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Andy Stanley - The Seven Pillars of Preeminence with Glen Jackson, Part 2 From the Vault · Andy Stanley Sermons

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast, a
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: conversation designed to help leaders go further, faster. I'm Andy Stanley,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: and today I will be your host because I have
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: my friend Glenn Jackson back in the studio with me
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: this month to conclude our discussion on what it means
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  Speaker 1: to be a preeminent organization. Again, Glenn, thanks so much
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: for being with us. As I mentioned last month, Glenn
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  Speaker 1: is the co-founder of Jackson Spaulding, one of the most,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: if not the most, respected marketing communications agency in the Southeast.
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  Speaker 1: With a significant and growing national presence, Jackson Spaulding has
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  Speaker 1: earned its share of awards for their excellent client work,
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  Speaker 1: from public relations to creative work to really all elements
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: of storytelling. Glenn, you've got over 130 team members. That's
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  Speaker 1: a big payroll, which means you're busy and growing and
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: a lot of energy at your company. And a lot
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: of our employees have enjoyed coming over there and just
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: seeing your space and They come back here with all
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: kinds of expensive ideas about what we need to do
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: in our offices. So if you wouldn't do so much
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: of that, it might be helpful.
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  Speaker 2: I'll turn that down.
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  Speaker 1: And one of the things that means so much for
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  Speaker 1: us in the Atlanta area is you have been ranked
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: one of the best agencies to work for. Some of
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  Speaker 1: Glenn's clients are Coca-Cola, Toyota, Chick-fil-A, Publix, Delta. and Orkin,
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  Speaker 1: just to name a few. So as we jump back
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  Speaker 1: into this discussion, Glenn, refresh our memories a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: When you talk about a company that has reached the
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  Speaker 1: status of preeminence, what do you mean?
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  Speaker 2: What I mean by that, Andy, is that preeminence is
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  Speaker 2: extraordinary excellence once reached and sustained creates a competitive advantage. Again,
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  Speaker 2: it's extraordinary excellence once reached and sustained creates a competitive advantage.
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  Speaker 1: And last month, we talked about the fact that you
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  Speaker 1: know you have become a preeminent organization, not based on profit,
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  Speaker 1: not based on a number of clients or customers, but
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  Speaker 1: based on what your peers say about you within an
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  Speaker 1: industry or even organizations outside your industry, that you become
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  Speaker 1: the organization other organizations want to emulate, want to visit,
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  Speaker 1: want to send their folks to see, ask the questions,
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  Speaker 1: look for the secret sauce. And so that's, you know,
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  Speaker 1: for those of us in organizational life, that's a different metric.
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  Speaker 1: That's a bit of a different filter through which to
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  Speaker 1: evaluate the strength and the health of our organizations.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's absolutely right, Andy. You know you've
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  Speaker 2: reached preeminence when others aspire to achieve what you are sustaining.
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  Speaker 1: Glenn, last month you introduced what you call the seven
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  Speaker 1: pillars that characterize a preeminent organization. And we covered three
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  Speaker 1: of them last month. They were trust, relationship building, and
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  Speaker 1: marketing communications. And again, if you missed last month's podcast,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: you really need to go back and listen to Glenn
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  Speaker 1: explain those first three. Today, I want us to jump
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  Speaker 1: right in to number four. What's the fourth pillar of
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  Speaker 1: a preeminent organization?
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  Speaker 2: The fourth pillar is assessment, and it's critically important.
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  Speaker 1: And by assessment, are you talking about evaluation or is
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  Speaker 1: it broader than that?
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  Speaker 2: It's always assessing your business with some key questions that
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  Speaker 2: you need to ask yourself to make sure you are
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  Speaker 2: on the business, not just in the business, Andy.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, the idea of working on it rather than in
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  Speaker 1: it is something we talk about all the time. Somehow
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  Speaker 1: this was terminology that got woven into the fabric of
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  Speaker 1: our organization. Talk a little bit more. What's the difference
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  Speaker 1: between working on it and working in it?
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  Speaker 2: There's a dramatic difference, Andy. I think working in the
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  Speaker 2: business is just the day-to-day functions of your business as
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  Speaker 2: a whole. But when you're working on the business, you're
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  Speaker 2: looking at the business with a wide-angle lens, and you
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  Speaker 2: are taking a very, very, very broader look and perspective
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  Speaker 2: at your business and trying to make it better with
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  Speaker 2: some systematic questions you need to ask yourself.
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  Speaker 1: And that's one of the things that none of us
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  Speaker 1: have time to do, but it's absolutely critical in order
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  Speaker 1: to create any kind of sustainable energy or any kind
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  Speaker 1: of sustainable progress, regardless of what kind of business we're in,
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  Speaker 1: working on it, not just in it. Dig in a
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  Speaker 1: little deeper. What are, for lack of a better phrase,
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  Speaker 1: some breadcrumb questions that fall under the idea of assessment?
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  Speaker 1: And when you think about assessing your organization, working on it,
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  Speaker 1: not just in it, what are some of the questions
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  Speaker 1: that you ask?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think these questions I'm about to go over
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  Speaker 2: are so important because I think the assessment pillar, if
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  Speaker 2: you don't have the assessment pillar, you will not be preeminent, Andy.
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  Speaker 2: It's that important. So these questions, you can phrase them
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  Speaker 2: however you want to phrase them. but the questions for
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  Speaker 2: me from our experience is, one is, what do we
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  Speaker 2: need to anticipate? That's a question that's always good to ask.
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  Speaker 2: What's out there that's a potential opportunity, for example, for
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  Speaker 2: us to take advantage of, or conversely, something we need
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  Speaker 2: to be mindful of, a potential pitfall we need to
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  Speaker 2: be careful about?
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  Speaker 1: That's a great question. What do we need to anticipate?
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  Speaker 1: Second question.
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  Speaker 2: What do we need to fix? This is a short-term,
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  Speaker 2: immediate need, maybe a piece of technology or your phone system.
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  Speaker 2: It's kind of like the nail in your tire. You
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  Speaker 2: need to get that nail out of your tire. So
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  Speaker 2: what do we need to fix is the next question.
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  Speaker 2: And then the follow-up to that is what do we
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  Speaker 2: need to improve, which is more of a broader, long-term
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  Speaker 2: perspective question as you're looking at bigger issues of your
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  Speaker 2: business and how to improve those things.
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  Speaker 1: So what do we need to anticipate? What do we
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  Speaker 1: need to fix? What do we need to improve? Number four?
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  Speaker 2: Number four is where can we innovate more effectively? Innovation,
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  Speaker 2: as we all know, is so important. And I think
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  Speaker 2: asking that question intentionally will help you really zoom in
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  Speaker 2: on the areas of innovation you need to focus on
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  Speaker 2: for your business.
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  Speaker 1: And this fifth question was a surprise question when I
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  Speaker 1: first saw that. The fifth question is?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, it is how and where can we get back?
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  Speaker 2: It's about Obviously, any business should be, I believe, about
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  Speaker 2: great work and good works. And this question relates to
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  Speaker 2: the good works piece. And then the next question is,
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  Speaker 2: how am I growing as a leader? I believe very
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  Speaker 2: strongly that leadership growth leads to revenue growth, Andy. So
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  Speaker 2: this kind of puts the question back on each of
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  Speaker 2: us individually to pose, how am I growing as a leader?
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  Speaker 2: And to really think about that.
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  Speaker 1: And then I love the seventh question because that is
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  Speaker 1: something I've been asking all my life.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, what is the wise thing to do?
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  Speaker 1: What is the wise thing to do?
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for that. These are the assessment questions.
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  Speaker 1: Now, let me just push back, putting on my organizational
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  Speaker 1: leader hat. These are great questions. Nobody pushes back on
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  Speaker 1: the idea of assessment and evaluation, and you're not going
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  Speaker 1: to get any better if you don't evaluate. One of
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  Speaker 1: my professors used to say, experience doesn't make you better,
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  Speaker 1: only evaluated experience makes you better. Experience just puts you
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  Speaker 1: in a rut. The challenge with these excellent questions are,
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  Speaker 1: they're really kind of a pain in the neck because
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  Speaker 1: I come to work every day, like most people, to
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  Speaker 1: get things done and to make progress and to move
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  Speaker 1: the organization down the field. And in our world, it's
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  Speaker 1: here comes Sunday, here comes Sunday, here comes Sunday. These questions,
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  Speaker 1: in fact, any one of these questions to ask in
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  Speaker 1: a boardroom or in a leadership team meeting or management
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  Speaker 1: team meeting leads to potentially hours of conversation with all
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  Speaker 1: kinds of ideas and suggestions. And so I think as
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  Speaker 1: an organizational leader, some time is good. as important as
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  Speaker 1: those questions are, I think we push back sometimes because
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  Speaker 1: we're afraid of what we're going to hear. We're afraid
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  Speaker 1: of what we're going to find out. And we're afraid
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  Speaker 1: that when the meeting's over, we're going to have more homework. Now,
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  Speaker 1: so having laid those out for our podcast audience, do
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  Speaker 1: you as an organizational leader ever feel that? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: it's fun to teach these things, but when you're sitting
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  Speaker 1: with your management team or leadership team and they say, hey,
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  Speaker 1: I think there's something we need to fix. Does your
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  Speaker 1: heart sink just a little bit?
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  Speaker 2: It does.
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  Speaker 1: Good. Absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: And sometimes, you know, it's the place of where you
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  Speaker 2: need to ask these questions. Sometimes, for example, we need
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  Speaker 2: to get away from.
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  Speaker 1: Our office environment. These are getaway questions. These are working
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  Speaker 1: on it, not in it. Yeah, absolutely. Don't bring these
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  Speaker 1: up Monday.
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  Speaker 2: No, by the way, there's a nail on the tire
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  Speaker 2: I need to talk to you about. Okay, let's talk
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  Speaker 2: about this later.
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  Speaker 1: But your point, is to be a preeminent organization and
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  Speaker 1: to be an organization other organizations look at and say, wow,
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  Speaker 1: they're getting it done. What can we learn from them?
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  Speaker 1: Somebody in that organization and somewhere in that organization, these
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  Speaker 1: questions are being asked on a regular basis. Yes.
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  Speaker 2: Yes. And different people are asking them, and that's a
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  Speaker 2: good thing.
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  Speaker 1: The fifth pillar is, appears to be something that everyone
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  Speaker 1: is talking about and has talked about for so long
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  Speaker 1: that perhaps it's lost a little bit of its grit.
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  Speaker 1: But you've added some words around a common leadership idea.
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  Speaker 1: Number five is the cultural torch of servant leadership. Servant
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  Speaker 1: leadership is not a new idea, but the cultural torch.
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  Speaker 1: What do you mean by that?
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  Speaker 2: I think that the best cultures, preeminent companies... have a
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  Speaker 2: torch that they carry with them every single day. And
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  Speaker 2: this torch is attractive, it's warm, it's bright, and other
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  Speaker 2: people notice it and want to be around it. And externally,
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  Speaker 2: when you carry that cultural torch around, other people notice
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  Speaker 2: and it helps strengthen your brand. And it also obviously
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  Speaker 2: strengthens your reputation and growth as a business.
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  Speaker 1: And the torch is servant leadership. It is.
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  Speaker 2: And it is, it is, um, such an important thing. Um,
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  Speaker 2: Servant leadership for me is about being mindful of the
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  Speaker 2: fact that no task is too small or too big
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  Speaker 2: for the servant leader. It's about little things and big things.
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  Speaker 1: And again, you've added the term, the phrase, the cultural torch.
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  Speaker 1: So when you refer to culture, what specifically are you
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  Speaker 1: talking about?
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  Speaker 2: Sure. Culture for me is, I define it like Adam
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  Speaker 2: Bryant does in his book Quick and Nimble so well
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  Speaker 2: that Healthy cultures are places where ideas and people flourish.
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  Speaker 2: It's like being in a greenhouse where the nutrients and
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  Speaker 2: the light and the energy are helping grow your team
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  Speaker 2: members and the overall business as a whole. So that's
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  Speaker 2: the external part. I think cultures are like a torch.
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  Speaker 2: They shine. But there are other things, too.
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  Speaker 1: And all of us understand the connection between preeminence, the
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  Speaker 1: way that you define it, and a healthy organization. Because
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  Speaker 1: when I look at an organization that I envy... It's
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  Speaker 1: not generally their product or even specific people in the organization.
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  Speaker 1: It's their culture. It just seems like a great organization. So, again,
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  Speaker 1: drilling down on this, what are some characteristics of a
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  Speaker 1: healthy culture from your perspective?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think, as we talked about earlier, healthy cultures
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  Speaker 2: do shine externally. I think they also do some other things.
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  Speaker 2: They attract and retain top talent. They actualize, Andy. In
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  Speaker 2: other words, they take people and they actualize their potential.
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  Speaker 2: So healthy cultures actualize. They also permeate. So inside the business,
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  Speaker 2: the culture gets inside your DNA, your bone marrow, if
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  Speaker 2: you will, and it's permeating inside of you, that culture.
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  Speaker 2: So that's a case. I think also healthy cultures bond.
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  Speaker 2: There's always bonding traditions. And healthy cultures have a lot
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  Speaker 2: of bonding traditions. They also eject. So just like the
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  Speaker 2: body kind of ejects a virus, they will eject folks
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  Speaker 2: culturally that just aren't good fits. That happens a lot.
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  Speaker 2: And then finally, I think healthy cultures deliver. They deliver
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  Speaker 2: rewards before they deliver results. The rewards drive the results.
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  Speaker 2: And I've identified four awards I think are important.
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  Speaker 1: Now, let's talk about that. Let me say that again,
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  Speaker 1: if I heard you correctly. that healthy cultures deliver rewards
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  Speaker 1: and results, but they deliver the reward before the result.
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  Speaker 1: And as you answer that, what specifically are you referring
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  Speaker 1: to when you say reward?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there are four rewards. I think these rewards drive
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  Speaker 2: the results. The first reward that every healthy culture is
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  Speaker 2: providing team members is fun. I think they're having fun
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  Speaker 2: with what they do. Number two is fascination. Um, particularly
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  Speaker 2: seeing this with the millennial generation that they're fascinated with
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  Speaker 2: the intellectual pursuit of the business. They are fascinated with
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  Speaker 2: how it's growing and what the next turn is around
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  Speaker 2: the corner. You want to have a business and organization
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  Speaker 2: that's always fascinating your people. So that's the second, um,
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  Speaker 2: element of rewards. The third is future. You want folks
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  Speaker 2: to see that I have a future here. Uh, this
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  Speaker 2: is something that I want to be part of for
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  Speaker 2: a long time. And then finally, um, There's another reward,
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  Speaker 2: and it's another F, and that's financial. You want to
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  Speaker 2: take care of your people the right way and make
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  Speaker 2: sure they're rewarded.
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  Speaker 1: So when those four things are in place in an organization,
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  Speaker 1: it shapes the culture that then leads to what you
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  Speaker 1: refer to as results. Correct. So that's what you mean,
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  Speaker 1: the rewards precede the results.
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  Speaker 2: That's a big idea. Yeah, and those rewards will then
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  Speaker 2: drive the result.
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  Speaker 1: Once again, that's enough content for an entire leadership podcast
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  Speaker 1: to just talk about organizational culture because we talk about that.
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  Speaker 1: And it's so important, but let's step back a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: This pillar is the cultural torch of servant leadership. So
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  Speaker 1: put all this together for us.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I first saw this in action, the cultural torch
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  Speaker 2: of servant leadership, back in 1995 with Truett Cathy, the
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  Speaker 2: founder of Chick-fil-A, Andy. Our first business trip I ever
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: took at Jackson Spalding was to Washington, D.C. And I
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: sat in the back of the Delta plane before we
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: took off, and I looked up, and Truett was on
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  Speaker 2: the plane with his senior management team. And I had
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: just gotten some freshly minted business cards. And I was saying,
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  Speaker 2: maybe I should give him one of my cards. I
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  Speaker 2: held off. And we ended up in Dulles Air Force.
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  Speaker 2: And I was in the men's room at baggage claim
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: at 1030 in the morning. Not a soul was in there,
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: but me washing my hands. And then the door opened
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  Speaker 2: and Truett comes in. And he's washing his hands, too,
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  Speaker 2: to my immediate left. And I looked at him and
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  Speaker 2: I said, it's easier to succeed than to fail, which
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  Speaker 2: was his first book. Yep. And he looked at me
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  Speaker 2: with that twinkle in his eye and he had that
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: distinctive voice and he said, that's right. What's your name?
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  Speaker 1: That's pretty good, Glenn.
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  Speaker 2: And I told him my name and he reached in
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  Speaker 2: and he gave me a BOG card is what Chick-fil-A
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: calls them, a be our guest card. So you keep that.
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  Speaker 2: This is for me. Good luck with your business.
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  Speaker 1: And for those of you who are listening. And Glenn
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  Speaker 1: just handed me that card. You've kept how many years
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  Speaker 1: since 1995?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I've kept it in my wallet every day until
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: we started working for Chick-fil-A seven years after that.
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  Speaker 1: So he handed this to you in the men's room.
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  Speaker 2: He did.
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  Speaker 1: That makes it unique as well. Yes.
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  Speaker 2: Signed by him. Signed by him in the men's room.
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  Speaker 1: That's amazing.
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  Speaker 2: But that's not the end of the story.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so what happened?
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  Speaker 2: That's not the end of the story. He walks out.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: He goes over to baggage claim. And there was a
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: young lady on our plane about four months pregnant. And
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: I look over. And there's Truett getting her luggage off
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: the conveyor belt. He gets it all set up on
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: a little push cart for her. And she looks at
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: him and says, thank you. And, of course, he says,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: my pleasure. And for a 31-year-old entrepreneur, businessman, just wet
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: behind the ears entrepreneur, it showed me, first, no task
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  Speaker 2: is too small for the servant leader. But later he
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: went and gave a huge talk to the Washington Press Club.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: That same day. That same day. No task is too
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  Speaker 2: big for the servant leader. And then the next year
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  Speaker 2: he met with the president of the United States. It
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: was just an amazing moment to observe. And it all
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  Speaker 2: started in the men's room and baggage.
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  Speaker 1: That's amazing. The cultural torch of servant leadership. The sixth pillar,
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  Speaker 1: sixth pillar to become a preeminent organization is fanatical leadership.
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  Speaker 1: We talk a lot about focus. Let's talk about fanatical focus.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's always focusing on what you do best. That's
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: what fanatical focus is all about. It's staying in your
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: swim lane and staying patient and never forcing a decision.
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  Speaker 2: I think great organizations that are preeminent are never, Andy,
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  Speaker 2: distracted by their success. They have unbelievable focus and they
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: say no to things. that could blur their focus and
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: their overarching vision. Like you've said many times over and
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: over again to me and to others, opportunity doesn't equal obligation.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to say no to this. And they keep
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  Speaker 2: going fanatically focused pre-eminent business on what they need to do.
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  Speaker 1: Again, this is one of those things that probably nobody
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  Speaker 1: pushes back on. But the question is, how do you
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  Speaker 1: do that? How in a busy, busy world where we
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: don't want to miss good opportunities and every time we
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: turn around, there's a new opportunity. And for our listeners
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: who are in organizations that have strong cash flow and
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: strong cash flow is a danger when opportunities abound. How
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: do you remain focused? What have you learned through the
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: years about the focus part?
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: Well, one of the main things I've learned is it
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: takes discipline, Andy. I think sticking to a process is
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: really important, so the right process leads to the right results.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: So whatever your process is, you stick to it. I
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: think preeminent businesses do that. Personally, I have a mindset
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: that we just opened our doors today at Jackson Spalding
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: every day at our agency.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: What do you mean by that? That you begin the
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: day thinking, what if we just opened or?
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: We just did. It reminds me of the first day
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: when we opened our doors to never take anything for granted.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: We started with humble beginnings in 95 and it just
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: keeps me alert and focused. I walk into our office
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: every day and I say to myself, we just opened
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: our doors today. And that just motivates me every day
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: to deliver the results for our clients that they deserve.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: And it keeps me humble and hungry. It keeps me
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: gracious and ambitious. And, yes, we had a lot of
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: rented furniture and cheesy posters in the early days, but
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: I would not take for granted any of that because
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: it has kept us grounded and reminds me every day
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: we need to execute for our clients and deliver results.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: A couple of other thoughts on this. I've learned that
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: success is sequential. You keep your focus. It's linear before geometric.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: You keep your focus one step at a time. The
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: tortoise beat the hare for a reason in Aesop's Fable.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: Because he took one good step after another. Coach K
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: at Duke yells this to his players after each play
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: on the court. He yells out, next play, for them
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: to hear it and to focus on that next play.
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: Fanatically focused companies are extremely focused on the next play, Andy.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: So number six, fanatical focus. Before we go to number seven,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: what's at stake when organizations lose focus? What do you
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: see happen? What should we be so afraid of we
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: dare not take our eye off the ball?
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: My thoughts here are that when you lose focus, one
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: of the main things at stake is you lose momentum.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: And you start saying yes to opportunities that you were
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: in the sharply focused days saying no to. And I've
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: seen also a lot of companies– They get distracted by
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: their pressures, not their priorities, when they're not focused.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: That is a big idea.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: That is big.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Distracted by pressures rather than priorities.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Whereas they were focused on their priorities. So your process
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: gets frayed. We talked about how the right process leads
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: to the right results. It slips a little. It gets frayed.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: And then finally, I've seen this a lot. You're not
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: sleeping on decisions. I like to sleep on things. And
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: I'll just say, let's give it a sleep committee. We'll
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: talk about it the next morning.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: The sleep commitment.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you end up just not thinking through things well enough.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: You're making quick decisions. In the end, you regret them.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: That's one of the many things that happens when you
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: lose your focus.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: I have a friend that you may know, Rick Jackson,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: who owns several healthcare companies. I heard him ask this question.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: He said, you should always ask, what would you do
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: or what would we do if we didn't have any money?
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: What would we do if we didn't have any money?
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: I love that question. It's the suddenly we go from
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: broad to narrow very quickly. What would we do if
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: we didn't have any money? Or as you said a
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: while ago, if this was our very first day or
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: thinking like first day, all of those things are so great. OK,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: this is great stuff. Number seven, the seventh pillar for
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: creating a preeminent company is resiliency.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, boy, this is huge. You know, what is resilience? resiliency,
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: how do you define it? I think it's a lot
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: about stamina. I will say to our folks a lot,
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: we're in the stamina business. It involves grit. It involves determination,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: unyielding commitment to getting the job done, not giving up,
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: not giving out, not giving in. That's what resilient companies
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: are all about. They navigate the peaks and valleys well
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: of the marketplace to around them, and they're never blown
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: off course, Andy, by the storms. And I think that
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: One thing that I've really stressed to myself is it's
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: easier to become a success than to remain a success.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Yep. And Jimmy Collins of Chick-fil-A, former president of Chick-fil-A,
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: made this point over and over again. And I say
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: that a lot to our folks. And I have a
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: remain mindset. I think preeminent companies do. The word remain
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: is written on a little card by my desk, by
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: my phone. And I see that card every day when
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: I walk into our office and look at it. And
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: it reminds me, it's easier to become a success than
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: to remain a success. Remain.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: As you know, most organizations in some way reflect the
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: founder or reflect the CEO or reflect the person that's
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: making the decisions. When it comes to resiliency, I mean,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: we think of resiliency as a personal trait. There are
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: resilient people. We don't think in terms of resilient companies,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: but our whole discussion for these two months are, have
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: been evolved around you taking terms that we generally apply
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: to individuals and applying them to organizations. So are resilient
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: companies generally led by resilient people? Certainly there's a connection.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: They are. There's an extreme connection between the two. And
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: if you look at a lot of the great companies
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: in business today, you see many, many resilient leaders who strive,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: who strain, who stretch themselves to do what? To succeed.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: So they strive, they stretch, they strain and they succeed.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: And everybody's watching them. And I think that is just
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: absolutely critical as a leader. You know, John Maxwell talked
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: a lot about people do what people see in you.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: Lead by example. So they're watching you. People do what
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: people see in you. And great leaders understand that and
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: they do it.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Do you believe resiliency reflects itself in competitive advantage? Does
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: it actually show up in the product and sales and services?
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Does resiliency get outside the culture of an organization? Does
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: it really add to the bottom line?
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: It does. I think that it adds to the bottom line.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: And while some, for example, some of your competitors may
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: fade away because of the economic headwinds around you, preeminent
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: companies thrive over time. Time is actually their friend, Andy.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: I saw this a lot during the Great Recession a
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: few years ago. A lot of companies faded away while
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: others took advantage of the opportunity and started businesses. Uber
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: started during the Great Recession. Airbnb during the Great Recession.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: They took advantage of the opportunity. Public supermarkets, over 85
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: years now, they have never had a layoff in their history.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: And they started during the Great Depression. They started during
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: the Great Depression. I was there a few days ago
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: during a terrible lightning storm we had in Atlanta recently,
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: and I looked over and there were four public folks
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: walking people to the car with umbrellas to make sure
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: their groceries were safe and secure and they were okay.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Those are the kind of things that resilient companies do,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: and it just motivated me to see that. So yes,
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: there is a competitive advantage connected back to resiliency.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Well, Glenn, you have given us a lot to think about,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: not just on this episode of the podcast, but last
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: month as well. Any concluding thoughts about preeminent organization and
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: the journey that you've been on?
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: Well, I'll just, again, just give the definition real quick.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: You know, preeminence is extraordinary excellence once reached and sustained
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: creates a competitive advantage. And there are seven pillars to it. Trust,
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: relationship building, marketing, communications, assessment, fanatical focus, and remarkable resiliency.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: These seven pillars, Andy, really, really matter. So strength for
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: the journey for everyone listening, as you continue to strive
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: to be about extraordinary excellence in all that you do
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: personally and professionally, I would say. So here's to achieving it,
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: sustaining it, enjoying the journey. Good luck and Godspeed.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Glenn. That's fantastic. And again, thanks
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: for being with us these last two months on our podcast.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: And to all of our listeners, we want to thank
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: you for joining us. As always, please visit our website, andystanley.com.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: where you can find our leadership podcast application guide that
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: goes with today's conversation. Again, thanks so much for joining
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: us on our leadership podcast.