Podcast | GROW GREAT

YOU Are The Reason People Are Quitting Their Jobs #4021

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It’s not me. It’s YOU.

That’s not what people say when they break up. Or when they quit their job. Well, not often.

Mostly, people aren’t confrontational. They just want to get away with little fuss. So when people quit they’re prone to forego candor. Instead, they may blame quitting on all kinds of things. Some just walk away without warning. Others sneak away quietly due to some family emergency or other contrived excuse. Anything to avoid a show down.

It’s all just as well. Bluntness wouldn’t likely do any good. And it might hamper the future prospects of the quitter. It’s a no win situation – being candid about why you’re really quitting! Besides, the person you’d have to be candid with about it is the culprit himself – the boss. He’s the reason you’re leaving.

Best to leave in the most gracious way possible by saying as little as possible.

YOU Are The Reason People Are Quitting Their Jobs #4021 - GROW GREAT

Almost 8 years ago Jennifer Robison, Senior Editor of The Gallup Business Journal wrote an article entitled, Turning Around Employee Turnover. The article lists the top 5 predictors of employee turnover.

The Top Five Predictors of Turnover

Work units with high potential for turnover send out warning signals, according to Gallup research, but managers and executives must know where to look:

1. The immediate manager. If employees report that their manager’s expectations are unclear; or that their manager provides inadequate equipment, materials, or resources; or that opportunities for progress and development are few and far between, watch out: Trouble is on the way.

2. Poor fit to the job. Another sign of trouble appears when employees perceive that they don’t have opportunities to do what they do best every day.

3. Coworkers not committed to quality. Watch for employees who perceive that their coworkers are not committed to a high standard of work.

4. Pay and benefits. Engaged employees are far more likely to perceive that they are paid appropriately for the work they do (43%), compared to employees who are disengaged (15%) or actively disengaged (13%). And pay and benefits become a big issue if employees feel that their coworkers aren’t committed to quality; they may feel entitled to extra compensation to make up the difference or to make them feel like they are truly valued by their employer.

5. Connection to the organization or to senior management. Another key sign that turnover may be looming appears when employees don’t feel a connection to the organization’s mission or purpose or its leadership.

Source: Gallup research, including meta-analysis, employee opinion polls, and exit interview studies conducted over the past 30 years

Who cares? So what if people come and go in your company?

YOU should care because there’s a big cost to employee turnover. Again, according to the Gallup article…

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that the U.S. voluntary turnover rate is 23.4% annually. It’s generally estimated that replacing an employee costs a business one-half to five times that employee’s annual salary. So, if 25% of a business’ workforce leaves and the average pay is $35,000, it could cost a 100-person firm between $438,000 and $4 million a year to replace employees.

Still don’t think it matters if Joe walks out? Too many bosses don’t care. They think people are plug ‘n play interchangeable parts. Joe leaves. Jim enters. Jim leaves. Josh enters. Josh leaves. Jill enters. Of course, it all started with Abe. Over the course of three decades the organization is fast approaching the end of the alphabet. Then it all starts over again. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost dollars and productivity to even a small business. Millions of dollars to a larger enterprise.

If you think VC money often goes down the drain – and it does – then you need to consider the high price of human capital. Millions of people are going down the drain every day in organizations all over the world. It’s not because they’re bad people, or unskilled, or unproductive. It’s because they’re working for a jerk and they just can’t stand it any more.

The High Price Of Employee Turnover

How do you make a boss care? You don’t. Truth is, you can’t make a business owner, a CEO or any other boss care about something. You may be able to persuade them why they should care. You may be able to influence them with compelling data, or an engaging story that just might convince them it’s in their best interest to care. But they have to care about people enough to create a culture that fosters superior human performance. Higher human performance should be the priority of every CEO. Should be, but it’s not.

Lower levels executives – even mid-level bosses – can often behave with greater disdain than the disinterested CEO. Disinterested in making sure people are properly trained, coached, encouraged, rewarded and held accountable. Not caring if people leave and not caring why they leave is the mark of a boss who should not be the boss. They’re destructive to their enterprise. No amount of process management proficiency can outweigh the greater rewards of higher human performance. It’s simple math. One boss can destroy the work of everybody who reports to her. She can’t possibly perform alone at a high enough level to outweigh her damage…even if she’s only got a handful direct reports. The more people she has reporting to her, the greater her damage.

The problem seems complex because of how varied we are as humans. One boss tasked with leading some number of other people is outnumbered. Just like the coach of a professional sports team has one personality, style and philosophy is asked to coach up to dozens of players who are all very different. They’re different from the coach, and from each other. So the challenge is figuring out how to best lead the entire group – the whole team – and to also lead each individual player. Quite frequently professional sports has it more right than business. They fire the coach and keep the talent. We tend to let the talent walk away refusing to consider that the boss is the reason. Pro sports views it from a more economical and practical model. It’s easier to replace the boss than it is to replace major chunks of the team (talent). Businesses don’t tend to see it that way. We often choose to diminish the value of the player because we think that enhances our own worth. We’re wrong. Expensively wrong. Stupidly wrong.

Once upon a time I’d try to evangelize every leader who seemed disinterested in his employees. Over time I made adjustments to that strategy. Mostly because I found it futile. Not always, but mostly.

Emerging leaders – those folks flying at lower altitudes, sometimes early in their management careers – often seemed more open-minded to the logic (and heart) of treating people well. Well doesn’t mean easy. Nor does it mean without confrontation or accountability. It means doing the right thing to help people succeed. It means behaving toward employees so they can become the best versions of themselves. I’d dive into a series of questions aimed at discovering the cost (the overall toll) of employee turnover. Oddly enough, I found lower level leaders could more easily see the business reason to put people first than the chief leader, who most often was steeped in a long-held philosophy of not caring so much. If the person at the top had such a strong personality of not caring, then it was sure to be difficult to convince lower level leaders to hold a contrary philosophy. After all, the chief’s direct reports want to please him. Being like him in philosophy and behavior can be a safe career move.

As much as I believe in a skunkwork (a term made famous by Lockheed Martin), there are severe limitations to grass roots works. Most of us use the term to mean some under the radar, secret endeavor or initiative. Sometimes it may be a bottom up sort of thing. As valuable as those may be, they’re ineffective compared to an initiative fostered by the top dog. When the CEO speaks, everybody listens. Lower level folks can scream and shout and still the boss may not hear it. Or care.

Sadly, nothing trumps voting with your feet. That’s why employees working for a jerk quit. Not all of them, of course. Some are trapped. I’m thinking of all the stories I’ve heard throughout my life of single parents who simply need a job — and lost their self-confidence long ago. They’ve been fooled into thinking they have no other options except to endure the bad boss. They stay. Dwarfing their development with every passing day. De-energized by the environment and their boss. But hey, it’s a paycheck. And that’s what they need most.

When a person quits the bad boss says, “Good riddance!” Without hesitation or concern they quickly move on with the philosophy of Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary – “You’re dead to me.”

That’s exactly why they’re losing people. They just don’t care about others. Self-centeredness prevents them from seeing the value of high human performance. It’s all about them. The quitters have forsaken them, betrayed them and created more work for THEM. They see leadership as a position that deserves to be served – not a position that deserves to serve! A stark difference between being the recipient of service or the purveyor of service. Leadership is a position of service. The higher the position, the more powerful the service rendered.

Today, I focus on working with CEOs and top leaders who understand this – and who see the world as I do. It’s more profitable to pass on the philosophy that organizations are best built by using the highest human performance possible. And by finding ways to continue to elevate it. It’s building an A team, then maintaining a culture committed to superior performance. It’s not easy work, but it’s the most profitable way to go. Nothing will elevate an organization’s performance faster, or more, than leveraging the people who do the work. You don’t have to believe me. In episode 4019 I referenced two leaders who operate multi-BILLION dollar businesses. They see people as their greatest asset. That’s what I’m urging you to do, even if it’s contrary to how you’ve been operating.

As always I just hope to provoke you to think about what you do. And why. Re-examine things. As the boss, you’re constantly asking people to improve. All I’m asking is that you devote yourself to the same thing – your own improvement. Stop letting talent run out the door. It’s preventable. It’s up to YOU to stop it because too often, YOU are the reason for their leaving.

Randy

P.S. Here are some articles from this week to provoke further thought:

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You Can’t Offer A Solution Without Asking Questions #4020

Communication, Getting New Customers, Podcast, Serving Existing Customers Better / By Randy Cantrell

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You Can't Offer A Solution Without Asking Questions #4020 - GROW GREAT

Thousands of salespeople have sat across from me throughout my career. Some were very good. Most weren’t. Not because they lacked ability, but most lacked what I valued most while leading a company – somebody who really wanted to help me grow my business.

Self-interest is what drives far too many salespeople – and others, for that matter. What’s in it for me? That’s our collective battle cry. I’m okay with it provided we help the other person get what might best help them first. Mutual benefit should be the objective.

Countless sales executives have entered my office for the first time ever, armed to the teeth with a bag (sometimes literally) of tricks they claimed would solve my problems. It always fascinated me how a complete stranger who had spent no time with me, or my organization could have such a solution. Or how they could even know what my problems might be. Focused entirely on what was in it for them, they began their pitch with all the reasons why this solution was ideal for me. It was left up to me to decipher whether or not they really did have something I could find valuable.

That’s a bad strategy for problem solving – no matter if you’re selling a solution or not. Well, actually, even people on the executive team are selling a solution. They’re trying to persuade the organization to accept their idea. The value of their solution isn’t enhanced with a “let me tell you why this is good for me” tactic.

Never put the burden on the buyer – whether it’s your boss, a client or somebody else – to figure out if you’ve got something valuable or not. Presenting the value as the buyer would see it isn’t the same as deciding if it’s right for them, or robbing them of the opportunity to decide for themselves. But let’s back up before we even get to the part where you present a solution.

First Things First. Ask. Investigate.

As a young salesman I read and heard sales trainers use a term that never felt quite right to me. Probe.

Probing is what we were taught to do to uncover a customer’s needs, possible objections and anything else that might help us figure out an ideal solution. Not that there’s anything wrong with the term, it just wasn’t a favorite word for me. My natural style was always to simply have an engaging conversation where I asked customers questions. It didn’t take me long to learn that if I could ask the right question, I could find out more about the customer’s desire. That elevated my ability to figure out what I might have to help them. Or it helped me learn I may not have anything that would help them.

I would often imagine somebody who requested an appointment just to find out more about our company, or me before knocking my door down with a “here’s exactly what you need” pitch. It never happened. Periodically (not very often), I’d see some sales executive who I thought might be open to hearing such a message, and I’d run the idea past him. Most were just polite, but only a few – very few – appeared genuinely startled at such a novel approach. Startled to the point where I thought they might actually try it.

These were the day of the one-call-close. Nothing has changed. People today are aiming for the one-call-close. We’re all busy. Our prospects are busy. We think, “We’ve only got one shot.” That’s not true though. And if it is true, then I want to challenge you to do something more valuable with that one shot.

Serve.

You can stand out more by not putting your need to make a sale – that includes you executives who are trying to sell your boss on your idea – at the forefront. Instead, try to gain a clearer understanding of the problem. You can substitute pain, desire, want, need or anything else in the place of the word “problem.” Find the word that best fits your situation.

Every single day I’m talking with CEOs. From very small companies to enormous companies. And I always discover the same thing with any of them willing to talk to me – and most of them are willing. Here’s the simple, but service oriented strategy (which isn’t so much a strategy as it’s simply how I naturally operate):

I spend a few minutes (1-2) telling them why I’m reaching out to them. Don’t play some bait and switch game with your prospects (especially your boss). Be candid. Tell people why you’re wanting to hear their story – why you’d like to ask them questions. It’s not an interrogation. It’s a conversation. Don’t make it a grill session.
I then simply ask them to tell me their story. And I shut up. Most open up quickly – evidence they’re not asked this question nearly often enough. We all care about our story. Most of us wish somebody cared enough to ask us about ours. I do care enough. I’m fascinated by the stories I hear. Most days I hear more than one really compelling story. Amazing what you learn simply by asking.
Then I briefly tell them the truth. Sometimes what I do – or anything I might offer – isn’t a good fit for me. That means it won’t be a good fit for them. Other times, I’m not sure. But it’s not up to me to make the call when I don’t know on my end. If I’m thinking, “This may be something valuable for him, but I’m not sure” — then I’ll tell them that. I don’t try to make the decision for them. They need to make the call.
It leads to more conversation or it doesn’t. Either way, I’m good with that and I’m convinced so are they. We both win regardless of the outcome.

I don’t want to sell. And I don’t think selling or sales is a dirty work. I just don’t want to do what most people think of when they think of selling. They think of talking people into things. Manipulation. That’s not what sales is. It is persuasion and influence – which we all want to incorporate into our communication when we know we’ve got something of value…something that can help others. Mostly, it’s giving people an opportunity to solve their problem (remedy the pain, gain some pleasure, get a solution, etc.).

No Agenda Except To Give Others An Opportunity. And Give Yourself An Opportunity To Serve.

Put first things first. Put your prospect (yes, that means your boss, or perhaps a co-worker, or anybody else you’re trying to serve) first. Listen to them. Better yet, express interest in learning as much as you can about what they think, how they feel and what they want or need. Ask. Listen. Pay attention.

People are searching for solutions. Many are staring into space right this minute, wishing somebody would arrive into their life to help them. What if you could be that person? Why can’t you be that person?

My headline isn’t completely true. You can offer a solution without asking a question. You can offer a solution without even listening to the other person. It will be a terrible experience for you – and the person you’re hoping to sell. But you can keep doing it. And keep enjoying a life of disinterested people. They’re disinterested in your solution because you’re disinterested in them.

You reap what you sow.

Randy.Black

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Lip Service, Customer Service & Employee Happiness (People Determine Your Profits) #4019

Books, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Podcast / By Randy Cantrell

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Lip Service, Customer Service & Employee Happiness (People Determine Your Profits) #4019 - GROW GREAT

In the summer of 1998 one of my all-time favorite sales gurus, Jeffrey Gitomer, published a book that would become my chief “most gifted” book – Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless: How to Make Customers Love You, Keep Them Coming Back and Tell Everyone They Know. I’ve given that book to employees, friends, business owners, CEOs and even people with no real business element in their life. It’s a book about and for fanatics – or those who need to become fanatical about service. I had encountered Gitomer sometime earlier – I don’t remember where – and I was already a fan by the time the Business Journals around the country picked up his column on selling.

Gitomer-Satisfaction Hard to believe a southern boy fell for a guy from Philly, but I did. Gitomer was blunt, candid and delivered his message with a passion I felt was long-overdue. From my earliest days I saw the benefit and long-term value of not being transactional. Customer happiness was always my focus, even as a teenager selling stereo gear. Why would any sales guy or business owner be okay with customers who just felt “okay” about their purchase or their service? Made no sense to me.

What did make sense was Gitomer evangelical passion and candor. Twenty years ago – as now – businesses continued to market how much they cared about their customers. Few walked the walk. That’s still true. It’s common to see salespeople and business people grab the money. And run.

Earlier in the 90’s – years before Gitomer’s book – a couple of authors wrote another book I had fallen in love with – The Customer Comes Second: Put Your People First and Watch ’em Kick Butt by Hal Rosenbluth and Diane McFerrin Peters. At the time it was quite a remarkable message. Love your employees before you love your customers because the employees are the ones serving the customer. Again, I had intuitively believed that and been mostly attracted to companies who behaved that way. It helped that Mr. Rosenbluth ran a high growth company that wound up topping revenues of $6B (that’s BILLION) before selling to American Express. How could a guy like that get it wrong? Well, he didn’t get it wrong. Others do.

This clearly was a time of enlightenment for me as a business guy because somewhere during this time I became aware of a man who appeared to be the epitome of a nice guy, Jim Goodnight. He ran a little enterprise in North Carolina called SAS. Talk about fanaticism. Goodnight was fanatical about making SAS the best place on the planet for employees. The Internet had yet to be born. Silicon Valley startups wouldn’t happen for many years. Goodnight put employees on a pedestal and provided services for them that made other business owners cringe. Even then employers were searching diligently for ways to reduce overhead in the way of employee benefits. Instead, Goodnight was searching for ways to provide more benefits that would enhance the lives of his employees. He fascinated me. And made me want to be more like him albeit on a much smaller scale. Goodnight’s SAS blew past the $3B (that’s BILLION) mark last year.

Why do business owners and CEOs still not get it?

I’ve only reached one conclusion. It’s because most are too short-sighted. Yes, some just don’t see people as valuable as they should. They figured humans are like generic parts, interchangeable. One is as good as another. If you lose one, no big deal. Let’s just plug another in place. But even those who believe people are valuable has set limits on that value. I mean, after all, the benefits packages have to be reduced by 25% this year no matter what. It’s easy to say people matter, but it’s very different to make the investment to prove it.

Even privately held companies are under constant pressure to exceed last month’s numbers. Group think kicks in because we’re all reading Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company and Inc. Innovation. Creativity. Blah, blah, blah. We read about it, give it a few seconds of thought then we go back to the reality that it has little to do with our life and our business. We’ve got to get sales up. And costs down. It’s the ying and yang of business building that mostly lures all of us. Along the way, we can easily forget the impact on our people — and our customers. We grab today’s dollars because we’re unable to see the five dollar bills we might be able to garner next month. A bird in the hand and all that.

It’s understandable. Well, sorta.

I’ve sat with too many CEOs who lamented about an employee’s performance – a key employee – who performed well until a bit more pressure was applied (intentional or not), proving they couldn’t quite hold up. We’re no different. Apply enough pressure on us to grow that top line, or the bottom line…and we’ll be likely to grab the dollar in front of us. I don’t make harsh judgments about leaders who grow short-sighted, even if I don’t always agree with that strategy.

It was in the early 80’s when I first wrote down and began preaching what I called “non-negotiable standards.” I was involved in turning around a company that was just a few years old, but quickly the inventory had grown obsolete, the people disenchanted and the systems non-existent. Two things ruled all my early actions: cleaning up the company (physically) and establishing non-negotiable standards. I wasted no time telling people what that meant – “non-negotiable standards.” It means things you must do or refrain from doing else you’ll put your job at risk. Now before you think, “Man, how heavy handed” — tap the brakes.

It was fair. Candid, but fair. I wanted employees to own their behavior and performance. That hadn’t been happening. People were lackluster, lethargic and apathetic. Many of them didn’t last. I don’t doubt their goodness as people, but the culture had betrayed them. They had grown accustomed to the pathetic environment. Good performance happens at the hands of good performers. Good performers need fostering, training, encouragement and rewards. In short, they need standards to meet.

Quickly I learned that the good performers who survived had long been frustrated by the unfairness of busting their humps while the slackards sat around without accountability. They embraced the changes and soared. I’ve since seen it happened many times.

Talk is cheap.

I’ve not yet met the CEO or business owner who openly admits, “I don’t much care about my people. They’re all replaceable.” Instead, most of us – okay, all of us – give it lip service. Yes, some of us back up that talk, but many of us don’t. Some of us wish we could or would back it up. Others of us don’t much care, we just want to be polite and politically correct. A few of us are bullies who honestly don’t care about people. They’re a necessary evil and they vex our existence as leaders. Those are the folks I call “managers.” They’re not leaders. Honestly, they may not be very good managers (that is, people who oversee systems, processes and operations).

We lead people. We manage the work.

That’s my view. You may not share it. It’s okay. You can be wrong. 😉

I could write volumes of books on the horror stories I’ve heard about bosses who behave badly and who treat people even worse. You could likely be a contributing author. We’ve all got tons of these stories. But the behavior still persists.

I cringe every week because every week I hear multiple stories of bad boss behavior. Yelling, screaming, threatening – they’re just too commonplace in some workplaces. Grown people treated like pre-school children. Workers being humiliated. Supervisors and bosses feeling good about themselves by making sure the staff knows who is in charge. Like medieval fire breathing dragons, they roam the office just waiting for a white knight armed to the teeth to cut their head off. Unfortunately for many employees, no such knight ever arrives. Eventually, human indignities realize their limits, and people quit.

No big loss. Hire somebody else.

How much does it cost to hire or replace an employee in your company?

Most don’t know. They’ve never taken the time to compute the lost time, lost productivity, lost revenue or any other losses associated with a good employee walking (or sprinting) away. Sometimes it’s because the profits and revenues are high enough, it doesn’t much matter. That’s really shallow thinking. A business earning strong double digit net profits doesn’t seem bothered because they’re fat and happy. Unproductive perhaps, but fat and happy none the less. If an owner is banking $1M…it can be a daunting task to show him how a shift in his culture might result in a $1.25M income.

I live in the Land Of What’s Possible. What if?

What if we really embraced finding, training and retaining top talent? What if we pushed our chips into the middle of the table to build in some consistency and longevity among our employees? What if we actually put our employees first – above our customers? How would all that impact the customer experience?

Unfortunately many businesses will never find out. They’ll churn through people never figuring it out. They won’t calculate the cost – human cost or business cost.

Some will go out of business. The odds of failure in business are still staggering.

Others will survive in spite of themselves. They’ll never realize their full potential, but they don’t care. Enough. If they did, they’d find another way.

Books and articles about leadership may help shift a collective culture, but then again there’s Steve Jobs. Tyrants get worshipped. Some buy into the notion that you must be an insufferable maniac to succeed. Rather than try to persuade people otherwise, long ago I just decided to urge people working for such people – or people working in dysfunctional organizations – to find new opportunities. Get gone. Sooner than later. Protect yourself. Guard your heart and your own passion for doing good work. Life is way too short to work for a tyrant.

I wish I could impact the bigger picture, but I’m not naive about my own reach. Instead, I think it best to soar with my strengths as Donald O. Clifton wrote (the father of StrengthsFinder). I’m committed to serving leaders who already know the truth of profit generation and business building. People make THE difference. It’s not lip service. It’s not some better-felt-than-told philosophy. It’s a working culture that daily is willing to be tested to prove itself. Owners and CEOs who refuse to give an inch to behave otherwise. They remain committed to doing the right thing all the time, no matter what.

That kind of leadership resolve is rare, but it exists. Just today I had a nice conversation with a CEO who shared his story with me proving that his talk was anything but cheap. Big customer, little customer. They’re all the same to him – deserving of a great experience. He’s in the real estate game. He’s got a good sized team. Back last summer he recounted how he had to part company with an employee who simply didn’t understand that the CEOs “non-negotiable standards” are indeed NON-NEGOTIABLE. Grabbing the money – even for the firm – violated the principles and culture established by this high integrity CEO. He put his money where his mouth was. He acted, not based on financial gain, but on doing what was right. Why? Because he understands how big he’s going to win over the longer haul.

If business guys who achieved $3B and $6B respectively don’t convince you to value people, then I’m certainly not successful enough (financially) to persuade you.

Randy

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Managing The Energy Of The Workplace #4018

Leadership, On Being Extraordinary, Podcast / By Randy Cantrell

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Managing The Energy Of The Workplace #4018 - GROW GREAT Podcast

If this is your first foray into BulaNetwork.com or the Grow Great podcast – it’s important that you know my world-view and philosophy of leadership. People matter! I don’t mean in some lip-service way. I mean people really do matter. They make all the difference. For good. Or bad.

Let me bullet-point it for you so it’ll be easier and faster:

People mostly want to get up in the morning energized to do good work.
If given the opportunity, most people would prefer to make a positive difference.
People crave a positive sense of accomplishment.
We manage the work. We lead people.
People deserve great leadership.
Great leadership serves the people by always doing the right thing.
Always be honest, be competent, give more and make it right.

Those are the basics of who and what I am. Everything I do reflects these important things. So that’s my bias – if you care to call it that. It’s my perspective and it may help you better understand today’s show, and all the content you can find at GrowGreat.com (which by the way was once branded HigherHumanPerformance.com – I still like that and you can enter that into your browser and arrive at the same place; growing great is very much still focused on helping people in the quest for higher human performance).

The-Energy-Bus-Book Some months ago I began to really focus on my own energy. At first I didn’t use the word, energy. I wasn’t sure how to quantify what I was feeling, but one day that word arrived by way of a book my daughter loaned me, The Energy Bus. I still haven’t read it, but when she handed it to me I instantly had THE word to attach to what I was feeling and thinking. Energy.

Our Work Hinges On How Well We Manage Our Energy

By “work” I mean our performance. I don’t mean just movement, or action. I mean getting things done that move our enterprises forward.

Let’s back up to that first bullet-point – People mostly want to get up in the morning energized to do good work. That’s important because this is where so many companies get it wrong.

If people – this includes US – want to get up in the morning energized to do good work, then they have to fully understand how their work fits. They have to know and understand that their work matters. They have to see their work in the context of the bigger picture. In short, they must see the value of their work.

Motivation is the energy we each bring with us to do the work. Inspiration is what leaders (or others) can supply to encourage us. Both can flag and waver if we’re not careful. Of the two, motivation is the longer-term value. You know this every time to attend a seminar or conference that you find valuable. You get jacked up and excited sitting in that hotel ballroom listening to this keynote speaker. Then Tuesday morning happens and that inspiration is gone. Poof. Vanished. And it was just 2 days ago you felt like you could conquer the world. Such is the nature of inspiration, even world-class inspiration.

Motivation on the other hand is driven by many things. Among them the reasons you’re doing what you’re doing. You’re supporting your family. You’ve got other things that matter to you – things that drive you work hard, and well. Mostly, those don’t vanish. Poor health or some calamity in life can create a hiccup, making your motivation (energy) waver, but hopefully you battle back. Everybody faces challenges. How well we navigate those challenges determines how successful we are – and how valued we are at work.

It’s all about energy management. I used the pronoun “we” – our work hinges on how well WE manage our energy – because too many people want to surrender ownership. Some are even deluded to think other people do indeed possess control of their energy. Nobody holds the key to your energy except YOU. You’re driving your own energy bus. If you refuse to drive, then that’s on you.

Leaders Impact Energy

For starters, leaders have the task of incorporating people into the enterprise. That means onboarding new people. Onboarding is that official HR term. I don’t like it, but it helps you know what I mean. I hate it because it’s too impersonal. And maybe it sounds too close to waterboarding. 😉

Simply put, it’s the task of making people feel at home in a new company or a new role. It’s supplying people with the information and resources they need in order to soar. Leadership must make sure people clearly see and understand how their work impacts the overall success of the enterprise. Equally important, they must understand what success looks like. How will their performance be judged? How will they know if they’re succeeding or not? That’s the job of leadership to make sure all those answers are promptly provided BEFORE the person begins the actual work.

I know, lots of us fail right there. Well, today’s the day to stop failing at this critical beginning. If you’ve got people on your roster who were never properly integrated into their role, then go back and get that done today. Sit down with them and apologizing for failing them. You can’t neglect doing this work. Assume that time will fix it, and you’ll be making an enormous mistake. The only thing time will bring you is entropy and slippage. Things will surely grow worse, not better. It’s the leader’s job to intervene and stop entropy. You do that by being proactive and making sure people have all they need so they can achieve success.

If leaders don’t do that, then I don’t know why leaders are even needed? Serving the people is THE reason for leaders to even exist. It’s not about being large and in charge. It’s about being in a position to do things necessary to get the crap out of the way so people can do the best work possible. Authority of leadership enables those roadblocks and speed bumps to be removed. Get busy removing the first one – a lack of understanding about why the person is even in the company and why their work (their performance) matters. Make sure every single person in your organization – from the highest on the food chain to the lowest – sees how their work impacts the whole. Don’t end your meeting with the employee until it’s clear they see how they matter, and how they fit. And remember to make sure they know how to tell if they’re succeeding or not.

Sometimes people are succeeding, but they feel like they’re failing. That’s leadership’s responsibility (and fault). It’s a morale killer. Few things will disrupt your workforce more than people who don’t see the importance of their role, their contribution — and people who just never seem to know if they’re doing well, or poorly. Give them clear vision.

Candor.

It’s one of my all-time favorite leadership words. Some people mistake it for embracing conflict. That’s narrow-minded. Candor is honesty. It’s not unkind, or brutal. It’s not conflict oriented. Mostly, it’s prompt, candid conversation designed to help clarify, inform, instruct, correct — and perform other positive communication outcomes. Let me illustrate.

True story. A worker with a disgruntled, toxic attitude and communication is already on a PIP (performance improvement plan). She’s been reprimanded and her poor behavior has been clearly outlined along with recommendations on the actions she can take to turn things around. It’s about 20 days into the plan she leaves the office at quitting time. Earlier in the day the staff was informed of a scheduled inventory, planned in 3 weeks. Plenty of time for people to make adjustments to their personal schedules. It’s going to require team members to work an additional 2 to 4 hours, depending on their department and role. These are ordinary, regular affairs that everybody understands are just part of the company’s operations. Our PIP employee lobs a verbal grenade on her way out the door, “It’s ridiculous to drop that on us today.” As she’s existing the door, the boss hears it. She’s still in the doorway when he firmly, but politely says, “Gayle (no, that’s not her name), can I have a quick moment, please?”

Gayle joins the boss as they walk together back to his office. You’re seeing candor in action. It’s prompt. He’s not going to let her leave the building without addressing this action.

Keep in mind, Gayle is already on a PIP. Her job is at risk. Her behavior have impacted others in her office. Negatively. The PIP was designed to help her turn things around because her work – technically speaking – it good. She knows her job and does it well. However, she’s an ongoing distraction to the rest of the team and her constant complaining creates a tension that negatively impacts the whole group. She’s been told that and part of the PIP involves ongoing help, support and feedback. Sadly, for the boss, he’s discouraged now because for the past 20 days or so she’s done better. He’s told her so and he’s encouraged her to keep it up. Now, he’s feeling like she’s taking a major step backwards.

He asks her to sit down at the conference table in his office, where he joins her. “I don’t want to keep you long, Gayle, but I heard your remark and I can’t ignore it,” he begins. “Gayle, do you fully understand – I mean, really understand – how your work impacts our organization?”

“Yes, sir, I think so,” she says. “And I’m sorry for spouting off about the inventory schedule.”

“Gayle, I want to make sure I’m serving you well by helping you every way I can,” he continues. “Part of that is making sure you see the big picture and where you fit in it.”

“I think I do, sir. We’ve talked about that in the past, ” says Gayle.

“Then help me understand why you felt compelled to make that remark as you exited the building?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I just don’t like doing inventory,” she replied.

On and on it goes for another 5 minutes or so. The boss tells her that he’s not going to tolerate her poor behavior because it’s not profitable for her, or anybody else on the team. He encourages her by telling her that she’s capable of doing high performing work. And because others look to her, she’s got a responsibility to lead, too. He’s firm, fair and kind. She’s appropriately ashamed and apologizes. She also assures him she’s going to work harder on curbing her bad habits. He makes sure she knows her future is in her own hands. From start to finish, it took about 8 minutes.

Did it involves a bit of conflict? Sure. Was it prompt? Absolutely. Real time feedback is the trademark of true candor. Was it appropriate and respectful? Yes. There’s no other way it should roll. Did it have the impact? It seemed to, but time will tell. The leader isn’t fully in charge of the response. Gayle is. It’s now up to her to do better work.

Leaders often ignore and avoid candor. Or they behave badly themselves. The boss could have yelled and screamed. He could have belittled Gayle. He could have ripped her up one side, down the other and felt better about himself. But none of those things would have served Gayle, or the company. They would have all been selfish acts. And they would have all robbed Gayle of energy while maybe giving the boss more. But that’s poor energy management. And bad leadership.

So What Can Leaders Do To Positively Impact Energy?

Begin at the beginning. When employees join the company, or assume a new role, spend time “onboarding” them. Scrutinize your onboarding process. Make it spectacular. Do not skip this step. Don’t get it wrong. It’s the foundation of everything else. Make sure the employee understands how valuable their work is, and how important it is to the overall organization. The object is to: a) make the employee feel and know they’re valued, b) make sure they understand they’ve got all the resources and help to be high performers, c) insure they understand what success looks like and d) make sure they know how they and their work fit the rest of the big puzzle that is the company. If you fail at any one of those, then go back and re-engineer your onboarding process.
All acts of management and leadership must be congruent with the beginning. You’re going to have to commit to remaining true to all those onboarding messages. Remember, we manage the work. We lead the people. While the example with Gayle demonstrates the negative impact of a poor attitude, it’s difficult (if not impossible) to serve a person with a poor attitude. And it’s made worse when the person is like Gayle – they’re doing good work themselves. The boss put her on a PIP not because of the quality of her work, but because of the negative impact she was having on others within her team. Two exit interviews with previous employees had revealed Gayle was a major factor in their leaving. She constantly complained and griped about perceived injustices done to her. The leadership had specific, distinct issues that needed to be addressed with her. It wasn’t an opinion-based PIP. That wouldn’t have worked. The only way for management and leadership to be congruent with the beginning is to make sure feedback is objective, quantifiable and susceptible to specific recommendations for correction, or improvement.
Work is done by people. Always treat people with respect. Firm doesn’t mean unkind. Or heavy-handed. Great leaders calculate the most appropriate response to good and poor performance. The goal is to always improve. Growth is the objective. Keep the objectives in mind. It’s never about YOU. It’s not about you showing off your authority. You must make it about serving the employee to do better work.
Listen. Pay attention. Don’t jump to conclusions. Few things will more quickly improve your leadership than shutting your mouth and opening your eyes and ears. Watch any episode of Undercover Boss and you’ll quickly see it in action. I’m always fascinated at a CEO or other C-level officer who goes undercover. They’re not doing any high tech surveillance or hardcore data crunching. They’re out among the troops. Working side by side, watching, listening and paying attention. No spreadsheets. No analysis, other than the human kind that involves listening, watching and talking. Human connections result in learning where the warts are. Sometimes those warts are years and years old. They were visible the whole time. The CEO was just too distracted, too focused on things that didn’t matter to notice. Now, she sees them. Back to the C-suite to make the changes that should have been made long ago — if only she had known. Gather information. Get it from the lowest level possible. Keep your eyes open. And listen. Refrain from making judgments until you’ve got sufficient evidence upon which to base a good (wise) decision.
Be reactive. Everybody tells you how urgent it is for you to be proactive. Forget that. It’s way more important for you to be reactive. Faster! Don’t waste your time trying to be proactive. Instead, get faster – way faster – about reacting to the market and the performance of your people. Adjust quicker than you ever have before. Make speed your competitive edge. And I don’t mean knee-jerk. I mean thoughtful, but intentional. You can get fast and still be thoughtful and intentional. You do it at home all the time. Your husband or wife gets upset and you react. You work through it. Or, you stew about it. Stewing doesn’t work at home, or work. Act. Today. Now. Base it on the best evidence you can gather. Start taking more shots than you’ve ever taken before. It doesn’t mean you don’t take aim. Do that, too.

I’m sure there are other things you can add to create your own list. Do it. Figure it out. Embrace the people who make you look good. Serve them. Well.

Maybe you’ll find some inspiration in my personal business philosophy. You can apply it to management and leadership.

Always

Now, go to work. Today. Right now. Put some high energy into your workplace! And into your own life, too.

Randy

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Will You Make A Better Decision Today? (Refuse To Stay Stuck) - GROW GREAT Podcast Episode 4015

4015 Will You Make A Better Decision Today? (Refuse To Stay Stuck)

Entrepreneurship, Leadership, On Being Extraordinary, Podcast / By Randy Cantrell

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:27 — 20.0MB)

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Will You Make A Better Decision Today? (Refuse To Stay Stuck) - GROW GREAT Podcast Episode 4015

CEOs and business owners, and every other kind of top leader, suffer losses. Businesses win and businesses lose. Some idea work. Others don’t.

It’s easy to gloat over the wins. Maybe it’s easier to get depressed about the losses. It can sure be easy to dwell on the losses and grow angrier at the world.

Cynicism runs rampant. Fiction does, too. Last week I talked quite a bit about beliefs and how we can get it wrong. Our wrongness, our losses and all the other garbage that fuels our complaining — it’s time for us (all of us) to own it.

Maybe we mostly see what we want to see. The path to Complaintville is smooth, easy and straight. “If only,” are two powerful words most of us use every now and again. They’re stables in the vocabulary of excuse-makers.

“But sometimes there is a valid reason for the loss,” says a CEO. And he’s right. Expert economists and finance folks will tell you that our businesses go one of four ways:

Our business mirrors the economy.
Our business mirrors the industry.
There is a Black Swan event.
We screwed up.

It’s that last one that we don’t like to admit. During my years of running luxury retailing companies I would often hear other people in my space lament everything from the weather, or big events happening in their market, to whether the local team won or lost a game. When you need a reason (a’hem, an excuse), they’re quite handy.

As leaders of the enterprise we certainly can impact the outcome. If our company mirrors the economy or our industry, we can directly affect an outcome for the better — or the worse.

Your brilliance isn’t always the culprit. I know you’d like the think you’re special in the brains department, and you may be. But not likely. Businesses are full of really smart people who still can’t seem to get it right.

Your experience isn’t always the culprit. In the early 70’s I started selling stereo gear. The turntable was the source in every system I sold because customers bought vinyl records. It was our only music source. If you wanted to convert the music to tape you had to purchase a reel-to-reel recorder. That was before 8 tracks and cassettes arrived. My experience in selling turntables stopped serving me when vinyl bit the dust. I could have done what I see some business owners and CEOs do — they fell in love with earlier experiences and now they’re too romantic about it. You see it (well, I mostly hear it) whenever they begin to talk about the good old days when things were different. Sometimes nostalgia can morph quickly into complaining.

Those of us involved in business or organizational pursuits – leaders of companies and other enterprises – recognize that we’re not all created equally. Our skills differ. Our personalities do, too. And our opportunities vary just like our connections, how our parents raised us and how we see the world. Heredity, environment and natural aptitude – they all matter in business careers just like they do anything else.

Entrepreneurship Means Being Responsible

It’s wildly popular. Well, the notion of it is highly popular. The true meaning is taking financial responsibility for the outcome. It’s what we do running our businesses. That whole “taking responsibility” can be tough though. And painful when things aren’t going well. We enjoy getting the credit for a win. We also enjoy finding an excuse when we don’t.

That’s why some people inside businesses are Blamers. Whenever there’s a problem, or things didn’t do according to plan — they’re the ones who want to make it a priority to find out who’s at fault. They’re also the excuse makers and they can poison us, and the whole culture we’re trying to create. I’ve sat in far too many meetings where a Blamer tried to hijack the meeting to accomplish just one thing: find out who’s at fault.

Wasting time that would be better spent solving the problem, or coming up with an improvement of a process, or anything else that would be more positive. Besides, we usually know the team members who didn’t perform well. Maybe they’re not to blame entirely, but they’re not helpful in moving us forward. During a crisis, or a time when we’re solving a problem – or trying to make an improvement – it’s probably not the ideal time to be distracted in finding people to blame. There’s always time for that later. I’m not fond of accessing people problems during such times because I want to make sure I’m doing the right thing, in the right way. Unless somebody has done something illegal, or violated a non-negotiable standard I’ve set (honesty issues, drug/alcohol issues, violence in the workplace, etc.), I’m going to make personnel decisions at a more appropriate time.

But all this score keeping thing is mostly about our own performance, not somebody else’s (including our team members). This score keeping is more personal, less an enterprise kind of thing. You need to keep score in your business. Whatever KPI’s you’ve established are the ones that likely serve you well. Maybe there are better ones, but the ones in place are serving you well or you wouldn’t have them in place. A subsets of those KPI’s are the ones that are personal to you – the ones you can affect. As the CEO you can affect all of them. If not directly, indirectly.

Everything You Want

Fear In The C-Suite

We mostly buy into the belief, “Never let ’em see you sweat.” Vulnerability isn’t popularized in mass media. Certainly not when you’re the top leader of an enterprise. Instead, the jerk who operates like a maniac, driving people to mythical levels of achievement is made to be a hero. We like to make a correlation between the personality and the performance, but I just don’t buy it. There are too many good people leading good enterprises and creating value at every turn.

CEOs can be driven by their fear to be jerks. The highest value is found in being human. People connect with real people. When the real person is at the top of the food chain, it’s even more powerful. If you don’t think so then let me introduce you to a man I’ve long admired, Jim Goodnight, CEO and founder of SAS.

“Treat employees like they make a difference and they will.” That’s a Goodnight quote you can find on their company website. Goodnight isn’t that maniac on a mission who will step on anybody and everybody to get his way. He’s a real guy who understands that his employees have real passions, drives and desires – professionally and personally. He takes care of his people and they take great care of the business. The man has a solid grip on how powerful people are in helping build a great business.

Goodnight keeps working. He’s been doing it successfully since he started the company in 1976. He’s had up’s and down’s just like you. And me. He’s won a bunch, and lost a few (maybe more than a few). But he’s an ideal example of a CEO and founder who just keeps on working.

I don’t know him personally, but I can promise you he’s afraid of many things just like us. Running a multi-BILLION dollar business may elevate his fear to levels we don’t understand. He’s in touch with his own humanity – and vulnerability. That’s why he’s a great leader devoted to his employees.

If you want to learn more just type his name in the search bar at YouTube and you’ll see some terrific interviews.

Past Wins Are The Problem

Here’s the point of it all — CEOs may be among the most vulnerable people on planet to fall in love with a past win. Mostly, I think we’re an optimistic bunch. We focus on the possible. Our work involves solving problems that vex others. We thrive on the stress of knowing there’s a lot on the line. It’s what we do. It’s why we have the role.

Don’t misunderstand the point of today’s show. It’s not an indictment of keeping score. It’s certainly not a show against celebrating victories. Frankly, too many of us don’t do that enough. We lean on our people to produce better results today after we refused to let them enjoy the win they produced yesterday. Big mistake!

No, the point is that we need to live in the present and operate our business today. I hope you had great success yesterday. And I hope you led the parade for your people to celebrate it. But if you didn’t win yesterday I hope you don’t get distracted by that today. And I really hope you’re not cracking a whip today berating your people over it. Instead, I hope you’re using today to get the work done – better!

It’s about doing the work. Well.

Always.

Without fail. Without excuse. Without letting fear stop us. Or romance.

Romance? Yep, you read it right. That’s where keeping score can really mess us up. We fall in love with our ideas and our successes. Sometimes our players.

The opportunities today don’t much care about any of that though. Today’s challenges, issues and opportunities need our focus in this present moment. If we’re so locked into the scores we’ve accomplished in the past, then we’ll fail to maximize today. Ditto on our past failures. Whatever misses make up our past have no bearing on today, unless we let them.

It’s not merely head noise. It’s focus and a way of thinking. We get stuck in a paradigm. We don’t stretch the possibilities. Sometimes because we don’t know how. We fool ourselves into thinking that what once worked will still work. And what didn’t work the first time, will never work. That’s not necessarily true. But if we believe it, then it may as well be true. A major hurdle of doing the work – well – is to be willing to change our beliefs. That requires an openness, vulnerability, honesty and willingness that only the rarest CEOs have.

CEO Coaching

This is why I do the work I do. It’s the driving force behind my service to CEOs, business owners and other top executives.

I know it’s not for everybody. Not everybody understands it. Or believes in it. That’s fine. Extraordinary means not ordinary. If it was for everybody, then it wouldn’t likely have the value or remarkability that it does.

Your leadership hinges on making the best decisions possible today. That’s the name of the game for every CEO. You can fly alone and gut it out, or you can get unstuck and find heights you never thought possible. Lately I’ve been seeing some geese fly over my house. Small groups of them flying in a formation. Because they know today’s distance is determined by going together. CEOs can be stuck working by themselves, or they can embrace a novel – but powerful – practice of joining forces with other CEOs in small, intimate groups and having a coach lead the way.

So I’ll end with challenging you to consider breaking free. Maybe it’s a good fit for you. Maybe not. Just give yourself a chance to find what suits and bests serves you…because the work continues. It depends on you and your leadership.

Randy

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My BIG Mistake: I Thought It Mattered, But It Didn't - GROW GREAT Podcast Episode 4014

4014 My BIG Mistake (I Thought It Mattered, But It Didn’t)

Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Personal Development, Podcast / By Randy Cantrell

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:32 — 45.7MB)

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My BIG Mistake (I Thought It Mattered, But It Didn't) - GROW GREAT Podcast Episode 4014

I don’t have enough time, bandwidth or storage to tell you about all the mistakes I’ve made so I’ll just focus today on a BIG mistake I’ve made. I’m sharing this one because I think it’s probably one you’ve made, too. Maybe you’re still making it. Today’s show has just one objective – to help you learn and think by showing you that you’re not alone, even though many days you feel alone.

First, let me give you some back story. I started selling hi-fi gear when I was just a kid in high school. I loved music and the gear that would play my records. Yep, I’m old. You may not remember vinyl records. Or the family sitting down to supper every evening. Or the TV show Bonanza or The Andy Griffith Show. Or when ZZ Top’s first record came out. Well, I’m old enough to remember all of that.

Little did I know my first job would morph into launching me into a lifelong career in the consumer electronics business. Such is life. Like many of you, I stumbled into a career where I was blessed to be given the helm of a multi-million dollar operation by the time I was in my mid-20’s. I’ve spent most of my adult life leading and building organizations. My education mostly happened in the real world of operating a business, even though I did attend journalism school at LSU. I’m an operator. Proudly.

Part of being an operator was founded in selling because my very first job was in sales. I cared about people. I enjoyed talking with people. Early on, I was mostly interested in finding out what their favorite music was and how I could hook them up with a killer stereo to play their favorite records. That’s how it started and honestly, not much has changed. I still enjoy finding out what people get stoked about — and what problems they’ve got that I may be able to help with.

For the past 7 years I’ve been mostly coaching and consulting with business owners or top executives. I’ve reinvented myself more times than I can count, but that partly goes with the turf of growing older. The hippies of the 60’s were just slightly before my time, but I remember being a grade school kid during that time. “Finding yourself” was a mantra of that era. I’d like to tell you that I found myself very early on, and in a sense I suppose I did. But mostly, it’s been a lifelong journey of finding myself only to discover I’m not who or what I thought I was, or that I want to head in a different direction.

During my formative years of running businesses we didn’t use (and had never heard) the word PIVOT. We grew up learning to fix our problems by learning from our mistakes. When somebody gave it a cool name, PIVOTING, I was rather jealous that we didn’t have that term during the early years of my career. I have to tell you though — the term might let some people off the hook in facing their failure. For example, people often use failure as a badge of honor. It’s as though they’ve mistaken failure being the point of trying. I’m not in favor of putting so much pressure on success that we refuse to try, but nor am I a fan of not putting enough pressure on it to make our effort count.

That brings me to something that we all face and something that in recent months has too often put me in a funk.

FEAR

You’ve heard the adage that fear stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. That resonates with all of us. Our fear is real.

Google “fear” and you’ll find over 523 million results in less than half a second. Half a billion search results for one of the most fatal four letter words in the English language.

Let me use a word that’s better, at least in describing what I often feel. That’s right, I said OFTEN.

Anxiety.

Fear is defined like this.

an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat

Here’s the definition of anxiety.

a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome

In case you were wondering, Google the term “anxiety” and you only get 167 million search results. Not nearly as many as fear.

Do those definitions help you understand the difference between fear and anxiety. Probably not very well. Thanks to the folks over at GoZen.com, an organization dedicated to the relief of childhood anxiety, and a video they produced…we can get a better grip on the difference between the two. It’ll only take 90 seconds for you to learn it.

Fear is from immediate danger. Anxiety is from our thoughts. BIG difference, right?

That’s also my BIG mistake — letting my anxiety completely, and utterly trip me up.

I want you to learn from my BIG mistake, even if you’re one of those special (VERY special) fearless people. Boy, do I envy you.

As a lifelong operator I’m used to problem solving. Years in the luxury retailing business – one of the fastest moving industries on the planet where profits are razor thin and competition is around every corner – there’s little time to strategize and formulate a plan that takes weeks or months to execute. There’s just no time. You have to have a gunfighter’s mentality and a gunfighter’s skill. Pull your weapon faster than the other guy, fire it faster than him and hit the target. If you miss, forget a pivot. Sometimes your miss can be deadly and set you back months, if not years. That margin for error adds to the pressure of making sure your fast action is as on point as it can be. And I loved it.

Even my wife called me a stress junkie – for that kind of stress. The stress of competing and being fast drove me for over 4 decades. There was only one word for it, exhilarating. It was like oxygen for me.

Back in 2009 I stepped away from the C-suite to serve other CEOs and top executives. At first, with consulting. Roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty, do the work kind of stuff. I enjoyed the work, but was more often than not frustrated by a business owner or CEO who wanted one or more of the trifectas of business building: get new customers, serve existing customers better and no go crazy in the process. But I had a problem. I was – and always have been – fanatical about customer experience. Making customers happy wasn’t negotiable for me. Ever. I wanted customers to be dazzled. Sometimes I found myself doing work for a CEO or business owner who wasn’t so passionate about it. Few things in my career frustrated me like getting in my car and driving home from a client engagement knowing they had very unhappy customers and they just didn’t much care.

So I walked away from it. Consulting was something I was good at, but I found it too difficult walk away with no ability to affect the outcome. The execution part was missing. That was almost 3 years ago.

Say hello to what most call coaching — I just started by calling it serving because that’s what it is.

Now I was onto something. I wasn’t bringing the answers. Mostly I was bringing the questions, something I was always good at. Since I was in my 20’s organizations I’ve led have heard me preach, “The quality of our questions determines the quality of our business.” I preached it because it was true. It still is.

The better our questions, the better opportunities we have to build a great business. And deliver great experiences to our customers.

So it seemed fitting to take that experience in running businesses and in asking great questions to serve other CEOs, business owners and top executives. I’d connect with one leader who would need and want my help. That would lead to another. I wasn’t a marketing genius by a long shot, but I was focused on the work – the service to help people grow and to help them grow their business. Unlike some people in this field, I wasn’t driven to become a fixture. Repeatedly I told clients that their success was my success. I had a vested interest in helping them achieve more. Sometimes that meant fixing a problem. Sometimes it meant seizing an opportunity. Sometimes it was purely work related. Sometimes it wasn’t – it was very personal. It didn’t matter. I was a resource with a single aim of helping this leader navigate through whatever water they were traveling through at the time. There were times it was merely months. Other times it was years. The connections I forged were real and deep because it’s the only way I know to roll. I knew “coaches” who were perfectly comfortable with the one and done approach, but I wasn’t and I’ve never done it.

I’ve tried a few things – different approaches – to elevate my own performance. It’s rarely comfortable, but I’ve learned that dread and long-lasting fear is no way to roll. So some years ago when I began to morph my practice into a combination of coaching and consulting I wasn’t sure how thing might work out. I had a vision and a goal. The trick was to make it come true.

It started as fear, but that very quickly gave way to anxiety as I realized nothing bad was going to happen to me. There was no threat.

What’s the worst thing that can happen?

I’m a guy who has always asked and answered that question. Just ask my kids. I taught them to ask it, and answer it. I learned as a kid that lots of people ask it, but I never found many people courageous enough to answer it. I was always willing to answer it. So that’s what I did. I began to answer the question. And the answers were laughable. If I were to approach a CEO about the value – which I believe is extraordinarily high – of being coached and possibly joining a small, intimate group, what’s the worst thing that can happen? They could hang up on me. They could kick me out of their office. They could dog cuss me. Okay, truthfully, that first one is likely the WORST and most real one. Oh, man…what kind of a wuss am I? Somebody hangs up on you and it breaks you, I thought.

I thought.

There it was. The problem behind it all. My thoughts.

I was letting my thoughts race out of control. I was looking into some fictitious future where terrible things would befall me simply because I was attempting to help people see and better understand an opportunity that I was never given when I was running companies. What kind of a demon, villain must I be?

I wasn’t trying to sell anybody anything. Fact is, what I offer isn’t for everybody even though every top leader can benefit from it. Those who don’t see it aren’t worth my time to try to convince them (and I don’t).

I wasn’t trying to convince people of anything. People either want the value, or they don’t.

I wasn’t trying to persuade people to like me. People either resonate with me, or they don’t.

Think about your own anxiety because I want you to learn from my mistake. I sat down the other day and hit record on my iTalk app (it’s by Griffin and it’s a terrific audio recording app on my iPhone). It’s $1.99 and well worth it.

Here’s what I did – and I want this to help you.

I asked myself questions. I decided to do for myself what I do for clients all the time. Sit down with myself and ask questions designed to help me gain clarity and resolve. Questioned aimed at getting to the crux of the matter. If you’ve never experienced that, but you’d like to – I’m going to share with you a kinda, sorta secret page where I sometimes offer people a no cost, no obligation enrollment session. It’s a powerful taste of what it’s like to have somebody help without any agenda other than to help move you forward — click here.

I’m a smart guy. Why it had never dawned on me to ask myself these questions, or interview myself before — I don’t know. It just happened. I got the urge and notion to do it and hit record. The recording went for about 1 hour and 45 minutes. It was interrupted by some phone calls, but I picked back up after each interruption. I’ve listened to that recording at least three times now. It’s fascinating to hear how even the tone in my voice changes as I’m asking the questions to the person who is answering them. It’s all me. Just me.

I did it because over the past few months I’ve learned the power of stepping outside ourselves to examine our thoughts from a more objective place. All those little voices in your head will drive you nuts if you let them. Most of us never really deal with them. The common refrain is, “Be more confident.” Simple advice. Over simplified advice that doesn’t help the person struggling with confidence. Ditto for our head noise. “Don’t listen,” is bad advice. It doesn’t work. The more you try to quieten the voices the louder they begin to shout. I knew that didn’t work so I went looking for better answers.

I found them. First in some YouTube videos by Gary Van Warmerdam. I’d never heard of this guy. But I watched this video.

That led to me Gary’s book, MindWorks: A Practical Guide for Changing Thoughts Beliefs, and Emotional Reactions. That was important because had I not gone through the exercise of identifying these characters in my head, these voice telling me various things – then my interview with myself wouldn’t have happened as it did.

By the time I hit record to interview myself I had already identified 10 different characters who live inside my head. And I had learned what you may not yet know – that I’m brilliant (and so are you) in that I can hold multiple viewpoints and multiple opinions which often contradict each other, at the same time. For example, I’m so talented I can believe Conrad the Confident (he’s one of my voices) who tells me I’m experienced, capable, empathetic and good at what I do so there’s every reason to know I’ll succeed…and at the same time I can believe Phillip the Prophet who tells me “this will never work; you’re an idiot for even trying.”

How can Conrad and Phillip both be correct? They can’t. But that doesn’t stop me from believing both of them, at the same time. See, I told you I was brilliant?

Well, so are you. You have that same ability. It happens to you all the time just like it does me. You believe contradictory things about yourself all the time. Not because they’re true, but because you’re buying what they’re selling.

Now I’m a Christian. If you’re offended by that, then get over it. I make no apologies for it. And I’m an elder at a small congregation in Ft. Worth, an accomplishment I’m proud of (for myself and my family). It’s not a title. It’s a work. A service.

God is important. God is first. Because that’s the spot He demands.

As I’m interviewing myself I ask myself an important question, “Do you trust God?”

I answer that I do. Then I ask myself, “Then how do you resolve all this anxiety when Luke 12 and other Bible verses command Christians to not be anxious, but to trust in God?”

Right there I was thrown to the floor and put in a choke hold I couldn’t escape. It was a gotcha moment. I had to confess that I wasn’t trusting God as I should.

I saw my big mistake. Letting anxiety rule my life and cripple my efforts in being the Christian I should be, and in helping CEOs learn about an opportunity so valuable that it could change their lives for the better.

That’s it. No hard sell. No soft sell. Just an information exchange. Just two people sitting down face to face to have a conversation to examine whether they mutually want to proceed. Or not. And either way, it’s okay. Either way, God isn’t going to be pleased or displeased. What displeases God is my being anxious and not trusting Him. Shame on me.

After I stopped the recording I went to a quiet, dark spot, knelt down and prayed.

For weeks and months I’ve been riddled with some of the highest anxiety of my life. Putting pressure on myself and letting some others put pressure on me to make so many phone calls, contact so many people, do this, don’t do that, say this, don’t say that — and I’ve come to conclude I’ve made a terrible mistake. One of the BIGGEST mistakes of my life in recent years.

I’ve let myself fall prey to my own anxieties. I’ve forgotten who I was and what I was. I’ve been listening to too many of the wrong voices and ignoring the right ones.

Is that YOU?

Have you got things all worked out in your head…and it doesn’t look very good?

How many characters are talking to you right now, telling you everything from “you can’t” to “yes you can?” I’ve identified 10 of my own and I’m betting there are more if I just look more closely.

How many obstacles are standing in your way to achieve what you most want for your career and your company?

Don’t be ashamed thinking CEOs and top leaders don’t experience these things. I’m 58. I’ve run many companies. I’ve led lots of people over the course of my life. I’ve been capable and successful. But here I am at this ripe old age battling things you’d have thought I might have long ago conquered.

Welcome to the human race.

I’m not sharing this for any reason other than to make you realize you’re not alone. We’re all in this together. Some of us are open and honest. Some of us are more willing than others to put ourselves out there. I’m hoping that through hearing of my struggles and my big mistake you’ll find some courage to help yourself and some willingness to be helped.

I thought many things mattered. Details. Strategies. Tactics. Fears. Anxieties. But I was wrong. They don’t matter.

At the end of my interview with myself I asked myself this question about my anxieties – hearing how wrong-headed and illogical they mostly are:

Can you open both hands and let them go?

I’ll end today’s show by asking you the same question. There you sit in your nice corner office. You’re the founder. The CEO. The top dog. Everybody is looking to you for the answers. Surrounded by smart people who are employees, direct reports, service providers, financial partners and all the rest of the cast who surround you. They’re all terrific and they serve you well. But they’re all beholden to you. Each of them want something from you — need something from you. A paycheck. Their career. A contract. An ongoing client relationship. Something. But deep inside your heart and in your head is the anxiety.

Your thoughts.

You believe certain things based on those thoughts. Those beliefs often limit you. But who can you talk to? Who can ask you the questions that desperately need to be answered? Who can help you open both your hands and let it go?

I answered out loud on my recording my answer to the question, “Can you open both hands and let them (my anxieties) go?” — “Yes, I can.”

That’s what I’m trying to do. And yes, trying is a good thing because I’m doing it, sometimes more successfully than at other times, but I’m going to succeed. I’m doing the work.

By the way, I’ve got an answer to that question of who can help you do the same thing.

All the best.

Randy

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