Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dr. Rebecca Homkes. She is a high-growth strategy specialist, best-selling author, executive adviser, and Consultant.
Dr. Homkes teaches at two business schools and runs a USA-based LLC SRT Strategy. She is a Lecturer at the London Business School, Faculty at Duke Corporate Executive Education, Advisor and Core Faculty for BCGU (Boston Consulting Group), and a former fellow at the London School of Economics Centre for Economic Performance. A best-selling author, global keynote speaker and recognized thought leader, she is also the global Faculty Director of the Active Learning Program with the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), leads several fintech accelerators, and serves on the Boards of many high-growth companies. She earned her doctorate at the London School of Economics as a Marshall Scholar and is now based in Miami, San Francisco, USA and London. UK.
Company Description *
Talking Points/Questions *
Why we need to get away from viewing uncertainty as something inherently negative
- Planning vs. preparing: Why leaders need to set planning tools aside and instead go into preparation mode when facing uncertainty
- How leaders can develop a pragmatic strategy in these uncertain times (election, market volatility, etc).
- Why few economic and business decisions should be delayed entirely until after election
- How to distinguish the difference between purposeful, strategic waiting from passive waiting— as the latter will put you farther and farther behind
- Depending on who wins, immigration, trade and offshoring will be impacted— How businesses can plan for contingency NOW
- Kickers and killers for companies: Stop asking "What could happen?" and focus on these 2 questions; What could break us? (a killer) and What could make us? (a kicker)
- An brief overview of Survive, Reset, Thrive: Leading Breakthrough Growth Strategy in Volatile Times
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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 people to stop reading other people's success
stories and start planning their own. 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 nod profits who are making a.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and listen
as we unlock the secrets to their success on.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Hello, I am Rashan McDonald, our
host is weekly Money Making Conversation Master Class 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
(00:53):
is a high growth strategy specialist, bestselling author, executive advisor
and consultant sure at the London Business School. Please welcome
to Money Making Conversation Masterclass, Doctor Rebecca Humpkiss.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
How you doing, my friend, I am excellent.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, thank you where you're right now? I know London
Business School?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Yes, So 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 (01:21):
Oh great, fantastic reason I brought on the show because
we're kind of like in political volatile times and as
business or people who are in the business of trying
small entrepreneurs, it affects us. 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
(01:42):
want people still want their pay checks, people still want
their products, and people still want your business be active.
So why we talk about economic and business decisions? What
should not be delayed or should we delay at all
doing this little window prior to the election.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, well 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 more geopltical uncertainty now,
(02:21):
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 to do. Now, there might be
(02:43):
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, this is the decision that we're
(03:03):
going to make. But I'm going to incrementally so kind
of peace 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've
got to keep testing those beliefs as we're executing.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Now, I'm a minority company, Rebecca, Yeah, and so there's
some diversity, diversity, equity inclusion. THEI 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 it. Yeah, in fact,
they've said that the VP is a DEIH that's how.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
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 probably prosper. How should I view that and how
should deal with that?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
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
(04:25):
that's not why most companies are doing their deb 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 Cordier strategy. We
should continue going forward with that. Now, again, we could
say that might affect some of the talent that I get,
(04:45):
It could affect some of the funding that 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 burn 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
(05:07):
we take purposeful action 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
(05:28):
some shaping strategy as well, right.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And that's why I asked that question.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Sometimes these questions are personal, doctor River, So yes, that
was a personal question.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Ask me anything, asking individuals who are.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Listening to my show now, because we are 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,
gas princes are dropping, that may affect home mortgages, that
may affect inflation. They say it's a stable or that's
(06:01):
why they was able to drop the interest rate.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
These are uncertain times.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
What are the practical strategies for small businesses and entrepreneurs?
We're not talking about the big corporation.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah, I want I want to talk to you. I
want to talk to people like you who are running
small businesses, which of course are the backbone of the
American economy. Now, before we can talk about practical strategies, though,
I want to talk about the word uncertainty. Okay, And
here's how I want you to define it. A series
of future events which may or may not occur. Whether
or not those events are good or bad depends on
(06:33):
what we're trying to do and how we're set up.
So that's your job as an entrepreneur 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. We talked about this a
bit on DEI and B, but you know all of
(06:53):
these trends, you know, elections, interest rates, geopolitical instability, 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 why, which means Z for us. And
(07:16):
if you just keep completing that sentence, we're seeing this
trend and we take this belief for the midterm, which
means this implication for us. Men, 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 might start pausing and even stopping some
(07:38):
activities and replacing them with those where our beliefs are
still affirming.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
We know.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
It's really what basically what you're saying is that stay
strong in your beliefs, have a plan of action. Yeah,
you know, you know this is kind of like different.
You know, we always talk about budget. We always talking
about financial planning. That we're talking about structure planning. Yes,
the strategy being practical, that's what we're talking about right now.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yes, Because here's the thing. Here's the thing, Krettie. 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 if we're 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, ask the question, has the
(08:22):
situation changed?
Speaker 4 (08:23):
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 MacDonald.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Right has the situation changed? Because see, sometimes being on
track to plan is not a good thing if the
situation's change, 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, our strategy should be two. If
(09:03):
our beliefs aren't track, here not affirm 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 (09:17):
Okay, Now here's something that's interesting. Team building? Yes, okay,
I hear that a lot. I'm in fact that as
a small company, I'm about to help my first team
building all right, event you know, I'm a ward winding cook,
so I always cook at the office.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
But oh I'm jealous and make score an insight to
the steam building thing.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Now, yes, and so, so tell me the value of
team building within the company.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
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 per with others. Right, and are striving
towards the same event, and so there's a higher level, right,
(10:05):
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
(10:26):
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 won't 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 teams say yes too. I know
(10:47):
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 other to do what
they say they will do. In question four, when I
do adapt, it's recognized and rewarded. How do you do
(11:08):
on the four questions of internal predictability.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Well, I think that two and four yeah, superstar, all right,
one in three shakey, Okay.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
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 more on how you did well.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I'll want tell you if 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.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
That I have been honest about my flaws.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
And in other words, I reset my company in April
twenty twenty three, and I looked back and I went
the employees I have now and employees I have previously,
The ployeres 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
(12:18):
the process of maturing as a leader. I also being
more open to Like I said, I'm doing a team
building event. I always felt that, you know, snacks at
the office, come in, you got a cake waiting, and
then we'll share a cake and then go to work
where I'm actually actually setting aside in the moment shutting
(12:39):
down activity.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
We finished the event, go home.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
And so I 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 understand.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
That as a solo artist, oh you're all star.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
You run at a 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 Sa Rashaan, give people
a little window, you know, don't don't you know they
might be eight oh five, eight oh six, don't hold
them to that same brand that you're hell holding yourself to.
(13:28):
Because other people have traffic, they come from different loans,
they might have a flat tie, all these different things
and put into perspective. So these questions that you asked
me are working for me now. But if you'd asked
me a year ago, I'd have been a failure on
all four.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
And that again, this internal predictability. That's the secret sauce.
We could talk about all the external uncertainty, but doing
well on 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 urban ISAs. And that's why
it's so hard. Now doable, very doable. Don't want to
(14:04):
make it sound to any listener like it's not doable.
But you've got to commit to having a gross 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
(14:27):
entrepreneurs who are willing to go through these purposeful resets,
that's a power booth. Being able to thrive through different
changing external conditions.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Well your bore reset, okay, capital, I'm.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Trying the power of the reset, the power of the reset.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Power to reset, you know. But we needs uncertainy times.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
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 time. Yes, because yes, a
lot of things are done political, you know, and I
think kind of convenient. The gas prices are dropping and
we yeah, election times coming up, and interest rates dropping,
(15:08):
the election drop, ye, when the election happens, and how
the party wins, are they going to go back up?
You know, that type of volatility. But I'm gonna talk
about I'm gon going a little deeper. When I hear
people talking about immigration, trade and offshore exploration and fracking
and all that stuff as they small business, we're hitting
things because immigration can affect everybody.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yes, sorry, it does affect everybody.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
How do we look at these things when we're watching TV,
watching these people making decisions and voting, and half the
country is this side of the table, and half the
country is this side of the table. How is a
gross from a gross strategy standpoint, how do we react?
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Well, I'm not being silly 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 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
(16:10):
over the next two to three years and what would
that mean for us? And here's what I found with Sean.
If you force your 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.
(16:31):
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
of 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 our industry, but they're
(16:55):
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 I tell my team, look, let's stop asking what
(17:16):
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, right. 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, trying to
(17:36):
do trend setting. 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.
Most things that happen, even with you know, a Trump presidency,
are still going to fall under the bell curve, which
means roughly within the realm of profitability. But there's going
(17:59):
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 go to 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 each of
(18:20):
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. We
(18:42):
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. When you're 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 he
can do any killers, because this is how we're going
(19:03):
to 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 (19:13):
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, Dr 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 tended that turned out to be
(19:35):
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 peryer. Well, Rashan,
you know he's gonna do that anyway. Rashaan's going to
do that anyway. So I've learned this might be a
(19:56):
recommendation of other people out there when they hear these
things coming 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. Their skill sets should have value,
not just value to that one, but the value to
(20:18):
several things within your company. Because you're a small business,
and so the people I have working for me now
don't know me. I hire them on what they could
do for me. 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
(20:43):
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 (20:49):
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,
you know, they just assume they know what you're gonna do.
They just assume you know where we're going. To go
and so we're going away from that making great decisions
(21:11):
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, right,
It split all of your hires into two right, Either
(21:31):
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
(21:53):
purposeful about this. You're gonna hire the perfect person for
that job. Or you hire for what I call repurposability,
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 to
(22:14):
overhire for kind 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 (22:30):
We know as we wrap up this interview, Yah, I've
used the word reset a lot.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Yeah, and I love it, and I love it you're
speaking my love language by using the word reset y because.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
I didn't want to bring that up early.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
On because that's your book, Survive, Reset Rive, because I
wanted to personalize it and let you understand that one
of the things that motivated me for this interview. Because
I'm doing that and more importantly, give us a brief
overview of your book and encourage us to and motivate
us because it is Survive, Reset and thrive leading breakthrough
(23:01):
growth strategy in bottatal times.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Lois Yes, thank you. 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
(23:26):
a thriving organization. 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
(23:47):
through any market circumstances?
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Wow, thank you for coming on my show.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Money made No Thank you so much for having me.
It was that an absolute pleasure.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Well, you know it's really great because you know, I
got personal, which is it's 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,
and so I'm that same entrepreneur, I'm that same person
dealing with DEI. I'm that same person who has to
(24:17):
cast a vote, and that vote will make a difference
in this country and we're gonna have to deal with
it for four years. 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 comparalyzed by
the situation. Continue to move forward, continue to have growth strategy,
(24:38):
continue to have team team building events. Understand your employees
have a voice, Acknowledge their voice. Implement some of the
things that work within your company. This is what I
might take away and hopefully take away from the people
who enjoy this interview. Thank you again for coming on
Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Thank you my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
hosted by me Rushaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today, and thank you for listening to
audience now. If 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
(25:19):
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Keep winning
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am Rashan McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
stories and start planning their own. 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 nod profits who are making a.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and listen
as we unlock the secrets to their success on.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Hello, I am Rashan McDonald, our
host is weekly Money Making Conversation Master Class 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
(00:53):
is a high growth strategy specialist, bestselling author, executive advisor
and consultant sure at the London Business School. Please welcome
to Money Making Conversation Masterclass, Doctor Rebecca Humpkiss.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
How you doing, my friend, I am excellent.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, thank you where you're right now? I know London
Business School?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Yes, So 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 (01:21):
Oh great, fantastic reason I brought on the show because
we're kind of like in political volatile times and as
business or people who are in the business of trying
small entrepreneurs, it affects us. 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
(01:42):
want people still want their pay checks, people still want
their products, and people still want your business be active.
So why we talk about economic and business decisions? What
should not be delayed or should we delay at all
doing this little window prior to the election.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, well 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 more geopltical uncertainty now,
(02:21):
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 to do. Now, there might be
(02:43):
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, this is the decision that we're
(03:03):
going to make. But I'm going to incrementally so kind
of peace 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've
got to keep testing those beliefs as we're executing.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Now, I'm a minority company, Rebecca, Yeah, and so there's
some diversity, diversity, equity inclusion. THEI 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 it. Yeah, in fact,
they've said that the VP is a DEIH that's how.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
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 probably prosper. How should I view that and how
should deal with that?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
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
(04:25):
that's not why most companies are doing their deb 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 Cordier strategy. We
should continue going forward with that. Now, again, we could
say that might affect some of the talent that I get,
(04:45):
It could affect some of the funding that 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 burn 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
(05:07):
we take purposeful action 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
(05:28):
some shaping strategy as well, right.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And that's why I asked that question.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Sometimes these questions are personal, doctor River, So yes, that
was a personal question.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Ask me anything, asking individuals who are.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Listening to my show now, because we are 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,
gas princes are dropping, that may affect home mortgages, that
may affect inflation. They say it's a stable or that's
(06:01):
why they was able to drop the interest rate.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
These are uncertain times.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
What are the practical strategies for small businesses and entrepreneurs?
We're not talking about the big corporation.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah, I want I want to talk to you. I
want to talk to people like you who are running
small businesses, which of course are the backbone of the
American economy. Now, before we can talk about practical strategies, though,
I want to talk about the word uncertainty. Okay, And
here's how I want you to define it. A series
of future events which may or may not occur. Whether
or not those events are good or bad depends on
(06:33):
what we're trying to do and how we're set up.
So that's your job as an entrepreneur 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. We talked about this a
bit on DEI and B, but you know all of
(06:53):
these trends, you know, elections, interest rates, geopolitical instability, 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 why, which means Z for us. And
(07:16):
if you just keep completing that sentence, we're seeing this
trend and we take this belief for the midterm, which
means this implication for us. Men, 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 might start pausing and even stopping some
(07:38):
activities and replacing them with those where our beliefs are
still affirming.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
We know.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
It's really what basically what you're saying is that stay
strong in your beliefs, have a plan of action. Yeah,
you know, you know this is kind of like different.
You know, we always talk about budget. We always talking
about financial planning. That we're talking about structure planning. Yes,
the strategy being practical, that's what we're talking about right now.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yes, Because here's the thing. Here's the thing, Krettie. 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 if we're 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, ask the question, has the
(08:22):
situation changed?
Speaker 4 (08:23):
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 MacDonald.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Right has the situation changed? Because see, sometimes being on
track to plan is not a good thing if the
situation's change, 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, our strategy should be two. If
(09:03):
our beliefs aren't track, here not affirm 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 (09:17):
Okay, Now here's something that's interesting. Team building? Yes, okay,
I hear that a lot. I'm in fact that as
a small company, I'm about to help my first team
building all right, event you know, I'm a ward winding cook,
so I always cook at the office.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
But oh I'm jealous and make score an insight to
the steam building thing.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Now, yes, and so, so tell me the value of
team building within the company.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
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 per with others. Right, and are striving
towards the same event, and so there's a higher level, right,
(10:05):
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
(10:26):
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 won't 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 teams say yes too. I know
(10:47):
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 other to do what
they say they will do. In question four, when I
do adapt, it's recognized and rewarded. How do you do
(11:08):
on the four questions of internal predictability.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Well, I think that two and four yeah, superstar, all right,
one in three shakey, Okay.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
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 more on how you did well.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I'll want tell you if 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.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
That I have been honest about my flaws.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
And in other words, I reset my company in April
twenty twenty three, and I looked back and I went
the employees I have now and employees I have previously,
The ployeres 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
(12:18):
the process of maturing as a leader. I also being
more open to Like I said, I'm doing a team
building event. I always felt that, you know, snacks at
the office, come in, you got a cake waiting, and
then we'll share a cake and then go to work
where I'm actually actually setting aside in the moment shutting
(12:39):
down activity.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
We finished the event, go home.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
And so I 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 understand.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
That as a solo artist, oh you're all star.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
You run at a 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 Sa Rashaan, give people
a little window, you know, don't don't you know they
might be eight oh five, eight oh six, don't hold
them to that same brand that you're hell holding yourself to.
(13:28):
Because other people have traffic, they come from different loans,
they might have a flat tie, all these different things
and put into perspective. So these questions that you asked
me are working for me now. But if you'd asked
me a year ago, I'd have been a failure on
all four.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
And that again, this internal predictability. That's the secret sauce.
We could talk about all the external uncertainty, but doing
well on 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 urban ISAs. And that's why
it's so hard. Now doable, very doable. Don't want to
(14:04):
make it sound to any listener like it's not doable.
But you've got to commit to having a gross 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
(14:27):
entrepreneurs who are willing to go through these purposeful resets,
that's a power booth. Being able to thrive through different
changing external conditions.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Well your bore reset, okay, capital, I'm.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Trying the power of the reset, the power of the reset.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Power to reset, you know. But we needs uncertainy times.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
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 time. Yes, because yes, a
lot of things are done political, you know, and I
think kind of convenient. The gas prices are dropping and
we yeah, election times coming up, and interest rates dropping,
(15:08):
the election drop, ye, when the election happens, and how
the party wins, are they going to go back up?
You know, that type of volatility. But I'm gonna talk
about I'm gon going a little deeper. When I hear
people talking about immigration, trade and offshore exploration and fracking
and all that stuff as they small business, we're hitting
things because immigration can affect everybody.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yes, sorry, it does affect everybody.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
How do we look at these things when we're watching TV,
watching these people making decisions and voting, and half the
country is this side of the table, and half the
country is this side of the table. How is a
gross from a gross strategy standpoint, how do we react?
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Well, I'm not being silly 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 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
(16:10):
over the next two to three years and what would
that mean for us? And here's what I found with Sean.
If you force your 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.
(16:31):
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
of 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 our industry, but they're
(16:55):
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 I tell my team, look, let's stop asking what
(17:16):
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, right. 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, trying to
(17:36):
do trend setting. 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.
Most things that happen, even with you know, a Trump presidency,
are still going to fall under the bell curve, which
means roughly within the realm of profitability. But there's going
(17:59):
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 go to 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 each of
(18:20):
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. We
(18:42):
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. When you're 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 he
can do any killers, because this is how we're going
(19:03):
to 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 (19:13):
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, Dr 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 tended that turned out to be
(19:35):
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 peryer. Well, Rashan,
you know he's gonna do that anyway. Rashaan's going to
do that anyway. So I've learned this might be a
(19:56):
recommendation of other people out there when they hear these
things coming 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. Their skill sets should have value,
not just value to that one, but the value to
(20:18):
several things within your company. Because you're a small business,
and so the people I have working for me now
don't know me. I hire them on what they could
do for me. 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
(20:43):
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 (20:49):
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,
you know, they just assume they know what you're gonna do.
They just assume you know where we're going. To go
and so we're going away from that making great decisions
(21:11):
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, right,
It split all of your hires into two right, Either
(21:31):
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
(21:53):
purposeful about this. You're gonna hire the perfect person for
that job. Or you hire for what I call repurposability,
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 to
(22:14):
overhire for kind 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 (22:30):
We know as we wrap up this interview, Yah, I've
used the word reset a lot.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Yeah, and I love it, and I love it you're
speaking my love language by using the word reset y because.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
I didn't want to bring that up early.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
On because that's your book, Survive, Reset Rive, because I
wanted to personalize it and let you understand that one
of the things that motivated me for this interview. Because
I'm doing that and more importantly, give us a brief
overview of your book and encourage us to and motivate
us because it is Survive, Reset and thrive leading breakthrough
(23:01):
growth strategy in bottatal times.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Lois Yes, thank you. 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
(23:26):
a thriving organization. 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
(23:47):
through any market circumstances?
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Wow, thank you for coming on my show.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Money made No Thank you so much for having me.
It was that an absolute pleasure.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Well, you know it's really great because you know, I
got personal, which is it's 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,
and so I'm that same entrepreneur, I'm that same person
dealing with DEI. I'm that same person who has to
(24:17):
cast a vote, and that vote will make a difference
in this country and we're gonna have to deal with
it for four years. 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 comparalyzed by
the situation. Continue to move forward, continue to have growth strategy,
(24:38):
continue to have team team building events. Understand your employees
have a voice, Acknowledge their voice. Implement some of the
things that work within your company. This is what I
might take away and hopefully take away from the people
who enjoy this interview. Thank you again for coming on
Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Thank you my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
hosted by me Rushaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today, and thank you for listening to
audience now. If 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
(25:19):
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Keep winning
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