October 18, 2025 • 25 mins
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dr. Rebecca Homkes.
✅ Summary of Rebecca Homkes Interview on Money Making Conversations Master Class
Purpose of the Interview
The interview aimed to:
- Share Rebecca Homkes’ expertise in business strategy and leadership.
- Discuss how companies can adapt and thrive in uncertain environments.
- Provide actionable insights for entrepreneurs and executives on decision-making and growth.
- Highlight Rebecca’s work as a strategic advisor and author, focusing on resilience and agility.
Key Takeaways
-
Leading Through Uncertainty
- Businesses must embrace flexibility and speed in decision-making.
- Quote: “Uncertainty is not an excuse for inaction—it’s a call for adaptability.”
-
Strategic Agility
- Success requires continuous learning and rapid response to market changes.
- Quote: “Strategy today is less about prediction and more about preparation.”
-
Empowering Leadership
- Leaders should communicate clearly, empower teams, and foster trust.
- Quote: “Your people need clarity, not certainty.”
-
Practical Frameworks
- Rebecca shared frameworks for prioritizing actions and allocating resources during volatile times.
- Emphasis on data-driven decisions combined with human judgment.
-
Advice for Entrepreneurs
- Focus on core strengths, build resilient systems, and stay close to customers.
- Quote: “Resilience is built before the storm, not during it.”
Notable Quotes
- “Uncertainty is not an excuse for inaction—it’s a call for adaptability.”
- “Your people need clarity, not certainty.”
- “Resilience is built before the storm, not during it.”
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am Rashan McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
where we encourage.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
People to stop reading other people's success stories and start
planning their own.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
their companies, and speak with dog profits.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Who are making a difference in their local communities.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Now, sit back and listen as we unlock the secrets
to their success.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
On Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hello, I am Rashan McDonald, our host this weekly money
Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this
show provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading
other people's success stories and start living your own. I'm
here to help you reach your American dream. Just keep listening.
My guest today really is a high growth strategy specialist,
(00:56):
best selling author, executive advisor and consultant. She is a
lecturer at the London Business School. Please welcome to Money
Making Conversation Masterclass, Doctor Rebecca Humpkiss. How you doing, my friend?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I am excellent. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, thank you where you're right now? I know London
business School.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yes, I live in San Francisco, Miami in London, so
I live in three cities. But today I am joining
you from London, England.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Oh great, fantastic reason I brought you on the show
because we're kind of like in political volatile times and
that's business or people who are in the business of
trying small entrepreneurs.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
It affects us.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
It can affect how we do strategy, how we hire people,
and sometimes we can get frozen. And that's not a
good thing because you want people still want their paychecks,
people still want their products, and still want your business
be active. So why when you talk about economic and
business decisions, what should not be delayed or should we
(01:55):
delay at all doing this little window prior to the election.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah, and you know, go back to you. People want
their paychecks, but they also want to work for organizations
that are moving forward, right, and we are as leaders
going to be constantly running organizations through uncertain times. You know,
tell me, Rashan, the last time you run a business
through certain times, like when you had perfect predictability of
what was going to happen next. So while we have
(02:20):
more geopolitical uncertainty now, we need to distinguish that from
the key decisions that we have to make. And if
we don't do that, we end up putting our organizations
in these constant holding patterns, you know, always waiting for
another few months, tell me no more, always waiting for
another few months, and tell me more more, and then
we've actually fallen behind everybody else. You've got to be
very purposeful and only wait when that's the right thing
(02:42):
to do. Now, there might be a few decisions. If
you're a manufacturing company deciding your new site location, you
might want to wait until after the election, but the
majority of our strategic decisions can proceed as planned as
long as you're ready for the as long as you're
very clear on your beliefs. So we're saying, you know,
we have this belief as an organization. Because of this belief,
(03:03):
this is the decision that we're going to make, but
I'm going to incrementally so kind of piece by piece,
invest in that decision as I am testing my beliefs.
So we can keep moving and acting if we make
decisions based on beliefs, but we got to keep testing
those beliefs as we're executing.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Now, I'm a minority company Rebecca, and so there's some diversity.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Diversity equity includes DEI.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
In fact, there's a movie I right now that's anti DEI,
and so certain companies have set aside and we know
that that the political one political size of anti DEI
saying in fact, they've said that the VP is a DEI.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
That's how she got a position.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And so as a person who deals with companies like that,
then I'm I'm not saying the word fearful, but it
does make me wonder about opportunities that may not exist
if one side wins versus the democratic side wins, DEI
will prosper. How should I view that and how should
(04:04):
deal with that?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
It's a great question. Look, and we are in very
divisive times, right. We are very bifurcated as a country
between one side or another, and there's many of these
social topics are very clearly falling into one line or
the other. Now, my first challenge is always Now, there
will be a difference perhaps in regulation, like and what
is actually regulated, what is mandated, what is forced, But
(04:26):
that's not why most companies are doing their DEIB strategy.
They're doing it because it's part of their organizational purpose.
They're doing it because that's what their talent and employees
say that they want and say that they appreciate, and
so all of those things, as long as it's still
part of your organizational purpose, it's still core to your strategy,
we should continue going forward with that. Now, again, we
could say that might affect some of the talent that
I get, It could affect some of the funding that
(04:47):
I might have access to, But as far as making
those decisions, think about my organization, my beliefs, my purpose,
right then I would still be making those same decisions
along the way. Now, one thing we could do, remember,
in strategy, we have different options. We have an action
to take action to get results. We can also do
something called acting to shape, where we take purposeful action
(05:09):
in the market, not to get immediate results from my
business now, but to shape the environment in my favor.
And so in strategy, especially growth strategies, we've got to
make sure we're taking advantage of all of our stances,
which include not just acting for results, but acting to
shape and acting to learn. So this might be an
instance where your organization needs to do some shaping strategy
(05:29):
as well.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Right, And that's why I asked that question.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Sometimes these questions are personal, doctor River, So yes, that
was a personal question.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Ask me anything, asking individuals who.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Are listening to my show now, because we're all leaders,
and when you are a leader, you're always talking about
developing practical strategy. Yes, and I always say that because
these are uncertain times. You know, the interest rate went
down as prices are dropping, that may affect home mortgages,
that may affect inflation. They say is stable or that's
(06:01):
why they was able to drop the interest rate. These
are uncertain times. What are the practical strategies for small
businesses and entrepreneurs?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
We're not talking about the big corporation.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, I want I want to talk to you. I
want to talk to people like you who are running
small business, which of course are the backbone of the
American economy. Figure out what you're trying to do, and
then set your business up to succeed regardless of that
situation in front of you. So that's the first, very
critical step, and the second one is setting your beliefs.
(06:32):
We talked about this a bit on DEI and B,
but you know all of these trends, you know, elections,
interest rates, geopolitical and stability, immigration, policies. These are trends, right,
we don't actually do any strategy by listing trends. Sit
down with your team and say what's our beliefs, what's
our stance, and how these things will go forward? And
it's this sentence, I'm seeing X and we believe y,
(06:57):
which means Z for us. And if you just keep
comple leading that sentence, we're seeing this trend and we
take this belief for the midterm, which means this implication
for us, then you're building yourself this framework that you
know which choices you're making based on what beliefs. As
those beliefs are affirmed, we're going to invest more in
those in those activities. As those beliefs are not, we
(07:19):
might start pausing and even stopping some activities and replacing
them with those where our beliefs are still affirming.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
We know what's really what basically what you're saying is
that stay strong in your beliefs.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Have a plan of action. Yeah, you know, you know
this is kind of like different.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
You know, we always talk about budget, We always talk
about financial planning. Now we're talking about structure planning. Yes,
the strategy being practical, that's what we're talking about right now?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yes, because here's the thing. Here's the thing, KRETI. As
we sit down to review strategies, we tend to start
these meetings with the question. We tend to start the
meetings with the question are we on track to plan? Right?
We love to ask our team were on track to plan?
I'm going to challenge you. I want you to ask
your team a different question at the beginning of the
review meeting. Instead asked the question has the situation changed? Right?
(08:07):
Has the situation changed? Because see, sometimes being on tracked
to plan is not a good thing if the situation's changed,
and asking that question takes the assumption there was only
one track and we got it right the first time.
So I like to start my review meetings with the question,
has a situation changed? Are our beliefs still tracking? If so,
(08:27):
our strategy should be two. If our beliefs aren't track,
here not affirmed, we might need to replace something we're doing.
Because here's the cool thing about strategy. It can and
should change as we're executing, as we're learning and bringing
new information in.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Okay, now here's something that's interesting team building. Yes, okay,
I hear that a lot. In fact, as a small company.
I'm about to help my first team building all right, event,
you know, I'm award winding cook, so I always cook
at the office.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
But oh jal scroll or an invite to the seam
building thing, now.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, I and so.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Tell me the value of team building events within the company.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Human beings crave connectivity. And as much as we speak
about you know, fully remote offices and AI replacing human beings,
I'm not yet convinced that human beings don't crave connectivity
with others and wanting to work for an organization where
they have aligned purpose with others, right, and are striving
towards the same event. And so there's a higher level, right,
(09:31):
which is that there's also a more execution level. Why
these team building things matter is because one of the
biggest differentiators of organizations from super small to super large
do really well in external uncertainty, which we've been speaking about,
is they build something called internal predictability. And it's a
(09:52):
little bit non sexy phrase, I know, but this is
what sets companies apart who do really well when the
world around them is changing, is they build something called
internal predictability. And it comes to show when you can
answer yes to four questions. Okay, and I want to
ask you to say if you can say yes, but
I want you to think about your team. Here's the
four questions. Can everyone on your team say yes too.
(10:12):
I know what we're trying to achieve and why it matters.
That's question one. I know we're trying to achieve and
why it matters. Question two. I know where critical decisions
take place. Question three, I can rely on others to
do what they say they will do. In question four,
when I do adapt, it's recognized and rewarded. How do
(10:34):
you do on the four questions of internal predictability?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Well, I think that two and four superstar all right?
One in three shakey?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Okay. So here's here's the bad news. You need all
four to build this element. And that goes back to
why team building is so important, because these things about
the reliability are so much easier when we know the
people on the other side of that commitment. The decision
making so much easier to route the decisions to the
right place. But tell me mart how you did well.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I want tell you that you know just overall, because
this is a good conversation regards to I hope people
who are listening to taking all this in because it's
about honesty. You know, what I've done in the last
I say year and a half, Doctor Rebecca, is that
I have been honest about my flaws. And in other words,
I reset my company in April of twenty twenty three,
(11:27):
and I've looked back and I went the employees I
have now and employees I have previously. The employees I
have previously can't even work for me now. So I
had to make that honest reset. And I think that
when I go through these courses one through four, I
evaluate them based on the fact that I'm in the
process of maturing as a leader. Okay, I also being
(11:49):
more open to Like I said, I'm doing a team
building event. I always felt that, you know, snatch at
the office, come in, you got a cake waiting, and
we'll share a cake and then go to work where
I'm actually actually setting aside in a moment, shutting down activity.
When we finished the event, go home. And so I
(12:09):
have built my whole career as an individual, and as
an individual, translating that to a company has been difficult
because I've been winning by myself, and so that's been
the term for me when I go through these questions
because understanding.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
That as a solo artist, oh you're all star.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
When you run into the company, you have to value
other people's feelings. I tell you some things like because
I get to work on time, and so I had
to understand sit down with my hr Si Rashan, get
people a little window, you know, don't you know they
might be eight o five, eight oh six, don't hold
them to that same brand that you're hell holding yourself to.
(12:54):
Because other people have traffic, they come from different loans,
they might have a flat tie, all these different things,
and putting in perspective. So these questions that you ask
me are working for me now. But if you'd asked
me a year go out have been a failure on all.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Four And that again, this internal predictability. That's the secret sauce.
We could talk about all the external uncertainty, but doing
well and it it's building this internal predictability because you
just said it. Look, growth is a team sport, right,
it's not an individual one. We're playing football, not tennis
when we're trying to grow organizations. And that's why it's
so hard. Now doable, very doable. Don't want to make
(13:30):
it sound to any listener like it's not doable. But
you've got to commit to having a growth strategy, because
it's not just about having the strategy, it's about committing
to building the capability of growth with your team. But
you use the critical word there, use the word reset,
and that I love hearing that word because reset is
the power move. You know, it's very easy to say,
you know, don't just survive thrive, right, but organizations and
(13:53):
entrepreneurs who are willing to go through these purposeful resets,
that's a power booth, being able to thrive through different
change external conditions.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Well, your board reset, okay, Capital Rashwan has a reset,
hasn't already?
Speaker 3 (14:09):
I'm trying to power the research the power of the reset.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Power the reset.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
You know, but we needs uncertainy times and that's why
when I saw an opportunity to bring in I wanted
to reset my audience because we all ain't on certain
times and when this election happens, you're still going to
be under certain times because a lot of things are
done politically, you know, and I think kind of convenient.
The gas prices are dropping, and yeah, election times coming up,
(14:51):
and interest rates dropping the elections. Okay, when the election
happens and either party wins, are they going to go
back up?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
You know, that type of volatility. But I'm gonna talk.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
I'm gonna going even a little deeper when I hear
people talking about immigration, trade and offshore exploration and fracking
and all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
As the small business we.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Hear these things because immigration can affect everybody. Yeah, I'm sorry,
it does affect everybody. How do we look at these
things when we're watching TV. We're watching these people making
decisions and voting, and half the countries this side of
the table and half the countries this side of the table.
How is a gross from a gross strategy standpoint?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
How do we react?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Well, I'm not being stilly when I say, take a breath.
Sometimes right in the American news cycle, take a breath
and go back to there's this very simple question. I
am seeing X. And we've already said this question. I
am seeing X, and I believe why, which means Z
for us. And you know, we're seeing these things in immigration, Well,
what's our belief, how is it going to pan out
(15:54):
over the next two to three years, and what would
that mean for us? And here's what I found of
Sean if you force team and force sounds bad, but
you know, if you work with your team to go
through these you realize a lot of these trends won't
really have an impact on your strategy. They're noise. A
lot of trends are noise. Only a few will truly
impact our choices. So here's what I like to do.
(16:16):
I like to take all of those trends we're talking
about and complete that sentence I'm seeing X and we
believe why, which means Z for us. And then I
want you to rank them, you know, in the office
or virtual get out that classic two by two and
rank them by impact to our industry and criticality to
our choices. And you'll see that a lot of things
are really moving the macro environment or industry, but we're
(16:39):
you know, they're not really going to impact our choices.
You know, we're already there or we've got plenty of time.
Others might be super critical to us. And then just
focus your time on those choices and those trends that
meet both of those things. But I've got something else.
One of my favorite exercises to do when I've got
all of these big trends is here's what I do
with Sean I cast I tell my team, look, let's
(17:00):
stop asking what could happen, because here's the bad news
slash good news. I can't predict the future, and I
don't think you can predict the future. But what I
want to do with my team is get great at
making good decisions even though I can't make great predictions.
So I challenge teams stop spending more and more time
trying to predict the future, trying to do scenario planning,
(17:20):
trying to do trend setting, and instead we're building the
capability and making great decisions even though we can't make
great predictions. So I change the question. Instead of asking
what could happen, ask what could make us and what
could break us. Now, most things that happen, even with
a Trump presidency are still going to fall under the
Bell curve, which means roughly within the realm of profitability.
(17:43):
But there's going to be some tales, some outside events
that are big risks and are big opportunities. Most people,
even entrepreneurs, are great at answering what could kill us.
They're terrible about saying like what could make us? And
I call them kickers and killers? What could make us?
And what could break us? And you sit down with
your team and you say, okay, here's the trends for
(18:04):
each of these trends. What are five kickers? What are
five ways this trend could be a growth opportunity for us?
And you've got to train your brain. You've got to
start with the kickers. Because every team I work with,
and I'm not being hyperbolic, every team I work with
can give me twenty killers in five minutes. Every team
takes a long time to get down to five kickers.
(18:26):
We have not trained our brains to see big, uncertain
things as growth opportunities. So you've got to build that capability.
So again, you sit with your team, and I'm going
to check for your homework on this winter Sean. You're
going to ask them what could make us and what
could break us? And what I like to do is
say you've got to do ten kickers before you can
do any killers, Because this is how we're going to
(18:47):
start building our brains as a team that all of
these trends contain an opportunity for those who are willing
to look for it and then shape or learn to
grab it.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
You know, this is so cool because of the fact
that you know when you when you out there trusted yourself.
I'm gonna tell you something about me, doctor Rebecca. I've
always had people around me that have known me for
a long time working for me, and I will be
honest with you that tend to That turned out to
(19:20):
be a flaw in my business model because people they
think they know you, they have stereotypes they've developed about you,
and then all of a sudden, so they function a
way instead of being an active thinking person. Well, Rashan,
you know he's gonna do that anyway. Rashaan's gonna do
that new noise. So I've learned this might be a
(19:40):
recommendation of other people out there when they hear these
things come to my office that hire the right person
for the position. Anybody you hire, I don't care if
your sister or brother make them feel out an application.
Everybody you hire should have a resume. They shouldn't just
be somebody you know. They their skill sets should have value,
not just value to that one thing, but the value
(20:02):
to several things within your company. Because you're a small business,
and so the people I have working for me now.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Don't know me. I hire them on what they could
do for me.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
And previously, prior to the reset, I hired people who
knew me and didn't really take in strong consideration about
their work history, about their resume, and about what they
can do for me five or ten years from now.
And that's when the growth strategy that you're talking about
is so important.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Correct, Yes, absolutely, Yeah. You want to bring a team
around you who is going to share this commitment to growth.
And while there's comfort around working with people who know us,
you leads into a tramp if they make these implicit assumptions.
They just assume they know what you're going to do.
They just assume you know where we're going to go.
And so we're going away from that making great decisions
(20:55):
even though we can't make great predictions. Right. So you
can build it with people you know, but you've got
to be very purposeful about it, right, But I like
to be very clear talent coming in, do we have
this very clear role that we know that they're playing
for us or here's I like to divide it. Because
you're a small business. You can't just hire anybody, right
It split all of your hires into two right. Either
(21:15):
what I call a tour of duty, as in I
have one very specific thing, like maybe I need to
build a CRM system for the first time and integrate
it with my old systems. Maybe I want to open
a new product line or go into a new state. Right,
so a very specific tour of duty. But you know
when you make that hire, when this is completed, I
might not need this individual anymore. But you're being very
(21:37):
purpose all about this. You're going to hire the perfect
person for that job. Or you hire for what I
call repurposeability, which I made up that word to be clear,
which means this person has this skill set as I
constantly reset my business, this individual has a skill set
that can constantly repurpose for value creation. And I like
to just put everyone in two streams because we tend
(21:58):
to overhire for of a jack of all trades. You know, well,
this person can do this and that and that. But
if you really force yourself, no, as a small business,
every hire has to be very purposeful. This is a
tour of duty. Or repurposability for value creation.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
We know as we wrap up this interview, I've used
the word reset a lot.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Yes, and I love it, and I love it speaking
my love. I use the word reset, yes, because.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
I didn't want to bring that up early on, because
that's your book, Survive, reseid and Thrive. Because I want
to personalize it and let you understand that. One of
the things that motivated me for this interview because I'm
doing that. I've survived, I'm resett and I believe I'm thriving.
I believe that my company is going to make more
money than it's ever made in this history. You know
(22:44):
best calls thriving, and I'm trying to get there. But
more importantly, give us a brief overview of your book
and encourage us to motivate us because here the is Survive,
reset and Thrive, leading, breakthrough growth strategy and bottle to
times thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
And the notion is growth is a loop not aligned.
Is that if we really want to constantly grow our
businesses regardless of the environment around us, we need to
embrace this loop thinking. And it's constantly going through this
loop of survive or stabilize when the market throws a
shock at us, reset or change when the situation around
us changes, then go back to being a thriving organization.
(23:25):
And as an entrepreneur, it's the movement across these three
modes that are just as powerful as a place within
each one. And in the book I Guide entrepreneurs of
how can you be better at surviving and move out
of that phase faster? How can you do a really
good reset? Then what does it take to be one
of these thriving organizations that can grow through any market circumstances?
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Wow, I thank you for coming on my show, money
making coming.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Thank you so much for having me. Is that an
absolute pleasure?
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Well, you know it's really great because you know I
got personal, which is as unusual for my show, but
I felt that this is what had to be an
honest show. When you talk about resetting and you're starting challenging,
I'm living these same volatile times that my listeners are living,
and so I'm that same entrepreneur, I'm that same person
dealing with DEI I'm that same person who has to
(24:15):
cast a vote and that vote will make a difference
in this country and we're gonna have to live.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
With it for four years.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
But what you've allowed by coming on this show today,
Doctor Rebecca, is that Humpkins, is that you allowed me
to say, Rushan, don't be com paralyzed by the situation.
Continue to move forward, continue to have growth strategy, continue
to have team team building events. Understand your employees have
(24:40):
a voice, Acknowledge their voice. Implement some of the things
that work within your company. This is what I might
take away and hopefully can take away from the people
who will enjoyed this interview. Thank you again for coming
on Money Making Conversation master Class. This has been another
edition of Money Making Conversation master Class posted by me
Rushawan McDonald. Thank you to I guess the show today
and thank you for listening to the audience now. If
(25:03):
you want to listen to any episode I want to
be a guest on the show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com.
Our social media handle is money Making Conversation. Join us
next week and remember to always leave with your gifts.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Keep winning.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am Rashan McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
where we encourage.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
People to stop reading other people's success stories and start
planning their own.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
their companies, and speak with dog profits.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Who are making a difference in their local communities.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Now, sit back and listen as we unlock the secrets
to their success.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
On Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hello, I am Rashan McDonald, our host this weekly money
Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this
show provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading
other people's success stories and start living your own. I'm
here to help you reach your American dream. Just keep listening.
My guest today really is a high growth strategy specialist,
(00:56):
best selling author, executive advisor and consultant. She is a
lecturer at the London Business School. Please welcome to Money
Making Conversation Masterclass, Doctor Rebecca Humpkiss. How you doing, my friend?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I am excellent. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, thank you where you're right now? I know London
business School.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yes, I live in San Francisco, Miami in London, so
I live in three cities. But today I am joining
you from London, England.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Oh great, fantastic reason I brought you on the show
because we're kind of like in political volatile times and
that's business or people who are in the business of
trying small entrepreneurs.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
It affects us.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
It can affect how we do strategy, how we hire people,
and sometimes we can get frozen. And that's not a
good thing because you want people still want their paychecks,
people still want their products, and still want your business
be active. So why when you talk about economic and
business decisions, what should not be delayed or should we
(01:55):
delay at all doing this little window prior to the election.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah, and you know, go back to you. People want
their paychecks, but they also want to work for organizations
that are moving forward, right, and we are as leaders
going to be constantly running organizations through uncertain times. You know,
tell me, Rashan, the last time you run a business
through certain times, like when you had perfect predictability of
what was going to happen next. So while we have
(02:20):
more geopolitical uncertainty now, we need to distinguish that from
the key decisions that we have to make. And if
we don't do that, we end up putting our organizations
in these constant holding patterns, you know, always waiting for
another few months, tell me no more, always waiting for
another few months, and tell me more more, and then
we've actually fallen behind everybody else. You've got to be
very purposeful and only wait when that's the right thing
(02:42):
to do. Now, there might be a few decisions. If
you're a manufacturing company deciding your new site location, you
might want to wait until after the election, but the
majority of our strategic decisions can proceed as planned as
long as you're ready for the as long as you're
very clear on your beliefs. So we're saying, you know,
we have this belief as an organization. Because of this belief,
(03:03):
this is the decision that we're going to make, but
I'm going to incrementally so kind of piece by piece,
invest in that decision as I am testing my beliefs.
So we can keep moving and acting if we make
decisions based on beliefs, but we got to keep testing
those beliefs as we're executing.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Now, I'm a minority company Rebecca, and so there's some diversity.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Diversity equity includes DEI.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
In fact, there's a movie I right now that's anti DEI,
and so certain companies have set aside and we know
that that the political one political size of anti DEI
saying in fact, they've said that the VP is a DEI.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
That's how she got a position.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And so as a person who deals with companies like that,
then I'm I'm not saying the word fearful, but it
does make me wonder about opportunities that may not exist
if one side wins versus the democratic side wins, DEI
will prosper. How should I view that and how should
(04:04):
deal with that?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
It's a great question. Look, and we are in very
divisive times, right. We are very bifurcated as a country
between one side or another, and there's many of these
social topics are very clearly falling into one line or
the other. Now, my first challenge is always Now, there
will be a difference perhaps in regulation, like and what
is actually regulated, what is mandated, what is forced, But
(04:26):
that's not why most companies are doing their DEIB strategy.
They're doing it because it's part of their organizational purpose.
They're doing it because that's what their talent and employees
say that they want and say that they appreciate, and
so all of those things, as long as it's still
part of your organizational purpose, it's still core to your strategy,
we should continue going forward with that. Now, again, we
could say that might affect some of the talent that
I get, It could affect some of the funding that
(04:47):
I might have access to, But as far as making
those decisions, think about my organization, my beliefs, my purpose,
right then I would still be making those same decisions
along the way. Now, one thing we could do, remember,
in strategy, we have different options. We have an action
to take action to get results. We can also do
something called acting to shape, where we take purposeful action
(05:09):
in the market, not to get immediate results from my
business now, but to shape the environment in my favor.
And so in strategy, especially growth strategies, we've got to
make sure we're taking advantage of all of our stances,
which include not just acting for results, but acting to
shape and acting to learn. So this might be an
instance where your organization needs to do some shaping strategy
(05:29):
as well.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Right, And that's why I asked that question.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Sometimes these questions are personal, doctor River, So yes, that
was a personal question.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Ask me anything, asking individuals who.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Are listening to my show now, because we're all leaders,
and when you are a leader, you're always talking about
developing practical strategy. Yes, and I always say that because
these are uncertain times. You know, the interest rate went
down as prices are dropping, that may affect home mortgages,
that may affect inflation. They say is stable or that's
(06:01):
why they was able to drop the interest rate. These
are uncertain times. What are the practical strategies for small
businesses and entrepreneurs?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
We're not talking about the big corporation.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, I want I want to talk to you. I
want to talk to people like you who are running
small business, which of course are the backbone of the
American economy. Figure out what you're trying to do, and
then set your business up to succeed regardless of that
situation in front of you. So that's the first, very
critical step, and the second one is setting your beliefs.
(06:32):
We talked about this a bit on DEI and B,
but you know all of these trends, you know, elections,
interest rates, geopolitical and stability, immigration, policies. These are trends, right,
we don't actually do any strategy by listing trends. Sit
down with your team and say what's our beliefs, what's
our stance, and how these things will go forward? And
it's this sentence, I'm seeing X and we believe y,
(06:57):
which means Z for us. And if you just keep
comple leading that sentence, we're seeing this trend and we
take this belief for the midterm, which means this implication
for us, then you're building yourself this framework that you
know which choices you're making based on what beliefs. As
those beliefs are affirmed, we're going to invest more in
those in those activities. As those beliefs are not, we
(07:19):
might start pausing and even stopping some activities and replacing
them with those where our beliefs are still affirming.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
We know what's really what basically what you're saying is
that stay strong in your beliefs.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Have a plan of action. Yeah, you know, you know
this is kind of like different.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
You know, we always talk about budget, We always talk
about financial planning. Now we're talking about structure planning. Yes,
the strategy being practical, that's what we're talking about right now?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yes, because here's the thing. Here's the thing, KRETI. As
we sit down to review strategies, we tend to start
these meetings with the question. We tend to start the
meetings with the question are we on track to plan? Right?
We love to ask our team were on track to plan?
I'm going to challenge you. I want you to ask
your team a different question at the beginning of the
review meeting. Instead asked the question has the situation changed? Right?
(08:07):
Has the situation changed? Because see, sometimes being on tracked
to plan is not a good thing if the situation's changed,
and asking that question takes the assumption there was only
one track and we got it right the first time.
So I like to start my review meetings with the question,
has a situation changed? Are our beliefs still tracking? If so,
(08:27):
our strategy should be two. If our beliefs aren't track,
here not affirmed, we might need to replace something we're doing.
Because here's the cool thing about strategy. It can and
should change as we're executing, as we're learning and bringing
new information in.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Okay, now here's something that's interesting team building. Yes, okay,
I hear that a lot. In fact, as a small company.
I'm about to help my first team building all right, event,
you know, I'm award winding cook, so I always cook
at the office.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
But oh jal scroll or an invite to the seam
building thing, now.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, I and so.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Tell me the value of team building events within the company.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Human beings crave connectivity. And as much as we speak
about you know, fully remote offices and AI replacing human beings,
I'm not yet convinced that human beings don't crave connectivity
with others and wanting to work for an organization where
they have aligned purpose with others, right, and are striving
towards the same event. And so there's a higher level, right,
(09:31):
which is that there's also a more execution level. Why
these team building things matter is because one of the
biggest differentiators of organizations from super small to super large
do really well in external uncertainty, which we've been speaking about,
is they build something called internal predictability. And it's a
(09:52):
little bit non sexy phrase, I know, but this is
what sets companies apart who do really well when the
world around them is changing, is they build something called
internal predictability. And it comes to show when you can
answer yes to four questions. Okay, and I want to
ask you to say if you can say yes, but
I want you to think about your team. Here's the
four questions. Can everyone on your team say yes too.
(10:12):
I know what we're trying to achieve and why it matters.
That's question one. I know we're trying to achieve and
why it matters. Question two. I know where critical decisions
take place. Question three, I can rely on others to
do what they say they will do. In question four,
when I do adapt, it's recognized and rewarded. How do
(10:34):
you do on the four questions of internal predictability?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Well, I think that two and four superstar all right?
One in three shakey?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Okay. So here's here's the bad news. You need all
four to build this element. And that goes back to
why team building is so important, because these things about
the reliability are so much easier when we know the
people on the other side of that commitment. The decision
making so much easier to route the decisions to the
right place. But tell me mart how you did well.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I want tell you that you know just overall, because
this is a good conversation regards to I hope people
who are listening to taking all this in because it's
about honesty. You know, what I've done in the last
I say year and a half, Doctor Rebecca, is that
I have been honest about my flaws. And in other words,
I reset my company in April of twenty twenty three,
(11:27):
and I've looked back and I went the employees I
have now and employees I have previously. The employees I
have previously can't even work for me now. So I
had to make that honest reset. And I think that
when I go through these courses one through four, I
evaluate them based on the fact that I'm in the
process of maturing as a leader. Okay, I also being
(11:49):
more open to Like I said, I'm doing a team
building event. I always felt that, you know, snatch at
the office, come in, you got a cake waiting, and
we'll share a cake and then go to work where
I'm actually actually setting aside in a moment, shutting down activity.
When we finished the event, go home. And so I
(12:09):
have built my whole career as an individual, and as
an individual, translating that to a company has been difficult
because I've been winning by myself, and so that's been
the term for me when I go through these questions
because understanding.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
That as a solo artist, oh you're all star.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
When you run into the company, you have to value
other people's feelings. I tell you some things like because
I get to work on time, and so I had
to understand sit down with my hr Si Rashan, get
people a little window, you know, don't you know they
might be eight o five, eight oh six, don't hold
them to that same brand that you're hell holding yourself to.
(12:54):
Because other people have traffic, they come from different loans,
they might have a flat tie, all these different things,
and putting in perspective. So these questions that you ask
me are working for me now. But if you'd asked
me a year go out have been a failure on all.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Four And that again, this internal predictability. That's the secret sauce.
We could talk about all the external uncertainty, but doing
well and it it's building this internal predictability because you
just said it. Look, growth is a team sport, right,
it's not an individual one. We're playing football, not tennis
when we're trying to grow organizations. And that's why it's
so hard. Now doable, very doable. Don't want to make
(13:30):
it sound to any listener like it's not doable. But
you've got to commit to having a growth strategy, because
it's not just about having the strategy, it's about committing
to building the capability of growth with your team. But
you use the critical word there, use the word reset,
and that I love hearing that word because reset is
the power move. You know, it's very easy to say,
you know, don't just survive thrive, right, but organizations and
(13:53):
entrepreneurs who are willing to go through these purposeful resets,
that's a power booth, being able to thrive through different
change external conditions.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Well, your board reset, okay, Capital Rashwan has a reset,
hasn't already?
Speaker 3 (14:09):
I'm trying to power the research the power of the reset.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Power the reset.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
You know, but we needs uncertainy times and that's why
when I saw an opportunity to bring in I wanted
to reset my audience because we all ain't on certain
times and when this election happens, you're still going to
be under certain times because a lot of things are
done politically, you know, and I think kind of convenient.
The gas prices are dropping, and yeah, election times coming up,
(14:51):
and interest rates dropping the elections. Okay, when the election
happens and either party wins, are they going to go
back up?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
You know, that type of volatility. But I'm gonna talk.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
I'm gonna going even a little deeper when I hear
people talking about immigration, trade and offshore exploration and fracking
and all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
As the small business we.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Hear these things because immigration can affect everybody. Yeah, I'm sorry,
it does affect everybody. How do we look at these
things when we're watching TV. We're watching these people making
decisions and voting, and half the countries this side of
the table and half the countries this side of the table.
How is a gross from a gross strategy standpoint?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
How do we react?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Well, I'm not being stilly when I say, take a breath.
Sometimes right in the American news cycle, take a breath
and go back to there's this very simple question. I
am seeing X. And we've already said this question. I
am seeing X, and I believe why, which means Z
for us. And you know, we're seeing these things in immigration, Well,
what's our belief, how is it going to pan out
(15:54):
over the next two to three years, and what would
that mean for us? And here's what I found of
Sean if you force team and force sounds bad, but
you know, if you work with your team to go
through these you realize a lot of these trends won't
really have an impact on your strategy. They're noise. A
lot of trends are noise. Only a few will truly
impact our choices. So here's what I like to do.
(16:16):
I like to take all of those trends we're talking
about and complete that sentence I'm seeing X and we
believe why, which means Z for us. And then I
want you to rank them, you know, in the office
or virtual get out that classic two by two and
rank them by impact to our industry and criticality to
our choices. And you'll see that a lot of things
are really moving the macro environment or industry, but we're
(16:39):
you know, they're not really going to impact our choices.
You know, we're already there or we've got plenty of time.
Others might be super critical to us. And then just
focus your time on those choices and those trends that
meet both of those things. But I've got something else.
One of my favorite exercises to do when I've got
all of these big trends is here's what I do
with Sean I cast I tell my team, look, let's
(17:00):
stop asking what could happen, because here's the bad news
slash good news. I can't predict the future, and I
don't think you can predict the future. But what I
want to do with my team is get great at
making good decisions even though I can't make great predictions.
So I challenge teams stop spending more and more time
trying to predict the future, trying to do scenario planning,
(17:20):
trying to do trend setting, and instead we're building the
capability and making great decisions even though we can't make
great predictions. So I change the question. Instead of asking
what could happen, ask what could make us and what
could break us. Now, most things that happen, even with
a Trump presidency are still going to fall under the
Bell curve, which means roughly within the realm of profitability.
(17:43):
But there's going to be some tales, some outside events
that are big risks and are big opportunities. Most people,
even entrepreneurs, are great at answering what could kill us.
They're terrible about saying like what could make us? And
I call them kickers and killers? What could make us?
And what could break us? And you sit down with
your team and you say, okay, here's the trends for
(18:04):
each of these trends. What are five kickers? What are
five ways this trend could be a growth opportunity for us?
And you've got to train your brain. You've got to
start with the kickers. Because every team I work with,
and I'm not being hyperbolic, every team I work with
can give me twenty killers in five minutes. Every team
takes a long time to get down to five kickers.
(18:26):
We have not trained our brains to see big, uncertain
things as growth opportunities. So you've got to build that capability.
So again, you sit with your team, and I'm going
to check for your homework on this winter Sean. You're
going to ask them what could make us and what
could break us? And what I like to do is
say you've got to do ten kickers before you can
do any killers, Because this is how we're going to
(18:47):
start building our brains as a team that all of
these trends contain an opportunity for those who are willing
to look for it and then shape or learn to
grab it.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
You know, this is so cool because of the fact
that you know when you when you out there trusted yourself.
I'm gonna tell you something about me, doctor Rebecca. I've
always had people around me that have known me for
a long time working for me, and I will be
honest with you that tend to That turned out to
(19:20):
be a flaw in my business model because people they
think they know you, they have stereotypes they've developed about you,
and then all of a sudden, so they function a
way instead of being an active thinking person. Well, Rashan,
you know he's gonna do that anyway. Rashaan's gonna do
that new noise. So I've learned this might be a
(19:40):
recommendation of other people out there when they hear these
things come to my office that hire the right person
for the position. Anybody you hire, I don't care if
your sister or brother make them feel out an application.
Everybody you hire should have a resume. They shouldn't just
be somebody you know. They their skill sets should have value,
not just value to that one thing, but the value
(20:02):
to several things within your company. Because you're a small business,
and so the people I have working for me now.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Don't know me. I hire them on what they could
do for me.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
And previously, prior to the reset, I hired people who
knew me and didn't really take in strong consideration about
their work history, about their resume, and about what they
can do for me five or ten years from now.
And that's when the growth strategy that you're talking about
is so important.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Correct, Yes, absolutely, Yeah. You want to bring a team
around you who is going to share this commitment to growth.
And while there's comfort around working with people who know us,
you leads into a tramp if they make these implicit assumptions.
They just assume they know what you're going to do.
They just assume you know where we're going to go.
And so we're going away from that making great decisions
(20:55):
even though we can't make great predictions. Right. So you
can build it with people you know, but you've got
to be very purposeful about it, right, But I like
to be very clear talent coming in, do we have
this very clear role that we know that they're playing
for us or here's I like to divide it. Because
you're a small business. You can't just hire anybody, right
It split all of your hires into two right. Either
(21:15):
what I call a tour of duty, as in I
have one very specific thing, like maybe I need to
build a CRM system for the first time and integrate
it with my old systems. Maybe I want to open
a new product line or go into a new state. Right,
so a very specific tour of duty. But you know
when you make that hire, when this is completed, I
might not need this individual anymore. But you're being very
(21:37):
purpose all about this. You're going to hire the perfect
person for that job. Or you hire for what I
call repurposeability, which I made up that word to be clear,
which means this person has this skill set as I
constantly reset my business, this individual has a skill set
that can constantly repurpose for value creation. And I like
to just put everyone in two streams because we tend
(21:58):
to overhire for of a jack of all trades. You know, well,
this person can do this and that and that. But
if you really force yourself, no, as a small business,
every hire has to be very purposeful. This is a
tour of duty. Or repurposability for value creation.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
We know as we wrap up this interview, I've used
the word reset a lot.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Yes, and I love it, and I love it speaking
my love. I use the word reset, yes, because.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
I didn't want to bring that up early on, because
that's your book, Survive, reseid and Thrive. Because I want
to personalize it and let you understand that. One of
the things that motivated me for this interview because I'm
doing that. I've survived, I'm resett and I believe I'm thriving.
I believe that my company is going to make more
money than it's ever made in this history. You know
(22:44):
best calls thriving, and I'm trying to get there. But
more importantly, give us a brief overview of your book
and encourage us to motivate us because here the is Survive,
reset and Thrive, leading, breakthrough growth strategy and bottle to
times thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
And the notion is growth is a loop not aligned.
Is that if we really want to constantly grow our
businesses regardless of the environment around us, we need to
embrace this loop thinking. And it's constantly going through this
loop of survive or stabilize when the market throws a
shock at us, reset or change when the situation around
us changes, then go back to being a thriving organization.
(23:25):
And as an entrepreneur, it's the movement across these three
modes that are just as powerful as a place within
each one. And in the book I Guide entrepreneurs of
how can you be better at surviving and move out
of that phase faster? How can you do a really
good reset? Then what does it take to be one
of these thriving organizations that can grow through any market circumstances?
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Wow, I thank you for coming on my show, money
making coming.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Thank you so much for having me. Is that an
absolute pleasure?
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Well, you know it's really great because you know I
got personal, which is as unusual for my show, but
I felt that this is what had to be an
honest show. When you talk about resetting and you're starting challenging,
I'm living these same volatile times that my listeners are living,
and so I'm that same entrepreneur, I'm that same person
dealing with DEI I'm that same person who has to
(24:15):
cast a vote and that vote will make a difference
in this country and we're gonna have to live.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
With it for four years.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
But what you've allowed by coming on this show today,
Doctor Rebecca, is that Humpkins, is that you allowed me
to say, Rushan, don't be com paralyzed by the situation.
Continue to move forward, continue to have growth strategy, continue
to have team team building events. Understand your employees have
(24:40):
a voice, Acknowledge their voice. Implement some of the things
that work within your company. This is what I might
take away and hopefully can take away from the people
who will enjoyed this interview. Thank you again for coming
on Money Making Conversation master Class. This has been another
edition of Money Making Conversation master Class posted by me
Rushawan McDonald. Thank you to I guess the show today
and thank you for listening to the audience now. If
(25:03):
you want to listen to any episode I want to
be a guest on the show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com.
Our social media handle is money Making Conversation. Join us
next week and remember to always leave with your gifts.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Keep winning.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.