[00:00:02.810] - Chris
Welcome back to another episode of the MRM podcast. I'm Chris
[00:00:06.470] - Brandon
and I'm Brandon. Join us as we discuss business, life and legacy.
[00:00:11.510] - Chris
It's business time.
[00:00:13.430] - Brandon
Hey, man, let's talk a little bit about this MRM LEADERSHIP CIRCLE concept and event that we're going to be starting this year.
[00:00:21.710] - Chris
Yeah. Sounds good. We've been working on this for a long time. I'm really excited to get it out in the wild, make it available to people.
[00:00:27.950] - Brandon
And I think the part that can be hard about some of these conversations is you get so ramped up about wanting to convey everything that we've talked about. That we've researched that we've heard from other professionals in the industry, from our clients. And it's like you could probably spend hours and hours wrapping about all the things and the what ifs. But I think let's just kind of go through the foundations of it, the structure of it, get some real clear descriptions on what this resource is going to be for folks.
[00:00:58.310] - Brandon
And then I think it is important that we just take a few minutes, though, to unpack some of the why behind it, some of the things that have been fuiling. It some of the things that make us most excited about it. So the structure... So the idea here is that we feel like, for all intensive purposes, we've been told in our questioning and spending time interacting with folks, information is not on short supply. It's a very information driven world. Our industry is starting to be supported by and having a lot more information available to it.
[00:01:32.150] - Brandon
Lots of folks doing things like we do. And so we're not short on the information.
[00:01:36.230] - Chris
Tons of content out there.
[00:01:37.310] - Brandon
Tons of content, and it's good, good. It's content. There are some really amazing people doing stuff in our industry that we just really respect and admire. And as Chris likes to say, what we're seeing, though, and what we heard most often was this lack of being able to get momentum with it. Right? To get execution happening, to get this rhythm consistent rhythm where we take that information and do something with it.
[00:02:01.610] - Chris
And I think, too, there's a layer of need and desire that I think most people are coming in contact with for really understanding and developing culture and leadership. Culture and leadership just keeps coming up at every turn. And that's caused us to shift our focus a little bit and say, okay, how do we make sure that that's a really primary part of the MRM LEADERSHIP CIRCLE as well?
[00:02:28.670] - Brandon
You're right, man. It has been. And it's something that we've witnessed a lot as these teams out here are growing. As the industry is expanding, we keep watching very qualified individuals at a tactical technical level, be advanced through the ranks. We've all done it. But then we just see this struggle that happens because that individual who was just so gifted in the field that was so gifted at the technical aspects of large loss mastery, then we ask them now to lead people. We ask them to run our Mitigation teams.
[00:03:00.530] - Brandon
We ask them to run our service Department, whatever depending on your industry or your service line. And then they really kind of flounder. And then we get frustrated because we're not seeing the same "result" that we were seeing before. Or maybe they get apprehensive, because now they're in the space that they're not as technically compitent in, and we see them stutter a step a little bit. And then that creates.... So anyways. Not only is it leadership that needs this constant state of development for us as key leaders, but then there's got to be some ways that we, as a team at FLOODLIGHT can help folks provide additional layers of leadership development for their own people for a lot of reasons.
[00:03:42.710] - Brandon
We talk about bench depth. We talk about all these reasons that's important.
[00:03:47.690] - Chris
Yeah. And again, it comes down to accountability and execution. We talk about it, and those people that are listening to our podcast, they've heard us reference other podcasts that we really benefit from and we pass these things along. Lots and lots and lots of books, and it really does come to changing our behaviors, like leveling up our behaviors. And in a lot of those cases, it's discipline. It's just making the choice to repeatedly invest in these other behaviors that maybe have just been secondary, not priority, because let's face it, there's a lot of winning you can do out of just pure charisma and hustle.
[00:04:28.970] - Chris
And we've seen a lot of very successful people, but at some point, that becomes the bottleneck, because if you're the person with the most hustle, perseverance and charisma in the room, then your business is dependent on you being in play.
[00:04:43.730] - Brandon
That's right.
[00:04:44.330] - Chris
And of course I don't think many of us, particularly probably people that are listening to a podcast, their end goal is to be running the day to day operations of a restoration company until they die.
[00:04:56.090] - Chris
We're all wanting at some point to level up beyond that.
[00:04:58.790] - Brandon
Or be the one doing absolutely everything right. Like key clients are dependent on you. Key relationships are dependent on you. Key functions of the business are all dependent on... All those things.
[00:05:09.530] - Brandon
Okay. So we'll get into it here. What is it? So again, this is the MRM. Most of you are starting to get an idea where that comes from, but for those of us that are new to this, so it's the MIT/RESTO MASTERY, so MRM LEADERSHIP CIRCLE. And essentially what these are is they're mastermind groups. They're a mastermind group specifically designed for our industry, and it is designed for owners and key leaders. One of the things that we are going to talk about a little bit later is the importance of we really are trying to create a platform where a key leader, a business owner, could bring in their right-hand. Bring in an up and coming leader that they're developing for a key position within the organization.
[00:05:53.930] - Brandon
Right. So it's a mastermind group, and we're going to limit the number of participants. So you kind of want to lay down some of the details around what this will look like.
[00:06:03.290] - Chris
Yeah.
[00:06:03.590] - Chris
So a couple of practical bits here, it's going to be ten to twelve participants in each MRM LEADERSHIP CIRCLE. It's going to be geographically exclusionary, meaning you're not going to have other people in your market that you're competing with. There's an element of safety... That's going to be part of our vetting process is making sure that we're putting together groups where there's no concern about sharing trade secrets or business practices with a competitor in your market. It's going to be twice a month gathering. There are going to be expectations on attendance. That is really for the purpose of creating a community and cultural environment where there's trust, there's reliability, because if we've got one or two people missing, it really changes the dynamic of the experience.
[00:06:55.730] - Chris
It changes the value of it. Right. So there's going to be some expectations in terms of attendance. And there's going to be two different sessions. So there's going to be an accountability check in component that's rigorous both sessions. So every two weeks, the MRM LEADERSHIP CIRCL will meet. And it's going to be a structured, guided process that the FLOODLIGHT team is going to facilitate. But there's going to be a little bit different focus between these two. Do you want to talk about kind of that ABC?
[00:07:26.210] - Brandon
So as you alluded to this check-in component is the theme every time. So no matter what, that's the first priority and that's to get together as a team and walk through our accountability process. And that accountability process, just to get it out of the way, is going to be looking at financials at our PNLs. It's going to look at those critical performance indicators that we've established in our businesses that we use to guide us on our decision making and to see how we're doing as a team.
[00:07:54.290] - Brandon
And then also, we're going to be taking a look at some key objectives or goals that you had committed to be working on. And again, we're not creating those initiatives. Those initiatives will be custom based on whatever that business is focused on at the time. Now, you may very well be getting information from peers to help shape that. But at the end of the day, you're going to determine some of the things that you're focused on as a team that are critical to you and your mission.
[00:08:20.330] - Brandon
And then the peers and the FLOODLIGHT team will help hold you accountable to making gains in those between meetings. Our reporting phase will always look similar to that, and then the AB schedule. So we're going to have one meeting. What we're going to do is we're going to be diving into one of our peers or one of our LEADERSHIP CIRCLE members current challenges.
[00:08:41.690] - Brandon
And so we'll do a round Robin. The team will talk about some of the different things that are facing their business right now. And we're going to hone in on that one that's like oh wow, that's kind of a big hairy issue. Let's tackle that as a group. So peers and FLOODLIGHT consultants will be participating in that problemsolving session and helping equip that business then to overcome that challenge. And then the B schedule, if you will, will be a training session.
[00:12:26.070] - Brandon
So out of our two meetings every month, we're always going through the accountability process. That's the most mission critical. We're going to be having a problem solving session together as a group, and then we'll be having a training session.
[00:12:39.630] - Brandon
What's interesting about the training session is that you and I determined that we are going to Hone our time on leadership, leadership skills, leadership concepts, development. And we just again talking to lots of people having ongoing conversations with our existing clients, things of that, it just seemed like that's the weak point. That is the place we can all just continue to develop. And so we're not saying that other, more technical tactical aspects will be brought up. But what we believe is the majority of those kinds of items and concepts are really going to be brought up and delivered by the peers.
[00:13:19.110] - Brandon
If we do our job right. And we create these cohorts the way that we envision them, you're going to have people with different degrees of competency in their businesses. Some businesses will be larger. They'll be farther down the road than you are. And so technical tactical expertise.... My gut says the group will be chocked full of it. And so we're really going to be bringing in industry partners. We're going to be bringing in even target market segment leaders. We're going to be bringing in folks to help us work through our leadership competency to elevate our game.
[00:13:51.990] - Brandon
So that's what that main schedule will look like.
[00:13:54.450] - Chris
Yeah and I think in that teaching component, one of the things you and I are really excited about is really creating experiences in that B schedule training module that's really cater to that particular MRM LEADERSHIP CIRCLE. And so the membership of that MRM LEADERSHIP CIRCLE will definitely drive the themes, because inevitably, there's going to be different interests, different needs, different direction that's going to come based on the members of it. For example, you and I have a real deep belief as leaders that we need to address the whole person.
[00:14:26.550] - Chris
We can be really tactically savvy. We can be really great with the financials of our business. Some of us are really great at mentoring in that piece, which is awesome, but our health, our anxiety our stress level, our capacity to bring that same intentionality that we apply to our business to our home life and our relationships at home suffers and is broken and fragmented. Right? And so depending on the makeup of the group, those other themes that are mission critical to being a whole leader are going to come up.
[00:14:58.710] - Chris
And so there may be a component where we bring in outside people to talk about stuff more fundamental to our personal health and wellness, to really speak to those things and help drive accountability to us making shifts and changes in those more personal that's parts of our leadership. Because you and I felt that we've experienced the difference that wholeness and focus on those areas of life, how that can spill over back into our leadership and our business. But the nature of the group and what it needs that's going to drive a lot of that.
[00:15:34.830] - Chris
I do want to say something, though, about you talked about customer segment leaders. I guess now we're starting to get into the nuts and bolts in the why and some of the details. But this was something that we were really intentional about in our own business leadership experience, of bringing in outside voices outside of the restoration industry to understand what other companies were doing, what other industries were doing. And one aspect of this is really understanding our target customer segments, really developing a deep awareness of their business model, their decision making process, how do they think? What are their pain points?
[00:16:13.770] - Chris
And so we're really excited about that aspect... Putting customer segment leaders like hotel executives, like senior living executives. You and I have been really fortunate to build some pretty deep relationships with these people through our own business dealings. Many of them are clients that we still have long term intent.... I was just meeting with one of my hotel executives yesterday on a Zoom call, catching up, and they have their own set of pain points and struggles, and understanding them at sort of a peer level, can really help us mentor and direct and guide our teams, interfacing with those verticals.
[00:16:53.730] - Chris
So that's one creative thing that I'm really excited about bringing to the MRM LEADERSHIP CIRCLEs.
[00:16:58.110] - Brandon
And now some of you are probably already thinking through this, and I want to bring it up early. There is a fee structure, right. This obviously is going to cost you and your team money to participate. But here's what I think is really important to this. As Chris and I were looking through the fee structure and we went out, we got counseling from folks that we trust and really understand that are committed to our industry and supporting it in a really fair way. And we just really thought through this and said, look, we want this to be an approachable investment because we want anyone who's focused on developing a really competent and successful organization to be able to participate in a community like this.
[00:17:39.930] - Brandon
But we also wanted to establish enough of an expense so that a window shopper is not participating. That's not really fair, right to the community members. This needs to be a significant or a serious investment, I guess.
[00:17:55.530] - Chris
Yeah. And frankly, it's part of the value. The cost to be involved in the MRM LEADERSHIP CIRCLE is actually part of the value. And let me explain, because I've had some personal experience with this not only in mastermind groups but.... About ten years ago, I was leaving the insurance business, and I was moving into consulting and ultimately ended up entering the restoration industry. And I was in that transition point, and I was kind of looking for conferences or workshops just to kind of whatever kind of help me figure out what the path forward looked like.
[00:18:27.090] - Chris
[ comment: ] And Seth Godin published an ad on Facebook. It was called "School for Startups," and it was a three day workshop that he was putting on. Now, for those who aren't familiar, Seth Godin, you should check him out. Lots and lots of great wisdom in his books, New York Times bestseller, all that stuff. And he was going to do a workshop on starting a company. And I thought, wow, I've always wanted to meet Seth Godin. And so I'm sitting in bed reading this on my iphone, my wife's reading a book next to me, and I said, "wow, Seth Godin's got a workshop going."
[00:18:56.790] - Chris
She said, "okay, when is it and how much is it?" I said, "Well, it's six weeks from now, and it's $5,000." She said, "for how long is it? Is it like a month?" I said, "no, it's three days." Now, here's my point in all this... And this is a big lesson for me, and I've actually applied this lesson many times. This is almost ten years ago. When I showed up, I basically paid that money to see Seth Godin...Celebrity effect, but when I got there I realized what I was really paying for.
[00:19:27.210] - Chris
I was paying to be in the room with other people that had spent five grand for three days to learn something. These people were serious about what they showed up to talk about and learn. And not only that, but the caliber of individuals... Because that's a substantial investment. I don't care who you are or what it is, spending five grand for three days is a big investment. And ultimately it was worth far more than that because I'm sitting in the room with the head of digital at HBO.
[00:20:02.490] - Chris
I'm sitting in the room with the literary agent for Dan Brown, the author of the DA Vinci Code, like, 20 million books sold. So I'm in the room with a high caliber of people that is very intent on learning and growing. And I'm still in contact. Infact one of them became a business partner on a startup that I worked on. The relationships that formed in a very short period of time because we all had a shared objective. We also all had shared challenges, shared fears. There was just this rich peer environment and level of commitment.
[00:20:36.450] - Chris
And so I think that is most definitely part of the value of exclusive private groups like MRM LEADERSHIP CIRCLE. And part of what we're trying to create is, hey, the Antie is high enough that it really strips out the looky louis the people that might or might not show up, that take it lightly. Because I think all of us have seen the proliferation of different mastermind groups in other industries and creative circles. It's like, hey, $99 a month, and we have this private Facebook group, and it's like, well, I'm looking for something that's a bit more intense, a bit more intentional and requires a higher level of commitment.
[00:21:13.590] - Chris
And I think a lot of people that's certainly the crowd that we created MRM LEADERSHIP CIRCLE for.
[00:21:19.110] - Brandon
I love that. And I think you bring up some really powerful points there. And the biggest piece here is...Our job as facilitators of a team like this or of a group like this is literally to do everything in our power to ensure that the peers sitting at the table with one another virtually and otherwise are that. They're like minded, they're passionate, they've got a clear vision for where they want to go. Even if the details haven't been lined out yet, because that could very well be something that we work on together.
[00:21:47.790] - Brandon
But just this idea of bigger, better, of understanding that our businesses are platforms. Right? That there's lives that we're responsible for as leadership teams and as stewards. And I think creating this really supportive, yet challenging team of people around you to help you see those things to fruition is going to be super powerful, and fees definitely plays a role in that. Now the other thing to be cognizant of is that again, earlier we said we really want this to be a thing where owners and leaders can bring in their up and comers. That they can bring in their leadership staff and participate.
[00:22:23.250] - Brandon
So we have priced it in such a way that it's like, once you get that initial seat for your team, after that it's really affordable for you to add leaders to be participating. And so that is something to consider as well. I think we've covered kind of the nuts and bolts. It's really a mastermind group. This is a private group of people that you'll be paired up with and interacting with on a monthly basis. The time commitment is enough to make it valuable, but at the same time, it's very cognizant of the fact that none of us have a ton of extra time.
[00:22:55.050] - Brandon
So that's where we're going. That's the nuts and bolts of this. This is a passion project though. And this is coming from a lot of experience of being in leadership teams where we were developing our own people, developing our own leaders, doing succession planning and preparation, working with clients. Again, like we said, working with peers in our industry. So there's a lot of fuel and passion behind this project that sometimes it's hard to put into words. But I think one of the things that for me that gets me so excited about this is that I'm a military guy.
[00:23:26.550] - Brandon
I spent eight years in the military and of that I had about four years where I was part of the 82nd Airborne Division. And there's this beautiful level of camaraderie and trust that is built between people who share in obstacles and challenges. They share in this real intimate understanding of the real life impact of their decisions. When us, as soldiers would make comments or share experiences and hardship, we just knew it. We understood it right, because we face those things together. And there's this very unique bond of "we" are stronger together than a part. That I love, that I witnessed, that I experienced firsthand. And quite honestly, I've spent a great deal of my life at times being surrounded in that environment again.
[00:24:19.770] - Brandon
And I've also had many years where I was unable to recreate that kind of environment for whatever reason.
[00:24:25.650] - Brandon
And so I think that is a major aspect that created the vision behind these mastermind groups behind the LEADERSHIP CIRCLE was I very personally wanted to be able to create an environment where operators, where business owners and leaders could be surrounded by men and women who understand at an intimate level the challenges that they're facing. They understand the ramifications at a very deep level of the decisions we're making as restorers. They get it when we're facing certain rungs on the ladder as we're trying to climb up and make changes and move through transitions.
[00:25:03.690] - Brandon
And so again, this powerful community that we're creating that you're surrounding yourself with, people who have invested in themselves. They are driven by a higher purpose, and they want you to be accountable in that. They want to see you successful in making those changes and vice versa. And so really that's probably one of the most powerful things that people will get from this group. And I want people to understand what you're spending money on is not another training kit. It is to be part of a group that can surround you, support you and push you in a way that you're likely not getting right now.
[00:25:42.690] - Chris
That last one... I think all of those are really great. And whenever I hear you talk about your military background, I'm a little bit jealous. I know there's a lot of reasons not to be jealous, like, there's a lot of hard stuff that comes with that. But it took a long time for me to find an environment like that. So I understand the value, and I wish I'd had it even sooner in life. But that last piece of pushing... Has been probably the greatest force multiplier in my life, in my career, both personally and professionally.
[00:26:12.330] - Chris
The more I've surrounded myself, and you're one of these people. The more I've surrounded myself with people that will push and poke at me at my assumptions. That are willing to criticize very clearly my work product. To criticize and enter into a feedback conversation about the quality of my performance and my presence with my people and to give me that clear and severe feedback... Is just so immensely valuable on every level. And I have certain people in my life that really do that for me with physical fitness.
[00:26:54.210] - Chris
It's gotten me to a place where I'm in really great physical health, which I found is spilled over to other areas of my performance, and certainly in leadership like that has been the primary. That's been the primary tool for my development is that critical feedback. And I think as an owner and leader, and I've been both, just as you've been both. We spend so much of our time, effort and energy. I think if we're focused on the right things, developing our people and providing that critical, that clear and severe feedback to our downline, who's giving that to us on a consistent basis?
[00:27:30.012] - Brandon
That's very true.
[00:27:30.930] - Chris
And that's one of the things when I was just doing executive coaching, one-on-one with people, that was a really big part of the value proposition. I think that's what you and I are trying to build into this is not just providing that as a rhythm, but also developing that as a culture within these LEADERSHIP CIRCLES. This clear and severe feedback, because the support, yes, like that has to be part of it. That's part of creating sort of a safe environment where people feel like they can give it.
[00:28:01.470] - Chris
But that's where the magic happens, because when people feel safe to say what they're really thinking and what they're really seeing, oh,man. It's what the Bible says, right? Iron sharpening iron. Right. There's violence to that.
[00:28:17.710] - Brandon
Yeah, that's when the change happens.
[00:28:19.450] - Chris
The sparks fly, but that is what really changes the shape of our leadership.
[00:28:25.990] - Brandon
And I think kind of maybe one last area that you and I talk about a lot that gets us jazzed is... We've always viewed our roles as leaders, our roles as business owners or whatever the case may be, we have to address the whole person. We need to be clear about the fact that we can't compartmentalize. We really are a whole system and what's happening at home, what's happening in our sphere of influence, our relationships, those are all interacting with who we are professionally, who we are as a boss, who we are whatever.
[00:28:56.890] - Brandon
And so again, another element or just part of what we want to pull out in these groups is having the opportunity as leaders to really look at ourselves and develop tools and the resources that we need to be fueled, to be exceptional, to be able to continue to make progress. And so real holistic approach I think with how this accountability and how this personal development shapes us specifically within our industry, surrounded by peers that understand where we're at. So that's in a nutshell, that's where we're going.
[00:29:30.490] - Brandon
You can learn more. Jump on the FLOODLIGHT site. So go to www.Floodlightgrp.com
[00:29:34.990] - Brandon
Click on the MRM LEADERSHIP CIRCLEs tab. Walk through that a little bit. We're going to add more to the show notes, so we'll have appropriate links and things like that listed there. Go do yourself a benefit and take a look at the content that there is there. See if there's any remaining questions. And if there is guys, just click on the Join a circle button. You're going to fill out basically a real quick sheet that's going to notify us. Chris or myself are going to reach out to you.
[00:30:03.730] - Brandon
We're going to have a little chat. Let's get on the same page. Is this the right fit for you? We can answer whatever questions you might have hanging, and let's make some progress towards totally changing our businesses next year.
[00:30:16.750] - Chris
Yeah, this is real. Like you and I.... This is what you can expect. This is the kind of tone I think you can expect from these meetings like this is a sample. Right. So if you're into what we've just described and talked about and the why behind it, then sign up for it and let's have a one-on-one conversation. Let's confirm and let's make sure that it really is what you want. We can get into the minutiae of it a little bit to make sure it's a great fit, but yeah, let's chat.
[00:30:44.110] - Brandon
Yeah let's get it. Rock and roll. So again, check out the show notes. You'll have a link there and then worst case scenario, just jump on the www.Floodlightgrp.com website and take a look at the MRM LEADERSHIP CIRCLE and let's get you going.
[00:30:58.570] - Brandon
All right, everybody. Hey, thanks for joining us for another episode of the MRM podcast.
[00:31:03.070] - Chris
And if you got something out of it, share it with a friend. Hit subscribe. Hit Follow. Leave us a five star review. Thanks a lot