[00:00:02.680] - Chris
Welcome back to another episode of the MRM podcast. I'm Chris
[00:00:06.370] - Brandon
and I'm Brandon. Join us as we discuss business, life and legacy.
[00:00:11.380] - Chris
It's business time.
[00:00:13.810] - Brandon
I really wanted to turn the mic on while you were Jammen on your crunch mix there.
[00:00:20.590] - Chris
I was saying gordetos, not a sponsor. Gordetos for the carb conscious. I have these new Catalina crunch, keto friendly, spicy kick crunch mix snack mix.
[00:00:30.250] - Brandon
I tell you what it was like at eight point one on the Richter scale, though, when you're grinding on those bad boys
[00:00:36.010] - Chris
tell you what, it tasted really great.
[00:00:39.170] - Brandon
That was amazing. I think it would have been a good opportunity to test people's bass
[00:00:43.720] - Chris
is I mean, here's the thing. Like any of you that are listening, probably all of us in the world, certainly in the US, have experimented with like a kito or a low carb diet to try to trim down or whatever.
[00:00:54.490] - Chris
And and one of the biggest things I miss when I'm kind of watching my carbs is the crunchy, yummy stuff. Right. Crunchy. Yeah. So there we go.
[00:01:05.500] - Brandon
That's your confessional of the week.
[00:01:09.250] - Chris
What do you think we should talk about today?
[00:01:10.480] - Brandon
Well, I've been chewing on something. Pun intended. see what we did there. It's pretty amazing.
[00:01:16.660] - Brandon
That was an old man joke. Oh by the way, I saw this great T-shirt the other day. Has nothing to do with this
[00:01:20.740] - Chris
are you going to share that with your kids?
[00:01:21.820] - Brandon
Yeah. This we were at a restaurant. We were actually in Idaho, of all places. We're in a restaurant. And this dad clearly dad walks out and he's got a t shirt on and it's the counter like you would see like how many days without an accident at your workplace. It's zero/zero days without a dad joke. Is just absolutely fantastic.
[00:01:44.560] - Brandon
Some of you out there listening to World can relate to. All right. So anyways, OK, I've got I got something I've been chewing on man. My wife and I actually took a big fat road trip and so we had like twenty four hours on the road and we listened to a book that was released about Elon Musk, I think probably in 14 or 15. So it's been a while. I mean, honestly, at the time that the book was written, he's dwarfed his successes.
[00:02:09.580] - Brandon
In the last seven years. He's catapulted to be number one, sometimes two the world's wealthiest man. Right. Tesla and SpaceX are doing stuff that is just absolutely mind boggling. Anyways, it's a really interesting deep dove into his life and into the startup of Solar City, Tesla and SpaceX. Right. Which are all wildly, right now, they are wildly successful companies, really leading at an unbelievable pace. Yeah. The race for sustainable energy, space flight, space exploration.
[00:02:46.910] - Brandon
And of course, he's achieved a somewhat affordable all electric car.
[00:02:53.230] - Chris
He essentially built a category. Right. It's funny because like the real people nerd out on this stuff, will talk about how oh well electric cars aren't anything new. We know there's whatever ford came out with an electric vehicle in nineteen nineteen, but yeah. But I mean, he has basically made it a mainstream category in less than ten years.
[00:03:12.040] - Brandon
He changed the world's perspective on it. Let's be honest. Right. And I don't know if you've so how the algorithms work with social media and stuff. Right. You click on a video and now forever you're getting force fed anything related to it? Well, after that reading that book, obviously, I was pretty prone to clicking on things related to Tesla and SpaceX. And now he literally is on the brink of releasing a sub thirty thousand dollar all electric powered vehicle.
[00:03:39.940] - Brandon
Let's think about that. So not only is he making a really technologically a high end vehicle affordable, but he's crushing the most affordable gas powered vehicles in terms of price. If he pulls that off, it's yet just these another monumental achievement in terms of setting these wild goals that the whole world barely has context to understand the reality of it. Right. And then somehow he and his teams find a way to do it. And I know there's probably some people listening that view him as the devil in some way and then others that probably love him.
[00:04:16.510] - Brandon
Sure, that runs the gambit. Big personalities. It's all or nothing, it seems like. Right. Anyways, I'm listening to this book, by the way I think this one is written by an investigative journalist. So this is not an autobiography
[00:04:27.880] - Chris
this is not an authorized biography.
[00:04:29.410] - Brandon
And in fact, it's interesting because when they set the stage at the beginning of the book, this writer is very aggressive about stating the fact that he would not bend to some of the initial requirements that Elon had about the book, meaning that he wanted to read the entire manuscript before it was released.
[00:04:47.980] - Brandon
He wanted to be able to add footnotes, the whole thing. And this writer ultimately said, I can't let you do that. And so according to them, this is a neutral third party perspective on Elon and his big tri-companies that he's put together. Anyways, man, I'm I'm listening to this, I'm an audible guy, I'm sorry I cheated. I listened to this book and kind of a walk away is you have a man who obviously is not here to give his side of it, but he's clearly a man for whatever reason that is able to identify a goal.
[00:05:21.600] - Brandon
And that goal for him becomes very missional. So it's a life or death type of scenario for whatever reason. I'm not going to try to get into what fuels that for him. But once he establishes that, there's no stopping, like your opinion is irrelevant. Your perspective on what can and can't be done is irrelevant. It's a yes/no answer for him. Once he establishes it's a yes answer, he is going to move mountains to achieve that.
[00:05:49.170] - Brandon
It's very intimidating, like when you listen to what it is that he and his team had to do to create Tesla and for Tesla to sustain past the first 10 or 15 years of life or to listen to what happened with Space X and the kinds of technologies that they're inventing in order for them to achieve the goals that they are achieving. I don't care if you're a nerd or not. There's just this or you listen to this story and you go...
[00:06:15.540] - Brandon
I can't...My mind is so simple. I do not have the ability to draw the context for this. Like, I can't fathom what it is they're able to accomplish.
[00:06:26.100] - Chris
Well, yes, I can completely relate to that and I can relate to that sense of awe.
[00:06:33.510] - Brandon
Is this a yes and?
[00:06:35.040] - Chris
it is totally. Because I relate to that admiration for just like him as an icon of business. How in the world. Right. But there are there is information out there about the how like how do they do it? What's different about Tesla? Because everything I've read and different podcasts I've listened to, including how you have heard him talk about his business. Yeah, right. Is that you're right. He does he's very decisive. He gets a vision.
[00:07:01.740] - Chris
And then he dedicates himself to making that vision materialize. But he's also really pragmatic about his business. He is very non emotional. Some people speculate that's because of his...him Being on the spectrum, that he doesn't connect emotionally in the same way that maybe you or I would with a business, with employees, all that kind of stuff. And so there's maybe a level of distraction he doesn't have that somebody like a normal business person like you and I might because of that spectrum thing.
[00:07:31.500] - Chris
But you hear about some of the practical things he's done. They don't do meetings or are they... At Tesla? What was that I heard? If you don't have anything more to contribute to a meeting, you're expected to just get up and leave like he has zero tolerance for wasting time in a meeting. So if you're no longer offering something in a meeting, you don't have a perspective and opinion, a report, data, information, feedback to give, then get out of here and go do something that's important.
[00:07:57.180] - Brandon
Yeah.
[00:07:58.350] - Chris
And apparently this is just permeates their entire company with regard to meetings is, hey, when we're done with the topic at hand, we all leave. We don't do one hour meetings. If we can get a meeting done in seven minutes, that's what we do, which is very interesting. It takes a lot of discipline because because I think a lot of us if we're really honest, there's an element of meetings kind of feel self-important like we do them because like we're supposed to.
[00:08:27.990] - Chris
But we can end up spending a lot of time hanging in a meeting where. It's long lost the value, the productivity, that meeting, right? So that's one thing he does. It's like really practical. When I first read that, I'm like, wow, yep, that's probably a solid principle to operate on. And then he talks about two is very he's down on hierarchy. He's not a middle management guy having supervisors for this and directors of that.
[00:08:56.130] - Chris
Like when you look at Tesla's structure, it's basically Elon, the big idea guy, and then you have this huge flat organization. He doesn't have he doesn't have a few hundred corporate management types. And a lot of people think that's contribute a lot to his ability to make products really fast, to get things to market really fast, relatively speaking. You think about how long Ford's been doing business. And of course, I think there's analogs in our industry, too, that we're seeing with a lot of the private equity coming in.
[00:09:30.600] - Chris
If you've got some smaller companies that are achieving scale way faster than some of the original big name brands. Some of them have been growing for 30, 40, 50 years. Yeah, right. And you see some of these newcomers bring a new value.
[00:09:46.620] - Brandon
Yeah, right. You can see it with some of the newer franchises.
[00:09:49.660] - Chris
Yeah. You totally can their expert at some of these new advertising platforms and so forth and they're able to leapfrog. And I think I think Elon has made some choices about how he's going to do business. And then he's like you say, it's just binary. There's no reconsidering that choice. It's just this is how we're going to do it. Yes. No.
[00:10:09.030] - Brandon
Yeah, this is the goal. Yeah. So it's not I can't. It's just how. Yeah, yeah. It's interesting. I think I don't think I want this conversation to turn into a culture question because I really I just want a cheap excuse to process what I'm thinking about myself as a leader after reading this book. But I was thinking about your comment regarding regarding that meeting structure as an example. And I have to say to some of the most meaningful opportunities I had was when there was a breathing moment in the day.
[00:10:42.750] - Brandon
But I wanted the team to have that meeting anyways. And it was a chance for us to take the rush out of that meeting and actually see each other. And so I would connect with employees, we would laugh, we would make jokes. I would call out personality things that all of us have identified by working with this person for a prolonged period of time, like to create the sense of unity and integrity of the team. And it's like I really cherished sometimes to have those moments.
[00:11:12.210] - Brandon
Right. So there is part of me that reads something about his companies and there it is, production. It's time-in to get something out on the other side. And these things that they create are wildly amazing. They're cutting edge. They're developing technology to develop the thing. I mean, it is unbelievable what these guys do. And it's admirable. It's admirable because what they are able to achieve. But at the same time, it's hard for me to look at the companies and feel like they have a soul that I can connect with personally.
[00:11:49.950] - Chris
I'll tell you what I connect with when it comes to Tesla. He's done such a great job of creating a massive long term, bigger than life picture of where the company is going and what it's trying to do. Yeah, I mean, we've seen how when we started really honing in on our story, like, who are we? How do we do business? How are we different? How do we talk and think differently than our the rest of the industry or we see the industry kind of operating?
[00:12:17.670] - Chris
He's given people a big story, which
[00:12:20.310] - Brandon
it's true
[00:12:20.850] - Chris
which people get it's easier for people to rally behind. Yeah, I think the other thing that's interesting, too, is he gives people some creative freedom to really create novel things about their products. So like the gym I go to, there's this doctor, this physician. That's part of one of our gym members, he comes to the same workout as me every day. He's got one of those Tesla Y's.
[00:12:43.860] - Chris
It's like they're medium sized SUVs. And the latest update has this sort of, like, dance routine.
[00:12:52.080] - Brandon
Oh, it's had that.
[00:12:53.070] - Chris
and music.
[00:12:53.670] - Brandon
Yeah. Yeah. It reminds me of the car commercials you see during Christmas. Yes.
[00:12:58.920] - Chris
And it's just so novel. It's fun. I've seen him in these public press conferences and talking about these new software update features and stuff and you can tell he gets a kick out of it. Oh yeah. And you can imagine when you've got this visionary CEO that is constantly talking about the thing that's way out there. The next thing happening, the next thing we have to do, the next big challenge we're going to confront. Yeah, it is inspiring because I think, yeah, people hear their CEO enjoying their business thinking way out ahead for their business and they say, OK, there's job security in that.
[00:13:32.310] - Chris
Yeah, that people feel. Which creates loyalty, and I just really admire that about him. Like he seems, even though he is this nerdy at times, seems very out there disconnected, so visionary, you can't relate to him. Then there's these moments like when he did that press conference to unveil the truck, right? Yeah. And he or one of the people tossed that metal ball. It was supposed to be break proof. Right.
[00:14:00.660] - Chris
but it Just like spider webbed across. And he's just without skipping a beat. I remember what kind of sassy smart ass comment he made during this live press conference.
[00:14:09.900] - Brandon
Kind of like I wasn't expecting that.
[00:14:11.790] - Chris
Yeah, we didn't plan for that or something. I think that kind of human. Yeah. Light hearted. I just like on the one hand, Elon doesn't take himself very seriously. You can see tons of examples of that, like the tweets that he does, the way he even interacts with like the FTC and all these governing regulatory bodies. In interviews, he's just so self-deprecating. He doesn't take himself too seriously. He doesn't dress like a billionaire. And I think employees can relate to that.
[00:14:43.680] - Brandon
But he takes the mission seriously.
[00:14:45.240] - Chris
But he takes the mission really seriously. So he has this big goal that he is a hundred and fifty percent personally and professionally committed to and he acts out of that place too. I think his employees actually, remarkably, can relate to him.
[00:15:01.980] - Brandon
Yeah, I think there is at least the majority of them or a chunk of them, right? No, actually, man, you took the bait perfectly. You're like headed in the exact direction that I was thinking about is... How do we look at someone like this, someone that is leading at a level that is literally bigger than life? And is there something that we can pull away from that experience or that knowledge of how they do what they do?
[00:15:27.790] - Brandon
And can we integrate it into our businesses? But just as importantly, it's like there's some stuff to get over, because I got to tell you here here is my immediate reaction to this, is that I'm I'm reading this book. I'm in awed by this guy in terms of what he and his team have been able to succeed at. It's really impressive. But then I'm also kind of stuck in this position where you almost walk away and go, well, what am I doing?
[00:15:52.320] - Brandon
Like, what does my little five person, 10 person, 15 person company mean in the whole spectrum of things? When someone has tens of thousands of employees and they're building rockets that are literally going to the International Space Station. Right. Or cars that may be hovering pretty soon, who knows?
[00:16:12.900] - Chris
Their profits are in the billions.
[00:16:14.680] - Brandon
Yeah, it's like these crazy numbers. And so part of me kind of goes, well, a week ago I was very hyped up, let's say, as an example on additional leadership development opportunities within my own organization or really doubling down on the mentoring and the coaching culture within my team and and really doubling down on making sure that we're we're looking at our company from this thirty thousand foot view. We're looking at the legacy that our company potentially has the chance to leave.
[00:16:44.460] - Brandon
And then you read a book like this or you get stuck watching serial watching YouTube videos of a leader like this, and you go yah, who am I fooling? Does it really matter?
[00:16:54.730] - Chris
Yeah, like what is there for me to learn? It's like a version of imposter syndrome that we sometimes feel
[00:17:01.980] - Brandon
a little bit
[00:17:02.400] - Chris
i get that when I'm listening to podcasts of certain characters where it's just like, wow, they seem so in some ways they feel to me so far out of reach like that level of leadership or execution.
[00:17:16.260] - Chris
All right, let's take a minute to recognize and thank our resto mastery sponsor accelerate restoration software. And I'm fully aware, by the way, that when I say those last two words, restoration software, that that instantly creates heartburn for some of you out there.
[00:17:33.030] - Chris
Right. Because we probably all fall into one of two camps when it comes to software. We've either cobbled together kind of a version of free website tools and spreadsheets just to make our business work, or we're in the camp where we've adopted one of these existing restoration platforms, one that has all the bells and whistles and supposedly does it all. But we can't get our team to consistently adopted it and input information to it.
[00:18:00.960] - Brandon
Yeah, and that's really where Accelerate has honed their focus. They've created a system that's simple, right? It's intuitive and it focuses on the most mission critical information, i.e., guys, your team will actually use it.
[00:18:16.060] - Chris
Let's talk about sales right after years of leading sales and marketing teams. The biggest trick is getting them to consistently update notes about their interactions with referral partners and clients. And the essential piece there is there's got to be a mobile app experience. And in our experience, the solutions that were previously out there were just too cumbersome and tricky to use.
[00:18:39.350] - Brandon
Yeah, imagine, guys, how your business would change if your entire team was actually consistently using the system. Do yourself a favor. Go check these guys out at Excelrestorationsoftware.com/MRM and check out the special offers they're providing to MRM listeners.
[00:19:00.680] - Brandon
So doing leadership. I don't know how else to describe it, but when you're in these roles and you're trying to prioritize these less tangible, softer edged skill sets and priorities, it takes a lot to remain committed to them.
[00:19:17.720] - Brandon
Yeah, right. Because most of us, regardless of the type of business that we're operating, there's real in the moment in the trenches crap that's bombarding you all the time, everything from financials to execution in the field, customer responses, problem solving. I mean, you name it. And we already struggle to give enough time to the strategic elements of leadership, the strategic elements of developing our companies. And then we're constantly being bombarded by real life.
[00:19:47.630] - Brandon
We're shorthanded. All the things you almost watch something like this, and it makes it harder to keep the gas pedal down in those areas. You're like, oh, screw it. Like, who am I kidding? Let's just focus on the now.
[00:19:58.640] - Chris
I'm never going to be there sooo
[00:19:59.850] - Brandon
right. So it's almost like I think part of what I need from you, man, this is what I need from you... Partner in crime. I need a pep talk.
[00:20:07.700] - Brandon
I need a pep talk, man.
[00:20:08.870] - Chris
Well, I think for me, I get how you feel. And I know I mean, I experienced that because you and I both love to read. We love to be part of our schtick. Part of what I think has been helpful in the teams that we've lead is you and I love to go out beyond the industry and look for inspiration. Right. Right. Because that's where the new stuff is. It's where we can find new solutions, different ways of looking at things.
[00:20:31.400] - Chris
And so I think for me, it's helpful to just try to, like, zoom out and say, OK, what parts of Elon Musk can I apply? Yeah, like, how can I how can I essentially summarize from his behaviors, his mannerisms, the books that we have out there of him and listen to his podcast and stuff and say, OK, what what about his leadership style, if you will, if you could say he has one?
[00:20:56.930] - Chris
Some people argue maybe he doesn't really lead in the conventional sense. But what can I learn? So, for example, I think some people would say he's stuck in the weeds. He's a poor example of leadership. Some people would say that about him. Yeah. That he's actually unhinged. He can't stay out of the minutia of the business like he's so engineer first, a CEO second, something other people said. And they see that as poor leadership.
[00:21:22.610] - Chris
Just let your engineers do what they do. Don't meddle in your down lines work. But then there's another perspective where as a leader, you also over time realize... Me being connected and having a real clear understanding of what my front line team is dealing with, understanding my market, understanding my customer is such an essential part of being a great CEO. I remember reading the book, I think it's called The American Icon by Alan Mulally. Oh yeah. It was his book about his tenure as the turnaround CEO of Ford Motor Company.
[00:21:58.670] - Chris
And it's so good.
[00:21:59.780] - Brandon
It is amazing.
[00:22:00.650] - Chris
It is so good and possibly a little more relatable than elon Musk. It's a little more tactical. There's so much good stuff in that book. One of the things he talked about is when he came there, I think he came from Boeing.
[00:22:12.410] - Brandon
Yeah, I think you're right.
[00:22:13.370] - Chris
He was a Boeing guy, airplane guy, which is certainly it's a high like it's a large scale manufacturing operation, but way different than cars, way more regulated even than vehicles with four wheels.
[00:22:24.530] - Chris
Right. So he had to learn a whole industry. But in that process, he talks about just how mission-critical it was for him to get to Ford Motor in Asia, Ford Motor in South America and see how all these different business units were different. Meet the people actually doing building the cars, running the plants and how... He, I think, he even related to his predecessor who didn't do enough of that. Yeah, that's why Ford was in such a tough spot.
[00:22:52.040] - Chris
It went from being this iconic motor company to them being disconnected from what's happening in the field. And so, like back to Elon, I think one of the takeaways that you and I can observe in Elon is he stayed engaged. in all levels of his business. Yeah. And I don't get the impression when I hear him talk about it like he's he's not meddling.
[00:23:14.960] - Chris
He's not meddling. He's showing an interest. And I think he's modeling the kind of curiosity and drive for the rest of his engineering team. Right. By the way, he interfaces and interacts with them. And so I think there is something there.I think as restoration and we've talked about this actually before, certainly talked about it with my executive coaching clients from like it is so mission-critical that owners and even general managers, they get to multisite, where they're overseeing multiple units of maybe a restoration company.
[00:23:47.730] - Chris
It's so important for them to make their way around the job site operations and to connect with people and have those front of the van. Roady conversations with your people, even if it's just once a month in each of your markets to do that field time.
[00:24:04.620] - Brandon
It's amazing to me how quickly we can lose context. And I think that's the point. It's not that all of a sudden you forget how to do restoration or all of a sudden you forget how to do manufacturing. But really, stuff does change.
[00:24:19.930] - Chris
yeah
[00:24:20.640] - Brandon
I think there's camps on this. I don't know that everyone would sign up and be on the same page, but there's a reality in my mind. My perspective is, is that our clients do change. Their buying habits change. The way the tools they're using change. Which then changes their priorities.
[00:24:37.800] - Chris
Your mix of talent, the people you have on your team, what they're bringing to the team, your copacity.
[00:24:41.400] - Brandon
It's all changing.
[00:24:43.110] - Brandon
Yeah, it's all advancing. It's all you're right. Like all those things come into play. And so even after a matter of months, there are things that can get out of whack and we lose context. We really can struggle as leaders to identify what our current scenario is from the perspective of our people, of our players out on the ground
[00:25:06.600] - Chris
and our customers
[00:25:07.590] - Brandon
and our customers. I think you're right on the money there. There is this element that he that we can learn from these big figures like this of... How do you stay intimately connected with the product or the service, the mission that you guys have as a team, the actual work, the actual work, but still be strategically minded, still keep enough space giving enough time to the strategic elements of your business?
[00:25:36.450] - Brandon
And that is a balancing act. And I think I think what happens very quickly is that you almost lose and you see this with a lot of people in the service industries. A lot of them come up through the ranks like i.e. they were providing the service. And it's really hard to get them to come over the hump. It's really hard for them to make the transition. And we often struggle to get them to take on that more coaching personality that equipping personality.
[00:26:00.060] - Chris
To take their bags off.
[00:26:01.470] - Brandon
And then when they do, then all of a sudden it's like they almost forget what it was like. Isn't it weird how quickly that happens?
[00:26:09.120] - Chris
Everybody says they won't. Everybody says they won't. Yeah, every every sales rep who becomes a sales manager, who becomes a VP of sales, they say they'll never forget what it's like to make those cold calls. But we do. We ultimately do. We get rusty. We get comfortable in our more narrow niche role that we lose track of all the other pieces of the business that we used to have our fingers in.
[00:26:34.080] - Chris
Yeah, we lose track of like what is our actual capacity like how long did things take? We just know. And I think the risk we run is that we can become so detached that we're not actually resourcing our people adequately to do as good of a job as we used to expect of ourselves. That's right. We are giving them enough people on the team. We have whatever
[00:26:58.230] - Brandon
the training, the resources aren't really if we're honest, as good as we anticipated they are.
[00:27:03.390] - Brandon
Yeah, right. Here's another thing that stuck out to me from this book is the cult-like focus on the mission. And I think, again, I think it's easy for us in the service businesses to just get so wrapped around the axle that we're a plumbing company, we're a restoration company, and we're or whatever company. And that's what we do. Our mission is to conduct plumbing, or our mission is to repair the house. Is it? Right, is that the mission?
[00:27:35.220] - Brandon
And I think that when we start to work with smaller companies, more service oriented companies, it can be harder for us to establish what what is the real WHY behind what we're doing? And making money is certainly a thing, but it's not the WHY. Like that's not going to make you get up over and over and over and continue to smash your head into a wall to get through the wall. Like, that's that's not going to do that. There's something behind it.
[00:28:02.190] - Brandon
Right. There's for some maybe it's as simple as the freedom to be an independent business owner, to be the boss. OK, great. Well, how does that translate into what else we can do with our people and how we talk to our people? Whatever. But they don't make rockets, right? They don't build cars. They don't just build solar panels like all his companies have this cult like focus on this worldly mission that's out way in front of them, of interplanetary life, right, or sustainable energy, or it's these big wild goals
[00:28:38.340] - Chris
like literally change the universe.
[00:28:40.200] - Brandon
Yeah, yeah,
[00:28:41.880] - Chris
change the universe.
[00:28:42.840] - Brandon
But can we do that? Like, is there a version of that that we can be doing with our businesses that people want to give a shit about?
[00:28:49.530] - Chris
Well, I mean, I think yeah. Yeah. I mean, we played around with that story for many years and I think saw a lot of energy and motivation in our team from it, which is the way we make people feel right is the critical differentiator like like people are coming to us and just really repeating this story to our team of, listen, if we were in the conventional construction business, the retail construction trade. Right. How do people feel coming to us?
[00:29:17.610] - Chris
Well, they're excited, right? They're building for their business or they're doing a home remodel. They've been saving for it at a cash-out refy on their house. they're excited, like we're finally going to have that island in the middle of our kitchen. But nearly one hundred percent of people that come to us in the restoration business are in some state of fear, disbelief, shock, frustration, anxiety and just how special that role is. Right.
[00:29:42.580] - Chris
Telling that story over and over and over again of really we're changing people's lives. We use that story a bunch is not only are we trying to affect positive change in our employees lives, but we're trying to effect positive change to bring families and businesses back to a pre-loss condition, if not leaving them in a better place. These are the kinds of stories we say about ourselves. And I think that is a version of what elon's doing. Elon's giving people something really huge to believe in, to keep them at the office at seven p.m. when they're trying to do that engineering rwrite-up on this new part that's better than the last thing, right?
[00:30:23.200] - Chris
That drive to like I want to be a part of this thing, make a difference. And we saw that. I mean, I don't want to over glamor. We're not trying to, like, trump it up to be something it's not now, but there is some kind of value there in getting good at telling that story. Yeah. Elon is just so good at that. He's just people can look at him and they can see how far his drive goes, his ambition.
[00:30:47.700] - Brandon
Right.
[00:30:48.960] - Brandon
And it's contagious I think to a certain extent
[00:30:52.710] - Chris
I think it makes also the other thing obvious of what is a winner look like in our business, because everybody in that company, whether they're in legal marketing, they know what a winner looks like in the company because Elon is that guy, man, he's pushing the envelope. He never stops pushing the envelope of bigger, faster, stronger, further.
[00:31:14.160] - Brandon
No, yeah. You're right on the money. I think he's not afraid to be very clear about what their culture is and stands for. And not everyone will fit on the bus. Not from a numeric perspective, but because he's just very comfortable with the fact that ...This is the culture, a finite type of person will want to participate in this culture and be able to succeed in it, thrive in it and be successful. Right. And I think we make the mistake as leaders that we get lukewarm.
[00:31:44.590] - Brandon
Right. You and I even talked about this a lot with some of the subject matter that we knew we would eventually have to cover or some of the things that we would have to discuss. There would be a moment where you and I would have to be willing to share our opinion. And our opinion may not be lukewarm. It's going to be it's going to at times fall on one side or the other of a coin
[00:32:04.050] - Chris
It's not going to land for everybody.
[00:32:05.550] - Brandon
It's not going to land for everybody. And we had to get comfortable with that. And I think that what you see and what can be a little off-putting sometimes when you watch these big, big, powerful leaders like this is they are crystal clear on what camp they're in. And I'm not saying again, let's not hyper focus on who. That's not the point. And let's not get hyper focused about if what they're doing is right or wrong. The point here is that you are going to develop a culture inside your company.
[00:32:32.670] - Brandon
If you want it to have legs, you're going to develop some form of a culture, some kind of expectation about how you and your team perform, the attitudes that you portray, the behaviors that you act out. And not everyone is going to fit in that camp. Like not everyone's going to relate to that. It's not going to make sense. And you're not going to be able to cram a square peg into a round hole thinking that once you hit it hard enough with the hammer, they're going to come around.
[00:32:59.010] - Brandon
And that can be very hard for leaders. It can be hard for leaders right now especially we're recruiting is difficult where it's hard to find good talent. Like we just want someone in the seat and we can lose sight of the fact that it's the right people in the seat. And one of the things I took away from listening to him is that all his teams have been grossly understaffed compared to his competitors.
[00:33:21.150] - Chris
I heard an article where they talked about their PR spend for a company, his size, and it's like one percent of what a company normally spends on public relations.
[00:33:30.900] - Brandon
Oh, yeah, it's like that in every category. If you look at everything that company did bringing a product to market their R&D, the numbers that they were working with. We're talking at times two to three hundred percent less. Not kinda like these are substantial gaps and yet his teams could make it happen.
[00:33:51.930] - Brandon
There was it would be an engineer team of twelve people versus three hundred, and they're producing a product that's blowing out the competitors. And that's really important right now. That is really, really important right now for us to be grossly aware that with the right people treated the right way with a clear sense of direction and missional focus, they can achieve great things as a team. I know that we even look at like our MIT teams and things like that.
[00:34:24.460] - Brandon
And we think, man, I just wish I had more people. I wish I had more people. I can't give them what they need. I'm too busy, I'm too busy, I'm too busy. And there's just this pushback of weight. We see on huge scales, on massive stages, with a lot on the line, people consistently winning with smaller teams because they're willing to wait out for the right people. And then when they get the right people, it's one hundred percent dedication to the mission because they don't they don't spin the wheels as much.
[00:34:53.820] - Chris
Yeah, yeah. They don't have to spend as much time getting on the same page as if you get all the right people that fit. You can quickly get to work instead of having to lay all the foundational stuff. You know, it's so true. You know, this makes me go is atomic habits. Oh yeah. That book. Yeah. James Clear. Yeah. I've shared this with, like all of my coaching clients in the past and we've talked with some of our clients about it.
[00:35:21.510] - Chris
I approach that book as kind of another personal development productivity kind of thing, like I need to get more, you get better prioritizing my time and get some good habits in place, that kind of thing. And really the thing that I came away from that book with most of all. Was this idea James Clear has about creating archetypes for ourselves that we look to and for the example, being with with Elon, right. So if Elon is one of those people I admire is picking out those attributes about these these icons, these people we admire.
[00:35:56.880] - Chris
And he's like, it could be Chuck Norris, right? If you're trying to get in shape. Right. Look externally. And it could be somebody, you know, like in your friend group or it could be some movie star or some sports icon that you just want to look like or be in similar shape or or it's a business person. You want to be that kind of leader. What would you suggest is is looking at what are the attributes of that person? And then what are the routine behaviors they do to live out those those attributes?
[00:36:30.210] - Chris
And then whenever you're faced with a similar scenario, you can ask yourself, well, what would Chuck Norris do if he was trying to get abs? If Chuck Norris is trying to get abs, what would he eat this donut? It's almost like that what would Jesus do bracelet. Not to be sacrilege, but like that is...
[00:36:46.830] - Brandon
What would chuck do?
[00:36:48.210] - Chris
no, but it is just kind of the idea. And it's funny, I've used that as a habit changing tool with a lot of my past executive coaching clients.
[00:36:55.080] - Chris
And it really connects with people and it really works for me. is thinking about what kind of leader do I want to be? And when we listen to these podcasts and when we read these books like you're talking about with Elon, I think we kind of what we have the ability to do is to kind of create this archetype of who do I think I want to become? And maybe the face of that person is Elon. Right. Or maybe there's multiple faces, Elon Musk and Jim Collins, who wrote good to great, or whoever these other leaders are that we respect. We can kind of pick the different things that each one we're good at.
[00:37:30.180] - Chris
Yeah. And then emulate them. Yeah. Me like, you know what, with my sales approach I really want to emulate jeffrey Gitomer is like a big famous sales guy. Like I love the way he is his conversational approach to selling. So what would Jeffrey do in this situation? and I can draw on that. right. Yeah. And then in terms of like visionary leadership and casting vision, like I want to be like Elon, I want to tell a big story to my team.
[00:37:56.520] - Chris
How would Elon handle this all company meeting that I'm about ready to walk into or that I have later this week?
[00:38:03.300] - Brandon
Right. Yeah, absolutely
[00:38:05.130] - Chris
just like that. It's almost like to take it to a cheesier level. It's like those dream boards. Like back when life coaching and stuff was really coming out.
[00:38:12.630] - Brandon
I literally just encouraged my daughter to make one today. They work, man.
[00:38:16.320] - Chris
I feel like I should have one, but...
[00:38:17.970] - Brandon
They work.
[00:38:18.720] - Chris
Yeah. So you got these dream boards and it's just it's that archetype. It's that picture that we keep front and center. I don't know.
[00:38:26.140] - Brandon
I love that. I think part of what you're saying to there, it's not an all or nothing gig. You don't have to love every element about that individual. Yeah. What is it specifically that you admire, respect or want to mirror and just take that piece?
[00:38:40.050] - Chris
Yeah it's not idolizing. Because I think sometimes we do get into idolizing. like like with Steve Jobs.
[00:38:44.850] - Brandon
Yep
[00:38:45.510] - Chris
I mean who amongst us... I think anybody who was around like in business at the time of Steve Jobs.
[00:38:53.040] - Chris
Like who of us didn't want to be him in some way. I mean there was so much idolatry of Steve Jobs, but then of course there was all these rough edges to him as well. Yeah. And I think then it became this big debate of was he a good leader? Was he not? Well, look, he's founded Apple.
[00:39:07.230] - Brandon
Yeah
[00:39:07.650] - Chris
he is something.
[00:39:09.060] - Brandon
Yeah, there was something there that.. And you know what, dude, it's funny that you say that because I really think Elon Musk, for many, I think he's the same category. And I think that's part of what I was wrestling with is I'm listening to this book. There's elements of this guy that I you just can't help but respect. But then there's other elements, at least from this person's perspective, that you hear, listen or read and you kind of go, yuck
[00:39:29.400] - Chris
yeah, imitate the good, leave the bad.
[00:39:31.230] - Brandon
man that's huge, i love that.
[00:39:32.460] - Chris
all the time.
[00:39:33.310] - Brandon
[ comment: Amy B. Shannon yourpartnerinhr.com ] Like, I don't know if I think this may be the last one. This is some good stuff, man. I'm glad that we wrestled with this a little bit. But the pressure, OK, the pressure as a leader...We had a dear friend, actually, Amy, she's an executive coach. She works with folks specifically on actually on developing grit and developing kind of their executive presence. She's brilliant.
[00:39:56.940] - Brandon
And we were fortunate, both fortunate to spend some time with her. Anyways, one of the things that she would talk about all the time was this developing focus on the idea of grit and how important it was and how... And I think in the past it was really easy for people going through leadership engagements and leadership development that grit this thing made sense because you're going to have pressure as a leader. But I think what's becoming more common is this focus on grit as an application to everyone. That that the work force, in order for them to be successful, we need to find more and more ways as individuals to develop our own grit.
[00:40:33.580] - Brandon
Right. To manage the workload that we carry at that moment. that we shoulder at that particular level. Anyways, that was one of the things that stuck out to me is listening to the stories of how these two companies had multiple scenarios where not only was the end nigh, but it was a billion to one shot that they were going to make it another twenty four to forty eight hours before a catastrophic failure happened. And not in a product line, but financially, like there was times where the money was not there.
[00:41:03.950] - Brandon
They weren't multi, multi, multibillion dollar companies. They were shoestring hanging on for dear life. And if something didn't happen in the next twenty four hour cycle, payroll for tens of thousands of people would not happen and that would have been the end. These iconic companies spent more times than we understand up against the ropes.
[00:41:23.330] - Chris
On the verge
[00:41:23.990] - Brandon
on the verge. Right. And that's not super sexy. But the reality of it is, is thats business, like hard things, are hard.
[00:41:32.780] - Brandon
And I think one of the things that I was listening to and taking from this is, oh, my gosh, man, this man's ability to be shouldering these unbelievable weights of just catastrophic failure, that that his next planning, decision making and or questions that he asked the next the next negotiation that he had could literally change the lives of tens of thousands of people, not to mention all of us. Right.
[00:42:01.910] - Chris
But don't you think the reason why he was able to get through that is because he was driven by a much higher purpose than the business just surviving?
[00:42:11.840] - Brandon
I do.
[00:42:12.650] - Chris
I really think that's like that's the only way to navigate through those choices. And of course, you and I, it's like we're here, we're commenting armchair quarterbacking with Elon
[00:42:19.550] - Brandon
right
[00:42:20.510] - Brandon
Yeah. Give us a call Elon if you want.
[00:42:23.020] - Chris
But I do I mean, I think that has felt true for us. Like we've been through the trough of sorrow. Oh, yeah. Together individually in our different roles at different times in the companies that you and I helped build. And it's that sense of greater purpose that gets us through those major AR crunches where we've lost people when we've needed people and couldn't get them. All of those really difficult times. Yeah, and I think that also relates to Steve Jobs, which it's kind of hard to talk about Elon Musk without Steve Jobs, because they are such... There's so much common.
[00:42:57.500] - Chris
They both created like new things in the world, right? Yeah. One of the things that I have always admired and wanted to imitate that I think is worth imitating from Steve Jobs and has a direct application, I think, in the restoration business and all service companies is... He was fanatical about this idea of how we do one thing is how we do all things. Like there's this story of of him coming in to inspect the new cabinets for the like the cases for the iMAX.
[00:43:33.260] - Chris
And there was some blemish or something on the inside of the case that no one would ever see unless they tore apart their machine, which how many Mac people would do that. Right. But there was some kind of blemish in the way that they had it manufactured, like there was an exposed weld or something. And he came in, he freaked out. He told them is unacceptable. This needs to be beautiful, just like the exterior of this, which is so radical.
[00:44:03.140] - Chris
And some people are like, how nonsensical is that? How dumb is that? But I think he was actually communicating an important value about the Apple brand to his engineers in that moment. It was probably less about that exposed weld. Then it was more like, hey, we need to obsess so fully about the design and the experience, the beauty of our products that no one can compete with that essentially. That's what's special
[00:44:28.430] - Brandon
that's the differentiator. Yeah
[00:44:29.240] - Chris
that's what's special about Apple.
[00:44:31.130] - Chris
And from that point on, he made the engineers sign with a pen the inside of these cases as they were coming off the manufacturing line, he made think they had to be signed. People had to visually inspect them and sign off that I created the inside of this case, and it's perfect. It's so fanatical. But again, it's a bigger story because how much prouder do you think those Apple engineers and the Apple sales people in the Apple marketing teams, the people that are selling all of this product, how much prouder do they feel?
[00:45:03.500] - Chris
Just even thinking about the idea of our machines are the most beautiful and functional and easy and pleasurable to use on the market. And even the interior of our computers is more beautiful than our competitors.
[00:45:16.130] - Brandon
Yeah, I think what you're alluding to there kind of speaking to is this idea that the hard work is really tough. It's tough to be that fanatical. It's tough to hold your team to this real difference making level. I mean, think about what we work with a lot of people on on just like how we conduct ourselves on every job. The nuance about how we introduce ourselves, how much we care about our uniform and how it looks to the point where we may have a backup in the truck between jobs, like all that stuff is on a scale similar to what you're talking about, because those are the difference makers.
[00:45:52.310] - Brandon
Like that's the level of of intentionality and focus that we need to have as leaders, because those are the things that are hard to get the team to follow through on. But once they do, they do look at themselves in comparison to their competitors and they can honestly say with a straight face, yeah, actually we are the better company. We are the winner.
[00:46:13.760] - Chris
And we had some of those things. One of the dumb things that we had, I mean, it was not dumb. It was important.
[00:46:18.830] - Brandon
sometimes these things feel dumb
[00:46:20.200] - Chris
but when we talk about them out loud, it's like I think sometimes, again, this can feel like navel gazing, that we're just sitting hee twiddling our thumbs talking about clever tactics, and novelty things we can do. And that's not what it's about. So, for example, like with our carpet cleaning division, we had a facility services division, carpet and tile cleaning for hotels, blah, blah, blah. Turned out to be a really amazing feeder for our MIT resto side of the company.
[00:46:44.960] - Chris
Yeah, but one of the ways we differentiate ourselves in the market was with a bling mat.
[00:46:50.030] - Brandon
I knew you're going to say a bling mat.
[00:46:51.830] - Chris
oh, yeah. So it's part of our job process. When we roll up to a commercial customer site, every company has some process when they do loadout. They take the equipment and materials they need into the customer property. We somewhere along the line, we maybe you remember the origin story of it, but somewhere along the line we just thought, you know, it would look so much more professional to stage our equipment in an unobtrusive corner of the customer's property or a supply closet or something.
[00:47:22.100] - Brandon
But to stage it all on a logo, our company colors durable mat. a four by six mat. All of its tidy there .Are cleaning chemical, our extra hose, our scrub rags for spot cleaning, the spray bottles. All of it stays in one neat and tidy place. Everybody knows who that belongs to, doesn't get confused with the onsite housekeeping materials and stuff. It's just that would be a little more pro. Yeah. And I think once we deployed that... One, I think I noticed to things our actual technicians were just a little prouder.
[00:47:58.040] - Brandon
Oh, you know, they just like it's a simple step. Cost us one hundred fifty bucks to buy these mats out of two hundred bucks. they were proud to be doing something that no one else does. Yeah. And then number two other people recognize it as huh, that's really pro right. I think it put us more on their level, especially because a lot of our customers are hotel senior living where like esthetic like the appearance, first impressions were huge and it's like we were helping them create a clean and tidy professional first impression.
[00:48:32.120] - Brandon
That's right.
[00:48:33.170] - Chris
That's where that stuff comes in, those little details that can really set you apart. I was I was looking at a Facebook ad from a plumbing company yesterday and what did my eyes zero in on immediately? This guy was crouched over doing some sort of technician activity. Great picture. Like I love those action oriented ads showing your people doing something right. But he had his own street shoes on, no booties. So it appeared he's doing an inspection in a customer's home following some sort of damage event or repair scenario.
[00:49:09.740] - Brandon
And he didn't put booties on. Now, you may have different policies like we experimented going back and forth booties and then laying down floor cover. So there's different ways to accomplish the same task, which is protecting your client's environment. Whether that's the lobby of a hotel or somebody's living room. Right. But I just thought to myself, that was a detail that was overlooked, that for those that have experienced our past company where we would wear booties or we'd lay down and I see a ground cover, they see that it's like, oh, that's not as impressive looking.
[00:49:39.440] - Brandon
Yeah,
[00:49:40.070] - Chris
they just walked into their house.
[00:49:41.520] - Brandon
he was Nice...
[00:49:42.350] - Chris
Tracted dirt in...
[00:49:42.920] - Brandon
All the things.
[00:49:44.180] - Brandon
But yeah. But it didn't make a difference. It wasn't a real difference maker. No. Yeah.
[00:49:49.490] - Brandon
hey,you know what man. I'm going to give you some kudos on this. That was a good pull from what really started I think in many ways it's just kind of a brain dump on what what I just kind of what hit me reading this story about Elon Musk, there were some solid some solid stuff here. Can I move to a wrap up?
[00:50:08.361] - Chris
yeah
[00:50:08.369] - Brandon
are you cool with that?
[00:50:08.370] - Brandon
Yeah. So essentially where this started was this idea of us being exposed to intentionally these big brands, these big named people who are moving the world. Right, moving and shaking. And and there's some amazing things that they're doing, but sometimes it's being done on such a stage, such a wide scale or whatever the case may be, that it can be difficult to pull lessons from that exposure, like what is it that we can admire about these folks without necessarily taking it all in?
[00:50:38.060] - Brandon
And are there things for us to learn and to be able to emulate as operators and as leaders? And here are some of the things that stood out from this experience. Never stop as a leader, as leaders, business owners and leaders never stop being engaged in the end product the field work. What are you guys doing out there? Right. Creating either some consistent touch right where you're going out, you're seeing it firsthand and or some kind of consistent communication that's happening two-way communication where you're actually hearing and listening to your people.
[00:51:11.240] - Brandon
Explain to you what it looks like out there.
[00:51:13.700] - Chris
I have a homework assignment that relates to that. Could be a new thing. Yeah, maybe a homework assignment for you to dive into. That is... Plot out on your calendar for August this next month. Whenever you're listening to this podcast next month, plot out times to one go out and do a ride along with one of your salespeople. Love it. And one of your project managers love it. Take an afternoon with one of your salespeople. And take an afternoon, a different afternoon with one of your project managers at a minimum.
[00:51:44.770] - Chris
Now you could take it down the line, right? It would not be a waste of your time to go ride along in a sprinter van with your technicians either. But at a minimum, go get a picture of how your salespeople are talking and selling your company. What are the words they're using? What are the value statements they're making? just understand how your salespeople are selling, and have an idea what's going on in your operations. Because that's the biggest opportunity for us to lose track of what's happening on the ground, is we don't know how well our people are delivering on the promise we're making out in the field.
[00:52:21.350] - Brandon
It's huge. I love it. I love that homework assignment.
[00:52:23.220] - Chris
homework assignment number one.
[00:52:25.440] - Brandon
develop or develop being a company mission, a story that people want to be a part of that is so common amongst these bigger than life companies, Virgin, all the Virgin brands, Branson, even Amazon, and a lot of ways which some of that's up for debate. But these big brands, the apples, the Teslas, the whatever, they've got something. It's some kind of mission, some kind of story that reaches far out and beyond we dry stuff.
[00:52:56.430] - Brandon
We make money. Right. And it ultimately gives people a sense of pride to participate in that. They become more loyal to it because it's everyone wants to be involved in a story. Everyone really wants to be the hero in the story. And there's a great opportunity for us as leaders to create the story that our team members can be heroes of. Right. It's really beautiful. Another thing that stands out is not everyone will fit on the bus, right?
[00:53:24.630] - Brandon
Not everyone's a good fit for your team. It's OK. I understand that right now, probably more than ever, we feel desperation brain, as Chris likes to call it. We feel this overwhelming obligation to fill the seat versus fill the seat with the right person. And guys, when you look at the big players, when you look at the big brands, the world changers, they consistently are winning with smaller teams because everyone is completely committed to the goals of that company.
[00:53:53.700] - Brandon
They're wearing the five hats. They're doing the work of twelve people because they are so sold out, because they fit the culture so well, it can be done right. So don't underestimate the power of loyal, dedicated quality people versus just having butts in the seats. That's huge. Another one that stood out and this one was a little looser man is just this idea of having the grit as a leader to remain focused enough on the little details that separate us from the pack.
[00:54:24.660] - Brandon
And I think we see this right with the brands like you were talking about. You gave the example of the case and the Apple scenario is... Some of these leaders are unbelievably dedicated to the nuance. However, it's those details that eventually become some of those even subconscious level difference makers. Tesla has a story, too, about the handles on their cars. They don't pop out. They don't become functional until you get close enough to the car. Yeah, right.
[00:54:54.810] - Brandon
And he had engineers up his... About it because to them it was utilitarian perspective, it's dumb. Why would we slow the release of a car to figure out the door handle and make it flush? Now it's iconic. Yeah, it's a difference maker. Yeah, it's high level sports car quality difference maker. So, guys, leaders, should we be doing an inspection of our uniforms in the morning and should the uniforms be accurate, should they look the same, should they be clean, should they have patches in the right places and should we be crazy about it.
[00:55:26.580] - Brandon
Yes.
[00:55:27.540] - Chris
Where should we be more fanatical in our business?
[00:55:30.780] - Brandon
that's it. Where can we be fanatical? In the ways that may be for our down lines, they don't understand the value of it at first, but if you give it enough time and you remain consistent enough, you're going to see it's a differentiator maker. It's awesome. All right. Here's the last one I really like. I really like this one chris. just looking for the characteristics, the behaviors of these individuals. We don't have to emulate or worship them.
[00:55:56.310] - Chris
We don't have to idolize them. We can imitate.
[00:55:58.800] - Brandon
There you go.
[00:56:00.790] - Chris
the attributes that are useful.
[00:56:03.810] - Brandon
The things. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Right. Right. You can look at these big iconic leaders and even if you don't like everything about them, is there something that we can be smart enough to identify with and say that characteristic, that behavior, that's something I can mirror? And it gives me and my team a higher chance of being successful. Yeah. All right man. See ya.
[00:56:31.200] - Brandon
All right, everybody. Hey, thanks for joining us for another episode of the MRM podcast.
[00:56:35.760] - Chris
And if you got something out of it, share it with the friend. Hit subscribe. Hit follow. Leave us a five star review, thanks a lot.