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From Entrepreneur to Vistage Chair: Lessons from Jim Bramlett · Business Roundtable

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Speaker 1: All right, welcome back to the Business Roundtable podcast. I
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Speaker 1: am your host, David car Steward, your business bringing people
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Speaker 1: together to accomplish great things. We have another new guest
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Speaker 1: this week. I'm super excited to have Jim Bramlin with us.
0:25
Speaker 1: Welcome Jim to the podcast.
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Speaker 2: David, thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be
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Speaker 2: part of this today.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely, you know, Jim, I'm excited because you have a
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Speaker 1: wealth of experience. We're going to get into it, and
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Speaker 1: I've learned the value of having such advisors like yourself
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Speaker 1: coming in in your forty plus year entrepreneurial journey with
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Speaker 1: logistics and really helping folks, and so I'm gonna learn
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Speaker 1: some things here on the podcast today. I hope everybody
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Speaker 1: is listening in to Jim on the podcast here, Jim,
0:59
Speaker 1: before we get into kind of the nuts and bolts
1:01
Speaker 1: of some of these things, I love having our guests
1:03
Speaker 1: share a little bit about their journey. You are a
1:05
Speaker 1: Versus chair. For those of you that know Visage, definitely
1:08
Speaker 1: check them out and I'll let Jim share more about Vistage.
1:11
Speaker 1: But what got you to being a Visus chair now
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Speaker 1: and what you're doing? Take us back a little bit
1:17
Speaker 1: about your your your story as a business owner entrepreneur.
1:20
Speaker 3: Jim Sure.
1:22
Speaker 2: I'll start with probably one of the main reasons I
1:25
Speaker 2: became a versus chair so serial entrepreneur. I started my
1:29
Speaker 2: first company when I was a senior in college, and
1:33
Speaker 2: over my career, I've started seven companies, four for myself
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Speaker 2: and three for others, bigger organizations, companies, divisions, that kind
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Speaker 2: of thing. And I failed. My very first business was
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Speaker 2: a failure, my second was a failure, and I started
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Speaker 2: learning the hard lessons along the way, and that's one
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Speaker 2: of the reasons why I wrote my book. But when uh,
2:01
Speaker 2: the first two companies I started, uh, you know, we're
2:06
Speaker 2: pretty small. One one you know, it was just me.
2:08
Speaker 2: Another I had a partner, pretty small. And what I
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Speaker 2: did I started the companies because of me. I mean,
2:16
Speaker 2: any consideration for well, what's what's needed in the market.
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Speaker 2: Is there is there a need? No, I said, no,
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Speaker 2: I'm gonna go. I'm just gonna go do this guy
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Speaker 2: thing is a good idea and they and they failed, Okay,
2:29
Speaker 2: And then in the middle of the dot com hysteria,
2:34
Speaker 2: I started a company. I got venture funding and this
2:38
Speaker 2: was my first real company. I like to say at
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Speaker 2: a board of directors. Uh, I was a visionary and
2:47
Speaker 2: I'd never been uh a CEO at this level where
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Speaker 2: I've got over forty families. You know that I'm now
2:55
Speaker 2: feeling responsibility for leading the charge. And again visionary, never
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Speaker 2: been a leader like that. And I made a lot
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Speaker 2: of mistakes because I did not have anyone else really
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Speaker 2: helped being to guide me. And so what ends up
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Speaker 2: happening Fast forward to three years ago. I had I
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Speaker 2: started my company that I'm still a share holder in.
3:26
Speaker 2: I no longer am active. I started this company eight
3:29
Speaker 2: years ago and you know, working grinding, and my wife
3:34
Speaker 2: had retired years ago, and she put a lot of
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Speaker 2: pressure on me. Hey, remember those things we're going to
3:40
Speaker 2: go do in our golden years. Well, I'm I'm in
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Speaker 2: startup mode and anybody who's there, they know the grind,
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Speaker 2: the hours commitments you got to make.
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Well, she kept after me, after me, after me. So
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Speaker 2: finally I relented and I said okay, and I found
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Speaker 2: somebody to come over and take over the CEO, maybe
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Speaker 2: investment in the company, and I retired. I retired for
4:03
Speaker 2: a whopping three months because I plump. I flumped. I
4:08
Speaker 2: decided there's no purpose in pickleball, golf and tennis. Unfortunately,
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Speaker 2: Vistage called. I had never heard of Vistage and told
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Speaker 2: me what they were about. And I immediately reflected back
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Speaker 2: to ninety nine when I started this company and had
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Speaker 2: forty families and being the visionary, not being a real CEO.
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Speaker 2: And when they told me what they're about helping business
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Speaker 2: leaders succeed, I go, that will give me purpose. And
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Speaker 2: if I can help any leader avoid some of the
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Speaker 2: issues and challenges problems that I had, that will give
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Speaker 2: me great purpose. And they told me it'd be hard,
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Speaker 2: and I go out starting companies as hard. This will
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Speaker 2: be difficult, but but you know, hey, I'm a hard worker.
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Speaker 2: I put my nose to the grindstone and uh so yeah,
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Speaker 2: A three years ago I started my group, and uh
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Speaker 2: it's the best thing I've ever done, David. I I'm
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Speaker 2: a business nerd of learning how businesses work there, how
5:23
Speaker 2: they just make money? What do they do customers? Because
5:28
Speaker 2: they're all different and and so, and I joke about this,
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Speaker 2: I said, I get to be you know, I get
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Speaker 2: to be behind the curtain watching all of this. But
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Speaker 2: I don't wake up at three am in a cold sweat.
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Speaker 2: Oh my God, I got this huge challenge. I can't
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Speaker 2: make pair whatever it is. I empathize with my my
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Speaker 2: CEO members, but but I'm not in the in the
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Speaker 2: pilot's seat, you know, I'm maybe you know, first officer
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Speaker 2: somewhere navigating and navigate.
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Speaker 1: Well, well, you're doing such important work and and the
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Speaker 1: work and correct me. You know, Vistage is not just
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Speaker 1: an online thing. This is an in person group that
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Speaker 1: you're meeting with, right Jim, Absolutely.
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Speaker 2: I mean, I'm in Kansas City and all my members
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Speaker 2: are in the in the area, and we asked them
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Speaker 2: to meet. We asked them to take one day per
6:20
Speaker 2: month to work on your business. Get out of that
6:23
Speaker 2: day to day in and come on, let's talk strategy,
6:26
Speaker 2: let's work on it, let's work on your development, and
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Speaker 2: let's gather together and spend a whole day. So yeah,
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Speaker 2: it's all local.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, so so, and there's for those of you want
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Speaker 1: to connect with Jim and you're in the Kansas City
6:40
Speaker 1: are We're going to make sure we're your links so
6:42
Speaker 1: you guys can definitely reach out to them in our
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Speaker 1: show notes. And uh, you know, I work with other
6:47
Speaker 1: Vista's chairs and others in there, but we're super excited
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Speaker 1: to have you, Jim, because I want to hear you know,
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Speaker 1: some of the challenges that you're hearing. I mean there's
6:55
Speaker 1: we're we're we're hearing about different technologies. Of course us
6:58
Speaker 1: always coming up, But what do you see right now
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Speaker 1: as businesses like I think hearing just you share this,
7:04
Speaker 1: Jim and having your forty years of experience. I know
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Speaker 1: we've had a conversation beforehand and learned, and I've learned
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Speaker 1: to lean into people and know that I'll go further.
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Speaker 3: And I don't have to have all the answer.
7:14
Speaker 1: I don't have all the answers, I don't have all
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Speaker 1: the experiences. And so what are you seeing, Jim? When
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Speaker 1: you're coming Folks come to vistage come to you and
7:21
Speaker 1: say where where are they feeling stuck in their business?
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Speaker 1: Or where they're feeling like, you know, how.
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Speaker 3: Do you you know?
7:27
Speaker 1: Even maybe they're not even diagnosing the right problem, Jim.
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Speaker 1: I'm sure probably are saying like this is my problem.
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Speaker 1: You're like, I don't really think that's your problem. You know,
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Speaker 1: you knowing the problem.
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Speaker 2: I think all too often I see that the leader
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Speaker 2: maybe they maybe doesn't have the confidence and trust in
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Speaker 2: his team to take up you know the work that's
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Speaker 2: that's got to be done. And I've come to appreciate
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Speaker 2: the amount of trust that has to be between a
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Speaker 2: leader and especially direct team that that sea level. And
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Speaker 2: the other thing you know that I see a lot
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Speaker 2: is most leaders get their position because of their subject matter, expertise,
8:12
Speaker 2: their skill set, what they know, but they've never been
8:17
Speaker 2: formally trained on how to how to become a coach.
8:21
Speaker 2: And I'm a big fan of leaders being a coach
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Speaker 2: because you can't listen. You cannot force an employee to
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Speaker 2: do their best, You cannot force them to improve, you
8:31
Speaker 2: can't force them to be motivated. You have to inspire
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Speaker 2: those around you, influence those around you and that and
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Speaker 2: it's a skill set that can be learned, but you've
8:43
Speaker 2: got to be willing to do that. And when you
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Speaker 2: can become a coach and inspire and get people to
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Speaker 2: just do what the right thing to do, is magic
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Speaker 2: can happen. It will alleviate this big burden you have
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Speaker 2: on your on your shoulders when you, oh, your people
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Speaker 2: know exactly what to do, how to do it and perform.
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Speaker 2: And that that's so having the right people, the right
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Speaker 2: people in the seat and having a coaching, mentality, I
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Speaker 2: think or two of the biggest things that you know
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Speaker 2: inhibit uh leaders from really succeeding and living that balanced
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Speaker 2: work life that they strive for.
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Speaker 1: Right, Well, I would imagine, Jim, the people that finally
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Speaker 1: do come to visage and they're they're in a place
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Speaker 1: where they can can be coachable and and and then
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Speaker 1: like you said, you're helping develop that skill if they
9:38
Speaker 1: don't already have it, they've gotten like they maybe and
9:40
Speaker 1: you can get pretty far in your technical skills, but
9:42
Speaker 1: there's a certain point where you kind of tap out,
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Speaker 1: like you hit a ceiling, and it's like, hey, you
9:46
Speaker 1: can't do it all.
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Speaker 2: Uh.
9:47
Speaker 1: And I've seen this for some companies where it's like
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Speaker 1: they have to rely on their people, but they're they
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Speaker 1: haven't learned how like to your point, Jim, coach them,
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Speaker 1: integrate them, and and they just expect somehow magically all
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Speaker 1: the hire this person or this come in, they'll us
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Speaker 1: figure it out.
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Speaker 3: And I don't see that usually work.
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Speaker 2: That's exactly right, It's exactly right. First thing that's required,
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Speaker 2: in my opinion, to be part of a peer group,
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Speaker 2: whether it's vistage or another, you've got to be vulnerable
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Speaker 2: you know, the very best leaders are lifelong learners, and
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Speaker 2: they're curious and they admit they don't know it all.
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Speaker 2: And when you can get there, you're going to get
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Speaker 2: a lot of help. Shoot, if you're vulnerable to you
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Speaker 2: your own team, they're there to help you. It's not
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Speaker 2: a sign of weakness. They everybody wants to help everybody.
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Speaker 2: And so you know, I get I get my members
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Speaker 2: to say I need you to come to the table
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Speaker 2: and tell us what's really going on. Where are you
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Speaker 2: really struggling and where do you want just a little
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Speaker 2: bit of help. It's not a sign of weakness at all.
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Speaker 2: And when they do that, it's it's very refreshing for them.
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Speaker 2: They get these great ideas from their peers and they're
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Speaker 2: able to take great action. And and David, you know
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Speaker 2: you know this. It's it's me darn lonely at the top.
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Speaker 3: It is.
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Speaker 2: And and yeah, you say, yeah, I got my team,
11:19
Speaker 2: but guess what, that team has their own agenda as well.
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Speaker 2: So so when you've got trusted and like minded peers
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Speaker 2: and that you can just call at any time and
11:30
Speaker 2: vent a bad day at work, you know it's not
11:33
Speaker 2: all going away and you can vent uh, that's pretty
11:37
Speaker 2: powerful because I when I was you know, several times
11:41
Speaker 2: in my history I need a event. Well guess what,
11:44
Speaker 2: my wife didn't want to hear about it. Well, who
11:48
Speaker 2: do you go to? You know, you know, you don't
11:50
Speaker 2: always want to vent to your team because some of
11:52
Speaker 2: that venting might be about them. So having others that
11:55
Speaker 2: you can and you know, again, it could be a mentor,
11:59
Speaker 2: it can be a co which, it can be a
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Speaker 2: peer group. But I encourage everybody who's in a leadership
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Speaker 2: position to have somebody And I joke about this, but
12:08
Speaker 2: it's true. The very best golfers in the world have coaches. Yeah,
12:12
Speaker 2: you know, and guess what that coaches on a better
12:15
Speaker 2: golfer than the PGA player. But mentally they're helping them
12:21
Speaker 2: get their mindset and everything aligned to where they can
12:25
Speaker 2: perform at their peak. And so as an executive, I
12:29
Speaker 2: encourage any leader to have somebody in their corner who
12:33
Speaker 2: can help them.
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Speaker 1: You made a really good point, Jim, because many coaches
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Speaker 1: sometimes that they're not maybe they're not like you said,
12:42
Speaker 1: they're maybe not the best at that thing, but they
12:44
Speaker 1: the mindset they're bringing their unique skill set. You're understanding, Jim,
12:48
Speaker 1: and you're helping these folks and you're creating a space
12:51
Speaker 1: in a community. Really it's not just that I know
12:54
Speaker 1: you do one on one with them as well, but
12:55
Speaker 1: as a group. And I think that's so powerful whatever
12:59
Speaker 1: level you're in. I mean I help more on the
13:01
Speaker 1: next level day on those group manager's, department heads and
13:03
Speaker 1: those other groups too. But doing it's very complimentary to
13:06
Speaker 1: what you're doing, Jim. That's why we have you on
13:07
Speaker 1: the podcast. You're helping those executive leaders. But then they
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Speaker 1: need to go back and help implement this in their companies.
13:12
Speaker 1: What does that look like and so wherever that is.
13:16
Speaker 1: And I found the difference ym to your point. The
13:19
Speaker 1: former company I was working with for years, she was
13:22
Speaker 1: very coachable and wanted that and I was that way
13:24
Speaker 1: underneath her and she was in vistaed, but there was
13:27
Speaker 1: other people that weren't. And how if you don't have that,
13:29
Speaker 1: it's really a struggle for the company to be healthy
13:33
Speaker 1: if people are not in that place of like I said, transparency,
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Speaker 1: willing to be coached right.
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Speaker 2: Exactly, and any other thing I emphasized with my members
13:43
Speaker 2: when we gather together once a month, this is a
13:47
Speaker 2: safe space for you and there aren't too many safe
13:50
Speaker 2: spaces left, you know, I know, right, maybe church or
13:55
Speaker 2: you know that they're just not But this is a
13:58
Speaker 2: safe space for leaders to come to share your concerns,
14:03
Speaker 2: your issues, your challenges, even your opportunities and let others
14:07
Speaker 2: weigh in. Absolutely.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, well you mentioned Jim, I want to highlight you've
14:12
Speaker 1: written a book called The Unconventional Thinking of Dominant Companies,
14:17
Speaker 1: and I think I like the title what's Unconventional Thinking,
14:20
Speaker 1: because there's conventional thinking and unconventional But I'd love you
14:24
Speaker 1: to share a little bit about your unique approach, Jim,
14:27
Speaker 1: and the way you look at things like how do
14:28
Speaker 1: we become a dominant culture, especially into a company today
14:32
Speaker 1: in the world that we're living with, We've got different motivators,
14:35
Speaker 1: different generations, you know, just things are changing.
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Speaker 3: So from your perspective, how do we do that?
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Speaker 2: That's a great point. You look unconventional. I just had
14:46
Speaker 2: a speaker at one of my Visinus groups who said,
14:51
Speaker 2: don't let others write your script.
14:56
Speaker 3: Hm, you need.
14:58
Speaker 2: To write your script. So if you come in as
15:02
Speaker 2: a business leader, CEO, president, I don't care, don't assume.
15:07
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I just I've got the script here. I
15:10
Speaker 2: know what all every CEO is supposed to do. Got
15:14
Speaker 2: to write your own script. And you know, when I
15:20
Speaker 2: talk to salespeople, I get a big kick out of
15:22
Speaker 2: how do you how do you even get a communication?
15:26
Speaker 2: You know, it's the old cod call dear sir, madam.
15:29
Speaker 3: No.
15:29
Speaker 2: A lot of times you have we're also darned busy.
15:32
Speaker 2: You've got to stand out, Well, how do you stand out?
15:35
Speaker 2: You've got to do something unconventional at times to stand
15:39
Speaker 2: out to get a conversation. And I think the same
15:43
Speaker 2: is true, you know for leadership. If if you are
15:47
Speaker 2: simply h following a script that you've gotten from somebody
15:51
Speaker 2: else and you're not genuine, you're going to come through
15:56
Speaker 2: and people are going to realize I don't know where
15:59
Speaker 2: he's going it and this stuff. But you know, uh,
16:02
Speaker 2: it's got to be very genuine in my opinion, m hm,
16:06
Speaker 2: and getting that, you know, And this this is why
16:08
Speaker 2: a lot of times, David, in our meetings, we're we're
16:11
Speaker 2: talking best practices a lot of times, you know, on
16:15
Speaker 2: a variety of subjects we talk about. And I think
16:19
Speaker 2: you mentioned in a minute ago, hiring is one of
16:22
Speaker 2: the most important jobs a leader has. Okay, Well, when
16:25
Speaker 2: you're when you're hiring A is this a candidate who's
16:28
Speaker 2: going to fit into your culture? And B are they coachable?
16:34
Speaker 3: Yes?
16:34
Speaker 2: And I don't think all people are culturable. I think
16:37
Speaker 2: there are people who want the most, and then there
16:40
Speaker 2: are the people who want to be the best. Those
16:44
Speaker 2: who want to be the best are coachable. Those simply
16:48
Speaker 2: just want the most. Uh. A lot of times I
16:51
Speaker 2: find they think they've got it all figured out on
16:53
Speaker 2: their own and a way they go yes, So, so
16:57
Speaker 2: I think that's you know, that's important.
16:59
Speaker 1: I would gim I imagine, I mean the conversations I'm
17:02
Speaker 1: sure you probably have right in vistage of like do
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Speaker 1: I have a coachable person or this person in my organization?
17:08
Speaker 3: Are they the right person? Are there in the right seat?
17:11
Speaker 3: You have that conversation with the business owner?
17:13
Speaker 2: Yep? Absolutely all all the time, you know, and they're
17:19
Speaker 2: I refer to my leaders as head coaches. And your job,
17:23
Speaker 2: your job is to develop those under you, right, So
17:29
Speaker 2: you're not going to be there for do you have
17:31
Speaker 2: a succession plan? And have you developed or are you
17:34
Speaker 2: developing those under to where they can step up? Not
17:38
Speaker 2: everybody wants to step up, but those who do, you
17:41
Speaker 2: owe it to them to help develop them so that
17:45
Speaker 2: they can lead, they can be more important leaders, bigger leader.
17:49
Speaker 2: Maybe take your job when that that day comes. So
17:53
Speaker 2: being that coach and providing professional development, whether you do
17:59
Speaker 2: it internally or hire resources externally, you're going to get
18:04
Speaker 2: more allegiance that way. You're you're saying, hey, you're important,
18:08
Speaker 2: You're important to me, you're important to this organization, and
18:12
Speaker 2: therefore I'm going to invest in your development. And of
18:17
Speaker 2: course as a coach, you say what you believe you
18:20
Speaker 2: need more development on, you know, and get them to
18:25
Speaker 2: agree and then follow through. I just think, you know,
18:29
Speaker 2: in in today's world, I was telling somebody the other
18:32
Speaker 2: day about, hey, when it gets tough out there, one
18:36
Speaker 2: of the first things to go is marketing. You know,
18:38
Speaker 2: we trim that marketing budget. Also, personal development is one
18:43
Speaker 2: of the first things you know, they take out of
18:46
Speaker 2: the budget, which which is a shame it is.
18:49
Speaker 1: And I agree because do you see the business owners
18:52
Speaker 1: does this my experience Jim, and well, let's just buy
18:54
Speaker 1: some software or some other program or every thing. But
18:57
Speaker 1: it's it's it comes down that doesn't really get the
18:59
Speaker 1: resert that they're wanting, that they would have stayed with
19:01
Speaker 1: the professional development.
19:04
Speaker 2: And and and now, David, You've got every kind of
19:07
Speaker 2: AI tool out there that you can imagine. You know,
19:11
Speaker 2: I've got a member in one of my groups today
19:14
Speaker 2: who's who's developed an AI tool to enable salespeople to
19:19
Speaker 2: practice their pitch and their conversations. Okay, cool, that's that's great.
19:24
Speaker 2: I endorse that one hundred percent. I'm not running to
19:27
Speaker 2: anybody who says, oh, yeah, I've got an AI tool
19:29
Speaker 2: that's going to help develop managers into directors and directors
19:33
Speaker 2: into vps and vps into you know, the see, because
19:38
Speaker 2: I think it takes a human touch it. Really, there
19:41
Speaker 2: is an AI tool that can do that well.
19:44
Speaker 3: At the end of the day, it's human to human relationship.
19:47
Speaker 1: Yes, I think there's we can you know, you've written
19:50
Speaker 1: a book, you know, I have the These are good resources,
19:53
Speaker 1: but they're not they don't they are supplemental to what
19:56
Speaker 1: you're saying, Jim of like have like what we're doing
19:58
Speaker 1: literally talking and connecting and having emotional intelligence awareness, right, absolutely,
20:07
Speaker 1: And you're putting you're putting members in a room in
20:10
Speaker 1: a good way, right, You're creating a space but of
20:12
Speaker 1: vulnerability and opening up, and they wouldn't wouldn't wouldn't get otherwise.
20:18
Speaker 3: That experience, right.
20:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting when I when I talk to my
20:22
Speaker 2: leaders in my one on ones, I don't think there's
20:25
Speaker 2: been a meeting yet where they haven't had at least
20:30
Speaker 2: one AHA that they've learned something. Yeah, it could be
20:34
Speaker 2: from our speaker. We bring in speakers and do workshops
20:38
Speaker 2: and and that's about professional development. If they don't learn there,
20:42
Speaker 2: they're going to learn in the afternoon when we really
20:44
Speaker 2: act as more of an advisory board, sharing best practices,
20:48
Speaker 2: giving good advice to each other to solve issues. But
20:51
Speaker 2: they they it just takes one AHA, you know to go.
20:55
Speaker 2: Today's meeting was worth it, you know, because and I
20:59
Speaker 2: tell this, money's not your most valuable commodity, it's your time. Yes,
21:06
Speaker 2: you can go to a financial planner and they'll tell
21:09
Speaker 2: you how much money you have, how much it's going
21:11
Speaker 2: to be worth in ten years and twenty, and how
21:14
Speaker 2: you can retire at this age. You can't go to
21:18
Speaker 2: anybody and say, gee, how much time do I have left?
21:20
Speaker 2: Do I have ten years left? I have fifty? No,
21:23
Speaker 2: you don't know. So you have to treat that the
21:26
Speaker 2: time you have very specially, and I think it's the
21:31
Speaker 2: most important commodity. So when I get leaders to come
21:34
Speaker 2: to this meeting, I know, because at times their most
21:39
Speaker 2: precious commodity. We've got to make things happen, and we
21:42
Speaker 2: do well.
21:43
Speaker 1: I think that's a great place, Jim too, because I
21:46
Speaker 1: would imagine when you're coming in there and I've learned
21:48
Speaker 1: to put myself in what I've you want to call
21:50
Speaker 1: it the crucible, whatever, the place, but a place it's
21:53
Speaker 1: going to be a little uncomfortable because I think, Jim
21:55
Speaker 1: in a good way. Right, You're going to be asking
21:56
Speaker 1: them some questions. Are they focusing on the most important things?
21:59
Speaker 1: I don't know if as a leader, I know I can.
22:01
Speaker 1: I've gotten this in the I get go in the minutia.
22:03
Speaker 1: I started parachuting into things that I really should not
22:06
Speaker 1: be doing. But I feel comfortable there. I know that,
22:08
Speaker 1: and I want to go there.
22:09
Speaker 3: But it's not moving. It's not making a real difference
22:11
Speaker 3: in my company. To be honest, you know, one of.
22:16
Speaker 2: The things that we do, and it makes members a
22:19
Speaker 2: little bit uncomfortable, is we'll go down and try to
22:23
Speaker 2: uncover their self limiting belief. Okay, oh you're not able
22:27
Speaker 2: to do this, Well, let's dig into that. Let's dig
22:30
Speaker 2: a little deep. Why what what is your belief? And
22:33
Speaker 2: what you'll do is you'll uncover a self limiting belief. Well,
22:37
Speaker 2: I can't grow to fifty million because you know, I
22:40
Speaker 2: know that is is that true? Aether? Facts behind that?
22:44
Speaker 2: Or is that a self limiting belief you have? And
22:48
Speaker 2: what's driving that? So you know, in a lot of case,
22:51
Speaker 2: we'll die deep. We'll get into their emotional state and
22:56
Speaker 2: what's what's preventing them from being the person they really
23:00
Speaker 2: can be. We talk about you know, and I've learned
23:04
Speaker 2: this in the last five years, that every decision we
23:08
Speaker 2: make is based on our values and our beliefs. Okay, hey,
23:13
Speaker 2: we we're gonna stop at that stop sign because I
23:16
Speaker 2: believe if I don't a I can get a ticket
23:18
Speaker 2: or I can get into an accident. I just believe.
23:21
Speaker 2: So that's how I behave I'm gonna stop at all
23:24
Speaker 2: those Okay. So well, a lot of those values in
23:27
Speaker 2: beliefs are formed at an early age. Yes, Okay, when
23:32
Speaker 2: you're young and growing up and you're seeing all these
23:35
Speaker 2: other things in your environment. You your parents are probably
23:39
Speaker 2: teaching a lot of your values, or your school or
23:41
Speaker 2: your church are teaching your values, and then you are
23:44
Speaker 2: coming to believe certain things. Well guess what, some of
23:47
Speaker 2: those beliefs may not be true and they limit you. Yes,
23:53
Speaker 2: you know, well I can't ever be a CEO. Wait
23:56
Speaker 2: a minute, what's causing you to say that? And that's
24:01
Speaker 2: a self limiting belief. So so we get we get
24:05
Speaker 2: down deep into into how how people think, how they behave,
24:10
Speaker 2: and and and the how they influence others that way.
24:14
Speaker 3: Well, that's really super important.
24:16
Speaker 1: As you said that to me, what came to mind,
24:19
Speaker 1: Jim is I would say, correlation to that is what
24:23
Speaker 1: are your inhibitions and prohibitions?
24:25
Speaker 3: And I think we you know, we have a lot more.
24:29
Speaker 1: There's not many, there are pro prohibitions, but I think
24:32
Speaker 1: there's more inhibitions to what you're saying, and they're self
24:35
Speaker 1: imposed and your point, Jim, they might even realize to
24:38
Speaker 1: you were saying how much that is there. But I
24:41
Speaker 1: I can assure you and my experience working with the
24:44
Speaker 1: leaders and teams, especially when I'm the next level the
24:47
Speaker 1: team down further from the high up gym that you're
24:50
Speaker 1: working with, I'll ask them questions about certain things and
24:54
Speaker 1: they're like, well, it's just this is just the way
24:55
Speaker 1: or this is what is and it's coming from the top,
24:57
Speaker 1: and it's kind of unwritten. It's like you said, it's
25:00
Speaker 1: like oozing out and they're wondering, why isn't their team
25:03
Speaker 1: doing this? Well, they're not believing it, so their team
25:05
Speaker 1: certainly isn't. It's like if you are hiring a salesperson
25:08
Speaker 1: and if they're not, if you're not the best salesperson
25:10
Speaker 1: selling yourself, they're not gonna They're definitely not going to
25:12
Speaker 1: sell you.
25:13
Speaker 3: If you don't understand this right.
25:16
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you know, I tell I tell my leaders, and
25:21
Speaker 2: I tell mid managers this as well. You don't realize this,
25:26
Speaker 2: but you're always on stage, your your people are watching
25:32
Speaker 2: you and they are definitely listening to you. And I
25:35
Speaker 2: didn't realize that. In my mid career. I would make
25:40
Speaker 2: these snide remarks kind of as a joke, and the
25:43
Speaker 2: next thing I know, it's it's spread throughout the organization.
25:47
Speaker 2: I was telling somebody the other day, I said, Okay,
25:50
Speaker 2: let's say you come into work every day and every
25:54
Speaker 2: day you say good morning to the receptionist, and today,
25:58
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, you got distracted, you're on your phone
26:00
Speaker 2: and you don't say hello, good morning, to the receptionist.
26:05
Speaker 2: What what does the receptionists think? Oh my god, what
26:08
Speaker 2: did I do wrong? And now she's telling you know,
26:11
Speaker 2: others in her orbit, Oh my god, the boss is
26:16
Speaker 2: must be pissed at me because he didn't say good morning.
26:20
Speaker 2: And you're always on stage and it's a tough place
26:23
Speaker 2: to be as a leader. But if you know that
26:27
Speaker 2: you have to watching what you do, how you do it,
26:29
Speaker 2: how you act, how you behave everything about you they're
26:33
Speaker 2: watching and everything you say they are listening, and you
26:38
Speaker 2: got to know that.
26:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's so important, Jim. I mean what I
26:44
Speaker 1: what you're explaining to me is I mean the word culture, right,
26:47
Speaker 1: the cult? What is that culture that you're you're you're
26:50
Speaker 1: you're creating on one.
26:51
Speaker 3: Way or the other.
26:52
Speaker 1: Like you said, you created it by the way you
26:54
Speaker 1: were said some things and you didn't realize I'm actually
26:56
Speaker 1: creating it. But that's not the culture I actually really
26:58
Speaker 1: want at the end of the day. Right, And you're
27:01
Speaker 1: helping the business that there's get clear on their values
27:04
Speaker 1: and what do the how do they want to how
27:06
Speaker 1: do they want this to show up in the organization?
27:08
Speaker 3: Right.
27:09
Speaker 2: Absolutely, We've had some phenomenal speakers on culture. And and
27:14
Speaker 2: I've had a mind shift on culture. I I beck
27:20
Speaker 2: when I was in day to day operations, I thought
27:23
Speaker 2: culture just kind of happened, and you kind of you
27:27
Speaker 2: maybe you suayed or influenced it a little bit. But
27:29
Speaker 2: now I am an undestink. Culture is intentional and culture
27:34
Speaker 2: is simply a collection of beliefs and values that translate
27:42
Speaker 2: into behaviors. And it's up to the leader. And I've
27:47
Speaker 2: learned this. It's the leader who says, here are the
27:49
Speaker 2: acceptable and endorsed behaviors I want in this organization. This
27:54
Speaker 2: is how we're going to treat each other. This is
27:57
Speaker 2: how we're going to treat customers, this is how we're
27:59
Speaker 2: going to treats uh. And it's not just a word
28:03
Speaker 2: or phrase. They're actual long paragraphs in detail. So there's
28:07
Speaker 2: no question this. And I have this in my vistage group.
28:11
Speaker 2: We they're called fundamentals. This is what we believe and
28:16
Speaker 2: this is how we're going to behave as a group.
28:20
Speaker 2: And we we recite uh, we recite one or two
28:24
Speaker 2: every time we meet because we have to hash it
28:27
Speaker 2: in this is this is how we are going to
28:29
Speaker 2: act as a group. And so I believe culture is
28:32
Speaker 2: one of the most important parts of any organization and company.
28:38
Speaker 2: It defines who you are, how you're going to act,
28:40
Speaker 2: how you're going to behave across the board, and everybody
28:44
Speaker 2: has to buy in. And I also learned David also
28:47
Speaker 2: learned this. I had to speak. I had a speaker said,
28:51
Speaker 2: any exception will define your culture. For example, well, this
28:56
Speaker 2: is our culture, this is how we behave except except
28:59
Speaker 2: for Ted who's been there twenty five years, or or
29:03
Speaker 2: Susie who's the owner's daughter. With no no. It has
29:09
Speaker 2: to be consistent, intentional throughout. Any exception throws out everything.
29:16
Speaker 1: You're you're, I hear, I hear you, Jim, and that
29:19
Speaker 1: I think, I think business owners just to your point,
29:22
Speaker 1: I think it's very common. I found this think, well,
29:24
Speaker 1: it will just happen, and it's you're, you're, you're saying
29:28
Speaker 1: like we have to recite these every time we come
29:30
Speaker 1: back in and I know you're it's I like to
29:33
Speaker 1: I like to say this. I've been married twenty years now,
29:35
Speaker 1: but I I don't just tell my wife I lover
29:37
Speaker 1: once and that's it, right. It's a repeating reminder of
29:40
Speaker 1: like what it is. And I think they sometimes they went, well, well,
29:42
Speaker 1: can we just set it and forget it, and it's
29:44
Speaker 1: just it just it doesn't work that way, jam right.
29:46
Speaker 3: It just that's one of my experience absolutely.
29:50
Speaker 2: So the SpeakIt came in and share this awesome wisdom
29:55
Speaker 2: about culture. He told us he really learned it from
29:58
Speaker 2: the Four Seasons reason, okay, And he said, you know,
30:02
Speaker 2: you know how big they are, how many properties they have,
30:05
Speaker 2: and they have like thirty one of these what they
30:09
Speaker 2: call fundamentals, and it's a paragraph how we act and
30:13
Speaker 2: throughout the organization. On this week, we're all on fundamental six.
30:18
Speaker 2: From housekeeping has their staff meeting, to maintenance has their
30:23
Speaker 2: staff meeting, to the you know, the front desk has
30:27
Speaker 2: their staff, and they're all on number six. And they
30:31
Speaker 2: and they will ask somebody like a house the head
30:34
Speaker 2: of housekeeping, the last housekeeper, what do you what do
30:37
Speaker 2: you think of number six? Give me an example of that.
30:40
Speaker 2: And then when they get through all thirty one, they
30:42
Speaker 2: start back at number one, and the whole companies on
30:45
Speaker 2: the same fundamental the same week at the same time.
30:49
Speaker 2: And therefore when new employees come in, they just get
30:53
Speaker 2: into the cycle. And they said, this is how we behave.
30:57
Speaker 2: And I was telling somebody the other day. I hadn't
30:59
Speaker 2: really thought about it. When you go to a Four
31:01
Speaker 2: Seasons and say, excuse me, could you show me where
31:03
Speaker 2: the restroom is? They say, certainly follow me, because that's
31:09
Speaker 2: one of their fundamentals. You don't just tell them you
31:13
Speaker 2: escort them. That's a behavior and absolutely that I tell
31:20
Speaker 2: my members. Boy, if you can master culture and behaviors
31:23
Speaker 2: and you get everybody behaving and thinking the same way,
31:26
Speaker 2: it's gonna make your life and job as a leader
31:30
Speaker 2: so much easier.
31:31
Speaker 1: Well, I would say, Jim, I mean that to me
31:33
Speaker 1: goes to what you're saying, unconventional thinging or being a
31:35
Speaker 1: dominated company. How can you be if your service or
31:39
Speaker 1: product is very similar to somebody else? How do you
31:41
Speaker 1: distinguish yourself? And I think what you're saying I'm hearing
31:44
Speaker 1: is the culture, right, you can distinguish yourself. You can
31:46
Speaker 1: have a competitive advantage in the marketplace because you have
31:49
Speaker 1: a unified team and then their experiences like whether you
31:53
Speaker 1: go to whatever the Four Seasons or if I go
31:56
Speaker 1: to Chick fil A or whatever, I'm gonna have a
31:58
Speaker 1: very similar experience there.
32:00
Speaker 3: Right Bingo, Bingle.
32:03
Speaker 2: They don't say you're welcome, they say, my pleasure that's
32:07
Speaker 2: part of their culture. And a real quick story. I've
32:11
Speaker 2: got a member who runs an organization of safety professionals.
32:16
Speaker 2: So on a job site, when you have fifty construction workers,
32:19
Speaker 2: you have to have one safety professional. And so his
32:23
Speaker 2: job is to place these safety professionals with general contractors
32:28
Speaker 2: from job sites. And he now takes his fundamental behaviors
32:34
Speaker 2: on that sales call and with a general contractor, he
32:38
Speaker 2: hands it to him and says, let me tell you
32:40
Speaker 2: what the person I'm going to place with you, what
32:43
Speaker 2: he believes and how they're going to act and behave,
32:46
Speaker 2: and if they don't, he won't be with our company more.
32:49
Speaker 2: And I said, there isn't anybody you're competing with who
32:52
Speaker 2: is going to share that with a general contractor, say,
32:55
Speaker 2: let me show you what the kind of person we're
32:57
Speaker 2: going to place with you, what they believe in act,
32:58
Speaker 2: And I said, that will get you more business because
33:02
Speaker 2: you're selling your culture to your customer.
33:07
Speaker 1: Oh man, Jim, I know we're getting the into the podcast.
33:09
Speaker 1: This has been great having you here today. You're sharing
33:12
Speaker 1: some awesome wisdom. You know, what really aligned aligned with
33:17
Speaker 1: me is believing that leadership is really about people, that
33:20
Speaker 1: that that coaching and inspiring them to you know, together
33:24
Speaker 1: to do that meaningful work.
33:26
Speaker 3: And you covered a.
33:27
Speaker 1: Lot today on the podcast, but I always like to
33:30
Speaker 1: give our guests an opportunity if they you know, the
33:32
Speaker 1: last nugget or takeaway that if you're they're listening and
33:35
Speaker 1: they're not in a group, if they're not in a
33:37
Speaker 1: space right now, Jim, uh, and they're hearing this a
33:39
Speaker 1: business leader owner, what would you say to them that
33:43
Speaker 1: they're they're hearing your voice to hear on the podcast today?
33:45
Speaker 3: What what? What would you advice would you get to them?
33:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, my advice is this. There's an old African proverb
33:50
Speaker 2: that goes like this. If you want to go fast,
33:54
Speaker 2: go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
33:59
Speaker 2: And I don't care if it's a mentor a coach,
34:03
Speaker 2: a peer group, don't go it along. It's a rocky road.
34:10
Speaker 2: There's lots of bumps and curves, and when you have
34:13
Speaker 2: somebody else in your life that you can talk to,
34:16
Speaker 2: that you trust, it's going to be easier journey than otherwise.
34:21
Speaker 2: That's my piece of advice.
34:23
Speaker 3: Oh, I love that, Jim.
34:25
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you being here on the podcast, just
34:28
Speaker 1: dropping some knowledge and some gold with us today. This
34:31
Speaker 1: is is very fortunate to have you as a chair
34:33
Speaker 1: and if you guys are in the Kansas City are
34:34
Speaker 1: you got to get together with Jim out there.
34:37
Speaker 3: Thank you so much Jim for being with us on
34:39
Speaker 3: the podcast today.
34:40
Speaker 2: David, thank you for what you do man. You shared
34:43
Speaker 2: your wisdom with leaders. It is such an important thing
34:48
Speaker 2: to do, so thank you for doing that. Thanks for
34:49
Speaker 2: having me. It was a lot of.
34:51
Speaker 3: Fun, awesome. Thanks everybody for coming along the podcast with us.
34:55
Speaker 1: Of course we love it when you like and subscribe,
34:57
Speaker 1: whether you're watching this on YouTube or LinkedIn, leave your comments.
35:01
Speaker 3: We'll make sure that Jim gets them.
35:02
Speaker 1: Of course, we want your feedback always and share this
35:05
Speaker 1: if we found value in this and appreciate the time
35:08
Speaker 1: that we had today. Until next time, be well. Thanks
35:10
Speaker 1: again for being a part of the Business round Table podcast. Everybody,