Latest / Real STRength with Sarah Draper / Leading with Trust, Accountability, and Purpose with Steve Speakes | #27
Transcript
- speaker-0: Trust coupled with accountability and growth ⁓ takes time. Right now, I don't do it anymore. They do it. Leadership is a seven day a week responsibility in my view. Lord how they're trying. speaker-1: Thank you. Lord, how they're trying and grace and dignity. Welcome to the Real Strength Podcast, where we explore stories of resilience, performance, creating joy, and finding meaning in life. I'm your host, Sarah Draper, and I'm so glad you're here. This is Real Strength. Welcome to the Real Strength Podcast, where we explore stories of resilience, performance, creating joy, and finding meaning in life. I'm your host, Sarah Draper, and I'm so glad you're here. Today I'm joined by retired Army three-star general Steve Speaks. Steve spent 35 years in uniform, culminating as the Army's Deputy Chief of Software Programs, where he was responsible for our $140 billion annual strategic plan. He commanded in combat during the initial invasion of Iraq. And later served as deputy commander for support of army forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. And after retiring, he led Enterprise Strategy and Transformation at USAA, a Fortune 150 financial services company serving 9 million military members and their families. And for the last 13 years, Steve's been the president and CEO of IRTC, a Texas-based defense manufacturer whose flagship vehicle handles 80% of US military containers in expeditionary environments worldwide. The company started as a government contractor and has now expanded into the commercial space. I had the pleasure of meeting Steve and his company a couple of years ago, and I was beyond impressed with his leadership, his people, and their absolute commitment to their product and each other. So, Steve, welcome to the podcast. speaker-0: Well thank you very much, Sarah. It's a real pleasure to be here. speaker-1: I'm so grateful to get to talk with you again. ⁓ you were big impact on my life and my career when I was beginning to transition from the FBI into the civilian world. And one of the things I just want to highlight is you shared, and this is about who you are, your humility, your growth, your learning. You shared a book with me that you wrote about your own journey from hero to zero and back. And that was really valuable for me at that transition point. ⁓ so I just want to give you a thank you for for not just sharing that with me, but for sharing that with the world, right? And that's this idea of we are constantly learning. We're creating we're learning whether we're planning to or trying to or not, but really being intentional about that and and reflective is so valuable. speaker-0: Well thanks. It's a real pleasure to be back with you, Sarah. speaker-1: Well, thank you. Okay, so 52 years, your entire career, your entire career, and just went through the bio, has been about leading with flexibility and agility in uncertainty. And from from the army days all the way through to what you're doing now. What are some of the big things you've learned along the way? speaker-0: There's been a lot of learning. Yeah. And ⁓ I often chuckle that if I were learning these lessons as a young person, I could chalk them up to hard one lessons and say I'll apply it in the future. Now in my seventies it's kinda hard to say that ⁓ I'm learning a little late in life in some cases, but I guess perpetual learning is what we're all about. So in that spirit, ⁓ what I'd observe is my time as a small businessman, which as you mentioned has been thirteen years, it's been some of the most humbling and most extraordinary of my entire life. Why do I say that? Yes, being in the military was fantastic, and ⁓ I loved the men and women that I served with. ⁓ but I find the same devotion to the men and women I work with now in a small business. It's a manufacturing business. Richy, tough, ⁓ really wonderful people doing the Lord's work every day, doing their level best to make great equipment. But what I find is In the army I had an enormous machine that was supporting me and enabling me. It was it my many respects a a easier lot because I had so much power at my disposal, so much in the way of resources. Now what I find is is a small business, my tether is very small. The room for mistakes without con consequence is very small. So the importance of good decision making is even greater in my view. And how do I say that or why do I say that? Right now we have ninety-seven employees. ⁓ I know them, many of them very well. I know their families, I know their careers, I know their struggles. And the fact that my failures as a leader would cause them to lose their employment and to impact their families is very, very touching. ⁓ every year we have ⁓ something that's really incredible. It's an employee open house. Our machine, as you know, is enormous. Tires are seven feet tall. ⁓ the rough terrain container handler dwarfs anything alongside of it. And ⁓ we bring in employees and their families and their grandparents and their children, and they all clamber on the machine. The popular thing is to get a ride in the machine. And I watch as these families share stories about what they do and how they work on this and what they contribute. And the thought then that My failures to acquire a customer, to maintain a customer, to find a new opportunity to sell our machine would cause them to be unemployed is a driving factor. It's the fear of failure. ⁓ the other thing that I think is so important is ⁓ anybody here can walk any day they wish for whatever reason. In other words, in the military, as we know, we serve periods that we are committed to that particular organization. In the commercial world. This is a vibrant commercial environment here in San Antonio. If you don't have the right operating environment, your employees will quickly vote with their feet. That is a motivating factor. So the consequence is that you find that people stay and they enjoy their employment if you provide a positive and progressive environment. So for example, we talk in the military about decentralized leadership. In U factory you think of people who operate by whistles and by things that are called tack times and things like that that regulate human behavior. In our case, everything is a two or three person team that makes decisions about how they're going to go about the task and and they're accountable for the results of that. But nobody is is standing over them ⁓ doing some form of regimented direction. It is independent, it is decentralized, and it relies on them to make choices. about quality and performance and everything else. So it's a really exciting world to live and work in. And then the other side of it is the constant pursuit of customers. Who could a new customer be for what is admittedly a very much a niche machine? For example, we have three of our machines in Antarctica right now. When I came to this company we had never been there. Now we're there. ⁓ and you know we were really excited when the first machine went and then there was so much customer satisfaction. That we found that each nation that has a station down in Antarctica wanted one of our machines. A great affirmation. Unfortunately, that's kind of the market cap right now down there. But another example of a place that we're working is Papua New Guinea. ⁓ it I had to think back to my MacArthur campaign of World War II to remember it was north of Australia somewhere. Sure enough, it is a very rugged ⁓ tropical island. And our machine does extremely well, but you're talking about very demanding environments. We had to make a host of modifications to that machine to make it effective. And we had to do it in six weeks for the first order. So this was truly engineers working alongside technicians assembling the machine, adding new warning systems, adding new lighting systems, adding new starting mechanisms, all of it to accommodate people who had no toleration for not meeting their timeline and not meeting their particular customer expectations. So you can sense from what I'm discussing that the excitement of being a part of a small business based leadership is very palpable. It's extraordinary. And the feeling that we're working together to satisfy unique customers is very, very enriching. When you do well, it's fantastic. When you get the customer complaint on the far end of the universe that something you pride yourself in doing didn't work right, then it's very, very humbling. ⁓ and the consequences financially if you fail are very severe. Try doing warranty work on the other side of the world. ⁓ on a machine that only you can work on. So this is an extraordinary leadership environment, ⁓ one where I find that we're so proud of our retention of our people. The people who lead our company right now started on the shop floor generally about fifteen, thirteen, twelve years ago. So I have watched them from high school graduates now to positions where they're leading, in the case of, for example, our head of production, he's leading a group about twenty five production technicians. The person who is leading our supply chain has been with us for nineteen years and has worked our way up. ⁓ so he's done incredible things. The person who runs our customer solutions team, same thing. S came here, went through night school, university, working here, and at the same time now is our customer conduit. So these are all examples of leadership and the opportunity to grow and develop, but all done under considerable pressure. And the realization that failure is not acceptable because your company doesn't have much operating tether. You can't go through weeks or months of failure where you fail to produce something or provide something and have somebody give you another million dollars and say, It's okay, Steve, another million and and you know, keep at it, buddy, and I know you'll learn one of these days. It doesn't work that way. speaker-1: Yeah, there's there's so much pride in your voice that I can hear ⁓ for your people, for your work, for your product. Also that culture you've created. I mean, I love I was there two and a half years ago. I can't believe it's been that long. And when we were talking before we started here, it sounds like everyone is still there. I mean, that is extraordinary. That the same people are there and they're growing, as you pointed out, into those leadership roles, it speaks to that culture, big, I believe big, also to your hiring, also to the challenges, but that culture has it always been that powerful and strong? Again, you've been there 13 years, which is substantial. Has it been so supportive at that collective unity? Or is that something that you had to help cultivate? speaker-0: One has to be very careful when you talk about something to attribute ⁓ success to the real source of it. The truth is it has not always been that way. When the company was originally founded here in Cibolo out on the outskirts of San Antonio, they had an immediate mission, a government contract and the requirement to go to high production levels immediately. ⁓ they employed I as near as I could tell, very directive methods to get things done. They had to. ⁓ Those methods don't necessarily grow a sense of personal accountability or develop leaders at the more junior level. I came to the company ⁓ when the initial boom contract was over and we had to essentially redefine the company, its value proposition, and redefine the leaders and the principles we'd operate in. It's taken a long time. ⁓ building trust and and reinforcing the concept of of trust coupled with accountability and growth ⁓ takes time. And so as I mentioned, these these young people ⁓ who were on the production floor ten years ago, fifteen years ago, who are now seasoned leaders, they kid one another. They're in their thirties. So it's not as though they're really old, but they all kid one another about the gray that is is is creeping into their hairline. ⁓ I chuckle. But you know, that's that's the point, is they have grown and matured and it's taken time and there have been underwriting lessons of things that we didn't do right that you just have to learn by doing. I think You know, as young officers we learned as lieutenants that very often we made mistakes, but somebody underwrote those mistakes. There may have been a little personal pain involved in learning the lesson, but you were still around to go the next day. The same principles apply here. ⁓ you you can't you can't have much failure in the eyes of a customer who's just bought a one point six million dollar machine, but you have to be cognizant that your systems have got to catch it before it's too late and you can then underwrite the correction. So I think that We have to create culture over time. And the other thing that I found is that people s oftentimes talk about firing people. What I found is that's not really typically necessary. What I think is people who are comfortable in a world of empowerment coupled with responsibility will stay. People who are not will leave. And I think that's something very interesting. Somebody who's not comfortable being a sharing leader, a collaborative leader, when they're put in that environment ⁓ they find themselves very, very uncomfortable and will usually seek they would probably think higher ground. And and from my standpoint, I understand it and we just continue to move. We're looking for somebody who embraces the leadership that we aspire to find. speaker-1: Amazing. So thank you. That empowerment and responsibility. That's a that's a leadership culture that you offer, that you create for the people and those who that resonates with them, that speaks to them. They get that opportunity to grow with the company and continue to innovate. speaker-0: Sarah, that is really good. And I just I apologize for interrupting you, but the point is right now, I don't do it anymore. They do it. I delay stories where they come to me and say, Steve, I just ran into this here and I found this going on, and here's what I've done. And I just listen to myself and think, ⁓ wow, that is so cool. I'm so glad. You know, I don't need to do anything. You've done that person you know understands accountability. That won't happen again. And And most importantly, you discerned it because you were out as an active leader observing and seeing what was happening. And then the action you took to bring that person online with what our standard is was just fantastic. And you know, it and it's interesting because I also find that other issues that our that our society deals with seem to be less. And I'll talk about a sensitive one. We have a very much a a multicultural environment, as you saw. ⁓ and and you know, San Antonio is gifted with a variety of cultures that all call it home. And what I have observed is if you have that kind of a culture, people feel respected and comfortable, and you don't have to make a big deal out of what your policies are with respect to inclusion or diversity or whatever it might be. It just happens. And I think that's very important because people need to feel respected and they need to feel that there is a a room for diverse kinds of talent and diverse kinds of energy and diverse ways of expressing ⁓ themselves and their their self gratification in what they do. speaker-1: That's fantastic. Thank you for for ex you know, kind of sharing that from the heart because that creates that culture of trust that creates helps lead to that that welcoming spirit and sense and and and that appreciation for different perspectives that people can bring leads to a number of things. One is is what you just shared about that willingness to bring things forward, right? Other than rather than hiding something or trying to fix it, bringing it forward with an openness about how can we fix it, how can we adjust, how can we how what do we need? Do we need to do something? We might not need to, it might have just been a mistake, whatever that is, that following conversation, but that confidence that's a person and their leader or their team has to bring something forward and that sense of psychological safety there. Also makes me think of innovation. Right. Bringing new different ideas. Like everyone I s what I witness, I will ask you, I witness is people feel absolutely empowered. And you talked about this culture of empowerment and responsibility, but people feel absolutely empowered to bring their best ideas to work. speaker-0: So important ⁓ in as a small independent company, if you think that the product you produced when you became independent, in our case it was 2018, is satisfactory today, you're of course grossly wrong. ⁓ part of our strength is reaching out and establish partnerships with other organizations. For example, we're partnered with our former parent organization, who's a global firm. And although it's a very unequal partnership in terms of size, what we find is that there's a great deal of sharing that goes on, which is wonderful. It keeps us in in line with evolving technology. But the other thing that we are very proud of is that employees are seeking their own way to innovate and to grow. And the secret there is to give them tools and capabilities. We had a ⁓ a man who is incredible, he's still with us and growing every day. His initial job was to be our publisher of our manuals, which is a big task when you're producing a manual on commercial or military level within your company. You know, four hundred pages of very dense technical stuff that you have to stand in mind. But the other thing we realized is he was a incredible computer programmer in a variety of languages. And so now when you go out into our shop floor, if you look at the way we've auto pa automated the ability, for example, of a technician to order a part. call for quality help or something. He's written the software to do that and it's all on an iPad. That's an example of where we can achieve speed and efficiency that others may not have thought about and may not necessarily even value. We do, and we can see the value in it not having to run around and chase employees who have problems. They're solving their own problems or bringing attention to the particular issue they need. It's a quality guy, it's an engineer they need. It's a part, it's it's a technical assessment. And the ability to move with speed and precision is so important. I use that as an example of an employee generated process that has taken us to new levels. And so I think finding the talent, nurturing it. In this case, we realized this gentleman who is an incredible publisher, he's got talent way beyond that. And so we redirected and restructured his job environment where essentially people come to him with ideas and then he will write the code and come to him and say, What do you think? Will this work for you? And and so it's really cool. The point is I don't do any of that. The employees are doing that at the working level. And and if you can find that magic, you know, it didn't happen by magic. He's been doing this for maybe six years now, and I've been here for thirteen. So we haven't always had it, but it was the luck to see this guy and say, ⁓ my golly, this guy's got an incredible talent to innovate and an incredible ability to to collaborate. And that was the magic of putting him in that position then. Wasn't my idea of somebody else's and I said, ⁓ that's a great idea. speaker-1: that flexibility and agility there with not just your product and your processes, but you're actually your people. Probably the most important thing. You've got that talent right there where you need it. And you identified it for some reason, maybe that was a magic how that came out. I don't know, you know, but like when that came out, then being able to help that person maximize ⁓ their potential in in that sense. That's a that's great. Thank you. ⁓ speaker-0: Yes. speaker-1: Thank you for for giving that example. I I was just I saw something on LinkedIn the other day about I I think it was at Home Depot and one employee who started out probably as a sales clerk and she's got 40 years history and her entire LinkedIn profile is one role after another. And she's like a senior VP or an exo or something senior in the company now. And I and and all these people are talking about like, wow, like you've got the talent in your organization. What are you doing to nurture that and then helping them find that success? speaker-0: Yeah. Exactly. speaker-1: And so you've got some amazing culture. You've got some incredible people that you've hired, you've nurtured, you've let them innovate. Now they're the ones that are doing this. They're the ones that are bringing these ideas forward. Still for you as a person deeply conscientious and deeply caring, 13 years as you've invested into this, but also before this, when you look at like your legacy. Can't even do that quick math. 37 years before that, 36, whatever it is, leading up to that, your entire career in similar environments, these high-stakes environments where you care so deeply about the people you lead. What do you do to take care of yourself to be in your best place to show up for them? speaker-0: That's a very interesting question. ⁓ my wife might have ⁓ less than ⁓ approving words about that. ⁓ What I mean by that is that if leadership is a seven day a week responsibility in my view. I I never leave it far behind. Yeah. And I make no apologies for that. In other words, that's my life. It's my joy and fulfillment. When you're in your mid seventies still working ten hour days, there's still something wrong with you. And it also defines your life. And and and you know, somebody in in the company once was talking about me and said, Steve, his postponed his retirement to work with us. I realize it's true. I have this idea that it's additive, that when I once I retire, I'll kind of magically be sixty five again and I can get a recap. It's not true. You know, I will retire up when I retire and my life will be limited by that by some factor. So the point then is what do you do? I think the first thing you have to do is find some way of sustaining Your enthusiasm and excitement with life. In my case, when I come in every morning and I walk the factory floor, I'm energized. I love it. I I do I could not imagine ⁓ going to the golf course, you know, in is my definition of life. It just wouldn't work. To me problem solving and it's the excitement of interacting with people, talking about them. speaker-1: Yeah. That's genuine. speaker-0: You know, ⁓ what's the latest in your family, you know, all that kind of stuff. That's what excites me. So that's the first thing, which is I still find excitement every day, in fact, as much as I ever did. The other thing is taking care of your body and your spirit. ⁓ at five o'clock every morning, I'm in the gym. That's you know, sustained from the army. I love it. It's my period of relaxation and fulfillment and thinking about the day ahead. And then I have an hour drive to work. And and so during that time I'm essentially honing my thoughts about where my day's activities will be focused, who I'll be interacting with, what messages I need to write. The point is here, if you love it and you enjoy it, then do it. And then and then your body will hopefully ⁓ sustain you. And and I do not make any apologies. I recognize genealogy has a role. If you're lucky, good. And if you're not, then do your best. But I do think that passion and fulfillment have to work together to sustain you and whatever your later years become, it's your choice. I I'm I was making a comment about golf for those that enjoy the fellowship of a golf force and the enjoyment of being out. I think that's wonderful. That's you, it's just not me. speaker-1: Yeah, I ⁓ I was saying like that's so genuine because I remember when we first connected, the first thing you sent me was a selfie of you on the floor. You're like this huge smile, like that is genuine. You had just gotten to work, you're so happy, you're like, this is the place. I'm like, that is amazing. Right. And so and then you so you've got that genuine joy in in what you do and your people. ⁓ You also take care of your body, right? It's like I love that you're still doing that at five o'clock every morning. ⁓ you're getting up, you're doing that, you're spending that mental time preparing for the day as you're driving. You mentioned taking care of your spirit, ⁓ your relationships with your your family. ⁓ you've got grandkids, you've got multiple grandkids, you've got children that that you keep those relationships strong. Have you always been like this? Or did something ever have you ever had a shift or transition where you've kind of found the necessity or importance of these things? speaker-0: It's ⁓ Sarah, that's a great question. In general terms, I've kind of always been this way. But in other words, I love life. I remember when I got to be a lieutenant and got in the tank and I was going downrange, I thought, ⁓ my God, this is just my new life. I love tankers, but I love the whole thing. But I will be honest. ⁓ there's one moment I was a major. ⁓ I was regimental S three. I was responsible for a lot. regiment at the time was about four thousand soldiers, and you were responsible for its integration and operation. ⁓ The legacy I think up until that time that I'd experienced was a great deal of abusive leaders. ⁓ or leaders that were ⁓ very good at casting blame on others. ⁓ I will spare you the long story, but this was a very pivotal moment when we were on operations over in Europe and had an annual exercise and we had a requirement for the entire regiment to be doing something at eight thirty. L D, you must cross the line of departure. Every other unit in Europe did. We didn't. Normally that'd be almost grounds for relief. It I mean it that it it it's it was a serious ⁓ moment. The the problem was there was a young soldier who was what we call keying the air, so we couldn't give the order out. He was dominating the airwaves with his transmitter. Okay. And we could hear him talk and we couldn't find out where he was and we couldn't shut him up. I know. And and of course I was running around trying to figure out how to identify this person so we could get his radio turned off. It didn't work. And ⁓ My boss at the time, who was an incredible man, long since left us, took a drag on his cigarette, and he looked at me and he smiled. And he said, Lord how they're trying. And he was talking this guy was trying really hard to do something. That's what we were hearing over the air. He was trying to fix something. And his point to me was, Steve, yeah, it's messing us up. But he's just he's just trying to do his job. He didn't realize his microphone was keyed. Lord how they're trying. And his point to me was don't assume this guy is trying to mess with your unit and is destroying our moment. He's just doing the best he can, working really hard, and our job is to put up with it and just work through it. So we did. We were the only unit that day that was twenty minutes late getting started. It was about a one second note in the after action review review that day. And ⁓ by the way, at the end of the day, we'd been the unit that had gotten all the way to the objective and quote won the war that day. So the point is that we were Twenty minutes late mattered not. And I also thought instead of throwing microphones and cursing and screaming, which was very often the ethic of people that era, he just smiled, took another drag on that cigarette, and s and just let me work it. And ⁓ it was a great moment for me and it told me something about how to react in periods of adversity that has never left me. So in terms of a seminal experience, that was really it for me, because like all leaders at that time. there was kind of an ethic that if you were really excited and you really showed that you cared, often in abusive ways, that it was kinda okay. And and I thought how humbling it was to see somebody who had grace and dignity and and a sense of the deep commitment of his people to do the right thing. He wasn't blaming him. He was just appreciating that things were were not going quite right. And and he had a perspective that was very, very revolutionary for me. speaker-1: Thank you. Lord how they're trying. Grace and dignity and assuming the best from that soldier who was trying to do something, wasn't even aware of what was happening as a result. Lord how they're trying. That's wonderful. Thank you for sharing that story. And thank you for sharing your time with us today. It far beyond your time with us today. I mean, we just got this like masterclass in leadership wisdom. ⁓ appreciate all your decades of service, truly most of it, if not all, for the military through through Westboarding the Army into your Army career and then USAA and that supports and and now what you do to continue to support military and now commercial uses worldwide. You have done the same thing, right? And how fortunate that you encountered that person that could help you put words to this. this sense, I think about you, right? This this dignity and respect for others and the joy that you that you find in everyday life. So thank you so much for for being on this show, for sharing so openly and honestly with us all. ⁓ and so, so, so, so grateful. speaker-0: Well it's my my privilege, Sarah. I admire you immensely. I think your advocacy for human self improvement and growth and self awareness ⁓ is really, really important. And I certainly am struggling with self awareness this very day. So thank you. And I I hope I go forward a little bit wiser and a little bit more humble. speaker-1: Well, I know I will. Thank you. And to everyone listening, please remember your leadership strength isn't about knowing everything or having everything figured out. It's about being aware of how you're showing up, who you're becoming, why it all matters, the impact you're having on others. ⁓ as Steve's shown us today, to creating those cultures where innovation is the norm and others can be their best every single day. ⁓ I just what a beautiful lesson and example. So again, thank you for being here. I'm Sarah Draper and keep building the life you're working for with real strength. speaker-0: Thank you, Sarah. speaker-1: Thank you.