Latest / The Start, Scale & Succeed Podcast / Why Your Team Isn’t Enough with David Miller (stage 4) - Ep. 389

Transcript

Why Your Team Isn’t Enough with David Miller (stage 4) - Ep. 389 · The Start, Scale & Succeed Podcast

• 0:00
  Scott Ritzheimer: Hello, hello and welcome. Welcome once again
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  to the start, scale and succeed podcast, the only podcast that
• 0:06
  grows with you through all seven stages of your journey. As a
• 0:09
  founder, I'm your host, Scott Ritzheimer, and if you're one of
• 0:13
  those founders who's built a team, you've hired managers, but
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  you still feel like the company is running almost entirely on
• 0:21
  your back. You're not alone, you're not crazy, and especially
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  those of you who are in what we call the disillusioned leader
• 0:29
  stage, because the hard truth is that having managers doesn't
• 0:33
  mean that you have a functioning leadership structure. And we're
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  going to talk about the difference between those two
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  today, because with me, our guest, has lived this firsthand,
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  building peach cap from the ground up to over $10 million
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  before exiting and now helping founder operators to break
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  through that exact same plateau that he once faced. Our guest
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  today is David Miller. He's a growth Alchemist who has built
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  skilled and exited multiple businesses, all while guiding
• 0:59
  others to do the same. He founded peach cap, a premier
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  investment and finance firm, which grew to over $10 million
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  before exiting and as a global speaker and board member for
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  Entrepreneurs Organization EO, the world's largest community of
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  seven figure business owners, he shares powerful lessons from
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  both success and failure, including how a costly business
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  deal reshaped his views on trust, and through his coaching
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  practice, practice, alchemy of scale, David helps founder
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  operators break those plateaus, build legacy and transform good
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  companies into great ones. He's here with us today, David,
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  welcome to the show. Glad to have you here. At one time, a
• 1:37
  fellow Atlanta and we were trapping trading some Atlanta
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  stories here before we got in. But I wonder if we could just
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  could start with a little bit about peach cap you spent, I
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  think it was over 15 years there, got past that $10 million
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  mark, which a lot of our founders would love to do. But
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  somewhere in that journey, I want to dial in where you had
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  that moment where you realized you had some managers in place,
• 2:02
  but it still wasn't working. What's actually going on there?
• 2:05
  David Miller: Yeah, well, first of all, Scott, thanks for having
• 2:07
  me. It's awesome to be here. Thanks for the the kind
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  introduction. Gosh, so the, yeah, that valley of death that
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  you referenced, that's a fun, not so fun spot to be in, one of
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  the biggest areas of learning for me, and I'd say probably one
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  of my my biggest challenges, was hiring too many people at once,
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  hiring too many managers, just focused more on growing the
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  people from a numbers perspective, than focusing on
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  the cultural depth. So I think, I think making sure you have the
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  right managers in place is the first, the right people in
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  place, leaders in place first, and then you can start focusing
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  on, how do you enhance those qualitative aspects of those
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  managers so they can be effective?
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  Scott Ritzheimer: Yeah, I'm wondering, because I feel like
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  what it takes to have you know managers, especially the folks
• 3:01
  who report to you, is very different along this journey. So
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  at first you kind of get folks to keep folks away from you.
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  It's like, hey, go help them. Go handle them. Like, just manage
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  that for me, so I don't have to deal with it. But then at some
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  point that shifts, where we don't just need someone to kind
• 3:18
  of run interference for us, but we need someone to think as a
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  leader. How do you see the difference in that? How do you
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  know? Let's start this. How do you know if your current team
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  has that?
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  David Miller: I think it's I think it starts with you and
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  starts with the leader. Accountability rolls downhill,
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  just like the other phrase that we hear and accountability can
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  roll downhill, but on the juxtaposed phrase of that, so
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  can weakness, and so can blaming and pointing fingers and not
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  taking accountability. So having that first as a leader and
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  understanding that people are going to mimic you and how to
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  lead the organization is the first and foremost place to
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  start. And if you're not taking ownership and accountability in
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  your actions and everything that's going on in your
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  organization, regardless if you made the decision or not, then
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  you can you can do nothing but expect that that from your
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  leaders.
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  Scott Ritzheimer: Yeah, I think what often gets overlooked
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  because, to be frank, it hasn't really happened up to this point
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  in the organization's history, is founders don't realize the
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  extent to which their shortcomings and their strengths
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  are being reproduced. Right? Oftentimes, we just think of it
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  as like, oh, maybe I'm letting that guy slide, but it stops
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  there. That's not how it works when that person's leading
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  others. Why is it so important to really dial in on some of
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  those weaknesses, and how can we see whether they're affecting
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  the organization beyond what we initially thought?
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  David Miller: Yeah, one of the things that I've identified with
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  how to best help leaders so they. Can be most impactful in
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  their position is really identifying those items that are
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  not time sensitive yet, but are very important. And when looking
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  at a leader and how they are managing themselves and their
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  people thereafter, day to day, and on a weekly, monthly basis.
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  You know, if they can have answers and address those
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  questions, Hey, what are some strategic things that are that
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  our company is working on right now that isn't at the forefront
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  that we have to get it done immediately? How can we go ahead
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  and start addressing those and talking about them. Then when
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  they when it actually comes to a head, when it starts to
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  materialize, then the team's not going to be reactive, and it's
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  going to be that much easier for your leaders to manage the
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  issues and the assigns and employees.
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  Scott Ritzheimer: Yeah, yeah, that's good. I want to come back
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  to, so let's say we've got someone. They recognize their
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  role in this. They're starting to take some accountability for
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  themselves and enforce some accountability with their team,
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  but they have just, usually a couple of managers or leaders
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  who are struggling. And again, I want to come back to this
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  question like, how do we know if it's the right person in that
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  role? How do you answer that question?
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  David Miller: Well, hopefully that part is done in the hiring
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  process, making sure that their core values are aligned with the
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  company core values. And once that is set in place, then it
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  set all on you and the leader to make sure that you're guiding
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  them in the direction that the company is going, and just
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  having though that one on one relationship and really getting
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  under the getting to the root of the issue as to what their
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  everyday struggles are, what their frustrations or
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  misunderstandings are. So it comes down to communication at
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  the end of the day.
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  Scott Ritzheimer: Yeah, it's so important. I want to switch
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  gears a little bit. There's something that we mentioned in
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  the intro that I want to unpack. What does trust look like
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  through all of this? Because I've found that founders are
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  both very trusting and very not trusting all at the same time,
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  and sometimes it can be really difficult to walk that road and
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  know, what does trust actually look like for a founder at this
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  stage when things are going wrong, what were some of the
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  lessons you learned around trust? And how do you help
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  founders with those today?
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  David Miller: That is one that's a great question. As far as
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  trust goes, the way that I see it, trust isn't earned and trust
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  isn't given. It is managing the balance of the two. So whenever
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  you're first meeting with someone, you know that that
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  connection, that intuitive sense that you get with someone you're
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  you're giving trust there when you're establishing a
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  relationship, so you're giving something before you've even
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  received anything, and that's there's vulnerability with that.
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  So after, after that trust is given, then there's that, that
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  logical component, right? The How do you, how do you earn
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  trust over time? And that's a credit and debit system. And if,
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  if you keep taking, taking, taking, without, without giving,
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  then that trust is going to go to a negative balance. Just let
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  just like an ATM, and you're not going to be able to, for lack of
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  better words, cash out on on getting things done within the
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  company. So just really Scott, understanding that that trust is
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  a two way street, and knowing how to intuitively and logically
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  give and take in an appropriate manner.
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  Scott Ritzheimer: Yeah, one of the things that I've found is
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  that you tend to take, you know, big clear. What would that be?
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  Debits from? I'll get my debits and credits backwards, but
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  withdrawals, that's the word I'm looking for from trust, but you
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  can't necessarily make the same big contributions to trust,
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  deposits in trust every once in a while. But it's not like some
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  kind of team Summit is going to is going to build all the trust
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  you need for the rest of the year. What are the little
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  important ways that you see great leaders building trust
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  over time?
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  David Miller: Yeah. So that that credit, if you will. How do you?
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  How do you give How do you? How do you earn trust? Is for for
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  me, Scott is being vulnerable and really going in and
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  listening intently, listening when your leaders are talking
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  and memorializing what they're saying and acknowledging what
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  they're saying so they know that you understand them, and then
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  being vulnerable with with your experience and how you're seeing
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  the situation, and arguably, most importantly, saying when
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  you don't know something, because there's nothing wrong
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  with a leader saying, I don't. Know, as opposed to, hey, I have
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  all the answers. Let's, let's figure this out together,
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  because I don't know the answer. That's why you have a team. You
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  know, we're stronger together. So really, just being vulnerable
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  and in sharing your experience or lack thereof, when, when the
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  situation calls for.
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  Scott Ritzheimer: Yeah, I think that's hard, because there's
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  this sense that, especially from the earlier stages, that if you
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  didn't have the answer, no one did. And there's there's just
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  kind of like it's a little scary to be in that place, and we
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  don't really want to admit that it's there. What does it cost us
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  at this level, when we have a team around us who may have
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  answers that we don't? What does it cost to still rely on being
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  the guy who has or girl who has all the answers?
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  David Miller: Well, I mean, I think you risk being seen as
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  someone with hubris or bravado or machismo, whatever you want
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  to call it, and being a genuine and if you're coming across that
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  way, like you know all the answers. One people are going to
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  see through that, but two people that's that's a leader that's
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  leading through fear, as opposed of gaining respect and and
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  leading through fear. You know, people aren't going to open up,
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  and they're not going to talk to you, and they're not going to
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  provide the information from their from their people that are
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  on the ground every day that had the most important information,
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  that that feed up so you can make informed decisions.
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  Scott Ritzheimer: It's so true, because if you think about it,
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  when, when the founder had to be in answer mode, right? Have all
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  the answers. They also had all the inputs, right? You know,
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  many times they were either there doing it or directly
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  leading the people who were doing it. But as you start to
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  hand off more and more responsibility, not just for
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  doing but for leading and managing, you also lose some of
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  that experience and those inputs and we can live off of the past
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  experience for a while, but slowly they'll start to get out
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  of sync and out of date. And it would be nice if it happened all
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  at once, but it tends to happen kind of behind the scenes, and
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  so I love the emphasis here on really working. Did you share
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  this earlier? But like communicating with your team, so
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  much comes down to your ability to communicate with your team
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  and the vulnerability, the vulnerability needed to accept
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  that.
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  David Miller: Yeah, yeah. I agree.
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  Scott Ritzheimer: Good, good. Okay, so I've got this question.
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  I've been dying to get to it, and we're just going to jump in
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  here now, but it's a question I ask all my guests. I'm
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  interested to see what you'd have to say. And the question is
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  this, David, what do you think is the biggest secret that you
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  wish wasn't a secret at all? What's that one thing you wish
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  everybody watching or listening today knew?
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  David Miller: Well, it's, it's a secret, but it's not a secret.
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  And the reason I say that is because it's kind of a trite
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  saying, and it's, it's lead from the heart, and that's easy to
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  say, but whenever you're in the moment and that and that fear
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  succumbs you, just like it does every great leader who's
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  courageous, right? If you're courage, it doesn't mean you
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  have fear. It just means you're moving through the fear. And
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  when you're in that fearful situation, when you're
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  vulnerable, when you're uncertain, when you don't have
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  complete confidence, then just trusting your inner childlike,
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  trusting your heart and moving forward altruistically and how
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  you're speaking, the people are going to see that. And if you
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  want to gain trust, if you want to gain respect, if you want to
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  be a strong leader and truly understanding, looking deep
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  within yourself and knowing what leading from the heart means can
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  help out a lot, a lot of people.
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  Scott Ritzheimer: Yeah, that's good. I love that, David.
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  There's some folks that are listening that would love more.
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  They found exactly what they're looking for in today's episode.
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  Right thing, right time, and they'd love to find more out
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  about the work that you do, or hear more from you. Where can
• 14:04
  they connect with you and learn more?
• 14:06
  David Miller: Easiest way is at davidmiller dot buzz on
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  Instagram. Either message me there. Look at some of my
• 14:13
  leadership reels, grab some bits there and how you might be able
• 14:16
  to apply it to your business. And yeah, DM me if you got any
• 14:19
  questions. Happy to get back and help out any way I can.
• 14:23
  Scott Ritzheimer: Fantastic, fantastic. David, thank you for
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  being on the show really was a privilege and honor. Having you
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  here today, I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation, and for those
• 14:31
  of you watching and listening, you know your time and attention
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  mean the world to us, I hope you got as much out of this
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  conversation as I know I did, and I cannot wait to see you
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  next time. Take care.