Latest / The Relentless Pursuit of Winning Podcast / The Future Proof Company: The Four Disruptions Every Business Must Prepare For | Ron Robinson

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The Future Proof Company: The Four Disruptions Every Business Must Prepare For | Ron Robinson · The Relentless Pursuit of Winning Podcast

0:00
We have three, four different generations
0:06
in the workforce,
0:08
and the combination of all of those creates disruption based on
0:12
how they communicate and work together.
0:15
How do we deal with our operations to become more efficient to deal with climate
0:19
disruption? And how
0:20
Mm-hmm.
0:21
do we manage our finances to deal with the impending economic downturns
0:27
we experience?
0:27
Mm-hmm.
0:28
Mm-hmm.
0:28
Our
0:28
first reaction if we're not making the money that we think we should
0:32
is to cut headcount. Lay
0:34
Mm.
0:34
off people.
0:36
That's the biggest mistake we can make.
0:54
Hey guys, we are back with another episode of the Relentless Pursuit
0:57
of Winning Podcast. My name is Rick Meekins.
0:59
I'm your host today.
1:00
And in our studio we have
1:02
Ron Robinson.
1:03
If you haven't done it already,
1:04
I would be honored if you would like,
1:06
subscribe, and hit the bell so you get updates every time we drop a new episode.
1:09
And without further ado, let's get to it.
1:12
So, Ron, our audience hasn't had the esteemed pleasure of meeting you.
1:16
Would you mind giving them a little your background,
1:19
who you are, what you do, and why you do what you do?
1:22
Well, that's a three part question.
1:23
I'll try to remember all of it.
1:25
~
1:25
Yeah.
1:26
The the thing that I do is help companies become better and become more resilient
1:31
and become more effective in their markets.
1:34
And several of them have become leaders in their markets based on some
1:40
of the tools and techniques that I've been trained to help companies with and
1:45
Mm-hmm.
1:46
do so.
1:47
Why do I do that? Because if we don't have companies that are supportive,
1:52
that are supportive of their people and their customers,
1:56
if we don't have companies that can't get out there and thrive in today's chaos,
2:02
we lose with our economy, we have fewer people working,
2:07
and I don't like that. I like to see companies perform well,
2:11
Yeah.
2:11
bring in more people, and support So that's why
2:14
Hmm.
2:15
I do what I do.
2:16
I like it. I like it. I like it.
2:18
I I look at that as kind of that,
2:19
you know, that community effort.
2:21
You know, if everybody's doing their part,
2:23
we can have a thriving community or a thriving country,
2:26
ideally. you've seen businesses change,
2:28
you know, the way that businesses have had to run and what they need
2:31
to pay attention to over over the vast part of your career.
2:35
Do you want to talk about that a little bit,
2:37
the the the four dimensions reshaping business as you call it?
2:40
Sure. there are the let's think about the number four.
2:45
There are four disruptions that I've identified through research
2:51
and working with clients for more than forty-five years.
2:54
And we have to consider all four of those disruptions
2:59
or some authorities would say threats.
3:02
Many authorities would identify three threats.
3:06
I would suggest there are four.
3:09
One has to do with climate and climate disruption.
3:13
What do you by that? What
3:15
Pardon me?
3:16
do you mean by climate climate disruption?
3:19
Little things like tornadoes, hurricanes,
3:22
wildfires, floods. and those have,
3:25
Rick, w since 2020 9/11
3:31
was a springboard for more disruption in the twenty first century than we
3:37
had in the twentieth century or before.
3:39
And part of that has to do with the fact that We were averaging three
3:45
serious disruptions a year until around 2020 Those have expanded,
3:52
exploded to as many as twenty eight disruptions in this country alone
3:59
in one year. Wildfires,
4:02
floods, hurricanes, earthquakes.
4:05
That is a major disruption to our companies and our communities.
4:10
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
4:13
Then we have something called political action and inaction.
4:17
The
4:17
Okay.
4:18
action of our politicians, our elected officials,
4:22
create economies in this country that either perform well
4:28
or do not. And it's the def It's the legislation
4:34
and the policies created by our elected officials that can create
4:40
Disruptive economies. And
4:42
Mm-hmm.
4:43
right now, Rick, I am predicting based on the flags and the red flags
4:48
I see right now, based on the research that I've done,
4:52
forgive me for sounding like a futurist.
4:55
But I'm suggesting that there's a good possibility we're gonna have
5:00
a depression or recession in the last part of this year or the first quarter
5:05
of next year. All the
5:06
Mm.
5:07
signs point to it. So
5:09
I would suggest that people start getting ready now and start preparing their
5:13
financials so that they can survive and thrive.
5:16
The third disruption is society.
5:19
I don't think many people appreciate the fact that we have right
5:26
now fewer people in this country available to work than probably ever before.
5:33
In two thousand and six we had six people
5:37
Available for every job opening.
5:40
Today we have one or less people available for every job opening in the US.
5:46
Our labor force has shrunk. At the same time,
5:49
We have three, four different generations in the workforce,
5:56
From baby boomers, there's still a few of us working.
6:01
To Gen X, Y, and Z.
6:04
Mm-hmm.
6:04
and the combination of all of those creates disruption within our workforce based
6:11
on how they communicate and work together.
6:14
Now let's talk about cultures.
6:16
In Atlanta, just like in our little town here in the mountains,
6:20
we have anywhere from three to four different ethnic groups,
6:26
not to mention the whites, that are working.
6:29
And that is also creating opportunities for disruption.
6:33
So we have a lot of things to consider with the society that we're
6:39
in and social unrest. And
6:41
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
6:42
then finally, we have something called technology change and rapid change with
6:48
social media and artificial intelligence,
6:51
which seems to be scaring a lot of people these days.
6:55
Mm-hmm.
6:55
So those
6:55
are the four disruptions that we're facing and there are ways that we
6:59
can get our heads around it and arms around it,
7:02
but it takes some thinking to do it.
7:06
Yeah, absolutely. I mean it's it's almost I mean,
7:09
you've you've basically got, you know,
7:10
guns coming at us at all directions,
7:12
you know, and we have to be prepared.
7:14
You know, and a lot of people,
7:15
you know, in business, business leaders are thinking about,
7:18
hey, you know, how how do I make payroll next week?
7:20
And you're talking about thinking,
7:22
you know, big picture, you know.
7:24
obviously 9/11 taught us differently about,
7:26
hey, you there are there are things that are gonna happen that may happen that
7:30
we have to prepare for that we never had to prepare for.
7:32
But you know, you're you're bringing this down to Main Street now.
7:35
You're bringing this down to, you know,
7:37
the the you know, the the electrician,
7:39
you know, down the street that,
7:41
you know, has to, you know, continue working because,
7:43
you know, he's working for himself or whatever and you know,
7:46
a flood comes or, you know, he gets wiped out in whatever way.
7:49
So how does how does one begin the process of of that preparation?
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I mean, you know, I mean, especially when you're not really you don't have that
7:58
experience. It's not something we're taught in school.
8:01
Exactly right. as a matter of fact,
8:03
I may be speaking to some business schools about this very thing,
8:08
so I'm glad you mentioned that.
8:10
The
8:10
Mm-hmm.
8:11
there are four components to any business,
8:13
the electrician, the plumber, or the software design people.
8:19
There are four parts to any business,
8:22
Rick, including yours and mine,
8:23
and I'm a solo pr practitioner.
8:25
The first part of a business is the financials.
8:29
in the business. How do we manage our finances?
8:33
The second is our operations. How efficiently do we run our operation?
8:39
Like funding our computers before we go online.
8:42
~
8:43
Mm-hmm.
8:44
sorry. Also we have to think about our employees and how we recruit,
8:50
retain and grow them. And finally our customers.
8:54
I know that customers seem to be an inconvenience.
8:58
But we sure don't make a lot of money without them.
9:01
So,
9:02
Mm.
9:02
how do we use our customers and technology?
9:05
How do we work with our people in dealing with the social issues that we've got?
9:10
How do we deal with our operations to become more efficient to deal with climate
9:15
disruption? And how
9:16
Mm-hmm.
9:17
do we manage our finances to deal with the impending economic downturns that
9:23
we experience? We've had three
9:23
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
9:25
so far.
9:26
in this two decades of the twenty first century and we're about ready
9:30
to have another, I suspect. So we
9:31
Yeah, okay.
9:33
have four parts to our business,
9:34
and if we think about each part of those businesses and how we strengthen those,
9:40
we can be resilient. We can fight back.
9:44
We can resist and come clean when
9:49
we have a flood, when we have a recession.
9:55
When we have people that aren't getting along or we can't find the right people
10:01
to work for us and when we're using this technology and aggravating the fool
10:07
out of our customers and losing customers.
10:09
There are things that we can do in all of those situations.
10:13
Yeah, w when I think about these things,
10:15
all of these things require a a different let's say different thought process around
10:21
our finances. You know, we've got to drive more revenue,
10:23
we've got to create more margin because all of these issues I don't want
10:28
to say can be solved, but you know,
10:29
we can prepare for them, you know,
10:31
if we have extra dollars. You know what I mean?
10:33
We can prepare for, you know, whatever.
10:35
you know, financial economic disaster,
10:37
we can get better employees, we can build better infrastructure,
10:40
we can bring in the consultants,
10:41
et cetera, et cetera. And so how do you how do you get people thinking,
10:45
you know, at that baseline? You know,
10:47
where it's just like, hey, we can't just go hand to mouth,
10:50
which is what a lot of us do. You know,
10:52
we get a check, you know, we spend a check,
10:54
you know. I mean, how do you how do you how do we think that we have
10:57
to think differently? How do we how do we do that?
10:58
How do we change our mindset?
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it's hard. and sometimes it takes a a s business person who's studied this
11:06
and practiced it for forty years.
11:08
The the s quick answer is as you you are referring to our finances,
11:15
let's talk about how we can do that in a reasonable way.
11:18
The
11:19
Mm-hmm.
11:19
first thing that people do, and I'm thinking about Tesla,
11:23
I'm thinking about big tech, I'm thinking about
11:27
small businesses as well. Our
11:28
Mm-hmm.
11:29
first reaction if we're not making the money that we think we should
11:33
is to cut headcount. Lay
11:34
Mm.
11:35
off people. That's the biggest mistake we can make.
11:39
And
11:39
Mm.
11:40
let me explain why. It's the people that can help us make more money.
11:45
It's
11:46
Mm-hmm.
11:46
the people that can help us improve our margins.
11:49
And I'll give you an example of that.
11:52
One of my clients was Printpack in Atlanta,
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Georgia.
11:57
And PrintPack went through a process in which we did some reorganization
12:03
and everybody was working now in work groups.
12:07
During that time the employees looked at how they were producing film
12:14
on the line,
12:16
Mm-hmm.
12:16
and they realized that if they pulled all of the supplies next
12:21
to the operating machinery, they wouldn't have to move around so much.
12:26
They also realized that there were ways in which they could produce that film
12:33
faster.
12:35
They cut production time on their machines as much as sixty percent.
12:40
Do you have any idea how much more money the company made
12:46
and how much less labor it was costing them by doing that?
12:50
Mm-hmm. Mm. Mm.
12:50
The plant
12:52
manager was having a problem. The problem was his material costs
12:59
had gone to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in a year.
13:02
That was
13:04
Pretty expensive materials. He pulled together his operators and
13:09
his mechanics and said, Look, guys,
13:11
we're gonna do things differently here.
13:14
I'm going to give you lockers and keys to keep your materials in.
13:21
And I'm gonna ask you to make a budget for this year.
13:24
And then I want you to manage it this year,
13:28
not me. They made the budget and
13:32
Work through the year monitoring and doing their work,
13:35
using their supplies. At
13:37
Mm-hmm.
13:38
the end of the year they hadn't produced and spent two hundred
13:43
and fifty thousand dollars, they hadn't spent a hundred thousand dollars,
13:47
they had spent fifty thousand dollars.
13:51
my goodness.
13:52
two hundred thousand dollars saved using the minds and
13:58
of their people and using just the not just our hands but also their minds they
14:04
saved two hundred thousand dollars just in that one project alone.
14:08
That's how we use our people and improve our margins.
14:12
I love it, I love it, I love it,
14:14
I love it. You know what I'm thinking about is what comes to mind
14:18
is is really starts with with leadership then,
14:20
you know, and and how we're leading our people.
14:23
Exactly. Exactly. It's all leadership.
14:25
Okay.
14:28
A
14:28
plant manager changed from one form of leader to a comp compassionate,
14:34
collaborative leader, and in the process of doing that the whole operation changed.
14:41
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes total sense.
14:43
That makes total sense. There's there's a certain empowerment that I that
14:46
I I I appreciate that I'm sure you appreciate that in your in your leadership style.
14:49
Because you know, we don't we don't have all the answers,
14:51
you know, and there's people that do it every day.
14:54
You're just like my it's it's funny,
14:56
my my the the the woman that edits our videos was was teaching me today like like
15:01
how how we're getting views and stuff on the podcast.
15:04
I'm like, wow, that is that is super interesting.
15:07
Do your job. She's got free reign to do what she needs to do.
15:11
You know, you know what's interesting,
15:13
and and we were talking about this a little bit before the show started,
15:16
my my issue with with my technology.
15:19
and this is this is one of the one of the big things,
15:22
you know, that we're facing. You know,
15:24
everybody's online, everybody's dealing with AI,
15:26
everybody's dealing with the the ramifications of AI,
15:30
and we're dealing with the fear around AI.
15:33
How are you how are you recommending
15:36
organizations approach, you know,
15:38
technology and changes in technology and disruptions,
15:40
you know, as as it as it were.
15:43
it's a big question. there's two parts to the answer to that.
15:48
One is we have to think about our employees and how we train our employees
15:53
to be ready for it, to accept it,
15:56
and to use it. But with that we also have to think about the shortcuts that many
16:02
companies are taking right now using AI or other technology to
16:08
Mm-hmm.
16:08
interface with the customer.
16:11
I suspect you've had the same experience that I've had.
16:14
I call up somebody and I call up a company and the answer is
16:19
by some thing and I'm asked to punch this number and this number and to do this,
16:26
that and the other thing. Well I do it.
16:28
And then sure enough I get somebody else.
16:30
They tell me to do this or ask me to repeat the same thing I just did.
16:35
Mm, mm.
16:36
And
16:37
then they can't answer it, so they send me to their manager.
16:40
Mm.
16:43
That's on a good day.
16:44
Yes.
16:45
the the issue is with technology the tendency is to want to have
16:51
AI and their bots answer the question and have the customer go through some kind
16:57
of a menu to select which problem they're having.
17:01
Well, I can't tell you about you,
17:03
but I can tell you
17:05
that I can't tell you how many times I get frustrated because my problem
17:09
is not on that menu.
17:10
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
17:12
So
17:12
what we're doing is we are putting technology interfacing with our customer
17:18
and when we do that we frustrate the customer and we lose customers.
17:23
Right now I'm leaving an organization because of that very thing.
17:28
I can't talk to a person, I have to talk with their bots.
17:31
I'm stopping working with them.
17:34
Now what I'm suggesting is this we can take a human being to answer the darn phone.
17:41
we can have an human being use AI to do the research.
17:46
And then the human being takes that information and gives it back to
17:51
the the human customer with a human employee.
17:56
So if we link humans interfacing with the customer,
18:02
we can do better. But in order to do that,
18:04
we have to train our humans internally how to better manage that.
18:09
and how to use the technology.
18:11
And to do that, we need to use something called adult learning theory.
18:16
That means we don't put them in front
18:17
Mm-hmm.
18:19
of a computer screen to get trained on how to do it.
18:22
We use people to train people on how to use technology.
18:27
So developing our employees
18:27
Mm-hmm.
18:30
to handle it, to deal with the customer,
18:32
to best use that technology, and then training them to interface with that customer
18:38
makes a major difference in how well we can manage technology and
18:42
how our employees can as well.
18:45
You you know what comes to mind is is everyone is talking about,
18:48
you know, especially look you know,
18:49
looking at corporations, you're looking at,
18:51
you know, stakeholder value, stockholder value.
18:54
And, you know, it's it's always we're always looking to cut corners.
18:57
We're they're they're always looking to cut corners,
18:59
always looking at things from a cost perspective.
19:01
Talk to us about the cost of hiring a human,
19:07
training them properly to be able to do exactly what you said,
19:11
versus
19:11
the alternative, just setting up an AI bot and just having that bot run,
19:15
you know, whatever, you know, programs it can until the customer that hangs up or,
19:20
you know, they eventually get to a human.
19:23
There's two costs. One, we have to measure the number of customers
19:26
we lose doing that. It's a lost customer issue.
19:30
The
19:30
Mm-hmm.
19:31
other issue is simply this it's a lost employee because we have higher turnover
19:36
because of that.
19:38
Mm.
19:39
The answer that I would offer if if I was back in business,
19:43
and I used to work for a software development company,
19:45
so I'm speaking some from experience.
19:48
Mm-hmm.
19:49
The way in which we recruit and develop our people makes all the difference
19:55
in how well the rest of the business performs
19:59
Yeah.
19:59
to the extent that I take the time to have my people trained and we have
20:05
a training schedule for everyone and they follow that schedule and
20:11
we do the training in-house with someone who's familiar or subject matter expert,
20:16
if you will, to do the
20:18
Mm-hmm.
20:18
training with those people on the job,
20:20
then they can learn on the job,
20:23
you don't lose that much time at work.
20:26
And at the same time they're all benefiting from it,
20:29
they're all learning from it, and the company benefits as well.
20:33
~
20:33
Mm-hmm.
20:34
does that answer the question?
20:36
It it it does, it does, it does.
20:38
I I think that you know, the the the the employee retention,
20:42
I mean that you know, we all n we all know it to costs a lot,
20:45
you know, to to to hire and train an employee.
20:47
that investment is there. And of course,
20:49
you know, being able to teach c you know,
20:50
look at customers from their, you know,
20:52
lifetime, you know, customer value instead of looking at,
20:55
you know, it from a transactional level,
20:57
I think is is I mean we we've gotta have that as part of our equation.
21:00
I don't
21:01
Obvious again, I was thinking from the shareholder value,
21:03
and sometimes that's short term thinking.
21:05
But at the end of the day, you know,
21:08
if we're looking at building a a thriving organization that's contributing
21:11
to the community, we always need to need to think in in long term.
21:15
The the other thing that came to mind while we were talking about disruptions
21:21
is what happens, you know, how do we plan for,
21:24
do we plan for obsolescence? For example,
21:27
newspapers.
21:28
you know, the the newspaper industry,
21:29
we've seen it change over the past,
21:31
you know, twenty years, you know,
21:33
and they've had to make a number of decisions in order to stay in business.
21:37
How do you what what are the what are the perhaps the stopgates that say,
21:42
hey, you know what, we've got to pivot or we've got to exit?
21:45
Whoa, great question. I think the answer to that is I'm gonna give you two answers.
21:52
The first has to do with something called scorecards.
21:56
Scorecards are measures of our performance,
22:00
and scorecards can show trends in how well we're performing.
22:06
Let me give you an example. I had a client not too long ago.
22:11
whose business he thought was doing pretty well.
22:15
And I suggested that he start tracking weekly his customer count,
22:21
his income, and his cost.
22:26
Mm-hmm.
22:27
He did. After three weeks, he said,
22:29
Ron, he said, I never realized this.
22:32
He says, I'm not making money.
22:34
He said, I thought that I was making a lot of money because my revenue was going up.
22:41
But he said that wasn't the case.
22:43
He said my customer count was going down.
22:45
I couldn't figure it out until I measured this and I realized.
22:50
That the reason my revenue is going up is because my inventory
22:54
was increasing so much in cost.
22:56
I was increasing the price of it.
22:59
So of course it looked like I was making more revenue,
23:02
but I wasn't. I wasn't. And I was starting to lose because I've had fewer customers.
23:08
I've got to change the whole way I'm running the store now.
23:10
Mm.
23:12
What I'm suggesting is lots of times we look at a spreadsheet and
23:17
we don't notice the trends in the patterns.
23:19
But when we have a scorecard that tracks on a chart our trends and patterns,
23:26
we'll see several things that are happening.
23:28
We'll see whether we're trending down or not,
23:30
but we'll also see trends otherwise.
23:33
For example, if I'm running a newspaper and I'm r measuring and tracking weekly
23:40
my online
23:41
participation versus my paper distribution,
23:45
I'm going to start noticing patterns and trends.
23:49
And that will help me make a decision around whether or not I just go online
23:55
Mm-hmm.
23:56
and then start selling ads rather than subscriptions or go through another option.
24:01
The other thing I would offer as a thought is in in terms of first monitoring weekly
24:08
Not monthly, not quarterly, but weekly our numbers.
24:12
The
24:13
Mm-hmm.
24:13
other thing that we can do is benchmark.
24:15
And I've had several clients that I've benchmarked with other businesses like theirs
24:22
and different from theirs, so that they could get a pretty clear look
24:26
at the possibilities that they would have in their markets in order
24:30
Mm-hmm.
24:30
to change those trends and patterns that they're seeing on their charts.
24:34
Mm. Mm. Mm. That makes sense.
24:37
That makes sense. I'm t I'm thinking about I'm pivoting a little bit.
24:42
I'm I'm thinking about w you know,
24:45
competition, let's say. You know,
24:47
say you've got, you know, two plumbing organizations.
24:49
And, you know, it's I I think it's I'm I I always think about these types
24:54
of organizations because it's almost like a commodity business.
24:57
You know, it's it's like if my toilet breaks,
25:00
I'm p I'm going to Google, I'm I'm looking up,
25:02
you know, who shows up first with the best ratings,
25:05
et cetera, et cetera. I think as a business owner though,
25:08
you know, we've we've got to be able to think think differently.
25:11
and we've got to be able to find ways to to get to the top of that list.
25:15
And so my my question for you is,
25:16
you know, what what are the kinds of things that business owners need
25:20
to think about? You know, just in terms of how how do I how do
25:24
I truly differentiate or how do I
25:26
become more successful in in my space,
25:29
you know, as as a as a company.
25:31
Let's take a small business in Atlanta,
25:34
the electrician, the plumber, the builder.
25:38
Mm-hmm.
25:39
Forget social media.
25:41
Mm-hmm.
25:43
The only way I get business and I've had other people tell me the same thing,
25:47
it's referral. It's person to person.
25:51
Every time that I finish with a client I ask that client for a referral.
25:57
If I've done good work, they're happy to do it.
26:00
I have yet to get anything off Facebook or Instagram.
26:06
I don't. Where
26:08
Mm-hmm.
26:09
I get my business is personal.
26:11
Now I'm not saying that you don't.
26:13
I think that there's some businesses that probably do pretty well with Facebook
26:18
markets or whatever. I'm not saying
26:20
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
26:21
that it doesn't work. I'm saying for me it doesn't.
26:24
Mm-hmm.
26:25
The person to person talking to people does.
26:29
Not only that, I'm trained to sell.
26:32
I can go up and talk to a stranger and get business because I know how to sell.
26:38
Right.
26:39
I think that those basic sales skills play a critical role and I've
26:44
had two people tell me they wish they knew how to sell.
26:46
I'm going to teach them how to sell.
26:48
And through selling and using the old tried and true methods,
26:55
we can still bring in business.
26:57
And I'm not
26:57
Mm-hmm.
26:58
suggesting that social media doesn't.
27:00
But what I'm suggesting, even at that,
27:03
is that we if we have social media
27:06
That's giving us leads, we still have to convert those leads to business.
27:12
That
27:12
Right, right.
27:14
means we still need to have ability to sell and close the business
27:20
to bring in more business. I'm glad I'm happy that you asked this question because
27:25
I've written a book called Bring in More Business.
27:28
I like it. I like it. I like it.
27:29
That was that was my intuition.
27:31
What what I'm what I'm thinking about though is even with like,
27:35
I mean, how how often do we need a plumber?
27:37
You know what I'm saying? There's there's got to be I assume that there's
27:41
got to be some stickiness, you know,
27:43
some reason for me as a customer to remember a particular plumber
27:47
in order to because what'll happen is someone will call me up and say,
27:50
Hey Rick, do you do you know a plumber?
27:52
You know what I mean?
27:54
And it's just like,
27:54
Yeah, this is
27:54
you know, it's like, I used a guy a few years ago.
27:56
no, I I I use Ron. And Ron was amazing.
27:59
I used him last year and I remember the experience.
28:02
You know, what are these how do how do we need to think as business owners just
28:06
in terms of, you know, creating these these differences,
28:09
these standout components of what we're offering,
28:13
so that our customers do remember us,
28:14
so our customers do think of us,
28:15
so that, you know, the neighbor says,
28:18
Hey, you know what? Ron was over at Rick's house the other day and Rick Rick seemed
28:22
happy.
28:23
You know, how how do we do that?
28:25
Show up.
28:28
I'm serious. Do you know how
28:29
I ~
28:29
many people show up late or they they can't make it and they don't call?
28:34
Sometimes it's just basic business practices.
28:40
Yeah.
28:40
And I'm not I'm not trying to say that's the whole solution,
28:44
but most of the times that people are forgotten is because one,
28:49
they didn't good do good work,
28:51
or they didn't offer something free.
28:54
To go along with it, some kind of a courtesy.
28:56
Mm. Mm-hmm.
28:58
I was telling somebody the other day,
29:00
never overlook the small stuff.
29:03
Yeah.
29:03
Small stuff meaning when I leave a client,
29:07
I always send them an email back thanking them.
29:10
I'll give them a certificate saying thank
29:13
Yeah.
29:14
you. If it's a plumber, you may not want to give a certificate.
29:18
But what you can do is say here.
29:21
I want to give you this coupon.
29:23
The next time you call me, you get 10% off the
29:27
Mm-hmm.
29:27
services that I offer. Do you see what I'm saying?
29:29
Mm. Mm-hmm.
29:30
It's
29:31
it's it's creating the tie, it's the personal contact,
29:36
it's the personal connection that makes the difference.
29:40
Mm.
29:40
I have somebody that I'm going to call before long.
29:43
I used them three years ago, and another plumber referred me to this fella.
29:49
Mm-hmm.
29:50
This
29:50
fella was great. Not only that,
29:52
his fees were low. How can
29:54
Mm.
29:55
I not forget him? And so I'll be calling him again because one,
30:00
he came when he said he would come.
30:02
Two, he did the job, he did it well,
30:05
and he charged me less than other plumbers would.
30:09
Mm, mm.
30:15
Mm.
30:18
from the competition.
30:20
I w I wanna I wanna hear like kind of a process that we could use to
30:24
to walk through that. because I mean it's it's not it's not intuitive to everyone.
30:29
You know what
30:29
No, it's not.
30:30
I mean? And nobody wants to I mean really nobody nobody really wants to race
30:33
to the bottom. You know, nobody wants to show up on top.
30:35
No, I'm just kidding about that.
30:36
but you know, there there's there's certain things that
30:40
don't necessarily come natural to say,
30:42
you know what, I'm gonna I'm gonna do this thing,
30:44
which is gonna make a difference in in my business.
30:46
What what do you recommend? How what what do you what do you tell people?
30:49
I train I train them on customers.
30:52
I train them on what customers look for,
30:54
and then I show them how to sell.
30:58
And selling means listening first to the customer.
31:00
Yeah. Yeah.
31:02
And then identifying what their needs are.
31:05
It means going in and looking,
31:06
of course, at the leak and the faucet or whatever.
31:09
But it also means listening to that customer and finding out what they need.
31:14
Yeah.
31:15
that's one.
31:16
That's that's a process. But the other thing that's a process,
31:20
and we can all do it, and I'm an I'm an introvert.
31:23
Believe it or not, I'm an introvert.
31:24
I don't like crowds, I don't like parties.
31:27
Mm-hmm.
31:27
But I've learned even with that that I must be able to hand out a card and
31:33
Mm-hmm.
31:34
talk to somebody at a party and say,
31:36
Mm-hmm.
31:37
you know, what kind of things are bothering you at work?
31:39
What do you lose sleep over? And
31:41
Yeah.
31:42
then well
31:43
Can I offer you my card? those are the kinds of things that I help with.
31:47
It's
31:48
And these are the kinds
31:49
of things that make you memorable?
31:50
Is is that what you're saying?
31:52
Yes, absolutely. Because I listened.
31:55
Listening is a lost art because we rely on technology.
32:00
But
32:01
Yeah.
32:01
listening makes all the difference when we're talking with somebody.
32:05
If we truly listen, that means we close our lips,
32:10
we ask a question. When they get through talking,
32:14
we rephrase what they tell us and we show some empathy.
32:20
Let me give you an example. One of my clients was Air Canada.
32:24
I was called into the office of the fellow that brought us in to help with
32:30
Air Canada. He said, Ron, you're not gonna believe this.
32:33
You're not absolutely not gonna believe this.
32:35
I said, Well tell me. He said the other day by the way,
32:38
this was in the wintertime in Montreal,
32:40
Canada, it snows. It still snows.
32:42
Yes, yes, it does. ~
32:45
So th they were in the truck tunnel going to work in the morning and Bob,
32:50
the fella, sees
32:51
Yeah.
32:52
John coming the other way. He says,
32:55
John, you don't look like you're feeling too good.
32:58
What's wrong? Open question. Empathy statement.
33:01
You don't look like you're feeling well.
33:03
Mm.
33:04
John talked to him Bob all the way up the tunnel.
33:08
Bob
33:09
Mm-hmm.
33:09
didn't say a word, not one word.
33:11
He listened to Bob.
33:14
John going up the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel,
33:17
John went his way, Bob went his way,
33:19
but Bob said at the end, John,
33:21
it sounds like you're having a really rough time,
33:25
not only at home, but at work too.
33:27
He says if I can ever help, you let me know.
33:30
Mm.
33:31
He's Bob said, Ron, what you won't believe is this.
33:34
John came into my office this morning.
33:37
And John said, Bob, I've worked here a long time.
33:42
You're the only person that ever showed any caring for me at all.
33:46
Wow. Wow.
33:47
All
33:48
Bob did was close his lips, give an empathy statement,
33:52
and rephrase what he heard.
33:55
That works in any business.
33:58
You know, it's it's funny 'cause it it's it seems easy.
34:00
It seems like that's something that should be natural,
34:02
but you give me the impression it's something that we've we've got to be trained on.
34:06
Hmm.
34:06
That's right. But
34:08
we do especially if we're guys
34:11
Always thinking two to three steps ahead,
34:13
right?
34:14
Do you wanna do you wanna talk a little bit about your book?
34:17
I would like to talk a lot about my book,
34:19
but I'll talk a little.
34:19
Let's get
34:20
let let's get into it. Preparing for the next disruption.
34:23
~
34:23
Okay.
34:25
the the book not only describes the disruptions with data and research,
34:31
all four disruptions. and it will talk to you about AI and why
34:35
a fellow named Geoffrey Hinton walked out of Google and said,
34:40
Please, please stop developing AI.
34:45
Please stop. And of course nobody listened.
34:49
We still we're still paying for that.
34:51
But what I'm suggesting is that in the book we have descriptions
34:56
of all four disruptions and why they are,
34:58
with a strategy that you can use that you can use,
35:04
an electrician can use, anybody can use,
35:07
to develop a an antidote,
35:11
if you will, to those four disruptions.
35:13
The strategy is simple.
35:16
One, we study. We study our environment.
35:19
We study what's going on around us.
35:21
Two, we design a plan to make it work.
35:25
Three, we build out that plan by executing on the plan.
35:29
And finally, we adapt because no plan anticipates everything.
35:34
So we must be ready to adapt that plan to what's currently going on.
35:40
But if we
35:40
Mm, mm.
35:41
do those four things, we can strengthen our financials.
35:45
Mm-hmm.
35:45
We
35:45
can improve the way in which we're working with our customers and our people,
35:50
and we can help with the issues around
35:55
An economy that's teetering right now.
35:57
We can deal with AI, and it's in the book how others have done that with stories
36:03
like I've just described with you with Air Canada or Print Pack
36:07
in Atlanta or wherever. the stories are real stories and they give good examples
36:13
of how to show empathy, how to ask a good question,
36:17
all of the things that we've just talked about.
36:20
offer the skills in the book, not only that,
36:22
but the processes that people might use.
36:25
Mm mm. Give us give us an example of of teaching someone how to ask a good question.
36:31
That's that's a that's that's a good skill.
36:33
Very good.
36:34
What wha how would you how would you guide someone in in that part?
36:37
How does the the book guide someone in in that part of the the the training?
36:42
it i every every component of the business
36:46
I describe particular skills that you can use one for
36:51
Mm-hmm.
36:52
your financials or two when you're dealing with your employees or customers
36:56
and it describes how to listen,
36:58
it describes how to resolve conflicts within your workforce,
37:02
it describes how to work with a customer
37:06
And deal with the customer and it describes an adult learning theory that
37:10
you can use to train your employees to use technology or to to use whatever
37:15
it is that they need to do in order to have a better product in the business.
37:20
Yeah. Okay.
37:21
So
37:22
all of those skills are described in the book in order to help someone.
37:26
And the good news is they have somebody that they can call who can help.
37:31
Who who might that be?
37:32
Let me think. Maybe it's Ron Robinson.
37:34
What a great resource. Tell me something.
37:36
How how does someone reach out to you?
37:37
What's how do how does someone contact you?
37:39
Well, there's a couple of ways.
37:41
remember the word Ron Speaking.
37:45
Ron Speaking has a website,
37:48
ronspeaking.com.
37:50
Okay.
37:51
but not only that, there's the contact information in the book as well.
37:55
And so you can get a copy of the book on Amazon or at your local bookstore,
38:00
Practices of Resilient Companies.
38:03
And practices of resilient companies
38:06
is a bestseller on Amazon now and has been selected as one of the
38:10
six best books this year on developing a company that's compassionate and resilient.
38:17
So I'm really proud about that.
38:19
Outstanding, outstanding, outstanding.
38:21
You we didn't we didn't talk about comp being compassionate.
38:24
Was that the the empathy part of that or is or is there is there a little
38:27
bit more to it?
38:29
The answer is yes. The answer is showing empathy.
38:32
The answer also is listening to people and facilitating people to collaborate.
38:39
Collaboration
38:39
Mm.
38:41
I was telling somebody earlier today,
38:43
the secret to resilience, the secret to a better company is collaborating with your
38:48
people. The
38:49
Mm.
38:49
more that I, you, us collaborate with those with whom we work,
38:55
asking them for their ideas and using them.
38:58
The more compassionate the organization is,
39:01
the more compassionate the leader is,
39:03
and the better people feel about where they work.
39:07
You you know what it sounds like.
39:08
It sounds like building a community,
39:10
you know, versus just building a business.
39:12
Everybody's kind of rowing in the same direction,
39:14
contributing. They understand how they contribute,
39:17
they can support
39:17
That's right.
39:18
each other. I I I love that model of of of building a company.
39:22
Very cool. I have one last question for you.
39:25
And this is I'm I'm really curious about how you're gonna answer this.
39:27
~
39:28
Yeah.
39:29
So the So the name the name of the show,
39:30
of course, is the Relentless Pursuit of Winning.
39:33
winning for the most part is something that we can define for ourselves,
39:36
but the harder part is maintaining that relentless pursuit.
39:40
And so my question for you is how would you what what would you recommend
39:44
to our audience in order to help them maintain that relentless pursuit?
39:49
By the book. I know
39:51
Ha ha ha.
39:52
that that's an easy answer, but one of my clients was McDonald's,
39:56
who rose from number forty out of forty regions in the US to number one.
40:00
When they
40:00
Mm-hmm.
40:01
did that, they put a million dollars on the top line,
40:04
they cut their costs by ten percent,
40:06
and they put one of their competitors out of business.
40:09
That's in
40:09
November.
40:09
the book. That is winning. That is winning.
40:13
And I've had several clients.
40:16
Who have pulled their people together,
40:18
who have collaborated with them,
40:21
who have listened to them and risen from nearly going out of business
40:27
to a top leader in their markets.
40:29
It's all in the book. It's all in the book.
40:32
And as long as a matter of fact,
40:33
I have a client that just called me to come back in and help them some more.
40:36
but you have to change your leadership.
40:39
The leadership must change, and it's in the
40:42
Mm-hmm.
40:42
book how you might change.
40:44
The last section of this book has an inventory that people can take
40:49
to see where they're doing well and where they can shore up.
40:53
And if they use
40:53
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
40:54
this inventory in the back of the book to answer those questions,
40:58
they can maintain a resilient organization that can continue to compete
41:04
and win and put
41:05
Mm.
41:05
their competitors out of business.
41:07
Mm, mm.
41:08
I I just put a competitor of mine out of business.
41:12
Yes, that's winning. Amazing.
41:16
So the answer is by the book. And and and you've written the instruction manual
41:20
on how to win relentlessly. I lo I love that.
41:23
I love that. Excellent. Is there anything else you want to share with
41:26
our audience before we call a wrap?
41:28
Yeah, there's something I'd like to show you.
41:31
The book
41:32
And there's one other thing I would say to all of you.
41:34
I love business, I love helping businesses.
41:37
Business keeps the economy rolling,
41:40
and we can still survive regardless of whether we have a recession or not,
41:45
depending on how well we manage our financials and manage our people.
41:49
Excellent, excellent. Ron Robinson,
41:51
thank you so much for being on the show.
41:52
Really enjoyed our conversation.
41:55
Thank you. It me as well. I appreciate you.
41:59
For sure, for sure.
42:00
And folks, thank you so much for watching or listening to another episode
42:03
of the Relentless Pursuit of Winning podcast.
42:05
We'll catch you next time.