For You Leaders: Recent Episodes
Kirk Dando
Have you ever thought to yourself: "running a business shouldn't be this hard?" Then you need to listen to the For You Leadership Podcast, where you can tap into Kirk Dando’s leadership experience working with 11,000+ leaders around the world. From startups to hyper-growth companies, Kirk has seen it all. Short on theory and long on real-world examples, you will leave every episode equipped to be a better leader.
We’ll bring you interviews with some of today’s best CEOs and Dando’s clients. They will offer behind-the-scenes insights into how the companies big and small grow. You’ll learn the ground truth about what works and what doesn’t.
“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.” Abraham Lincoln
Kirk is on vacation this week. He’s taking some time to “sharpen his axe” so he can be a healthier more productive husband, father, friend, and leader. It’s hard for any leader to disconnect, but it’s even harder to deal with the consequences of not taking time for true self-care. Learn and grow from 9 award-winning CEOs, esteemed journalists, and overall great people about how they think about slowing down to speed up in this special podcast we produced to help you.
“Ideas are great… but they are only as good as the people executing them.”
Sean Spector, CEO + Founder Of Dropoff
It’s almost a foregone conclusion - if you set the strategy and keep measuring it, it will all work out. However, a mediocre strategy with an amazing, aligned team will beat the brilliant strategy with a mediocre team almost every single time. The problem can be counterintuitive. We have all kinds of metrics and measurements to see how the business is performing, but we often neglect the most important metric to executing our strategy: how are our people doing (both personally and professionally)? That’s what today’s episode is all about: how to increase velocity by knowing how your people are doing through impactful 1-on-1s.
Working closely with leaders and their organizations, I hear a ton of myths around strategy. Many people have a strong opinion on what they think will (or will not) work when it comes to developing and executing their growth strategy. For example, “OKRs don’t work… We have to get everyone aligned to these goals… We need to set stretch goals... We have too many meetings... We need a 10-year vision...” The list goes on and on.
Today, I’m not only going to dispel some common misunderstandings around developing and executing strategy, but I am also going to share the best practices learned from some of the world’s best strategists and CEOs.
The best gift you can give yourself, your team, your investors, your customers, and your organization is the ability to execute. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Execution of those ideas is where dimes turn into fortunes.
Today you’ll learn how other successful CEOs and their teams make sure their strategy comes alive through an unlikely process. You will see how to move your team beyond compliance to commitment (to the plan) with 1 key question. This 1 key question will drive clarity and desired alignment to execute in 2021.
What confidence level do you have in your 2021 strategy? Will it be executed with the quality, timeliness, and budget you have promised to your investors, customers, and team members? In the latest For You Leaders podcast series, “Call the Shot, Make the Shot,” I will share the best practices around strategy from some of the world’s fastest-growing companies, like Amazon, HomeAway, Dropoff, and many others.
It’s true. NOTHING KILLS FASTER THAN SUCCESS.
That’s because success has a way of masking the issues that rob an organization of its full potential. Every healthy business matures through 3 distinct stages of growth with different characteristics and problems at each stage. If you are successful, you will grow yourself into problems. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to know which stage of growth your organization is in. You must be able to predict and prepare for the journey ahead so you don’t stall out - or worse.
In the Velocity Vector Series’s final chapter, I will unpack exactly what happens as a company scales. I’ll also explain the two critical inflection points in every growing business and what you need to do as a leader to solve the crucial Warning Signs of Success that growth causes in every healthy organization.
The goal of the Velocity Vector is to provide you with a framework and the mindset needed to achieve Decision Velocity. Although Decision Velocity sounds provocative and like something you should have, what is Decision Velocity? More importantly, why is it the unspoken goal of every leader, yet so elusive?
As we approach Thanksgiving, we wanted to re-release one of our most popular podcasts ever.
By any measure, 2020 has been a challenging year. That’s why it’s even more important than ever to focus on today’s subject: gratitude. It may sound tone-deaf, but gratitude is a healing tool with an incredible impact on my life and so many others. Furthermore, science proves an attitude of gratitude will literally rewire your brain for success - even in a year like 2020, and all the time.
Listen to this special episode of The For You Leaders podcast all about how you can start this powerful practice in your life.
One of the top five things I’ve heard over the last 25 years when I start working with a CEO and their team is, “We are not aligned,” or “We want to be better aligned.” Why does it matter? More importantly, are you, your team, and the organization aligned? If you’re not as aligned as you want to be, what would be different? What problems would it solve or how would your life be improved?
This episode of the For You Leaders podcast is all about alignment: why and how the healthiest organizations prioritize and achieve true alignment. Download the tools and graphics discussed in this episode at http://TheVelocityVector.com
Here is one thing experience taught me: your plan will never go 100% according to plan. It doesn’t matter how perfect you think your plan is or how sophisticated your plan is. It doesn’t even matter how much time, effort or energy you put into planning. However, in this episode, you’ll learn a framework to help your team think independently and adjust, even when your plan doesn’t go according to plan.
Does everything feel like it is moving too slow in your organization, including growth? Do you feel ready to accelerate into and throughout the new year? What are the stress levels for you, your team, your business, and at home?
If you and your team are looking for ways to speed up growth and slow down stress, this podcast will show you the best practices used by some of the world's most successful leaders. This is not hyperbole, what we share represents the consolidation of 11,000 different conversations over 25+ years.
Be sure to download the Velocity Vector + Velocity Vector Leadership Guide at http://TheVelocityVector.com
We continue our conversation with David Hassell, the CEO and Founder of 15Five. While 15Five is a software platform built to administer the 5-15 Framework, the secret to their success lies in building conditions of trust.
We dive deep into the ways a simple framework (don’t worry, no software is required) is really a secret weapon to build trust and build physiological safety. This is especially important in today’s ever-changing environment.
Today we dive into a framework called “the most important 15 mins of any employees’ workweek” - the 5-15. Our guest, David Hassell, is the founder of 15Five. His company expanded the 5-15 concept to inspire greater performance within individuals, teams and organizations. In this episode, David explains the idea behind 5-15s, why they are so powerful and how you can start using the concepts today.
15Five is offering its service for free until June 15, conditions apply. For more information, visit: http://foryouleaders.com/15five
Brett Hurt, co-founder and CEO of data.world, joins us on today’s episode. He provides his unique perspective on leading and communicating during difficult times. Brett has learned from both major breakthroughs as well as major breakdowns: from taking a company public (Bazaarvoice) to his experience in the middle of the dot-com but (Coremetrics). In this episode, Brett authentically shares his experience to help you become a better leader.
Visit ForYouLeaders.com for links to all the resources shared.
This social episode was taken from a live Q&A we did in our Private Facebook Group for the executives we work with. Suzi Sosa, the founder and CEO of Verb, joined the group to explain her unique perspectives and approach to leadership - especially in this uncertain time. She covers a wide range of topics from how her leadership team has responded to how her customers (like Facebook, CHANEL, Bumble and Whole Foods) are responding to how she’s changed her focus from managing her time, to managing her energy.
For this special edition of the For You Leaders Podcast, we focus on another way you can improve your leadership and be a force multiplier, especially in this time of uncertainty. By studying the patterns of great leaders from the past, as well as working closely with thousands of leaders, we have identified a short list of priorities the most admired leaders have consistently used to navigate through difficult times. Today, Kirk is going to share the number one priority of every great leader, both past and present.
Today we bring you another special episode of The For You Leaders Podcast. Today Kirk is going to share a very simple, yet powerful, tool leaders use during uncertain times called “The Commander’s Intent.” It’s so simple, you can start using it today. Listen in as we discuss how to lead during uncertain times by using the power of Commander’s Intent.
Don't miss the previous episode in this series where we discussed more about how to lead during uncertain times, as today’s world is changing and presenting challenges, globally, at a scale and pace greater than anything any of us has experienced - due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Are you a leader struggling or thinking about how to be leading during uncertain times with Coronavirus / COVID-19 ? If so, we wanted to hit pause and talk about what it means to be leading during uncertain times and the significance of being intentional and leading well. There’s no hype, just perspective on what we’re seeing with the CEOs we have the chance to work with on a daily basis. Let’s hit pause and talk about the importance of your leadership in this uncertain time.
Today, we continue the conversation around product development with Christopher O’Donnell, Chief Product Officer at Hubspot and Ash Devata, Head of Product at Duo Security. We cover a wide range of topics from how to creatively interview to ensure you get the right person in your next product management hire, including ways to pressure test for EQ and IQ to specific ways Hubspot and Duo Security develop and execute their product roadmap. We even dive into how CEOs should think about and influence product to deliver the best customer experience.
What the Heck Does A Product Person Do? Christopher O’Donnell, Chief Product Officer at Hubspot and Ash Devata, Head of Product at Duo Security share their incredible insights as product leaders. Before you brush off this podcast as something only for high-tech startups or product-centric companies, think again. This episode is full of important perspectives and tips for ANY company, even if you don’t have a "product person" in your business.
There are approximately 55 million meetings in the US every single day. Yes, you read that right. On top of that, executives said 72% of their meetings were unproductive. What side does your team fall on?
Today, we are talking all about meetings. We provide you with several tips that do not cost you a dime and you can implement immediately.
Today, we are continuing our conversation with the award-winning CEO of Four Hands, Matt Briggs. In this episode, we cover a wide range of topics from goal-setting to acquisitions to reducing stress. If you missed the previous episode, don’t miss the chance to hear the way Four Hands operationalizes their core values.
One topic to pay extra close attention to in this episode is how Matt and Four Hands set their company goals. In working with businesses around the world, it’s incredible how many companies struggle with goal setting that get (and keep) people focused. Do they set them so they are achievable or so they are more aspirational and very difficult to achieve? Matt does a great job sharing the unique perspective Four Hands has used to set goals to scale. Tune your ear to their approach and how it will help you and your business set goals and grow.
You might have heard CEOs talk about their core values and wondered: how do they practically live out the core values in the business? Furthermore, how do they use them to drive performance?
Today, you’re going to hear from award-winning CEO, Matt Briggs of Four Hands, Four Hands is a home furnishing company based in Austin, TX. In this episode, Matt shares how they actually live out one of their most unique core values: Fun. You’ll be surprised by the many ways they live up to this core value, how it drives their culture, performance, customer empathy and more. It’s not just window dressing.
Matt shares his unlikely journey from a self-proclaimed ski bum to the CEO of Four Hands, which will surpass $200m in revenue this year.
We continue our conversation with John James, the CEO of Engine. John dives into many of the how-to’s and “wish I would have knowns” from his deep experience.
He candidly shares about the health scare that led to his resignation at Country Outfitter, how he thinks about his legacy and the principles he’s taken with him to his newest venture, Engine. He also provides the powerful and simple advice Alex Dillard, the President of Dillard’s Department Stores, gave him that totally changed the way he viewed being a leader - both at home and the office. Don’t miss this episode.
As a serial entrepreneur, John created several online companies that ultimately led to the creation of Country Outfitter, a giant in western wear eCommerce. Today, John shares the lessons he’s learned from being a medical doctor to scaling an eCommerce company. He candidly shares the story of how Country Outfitter ultimately failed and how he had to step down as CEO. However, that is not the end of the story, John is wildly successful again, both in business and life.
This is the final episode in our series of interviews with Duo Security co-founder, Dug Song. In this episode, we cover a variety of topics from managing the board to work-life balance. We also dive into how Duo Security actively operationalizes their values to ensure they come to life within the business. There are no cheesy inspirational posters in this episode, just real and raw tactics and advice you can start implementing today. Listen now:
As you scale a business, there’s no shortage of tactics and advice. But how do you decide what to do, when to do it and in what order? Today’s guest, Dug Song, will tell you: “Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be. The list of all the things you could be doing are probably the right things to do….at some point in the company.” He warns that doing things “too early will literally kill you...you just can’t afford it when you’re small.”
You often hear the headlines like Cisco to Aquire Duo Security for $2.35b, and wonder - what’s the story behind the story? Today you’re going to hear part one of our interview with Dug Song, co-founder and General Manager of Duo Security at Cisco. Dug is a self-proclaimed hacker who humbly describes himself as a one-trick security pony. As you’ll learn today, Dug is an incredible leader that knew, in order to put a unique company together, like Duo, he needed to build it differently.
Dug shares, candidly, the thought processes that drove him to build a business that was ultimately sold to Cisco for $2.35b. However, as Dug highlights, he can’t call the acquisition “an exit” - he’s still in the business.
Listen now to learn from Dug’s humble beginnings at his father’s liquor store to how he built “the most loved company in security,” Duo Security.
Dirk Elmendorf, a co-founder of Rackspace, learned the hard way: interviewing is hard. It’s even more difficult when hiring for highly technical positions like engineers, that may not excel in a traditional interview. In this episode, Dirk explains his unique approach to hiring and provides tips you can use in your next interview. He discusses gut instinct vs. raw data, how to ask great questions and what you should be listening for in your next interview. Dirk also tells the deeply personal life event that changed the way he views work-life balance. Listen now!
Today we are talking to Dirk Elmendorf, Co-Founder of Rackspace. You’re going to hear the exceptional story behind how he started Rackspace in 1998 with two co-founders and how Rackspace got to be known for its fanatical customer support. Dirk provides simple solutions to make sure customers remain (or become) the center of your business. If you have a business that provides support for your product or service, you do not want to miss this episode.
How do busy executives handle the different demands of work and family life? What tips can you start implementing to be a more effective leader and husband/wife/father/mother? In this special episode of For You Leaders podcast, we take a compilation of advice, perspectives and guidance we have gathered over the years and combine it into one episode.
We all know that people are the most important asset within the business. But how, exactly, do you empower your employees and hold them accountable at the same time?
Today’s guest is Gregg Kaplan, founder of RedBox. Gregg is an incredible leader with a great story. In today’s episode, Gregg shares the unique story of RedBox (for example, did you know that RedBox started as an idea within McDonalds?) and the lessons he learned on the path to scaling RedBox to over $2b in revenue.
For this special Halloween-themed episode of the For You Leaders Podcast, we’ll explore three huge fears of, even the best, CEOs. Obviously, most CEOs are concerned that their businesses will succeed, but today’s episode goes deeper to uncover why CEOs share these three very common, fears. You will also learn how to overcome these fears in your own life.
Today’s guest is Cody Friesen, CEO of Zero Mass Water. Their mission is lofty by any standard: Perfecting water for every person, every place.Today’s podcast is about a lot more than the incredible product Cody and Zero Mass Water are building. You will learn Cody’s innovative ideas bleed into Zero Mass Water’s culture and hiring.
Have you ever wondered how others would describe your leadership style? It does not matter what kind of leader you want to be, aspire to be or even believe you are. What matters is your real leadership style. Today’s For You leaders podcast is all about you and your leadership style.
We all have the same 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Why do some CEOs seem to get more accomplished than others? As you’ll learn today from a ground-breaking 12-year study from the Harvard Business Review, it all comes down to one word: intentionality.
Culture, Leverage and Getting Stuff Done: these might be the three most important topics for anyone starting a business. In today’s episode, Blake Garrett, CEO and Founder of Aceable and AceableAgent, tackles all three hot topics – challenging your perception with his unique views.
“Action expresses priorities." - Mahatma GandhiIf you are trying to manufacture your own luck, it might be time for you to start reflecting on a quote that greatly influenced today’s guest, Blake Garrett. Blake is the CEO and Founder of Aceable and AceableAgent, a hyper-growth startup based in Austin, TX. As you’ll hear today, the Aceable that exists now was not Blake’s original idea. In this episode, Blake tells the story of how he left Ernst and Young to follow his dreams of creating a company, the important reason why he wanted to start a company, and the major roadblocks along the way.
You’ll learn the two-step process he used to hold himself accountable and get around roadblocks. You’ll also learn how you, too, can manufacture your own luck.
Don’t miss the next episode with Blake we’ll dive into Culture, Leverage and Getting $#IT Done. Blake provides even more great advice and tactics on how to build the right culture and get the right stuff done.
If you missed the first episode with Anthony Bucci, co-founder and former CEO of RevZilla, be sure to listen now. He explains how he and his co-founders scaled RevZilla from an idea to over $140 million in revenue without raising any outside money.
Anthony is a self-proclaimed nerd when it comes to people issues. In this episode, he will challenge your thinking on hiring, leading and managing. He’ll give you a powerful concept we recommend our portfolio companies: the 5-15. Anthony mastered keeping signal strength throughout the business, and he explains in great detail how and why you should use a 5-15 with every direct report.
Anthony also shares about how he debugs his own psychology by utilizing mentors, board members, and outside executive coaches.
We spent over 2 hours with Anthony covering a wide variety of topics. To break down the episodes into digestible bites, we’ve broken up our interview into three parts:
Episode 1: You’ll hear the process Anthony and his co-founders used to start and generate the idea for the company that became RevZilla. Anthony also goes into great detail about how they differentiated themselves and quickly scaled from $0 to over $140 million in annual revenues. Anthony shares why and how they achieved hyper-growth without raising money.
Episode 2 (Today’s Episode): Anthony’s provides specific details of how they approached promoting and hiring, ahead of scale. He offers insights and lessons learned about how to scale people, processes and product - before everything breaks. He also shares what how he utilizes executive coaches, mentors and advisors.
Episode 3: Anthony brings it all home by sharing his perspectives, experiences and journey of merging with another company, stepping down as the CEO and what it is like moving from the fast lane to the family lane.
There’s a reason why nothing kills faster than success: everything breaks at scale.
Today’s guest is Anthony Bucci, the co-founder and former CEO of the incredibly successful company, RevZilla. As CEO, Anthony navigated RevZilla doubling in revenue almost every year – without raising any outside money.
Anthony provides a unique retrospective on today’s podcast. He’s had a chance to reflect on his experiences inside the rocketship company. He now wants to help normalize the journey for anyone listening to this podcast.
We spent over 2 hours with Anthony covering a wide variety of topics. To break down the episodes into digestible bites, we’ve broken up our interview in three parts:
- Episode 1 (Today’s Episode): You’ll hear the process Anthony and his co-founders used to start and generate the idea for the company that became RevZilla. Anthony also goes into great detail about how they differentiated themselves and quickly scaled from $0 to over $140 million in annual revenues. Anthony shares why and how they achieved hyper-growth without raising money.
- Episode 2: Anthony’s provides specific details of how they approached promoting and hiring, ahead of scale. He offers insights and lessons learned about how to scale people, processes and product – before everything breaks. He also shares what how he utilizes executive coaches, mentors and advisors.
- Episode 3: Anthony brings it all home by sharing his perspectives, experiences and journey of merging with another company, stepping down as the CEO and what it is like moving from the fast lane to the family lane.
Be sure to subscribe on iTunes (or Spotify or Overcast) to make sure you don’t miss one of these compelling episodes.
Other topics from today’s episode include:
- The process Anthony and his co-founders used to generate the idea for RevZilla
- Why RevZilla didn’t raise any money and how it helped (and hurt) them
- If you have raised growth capital, the lessons you can learn from a company that never raised money
- How everything breaks at scale and what Anthony and the Revzilla team did to predict and prepare (as opposed to seeing and solving) for explosive growth
- How to evolve from Founder to Maker to Manager to Executive to Servant Leader
- The advice he gives to other entrepreneurs about raising money
- How to get smart money’s advice without raising any money
- The obstacles RevZilla faced scaling the business
- The concept of Strategic Pillars and the specific pillars RevZilla used to get and keep people focused
- How RevZilla differentiated between other online stores, like Amazon
Today, we’re continuing our conversation with serial entrepreneur, Brett Hurt. If you missed the first episode, make sure to listen to learn the resources Brett uses to scale, how to communicate with investors and a lot more.
This episode is jam-packed with insights and actionable advice from Brett. We spend a lot of time talking about exactly HOW to create a thriving culture. Brett shares a unique but powerful way to develop your company’s values so they stick and are memorable. Brett’s built amazing cultures in his previous businesses (including Bazaarvoice, where they won best place to work as a small, medium and large business) and his current company, data.world.
Brett also dives deep into the role of the CEO. His unique perspective will cause you to rethink and possibly redefine the role of the CEO.
Topics include:
- The most valuable conference Brett makes sure to attend every single year
- The criteria Brett uses when deciding whether to invest in a company or fund (currently Hurt Family Investments is invested in 55 companies and 12 funds)
- When is the right time to create your core values in a companies growth
- How to create values that reflect your company’s personality
- How to get your teams involved in creating your core values
- Why the founders of data.world chose to make data.world a B Corporation and why you should consider creating a B Corp
- What does passion have to do with creating a business?
- What is the role of a CEO?
- What to do when you have a bad day as a CEO
- How being fully present where you are is more important than work/life balance
- The out of office message Brett uses to let people know he is not available
More Leadership Podcasts from Dando.
Today we’re talking to serial entrepreneur, Brett Hurt.
He’s a co-founder and the CEO of data.world and a founder of Coremetrics and Bazaarvoice. Brett also owns Hurt Family Investments with his wife, Debra. They’re now invested in 55 startups and 12 VC funds.
Brett’s had the privilege, both firsthand and through his investments, to see the practices that work (and don’t) for scaling a business. In Part One of our interview with Brett, he shares two practices he wishes more CEOs would utilize: investor communication and continual learning. He shares the exact way he communicates to his investors and the resources he personally uses to learn on a daily basis.
Dive in to hear more about how you can start these simple, but impactful practices today.
Other topics include:
- The role his daughter had in creating data.world
- Why Brett joined forces with his co-founders and created data.world.
- The ambitious hopes for data.world
- A surprising talk he had to give to iconic leaders - and the results
- How and why to communicate with investors
- Resources that Brett uses to learn, grow and pay it forward
- What Brett wishes all the CEO’s he’s invested in would do consistently
- A lot more
Happy Valentine's Day! In this short podcast, we discuss the powerful concept of gratitude and how you can use it to upgrade your leadership. We also introduce the Leadership Gratitude Journal. You can download or buy a physical version of the Leadership Gratitude Journal here.
It’s not a secret, people and their issues are a huge part of any leader’s life. It can be the best and worst part about being a leader.
The good news is today’s episode is full of simple, actionable frameworks around developing and leading people. We talk about how to hire, how to fire, how to develop and why people are such a big issue in the first place. We also highlight the one question all great leaders ask, at least once a quarter, about every one of their employees.
Our guest today wrote an excellent book on people. Trevor Throness recently wrote, The Power of People Skills. He shares his unique experiences and practical advice he’s learned working with leaders of scaling businesses
This podcast is full of application, including a powerful tactic that’s changed the way thousands of companies think about people. Listen now:
Topics include:
- Why people issues are so hard
- Why we get hiring right about a third of the time, wrong about a third of the time and just so-so another third of the time
- What to do about the mediocre hires
- How to identify the four types of performers in your business
- The one question you should ask yourself about every employee
- Why we make people issues harder than they need to be
- How small changes can result in massive results within a business
- How to attract vs. recruit the right people to your business
- Advice Trevor and Kirk wish everyone would take
- Why leaders are judged in a vacuum
- Much more
For You Leaders Podcast
Sports analogies are overdone in business. Don’t let that get in the way of hearing the powerful messages from today’s podcast guest, Clint Gresham. Clint is a former NFL Player, Super Bowl Champion and author of Becoming. Today’s podcast is rich with raw and real information on what it means to be a work in progress in business and life.
The Super Bowl means many things to different people. You might think of the brilliant (or not-so-brilliant) ads in the commercial break. Or you look forward to the halftime show. Or you maybe you actually want to watch the two best teams in the NFL play each other.
But if you play football, your ultimate goal is to win the Super Bowl. It’s a clear goal you either meet or you don’t.
But what happens when you reach your ultimate goal? Do you feel like you’ve “made it?” Do your insecurities disappear? Do you suddenly feel fulfilled?
As Clint, will tell you - the answer is no. That may seem obvious, however, Clint’s vulnerability in what he shares about being a work in progress, the false gods we create in our life and how to live an authentic life will inspire you.
People on the outside looking in at success probably think you’ve got it all figured out. It doesn’t matter who you are, you’re still a work in progress. It’s what Clint’s new book, Becoming, is all about.
In this episode, we dive into how top athletes and the best coaches like Pete Carroll, Dabo Swinney and Nick Saban take a unique approach to setting goals that consistently deliver success. You will love the message and more importantly be able to take the ideas Clint and I discuss and make them actionable in your life today.
If you missed the last episode of the For You Leaders Podcast, make sure you listen to it first. Our guests, Matt Laessig, COO & co-founder at data.world and Bryon Jacob, CTO & co-founder at data.world, explained the powerful concept of Strategic Pillars. If your business does any sort of strategic planning, make sure you listen to the previous episode.
Today, we continue our conversation with Matt and Bryon. They tackle several critical topics: meetings, how leadership should show up in meetings and how they manage raising young families at the same time they are building a startup.
While meetings may sound like an unsexy topic, they are incredibly important. First, most communication and therefore execution (or the lack thereof) happens within meetings. Second, there is a large amount of salary sitting in meetings every day, in any organization. In this episode, we’ll explain how to calculate exactly how much money you are spending in meetings every year.
You owe it to yourself to at least have a passing grade on the massive investment you’re making each week, month and year. Matt and Bryon share how to make sure you get a positive ROI on your meetings within your business.
Other topics in this episode include:
- The Rafa Rule
- How to decide: Is it ok for people to be on their technology during meetings?
- Why leaders need to be present in meetings.
- The consequences of not “showing up” in meetings as a leader.
- How data.world evaluates their meetings.
- The easy steps you can take to make your meetings suck less.
- How one company had a huge financial turnaround thanks in a large part to paying attention to their investment in meetings.
- How these two tech founders approach family, work, and life in general.
- The power of simply being intentional in everything you do.
Be sure to also check out: 10 Steps to Make Your Meetings Suck Less
Do you have a question about scaling up or strategy we can answer? Shoot us an email at questions {@} ForYouLeaders.com.
We’ll answer the questions in an upcoming episode.
Most businesses have a great strategy that isn’t executed or a poor strategy that isn’t corrected quick enough.
It doesn’t have to be that way. As our guests today explain, the key to executing the right strategy starts with the powerful concept of Strategic Pillars. Strategic Pillars are simply the 3-5 strategic battlefields your business has to win to be successful.
Today’s guests are Matt Laessig, COO & co-founder at data.world and Bryon Jacob, CTO & co-founder at data.world. They both have a highly-accomplished resume with stints at HomeAway, where they learned, hands-on, the power of strategic pillars. You’ll even hear the story about how HomeAway made a drastic change to their business using Strategic Pillars.
If your business has a strategy, this is a must listen to episode. It’s full of practical, real-world advice to ensure you develop the right strategic pillars - and how to use the strategic pillars to drive alignment, agreement and acceleration - for your business.
Other topics in this episode include:
- The lesson of Strategic Pillars:
- What are they?
- How do other companies, like Amazon, use Strategic Pillars?
- Why do they use this concept?
- How it replaces the traditional business plan.
- What are some examples of Strategic Pillars?
- How the simple concept can drive lasting results.
- How often should you change the strategic pillars?
- What happens when you do change the pillars?
- When to create your strategic pillars.
- How to create your strategic pillars with your team.
Do you have a question about strategy that we can answer? Shoot us an email at questions @ ForYouLeaders.com We’ll answer the questions in an upcoming episode.
Dando Leadership Podcast
Restaurants have a notoriously high failure rate and the ones that survive often have razor thin margins. 60 percent of restaurants close or change ownership in the first year of business, 80 percent fail within five years.
The fact that Kerbey Lane Cafe in Austin, Texas serves food is almost where the similarities end between Kerbey Lane and most other restaurants. For over 25 years, they’ve done business differently: from hiring to training everyone (down to the table bussers) how their role contributes to the company’s EBITA goal.
Today we are talking to Mason Ayer, the CEO of this unique business. He explains how this family-owned restaurant chain, started by his parents, has always seen their business as more than merely serving food. That passion made Kerbey Lane Cafe an Austin Icon with seven unique locations. Mason, the recent winner of the Best CEO award by the Austin Business Journal, shares the insight he’s learned from running the business from a genuinely open book and a big heart.
You’ll hear the victories - and struggles - they encountered on the way. You’ll also hear how their leadership style made it all possible.
This episode of the For You Leaders Podcast covers a lot of ground, some of the highlights include:
- The advice Mason shares with people on the verge of making a significant change in their life.
- The secret sauce Mason attributes to Kerbey Lane Cafe’s continued growth and success and how you can apply these same principles in your business.
- How Kerbey Lane Cafe uses Open Book Management to empower employees with financial information to help meet the goals of the business.
- Why Kerbey Lane Cafe gives every hourly employee financial education, even when Mason knows that most employees will not stay at Kerbey Lane Cafe.
- Mason’s journey from pivoting in a career as an attorney to becoming the CEO of the family business.
- How Mason intentionally got out of his comfort zone to be an incredible, For You Leader.
- The way he views work/life balance with his wife as the controller of the business.
- Mason’s favorite restaurants (besides Kerbey Lane Cafe!)
- The one job he recommends everyone have at least once in their life.
- The impact of having ESPN College Gameday at your business
What comes to mind when you hear human resources?
A lot of us think about rule enforcers, 401k administration or resolving vacation time issues. HR can - and should- be so much more.
Human resources can be an asset to drive the company's goals. HR can be a true strategic partner and asset within the C-Suite.
Does that sound like your HR team?
Today’s podcast is a short interview that reminds us of the powerful possibilities of a different type of HR.
Our guest is Ryan Robinson, the Chief People Officer (CPO) of Bazaarvoice. Ryan is unlike any other HR professional you’ve ever met (his title doesn’t even have “HR” in it).
Just like a salesperson has a clear thought process and strategy around sales, or a product manager thinks about how they manage product, Ryan has a very clear process around how approaches people.
He’ll share his Pillars of People Performance in this episode and you’ll quickly see he approaches people in a unique way.
Compare this to your HR team. If you shared this interview with them - what would their response be? While Ryan is obviously a rare find, your HR team can step up and approach people in a similar fashion.
Today’s Topics Include:
- The Pillars of People Performance Ryan uses at Bazaarvoice.
- How HR should always circle back to company performance.
- How overall organizational performance involves coaching CEOs and other senior team leaders.
- Employee culture/engagement: How Ryan focuses the business on creating the employee culture to drive organizational performance.
- How to pay attention and develop the talent already within the organization.
- The importance of earning the trust of the team around you.
- How to approach confidentiality as an HR executive.
- The importance of compensation and benefits.
- How to approach incentivizing and equity to find and retain top talent.
Takeaways:
Having someone like Ryan on your team is incredibly valuable.
He is obsessed with having the goals of Bazaarvoice on the forefront of everything that he does. People are our most valuable asset. If you don’t have someone to align people to your strategies, it may be time to take a step back and look at your process.
We hope you are enjoying the For You Leaders podcast. We’d love to hear what you think! Leave a comment below or on iTunes.
dando
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Leadership Podcast
People often think that success just happens. Anyone who has ever been in business knows it’s not true. There is no such thing as overnight success. It’s a constant journey.
Today’s episode is all about the journey of growth.
Kirk Dando was a leadership keynote speaker at a recent event at Galvanize in Austin, TX. Listen in as he shares his experience about the journey to the top. He’s been the personal Sherpa to thousands of CEOs have they’ve embarked on the journey of growth.
This is a special episode, giving you the rare opportunity to hear the advice Kirk Dando shares with leaders around the world.
Today’s Topics Include:
- What happens to every business on the journey to success.
- Analogies you can use with your team about growth and scale - including the powerful analogy of Mt. Everest
- Who’s the Sherpa? Sherpa’s know that there will be tough parts of any climb. But they also know how to change the language when scaling a mountain. Business leaders need to change the conversation to change the language to change the outcome in business.
- How success can mask potential problems during periods of rapid growth.
- Why you can’t brute force your way through a crisis and the three elements of a business “at the top.”
- How to get real focus and clarity around goals using an operational cadence.
- How to define your management culture.
- The importance of breaking the vision down to action.
- Why the transition from doing the work to managing the work is so hard.
- The leadership mindset needed for scale.
- The three kinds of leaders: for you, against you, for themselves.
Links and Resources:
- The Business Growth Lifecycle Handout Kirk references in the podcast.
- Learn more about the Business Growth Lifecycle
Sam Decker (@samdecker) is an experienced start-up executive and advisor who has worked at iconic tech companies like Apple. Sam was the founding CMO at Bazaarvoice, founder of Mass Relevance (now Spredfast) and recently founded the digital optimization company, clearhead.
However, it turns out there is a very low-tech way Sam accomplishes so much. He’s learned the secret for startup success is to simply “get uncomfortable.” As you’ll learn, this practice has helped Sam push himself to start new companies and fill the gaps of knowledge.
In this episode, we also talk about:
- How to be a student of the game
- The advice he thinks most startups need to hear
- The biggest mistakes new startups make
- What tying knots, race car driving, and flying helicopters have to do with startups
- How time tradeoffs are like “pruning a bonsai tree”
- His time-management process, looking at desired outcomes
- Sam’s role in Kirk’s book, Predictive Leadership
Looking for more great leadership podcasts?
“Many organizations draw the bullseye after they fired. They claimed success when they didn’t intend it.” - Tim Hawks
Almost every organization has a strategic plan of some sorts. That’s the first, and easiest, step. The missing piece in the planning process is typically around communication and alignment. It’s the leaders’ role to communicate the plan in a way that creates alignment. Employees need to be able to connect their every day role back to the goals.
Communication of a plan is not a one-time occurrence. There needs to be a process to state and restate the goals. You need to measure the progress continuously. The real work of strategic planning comes after the plan.
That’s exactly what we are unpacking with today’s guest, Tim Hawks. He describes how they operationalize their strategic planning process. Tim dives into their meeting cadence, their communication process and a lot more. Listen in to hear how you can operationalize your strategic planning process to reach your goals.
Today’s Topics Include:
- How Tim and his organization approach their strategic plan
- How they communicate the plan so everyone understands their role
- Using the strategic plan as a tool to get and keep everyone aligned
- The importance of getting many involved in the process
- The number of goals you need to be successful in strategic planning
- Using clear goals to make sure you reach them
- 1 Year from Now, if we are wildly successful, what is different?
- In 90 days, what do we need to accomplish to meet the goal in 1 year?
- 30 Days from now, what needs to happen?
- The mantra of “every team advances every goal every month”
- How to check on progress against the goals
- Does Tim think the strategic planning process is worth it?
- How Tim prepares every week to speak in front of thousands of people
- How you can prepare for your next talk by starting with Know, Feel, Do. What does that mean and how can you use it?
More great Leadership Podcasts
Everyone on your team is connecting to something. Some connect to their paycheck. Others connect to a title or their influence.
What if you could connect them to their sense of destiny?
That’s the challenge and approach our podcast guest, Tim Hawks, takes with his organization. Tim is the head of an organization that inspires over 7,000 people around a common mission, vision and goal.
Tim is the head pastor at Hill Country Bible Church in Austin, Texas. Before you stop reading, I encourage you to listen to this podcast with an open mind. You are not going to hear a sermon, but you are going to hear Tim’s unique perspective as a leader.
Tim is an incredible communicator that leads a volunteer-led organization. He speaks candidly about how he accomplishes the work through staff and volunteers.
Today’s Topics Include:
- How Tim accomplishes a lot, without paying a large number of people within his organization
- How his organization has many of the same issues of a for profit organization
- How Tim inspires thousands of people by aligning them around a common goal
- We talk about how more communication can sometimes lead to more confusion
- What to do as a leader when people make a mistake
- There is a sense of destiny in the heart of everyone
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GENE AUSTIN - BAZAARVOICE - PART TWO
Today, we continue our conversation with Gene Austin, the CEO of Bazaarvoice. In the last episode, Gene talked about the unique aspects of being the CEO of a publicly traded company. He also talked about the view from the other side of tough decisions.
Gene also said he's the least likely CEO to have a Chief Operating Officer, due to his very operational approach. Today, we discuss how Gene conducts his one-on-ones and the operational cadence he uses to focus the business.
He describes how he translates the strategy to an executable and measurable plan. This episode is short on fluff and full of actionable advice you can start practicing today.
Today’s Topics Include:
- Gene's format for one-on-ones: an open forum that removes obstacles in the way of the employee
- How Gene keeps a pulse on the business
- The first area Gene investigates when he suspects a management issue
- The three things Gene always wants to know about what is going on in the business
- Bazaarvoice's Management Framework: the operational cadence they use to stay on track
- Operational Reviews
- Product Council Meetings
- One-on-ones
- Staff Meetings
- The metrics important to Gene
- The mistakes made by fast growth companies and their tendency to cut the wrong corners
- The most important hires in any startup
- Blocking time on the calendar and how to get on top of your work
- Urgent vs. important - how do you prioritize?
- Gene's thoughts on using coaching in the business
What did you think of this episode? Like it, hate it or indifferent - we'd love to know. Please leave a review on iTunes so we can get better.
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We’ve talked to startups, financial institutions, and even dads. What about a company that has graduated from the startup stage to being publicly traded? How is this different? How is this the same? If you were ever curious about how managing and leading a company changes as it grows, this episode is for you.
Today’s guest is Gene Austin, the CEO of Bazaarvoice. If you've shopped online, you have probably used Bazaarvoice and didn't know it. Bazaarvoice is behind many of the online review and ratings systems on many eCommerce websites.
Gene has more than 30 years of experience growing technology companies. Gene talks candidly about his path to CEO of Bazaarvoice and the clear differences between running a small company to a post-IPO organization.
Today’s Topics Include:
- The different seasons of a company's growth and the different requirements of growth
- The unique requirements of a public company CEO
- Board of Directors: How to use them correctly
- The true role of a Board
- How to use your Board
- Gene's path to Bazaarvoice, including previous experience at other tech companies
- How Gene’s leadership and work ethic have roots in Boy Scouts
- How to inspire and get people excited around a cause
- The leadership style Gene uses to be as transparent as possible
- The culture Gene believes works best: it's one that rewards the right attributes, celebrates the right successes, and takes stock of the right failures
- Does the CEO get the straight scoop as the company grows?
- How Gene builds a relationship with trusted advisors
- How he keeps his finger on the pulse of this large organization
- The communication nuances of a publicly-traded company
- How Gene is intentional about building bridges
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GABE KRAJICEK - PART TWO
This is part 2 of our interview with Gabe Krajicek the CEO of Kasasa. If you missed Part One of the interview, make sure you listen to that episode first. Gabe explains more about Kasasa and how they are taking on Goliaths.
Today we talk with Gabe about company core values. Kasasa lives and breaths their core values. Instead of empty words on a page, Kasasa decided to take a different approach to core values. They created a shield, which represents their four core values: Interdependence, Five Star Leadership, Love, and Badassitude.
Kasasa will even pay if for someone to get a Kasasa “shield” tattoo.
In today’s episode, we talk about how Gabe became obsessed with company values and culture. Listen in and learn why Gabe focuses on core values and culture.
Today’s Topics Include:
● Why being obsessed with culture changes the outcome of the business
● How to create a culture that lasts
● Culture starts in the heart of the leader
● Why he created a symbol for their values
● How having and renewing their symbolic values affects Kasasa
● What does it look like to test and challenge employees on the company’s values?
● Who makes sure the best ideas float to the top?
● What kind of leader do people lean on?
● The difficulties of growing a culture with an organization
● How to operationalize culture and values
● An interesting concept….Badassitude
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The story of David and Goliath is a classic business fable. The big guy takes on the little guy...and wins. It sounds great, but how do you actually do it? Our guest today, Gabe Krajicek, is currently taking on some of the largest businesses in the world. As CEO of Kasasa, he’s taking on the likes of Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chase.
Kasasa partners with community banks and credit unions to wage a war on Mega Banks. Today, Kasasa’s partners make Kasasa the 6th largest bank in the country - and they are still growing.
However, the journey wasn’t always easy for Gabe and Kasasa. At one point, Kasasa had three months of runway when regulators notified them their product was illegal. In this episode, Gabe talks candidly about that moment and the steps he took to from there to take on the Goliaths of the banking world.
Today’s Topics Include:
- How the road to heaven does go through hell. What makes it a day trip or a daily trip?
- Scattered focus leads to scattered results
- What happens to your company when you have crystal-clear focus
- Gabe’s doubts in challenging the largest banking institutions
- What a mentor told him when he was ready to quit
- The subtle and not-so-subtle clues leaders can give to cause buy-in and alignment
- What does Kasasa mean? How did they come up with name?
- The “-ER” marketing strategy that causes many companies to fail
- The way uniting small financial institutions creates competition with Mega Banks
- The role market research has played with Kasasa and their growth
- If customers vote with their wallet, not research, how do you know what will work and what won’t?
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Giving back seems like the trendy thing to do these days. Consider the success of Tom’s or Warby Parker. However, giving back isn't just a trendy thing to do. It the only way to grow a business according to our guest today, Paul Trylko, President & CEO of Amplify Credit Union.
Even though Amplify Credit Union is not-for-profit, their mission is still based around a triple bottom line: serving the community, the credit union members and employees. Amplify is a member-owned financial cooperative with more than 56,000 members and over $790 million in assets. They've been serving Austin since 1967, when they started as IBM Texas Employees Federal Credit Union.
Paul has been CEO of Amplify through rapid growth and expansion. He has been named CEO of the Year by the Austin Business Journal and the National Association of Credit Unions.
In this episode, Paul talks candidly about his experience as a CEO: literally from day one to succession planning.
Today’s Topics Include:
- Why doing the right thing is the only way to do it
- The joy of making a profit (and not for the reasons you typically think of)
- What's more difficult: Being a For You Leader or a Servant Leader?
- Paul’s aha moment
- How to face adversity
- How Paul has shifted to putting plans in place for a leadership secession
- The leadership secession process: how long does it take? What do you need to be thinking about?
- Leaders biggest stumbling blocks
- The process of growing as a leader
- The role externalizing yourself plays in growing a business
- Where Paul finds ideas and perspective for business growth
- How you transfer from working "in the business" to "on the business"
- How Paul and Kirk first started working together
- How Paul copes with stressful times
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This is the second half of our interview with tech entrepreneur Mellie Price. Mellie is an experienced investor and a startup innovator. She has an impressive resume and you can read her full bio here. Most importantly, she is a leader that cares deeply about the people she comes in contact with and her own personal accountability. She is constantly reflecting on her life and decisions and is actively becoming a better leader.
In Part 1, Mellie provides some great insights into being a leader and a woman leader. If you missed that amazing episode, listen to it now.
We started to talk about the concept of work-life balance in the last episode. Mellie really latched onto Kirk’s idea of seasons (not balance) and she even took it a step further. Kirk and Mellie also discuss advice she would give to a new entrepreneur, how she says "no" to good opportunities and the power in the edges of a bell curve.
Today’s Topics Include:
- How Mellie struggled with not always being on 110% of the time, she realized that humans need to break things up to charge their batteries.
- The concept of “seasons” instead of work-life balance.
- How to be aware of other people’s “seasons” and let others know when you are entering a new season.
- The way Mellie schedules her time.
- What happens when you get burned out and the impact it has on those around you.
- The ineffective way many leaders respond to being overwhelmed.
- How to say no, especially when you want to do it all.
- The consequences of constant rescheduling and how to stop rescheduling for good.
- The structure Mellie insists on for meetings to make sure they are meaningful for both parties.
- How Mellie uses open office hours to keep her calendar under control.
- The value of being your true self.
- The power at either end of a bell curve
- Should you work on your weaknesses or hire to compliment them?
Tweetables:
“I believe in seasons of time, work life balance is just a fallacy.” Kirk Dando
“Balance to me means I’m listening to myself, when I can crank out high quality work, I just ride it.” Mellie Price
“Good leaders recognize that different people have different cycles - creatives, programmers, and finance people have different work cycles or seasons. Recognizing these are critical.” Mellie Price
More great Leadership Advice Podcasts
MELLIE PRICE - PART 1
Today our guest is award-winning tech entrepreneur, Mellie Price. She is currently the Executive Director of Technology Innovations at the Dell Medical School. She is a Founder and Managing Director of Capital Factory and a co-founder of SoftMatch. Additionally, she is an experienced investor and fund manager, an eight-time entrepreneur and has managed explosive growth in large and small companies. I'd encourage you to read her full bio here. Her accomplishments are remarkable.
Even with all of her accomplishments, Mellie still feels like she is learning new things. She still feels like a "pup," as you'll hear in this episode. Today, you'll hear from Mellie that leadership is less about the hard skills and more your authenticity and the soft skills. She shares her personal definitions of leadership that led to her success.
I believe there are too few women leaders in the workplace. Over my career, some of the best leaders I've worked with were woman leaders. I asked Mellie her thoughts on why there were so few women leaders.
She, admittedly, didn't see the gap until she saw the workplace through the lens of being a parent. She then experienced the real issues first-hand. Listen to my interview to get Mellie's powerful leadership insight for women...and for men.
Today’s Other Topics Include:
- The characteristics of being a good leader.
- The simplicity of leadership that we try and complicate.
- How your word is your bond with employees, friends and family.
- How personal accountability is key.
- What do you do when you make a mistake? How can you rise above the mistake?
- Mellie's advice for women leaders.
- How women are judged by a different measuring stick.
- Is it really a man's world?
- The role motherhood had on changing her views of women in the workplace and our society.
- The practical issues that exist for women she's recently discovered.
- The gap in For You leaders.
- How the same issues exist for men, but in a different way.
- How to find the right boss for your family.
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Today we continue our conversation with Charles Thornburgh, the CEO of Civitas Learning. Civitas Learning partners with higher education leaders to bring together the best of new leading-edge technology, design thinking and data science on a mission to help a million more students. It’s a huge mission that we talked about in detail in the last episode - make sure you listen to part one.
In this episode, we wrestle with the issues that growth causes. Charles is quick to point out that what many times looks like a finish line, is usually just another starting line.
Civitas Learning has been fortunate enough to raise a large amount of money, recently raising $60 million.
Fundraising brings added pressure on the business, as you are now working with others’ money. From a CEO’s perspective, you are now responsible for fulfilling many more promises. The pressure is tough, but Charles shares how he copes with a growing company, investors and a family in this episode.
Today’s Topics Include:
- How do you deal with raising a lot of money? How do you focus with extra responsibility?
- Charles is recognizing what looks like the finish line from a distance is actually another starting line.
- To help carry the load, Charles talks about he works with coaches and mentors. They help contribute perspective and see around corners.
- Running Civitas Learning, his title hasn’t changed, but his role has changed many times.
- The biggest way he sets priorities is blowing up his calendar. He shares how he has to decide how he spends his time to make the business the best it can be.
- The role of meditation and mindfulness can plan in a busy life.
- The missing variable in work-life balance is spending time on yourself.
- As stresses get bigger, time needs to be spent on yourself. You need to focus on sleep, exercise, and diet to keep stress levels down and be able to cope.
- To truly be force multiplier, you need to take care of yourself.
- The analogy of a racehorse.
For You Leaders Podcast
Dando
One unique person can reshape generations. For Charles Thornburgh, CEO of Civitas Learning and today's podcast guest, it was his great grandmother. As a woman in the early 1900s, she earned a graduate degree - practically unheard of in that time. That decision was a true force multiplier. You'll learn about the force multiplier and how Charles uses it as CEO in this episode.
Civitas Learning partners with higher education leaders to bring together the best of new leading-edge technology, design thinking and data science on a mission to help a million more students each year learn well and finish strong. Charles shares more about how they are accomplishing this on the podcast.
Listen to this episode to learn more about Charles's incredible grandmother, her influence, the million student problem and how you can be a force multiplier.
Today’s Topics Include:
- The unique (and huge) mission of Civitas Learning.
- How Civitas Learning is going to solve the million student problem.
- How Citivas Learning helps students graduate from college.
- The multi-generational impact of having more college graduates.
- The amazing story of Charles's grandmother - her convictions, beliefs and actions that changed generations after her.
- What leadership means to Charles personally.
- How to develop a compelling vision, find a talented group of people to focus on that vision and complete the vision.
Links and Resources:
- Civitas Learning
- Civitas Learning Space
- Charles Thornburgh Twitter
Attend several parenting seminars and they will all offer you conflicting advice. Most agree that discipline plays a major role in a child’s development. Today we talk about a controversial topic - discipline. We even discuss spanking. When does it work? When does it not work? We also investigate time-tested methods of how to discipline a child.
As you might recall I turned the reigns for the next podcasts to Chip Hanna, my VP of Product and Marketing, while I’m on vacation. He’s going to be a new dad in August. He took my vacation as a chance to interview the dads in his life and learn about the most important leadership position - being a parent.
Today’s Topics Include:
- How to handle a crying kid.
- The parenting method used and endorsed by two of the dads.
- Letting your kids be responsible for their actions.
- The role of communication and consequences.
- How to ensure your kids know what you expect from you.
- Spanking - did “the dads” use it? Did it work?
- The two takeaways from “the dads” around discipline
Meet the Dads:
Bob Hanna, Chip Hanna's father, Minister - Salem, Oregon
Kirk Dando, CEO of Dando Advisors - Fort Collins, Colorado
Aaron Marez, Chip's long-time friend - Houston, Texas
Jerome Schiager, Chip's father-in-law - Fort Collins, Colorado
I've had many titles after my name. COO. CFO. Author. Investor. The list goes on and on. However, there is one role that will always be at the top of that list - Father. I’m the proud father of three beautiful girls. It’s the greatest leadership role in the world.
Leadership starts in the home and it can start with you.
I have a confession to make: I’m on vacation right now with my girls. Traditions and time with my family are part of the non-negotiables you’ll hear me talk about in the upcoming podcasts.
I turned the reigns for the next podcasts to Chip Hanna, my VP of Product and Marketing. He’s going to be a new dad in August. He took my vacation as a chance to interview the dads in his life and learn about the most important leadership position - being a parent.
Part One - Meet "the Dads" in Chip’s life. They set the expectations for how life changes with a new one in the home.
Today’s Topics Include:
- You’ve probably heard about the imposter syndrome with leadership, but how does that relate to being a dad?
- The simple act of trying to be dad is more important than what you actually do.
- The fact that you are trying is more than most and maybe better than most.
- Kirk's one secret to being a great dad.
- What to focus on, so everything will fall in place.
Meet the Dads:
Bob Hanna, Chip Hanna's father, Minister - Salem, Oregon
Kirk Dando, CEO of Dando Advisors - Fort Collins, Colorado
Aaron Marez, Chip's long-time friend - Houston, Texas
Jerome Schiager, Chip's father-in-law - Fort Collins, Colorado
You may have heard about Brett Hurt, he has started numerous tech companies, invested in even more and serves on many prestigious boards. But you probably don't know the whole story of Brett and his newest endeavor, data.world. You can read more about Brett and his work at his Lucky7 blog.
Here's what's most important to know about Brett. He didn’t set out to be a great leader, he set out to be a great person. In this podcast, you'll hear that he's committed to a lot more than just starting and growing companies. He wants to change the world for the better through technology. He also talks in-depth about all the accomplishments that happen through business. Learn more about this incredible entrepreneur and his unique insight.
Today’s Topics Include:
- The three primary roles of a CEO
- The secret to developing an incredible startup culture
- The family atmosphere he was able to create at Bazaarvoice
- The motivation behind his new startup, data.world
- data.world's very young (and influential) first investor
- The importance of leadership
Family in the business. When does it work? What does it not? We're talking again to Rocky Turner, co-founder and CEO of LPR Construction. Make sure you listen to Part One, where we talk about Rocky's leadership style.
Today, Rocky has all three sons working in the business. One son, Linc, is the President. However, LPR didn't always have a favorable view of family in the business. In fact, at one point, it was outlawed. We asked Rocky what changed and how he now views family in the business. His answers may surprise you.
In todays' episode:
- The sticky situation of family in the business. When does it work? When does it not work?
- How Rocky holds people accountable - including family.
- What Kirk was originally hired for...and what he ended up doing.
- Who made the biggest influence on Rocky's leadership.
In this episode, we're talking to Rocky Turner, co-founder and CEO of LPR Construction. They are one of the largest steel erector and heavy industrial construction companies in the US. While we talk to many startups, Rocky brings the unique prospective of building a construction business from the ground up. You'll love the different style of leadership he brings and the wisdom from many years of experience.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- What exactly is a "For You" Leader. It's not just the name of this podcast.
- Rocky's model for leadership.
- The role humility and instincts play in his role.
- How he takes drama out of the business.
- The most difficult decisions he has to make.
- The one piece of leadership advice he'd give to his kids.
- The importance of earning "benefit of doubt."
- How to handle people that make mistakes.
Today we are talking again (listen to part one here) to Peter Lehrman, Founder and CEO of Axial. Axial helps companies plan, grow, or exit by connecting business owners to buyers, leaders, investors and advisors.
Imagine, you’re in the city that never sleeps. It’s your first time being a CEO. You’ve got a growing family. You’ve founded a company that has a really large purpose. How do you manage being a founder of a company and lead a growing family?
Peter Lehrman, CEO of Axial, provides some great insight into how to lead a company - and a family.
Topics covered in this episode:
- The three ways he manages being a father and a founder.
- How you can use mindfulness.
- What Peter loves about being a leader, especially in the company he founded.
- His secret sauce for being a leader AND founder.
- What a mattress has to do with success.
Today we are talking to Peter Lehrman the Founder and CEO of Axial. Axial helps companies plan, grow, or exit by connecting business owners to buyers, leaders, investors and advisors.
Peter is an incredible first time CEO. Even though his journey is and will continue to be difficult, he really believes in his company. He believes in the vision and purpose that they are serving. In this episode, Peter is introspective and transparent about the struggles of being a CEO. He believes that leaders need to have people to confide in that they can trust. Today we talk about the hard lessons learned while being an effective, decisive, and yet empowering leader.
Today’s Topics Include:
- Finding people that a CEO can trust and confide in.
- The difficulty of starting a company, and how the difficulty increases as the business grows. The air gets thinner at the top.
- If you are only doing this for money, it is not sustainable. You really need to believe in what the company does.
- Knowing when to flex the different aspects of leadership and knowing when to stay out of the way.
- The difficult part about being at the top. You are the decision maker, but there is no one you can call who will have the answer.
- Having a coach you can consult with on the true issues really helps.
- Trusting your instincts and knowing how to communicate those instincts.