Latest / Built for Chaos / Ep 2 — Army Leadership Lessons

Transcript

Ep 2 — Army Leadership Lessons · Built for Chaos

0:01
Speaker 1: Good evening. My name is Brian Weatherby. Welcome to the
0:05
Speaker 1: second episode of Built for Chaos, the podcast that deals
0:10
Speaker 1: with things you're going to deal with in everyday life,
0:14
Speaker 1: things that you're going to address head on and you're
0:16
Speaker 1: going to learn to deal with them and you're going
0:18
Speaker 1: to be able to make it through. This episode is
0:21
Speaker 1: dealing with Army leadership lessons. We'll talk about a number
0:25
Speaker 1: of things in this episode, but that's mainly the main topic.
0:30
Speaker 1: Basically starting off, nobody cares about your title when everything's
0:35
Speaker 1: on fire. I can assure you that. I also want
0:38
Speaker 1: to say that that old man or that old lady
0:42
Speaker 1: that's walking around town with the veterans hat on, the
0:46
Speaker 1: World War II vet or the Vietnam veteran hat, any
0:50
Speaker 1: type of campaign war hat, let me tell you something,
0:54
Speaker 1: they're more badass than you'll ever be. And the reason
0:57
Speaker 1: I say that is because They've been through battle. They
1:01
Speaker 1: understand what it takes to survive. They understand what it
1:05
Speaker 1: takes to lead people into battle. They know the uncertainty
1:09
Speaker 1: that these people are going to face on a daily basis,
1:11
Speaker 1: and every decision is made. They have to stand by
1:13
Speaker 1: it because everybody that they have in battle is following them,
1:16
Speaker 1: and they're relying on them to get them home safely.
1:19
Speaker 1: I can tell you I've been there, done that, got
1:21
Speaker 1: the T-shirt. And by no way, shape, or form am
1:24
Speaker 1: I bragging about that, but I'm going to tell you
1:26
Speaker 1: right now, Those are the things that prepare you for
1:28
Speaker 1: taking on leadership positions in the civilian sector. A lot
1:33
Speaker 1: of times you'll take jobs that people, there's no reason
1:37
Speaker 1: to be threatened by anybody, but for some reason they
1:39
Speaker 1: feel threatened because you know more than they do or
1:42
Speaker 1: they think you know more than they do or some
1:44
Speaker 1: of the things you've been through. Some of the things
1:47
Speaker 1: they look at on your resume or they know about
1:49
Speaker 1: your resume as far as you being in the military
1:52
Speaker 1: and the things you've seen, the adversity you faced head
1:54
Speaker 1: on and made it through. It's a threat to them,
1:59
Speaker 1: which is ridiculous because if you're on that team and
2:02
Speaker 1: you're an asset to that team, you're an asset to
2:05
Speaker 1: everybody on that team. You're helping them as they're helping you.
2:09
Speaker 1: You're learning from them as they're learning from you. So
2:12
Speaker 1: like I said, nobody cares about your title when everything's
2:14
Speaker 1: on fire. I learned in the Army that, and I
2:18
Speaker 1: relearned every week, running in a leadership position in the
2:23
Speaker 1: chemical plant, leadership isn't the rank. What you carry on
2:27
Speaker 1: your chest. The word manager in your email signature doesn't
2:31
Speaker 1: mean anything. It's what you do when the pressure's on.
2:35
Speaker 1: What these people see on a daily basis, how you
2:37
Speaker 1: handle things, how calm you are, how you remain calm
2:39
Speaker 1: under pressure. The information is bad and everybody's watching to
2:43
Speaker 1: see if you'll flinch. Trust me, your employees or the
2:48
Speaker 1: people you work with are watching your every move. Yes,
2:52
Speaker 1: you're the manager. You're supposed to watch what they're doing
2:54
Speaker 1: and making sure everything runs smoothly. but I can assure
2:56
Speaker 1: you they're watching you more than you'll ever watch them.
3:02
Speaker 1: As stated, I'm Brian Weatherby. This is Built for Chaos. Today,
3:06
Speaker 1: the leadership lessons 21 years in the Army burned into
3:10
Speaker 1: me and how I run my operation when I'm at
3:14
Speaker 1: work and how I do it right now. And if
3:17
Speaker 1: you're a veteran listening, these are your lessons too, meaning
3:22
Speaker 1: your experiences. As we, uh, Progress the show and we
3:27
Speaker 1: get deeper into episodes and we have guests on. We
3:30
Speaker 1: want to know what you went through. We want to
3:32
Speaker 1: know some of the things you did and what you
3:34
Speaker 1: learned from and how you learned from it and taught
3:36
Speaker 1: other people and mentored other people. You earned them. This
3:41
Speaker 1: is about putting them back to work. Those plans and
3:44
Speaker 1: things that you did in the army, those op orders,
3:46
Speaker 1: all that stuff that you learned, bring that into the
3:49
Speaker 1: civilian sector and teach the people that want to learn
3:51
Speaker 1: from you. Trust me. It comes in handy on a
3:56
Speaker 1: daily basis. When I joined the Army in 1995, I
4:02
Speaker 1: thought leadership meant giving orders. That's not what leadership is,
4:06
Speaker 1: trust me. I was wrong. The Army corrected me fast.
4:12
Speaker 1: Here's the truth. Your people don't follow your rank, your title,
4:17
Speaker 1: or what you think you are or how important you
4:19
Speaker 1: believe yourself to be. That's not what they follow. They
4:23
Speaker 1: follow the example you set. If they know you're going
4:27
Speaker 1: to do things the way they're supposed to be done,
4:28
Speaker 1: it's contagious. They're going to follow you. I've watched leaders
4:32
Speaker 1: who had every qualification on paper lose their soldier's trust
4:37
Speaker 1: in a week because when things got hard, they disappeared.
4:41
Speaker 1: They allowed all the people that were doing all the
4:43
Speaker 1: work and all the hard things that had to be done,
4:46
Speaker 1: and they didn't practice what they preached. This happens a
4:49
Speaker 1: lot in the civilian world as well. Trust me, I
4:52
Speaker 1: know you've seen it and I know you've been through it.
4:55
Speaker 1: We've all been through it. So that's something that everybody
5:00
Speaker 1: can work on and improve on. When I watch these
5:05
Speaker 1: leaders with no pedigree whatsoever earn loyalty for life because
5:09
Speaker 1: they showed up, they were honest, and they never asked
5:13
Speaker 1: anyone to do something they wouldn't do themselves. Those are
5:16
Speaker 1: the people that people are going to follow. Those are
5:18
Speaker 1: the people they know that if you have people under
5:21
Speaker 1: you and you're in charge of, They know you're setting
5:23
Speaker 1: an example on a daily basis and they will do
5:25
Speaker 1: the same when you're not around. That's how you build
5:28
Speaker 1: strong teams. That's how you build cohesive teams. And that's
5:33
Speaker 1: what the end goal is. That's what you want to do.
5:38
Speaker 1: Same thing in the plant that I work in. I
5:41
Speaker 1: have operators and technicians who've been running the equipment longer
5:44
Speaker 1: than some of the managers have been alive. You think
5:48
Speaker 1: they're impressed by my title or anybody else's title? They're not.
5:54
Speaker 1: They're watching everything we do on a daily basis, and
5:58
Speaker 1: they watch to see if you're around. They watch to
6:00
Speaker 1: see if you're on the floor checking out things, making
6:03
Speaker 1: sure things are operating the way they're supposed to, or
6:06
Speaker 1: they're checking to see who hides in the office and
6:08
Speaker 1: who doesn't do anything and always makes it look like
6:10
Speaker 1: they're doing something. Do I know their names? Yes, I do.
6:16
Speaker 1: I know everybody who works for me. I know exactly
6:18
Speaker 1: what they're capable of, and I know what they do
6:20
Speaker 1: on a daily basis. something to keep in mind. When
6:24
Speaker 1: something breaks at 2 a.m., do I show up or
6:28
Speaker 1: do I manage it by phone? I've had plenty of
6:30
Speaker 1: managers who they'll get out of bed at any given
6:33
Speaker 1: time and they will do whatever it takes to make
6:36
Speaker 1: sure that things are corrected and put back online the
6:39
Speaker 1: way they're supposed to be. You have some that don't
6:43
Speaker 1: do that. You have some that will try to manage
6:46
Speaker 1: everything by phone and then when something goes wrong, they
6:49
Speaker 1: point the finger at everybody else and that's exactly what
6:51
Speaker 1: you don't want. Your title gets you the meeting Your
7:05
Speaker 1: behavior gets you the team People that work for you
7:10
Speaker 1: People who look up to you They decide whether you're
7:13
Speaker 1: a leader or not Trust me, I've learned this the
7:15
Speaker 1: hard way If you think just because you hold a
7:19
Speaker 1: title You're automatically going to earn somebody's respect Just because
7:22
Speaker 1: you have a title You're dead wrong I can tell
7:25
Speaker 1: you that from experience. It's not going to happen. If
7:28
Speaker 1: people don't like you just because you hold a title,
7:30
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean they're going to like you just because
7:31
Speaker 1: you have a title. You have to earn respect. Respect
7:35
Speaker 1: is not given. You have to earn that. The trust
7:37
Speaker 1: that you get from those people, you have to earn that.
7:40
Speaker 1: Once you do that, you'll have a lot easier time
7:42
Speaker 1: in life as a leader and a manager. So the
7:47
Speaker 1: next topic I want to talk about in this episode
7:50
Speaker 1: is taking care of your people. The single most important
7:54
Speaker 1: lesson the Army ever taught me was mission first, people always.
7:59
Speaker 1: You take care of your people. You take care of
8:02
Speaker 1: the people that work for you, that do the job
8:03
Speaker 1: on a daily basis. Most everything you deal with will
8:07
Speaker 1: take care of itself. Those things are never different in
8:11
Speaker 1: the civilian sector or in conflict. If people know that
8:16
Speaker 1: you're taking care of them and they know you care
8:18
Speaker 1: about them, they're going to go the extra mile. And
8:21
Speaker 1: they will do the same thing in either one of
8:23
Speaker 1: those situations. And that's key to what we're trying to
8:26
Speaker 1: accomplish here and make people understand. We have to have
8:29
Speaker 1: each other's backs at all times. You cannot accomplish the
8:33
Speaker 1: mission with broken people. That's in the civilian sector and
8:36
Speaker 1: in the army. That meant making sure my soldiers were fed, rested, trained,
8:43
Speaker 1: and equipped before I worried about anything else. Same thing
8:47
Speaker 1: with the civilian sector. If you tell somebody to do
8:50
Speaker 1: a job on a daily basis and they don't have
8:53
Speaker 1: the tools and resources to do it, they're not going
8:55
Speaker 1: to be successful. If they have a manager that every
8:59
Speaker 1: time they ask them a question or a problem comes
9:03
Speaker 1: up and the manager is not very involved and they
9:06
Speaker 1: have to solve it themselves, they're not going to trust
9:08
Speaker 1: that manager and they're not going to trust that leader.
9:10
Speaker 1: The same thing goes in the military. That is extremely important.
9:15
Speaker 1: And making sure you put their needs above your own.
9:18
Speaker 1: They will follow you anywhere. They'll follow you to hell
9:20
Speaker 1: and back. Trust me. I know. I've been there. If
9:25
Speaker 1: my people weren't right, the mission wasn't happening, period. Meaning
9:29
Speaker 1: that if I didn't give them the tools they needed
9:31
Speaker 1: to succeed, or we didn't have the tools and resources
9:33
Speaker 1: to succeed, we weren't going to do the mission. I
9:35
Speaker 1: would make sure that whoever was in charge of us
9:37
Speaker 1: understood that. And that goes for the civilian sector as well.
9:42
Speaker 1: On the Plan 4, it's the same equation with different variables.
9:47
Speaker 1: Technicians are not soldiers, but the principle holds the same.
9:52
Speaker 1: If they're burned out, under-trained, or you don't trust them,
9:56
Speaker 1: your production numbers are going to suffer. Your safety records
10:00
Speaker 1: is going to suffer. Your quality is going to suffer.
10:03
Speaker 1: All right. And you have to understand that. And as
10:06
Speaker 1: a leader, if you can't identify those main things I
10:09
Speaker 1: just mentioned, then you're going to have a hard time
10:11
Speaker 1: no matter what. Everything you do and everything that team
10:15
Speaker 1: does is going to fall apart. Because there's no cohesiveness there.
10:19
Speaker 1: There's no teamwork. So I tell you this and I
10:23
Speaker 1: mean it. You have to invest in your people. All right.
10:29
Speaker 1: You have to sit into these qualification boards and make
10:32
Speaker 1: sure they understand what you expect of them, that they
10:35
Speaker 1: understand the work instructions, that they understand the checklist that
10:38
Speaker 1: they're supposed to use when they run their processes. Same
10:42
Speaker 1: thing in the military. You have to run the training
10:44
Speaker 1: so that they understand what the mission is, what they're
10:47
Speaker 1: going to be doing on a daily basis and what
10:49
Speaker 1: it takes to survive. You have to learn who's struggling
10:53
Speaker 1: before it becomes a problem. All right. And usually if
10:57
Speaker 1: they're struggling, it's not always their fault. I can tell
11:00
Speaker 1: you that right now from past experiences. There's usually something
11:03
Speaker 1: that caused that problem to happen in the first place.
11:07
Speaker 1: Not because I'm soft, but because if you understand leadership,
11:11
Speaker 1: the hardest thing knows business decision there is, is taking
11:15
Speaker 1: care of people, taking care of the mission. Like I said,
11:19
Speaker 1: you take care of the people that work for you,
11:21
Speaker 1: they'll take care of everything else. If people know that
11:25
Speaker 1: you care for them and you're in charge of them,
11:28
Speaker 1: they will do whatever it takes to make sure you're successful.
11:31
Speaker 1: I guarantee you that. I've never had a problem with
11:34
Speaker 1: that and I've always practiced that technique. If you lead
11:40
Speaker 1: anyone A shift, a crew, a team, a family. Ask yourself,
11:45
Speaker 1: do my people know I've got them? There shouldn't be
11:48
Speaker 1: no doubt about that. People should already know you have
11:51
Speaker 1: their back no matter what. And you should know they
11:53
Speaker 1: have your back no matter what. Am I saying that
11:57
Speaker 1: there's going to be people out there that don't have
11:58
Speaker 1: your back? Of course, it's going to happen. Not everybody's
12:02
Speaker 1: going to be on your team. But that's something you'll
12:05
Speaker 1: have to address head on. And that's why when chaos hits,
12:09
Speaker 1: you need to correct it. Because when you don't correct
12:12
Speaker 1: these types of problems, these type of problems grow into
12:15
Speaker 1: what they call cancer. Once that cancer spreads throughout your team,
12:18
Speaker 1: it's going to destroy your team from the inside out.
12:20
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what you don't want. So you need
12:24
Speaker 1: to make sure you're aware of these situations. You need
12:26
Speaker 1: to address them as soon as possible. If the answer
12:32
Speaker 1: is not an immediate yes, that's your first job is
12:35
Speaker 1: to correct what I just talked about. All right, the
12:39
Speaker 1: next thing I want to talk about is making the call,
12:41
Speaker 1: making the decision that needs to be made. When you're
12:45
Speaker 1: the leader, there should be no doubt you're the one
12:47
Speaker 1: that's making the decision that needs to be made. Here's
12:51
Speaker 1: what separates leaders from everybody else, because indecision kills teams,
12:57
Speaker 1: kills teamwork, kills individuals in the military. I'm telling you
13:02
Speaker 1: right now, certain indecisions that I've dealt with or I've seen,
13:07
Speaker 1: have gotten people killed in combat, and you do not
13:10
Speaker 1: want to see that. That's something you have to live
13:14
Speaker 1: with for the rest of your life. Same thing goes
13:17
Speaker 1: in the civilian sector, especially in the sector I'm in,
13:20
Speaker 1: dealing with chemicals. Some of those decisions you make, you
13:24
Speaker 1: have to understand the decision you're making, you could be
13:27
Speaker 1: putting somebody else's life in danger if you're not paying
13:29
Speaker 1: attention to yourself or you don't know what you're doing.
13:31
Speaker 1: So don't make the wrong decision. In the military, I
13:36
Speaker 1: learned to make the call when you don't have all
13:39
Speaker 1: the information. You have to be a strategic thinker. You
13:43
Speaker 1: have to think on your feet. You have to be
13:44
Speaker 1: able to make the decision fast because indecision is going
13:47
Speaker 1: to kill somebody. You will never have a full picture
13:51
Speaker 1: in combat. Trust me. Things are happening as you're around
13:54
Speaker 1: and you have to make that decision on the spot.
13:57
Speaker 1: Same thing with a lot of these civilian jobs. You
13:59
Speaker 1: have to make the decision right away to keep people
14:01
Speaker 1: out of harm's way. The map is wrong. The radio
14:05
Speaker 1: is breaking up. The situation's changing. And you still have
14:11
Speaker 1: to decide because here's the secret. A good decision now
14:15
Speaker 1: beats a perfect decision too late every time. So meaning
14:19
Speaker 1: that if you made a good decision and it keep
14:22
Speaker 1: people out of danger or harm, that's better than making
14:25
Speaker 1: the perfect decision. And there's people in leadership that think
14:28
Speaker 1: every time they make a decision, they have to be perfect.
14:31
Speaker 1: And that's bullshit. I'm going to tell you that right now.
14:35
Speaker 1: There's no such thing as a perfect decision. If you're
14:38
Speaker 1: that perfect and you're that worried about what's going to happen,
14:41
Speaker 1: people learn from mistakes. If you don't let them make mistakes,
14:45
Speaker 1: they're not going to learn. They're not going to grow.
14:48
Speaker 1: So you have to understand that as a leader because
14:50
Speaker 1: that's extremely important. Making sure that you instill that in
14:54
Speaker 1: your people, that they feel comfortable enough to make the
14:56
Speaker 1: mistakes in the environment they're in because that's how they learn.
15:05
Speaker 1: Running a plant, same thing. Equipment goes down, you've got
15:10
Speaker 1: a production schedule to maintain, and you have a maintenance
15:13
Speaker 1: window to get this equipment fixed. Safety considerations have to
15:17
Speaker 1: be thought of, and you don't have all the data.
15:21
Speaker 1: So you better be thinking quick on your feet. You
15:24
Speaker 1: make the best call, you get with your team, you
15:27
Speaker 1: get with your operators, your more senior operators, and you
15:29
Speaker 1: talk about it, and you understand that you have to
15:31
Speaker 1: make a decision. You own the decision as well, and
15:37
Speaker 1: then you adjust from there. Don't blame somebody else for
15:41
Speaker 1: a decision you made. There's too many people out there
15:44
Speaker 1: that blame everything on everybody else instead of taking accountability
15:47
Speaker 1: for responsibility for decisions they made. That affects your team.
15:51
Speaker 1: That affects everything that's going on in the civilian sector
15:54
Speaker 1: and in the military. You have to understand most people
15:58
Speaker 1: freeze because they're afraid of being wrong. Nobody wants to
16:02
Speaker 1: be wrong. Trust me, it's not. something somebody wants to do,
16:05
Speaker 1: but it happens. We're all human. You have to understand
16:09
Speaker 1: that aspect of leadership. And if somebody makes the wrong decision,
16:13
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean you beat them up about it. Let
16:17
Speaker 1: me free you from that. You will be wrong sometimes.
16:21
Speaker 1: Trust me. I've made bad calls. Every leader has. The
16:26
Speaker 1: difference is what you do next. You own that decision.
16:30
Speaker 1: You fix it. You learn from it. And you move on.
16:35
Speaker 1: What you don't do is stand there paralyzed while the
16:38
Speaker 1: situation makes the decision for you. And that has happened.
16:43
Speaker 1: If you make the wrong decision in combat, I guarantee
16:46
Speaker 1: you somebody's going to die. If you make the wrong
16:49
Speaker 1: decision in the civilian sector, depending on what your job is,
16:51
Speaker 1: somebody's going to die. So these are all things that
16:55
Speaker 1: are very important and are parallel in both universes. Trust
16:59
Speaker 1: me when I say that. So it's very important to
17:04
Speaker 1: understand when you make the decision, you have to make
17:07
Speaker 1: the decision before the situation does it for you. And
17:11
Speaker 1: if you're waiting for the certainty before you act, you're
17:15
Speaker 1: not being careful. You're advocating what you do not want
17:20
Speaker 1: to do as a leader. The next thing we're going
17:26
Speaker 1: to discuss is the outcome. Own it. This one's short
17:30
Speaker 1: because it's simple. There are no excuses. And trust me,
17:34
Speaker 1: most people have many excuses. That's what leads to indecision.
17:38
Speaker 1: That's what leads to bad decisions, excuses. Okay, just because
17:42
Speaker 1: it may not be your job and you know that
17:45
Speaker 1: person that's doing that job needs help, especially in the military,
17:49
Speaker 1: you need to get up off your ass. You need
17:50
Speaker 1: to help them. If you're part of that team, if
17:53
Speaker 1: that one person on that team fails, you failed as well.
17:57
Speaker 1: And if you don't understand that, then you're a piss
17:59
Speaker 1: poor leader. I can tell you that from experience. If
18:03
Speaker 1: your team succeeds, you'll succeed. If your team looks good,
18:07
Speaker 1: you'll look good. That's how it works. When something goes
18:11
Speaker 1: wrong on my watch in the military or in the
18:15
Speaker 1: chemical plant, it's mine. I take ownership and I take accountability.
18:19
Speaker 1: I don't blame anybody else for the decisions I make
18:22
Speaker 1: and I never will. Because one, it shows the team
18:25
Speaker 1: that I'm in charge of that I'm responsible and I'm
18:28
Speaker 1: accountable for every action I take. And I take those
18:31
Speaker 1: decisions and I make them based off the importance of
18:34
Speaker 1: what the situation is and how important those people are
18:36
Speaker 1: to me. It doesn't matter whose hands were on the valve.
18:41
Speaker 1: I'm the leader. I own it. It doesn't matter whether
18:43
Speaker 1: I told so-and-so to do it. If they make a mistake,
18:47
Speaker 1: I'm in charge. When it comes down to it, I'm
18:50
Speaker 1: the one who's going to take accountability and responsibility for
18:52
Speaker 1: what happened so that we can correct the problem, we
18:55
Speaker 1: can make sure we can move forward. That's creating an
18:58
Speaker 1: environment that people are going to feel safe and they're
19:00
Speaker 1: going to let you know they made a mistake or
19:02
Speaker 1: something happened And you're going to correct it. That's what
19:05
Speaker 1: you need to do as a leader. The moment you
19:08
Speaker 1: blame your people publicly, you're going to lose them. And
19:12
Speaker 1: it happens all the time. Especially in the military. There's
19:16
Speaker 1: been plenty of times where I've seen people been embarrassed
19:18
Speaker 1: in front of other people or a group of people
19:21
Speaker 1: or in a platoon or in a battalion setting where
19:25
Speaker 1: that should have never happened. I've seen it in the
19:28
Speaker 1: civilian sector as well. Instead of pulling people to the
19:31
Speaker 1: side and making sure that you talk to them one-on-one,
19:35
Speaker 1: they were talked to in front of a group of people, embarrassed,
19:37
Speaker 1: and you're going to lose them, and you're not going
19:39
Speaker 1: to gain their trust back. You can correct this privately.
19:43
Speaker 1: You can retrain. You can hold standards, but the accountability
19:47
Speaker 1: stops with you. If that person fails, more than likely
19:51
Speaker 1: you weren't doing what you were supposed to to make
19:52
Speaker 1: sure that that never happened. Because I guarantee you, the
19:56
Speaker 1: first person they're going to look at when they do
19:58
Speaker 1: their investigation, any type in the military or in the
20:01
Speaker 1: civilian sectors, they're going to look at the leader and
20:02
Speaker 1: see how they lead. And I'm going to tell you
20:05
Speaker 1: right now, that's where most of your Investigations show that
20:08
Speaker 1: the person that was in charge really shouldn't have been
20:11
Speaker 1: in charge in the first place. That's the deal you
20:19
Speaker 1: sign when you take the position, meaning you take the
20:23
Speaker 1: responsibility and accountability knowing that when you took that position,
20:25
Speaker 1: you're responsible for everybody, not just for yourself. And if
20:29
Speaker 1: that's the way you think, then you shouldn't be wearing
20:31
Speaker 1: no stripes. You shouldn't be in charge of anybody and
20:33
Speaker 1: you shouldn't be in charge of it. You shouldn't be
20:36
Speaker 1: in a management position, period. Because everything that happens on
20:40
Speaker 1: that particular watch or that shift or wherever you work
20:46
Speaker 1: is your responsibility. It's not their responsibility. Yes, there is
20:51
Speaker 1: some personal accountability and responsibility, but overall, you're responsible for
20:55
Speaker 1: everything that happens. And here's the flip side nobody talks about.
21:00
Speaker 1: When things go right, the credit goes to your team.
21:03
Speaker 1: It doesn't go to you. If you're one of those
21:05
Speaker 1: types of leaders that takes credit for the people that
21:07
Speaker 1: do the work, I got to tell you, you're an asshole.
21:13
Speaker 1: Because I'm going to tell you right now, without your team,
21:16
Speaker 1: you wouldn't be where you are. You're not going to
21:18
Speaker 1: be successful. If they're getting credit for what they've done
21:22
Speaker 1: and they're getting praise for what they've done, then you're
21:25
Speaker 1: getting praise too because you're part of that team. You're
21:27
Speaker 1: the one leading the team. If you're that insecure that
21:30
Speaker 1: you have to have the credit and take it away
21:32
Speaker 1: from the team that did it, then you don't need
21:34
Speaker 1: to be in a leadership position. That's point blank. There
21:38
Speaker 1: is no other way of talking about that. You take
21:43
Speaker 1: the blame is what you do. You take the heat
21:46
Speaker 1: off them. They're the ones that get the praise because
21:49
Speaker 1: if they get the praise, that means your team is
21:50
Speaker 1: operating at optimization and they're doing what's right and they're
21:55
Speaker 1: being recognized for it and they deserve it. That's the transaction.
22:00
Speaker 1: Leaders who reverse it Hogging credit, dodging blame, they always
22:04
Speaker 1: end up leading empty rooms, meaning the people that you're
22:07
Speaker 1: in charge of, they may act like they're listening to you.
22:10
Speaker 1: They may act like they're trying to do what you
22:12
Speaker 1: tell them to do, but more than likely, they're not
22:15
Speaker 1: doing any of the things you expect them to do.
22:16
Speaker 1: And more than likely, you're getting called in the office
22:19
Speaker 1: and getting talked to more than you'd like to anyway.
22:21
Speaker 1: And if that's the shoe, then if it's, go ahead
22:24
Speaker 1: and wear it. The next thing I want to talk
22:30
Speaker 1: about is when you remain calm as a leader, it
22:32
Speaker 1: becomes contagious. It's, you know, being calm is how your
22:44
Speaker 1: team is going to react. There's a situation going on
22:47
Speaker 1: and you're disciplined and you understand what needs to be done.
22:50
Speaker 1: You're going to take charge and you're going to make
22:51
Speaker 1: sure you remain calm and you're going to dole out
22:54
Speaker 1: the test and need to be doled out. And you're
22:56
Speaker 1: going to get things done, whether in combat or whether
22:59
Speaker 1: in the civilian sector. It works both ways. It might
23:04
Speaker 1: not be the most important thing to you, but your
23:06
Speaker 1: emotional state is the team's emotional state. So if you're
23:08
Speaker 1: in a bad mood or you're pissed off or you're frantic,
23:13
Speaker 1: they're going to pick up on that. They're going to
23:14
Speaker 1: feed on that. That's the same thing they do in combat.
23:18
Speaker 1: Panic spreads faster than anything in combat. It also spreads
23:22
Speaker 1: faster than anything in the civilian sector, so you need
23:24
Speaker 1: to make sure you're a calm person. You need to
23:26
Speaker 1: collect your thoughts, and you need to maintain your composure
23:29
Speaker 1: when you're dealing with any type of situation. That's why
23:33
Speaker 1: I say you're built for chaos, and you don't even
23:35
Speaker 1: know it, because a lot of people, they do remain calm.
23:38
Speaker 1: They do take charge of the situation, and they do
23:41
Speaker 1: what's right and make sure the decisions need to be
23:43
Speaker 1: made are made, and the outcome is a favorable one.
23:48
Speaker 1: The person who loses it, suddenly everybody's losing it. So
23:52
Speaker 1: like I said, if you have that one person on
23:54
Speaker 1: your team that can't maintain their composure, they're always pissed off,
23:57
Speaker 1: they're always yelling. Or I've had leaders where they throw
24:02
Speaker 1: shit and they want to kick shit. Or they just
24:05
Speaker 1: curse at people and talk bad to people. You're not
24:09
Speaker 1: going to be a very successful leader. First of all,
24:11
Speaker 1: you shouldn't even be in that position to begin with.
24:13
Speaker 1: Because if you talk to me like that, I don't
24:15
Speaker 1: care what your title is. I don't care what you
24:18
Speaker 1: think you are. You put your pants on just like me,
24:21
Speaker 1: and I'm going to tell you right to your face
24:23
Speaker 1: that you're a piece of shit. So if you think
24:26
Speaker 1: that that's the way to lead people, you're dead wrong.
24:28
Speaker 1: And I just want to make sure you understand that.
24:33
Speaker 1: But the reverse is true as well. One calm, steady
24:36
Speaker 1: leader in the middle of chaos, and the whole room
24:39
Speaker 1: stays steady. The whole room performs the way it's supposed to,
24:44
Speaker 1: and everybody gets home safe to their families and their
24:47
Speaker 1: loved ones. All right, you have to understand that. And
24:51
Speaker 1: that's very important as being a leader, is remaining calm
24:54
Speaker 1: and maintaining your composure, no matter what the situation is.
25:01
Speaker 1: I carry on the plan for every day, that particular
25:05
Speaker 1: mind frame, because that's what I deal with on a
25:07
Speaker 1: daily basis now. When I was in the military, I
25:10
Speaker 1: did the same thing. When an alarm goes off or
25:14
Speaker 1: when a unit trips inside of work, when something's going wrong,
25:19
Speaker 1: The technicians are watching me before they watch the gauges.
25:23
Speaker 1: They watch to see what's going to happen. They watch
25:25
Speaker 1: how people react. They see if I'm calm, they're calm.
25:29
Speaker 1: If I'm rattled, they're going to be rattled. It's point blank.
25:32
Speaker 1: I'm trying to drive this point home and make you
25:34
Speaker 1: understand the more calm you remain, the more calm they're
25:37
Speaker 1: going to remain. You don't have to feel calm because
25:41
Speaker 1: trust me, there's been times where I've been in situations
25:43
Speaker 1: in combat and in the civilian sector where I've almost
25:46
Speaker 1: shit my pants in some of the things I've dealt with.
25:50
Speaker 1: There's times where I thought I wasn't going to make
25:51
Speaker 1: it home alive, especially in combat. But maintaining my composure
25:58
Speaker 1: and the discipline that I was given and trained to do,
26:00
Speaker 1: it helped me get through the situation. It also helped
26:02
Speaker 1: me deal with the people that were under me, made
26:05
Speaker 1: sure that they maintained their calmness and everybody else on
26:07
Speaker 1: the team. And we did what we had to do
26:10
Speaker 1: to get back home to our families and our loved ones.
26:18
Speaker 1: If I'm calm, they're going to be calm. Like I said,
26:21
Speaker 1: if they're rattled, they're going to be rattled. You don't
26:24
Speaker 1: have to feel calm. You don't have to be calm outwardly, deliberately,
26:29
Speaker 1: deliberately until the real thing catches up. That's not fake.
26:33
Speaker 1: That's leadership. Trust me, you're the one that's on the
26:36
Speaker 1: front line. You're the one that's dealing with the situation.
26:39
Speaker 1: So the more you remain calm, the more they will.
26:42
Speaker 1: Your team borrows your composure when they don't have their own.
26:46
Speaker 1: Meaning if they're scared shitless and they see you're calm,
26:49
Speaker 1: they're going to be calm because they don't want to
26:51
Speaker 1: freak out as well. Trust me, like I said, I've
26:54
Speaker 1: been in situations where I don't know how I maintain
26:57
Speaker 1: being calm, but it did. I guess, I don't know.
27:01
Speaker 1: I guess you just go, your mind goes blank in
27:04
Speaker 1: certain situations and you got to do what you got
27:06
Speaker 1: to do. That's called flight or fright. And it does happen.
27:11
Speaker 1: So check yourself out. What you're broadcasting to your people
27:15
Speaker 1: right now. Meaning that if you're having issues with this
27:19
Speaker 1: right now, try what I just talked about. Try remaining calm.
27:23
Speaker 1: Try maintaining your composure when the shit hits the fan.
27:26
Speaker 1: And you'll realize that these people are going to follow
27:28
Speaker 1: you and they're going to understand that you're trying to
27:30
Speaker 1: remain calm and you're keeping everybody calm and they're going
27:32
Speaker 1: to be calm. And the situation will be a lot
27:34
Speaker 1: easier to deal with. So the next thing I want
27:39
Speaker 1: to talk about is it's your turn. Let me bring
27:41
Speaker 1: this home. You don't need 21 years in the Army
27:44
Speaker 1: to lead like this. Here's your homework. There's three questions
27:48
Speaker 1: I want to ask you. The first one, do your
27:51
Speaker 1: people know you've got them? Okay, that's one of the
27:55
Speaker 1: things I want you to think about as a leader. Two,
28:00
Speaker 1: the second thing, what's the decision you've been avoiding because
28:05
Speaker 1: you don't have the perfect information? What types of situations
28:09
Speaker 1: have you dealt with where you've been avoiding things dealing
28:12
Speaker 1: with because you don't have the information and you don't
28:15
Speaker 1: want to feel embarrassed or you're too embarrassed to ask
28:18
Speaker 1: somebody else to figure it out and number three the
28:23
Speaker 1: last question i want to ask is what are you
28:25
Speaker 1: broadcasting are you calm are you creating the chaos that
28:29
Speaker 1: we're talking about and uh trust me a lot of
28:33
Speaker 1: leaders do that and don't even realize it their mannerisms
28:37
Speaker 1: the way they interact with people on a daily basis
28:40
Speaker 1: i know i've deal with it all the time I
28:43
Speaker 1: still deal with it in the civilian sector and I
28:45
Speaker 1: dealt with it in the military. And I'm not going
28:48
Speaker 1: to say that I probably haven't done this to people
28:50
Speaker 1: at one time or another myself, but we all learn
28:53
Speaker 1: from our mistakes. Like I said, those are the kind
28:55
Speaker 1: of environments you want. You want people that when they
28:58
Speaker 1: make a mistake, they're not afraid to come forward and
29:00
Speaker 1: talk to you about it. And you can joke about
29:03
Speaker 1: it later on because I guarantee you that one time
29:06
Speaker 1: or another, we've all made a mistake. Nobody's perfect. I
29:11
Speaker 1: want you to answer these questions honestly and act on
29:14
Speaker 1: what you find. And you'll be ahead of 90% of
29:17
Speaker 1: the people that you know as leaders and in their title.
29:21
Speaker 1: All right. These are things that you can practice on
29:24
Speaker 1: a daily basis. They're going to help you be a
29:26
Speaker 1: better leader to the people you work with. And they're
29:29
Speaker 1: going to appreciate it more. And as a leader, you
29:31
Speaker 1: should be growing everybody under you to take your job.
29:34
Speaker 1: And eventually you can move on and they can get
29:36
Speaker 1: promoted as well. That's what a leader does. That's what
29:39
Speaker 1: a leader practice. so in closing I want to talk
29:44
Speaker 1: about veteran resources which is very important the one thing
29:49
Speaker 1: I'm saying on every episode of this show is if
29:52
Speaker 1: you're a veteran in crisis or you get worried about
29:55
Speaker 1: one dial 988 and then press 1 Free confidential 24-7
30:02
Speaker 1: help is available. And you don't have to be enrolled
30:06
Speaker 1: in VA health care to call that number. You can
30:09
Speaker 1: also text 838-255. Once again, you can dial 988, then
30:12
Speaker 1: press 1. It's free and confidential. It's man 24-7. And
30:16
Speaker 1: then you can also text 838-255 for help. The full
30:29
Speaker 1: resource list lives in the show notes. VA claims, employment help,
30:36
Speaker 1: credit counseling, all free to veterans. Somebody listening right now
30:41
Speaker 1: may need one of those numbers, so don't sit on it.
30:45
Speaker 1: If you have somebody you know or you need some help,
30:49
Speaker 1: please reach out to us and we will definitely get
30:51
Speaker 1: you the information you need. So in the next episode,
30:56
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about discipline. which isn't a personality trait.
31:01
Speaker 1: It's a decision that you make every single morning. Everything
31:05
Speaker 1: you do is an act of discipline. I'm going to
31:09
Speaker 1: break down exactly what it looks like in the Army
31:12
Speaker 1: and in the civilian sector and on the plant floor.
31:17
Speaker 1: And in the rebuild, I'm living right now in my
31:20
Speaker 1: own daily life. In closing, I'm Brian Weatherby, This is
31:27
Speaker 1: Built for Chaos, the second episode. Share this with one
31:31
Speaker 1: veteran or leader who needs to hear it. And that's
31:33
Speaker 1: what the purpose of this is. We're going to get
31:35
Speaker 1: better as we go along. The show's going to get
31:38
Speaker 1: better as we go along. We're going to start doing
31:40
Speaker 1: live streams. We're going to start having guests. We want
31:44
Speaker 1: to hear from your experiences and we want to know
31:46
Speaker 1: how you lived your life and how you helped other people.
31:48
Speaker 1: Because that's what it's all about, brother and sisters. I'm
31:52
Speaker 1: telling you that right now. If you do that in
31:54
Speaker 1: your life, And you do it on a daily basis,
31:57
Speaker 1: you're going to see how easy life can be. And
32:00
Speaker 1: if you served, we want your story on this show
32:02
Speaker 1: as well. This is your platform, veterans, and for people
32:07
Speaker 1: in the civilian sector as well. Reach out to us
32:10
Speaker 1: and let's get your experience heard because it's very important.
32:14
Speaker 1: Everybody will learn from your experiences whether you believe it
32:16
Speaker 1: or not. Like I said, and I always say, there's
32:20
Speaker 1: a bulldog in all of us. Time to let it out.
32:23
Speaker 1: See you on the next episode, episode three. Everybody have
32:27
Speaker 1: a great night. Stay blessed and see you soon.