70. Jumpstarting Your Workplace Culture
In this episode we discuss: Jumpstarting your workplace culture. We are joined by Eric Stone, International Keynote Speaker | Award Winning Author | Expert in Building High-Performance Cultures | Empowering Leaders to Drive Engagement & Transform Workplaces
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We chat about the following with Eric Stone:
- Is your workplace culture truly driving success, or just a ‘flavor of the week’ experiment?
- How can leaders balance structure and empowerment without losing control?
- What does a simple story like ‘Johnny the Bagger’ reveal about ownership and impact at work?
- Are we equipping employees with the right tools and trust, or just expecting results without support?
- What makes relationships the hidden engine behind high-performance workplace cultures?
References
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-stone-clear-path/
- ericdstone.com and clearpathventures.com
- https://www.instagram.com/clearpathventures_/ c. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100040382190383 d. https://www.youtube.com/@ericdstone1/about
Biography
ERIC D. STONE’S passion for business led him to an influential twenty-six-year career at the iconic rental car company Enterprise Holdings, where he quickly became one of the most decorated Regional Vice Presidents in the company’s history. His ability to connect and motivate employees from all different generations and demographics allowed his teams to sustain top-level results and a culture of pride. Eric attributes much of this success to his ability to create, ignite, and sustain a high-performance culture—one that enabled him to lead his teams through challenges like 9/11, the Great Recession, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Great Resignation—along with an extraordinary ability to adapt to the unexpected and help others do the same.
Eric is the author of the award-winning book Jumpstart Your Workplace Culture and an international speaker on leadership, employee engagement, and creating high-performance organizations. He retired from Enterprise in 2018 and founded Clear Path Ventures, which specializes in guiding young professionals and businesses as they navigate their path to success.
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Summary
17:17 Core Thesis of 'Jumpstart Your Workplace Culture'
18:25 Understanding Employee Engagement
19:04 Building Strong Relationships in the Workplace
20:17 Leadership's Role in Workplace Culture
23:57 Effective Communication Strategies
26:54 The Johnny the Bagger Story: A Lesson in Ownership
30:05 Empowerment vs. Accountability in Leadership
31:04 Balancing Standardization and Empowerment
32:33 Ego and Leadership: Letting Go of Control
34:18 Identifying and Nurturing Culture Carriers
36:12 The Importance of Clear Communication and Culture
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Transcript
Hello everyone, and welcome to
Speaker:another episode of The Operations
Speaker:Room, a podcast for a close.
Speaker:I am Brandon Metzinger, joined by my
Speaker:amazing, beautiful and lovely coach.
Speaker:Spent two years I know
Speaker:think I try to get
Speaker:a little out of here in my
Speaker:introduction.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:I'll take it one day I'll do
Speaker:the intros. I'll have to figure out
Speaker:what I say about you.
Speaker:I was smooth
Speaker:talking co-host, so
Speaker:I have recently returned
Speaker:from India.
Speaker:While I was away I
Speaker:got a phone call from my husband
Speaker:and then I got another phone call
Speaker:and another phone call was just
Speaker:like, What is happening at home?
Speaker:Like, I'm getting all of these
Speaker:emergency phone calls and then
Speaker:read all of my messages and
Speaker:basically a light
Speaker:bulb blew that blew our fuze
Speaker:box.
Speaker:When you turn the fuze box back on,
Speaker:the burglar alarm was going off
Speaker:and our code
Speaker:wouldn't turn it off.
Speaker:And that is just like, have you
Speaker:changed the code? And I said, No, I
Speaker:don't even know how to change the
Speaker:code. This is still the same code.
Speaker:But basically we
Speaker:don't use the burglar alarm.
Speaker:The buttons are very old
Speaker:and barely work and it
Speaker:should be replaced.
Speaker:But I got very angry
Speaker:at our burglar alarm people at some
Speaker:point and I can't ever remember why
Speaker:I was angry at them.
Speaker:But I was so angry.
Speaker:I refuse to ever pay again.
Speaker:And that's what we stopped using it.
Speaker:But it's probably like almost
Speaker:a 20 year old system, which is why
Speaker:the buttons won't work.
Speaker:And so he is like, I can't get this
Speaker:alarm to stop.
Speaker:What should I do?
Speaker:I'm like, I'm in India.
Speaker:I have no idea what you should do.
Speaker:It's the same code that you know.
Speaker:And he's like, I keep pushing in the
Speaker:code as I have no other solutions
Speaker:for you. And so basically
Speaker:he ended up figuring out which
Speaker:circuits the internal alarm was
Speaker:on and turned off that circuit.
Speaker:Congratulations to your husband.
Speaker:That's amazing.
Speaker:Well, I think he was desperate.
Speaker:It's a very loud alarm.
Speaker:So I managed to get that off.
Speaker:And then the outside alarm was still
Speaker:going. It's like, how do I turn
Speaker:that? I said, Well, there's a
Speaker:battery somewhere because I know
Speaker:that we're supposed to replace the
Speaker:battery, but I don't know where it
Speaker:is. Maybe to detach it.
Speaker:I can't find the batteries.
Speaker:I can't help you.
Speaker:So then he called the alarm people.
Speaker:They said they're going to call back.
Speaker:They never called back.
Speaker:And the outside alarm finally
Speaker:stopped ringing.
Speaker:And so then this is like a 2 to 3
Speaker:hour ordeal that I live
Speaker:texting my husband for a while
Speaker:in the shops in Jaipur.
Speaker:And so then I got home
Speaker:and that one circuit
Speaker:is still turned off.
Speaker:And he said, you know, it's just
Speaker:like a couple of lights in the house
Speaker:that are attached to it.
Speaker:It's fine.
Speaker:So I go upstairs yesterday
Speaker:to my bathroom and none of my
Speaker:lights and my extractor fan don't
Speaker:work. And also because it's
Speaker:winter in London right now, we're in
Speaker:the early winter. So by
Speaker:5 or 6:00 it's dark.
Speaker:So I was using the torch on my
Speaker:phone to brush my teeth last night.
Speaker:This morning I was using the torch
Speaker:again to figure out my contact
Speaker:lenses. And we're both
Speaker:really busy right now and we
Speaker:have to get an electrician
Speaker:in.
Speaker:Hopefully the electrician can just
Speaker:uninstall the stupid burglar
Speaker:alarm like we need a new modern
Speaker:burglar alarm.
Speaker:And so the meantime, because we're
Speaker:both busy, I am wondering
Speaker:how long I will not have a light
Speaker:in the bathroom that I also feel
Speaker:like when you live in a house long
Speaker:enough, you just get used to those
Speaker:little weird things.
Speaker:And then they became part of life.
Speaker:I remember visiting somebody in
Speaker:my antenatal group
Speaker:before having a baby group and at
Speaker:their house they had lost
Speaker:one of their kitchen
Speaker:doors for whatever reason, and
Speaker:she had put a pretty cloth in front
Speaker:of it, and that was
Speaker:now the five year solution.
Speaker:And I'm really keen that
Speaker:using my phone torch
Speaker:for my bathroom lighting does not
Speaker:become standard.
Speaker:But I were worried that it might and
Speaker:my husband uses a different
Speaker:bathroom, so he hadn't realized that
Speaker:my bathroom did the.
Speaker:So he has a different bathroom, the
Speaker:luxury of his lights and his fans.
Speaker:Well, actually, sorry, just on your
Speaker:previous point, my wife,
Speaker:there's six bags, six Ikea bags,
Speaker:those huge bags of clothes
Speaker:to be recycled that are like the
Speaker:kids clothes, her clothes that she
Speaker:doesn't wear anymore.
Speaker:They're in bags and they've sat
Speaker:in our master bedroom
Speaker:for a year and a half,
Speaker:something like that.
Speaker:I'm loathe to bring it up with her
Speaker:because I know I'll get attacked for
Speaker:it. That yes, she will do it at
Speaker:some point, you know?
Speaker:Okay, fine, fine.
Speaker:Whatever.
Speaker:My suspicion is what you to say,
Speaker:which is somehow it's now ingrained
Speaker:in our behavior to simply walk
Speaker:around them. And it's just like part
Speaker:of the fabric of our room now.
Speaker:So let's get on to our topic, which
Speaker:is in jumpstarting a workplace
Speaker:culture. We have a very interesting
Speaker:and unusual guest this time, which
Speaker:is Eric Stone. He is the author of
Speaker:the same name, which is jumpstarting
Speaker:our workplace culture.
Speaker:And he's a former VP at Enterprise
Speaker:Rent-A-Car and was responsible
Speaker:for the hiring and development of
Speaker:enterprise employees.
Speaker:So this is a little bit different
Speaker:for us because this is a guest that
Speaker:is outside the tech bubble and
Speaker:hopefully brings something new and
Speaker:fresh perspective wise to
Speaker:our tech bubble that we live in as
Speaker:part of our conversation with Eric.
Speaker:So before we get to him, I wanted to
Speaker:talk about one aspect of our
Speaker:conversation.
Speaker:Eric had talked about line
Speaker:managers creating strong
Speaker:relationships with employees
Speaker:really as a pillar to create engaged
Speaker:workers that are enthusiastic
Speaker:and specifically called out the 1 to
Speaker:1 as kind of a key element of
Speaker:that. And what I wanted
Speaker:to ask you more broadly was, as we
Speaker:all know, Brian Chesky is now
Speaker:famous for this slightly, which is
Speaker:he called out 1 to 1 specifically
Speaker:as a waste of time.
Speaker:And I think the Nvidia CEO
Speaker:kind of doubled down on that, saying
Speaker:the same thing effectively.
Speaker:And I'm just curious, in 2025,
Speaker:in tech companies, one to
Speaker:ones, what's the deal here?
Speaker:I like one two ones and I like
Speaker:one to ones because I enjoy them and
Speaker:I like talking to people and I like
Speaker:forming connections.
Speaker:And I don't really care if they're
Speaker:efficient or not because
Speaker:I should also enjoy work
Speaker:and I should want to go to work and
Speaker:I should enjoy my life and a part of
Speaker:my life that I like is talking to
Speaker:people individually.
Speaker:Fuck it. I'll talk to people
Speaker:individually whether or not it's
Speaker:high performance.
Speaker:I like it.
Speaker:Giving the finger back to the.
Speaker:Yeah, okay.
Speaker:Yeah. It's like, okay, so I'm not
Speaker:worth billions.
Speaker:Although conversely, I haven't just
Speaker:had billions taken off because the
Speaker:Chinese have ruined
Speaker:everything in my business model.
Speaker:But if you look at successful
Speaker:businesses, there's just so many
Speaker:reasons why they've been successful.
Speaker:Luck, timing,
Speaker:good product design, the
Speaker:right sets of people
Speaker:that trying to replicate other
Speaker:people's views
Speaker:and the way that they've run stuff
Speaker:doesn't matter.
Speaker:And also how much money
Speaker:we make doesn't matter.
Speaker:And how successful we are doesn't
Speaker:matter because we can't take it with
Speaker:us. And we should enjoy life
Speaker:and we should enjoy building our
Speaker:businesses.
Speaker:So if you like 1 to 1 to do them, if
Speaker:you hate them and you get nothing
Speaker:out of them, don't do them.
Speaker:Couple of things that I was thinking
Speaker:about in terms of why one,
Speaker:two ones are super important
Speaker:and not to superimpose random
Speaker:SEO views on your company is
Speaker:number one, you need to build
Speaker:relationships and trust to your
Speaker:point, which is the way that you
Speaker:can do that is to have a high
Speaker:quality 1 to 1 to get to know that
Speaker:person, to be able to express to
Speaker:them that you do care about them.
Speaker:You do have their best interests in
Speaker:mind. You're trying to help and
Speaker:support their career, and you can do
Speaker:that through the 1 to 1 as a vehicle
Speaker:to to make that happen.
Speaker:Which brings me to my second point,
Speaker:which is that is a prime opportunity
Speaker:to help that person with their
Speaker:aspirations and with their career to
Speaker:help them on that pathway, whatever
Speaker:is required to make them to move on
Speaker:to the next step in their in their
Speaker:career and really to start a
Speaker:phenomenal coaching opportunity.
Speaker:And the third element is alignment
Speaker:on the strategy and the values of
Speaker:the company.
Speaker:So oftentimes in one to ones,
Speaker:what I find is an individual
Speaker:employee may have misunderstood
Speaker:or be skewed or not quite
Speaker:get what we're doing for whatever
Speaker:reason. And it's really a golden
Speaker:opportunity to ensure that there is
Speaker:a real alignment around what are we
Speaker:trying to accomplish, what matters
Speaker:in the business, What are you
Speaker:focused on? How does that roll up in
Speaker:a way that actually makes a
Speaker:difference within the company and to
Speaker:the outcome of the business?
Speaker:And the second part of that is the
Speaker:values.
Speaker:So behaviorally, we're looking
Speaker:for certain things. We're not
Speaker:looking for other things.
Speaker:And again, it's a golden window to
Speaker:call those things out, whether it's,
Speaker:you know, congratulating the person
Speaker:on doing X or giving them feedback
Speaker:on Y.
Speaker:And then the last piece is just
Speaker:dealing with more complex
Speaker:people related issues that are
Speaker:happening and having a richer,
Speaker:again, richer vehicle to make that
Speaker:happen, which the 30 minute
Speaker:conversation they're having with the
Speaker:person. And I think to your point at
Speaker:the outset, you know, if you have a
Speaker:highly performant team that is
Speaker:awesome.
Speaker:You know, you don't need to do
Speaker:weekly once, once it could be months
Speaker:later, could be whatever cadence.
Speaker:So I think picking the right
Speaker:cadence, where it's there,
Speaker:it's meaningful, and you're
Speaker:aligning on strategy and values.
Speaker:You have an opportunity for coaching
Speaker:and career development, You're
Speaker:building trust, and the relationship
Speaker:then is delivering what I should
Speaker:deliver.
Speaker:And then the other thing I think is
Speaker:really good is when you understand
Speaker:what's going on, what they're
Speaker:working on, the areas they're
Speaker:struggling with.
Speaker:It's amazing to me how often people
Speaker:aren't connected with each other or,
Speaker:you know, how like, Department
Speaker:X won't do Y,
Speaker:or Department X is doing something
Speaker:that's driving me crazy and why
Speaker:aren't they doing Y?
Speaker:And there's it's like, well, have you spoken
Speaker:to that person?
Speaker:Yes, But have you spoken to that
Speaker:person about this issue?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Well, why don't you, the two of you,
Speaker:go and solve it?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And a lot of that happens.
Speaker:And then the other thing.
Speaker:So two points I want to
Speaker:mention.
Speaker:We kind of have two different 1 to
Speaker:1. At peak.
Speaker:The reason why I say kind of is
Speaker:depends a little bit on the
Speaker:individual, but the general
Speaker:format is we have a
Speaker:longer, almost appraisal
Speaker:based 1 to 1 once a month, which
Speaker:talks a lot about what you are
Speaker:saying. So it's not like an official
Speaker:appraisal, but it's what's
Speaker:tracking well, what's not, what are
Speaker:the concerns?
Speaker:Reviewing pdp's
Speaker:feedback, etc..
Speaker:And then our weekly one to ones
Speaker:are much more catch ups on
Speaker:the business unblocking, aligning
Speaker:these approvals questions,
Speaker:that type of thing. The reason why I
Speaker:say it's broadly that way
Speaker:is I do have people
Speaker:and have people in the past on.
Speaker:I'm one of them that much prefers
Speaker:immediate feedback and feedback once
Speaker:a month.
Speaker:And so some people I work
Speaker:with, we cover all of those topics
Speaker:every time we meet or, you know, as
Speaker:it organically rises.
Speaker:Other people quite like to have a
Speaker:formal feedback
Speaker:1 to 1 versus the catch
Speaker:up. But once that happened, the rest
Speaker:of the time.
Speaker:So that's super interesting.
Speaker:You would have three weeks as kind
Speaker:of standard one to ones and then the
Speaker:fourth week would be different and
Speaker:it's kind of formalized as being
Speaker:somewhat different.
Speaker:And then that fourth week you would
Speaker:do more of a performance oriented
Speaker:wins and feedback
Speaker:session.
Speaker:Those I don't like as much,
Speaker:not because I don't mind giving
Speaker:feedback, but because I have to
Speaker:prepare and I have to find
Speaker:the time in my diary to reflect
Speaker:on the past months,
Speaker:think about insights
Speaker:rather than the other ones.
Speaker:I can be quite reactive.
Speaker:Show up on the day and we can just
Speaker:talk. I like those ones, by the way,
Speaker:because you know what I'm like for
Speaker:preparing the
Speaker:the off the cuff ones.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:And like as a center of gravity,
Speaker:obviously faster feedback is better
Speaker:feedback usually because it's much
Speaker:more clearer in terms of your
Speaker:memory, in terms of what has
Speaker:happened, in your ability to kind of
Speaker:articulate it.
Speaker:Although even with
Speaker:the people who like immediate
Speaker:feedback.
Speaker:I will still try and do
Speaker:the reflective one because the
Speaker:reflective one is almost more of a
Speaker:coaching session.
Speaker:So if I sit and it's not like, you
Speaker:did this, you did do that, or this
Speaker:was good or that was bad.
Speaker:And right now I'm struggling for
Speaker:time. So this is much more.
Speaker:The last time I was doing this
Speaker:thing, currently any of my
Speaker:direct reports are listening and
Speaker:wondering why we haven't done this
Speaker:is I like
Speaker:to actually have a bit of time to
Speaker:think through
Speaker:patterns. I see
Speaker:behaviors that are self-defeating,
Speaker:areas where I think that they're
Speaker:particularly
Speaker:great at or
Speaker:like, what's that one thing that
Speaker:could unlock the next
Speaker:level of success?
Speaker:And that isn't specifically,
Speaker:in that meeting you shouldn't have
Speaker:said X or in that
Speaker:slide deck you made was amazing.
Speaker:So it's much more taking all
Speaker:of my observations and
Speaker:synthesizing it into
Speaker:that more formal session.
Speaker:I need to have the headspace to do
Speaker:that.
Speaker:That's the one point.
Speaker:And then the second one is
Speaker:the one to ones I think you're
Speaker:talking about are like with your
Speaker:direct reports.
Speaker:One of the things that I've started
Speaker:doing this next
Speaker:five at peak is skip level one
Speaker:to ones once a quarter.
Speaker:I did 25
Speaker:of them in
Speaker:December. And now over in
Speaker:India, they're 45
Speaker:minutes each.
Speaker:There's a set agenda.
Speaker:The chatbot helped me create
Speaker:and has worked really well and
Speaker:I've told people that chatting has
Speaker:helped me create it because I'm
Speaker:trying to get everybody to use
Speaker:words, you and I, and to share it
Speaker:and not to feel like they're being
Speaker:lazy.
Speaker:Showcasing a good use case.
Speaker:I like that.
Speaker:And they have been
Speaker:immensely valuable and I highly,
Speaker:highly recommend them for those who
Speaker:are struggling to fit them in.
Speaker:It served two purposes, three
Speaker:purposes. One is just to get to know
Speaker:that next level of
Speaker:leaders.
Speaker:But I don't always
Speaker:have personal relationships with and
Speaker:just to kind of more than just
Speaker:saying hi, but actually
Speaker:spending some time together, it was
Speaker:great.
Speaker:Secondly, I was able to get
Speaker:more of a pulse of what's going on,
Speaker:where concerns are
Speaker:within their teams, but
Speaker:more broadly within the company.
Speaker:And then the third is I was able
Speaker:to explain my vision,
Speaker:my desire for everybody to use Jenny
Speaker:Eye all the time and massively
Speaker:experiment
Speaker:how I
Speaker:would like the culture to evolve
Speaker:and what my expectations of
Speaker:them in their jobs were.
Speaker:And I was able to do that very
Speaker:organically and individually.
Speaker:And I have noticed as a result of
Speaker:talking to this 25 people,
Speaker:a massive change
Speaker:in the adoption of
Speaker:speaking about and experimentation
Speaker:with Jenny, energetic
Speaker:and more than talking
Speaker:to everybody as a whole group in
Speaker:company meetings.
Speaker:And because it's the first time
Speaker:that I have product and engineering
Speaker:reporting, to me it's just
Speaker:been massively valuable.
Speaker:I've learned more
Speaker:about our product
Speaker:because I, you know, I have loads of
Speaker:demos, I've been in lots of customer
Speaker:meetings.
Speaker:But like that next level of detail
Speaker:that just people share
Speaker:because it's part of their jobs.
Speaker:And when I was like, What project
Speaker:are you working on? And then they
Speaker:explain it to me like,
Speaker:right, this is all the technical
Speaker:stuff that nobody's ever bothered to
Speaker:talk to me about because they figure
Speaker:I don't care or don't understand.
Speaker:It's amazing that a
Speaker:handful of meetings, less than five
Speaker:hours, has given me
Speaker:huge amounts of valuable
Speaker:understanding in a way that
Speaker:a lot of demos and documentation and
Speaker:walkthroughs have not.
Speaker:I always find as a product person,
Speaker:going that layer underneath was just
Speaker:fascinating to see how everything
Speaker:came together, why came together,
Speaker:what the the opportunities were in
Speaker:a much more tangible way around what
Speaker:the product could be in the future
Speaker:as well.
Speaker:Plus a little segment I'll just drop
Speaker:on you What not to do and one to
Speaker:ones I think is is fairly
Speaker:obvious, I think, which is status
Speaker:updates.
Speaker:You don't need to be doing that in
Speaker:one to ones if you are
Speaker:rescheduling or canceling your 1 to
Speaker:1 on a consistent basis.
Speaker:That is a symptom of an actual
Speaker:problem, I would say, in that case.
Speaker:And also we don't want to do is turn
Speaker:your 1 to 1 into a
Speaker:performance review and make the
Speaker:person feel like they're walking
Speaker:into an on trial situation when they
Speaker:enter that room.
Speaker:So I don't use standing
Speaker:agendas, try ones ones.
Speaker:What we do now is so we use
Speaker:Slack.
Speaker:Slack has that new canvas feature,
Speaker:which is kind of like their version
Speaker:of they're trying to
Speaker:do a little bit of the notion
Speaker:work. Have you seen the canvas
Speaker:feature?
Speaker:I have not seen this one thrilled.
Speaker:I need to see this.
Speaker:And so what we both
Speaker:do is just write
Speaker:topics that we want to talk to each
Speaker:other about, and then we have
Speaker:that for the 1 to 1.
Speaker:And then also.
Speaker:Right now because I'm also
Speaker:the maternity cover for our
Speaker:account management team is I've
Speaker:added another entire level of of
Speaker:direct support.
Speaker:If they don't have anything they
Speaker:need to talk about on a weekly
Speaker:basis.
Speaker:We'll catch up, say,
Speaker:okay, everything's fine and
Speaker:not spend the full half an hour
Speaker:together. So that's the other thing
Speaker:is always have it in place.
Speaker:But if nothing is going on,
Speaker:it's okay to cut it
Speaker:short.
Speaker:And the reason why I share it ahead
Speaker:of time is because it's just easy
Speaker:to have one document for each person
Speaker:and not to have to have one.
Speaker:That's like my secret document.
Speaker:And then they're like, We're just
Speaker:working and collaborating on one
Speaker:piece of paper together.
Speaker:And so whenever I think of something
Speaker:I jotted down.
Speaker:All right. Love it. So why don't we
Speaker:park it here? Let's get on to our
Speaker:conversation with Mr. Eric Stone.
Speaker:What does it mean by engagement?
Speaker:Because I feel like it's one of
Speaker:those words like strategy and
Speaker:leadership that everybody has our
Speaker:own definition of.
Speaker:So what do you mean by engagement?
Speaker:You know, there's really three key
Speaker:engagement definitions.
Speaker:The first is what we're all shooting
Speaker:for, which is an engaged employee.
Speaker:These are people who bring that high
Speaker:energy, high enthusiasm every
Speaker:day to work.
Speaker:These are the ones who have that
Speaker:true ownership mentality and
Speaker:don't just do what
Speaker:they're supposed to do.
Speaker:They do a little bit more than that.
Speaker:That's the one we all shoot for.
Speaker:But there's also two other things we
Speaker:have to be really careful of, and
Speaker:that's the not engaged.
Speaker:These would be the people who
Speaker:I would probably say the quiet
Speaker:quitters. We've probably heard that
Speaker:term a little bit.
Speaker:Those are those who will
Speaker:give you the time, but not the
Speaker:energy. And so the second
Speaker:is, unfortunately, where a lot
Speaker:of the corporation's lion's share
Speaker:of employees are.
Speaker:And we've got to be very mindful of
Speaker:how to transition it to the engaged.
Speaker:And then, of course, the last one I
Speaker:call these the if you're a Harry
Speaker:Potter fan, these are your
Speaker:disengaged, these are your corporate
Speaker:mentors. They are sucking the soul
Speaker:out of everything that's good.
Speaker:And they are the people who will be
Speaker:around the proverbial water cooler
Speaker:and they will be The one thing they
Speaker:do really well is gossip.
Speaker:And they will get all the bad gossip
Speaker:that goes through.
Speaker:So there are three really
Speaker:definitions of engagement.
Speaker:We're shooting for that high energy,
Speaker:high employee, high energy, high
Speaker:enthusiasm.
Speaker:Now, the five critical things
Speaker:that are universal.
Speaker:Step one is what does your
Speaker:organization do to create a strong
Speaker:relationship with the team?
Speaker:So we all know the seeds of trust
Speaker:are built and you have to look into
Speaker:your company.
Speaker:And what I usually coach people on
Speaker:is what are the three initiatives,
Speaker:Bethany, that you guys believe
Speaker:deeply in that foster
Speaker:A strong relationship.
Speaker:And that's going to be probably from
Speaker:the onboarding to the training
Speaker:throughout, probably having some
Speaker:sort of initiative that
Speaker:supports truly building
Speaker:relationships.
Speaker:We used to call ours the 30 minutes
Speaker:of fame, and this was a one on one
Speaker:with a manager that would create
Speaker:the strengthening of a relationship.
Speaker:That's the first that you really
Speaker:want to. What do you do to create
Speaker:that relationship?
Speaker:As we all know, people leave their
Speaker:manager. It's usually just
Speaker:dissatisfaction with the manager.
Speaker:So it's interesting because you
Speaker:talked about trust and then switch
Speaker:straight to relationship.
Speaker:And I'm not sure I always
Speaker:think about trust as having two
Speaker:elements. One is, do I trust
Speaker:the person I'm with to not
Speaker:throw me under the bus, make fun of
Speaker:me, be mean to me.
Speaker:And then the second is, do I trust
Speaker:that that person can do their job
Speaker:and relationship is connected
Speaker:to those but not the same thing.
Speaker:So I'm just interested in can you
Speaker:walk me through your thought process
Speaker:of going from trust
Speaker:to relationship?
Speaker:Well, I think with everything, it
Speaker:starts with a relationship.
Speaker:I mean, that's where it begins.
Speaker:There has to be some sort of
Speaker:component. Now, you usually don't
Speaker:build strong relationships if you
Speaker:don't build trust.
Speaker:Trust is usually the
Speaker:things that you're following through
Speaker:with.
Speaker:So trust is usually built from
Speaker:action.
Speaker:Now, relationships.
Speaker:It allows me to understand, Bethany,
Speaker:who you are personally,
Speaker:professionally, starting to
Speaker:understand what's important to you,
Speaker:what motivational styles that you
Speaker:thrive under.
Speaker:Those are really helpful.
Speaker:When I, as the manager, I'm living
Speaker:not just listing values and things
Speaker:that tends to build trust.
Speaker:It's a really good observation that
Speaker:they really are a little
Speaker:bit different, but in my
Speaker:perspective, it starts with the
Speaker:relationship.
Speaker:I interrupted you.
Speaker:So if we then talk about the 30
Speaker:minutes of fame, that's a great way
Speaker:of calling it 1 to 1 because nobody
Speaker:likes a 1 to 1. But I'm happy with
Speaker:30 minutes of fame.
Speaker:How did you make your 30 minutes of
Speaker:fame successful?
Speaker:What is the outline of a good 1 to
Speaker:1?
Speaker:And I think what's important about
Speaker:the evolution of a 30 minutes of
Speaker:fame to take you back a little
Speaker:bit about how we became to come
Speaker:up with 30 minutes of fame and we
Speaker:used to have a handful of managers
Speaker:that would meet every other month
Speaker:and we would think strategically
Speaker:about where we needed to be putting
Speaker:our energy from.
Speaker:These were managers of the
Speaker:operations at Enterprise
Speaker:for this particular example, and
Speaker:they were the ones who are really
Speaker:the voice. You know, when I say
Speaker:something, it's one thing when they
Speaker:say something, it tends to grab a
Speaker:little bit more.
Speaker:And so I would use them as a
Speaker:platform. And we were trying to find
Speaker:ways to
Speaker:balance our initiatives with
Speaker:relationship building.
Speaker:It wasn't just about the bottom line
Speaker:is also about relationships.
Speaker:And we came up with the format of
Speaker:a 30 minutes of fame, which was to
Speaker:meet at least once a month, if
Speaker:not twice, for 30 minutes.
Speaker:And it was really first half of
Speaker:the meeting and it didn't have to be
Speaker:exact, but was a little bit about
Speaker:first understanding how was
Speaker:everything going, how were we doing
Speaker:more of a personal side of things.
Speaker:And then the back half was really
Speaker:about how are your performance
Speaker:indicators doing?
Speaker:What are the things that you might
Speaker:need to continue to be successful?
Speaker:What are you missing? It could be
Speaker:role plays or things like that, and
Speaker:it was just a good setting that
Speaker:allowed our teams to focus
Speaker:on the human centric.
Speaker:Approach, and I call it balancing
Speaker:empathy with accountability.
Speaker:Maybe the beginning was the
Speaker:empathetic, actively listening type.
Speaker:And that accountability is the brick
Speaker:and mortar of everything.
Speaker:And so accountability would be part
Speaker:of it. And so anything we ever did
Speaker:and should learn after these
Speaker:conversations was very intentional.
Speaker:This 30 minutes film was very
Speaker:intentional about relationships and
Speaker:results, fair and firm.
Speaker:And why was it called 30 Minutes of
Speaker:Fame?
Speaker:It was just a catchy little slogan
Speaker:that made it about them.
Speaker:It was actually we baked
Speaker:these five factors into
Speaker:an interview process.
Speaker:So if you're interviewing internally
Speaker:within the company, we'd want to
Speaker:know how you developed strong
Speaker:relationships.
Speaker:How did you use your 30 minutes of
Speaker:fame to develop personal
Speaker:relationships at the same time,
Speaker:strong results?
Speaker:So everything was really trying to
Speaker:be in alignment.
Speaker:And then if we take it back to
Speaker:because I interrupted you, I got
Speaker:excited about relationships.
Speaker:You were just about to start the
Speaker:next one.
Speaker:So there's trust and relationships
Speaker:is the first.
Speaker:Yeah. Clear communication of goals
Speaker:and expectations.
Speaker:Sounds simple enough, but
Speaker:believe it or not, I think it's only
Speaker:60% of people understand what's.
Speaker:Supposed to be going on with their
Speaker:approach, their responsibilities.
Speaker:And so this to me is where I
Speaker:talk a lot about the ABCs
Speaker:of communication and how
Speaker:the great organizations find a way
Speaker:to amplify those 3 to 5 key
Speaker:priorities that they might be
Speaker:focusing on.
Speaker:They balance the how often we're
Speaker:going to talk about it with the
Speaker:perfect setting.
Speaker:In-person, remote hybrid.
Speaker:However, they're going to
Speaker:communicate and they're really good
Speaker:at the buffering of of information.
Speaker:So these I call these the
Speaker:distraction catchers.
Speaker:So these are the ability to
Speaker:avoid the noise.
Speaker:They take complicated information,
Speaker:complicated emails, complicated
Speaker:training of 15 page stuff, and they
Speaker:kind of synthesize it using more
Speaker:of an Elon Musk approach of first
Speaker:principle thinking, questioning all
Speaker:assumptions, but synthesizing some
Speaker:of the information. They're great at
Speaker:avoiding that flavor
Speaker:of the week management style that
Speaker:so many companies struggle when they
Speaker:build a high performance culture.
Speaker:It's very confusing at times and
Speaker:they know when to pass it on.
Speaker:They know what to just convey.
Speaker:That's the C they know how.
Speaker:For sports fans, there's the ESPN
Speaker:digital notes.
Speaker:These are the nice to nose,
Speaker:not muscle tones.
Speaker:And they're really, really good at
Speaker:balancing When I amplify buffer
Speaker:or convey.
Speaker:When you talked about
Speaker:the middle one, the buffering at the
Speaker:very end, you said they're good at
Speaker:not choosing flavor of the week
Speaker:management styles, which can be
Speaker:confusing. Can you expand on what
Speaker:you mean?
Speaker:Yes. So there are organizations
Speaker:and I've been victim of it.
Speaker:Where, my God, everything is about
Speaker:customer service or net promoter
Speaker:score. Everything is customer
Speaker:service, everything.
Speaker:But then the next moment it is where
Speaker:is your market share update?
Speaker:What is going on?
Speaker:It just can be very confusing
Speaker:and it's because something went into
Speaker:a different direction that,
Speaker:okay, wait, are we supposed to be
Speaker:focusing now? Of course we know
Speaker:we're supposed to be focusing on 3
Speaker:to 5, probably key things.
Speaker:It's just they're all over the map.
Speaker:So it really is more about the
Speaker:objectives and initiatives
Speaker:and trying to create clarity and
Speaker:balance.
Speaker:So that was we have relationships,
Speaker:We have communication.
Speaker:Yet a third would be having the
Speaker:right material, equipment and
Speaker:information in order to achieve
Speaker:the desired outcome.
Speaker:So what I usually have organizations
Speaker:do is through
Speaker:that employee journey, what
Speaker:are some of the things that are
Speaker:provided along that path?
Speaker:So the first thing I usually have
Speaker:them try to do is really
Speaker:do a needs assessment
Speaker:of their present training material.
Speaker:I'm sure we do. A lot of people who
Speaker:are the VP of sales and
Speaker:it's brand and just get the job
Speaker:done. Okay, just put up
Speaker:20% growth, stop complaining
Speaker:and get the job done.
Speaker:Now, there could be a component
Speaker:where that might come up.
Speaker:But the question is, is when you
Speaker:review your training material,
Speaker:have we provided those
Speaker:bits, those things that are going to
Speaker:address some of those heartburn or
Speaker:hot buttons along the way?
Speaker:Do they have the ability to execute
Speaker:the plan?
Speaker:And what I have found and even
Speaker:in my own career are opportunities
Speaker:where something was missing.
Speaker:And I'll give you a quick story.
Speaker:We were doing one where
Speaker:our customer service was
Speaker:dropping and we brought our think
Speaker:tank together and I'm like, What is
Speaker:going on?
Speaker:You know, we're going into our peak
Speaker:season.
Speaker:I'm getting complaints that should
Speaker:not be happening.
Speaker:What's the deal?
Speaker:And we found that there were some
Speaker:common things that were happening,
Speaker:and so we needed to do a behavioral
Speaker:change, which really involved around
Speaker:ownership and empathy.
Speaker:But empathy was kind of that key
Speaker:component we felt we were missing.
Speaker:We had the team go search for
Speaker:information. We needed information
Speaker:to find the right training bit.
Speaker:And we found a great story about
Speaker:Johnny the Bagger.
Speaker:What companies do really well is
Speaker:when they take their values and they
Speaker:truly define the behaviors under the
Speaker:values.
Speaker:And if one of our values was
Speaker:customer service was our way of
Speaker:life, but yet we couldn't really
Speaker:live it on the scoreboard, we needed
Speaker:to do something and we needed a
Speaker:behavioral change.
Speaker:And we found this video about a
Speaker:young man who had Down's syndrome
Speaker:and he was a backer.
Speaker:And what he did is there was a
Speaker:consultant that this grocery store
Speaker:hired, and at first Johnny
Speaker:didn't know what he could do.
Speaker:And the consultant's job was to
Speaker:create long term loyalty and
Speaker:a better customer experience.
Speaker:So she ended up giving a long,
Speaker:inspiring speech.
Speaker:And Johnny takes a time out.
Speaker:And at first he didn't know what he
Speaker:could do. And so what he does is
Speaker:he decides at the end of every night
Speaker:he's going to go home and he's going
Speaker:to write a thought of the day.
Speaker:So just to take some ownership here,
Speaker:he's going to have thought of the day
Speaker:on the back to say thank you for
Speaker:shopping with us.
Speaker:Well, he decides to execute that
Speaker:into his day to day operation.
Speaker:Store manager is doing his rounds,
Speaker:notices. Guess whose line is three
Speaker:times as long as everybody else's
Speaker:line Young Johnny the bagger.
Speaker:And so the store manager is triaging
Speaker:and thinking of opening up new
Speaker:lanes and lines where
Speaker:he all of a sudden gets
Speaker:tapped by a customer who says,
Speaker:That's okay, I'm waiting for
Speaker:Johnny's thought of the day.
Speaker:But it didn't stop there because
Speaker:someone in the frozen food section
Speaker:aisle says, you know, you come here
Speaker:once. So weak. But now I come here
Speaker:every time I'm in the area because I
Speaker:want shot. You start at the day.
Speaker:Thank God. All right, good.
Speaker:But it didn't stop there.
Speaker:What ended up happening is the
Speaker:Floral Department decides to get in
Speaker:on it.
Speaker:And so the department takes any
Speaker:broken flower on your corsage,
Speaker:and they pin it on a young child or
Speaker:an elderly shopper as they're doing
Speaker:their rounds and all of a sudden
Speaker:stores completely transformed.
Speaker:All because Johnny decides
Speaker:to make a difference.
Speaker:Everyone's having more fun.
Speaker:It becomes contagious.
Speaker:And so we said, Well, how can we
Speaker:get a Johnny the Badger mentality
Speaker:of ownership and taking an
Speaker:initiative to that next
Speaker:level?
Speaker:We came up with a weekly vote that
Speaker:they would have at the local branch
Speaker:of brick and mortar stores, and they
Speaker:would identify who was the
Speaker:Johnny the Bagger of the
Speaker:week.
Speaker:The Johnny the Bagger story would
Speaker:get bubbled up to myself
Speaker:at one point and we would nominate a
Speaker:true Johnny the Bagger winner.
Speaker:It didn't stop there.
Speaker:The winner would go to my house
Speaker:every other month. We'd be able to
Speaker:celebrate and recognize top
Speaker:performance.
Speaker:And so now you're getting rewarded
Speaker:for the efforts of following these
Speaker:initiatives and executing them to a
Speaker:high level. But it didn't stop
Speaker:there. It matched one of our
Speaker:founding values, and that was
Speaker:about customer service being our way
Speaker:of life.
Speaker:We didn't stop there.
Speaker:It was then tucked into review
Speaker:processes.
Speaker:So under the customer service
Speaker:and experience section, it
Speaker:would be, were you a Johnny the
Speaker:Bagger? Did you demonstrate
Speaker:behaviors of Johnny the Bagger?
Speaker:A simple story of how you can take
Speaker:something and weave it throughout
Speaker:the fabrics of an organization.
Speaker:And so that would be taking
Speaker:information that we were lacking
Speaker:that went into the new hire
Speaker:onboarding. It went into several
Speaker:different trainings and it went into
Speaker:the review. You could not know about
Speaker:Johnny the Bagger and you knew what
Speaker:his behaviors would draw.
Speaker:So there's a quick story
Speaker:of Johnny the Bagger.
Speaker:The thing that I think
Speaker:you created in your environment
Speaker:that interestingly you're not
Speaker:calling out is
Speaker:it's not just accountability, but
Speaker:empowerment or lack of fear.
Speaker:You know, Johnny the Bagger could
Speaker:only do that because he felt
Speaker:like he was allowed
Speaker:to do that, whereas you could
Speaker:imagine that he was would have been
Speaker:in a different environment, came up
Speaker:with that idea, had been told to go
Speaker:come up with ideas
Speaker:and then either never did it
Speaker:because who he has to go ask
Speaker:permission and find out.
Speaker:And then you have 500 people
Speaker:deciding whether or not he's allowed
Speaker:to put something in.
Speaker:Are there health and safety issues?
Speaker:What if he says something offensive?
Speaker:What's the risk around it?
Speaker:And before you know it, Johnny's the
Speaker:biker can't do anything where he's
Speaker:actually asked or he's
Speaker:too afraid in the first place, he's
Speaker:going to get fired.
Speaker:That he never does it.
Speaker:And so you can only
Speaker:do those cool things if you have
Speaker:an environment in which allows you
Speaker:to act out
Speaker:and you haven't actually mentioned
Speaker:those parts.
Speaker:Well, technically, if you look at
Speaker:the beginning, that's what
Speaker:relationship building and trust are
Speaker:all about. So these factors
Speaker:will eventually complement each
Speaker:other. So this initiative,
Speaker:again, was not my
Speaker:initiative.
Speaker:It is true when
Speaker:you build some of these
Speaker:factors of engagement, it allows
Speaker:people to be empowered and you do
Speaker:have to balance that ability
Speaker:to empower your team
Speaker:and at the same time be fair and
Speaker:firm and follow policies
Speaker:and procedures as well.
Speaker:And so, yeah, I mean, if
Speaker:you're a firm or organization who's
Speaker:not going to create that, well, then
Speaker:you're probably going to miss some
Speaker:things. And that is the whole point
Speaker:of balancing high performance
Speaker:culture. How do you do that?
Speaker:How do you create a high character?
Speaker:Bethany with a high standard?
Speaker:How do you get your people to follow
Speaker:policies and procedures but at the
Speaker:same time be empowered to.
Speaker:And that's the point of culture.
Speaker:You know, if you already feel
Speaker:or you're handcuffed, of course
Speaker:you're probably not going to be your
Speaker:best. And maybe in your culture,
Speaker:that's okay.
Speaker:For me, that is something that
Speaker:I knew I wasn't smart enough to do
Speaker:on my own. I needed everybody.
Speaker:And there's a famous line, as you
Speaker:might think, you're the smartest
Speaker:person in the room, but you're never
Speaker:smarter than the room.
Speaker:And so these are all just
Speaker:intentionality, use and human
Speaker:centric approaches with what I would
Speaker:call the Velvet Hammer, the ability
Speaker:to hold them to a high standard.
Speaker:But if you can't do that, of course,
Speaker:and you have too many hoops to
Speaker:jump through, it will
Speaker:affect innovation and creativity.
Speaker:It's just interesting because we
Speaker:rarely talk to people who come from
Speaker:big companies and it's always
Speaker:interesting how much is the same and
Speaker:how much is different.
Speaker:Like you've written an entire book
Speaker:of how to do this,
Speaker:but fundamentally, you just seem
Speaker:like you're a good leader.
Speaker:And I know you've now created ways
Speaker:for other people to be good leaders.
Speaker:But for me, the best part of being a
Speaker:good leader is getting your ego out
Speaker:of the way and letting go of
Speaker:control.
Speaker:And you're providing people with a
Speaker:framework of how to do that.
Speaker:But it's a journey.
Speaker:How did you
Speaker:get your ego out of the way and let
Speaker:go of control in the right way?
Speaker:Yeah, really hard to do.
Speaker:Really hard to do.
Speaker:I was just talking with someone this
Speaker:morning and we were sharing some
Speaker:lessons learned.
Speaker:And this.
Speaker:From a smaller company.
Speaker:So let's call it 30 some employees
Speaker:who really needs to bring
Speaker:in someone so he can do more of the
Speaker:CEO role and the strategic thinking.
Speaker:He was really struggling with it.
Speaker:And I think we I don't know many
Speaker:people who don't.
Speaker:I mean, because you're usually
Speaker:really the best at what you're doing
Speaker:potentially. And so how do you pass
Speaker:that baton? And this is all the
Speaker:stuff about this show observe and
Speaker:shape and this training environment
Speaker:that you're trying to teach is
Speaker:you're going to give a platform
Speaker:that allows people to be better
Speaker:than they were yesterday.
Speaker:I already knew I could do it better
Speaker:in some cases, and it really
Speaker:was the investment of me saying, But
Speaker:if I don't create this
Speaker:continuous learning culture, if
Speaker:I don't do this show, observe and
Speaker:shape, if I'm not doing these things
Speaker:that are constantly teaching
Speaker:while it's an investment,
Speaker:it would drive me crazy.
Speaker:I couldn't do it all myself.
Speaker:And this is the best example,
Speaker:Bethany, is I couldn't answer
Speaker:phone calls because
Speaker:we had 50 brick and mortars.
Speaker:The phone's ringing off the hook.
Speaker:I'd love to answer every phone call.
Speaker:All I can do is provide a
Speaker:pathway and the coaching and
Speaker:direction so that my culture
Speaker:carriers, which is what I called the
Speaker:think tank, those people who are
Speaker:going to be the voice and the
Speaker:sounding board and who will carry
Speaker:on the things we're trying to do
Speaker:would really be the ones doing it.
Speaker:And so it takes some time because
Speaker:that's how you have to scale it up.
Speaker:And so for me, it was
Speaker:how do I identify my culture
Speaker:carriers and how do
Speaker:I somehow clone them?
Speaker:Because once they become really
Speaker:good, they get promoted somewhere.
Speaker:And so for me,
Speaker:it was providing a framework
Speaker:where whether it was a sales
Speaker:call and making sure they were
Speaker:really comfortable with how to do
Speaker:it, because I already felt I was
Speaker:pretty good at it and
Speaker:I guess paying it forward.
Speaker:So but it was a really tough because
Speaker:we're confident around ability.
Speaker:So when you're not in the room and I
Speaker:can't answer 15,000 phone
Speaker:calls, I've got to believe that can
Speaker:happen. And my culture carriers
Speaker:allowed that to happen.
Speaker:So can you maybe expand upon the
Speaker:culture carrier piece?
Speaker:Because in scale up companies,
Speaker:this just occurred to me the other
Speaker:day when I was talking to another
Speaker:founder. But they're doing U.S.
Speaker:expansion and they're headquartered
Speaker:in the UK and they want to make sure
Speaker:that the culture of the UK company
Speaker:carries over into the US,
Speaker:recognizing that the US branch is
Speaker:going to change over time and have a
Speaker:different influence and so on.
Speaker:But the DNA and the values of the
Speaker:company, they want to express that
Speaker:through the US expansion and
Speaker:the question of the cultural
Speaker:carrier coming from the UK is not
Speaker:the CEO, but in fact somebody else
Speaker:that they're planting over there
Speaker:because the CEO believes that person
Speaker:represents the values of business in
Speaker:a way that makes sense to him.
Speaker:Can you maybe explain from a
Speaker:corporate standpoint, a much larger
Speaker:company standpoint, like Enterprise
Speaker:Rent-A-Car, how does this work in
Speaker:terms of you've got line managers
Speaker:separate to that. You've got this
Speaker:idea of culture carriers.
Speaker:How do you identify those people?
Speaker:What do you do with them specially
Speaker:that's different from the line
Speaker:managers?
Speaker:And then how do you harness them on
Speaker:mass, I guess?
Speaker:Well, we decided that
Speaker:we would have the branch managers
Speaker:nominate those who they believed
Speaker:in. And so we had a
Speaker:bit of a survey, as you will,
Speaker:that would everyone would kind of
Speaker:put their rubber stamp on who
Speaker:they would like to see representing
Speaker:the region and had an opportunity to
Speaker:meet with myself and our manager
Speaker:so we could hear different opinions
Speaker:and thought processes and things
Speaker:like that.
Speaker:So step one, they created
Speaker:it. I have to be honest, I
Speaker:had a rubber stamp it because
Speaker:you have to have performance
Speaker:just because you're a nice person.
Speaker:Does it mean you get to be in the
Speaker:room? And so that's that fair
Speaker:and firm and empathy with
Speaker:accountability stuff.
Speaker:And so I would look at
Speaker:it with my a few other folks and
Speaker:say, Do we feel that this is a
Speaker:diverse group of thoughts,
Speaker:ethnicity, generational perspective
Speaker:and background?
Speaker:So with the
Speaker:ability to have
Speaker:them nominate some of their peers
Speaker:rubber stamped by some senior
Speaker:leaders, it was
Speaker:the selection process that way.
Speaker:There were a few rules of
Speaker:engagement, though. Granted, if you
Speaker:had to continually be in high
Speaker:performance on your review process,
Speaker:you had to have
Speaker:polite disagreement with me.
Speaker:I couldn't. I just didn't need
Speaker:people who would just say yes to
Speaker:something that I said.
Speaker:So I needed a little little bit of
Speaker:that and you would be on it for
Speaker:about a year.
Speaker:And the way we would redevelop
Speaker:is you would cycle
Speaker:out and then we'd have a new
Speaker:nomination process.
Speaker:The things, believe it or not, that
Speaker:made it really beneficial
Speaker:was that they came up
Speaker:with the agenda.
Speaker:Yes, Don't get me wrong, I threw
Speaker:some some snowflakes out or
Speaker:little little things that I would
Speaker:like. And I felt from my
Speaker:perspective that needed to be talked
Speaker:about. But it was really important
Speaker:that they were the ones who
Speaker:reached out to others to check
Speaker:the temperature of things.
Speaker:And so from the selection process
Speaker:to the agenda to the cycling
Speaker:of that's how we eventually
Speaker:built and we knew we had it.
Speaker:We talked about. Culture.
Speaker:When I would be in a training class,
Speaker:which was not the way of me being
Speaker:omnipresent, if I could, you know,
Speaker:when I had 30 people coming up,
Speaker:that was my chance to get in front
Speaker:of the audience because I couldn't
Speaker:visit 30 people that
Speaker:quickly.
Speaker:And when they would start saying,
Speaker:Hey, Eric, how do
Speaker:I get on the.
Speaker:How do I get on the think tank?
Speaker:That's when, you know, I didn't
Speaker:bring it up. They brought it up.
Speaker:Someone's talking very highly
Speaker:of this.
Speaker:And it actually ended up
Speaker:we used to get made fun of like
Speaker:Eric's think tank and then
Speaker:all the neighboring regions started
Speaker:to embrace it.
Speaker:They realized that there was
Speaker:something there.
Speaker:I need to ask the final question.
Speaker:It's been a fascinating
Speaker:conversation. Eric, thanks so much
Speaker:for joining us.
Speaker:Final question is,
Speaker:if our listeners can only take one
Speaker:thing away from
Speaker:this hour with you, what is
Speaker:it?
Speaker:If you want unique results, you
Speaker:better have unique relationships.
Speaker:Thank you, Eric, for joining us from
Speaker:the operations room.
Speaker:If you like what you hear, please
Speaker:subscribe or leave us a comment and
Speaker:we will see you next week.
