Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Building Great Businesses for Greater Purpose: David Beasley's Journey from Goodyear to C12 Leadership

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Building Great Businesses for Greater Purpose: David Beasley's Journey from Goodyear to C12 Leadership · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:17
today's guest is David Beasley, chair of C12 Business Forums.
0:21
They are a Christian business networking and leadership
0:24
development organization that has been around for nearly three
0:28
decades. They provide leadership forms
0:30
for business owners, focusing on membership, resources and
0:34
training designed to support mission focused entrepreneurs.
0:38
Through David's guidance, C12 continues to help CE OS and
0:42
owners combine solid business practices with Christian values,
0:47
creating workplaces that inspire growth and positive change.
0:51
Before joining C12, David worked at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber
0:55
Company, serving as Vice President of Commercial Tires
0:59
for North America, where he led P&L initiatives and contributed
1:03
to significant growth and operational excellence.
1:06
His experience in managing large teams and navigating strategic
1:10
business challenges has shaped his approach to leadership.
1:14
He also helps entrepreneurs discover new ways to integrate
1:17
faith in the daily operations, resulting in inspired leadership
1:22
strategies and a strong sense of purpose.
1:25
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2:08
All right, back to our guest today, Chair of C12 Business
2:12
Forums in Northeast Ohio, David Beasley.
2:14
Thanks for making the time to Share your story today.
2:17
Thanks, Anthony. It's great to be here.
2:18
Thanks for inviting me to be online to come on board.
2:21
Yeah. So David, you spent nearly 40
2:25
years at Goodyear. What initially drew you into
2:28
that company? How did that opportunity unfold?
2:31
Yeah, that's a really good question.
2:32
You know, I graduated from College in December of 1983 and
2:39
it was not a good economic time and I had a couple
2:43
opportunities. One was Goodyear and just felt
2:47
like it was a great brand name and they afforded me an
2:51
opportunity to sell tires in a retail company owned retail
2:56
store in Cincinnati, OH. And yeah, the rest is kind of
3:00
history. 40 years later, I retired from Goodyear, but it
3:04
was an opportunity to grow with a name brand Fortune 250 company
3:08
that yeah, it was. So the opportunity came about
3:13
and, you know, a relatively difficult economic period, big
3:17
brand name. Hey, this sounds like a good way
3:19
to start my career. But what kept you there so long?
3:22
There has to be something about that company.
3:24
That. Held you.
3:25
Yeah, You know, I, I, my degree and you know, was in management
3:31
undergraduate, but with an emphasis on entrepreneurship.
3:34
My whole thought was I'll go to work for Goodyear, they'll teach
3:39
me the retail tire business, then I'll go out and start my
3:44
own Goodyear store, you know, as an independent dealer someplace.
3:49
And that was really my approach to it.
3:51
And then there was every like every two years or less, there
3:55
was just the next opportunity that Goodyear went.
3:58
So, you know, I just kind of went with each of those
4:01
opportunities and felt like it was great for my family, for my
4:07
wife and just continue to go. And as those opportunities
4:13
progressed and additional responsibilities and challenges
4:16
that went along with it, I just stood there.
4:19
But I had no no idea that I was going to spend good a career
4:25
with Goodyear. That was not my intent.
4:28
As you look back over your 40 years there, David, what
4:31
particular project or role stands out as your favorite?
4:38
Well, probably 1 was my last role, six years as, as you said,
4:43
Vice President of North American commercial.
4:45
That was a role I wanted the last 10 years of my career and
4:50
for various reasons, it came about when I didn't think it was
4:53
going to come about. We can talk about that.
4:56
And and then the role before that, when I came back from
4:59
China, I got the opportunity to lead airships, you know, the be
5:04
director of airship operations, the Goodyear blimps, right?
5:08
And that was like a great opportunity because I was a part
5:14
of the organization, was ambassadors for a company.
5:18
And quite honestly, I never had a dissatisfied customer.
5:23
Anybody that ever got the opportunity right on the
5:26
Goodyear blimp? And they're not many get to do
5:29
that. It was like they were like this
5:31
is great. I can rock this off my bucket
5:33
list. So the the fulfillment of
5:36
satisfying people's dreams, that was equally as as fine.
5:41
So in that role, your job was what exactly you're in charge of
5:45
how many blimps were there And I is it's like just a marketing
5:49
vehicle and that's kind of the role that you were in.
5:52
Yeah, no, I was director of airship operations, so yeah.
5:56
But there's three Goodyear blimps, one in Pomp at Pompano
6:00
Beach, FL, 1 in Akron, OH, 1 in Carson, CA.
6:05
So obviously strategically located and the old blimps were
6:11
were getting, they were antiquated and parts were no
6:16
longer available. So I was on board.
6:19
I came aboard not because I'm an aviations expert.
6:22
It was more by business background, high capital
6:26
project, high investment 'cause we we built, we discontinued the
6:33
old ships, built new airships with Zeppelin.
6:36
It was a joint project to build them in the United States, do
6:41
that ground support equipment, bring in new ground support
6:44
equipment, update facilities. It was a pretty extensive
6:47
project and and with that, I was worked with the pilots and the
6:53
crew just to make sure they were they they were in that
6:56
organization. My responsibility.
6:59
Those people are really the face in the ambassador's for
7:02
Goodyear. I was making sure the ship was
7:05
was where it was supposed to be. If it was covering a golf
7:08
tournament or a NASCAR race or doing a charity, a right event,
7:12
rides, whatever it may be, that was my responsibility to not
7:17
only get rid of the old ones and build new ones and christen
7:21
them, but also to make sure the operations continued at the same
7:25
time. So.
7:26
So as an outsider, how I know the Goodyear blimp is sporting
7:30
events, right? Seem up in the sky.
7:32
They're given the aerial view. Is there another purpose to them
7:35
or is is that the purpose like this?
7:37
This is a marketing vehicle. Put the name out there like a
7:40
giant floating billboard. It's a brand building.
7:44
Yeah, it's they're just a brand build people.
7:46
People equate the air Goodyear airship with, you know, with
7:51
Goodyear. And even when through the years
7:53
companies have had blimps, you know, I think maybe some, but I
7:58
have people say, well, I saw your blimp over, you know,
8:02
Philadelphia. Well, we weren't there.
8:05
It was they saw somebody else's, you know, but they equated it
8:08
was because of Goodyear. That's pretty that's pretty
8:11
strong brand recognition, you know, I mean, and it's strictly,
8:15
you know, Goodyear provides the airship, they provide the aerial
8:20
coverage, they provide the the pictures like of a golf
8:24
tournament, NASCAR, Rays, college football game, They'll
8:27
provide the the the the cameras shot down to the production
8:31
trailer for the network, whoever it may be.
8:37
So, and we do all of that for the Goodyear does all that for
8:42
all those in game advertisements, you know, they
8:45
pan up and see their aerial coverage provided by Goodyear
8:49
and then they'll give a little background to that a marketing
8:53
message that's all done like on a barter network.
8:57
We will provide this if you give us so many, it's, it's really
9:02
high value. I mean there's, it's a big
9:04
investment, but the return for that advertising is, is equally
9:10
or better actually than what we in Goodyear invest in it.
9:14
And there are only three blimps, Goodyear blimps.
9:18
And so how far can they travel? You know, you've got one in
9:22
Akron, OH. Can it go to New York City?
9:25
Oh yeah, they can travel. Even the one in California will
9:28
come come back to to Akron for maintenance and other things.
9:34
It it has to because of Rocky Mountains, it'll go the southern
9:37
loop down by Phoenix and come N but it can they can travel as
9:42
long as yeah, there's a ground crew and and and and.
9:47
What's the greatest distance it can go without having to land to
9:51
refuel or whatever? Oh yeah, yeah, it's I, that's a
9:56
good question. I, I would say probably 3 or 400
10:00
miles. I, I forget actually, it's been
10:02
a while, but they, they can go. And yeah, you, you, you refuel,
10:07
but that's not a, a problem. And you got to make sure you
10:13
have helium available because, you know, you have to either
10:19
take helium out, increase the air or increase the helium,
10:23
reduce the air. So you got to depend on what you
10:25
do. And for the height you're
10:27
flying, you got to have helium available.
10:29
But as long as you do that, it couldn't, it couldn't fly across
10:35
the Atlantic Ocean, you know, but as long as there's there's
10:39
ground, you know, they they can fly a good distance, but it's
10:44
not economical. That's the reason why Goodyear
10:46
places and where they're at. So they, you know, one of
10:49
Pompano can cover the southeastern part of the United
10:52
States, one in Akron, Midwest Northeast, and then the one in
10:57
the West covers the West Coast. And so they stopped to refuel.
11:01
Are they topping off on helium? And what kind of fuel are they
11:05
using to propel themselves? Yeah, it's just regular, regular
11:09
fuel, you know. It's like jet fuel or like
11:14
aviation. Yeah, it's, it's just normal
11:18
motors and yeah, they they top them off.
11:22
There's a each each airship blimp has has two mass trucks.
11:31
So they're they'll they'll send one ahead to where it's the
11:36
destination is. So when it lands, there will be
11:39
a crew there. It doesn't need many where they
11:41
can mast on the they they can tether on the mast and so we can
11:47
settle in there and then I'll stay on that.
11:50
And then the following morning the other one will head out.
11:53
So they kind of hop skip to support one another in the OK.
11:58
Last blimp question I swear, but it's the most important one.
12:02
How do I get a ride on one? Buy buy one at a charity event.
12:09
Goodyear does a lot of charity events and they'll be auctions,
12:12
you know, you use you. That's the best way to get one.
12:17
Goodyear will give rides to support organic, you know,
12:21
wherever they are in in the country to support a charity
12:25
auction event. They're usually at science
12:27
silent auctions, silent events, and yeah, so.
12:32
You don't have a string that you can pull for me.
12:34
Is what you're saying? No, I've been asked that a lot.
12:37
I've been. Asked that you got a long list
12:39
there. I lost, I lost any cred I had
12:42
and he went over. I retired.
12:45
If I even called now, they would say Dave, who you know or met
12:49
for you so. So what was the most challenging
12:52
project that you undertook there?
12:55
That that was the new airships. Yeah, that was it.
12:59
Building them. I I would say even more so.
13:04
It was the change from the, the ground support equipment.
13:11
Our people and the pilots were used to flying and operating one
13:15
style of airship, the old blimps, to the new one.
13:19
And for them to change and to learn.
13:22
Many had been been there 20 years and or more.
13:25
They'd done something that was a tough transition for them.
13:29
That whole change process right of of relearning and and what
13:35
went well on the old one doesn't mean it's going to work well for
13:39
a new the new airship. That was probably more so than
13:43
than building them and retiring them.
13:46
Although there were some challenges there, it was that
13:50
change the change process. Where there's some of the the
13:53
pilots and the the other crew that maybe didn't make the
13:57
transition, they were like, I'm out like this.
13:59
Yeah, I'm not doing this. Right.
14:01
We had some that lead left or retired just Hey, Dave, at this
14:07
point in my career, I don't want to totally get it, understand
14:12
it. Yeah.
14:14
You know, I just, you know, I'm not interested in investing the
14:18
time and yeah. So I want to hear a little bit
14:22
about the decision to enter the China tire factory market.
14:28
What was the original vision there?
14:31
What made this such an interesting idea for Goodyear?
14:34
Yeah, You know, it was, I wasn't looking for that opportunity.
14:38
You know, I, I, I really wasn't looking for any opportunities
14:44
that came up with Goodyear. They just kind of came up, you
14:47
know, just as I know, I always tell people, you know the work
14:53
for me, Don't worry about the next job or do your current job
14:57
really well. The next job will happen.
14:59
You know, you don't have to worry.
15:00
Don't plan for it, don't orchestrate it and.
15:04
Meaning like some people are sort of like jockeying
15:06
positioning for what's next and maybe losing sight of what they
15:12
need to be doing right now. Exactly, exactly.
15:15
You know, But so you know, Goodyear came to me at that
15:19
time, Goodyear was not producing truck tires in China.
15:23
We weren't involved in the truck tire market in China.
15:27
Goodyear was relocating a factory in northeast China,
15:31
further northeast, and it was a consumer tire factory.
15:35
So you think of consumer tires, auto and light truck tires that
15:39
we drive around on and our cars and all that.
15:43
And there was a decision made is supported, you know, by
15:48
executive management, the board to build at the same time a
15:52
truck tire factory in at this same location and enter the
15:57
truck tire market in China. And as that factory was being
16:02
built, they, they came to me and said, Hey, you know, I was at
16:07
that time, I was kind of known as a truck tire expert in
16:10
Goodyear because I'd spent so much time in that industry
16:13
market that he'd come and and run the Asia Pacific truck tire
16:18
business, get us started in, in China.
16:21
And I showed up and my goal was to connect the marketplace back
16:25
to the factory. That was that was it.
16:28
But there was no one there. We had one supply chain person
16:32
that was we started importing some tires.
16:35
Goodyear did at that time and just to see the market and so
16:42
built a built a sales team, built a marketing team, supply
16:46
chain team, finance team, built all those, those functional
16:50
components to support the business organizationally.
16:55
And and also just learning the market, learning the culture
17:01
because the way that the market, the tire market was, is done in
17:05
China is totally different in how it's done in in the United
17:08
States. How so?
17:10
Yeah. So how?
17:13
How is it so different? Yeah, No, it in it's two step
17:19
distribution. We have some of that in the
17:21
United States, two step distribution in in China.
17:25
So you have as a manufacturer sells sells tires to a
17:29
distributor. A distributor then sells tires
17:32
to a retailer, but also the distributor actually funds the
17:37
retailer to get them started. Like the tires are on
17:42
consignment almost. Consignment, they may even, you
17:46
know, find them a location support that do all of that to
17:50
get them in business to help them grow.
17:53
And then they'll they'll have some type of relationship versus
17:58
and then the retailer then has the relationship with the fleet
18:03
in the United States. It's really one step
18:06
distribution manufacturer to the retailer servicing dealer than
18:10
to the fleet. And many times the manufacturer
18:13
has a relationship with the fleet that they drive the the
18:17
fleet to that retail location. So much more sophisticated in
18:21
North America than what it was in China.
18:24
And that was a learning for me. You know, that was things I had
18:28
to. Learn.
18:29
Yeah, didn't, didn't have that understanding of how the market
18:34
was done. Had to learn it pretty quick and
18:37
yeah. How well did it go?
18:39
Were you guys able to penetrate the market?
18:41
Yeah, we went, yeah, went well and and penetrate we were late
18:46
to the market. Part of my challenge, Anthony,
18:49
was Goodyear thought at the time the business case it was, it was
18:55
going to grow really rapidly. And I, I had to go in and say
18:59
after investigating some things, being late to the market, some
19:04
other things that hey, we can grow, but we won't grow at the
19:08
rate that was in the business case.
19:11
And that was a little bit of a change and more than a little
19:13
bit. That was a big challenge for
19:15
Goodyear because they went in under one assumption and I
19:18
delivered a message that was different.
19:21
And that was a challenge, Anthony.
19:23
I mean that, I mean, that was that was the hardest time in my
19:31
career going through those three years in China, but feeling like
19:36
I disappointed people and needed to needed to tell the message of
19:41
what we reality was. But the difficulty of the
19:44
aftermath, once that's communicated, yeah, that was a
19:50
trying, trying time for me. What was the most difficult part
19:54
in trying to hit the anticipated numbers?
19:57
Was it that you just didn't understand that distribution
20:00
network at 1st and so, oh, you thought, oh, we're going to go
20:04
sell right to the retailers and you're like, Oh no, actually our
20:06
plan needs to change radically and we need to develop a
20:09
relationship with the distributors.
20:11
Yeah, that was part of it. But the the other part of it was
20:19
there's a lot of state owned enterprises, truck tires
20:24
manufacturers in China that were state owned that were supported
20:28
by them that they were going to do whatever.
20:31
They weren't going to give up easily market share.
20:35
That was a part of it. They were supported by the
20:39
government, right, Communist country and all of that.
20:43
That was a challenge and just the fact that we were late,
20:47
right, other people had brands had reputations marketing.
20:53
We, we developed a high quality North American type truck tire
20:58
that wasn't as valued in the Chinese market.
21:02
So they weren't looking at at quality.
21:06
They ran tires to destruction, low acquisition cost versus we
21:11
sold on total cost of ownership. So you can get that and you can
21:16
stay with that quality image, but it takes time.
21:20
It's not going to be as rapid. It's going to take time to get
21:22
there. It was those type of things that
21:24
said, hey, we can grow, we can get there, but it's just going
21:30
to take time. I want to understand more about
21:33
the difference between the tires themselves.
21:35
You're saying that you guys focus more on total cost of
21:39
ownership Chinese tires, you drive them to destruction.
21:44
If are people not driving Goodyear tires to destruction,
21:47
is there another alternative? Yeah, in the in the truck tire
21:51
market in North America, right, You'll sell a new tire to a a
21:57
fleet and depending on how the fleet cares for that tire, it
22:02
will be retreaded multiple times depending on the type of
22:05
operation. And I'm so rough numbers, if you
22:09
sell a, a new tire for $400.00 and a retread sells for $200,
22:16
will you, you can buy a new tire for 100.
22:19
You can buy 1A lesser quality for maybe $300.00.
22:24
But you can get multiple retreads at half that price of
22:27
$400.00 too. So over the life of that, of
22:31
that whole casing, that original casing of that tire, you
22:36
actually total cost of ownership is less.
22:39
The problem is in China, retreading wasn't there and they
22:43
didn't value it. You know, they didn't value the
22:46
fleets didn't value retreating except in some specialized
22:50
markets. They just were focused on.
22:53
I can get this tire at less price than yours.
22:56
Was there any thought about Goodyear shifting its approach
22:59
to what China was accustomed to? Yeah, certainly there was.
23:05
But you know and and things that may be a change since I left
23:10
that market back. Well now it's been 12 years ago,
23:14
but 13 years ago. But Goodyear's a quality brand
23:21
and whether we are in the globe, we wanted to keep that quality
23:25
brand. Goodyear had been there in the
23:28
market on consumer tires, one of the first to enter.
23:31
We were focused on quality that was it premium products.
23:37
So you don't want to downgrade your your brand in the consumer
23:42
market that's being original equipment on, you know, on a
23:46
high end vehicle in China. So there's a lot of things at
23:52
play for Goodyear when they make that decision.
23:55
And point is, protecting that brand name is really important
24:00
and what's best ultimately for the customer.
24:03
But you have an education problem there, don't you?
24:05
When everybody is brought up, they've been raised to, you
24:09
know, find the cheapest tire and just drive it till it splits.
24:13
And you guys are like, hey, there's a better way that
24:16
there's, there's there's a knowledge gap there that that
24:18
education is painful like, And how did you approach that?
24:21
Like, did you find a good mechanism to sort of like train
24:25
people to understand that there was a better approach?
24:28
Well, you had and you're right, it's the training which equates
24:32
to time, right? It takes time.
24:35
And yeah, you'd have to give, give our salespeople, you know,
24:40
the Goodyear salespeople, the company owned salespeople, tools
24:45
to help them show, you know, the life of a tire.
24:49
What, what, how many miles you get out of that tire with the
24:52
life of of training. Once you do retread it once all
24:56
that some success stories testimonials of customers in
25:00
China that have done that right that have are now buying
25:05
Goodyear new tires reach and how they're getting back.
25:08
So you got to communicate that and re educate them and give
25:12
tools to your sales people that truly demonstrates that value
25:18
over time right on that fleet and holding having fleets give
25:24
their testimonials is a big is a big powerful tool.
25:28
So. So what was behind the decision
25:31
to retire and did it happen concurrently with the decision
25:37
to join C12? Yeah, yeah.
25:39
No, it's a good question. So when I came out of China,
25:43
they've talked about it was a difficult time.
25:46
And I really was like, God, why did you, why did you send me
25:50
there? I thought you wanted me to go
25:52
there was so hard and really, you know, was really led to
25:58
that. You know, God sent me there
26:00
because I did wasn't really following him.
26:03
So when I had the opportunity to lead the North American truck
26:07
tire business, I just really relished that and.
26:12
That was when you came back from China.
26:14
Yeah, that was the last six years.
26:16
Yeah. I came back from China, did the
26:18
airship operations job, and then led the North American truck
26:22
tire business. And the last two years my wife
26:27
and I were just feeling like God was calling us away from
26:31
Goodyear. But to what?
26:33
I wasn't just going to stop. I wanted to have something to go
26:36
to and out of China. I just really had a lot of
26:41
interest in in glorifying God through my work and how business
26:48
can really be used as a tool to to help people not only
26:57
spiritually, but emotionally and physically.
26:59
Business done well can really make an impact in the
27:04
communities where it has that business operates up.
27:07
I knew that it believed it and just happened to have coffee
27:12
with a couple guys and a person came up said, Hey, I just met
27:17
the CEO of C12. He's they're looking for a you
27:20
know, it's someone to operate in as a franchise in Northeast
27:26
Ohio. Been praying about you guys know
27:28
of anybody I didn't know that C12 you know, and to ask some
27:33
questions enough to intrigue and, you know, the mission to
27:37
grow great businesses for a greater purpose appealed to me
27:41
and just align with my personal passion.
27:45
And that's yeah, that's did my due diligence.
27:49
They did the due diligence on me and came on board, so it's.
27:53
So explain more about what C12 is, what it does, who the
27:56
members are, how you help them. Yeah, yeah.
28:00
We, we work with Christian business owners, business
28:04
leaders, you know who, who run the PNL, you know, control the
28:09
culture of the company, you know, control their calendar.
28:12
They're the, they're the leaders of the organization and we do
28:17
that to help them grow great businesses for greater purpose.
28:20
Well, great businesses. We want every business to be
28:24
financially strong, to be high quality in terms of product
28:28
service, you know, supply chain, efficiency, cost leadership, all
28:35
of those things, high employee engagement.
28:37
We want great businesses for a greater purpose and that's to
28:41
glorify God. How do you take your faith as a
28:44
Christian business owner and lead a business well for God's,
28:49
for God's glory and to in that process impact people's lives?
28:56
And that's that's what C12 is. And we walk alongside in a peer
29:00
group advisory format. So C12 Christian 12, typically
29:04
12 Christian business owners and a peer Advisory Board.
29:08
We meet once a month, all day. And we asked them not to not to
29:14
focus on working in the business, but focus on the
29:17
business for that one day. And yeah, it's, it's impactful.
29:22
And So what actually takes place in one of these meetings?
29:24
What? What are the discussions like?
29:26
Yeah, the discussions are great right at the the real value is
29:30
in accountability and collaboration around great
29:36
resources and great input. So we spend the morning going
29:42
through a curriculum for, for instance, last month was around
29:48
strategic planning, using strategic planning for 2026.
29:53
Every September, we help the business owner and these are
29:56
typically they can be public, publicly held company.
29:59
But a typical C12 business owners 20 million in annual
30:04
revenue. We say it can go down to 2
30:06
million and at least 10 employees.
30:09
The key is she had of a leadership team.
30:11
It doesn't work for a sole proprietor.
30:15
And you know, we, we want them to do strategic planning to lead
30:20
A-Team. We talked to previous month
30:22
about cost leadership, not reactively managing costs if
30:27
you're in crisis or heading to crisis, but how do you manage
30:31
proactively your cost structure so that you can weather the
30:35
difficult times that come come about in business?
30:39
We talked about that. We give them tools.
30:41
That's part of the morning session.
30:43
We also talked about how how you can minister to your employees
30:46
setting up care teams. You know that that really helps
30:51
the employees and it's not care teams from the leadership team,
30:55
It's people that work in the organization that know of of
30:59
issues that people are in crisis.
31:01
How do you help them care houses company care for an employee
31:06
that needs needs help during crisis.
31:09
And we we work with them and how to set up a care team, how to
31:13
fund a care team. And we do those are just
31:16
examples. So that's the morning and then
31:20
the afternoon is 12 members every once a one month out of
31:26
the year. Each member is a focus.
31:28
They do a, a business overview of their business where they
31:32
stand, look at their PNL and their balance sheet and they
31:36
have two questions that they really need help with.
31:40
And they use the peer advisories as a board of directors, board
31:44
of advisors to provide input to them that they have, you know,
31:50
in their business and their questions.
31:52
And also the members, two members interview that business
31:58
owner that for that month, their leadership team as well as their
32:02
spouse, if their spouse wants it.
32:04
And we provide them feedback on how's the culture of the
32:07
organization, what's your leadership strengths?
32:10
What's your leadership blind spots?
32:13
You know what, what are some things that you really don't
32:16
know about the organization, but but should know?
32:19
It's not punitive. It's there to help the peers, to
32:22
help that business owner. And then we're also concerned
32:25
about the leaders, business owners, work life balance.
32:29
And part of that is self assessments every month that we
32:33
asked them to do it. And then we also asked the
32:35
spouse, how are they doing at home?
32:38
How are they loving? So we, we do that and that's
32:41
part of the, the, that afternoon session.
32:44
And then the final hour of the day is, is open for him.
32:49
What one topic that you need help with that you, you got 11
32:54
other peers at the table that can help give you.
32:57
Maybe they've gone through it, they can provide you insights,
33:00
or they know someone, or they can just provide your opinion.
33:05
And then at the end of the day, we say talk is great, but it's
33:09
cheap. Doing is better than talk.
33:13
What are they, 1-2 or three things you're going to do
33:16
between now and the next meeting to help change your trajectory
33:21
personally or professionally? And that's that's the day in a
33:26
nutshell. There's a lot of tools done in
33:28
that. And yeah, I just have the
33:31
privilege to walk alongside these guys and to help them and
33:35
men and women and they want to get better and lead better, but
33:39
organizations and and then I meet one-on-one coaching with
33:43
them throughout the month as well.
33:45
OK, what you're describing sounds like a fantastic kind of
33:50
mastermind setup, right? I'm wondering how faith gets
33:56
infused into this process. Is it more of like a subtle
34:01
undercurrent and because everybody there is of the same
34:04
belief system, they're all Christians, that you just feel
34:08
like you're supporting each other and sort of a, you know, a
34:11
greater cause and purpose. Or does some of the coaching
34:16
actually involve becoming stronger in your faith?
34:20
Or is it even go so far as to here's how to demonstrate your
34:26
faith to your employees and your Co workers?
34:29
Or kind of help me understand that.
34:31
It's all of it's all of that, you know, in the morning, we
34:36
start off every day with a devotional and we'll, we'll,
34:40
we'll pray for people. We'd like that, that, that month
34:44
that the, the, the business owner, that's their month.
34:48
We actually pray for them, pray for their business.
34:52
We have a ministry topic every month that we talked about.
34:56
We do strategic planning, but it's based on a balance
35:00
scorecard, right? Five elements.
35:04
That's revenue generation. We want you to set up goals for
35:08
revenue for one year, three-year, five years or
35:12
development, operation management, financial
35:15
management, but also ministry. What are your goals around
35:18
ministry for your organization? We want, we want to help you
35:22
meet those goals. We do that.
35:25
We encourage people there's a there is some accountability
35:29
that make sure you do what you say you're going to do.
35:31
Let your yes be yes and your no be no and yeah.
35:36
It, it's, it's interwoven throughout the day.
35:39
It's not separate, but it's inner woman throughout the day
35:43
and how we pray for people and one another and care for one
35:46
another, challenge one another. Hey, what does the Bible have to
35:52
say about how to handle this employee problem that you're
35:59
bringing up or whatever it may be?
36:02
So yeah. Can you talk more about the
36:05
ministry component and what that looks like?
36:07
What does that coaching look like?
36:09
What does it look like for your members to go and deliver that?
36:13
Yeah. So it may be, you know, it may
36:17
be the ministry portion maybe as such as generosity programs.
36:24
Hey, I want to my goal next year is to take 10% of my profits and
36:30
give them to a charity that will, you know, help others.
36:35
Christ will be honored help missions, whatever it may be to
36:40
Hey, I'm company will sponsor a mission trip and help people in
36:44
the local community or wherever may do that.
36:48
We encourage, you know, members to have a chaplaincy program to
36:54
to have a chaplain wander your shop floor or your your office
36:58
just to develop relationships. People are going through hard
37:02
times, typically don't want to share that to the owner of the
37:06
boss, but someone who's developed a relationship with
37:10
they, they will share their difficult times confidentially.
37:14
That person will help them and that's just there to care for a
37:17
person. Ministry could be dream dream
37:20
manager programs where you know the Matthew Kelly's book around
37:25
dream manager of Hey, not only people in crisis, but what are
37:30
your goals? What do you want to do?
37:32
I want to own a house. Well, let's get there's a lot of
37:37
you. Let's get a a mortgage banker or
37:42
or a real estate person to come in and talk about how what do
37:46
you need to do? What are some resources for you
37:49
to to own a house and to accomplish that gold that that's
37:54
it. We want to set up a care team.
37:56
We actually want to care for our people, right?
37:59
And we want to operate things and those those are just tools
38:03
that people can use that and and also like the other thing around
38:10
like people want to work for a company that has a purpose.
38:13
Like be clear on your purpose, on what do you want to
38:16
accomplish, right. And let's, let's be clear around
38:20
mission, vision, core values so that you actually live them.
38:23
Not that there are slogans on the, on the wall, but you're,
38:26
you actually, that's who we want to be.
38:28
That's who we are. And that's what we do.
38:31
That's what we aspire to be. The all of those things, you
38:34
know, so we, we just help them with that.
38:37
It's a journey, you know, it's not typical C12 member is on is
38:42
a member for at least five years and we have some that are been
38:47
members for much longer. It's just it's you don't
38:50
graduate. It's a journey.
38:51
It's a, you know, way of improvement.
38:55
You know, you've got a front row seat to what a lot of
38:58
businesses, business owners are going through.
39:01
Is there a common thread? Maybe what's the biggest, most
39:04
common hurdle that you see business leaders dealing with?
39:08
Yeah, good, great question. Most of these entrepreneurs,
39:12
business owners, you know, they've started the business.
39:17
They the business is them, right?
39:20
They know the business in and out.
39:22
The business thing grows and all of a sudden they're the
39:26
bottleneck because they don't want to give up anything they
39:30
they know. And it's like that transition,
39:35
not just being an operator of the business, but actually being
39:38
a leader of the business. And that's a tough transition.
39:42
You know, you know, to to really think about where the business
39:47
is and strategically to step back and that change a role,
39:51
Anthony is so hard. Some some business owners just
39:54
don't want to do that. And there's I just kept my
39:57
growth because I don't want to do that.
39:59
I don't want to grow anymore. OK, but.
40:04
There, there is a way for you to help and there's a lot of people
40:07
that talk about that change, right?
40:10
That that can help you go through that.
40:13
And hey, we don't make all the right business decisions or
40:18
decisions in life, but you can adjust, you can improve and and
40:22
you can get there. If that's your goal, what's your
40:24
goal? So, you know, it, it brings up
40:27
an interesting thought because I've talked with a lot of folks
40:29
and making that transition from founder who's wearing, you know,
40:33
12 hats to now I'm going to build a company that's got, you
40:38
know, layers to it, you know, leadership structure it it's
40:41
really hard. And it's not always the case
40:45
that the founder mentality is the same kind of mentality to
40:50
continue to lead the company in to sort of that next phase.
40:55
Have you identified, are there personality traits that are sort
40:59
of common amongst the people who are able to make that
41:03
transition? Yeah, that's a good question.
41:07
I know 1 trade is what's your worth, what's your identity
41:13
found in right. Some people get worth out of
41:19
being the CEO and CEO mean chief everything officer, right, They
41:24
know it all right, and they don't want to give that up.
41:27
That's that's I get worth in that right.
41:30
It gives me value. Well, Oh yeah, I understand
41:35
that. But there's, there's a greater
41:37
value if you can help others feel that and others that take
41:44
that ownership and work alongside you.
41:46
Wouldn't that be even more powerful if you had a group of
41:49
people in your business that really had equal ownership and
41:56
got that value from growing the company and, and knowing it and
42:00
for you to see them take on that role, wouldn't that be equally
42:06
as valuable? But that's a tough transition.
42:09
Those words are easy. Anthony, you, I, I know you know
42:12
that because you asked the question, but how do you get
42:16
there? And we'll help you get there,
42:18
right? There's people out there will
42:19
help you, not just C12. There's others that will help
42:22
you if you want to get there. David, whether it's that kind of
42:26
transition that you're helping somebody through or something
42:28
completely different, it'd be really interesting for listeners
42:32
to hear about, I guess, specific case study like here's a member,
42:36
here's a situation that they had, and here's how we were able
42:39
to help them and what the end result was.
42:42
Yeah, yeah. No, it's good.
42:44
I, I got a member that owns 5 franchises, mortgage banking,
42:51
mortgage lending franchises. And you know, he's like a
42:55
typical small business owner. He's never did strategic
43:00
planning, never had mission, vision, core values.
43:04
He just, it was always, how am I doing versus last year?
43:08
Right? I'm doing better.
43:09
Great. OK, well, last year he became
43:13
AC12 member and just kind of, and he along with his leadership
43:17
team, he worked really hard at developing Mission Vision core
43:22
values didn't have it. And the, the peer advisor group
43:27
really helped him. He would bring his ideas to the
43:30
group and use them in open forum and they, they would beat him
43:33
up, you know, sending back, you know, bloody I'm being
43:37
facetious, you know, and he would come back and over the
43:40
course of about four months, he really got a mission Vision,
43:46
core values that he owned. He he, he owned.
43:52
And not only that, his leadership team owned, right?
43:56
It's it's part of who they are. Many did strategic planning,
44:00
right? What do we want to accomplish?
44:03
What do we want to accomplish from goals?
44:06
And what all should we, what should our focus be on?
44:08
And they, they laid those goals out and then looked at at
44:12
ministry. Well, we're generous, but we
44:15
really want to focus on these three ministries and, and put
44:20
our resources and our profits around supporting these
44:23
ministries. And now they're being recognized
44:27
this year for all their contributions to that community
44:32
and how they've supported that in in.
44:35
He's going to be at a national event and will be recognized on
44:38
stage for just for just caring for his community and, and doing
44:43
that well. And his business is growing.
44:46
He, he's going through difficult times, but because he's, he's
44:50
now focused on things much broader than OK, if, if business
44:57
is tough this month, like I didn't mind my sales goal.
45:01
I got other positive things going on here, right.
45:04
And the people have even greater purpose.
45:08
And it's just a great testimony of a guy that he's just saw they
45:12
need and said, I'm I'm just going to start putting in the
45:15
hard work. And he's being recognized next
45:18
month. And just for caring for his
45:21
employees, caring for people in his community.
45:24
And I can see light up as you talk about that.
45:25
That's clearly a very rewarding thing for you to witness, be a
45:29
part of. It Yeah, and it's him, you know,
45:31
I, I, my goal is just I have the privilege to walk alongside this
45:36
guy and see how God works in his life and how, you know, he works
45:41
in his business and how he leads.
45:42
Well, it's just, it's a privilege just to be able to to
45:47
sit there and, and see that work happen.
45:50
So. David, what's a serious
45:52
challenge that you had to overcome in your life, whether
45:55
it's professional or personal? How did you get through that and
45:58
what did you learn? Yeah, I'm going to get real,
46:03
real personal. You know, I when I were when I
46:09
was leaving Goodyear, my wife, such a wise person, she came to
46:15
me and said, Dave, you, you, you need to get some counseling.
46:19
I if you're going to help people, I think you got some
46:22
things that you need to work through And and I was like, OK,
46:28
and we have good friends and they said, you know, spend a
46:32
week go out to do an intensive see she would.
46:34
I was honored for her to come along.
46:36
I thought I went because I had an anger issue, not that I
46:40
outburst. It was more pent up right anger,
46:45
But what I came to realize is, and still obviously it's not a
46:50
one and done, but is that, you know, I grew up in a in a
46:55
performance based household. My my parents are great people,
47:01
but like there was a lot of love and appreciation for what I did,
47:06
what I accomplished. So I became focused on my worth
47:12
as a person was what I did. And what I learned going through
47:17
that counseling was I didn't have a anger problem.
47:20
My value was placed in that. And then I started seeing no, I,
47:27
I serve a God who, who loves me for who I am, not for what I do.
47:33
What's more important is who I am as a person.
47:39
Not not the things that I do are my accomplishments, because
47:44
those things will go away over time or somebody will do
47:48
something better. But, and, and that was just
47:55
Anthony, you know, I'm continually and I encourage
47:58
because I deal with people that are type A personalities,
48:02
business owners, right? They're really focused on
48:04
results and making things happen.
48:07
And those are all important. Results matter.
48:10
No, no, you know, I tell people you can't have mission without
48:15
margin, right? So you can results matter if you
48:19
we want you to have mission, but if you don't have the margin,
48:22
you don't, you won't have the mission.
48:24
So you know, and it's just, but at the end of the day, you're
48:31
still an individual loved by Jesus, even if your business
48:37
fails, even if you're going through difficult times.
48:41
And for me, that that was just a light bulb moment.
48:45
Knowing it that that here, but knowing it here made all the
48:52
difference in my life. And that's a big challenge.
48:54
I tend to fall back in my old ways.
48:57
But yeah, that's real personal. But.
49:03
I want to explore this for a moment because it's an
49:05
interesting point. And as an entrepreneur type A
49:08
person myself, it's something that I've wrestled with.
49:11
You know, if my wife were listening to this right now,
49:13
she'd, you know, be pointing the finger right at me.
49:16
And it's one thing to like recognize it up here and for
49:19
people who aren't watching, I'm pointing to my brain, my head.
49:23
But then to to be able to sort of embody that in your whole
49:26
being and in your heart is a different step, right?
49:29
You'd sit here and say the words.
49:31
The words are easy, as you, you know, said earlier.
49:35
But but how did that light bulb moment go from, you know, sort
49:39
of conceptually I understand that I am more than my
49:41
accomplishments to actually feeling that.
49:44
Yeah, yeah, it's a good question.
49:49
I, I, it was in a time of, of prayer.
49:53
I mean, listen, I'm a follower of Christ.
49:56
And yeah, I, you know, I, I really, it was a time when I was
50:04
in deep prayer that I really saw and when I was struggling with
50:10
this in my heart, Jesus smile at me.
50:18
And that it was a smile of love and it was a exponential in, in
50:29
how I experienced it. But that experience changed me.
50:36
It it changed me in a deep way that the God of the universe
50:43
loves me as a person, as a follower of him when I was and
50:49
wasn't he, he would still love me.
50:51
And that that that changed it from here to here, just seeing
50:58
that. And yeah, it meant all the
51:03
difference in my in my life and yeah, what I do today.
51:08
And I share that testimony. I shared it let this past month
51:14
with my members actually was last week in our meeting and
51:18
yeah, just just want people to know that there is that out
51:23
there and and yeah. Is there any way for you to
51:29
coach your members and coming to a similar realization or do you
51:33
think they kind of need that same deep prayer spiritual
51:38
moment themselves to to have it go from the brain to the heart?
51:41
Yeah, I think, I think, I think it's each person, it's that
51:44
personal relationship, personal experience it I don't think
51:48
anybody can do it for you tell you, I think you, you got to,
51:53
you got to experience, you got to have that self discovery
51:56
yourself, right. You know, you're obviously very
52:00
good at asking questions and you know, many times us as business
52:07
leaders, business owners, and one thing I've learned that I
52:11
wish I would have done more is ask good questions, not always
52:15
be the one to give the answer, tell how things were done.
52:19
Self discovery is far more powerful than somebody telling
52:24
you what to do. If you can ask the right
52:28
question, ask powerful questions to help people have that light
52:33
bulb moment, then they own it. Wow, that's that's theirs then
52:39
that's powerful and you know that that is so neat and just
52:46
having people, you know, ask the right questions.
52:51
If I do that with my members and people, I mean let help help
52:56
them see it. There's that nothing can replace
53:00
that I'm. Going to put you on the spot
53:03
here because this is a tough one, but what's the question
53:05
more people should be asking? I, I think, I think the best
53:19
question is what, what, what is the reason I'm doing this?
53:28
What, what is going to happen if I don't do this that I know I
53:34
should be doing? It's the what question, right,
53:38
Not necessarily the why. I think of the what question
53:41
will add will lead into to the why, but the what question I've
53:47
learned just reading a book called ask powerful questions.
53:51
It you know, in in another book, spiritual leadership coaching is
53:57
really taught me that that question is really, really so
54:03
strong because it can't be answered yes or no.
54:09
It's got to be. It's got to be dug through.
54:13
So yeah, what's my purpose in doing this?
54:18
What am I going to, you know, what am I going to learn from
54:21
doing this? What?
54:24
Just asking those that question is so powerful.
54:29
Yeah. Where do you see your work with
54:33
C12 going here in the future? Well, that's a good question.
54:37
I mean, God played it on my heart, you know, I mean, I, you
54:42
know, on the website we have a vision video.
54:45
I want to see 100 businesses in Northeast Ohio get start
54:51
impacting, you know, people's lives.
54:57
I mean, you think about it, you got 100 businesses, you got
55:02
figure 20 employees per business.
55:05
Those people have got families, those businesses have got
55:08
customers, those businesses have got suppliers.
55:13
You're talking hundreds of thousands of lives in Northeast
55:17
Ohio can be impacted for Jesus Christ just and to to improve
55:26
people's lives. And that's just so that's like
55:30
that's my vision. That's what gets me up in in the
55:32
day to help businesses grow and just be a part of that journey.
55:38
That's where I want to go. And I, I, I can't do it on my
55:42
own. I can't be that chief everything
55:44
officer. I'm looking for people that to,
55:47
to be at work alongside me, to be fellow chairs with me to help
55:52
do that and recruit members. And people would come alongside
55:56
that want to do that and carry that vision and want to do build
56:00
a Better Business or a great business for a greater purpose.
56:04
Yeah, let's do it. And yeah.
56:07
What is that marketing process, that growth process, that
56:10
recruiting of new members? What have you guys tried that's
56:14
worked? Well, right now, I mean, because
56:17
I've, you know, I've got 12 members and I've got what is
56:21
called a key player group, which is ACEO business owner.
56:25
He can have a, he or she can have a, a member or, or a key
56:30
player or more be a part of the, so they go through the same
56:34
curriculum. Rather than business advice,
56:36
it's more leadership development.
56:39
And so you know that it's, it's 12 members getting referrals
56:46
from them or their key players to talk to other people has
56:49
really worked. I hold events like I've got an
56:53
event coming up next Tuesday. It's a no charge event, but it's
56:59
for people that either see 12 members or not.
57:03
It's open to anybody to write a legacy letter, right, To write a
57:08
letter of blessing to your child, your loved one or
57:12
children. You know, we're going to spend
57:14
an hour and a half and Blake Brewer owns legacy letter is
57:19
actually going to use help us write a letter.
57:22
What would be more impactful to our children's lives and to
57:26
write a letter of blessing to them and tell them how much you
57:30
love them for, for not what they do, but who they are and how
57:37
proud you are of them. And I just, you know, it's
57:41
something I wanted to do. I heard about that and I was
57:44
like, so we do that in the I don't do that for marketing.
57:48
That's a part of it. I do that to help people that
57:51
really have that need and that, you know those.
57:55
But I. Yeah, people get blessed from
57:59
that and they'll tell somebody else and we do other things.
58:03
Strategic planning workshops where people can come in, we'll
58:06
help them lay out a strategic. If they want to know more, we'll
58:10
talk about C12 and how does that can help them.
58:14
So it's events, it's referrals. I talked to people, you know,
58:18
all the time. I, I do the typical marketing
58:21
stuff, e-mail drip campaigns and, and I maybe get 1-2 people
58:25
out of that, but it's really the referrals, people who's been a
58:30
part of C12 or know someone has it seem there's something
58:36
changed in their business that I need to talk to them.
58:39
And that's when I I talk to people.
58:42
David, I just got one more question for you, but before I
58:44
ask it, I want to do a few things.
58:45
First of all, what's the best way for folks to get in touch
58:48
with you? Good question.
58:51
I'm on LinkedIn, happy to do that.
58:53
David Beasley, you can you can see me on LinkedIn.
58:57
I have a website, you can contact me through my website
59:00
and find out more about C12. About me, it's C the letter C12,
59:07
the number 12, Northeast Ohio, northeastohio.com.
59:13
C12 northeastohio.com you can connect through with me.
59:18
Through that you can find out more about C12.
59:21
Those are the two ways to to get to know me.
59:25
Great. And we'll make sure we include
59:27
links to that in the show notes. Couple other things before I ask
59:31
my last question here, just a reminder that Add Back Benefits
59:34
agency provides telehealth counseling and therapy and 190
59:38
prescription meds to employees. It's always free for them to
59:40
access and it does so in a way that actually puts more money in
59:44
both the company's and the employees pockets.
59:46
Add back benefitsagency.com. Finally, everybody listening, if
59:50
you take just a moment to leave us a comment or review on your
59:52
favorite podcast app, we will be forever grateful.
59:56
So last question I have for you, David.
59:58
One year from now, you and I reconnect and you are super
1:00:01
excited you're celebrating something big.
1:00:03
What's that big thing you hope to be celebrating one year from
1:00:06
today? Yeah, that's good.
1:00:09
I mean I'm just laid out my strategic plan for 2026, right.
1:00:13
And numerically, you know, I want to, I want to grow from 12
1:00:17
members, CEO, business owner members to 24.
1:00:22
So and so that, that numeric number would say more people,
1:00:27
more businesses are being changed and people's lives are
1:00:31
being transformed. So that would be, that would be
1:00:34
it that that we're our business is blessing others.
1:00:40
It would be great. Excellent.
1:00:42
David Beasley from C12 Business Forums in Northeast Ohio.
1:00:46
I want to be first to thank you for sharing both your time and
1:00:49
your story with us today. I really appreciate it.
1:00:52
It's an honor. Folks, that's a wrap on another
1:00:55
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:00:57
Thanks for learning with us today.