelming and unnecessary stress of quote unquote 133 00:09:13.850 --> 00:09:19.350 having a vision. Yeah, I totally agree. This next quote from your book, Simon 134 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:23.820 says, a team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of 135 00:09:23.820 --> 00:09:28.330 people who trust each other. Can you share maybe some practical ways that 136 00:09:28.330 --> 00:09:34.720 you've seen teams create a culture of trust. Yeah, I mean the trust is a 137 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:38.770 feeling and it's born out of the environment we're in. And so trust 138 00:09:38.770 --> 00:09:42.820 comes from good leadership. If there's good leadership, it doesn't necessarily 139 00:09:42.820 --> 00:09:46.560 mean the person in charge. That's not leadership is not necessarily rank. 140 00:09:46.940 --> 00:09:49.970 Authority comes with rank. But leadership is the choice to take care 141 00:09:49.970 --> 00:09:53.390 of the people to the left and right of me. And in a position of leadership, it 142 00:09:53.390 --> 00:09:58.120 affords you greater scale who take responsibility to the more people. But 143 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:01.120 when there is a good leader on the team, what you'll find is an environment is 144 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:05.640 created in which trust can thrive when we feel that our leaders care about us 145 00:10:05.640 --> 00:10:08.760 as human beings, the natural human response, the biological responses? 146 00:10:08.760 --> 00:10:12.870 Trust and cooperation. when we do not feel that our leaders care about us or 147 00:10:12.870 --> 00:10:17.120 that they care more about numbers, the natural human responses, cynicism, 148 00:10:17.130 --> 00:10:20.960 paranoia, mistrust and self interest. You know, the thing to do is is to 149 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:23.710 become a student leadership. That's where trust emerges. That makes perfect 150 00:10:23.710 --> 00:10:29.920 sense. So after I saw your millennial video, shortly after I watched a video 151 00:10:29.920 --> 00:10:35.600 from, from Gary Vaynerchuk and he's a huge proponent of, he's even made the 152 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:39.780 number two person in this organization a Chief hard officer, He's huge 153 00:10:39.780 --> 00:10:45.120 proponent of culture and creating that trust within his teams. And so that 154 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:48.620 seemed to be a big part of the video, you know, about millennials in the 155 00:10:48.620 --> 00:10:52.850 workplace as well as they want that trust that want to be trusted in their 156 00:10:52.850 --> 00:10:56.600 work environment. So it makes perfect sense that leadership, like studying 157 00:10:56.600 --> 00:10:59.900 leadership, becoming a better leader yourself. We're talking to a lot of 158 00:10:59.910 --> 00:11:03.420 folks that lead marketing and sales teams on the show and the more you 159 00:11:03.420 --> 00:11:07.640 study leadership, ultimately, the more that you're going to cultivate that 160 00:11:07.650 --> 00:11:11.540 trust in your organization. This next one Simon that I want to talk about, 161 00:11:11.540 --> 00:11:16.690 you said leadership is an education and the best leaders think of themselves as 162 00:11:16.690 --> 00:11:21.040 the students, not the teachers. So obviously in your case, you know, 163 00:11:21.040 --> 00:11:24.490 you're writing books, you're on stages in front of thousands of people, you're 164 00:11:24.490 --> 00:11:28.550 in viral videos all over the internet. It would be really easy for you to look 165 00:11:28.550 --> 00:11:31.940 at yourself kind of as a teacher instead of a student, A lot of folks 166 00:11:31.940 --> 00:11:34.830 that are listening to this, Their chief marketing officers, They're, you know, 167 00:11:34.830 --> 00:11:39.120 they're leading big teams. It would be very easy for them to see themselves as 168 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:43.860 the teacher instead of the student. What are some ways that you position 169 00:11:43.860 --> 00:11:48.730 yourself as a student so that you, this really rings true for you? Well, it's 170 00:11:48.730 --> 00:11:52.110 easy. I don't see myself as an expert in my own subject. I mean, it's simple. 171 00:11:52.110 --> 00:11:55.560 I don't think I know everything. I think I have a lot more to learn and I 172 00:11:55.560 --> 00:11:58.780 see myself as a student of my own subject. I may be a more advanced 173 00:11:58.780 --> 00:12:03.070 student than some, but, but I'm a student nonetheless, you know, and all 174 00:12:03.070 --> 00:12:05.940 the best leaders that I've met throughout my career, whether their 175 00:12:05.940 --> 00:12:09.550 business, military government, wherever they're from. They all see themselves 176 00:12:09.550 --> 00:12:12.400 as students. They have a curious mind and some of them are super, super 177 00:12:12.400 --> 00:12:16.970 senior and yet they still read books and still read articles and they still 178 00:12:16.970 --> 00:12:20.730 like having conversations with folks like me about the subject and they like 179 00:12:20.730 --> 00:12:24.210 dissecting things and they have an insatiable curiosity about the subject 180 00:12:24.210 --> 00:12:26.950 of leadership. I think that's one of the things that makes them good leaders. 181 00:12:27.040 --> 00:12:31.150 I'm very, very suspicious of anybody regardless of how experienced they are, 182 00:12:31.150 --> 00:12:34.380 who say I know exactly what I'm doing and I'm exceptionally good leader, 183 00:12:34.380 --> 00:12:38.220 Thank you very much. I don't need your health. You know, can you imagine a 184 00:12:38.220 --> 00:12:43.340 surgeon who thinks they know everything like that's scary. So how can we, if we 185 00:12:43.340 --> 00:12:45.090 wouldn't trust a surgeon who thinks they know everything, why would you 186 00:12:45.090 --> 00:12:48.060 trust a leader who thinks they know everything, you know, regardless of 187 00:12:48.060 --> 00:12:51.710 their experience. So, I think it's essential and it's not just words 188 00:12:51.710 --> 00:12:57.030 anybody can say it. You actually have to, like, I love learning about this 189 00:12:57.030 --> 00:13:00.790 stuff, the reason I keep doing new work and having new ideas, because I'm 190 00:13:00.790 --> 00:13:04.260 talking about this stuff all the time with people and I love learning from 191 00:13:04.260 --> 00:13:07.080 people and I love picking up little tidbits here and there and that's where 192 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:10.100 I get all my stories and it's where I want, you know, it's it's people 193 00:13:10.100 --> 00:13:13.800 introduced me to people and and it's fun and I travel around and have 194 00:13:13.800 --> 00:13:17.890 lunches and with people that I just want to meet, you know, So I think you 195 00:13:17.890 --> 00:13:21.040 have to be a student of something if you want to advance in that in 196 00:13:21.040 --> 00:13:25.160 knowledge or practice. Yeah, I totally agree. I love that. So, this last 197 00:13:25.160 --> 00:13:30.400 statement that I want to talk about from your book Simon before I I ask you 198 00:13:30.400 --> 00:13:35.050 a question about the video that's recently gone viral about millennials. 199 00:13:35.140 --> 00:13:39.230 This quote says, it says when we are close to ideas, what we hear is 200 00:13:39.230 --> 00:13:44.320 criticism, but when we're open to criticism, what we get is advice. Can 201 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:47.930 you unpack that for us? Look, there are people throughout our careers who want 202 00:13:47.930 --> 00:13:52.510 what's best for us and sometimes they know how to give us the council and 203 00:13:52.510 --> 00:13:57.180 sometimes they don't, but they want to give us counsel and if we aren't 204 00:13:57.190 --> 00:14:01.060 interested in hearing what others have to say about us, then we're going to 205 00:14:01.060 --> 00:14:04.920 think the world is against us or they're against us or they just don't 206 00:14:04.920 --> 00:14:08.520 understand us. But if we're open to the fact that there's always room for 207 00:14:08.520 --> 00:14:12.520 improvement, accepting that not everybody's good at giving feedback, we 208 00:14:12.520 --> 00:14:16.030 become much more relaxed and able to try and discern and hear what they're 209 00:14:16.030 --> 00:14:20.520 trying to tell us rather than simply attack or get defensive. And it's a 210 00:14:20.520 --> 00:14:24.010 skill, it's a learning skill. I haven't always been good at it, I'm getting 211 00:14:24.010 --> 00:14:28.790 better at it, you know? But when somebody sort of goes at me, I sort of 212 00:14:28.800 --> 00:14:32.400 really like if I've upset somebody or they trying or even if I didn't upset 213 00:14:32.400 --> 00:14:35.410 somebody, somebody just wants to give me feedback on how I did. You know, I 214 00:14:35.410 --> 00:14:38.450 try to be open to it so that they'll give me more feedback. If I put up my 215 00:14:38.450 --> 00:14:41.160 defenses, then people are just going to stop giving me feedback and I'm going 216 00:14:41.160 --> 00:14:45.320 to stop learning and growing so it's my responsibility to create an environment 217 00:14:45.320 --> 00:14:48.540 in which people feel that they can approach me and then I am open to 218 00:14:48.540 --> 00:14:52.180 feedback so that they'll continue to give it to me Yeah, for me that's an 219 00:14:52.180 --> 00:14:56.990 ideal that I try to hold true to, but the reality is when someone corrects me 220 00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:01.270 my natural, you know, I try to hold this in and I try not to react out of 221 00:15:01.270 --> 00:15:06.620 this, but there's this feeling of why I want to justify what I did or I want to 222 00:15:06.630 --> 00:15:10.840 explain to them like oh well you but you just have miss misunderstood, you 223 00:15:10.840 --> 00:15:15.610 know what that action was supposed to do or instead of just receiving it and 224 00:15:15.620 --> 00:15:20.370 allowing it to help me get better, I want to push back on it. What would you 225 00:15:20.370 --> 00:15:24.330 say to the like to folks that are kind of new to embracing this? You know, 226 00:15:24.340 --> 00:15:29.410 really accepting kind of critical feedback. Are there any like anything 227 00:15:29.410 --> 00:15:31.940 that you would say to the person that is trying to embrace this, but they're 228 00:15:31.940 --> 00:15:35.660 just having a tough time with it. The thing is to is to have empathy which is 229 00:15:35.660 --> 00:15:39.560 to always walk into these situations with the belief that what somebody has 230 00:15:39.560 --> 00:15:43.810 to tell you is worth hearing, right? And if you don't understand it or it's 231 00:15:43.810 --> 00:15:47.960 coming across as aggressive or personal, then try and defuse the situation 232 00:15:47.960 --> 00:15:50.850 yourself rather than inflame the situation, right? It's good old 233 00:15:50.850 --> 00:15:54.370 fashioned empathy. I understand what you're saying, I hear, I hear that I've 234 00:15:54.370 --> 00:15:57.850 upset you let me try and understand what it is so I can take full 235 00:15:57.850 --> 00:16:01.560 responsibility, you know and understand that sometimes we do say and do things 236 00:16:01.560 --> 00:16:05.230 that affect other people and how they feel and we have to take responsibility 237 00:16:05.230 --> 00:16:09.540 even if it was unintentional. You know it happens so often where somebody is 238 00:16:09.540 --> 00:16:13.780 upset and they sort of constructively constructively try and tell us and we 239 00:16:13.780 --> 00:16:18.250 go well I didn't mean to do it so I don't have to say I'm sorry you know 240 00:16:18.260 --> 00:16:21.040 and I was like well if you swing around and you accidentally hit the person 241 00:16:21.040 --> 00:16:24.250 next you with your bag you turn around and you say sorry you didn't mean to do 242 00:16:24.250 --> 00:16:26.420 it but you're not going to turn to, the person said well I don't have to say 243 00:16:26.420 --> 00:16:32.880 sorry, I didn't mean to do it, you know so you can still take accountability 244 00:16:32.890 --> 00:16:38.950 for your actions and words even even if it is unintentional. Hey everybody 245 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:43.210 Logan with sweet fish here, if you're a regular listener of GDP growth, you 246 00:16:43.210 --> 00:16:46.750 know that I'm one of the co hosts of the show but you may not know that. I 247 00:16:46.760 --> 00:16:50.620 also head up the sales team here at sweet fish. So for those of you in 248 00:16:50.620 --> 00:16:54.580 sales or sales ops I wanted to take a second to share something that's made 249 00:16:54.580 --> 00:16:59.160 us insanely more efficient lately. Our team has been using lead I. Q. For the 250 00:16:59.160 --> 00:17:03.560 past few months and what used to take Us four hours gathering contact data 251 00:17:03.570 --> 00:17:08.329 Now takes us only one where 75 percent more efficient. We're able to move 252 00:17:08.329 --> 00:17:12.859 faster with outbound prospecting and organizing our campaigns is so much 253 00:17:12.859 --> 00:17:17.150 easier than before. I'd highly suggest you guys check out lead I. Q. As well. 254 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:24.040 You can check them out at lead I. Q dot com. That's L E A D I Q dot com. 255 00:17:24.050 --> 00:17:32.470 Alright, let's get back to the show. So Simon obviously that the video that has 256 00:17:32.470 --> 00:17:35.820 recently gone viral millennials in the workplace, a lot of the folks listening 257 00:17:35.820 --> 00:17:40.100 to this are managing teams of millennials and there are so many good 258 00:17:40.100 --> 00:17:44.180 pieces from that video for the you know, one or two people listening to this 259 00:17:44.180 --> 00:17:48.790 that have not already seen the video. Could you kind of share the overall 260 00:17:48.790 --> 00:17:53.500 thesis of of that interview that you did and how what the the big takeaway 261 00:17:53.500 --> 00:17:57.400 that you wanted folks to have from that piece of content. So almost every 262 00:17:57.400 --> 00:18:01.390 single talker meeting I have invariably somebody will ask me the millennial 263 00:18:01.390 --> 00:18:06.290 question. You know these are people and companies who are struggling to lead 264 00:18:06.300 --> 00:18:10.660 millennials and so when I show up they asked me if I have an opinion and so I 265 00:18:10.660 --> 00:18:14.900 had to have an opinion. So I, you know I asked around and made my own 266 00:18:14.900 --> 00:18:20.120 observations and I formed an opinion. I made some observations and this group 267 00:18:20.120 --> 00:18:24.580 of people is accused of being entitled and narcissistic and a whole bunch of 268 00:18:24.580 --> 00:18:28.950 other things and I think some of it is I think it requires us to be a little 269 00:18:28.950 --> 00:18:32.520 empathetic and how they grew up, every generation has their issues. People who 270 00:18:32.520 --> 00:18:35.970 grew up in the depression or miserly people who grew up in the 19 seventies 271 00:18:35.970 --> 00:18:41.050 during Vietnam War and Richard Nixon mistrust authority. You know, it 272 00:18:41.050 --> 00:18:43.690 doesn't make them better or worse. It just means I have a little empathy for 273 00:18:43.690 --> 00:18:47.810 how they grew up. Well let's have a little empathy for how this young 274 00:18:47.810 --> 00:18:50.920 generation of employees grew up also. They grew up in a world of instant 275 00:18:50.920 --> 00:18:54.940 gratification. You know, with amazon you can get something the next day, you 276 00:18:54.940 --> 00:19:00.390 can log on stream a movie. They grew up in a world of where many of them were 277 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:05.120 over coddled by their parents. I hear stories of this is a true story. Kid 278 00:19:05.120 --> 00:19:08.980 comes to to work late and apologizes that he's late because his parents 279 00:19:08.980 --> 00:19:12.670 didn't wake him. Apparently has a webcam, he's in college and he's a 280 00:19:12.670 --> 00:19:16.850 webcam in his dorm room and his parents check and make sure he's awake at the 281 00:19:16.850 --> 00:19:19.690 right time and if he's not up they call him call him call him until he wakes up. 282 00:19:19.690 --> 00:19:25.990 But you have to be kidding me, You know um I don't mean he's not overly coddled 283 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:29.620 and unfortunately these stories that we hear, although anecdotal are not 284 00:19:29.620 --> 00:19:32.390 onesies and twosies, there's an overwhelming number of these stories 285 00:19:32.390 --> 00:19:37.160 that we hear. I've heard stories of parents who call employers and follow 286 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:41.740 are following up on the on the job interview for their kids, you know, and 287 00:19:41.740 --> 00:19:46.910 it goes on. So I think to some degree these kids are subject have been 288 00:19:46.910 --> 00:19:51.260 subjected to parenting techniques and strategies that may not benefit them as 289 00:19:51.260 --> 00:19:55.430 adults. And it's starting to show up now that they're in the workforce. The 290 00:19:55.430 --> 00:19:59.280 thing that I pulled away. I mean that that I love so much about what you said 291 00:19:59.290 --> 00:20:04.590 is Yeah, that's the reality and we can either complain about it Or we can 292 00:20:04.590 --> 00:20:08.560 adjust our our leadership to adjust to it and to help. I'm tired of hearing 293 00:20:08.560 --> 00:20:11.520 people complain about millennials and at the end of the day have a little 294 00:20:11.520 --> 00:20:14.760 empathy for how they grew up and at the end of the day, companies have to 295 00:20:14.760 --> 00:20:19.320 adjust the way they do business. It's 100% true. Which is if we have a more 296 00:20:19.320 --> 00:20:26.410 insecure or impatient or technology addicted group of people working for us 297 00:20:26.420 --> 00:20:30.110 whether we like it or not, those are our employees and that extends beyond 298 00:20:30.110 --> 00:20:34.050 the one generation by the way. But we have a responsibility to build work 299 00:20:34.050 --> 00:20:38.010 environments in which they can learn patients, they can learn how to build 300 00:20:38.020 --> 00:20:41.830 strong lasting relationships where we teach them and help them build their 301 00:20:41.830 --> 00:20:45.670 self confidence. We have no choice. But unfortunately, too many companies are 302 00:20:45.670 --> 00:20:49.220 built on theories. Leftovers from the eighties and nineties where you do rank 303 00:20:49.220 --> 00:20:54.290 and yank and we have annual layoffs to balance the books. We use human beings 304 00:20:54.290 --> 00:20:57.710 to balance books. In other words, we're asking people to work in environments 305 00:20:57.710 --> 00:21:00.590 where they don't feel safe and they don't feel like they can be themselves 306 00:21:00.600 --> 00:21:04.210 and they don't feel like they can ask for help and then we complain that 307 00:21:04.220 --> 00:21:07.720 their narcissistic and entitled, I think it's a bit of a backwards logic. 308 00:21:07.730 --> 00:21:11.930 What has been the biggest or maybe a surprising response that you've heard 309 00:21:11.930 --> 00:21:16.860 Simon since obviously this video hit so big. What's the pushback been? Or you 310 00:21:16.860 --> 00:21:19.620 know, just been a lot of folks praising it. What's, what's that been like? 311 00:21:19.630 --> 00:21:22.370 Overall people have been very complimentary, which is nice. The 312 00:21:22.380 --> 00:21:27.910 pushback has come in sort of two distinct buckets. one is from older 313 00:21:27.910 --> 00:21:32.180 people who think that I'm letting millennials off the hook and saying 314 00:21:32.180 --> 00:21:36.310 they have to take responsibility for themselves and that's not what I said. 315 00:21:36.320 --> 00:21:38.840 Of course they take responsibility for themselves. What I'm saying is have a 316 00:21:38.840 --> 00:21:42.080 little empathy for the situation that they're in and maybe we can help them 317 00:21:42.080 --> 00:21:46.790 out. You know, uh you know, people got some people that really irate when I 318 00:21:46.800 --> 00:21:48.980 said that it's a company's responsibility. Well, who else is 319 00:21:48.980 --> 00:21:52.580 responsibilities? I mean it's your company. I mean that's and their point 320 00:21:52.580 --> 00:21:55.560 is they have to fix themselves and that's like just telling an alcoholic 321 00:21:55.570 --> 00:22:00.060 you do it. You know, it's like you get over your alcoholism. It's like, well, 322 00:22:00.070 --> 00:22:05.550 yes, that's true. But how about some help, You know, that's why we have 323 00:22:05.550 --> 00:22:08.770 organizations like alcoholics anonymous because it's too hard to do alone. 324 00:22:08.780 --> 00:22:12.670 That's why we ask for help. So that's the point there. And the other bucket 325 00:22:12.680 --> 00:22:18.080 of criticism I get is from some millennials who get very upset when I 326 00:22:18.080 --> 00:22:22.760 do air quotes around impact. And my point there was that millennials say 327 00:22:22.760 --> 00:22:25.050 they won't have an impact, but they're not specific about the kind of impact 328 00:22:25.050 --> 00:22:28.170 that would happen if they don't know and you kind of have to know the impact 329 00:22:28.170 --> 00:22:30.970 you want to have in the world, right? Do you want to, you want to fix the 330 00:22:30.970 --> 00:22:34.170 migration patterns of european swallows? Is that the impact you want to have? 331 00:22:34.180 --> 00:22:38.770 You know, is it environmental, is it poverty? Is it is it happiness is a joy. 332 00:22:38.770 --> 00:22:42.690 Like what impact in the world you want to kind of every impact and not every 333 00:22:42.690 --> 00:22:46.030 impact will inspire you. Some people are inspired by saving polar bears and 334 00:22:46.030 --> 00:22:51.160 some people aren't, you know, and so it's the generic have impact that that 335 00:22:51.160 --> 00:22:55.520 is not helpful. But overall the thing that I'm most excited about is the 336 00:22:55.520 --> 00:23:00.420 number of millennials and parents of millennials who really took what I said 337 00:23:00.420 --> 00:23:05.570 to heart and it helped them feel that it wasn't them. Lots of millennials 338 00:23:05.570 --> 00:23:09.620 have written to us and come to me and said thank you, I thought it was me, 339 00:23:09.630 --> 00:23:13.540 thank you. I thought I was the one, I thought I was insecure and I was 340 00:23:13.540 --> 00:23:17.520 struggling and I didn't and I thought it was me and it's a huge weight off 341 00:23:17.520 --> 00:23:21.240 their back that allows them to now ask for help and address the challenge, 342 00:23:21.250 --> 00:23:26.190 which is which is huge. Which is huge. You know, and I keep hearing, you know, 343 00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:30.170 unfortunately suicide is on the rise amongst this young generation and I've 344 00:23:30.170 --> 00:23:35.780 had 33 experiences of suicides around me from just a few days ago, the son of 345 00:23:35.780 --> 00:23:40.170 a close friend of one of our colleagues, somebody on our team committed suicide. 346 00:23:40.180 --> 00:23:44.200 And I've heard I've heard this unfortunately too many times, which is 347 00:23:44.210 --> 00:23:48.650 nobody saw it coming. They thought he was a happy kid. Everything on his 348 00:23:48.650 --> 00:23:51.580 social media made him look happy. He presented himself as happy that 349 00:23:51.590 --> 00:23:56.870 literally no one saw any signs and then he killed himself. And I've heard that 350 00:23:56.870 --> 00:24:00.530 multiple times. I've heard that multiple times that it's happening with 351 00:24:00.530 --> 00:24:04.560 people that you just were not expecting it. And the point is this is a Snapchat, 352 00:24:04.560 --> 00:24:09.050 instagram world of a generation that's really good at filtering and curating 353 00:24:09.050 --> 00:24:15.520 the way they want to be seen and so we cannot get away with simply saying, you 354 00:24:15.520 --> 00:24:20.530 know, anyway, I'm really proud that this group of the people who resonated 355 00:24:20.530 --> 00:24:23.840 with the millennia that resonated with feel that they can now speak up and say 356 00:24:23.840 --> 00:24:27.060 I'm struggling or I need help. They're not compartmentalizing it and hiding it. 357 00:24:27.070 --> 00:24:32.700 I'm really, I'm inspired by that. Yeah, it seems like you look at that problem 358 00:24:32.710 --> 00:24:39.260 of corporate cultures not adapting to or being empathetic and it seems like 359 00:24:39.270 --> 00:24:43.810 for the leaders listening to this seems like it could very easily be taken as 360 00:24:43.820 --> 00:24:47.050 well. That's that's not something you know, I can really have an impact on 361 00:24:47.050 --> 00:24:51.550 but I think it absolutely can be in the teams that you're leading. Maybe you're 362 00:24:51.550 --> 00:24:55.480 not in a position to shape the entire culture of the entire organization, 363 00:24:55.490 --> 00:24:59.390 maybe you're not the ceo but in the team that you're leading with the 364 00:24:59.390 --> 00:25:02.470 millennials that you are that you're leading, you can have empathy for the 365 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:07.480 10 15 20 folks that you're leading and I think the results of of what that 366 00:25:07.480 --> 00:25:11.560 empathy is gonna bring will bring results that other folks leading teams 367 00:25:11.560 --> 00:25:14.360 will want to see and they're gonna start asking you, what the heck are you 368 00:25:14.360 --> 00:25:17.900 doing? Like how are you getting results from this? You know, group of folks 369 00:25:17.900 --> 00:25:23.090 that a group of quote unquote kids that they're not seeing results from. So I 370 00:25:23.090 --> 00:25:25.790 loved that video. If you're listening to this and you have not already 371 00:25:25.790 --> 00:25:30.480 watched millennials in the workplace, make sure to do that. Also go pick up 372 00:25:30.490 --> 00:25:34.080 together is better. You can buy it anywhere. Books are sold seriously. I 373 00:25:34.080 --> 00:25:37.960 wanted to tweet every single page in this book. You are going to love it. 374 00:25:38.040 --> 00:25:41.330 Simon if there's someone listening and they want to stay connected with all 375 00:25:41.330 --> 00:25:44.890 the things that you've got going on, where's the best place for them to do 376 00:25:44.890 --> 00:25:50.110 that. I mean all the usual places, you know, twitter instagram facebook 377 00:25:50.120 --> 00:25:54.390 linkedin, you know, wherever you like to get your fix love, it's all the 378 00:25:54.390 --> 00:25:58.080 usual places has been fantastic. I've really enjoyed this conversation and 379 00:25:58.090 --> 00:26:01.930 kind of just giving light to, to your book and the heartbeat behind it. I 380 00:26:01.930 --> 00:26:06.240 think it's going to, to use your air quotes around impact. I think it's 381 00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:10.120 actually going to impact a ton of leaders. So I really appreciate you 382 00:26:10.120 --> 00:26:13.190 writing it and I appreciate your time this morning. Thanks James, I really 383 00:26:13.190 --> 00:26:21.030 appreciate it. I love the wide ranging variety that happens in this 384 00:26:21.030 --> 00:26:26.080 conversation. There's so many different avenues that James and Simon go down 385 00:26:26.080 --> 00:26:31.410 here. One of the main takeaways that I found from this episode is this idea 386 00:26:31.410 --> 00:26:35.980 that Simon still views himself, even though many would look at him as an 387 00:26:35.990 --> 00:26:40.350 expert, he still views himself as a student, not a teacher now, he said I 388 00:26:40.350 --> 00:26:44.630 might be down the road a little bit in my journey right in my area of 389 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:49.570 expertise, but I still view myself as a student. I'm still studying my content 390 00:26:49.580 --> 00:26:56.210 and for us we need to take on that mentality as leaders in our space is if 391 00:26:56.210 --> 00:27:00.360 we can be students were going to be far better off and it positions us to take, 392 00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:05.010 continue to learn And to continue to grow and evolve and that's always 393 00:27:05.010 --> 00:27:09.110 needed. So hey, thanks for listening to this episode of B2B growth. If you're 394 00:27:09.110 --> 00:27:13.610 not yet subscribed, please do so on whatever platform you prefer and that 395 00:27:13.610 --> 00:27:17.250 way you'll never miss the content that we're putting out. We have so much 396 00:27:17.250 --> 00:27:22.040 coming up in 2022 and we can't wait to share all of it with you. In the 397 00:27:22.040 --> 00:27:25.770 meantime, I'd love to connect with you. You can connect with me on linkedin. 398 00:27:25.770 --> 00:27:31.700 Just search Benji block and we'll talk again soon. Remember keep doing the 399 00:27:31.700 --> 00:27:32.960 work that matters. 400 00:27:35.840 --> 00:27:39.800 Is the decision maker for your product or service at BBB marketer, Are you 401 00:27:39.800 --> 00:27:43.970 looking to reach those buyers through the medium of podcasting? Consider 402 00:27:43.970 --> 00:27:49.220 becoming a co host of GDP growth. This show is consistently ranked as a top 403 00:27:49.220 --> 00:27:53.370 100 podcast in the marketing category of Apple podcasts and the show gets 404 00:27:53.370 --> 00:27:58.950 more than 130,000 downloads each month. We've already done the work of building 405 00:27:58.950 --> 00:28:02.980 the audience so you can focus on delivering incredible content to our 406 00:28:02.980 --> 00:28:08.860 listeners if you're interested, email Logan at sweet fish Media dot com.