April 14, 2025 • 29 mins
We call them silos but what we really are describing is division that exists in our organizations. Division is one of the biggest issues in society, and this same problem exists within many of the companies we lead.
• What truly creates a team is having both a common desired purpose and a common external threat
• Organizations with cultural problems typically have internal enemies (other departments) rather than external threats
• Underdeveloped leaders are holding organizations back when companies only train on technical skills and not leadership
• Purpose must drive organizations, not just revenue or growth targets
• Unity happens when teams share common metrics instead of competing departmental goals
• Leaders must frequently communicate both purpose and the common threats the organization faces
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Division.
It's one of our biggest issuesin society, right?
So much division, and it'sinteresting to think about how
that also exists at the sametime inside so many of our
companies.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
This is the Lead in 30 podcast with Russ Hill.
You cannot be serious.
Strengthen your ability to leadin less than 30 minutes.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
You're listening to Lead in minutes.
Where have you been?
For those of you that listen tothis podcast on a regular basis
, which is nobody recently,because somebody has been MIA
yeah, that's me.
You know what Intentions are sogood, aren't they?
(00:46):
And yet they don't reallymatter at the end of the day.
It matters on what we actuallydo, and I'm I'm guilty of the
podcast not being prioritized asmuch as I would have wanted it
to be this last little while.
Um.
So for those of you who areregular listeners, uh, don't
worry, I'm back in the routine,back in the habit.
I didn't want to put outanother episode until I could
(01:07):
fully commit to doing that.
And we're back.
We're back on track.
So you will notice, if youlisten carefully or have the
volume turned up too much, thatI've got a little bit of a
nasally sound battling just inthe last stages of a cold that
I'm fighting, and so forgive mefor that.
Hopefully you won't notice.
(01:28):
Hardly at all.
All right, welcome into thelead in 30 podcast in less than
30 minutes, and each episode wegive you something to think
about, a framework, a model, abest practices, story and
experience, something for you toconsider incorporating in the
way that you lead, because theway that you lead, your
leadership ability, cannot bestagnant.
(01:49):
It can't be stationary, becausethe world out there is not,
it's constantly like.
Has anyone noticed any changesin, like the last 48 hours, the
last at the time that we'reputting this out, the last week
or two?
Anybody heard of the wordtariff at the time that we're
putting this out.
There are so many changes, good, bad, indifferent, doesn't
(02:12):
matter.
You can debate that all daylong.
You can be upset, frustrated,ticked off, angry, bitter at
changes happening around you,and the reality is we control so
few of them and so we just haveto learn how to adapt.
It's that resiliency word thatwe hear so often, right?
(02:33):
So we're going to.
We're going to dig into onething that's been on my mind as
it as it impacts leadershipability.
Here in a moment.
Just a quick introduction.
Russ Hill, I make my livingcoaching, consulting senior
executive teams at some of theworld's biggest companies.
Lone Rock Leadership is thename of our organization.
Two sides to it, two parts toit.
(02:53):
One is an executive teamconsulting firm.
We've been doing that for along, long time and on the other
side is a leadership trainingcompany we now have.
We now have four courses.
We used to have one, which isthe name of this podcast, lead
in 30, which teaches thefoundational aspects of
(03:15):
effective leadership that scales, clarity, alignment, movement.
They're just the core ofeffective leadership, but they
aren't the only thing that youneed to know in order to be an
effective leader.
And so now we have we've beenso hard at work, you all, in
launching three additionalcourses.
They are called adapt in 30.
(03:35):
It's built around something wecall change OS, the change
operating system.
So many organizations get stuckmorning change when what you
really need is to adapt and youneed to quit being reactionary
and be proactive, leaning intothe future rather than resisting
it.
So if you can change themindset of the leaders in your
(03:59):
organization, get them to leaninto change and innovate, be
proactive rather thanreactionary, you have a massive
competitive advantage.
Lead in 30, adapt in 30, two ofthe courses.
The third one is called PowerPower in 30.
And that's the.
You know.
We spent the my partners,business partners and I, the
(04:21):
three co-founders of our firm.
We spent a combined 50 yearsteaching accountability,
frameworks and models that weare passionate about.
They are amazing, and yet wefelt like something was missing.
It wasn't just that.
You wanted to be accountable,like successful people aren't
just accountable, avoiding theexcuse trap, what we call the
(04:41):
excuse trap.
They don't just do that, theymake a choice to show up
powerful, and there's nothingthat's more debilitating,
anything that's more paralyzingthan this feeling of
powerlessness.
Feeling powerless, you justwant to surrender because you
don't have control on the thingsaround you, or at least you
(05:05):
don't think you do, or you'refocused your attention is on the
things you can't impact, whichthen causes you to feel
powerless, which then thinkabout all the emotions attached
to that.
So we decided over the courseof multiple years, my business
partners and I, along with theteam that we've assembled around
(05:25):
us, to create a course to notjust teach accountability like
that that was awesome for ourcombined 50 years of doing that
and then we wanted to teach howto be powerful in all aspects of
your life, and so power in 30is the third course.
The fourth course is aroundscaling an organization, making
(05:48):
decisions in a way that buildstrust, and it is one of the most
common challenges we see inorganizations their ability to
scale decision making.
So we're great at delegatingtasks all day long, but you want
me to delegate decisions tosomebody down the org chart.
Oh no, that's a whole differentcan of worms.
(06:10):
I'm not sure I'm comfortabledoing that.
Now I can complain about allthe people below me on the org
chart that aren't takinginitiative to make decisions and
why I'm the one I can complainabout them escalating things to
my level of the organization allday long.
But then when I go and I talkto those lower level managers or
supervisors, you know what theysay.
We've done this so many times.
You all our career is made upof these meetings.
(06:32):
You get down to the lower level.
What they say is those seniorexecutives complain about us not
making decisions.
But we got so much fear downhere that we're going to make
the wrong decisions.
We do not feel empowered tomake decisions.
So we created a course aroundthe framework, not a new
framework.
We've been teaching it for gosh12, 13, 14 years.
(06:52):
Now it's on the wall ofconference rooms of numerous
organizations that we consult,especially the fastest growing
ones of those organizations.
We call that course Decide in30.
You get the commonality, ourproprietary method of teaching,
of training.
These are.
You know it's so often we getinto this leadership development
(07:13):
space.
We interact with those folks,amazing professionals, who make
their living in the HR or L&Dlearning and development space,
and they have these year-long ortwo-year-long curriculum on
teaching leaders, developingleaders, and the reality is the
leader doesn't have that long toimprove or grow, and the
executives that they report intoneed production Now.
(07:34):
They need execution yesterday,and so hence the 30 day.
It should not take you a year,six months, three months, a year
and a half in order to furtherdevelop leaders.
You can do it in 30 days.
So lead in 30 was thefoundation.
That's what we've taught forthe last three or four years,
and then these models andframeworks that we've developed
(07:55):
over the years and theconsulting side of our business.
We have finally built thecurriculum around them in order
to teach them in courses.
You've got any interest in that, by the way?
Go to lonerockio or directmessage me or anybody on our
team and uh, and we'll get youthe details.
We had, uh, we unveiled these,rolled them out at a uh
(08:16):
executive summit we had here inscottsdale, in the scottsdale
area, in when was that?
One month, january, I thinkjanuary.
You guys, it's all a blur.
Can you believe?
Like how much of the yearsalready come by.
It's insane and um, it was latejanuary, early february I think
.
Late january we unveiled themand the response was um was more
(08:37):
than we anticipated theappetite for these, and so now
we're just rolling them out tothe masses, those four courses.
Okay, here's what I want to talkabout in this episode division.
Now, this exists in societyaround us, right, and it's just
one of the major issues, one ofthe major plagues, problems,
(08:57):
challenges, diseases of our time.
Is this lack of unity of ourtime.
Is this lack of unity?
Somehow we've gotten ourselvesinto this trench, this position,
where you have to lose in orderfor me to win.
Our politicians are absolutelyinfected and our leaders all
(09:20):
around us, this us versus them,now that mentalities are always
existed, but the us was broader.
We keep narrowing this us, sojust so narrow that there are so
many of them's now, if you will, that it's us against everybody
and I need you to lose in orderfor me to win.
(09:43):
And the, the, the amount of umvindictiveness, the amount of um
anger, uh, and and justbitterness around it is so
intense, and and so you start tostudy this and you start to
think about it and and if it'salways going to be that way or
get worse, or or why it's thatway, and there's a lot that you
(10:05):
could do there.
I spent a fun I don't know howlong it was multiple occasions,
just on some of the AI toolsthat I love digging into is am I
making this up?
Did society used to bedifferent or has this gotten
worse?
And what the AI engines told me?
The more and more data, worse.
And what the AI engines told methe more, more and more data,
(10:27):
the more and more researchpapers and more and more uh
stories.
It gave me it's it.
It concluded that it's muchworse now than it has been.
You can take position, aposition against that um opinion
, um, and you'll be wrong.
I'm just kidding, um man.
I just don't think you'll finddata to back yourself up.
(10:49):
There's always been an usversus them, but the us was
broader.
You could argue, and I startedto think about this one day when
I was contemplating just howmuch this infects our society,
how much it bothers me and howmany voices are out there
monetizing the bitternessagainst others.
(11:11):
There's a lot of money.
There's a lot of money to bemade in me convincing you that
he, she, they are the enemy andthat you need to vote for me,
you need to contribute to me,you need to rally for me, you
need to contribute to me, youneed to rally for me.
(11:31):
There's a lot of money that Icould make for a long period of
time If I can get enough peopleto believe that I am their
protector, I am their defenderand that those people out there
are the enemy.
Now let's take this intobusiness, because this is not a
political podcast, it's not asocietal podcast.
We're interested in leadingteams, and so that's where I'd
(11:53):
make the connection toorganizations, the organizations
that we are leaders in, all ofus, in all different shapes and
forms and different positionsand different industries and
different geography.
We got people listening to thispodcast all over the world,
working in all kinds ofindustries, at all levels of the
York chart, at all stages oftheir career, and I can just
(12:19):
tell you that, ever since I gotinvolved in the consulting space
, one of the most frequentissues, challenges that we have
run up against, and organizationafter organization, is
summarized by the word silo,summarized by the description of
a lack of one team mentality.
So, when you start to reallythink about it, what the issues
(12:43):
we see in our company, in ourorganization, so often parallel
what we see in society.
Now we don't have hopefully wedon't have the same amount of
bitterness, the same amount ofvitriol in our organizations as
it pertains to us versus them,as exists in the political
(13:04):
sphere, but it still exists, andso I want to talk about why
this exists.
And then I want to get you, Iwant to get you thinking about a
few ways that are actually notthat complicated to solve this.
There are some things that youcould be doing more actively in
order to solve this.
Okay, so you start to thinkabout what defines a team, and
(13:26):
what defines a team really comesdown to that.
A team and what defines a teamreally comes down to that.
You could, you could, you couldlist multiple things, but it
really comes down to two, twothings.
Number one is a common desiredoutcome or a common desired
purpose, right, so that commonpurpose or outcome makes a team.
(13:50):
Another thing that makes a teamis a common threat, a common
enemy.
That makes a team Interestingto think about that.
I want you to think about thatas it pertains to society and as
it pertains to the us's versusthem's that you're a part of,
(14:15):
and I would even add maybe athird one in that's connected to
these two others, which is acommon mindset, that, or
worldview or perspective, thatone's not as critical because
it's tied to purpose and desiredoutcome.
Let me give you a few examples.
So I associate with specificgroups.
(14:36):
There aren't very many that Iassociate with, but I associate
with them.
So let me kind of go through afew different examples to get
you thinking, because you do tooright.
Some of you, when I say it is aspecific group that you
associate with, you immediatelygo to politics.
I don't, because there is nopolitical party that I have been
(14:59):
able to find in my lifetimethat represents my worldview and
that represents a group ofpeople who I feel are actually
driven by purpose.
I think that they exist formoments of time, but then I
think most of their leaders thisis just my view, you could
think very differently.
I think that there's so muchself-interest that I'm not
(15:22):
really sure what that person issaying in that podcast or on
that television interview or atthat political rally really
believes what they're saying.
There are exceptions, butthey're few in my opinion.
I think that as long as whatthey're saying generates more
donations, generates more energy, generates more frustration,
(15:46):
riles up their base, so to speak, then they'll say it.
But so often I'm old enough nowto have seen politicians change
their views radically, partiesto change their views radically,
and working in the media andbehind the scenes chatting with
politicians having access, thatwas unusual for most civilians.
(16:11):
I would notice that a certainpolitician would deliver this
speech about, let's say,immigration on the stage.
This is years ago when I workedin media.
Immigration is not a new issue,it's been around my entire life
, and so there were politiciansI'd cover a speech on stage and
then you would talk to that samepolitician backstage or get
(16:33):
them in a casual environment andyou'd realize that the lines
they were delivering on stage,with that incredible emotion and
passion, they didn't actuallyhold.
The same thing I would noticeabout well-known media
personalities on very famouscable networks.
I got to meet some of thesefolks at events when I was in
(16:54):
the media business and backstage, so to speak, and they were
different.
They were different backstagethan they were on stage.
I could share so many examples,you all, even from recent.
I was listening to an interview, actually a monologue, by
somebody recently who's wellknown, and he was talking about
(17:15):
meeting somebody who he hadadamant political disagreements
with and he actually finally metthis person in person a few
within the last few weeks at thetime I'm recording this and he
said he was totally a differenthuman being.
The person on TV was not theperson he met.
Like, yes, that's because thenice, generous, kind individual
(17:40):
doesn't generate dollars, anyway.
So when I say groups that weassociate with, many of you
think political parties.
You're a Democrat, you're aliberal, you're a conservative,
you're a Republican, you're anindependent, whatever, okay,
depending on what country you'rein Others of you you think
about religion.
This is a group I do associatewith.
I happen to be Christian, Ihappen to belong to a specific
(18:04):
faith, the Church of JesusChrist of Latter-day Saints, and
we are a very tight-knitcommunity.
There are people who adamantlydisagree with our theology and
doctrine, and that's fine.
I adamantly disagree with themand I think they're wonderful
people, right, it's awesome wecan disagree.
It's amazing and we can stillhave high amounts of respect for
(18:24):
each other.
But so, but I associate withthat group of people that are
trying to be.
In fact, I go to church everySunday.
I am very active in my faith.
Why?
Because I want closeassociation with people who
proclaim to be disciples ofJesus Christ.
(18:46):
Again, I don't care what yourreligion is or no religion, or
doesn't matter Right, but I havefound in multiple decades of
living on this earth that thereis a benefit maybe not for you,
but for me in associating withlike-minded individuals in that
space.
Now I know that there arethings that they believe and we
(19:07):
believe and I believe that maybearen't right.
Maybe we'll get on the otherside if there is another side
and find out jokes on us.
Okay, that's okay.
So I know it's not a perfectgroup, I know it's got whatever,
but this association with thisgroup has made my life
measurably better.
(19:28):
Right, it has made the lives ofmy four children measurably
better.
You can argue with that, youcan debate, you could see it
differently Awesome.
So that's a group I associatewith.
I associate with, I try toassociate with groups of people
who are successful, my circle offriends.
(19:48):
My kids would say, dad, youhave friends A few and they are
driven.
They are businessmen and womenwho tend to be successful.
I don't tend to do well aroundpeople who are victims, who are
entitled, who are waiting for ahandout, who view life as having
(20:13):
been wrong to them?
I don't.
I just don't find it to bepleasurable, I don't find it to
add to.
So I associate.
That's more of a looseassociation, right, but that's
driven me.
In my line of work.
I get access to theseincredibly successful executives
.
These are people who are driven.
(20:34):
They don't tolerate me in theircompany If I waste their time.
They don't pay for the servicesthat our firm offers If they
view like it is not helping themor their teams.
So I associate with that group,okay, or their teams, so I
associate with that group, okay.
(20:54):
So we associate with like-mindedgroups, common purposes, and
it's interesting to think abouteach one of these groups and the
enemies.
So, if you think about thereligious group that I associate
with, we do have a common enemywe believe in.
You know evil influences andSatan and whatever, however you
want to term that, and thatthere's actual temptation and
(21:14):
evil forces in the world.
You may roll your eyes at thatand be like, oh my gosh, I can't
believe.
We bought into it.
I have bought into it.
I think there's right andthere's wrong.
I think there's good and bad.
I think these are forces thatare at odds and at war against
each other, and I feel the pull,the drag, the urge to respond
(21:36):
to both of those calls, if youwill.
So I share a common threat withit.
So let's go back to the businessor organizational impact.
Who's the enemy in yourorganization, who's the common
threat?
And I will tell you what youcommonly hear in organizations
that have cultural problems orwhere there are massive silos,
(21:59):
or where we're not functioningas one team, do you know who the
enemy is?
And that's too strong of a word.
It's not enemy, but a thread orthe them is.
It's the other department, it'sthat other leader, it's that,
(22:20):
uh, it's internal, it's internal.
And then what do you hear?
In organizations that areunified, the threat is out there
and the threat is for a healthcare, it's illness, it's disease
, it's certain conditions thatwe're battling In our
(22:41):
organization, the firm.
Let me give you a few thingsthat unify us.
The common threat we face areuneducated, untrained,
underdeveloped leaders andmanagers.
Untrained, underdevelopedleaders and managers.
They threaten the organizationsthat they work at.
They are a liability, not onpurpose, not intentionally, but
(23:02):
they're holding the organizationback.
The organization that wastestime and money on training their
employees or their managers ononly things like regulations and
compliance and basic skills howto make a pizza, how to run
that machinery in the factory,how to do this.
(23:23):
They only train on that andthen they put them out there and
have them lead the most complex, the most difficult aspect of
their job called people, andthey don't help them with how to
do that.
Those organizations are gettingleft behind.
(23:44):
The underdeveloped leader was mewhen I was early in my career.
That's why my employeeengagement scores were a
disaster.
I didn't know better.
I hadn't even thought about theway you lead, how you lead
people.
I thought it was all about whatyou deliver and I was
(24:06):
exceptional.
Sorry, it's true, I was drivenby that Scrappy and dedicated
and committed to deliver results.
I just didn't know until I wasdriven by that scrappy and
dedicated and committed todeliver results.
I just didn't know until I wasdeveloped, until I was trained
in how to lead people in a waythat they felt good about, that
(24:26):
caused them to become loyal,that caused them to take
ownership and accountability andto buy in and to want to.
How to create a purpose thesethings I'm talking about.
So so many of you are inorganizations where we have not
defined and we're not talkingfrequently about the common
(24:50):
purpose In our organization.
The purpose of our company isnot to drive top line revenue.
It is a key result.
That is an important KPI for us.
We are not nonprofit and sorevenue matters.
Growth matters to us immensely,but it's not the foundation.
(25:11):
The foundation is developingleaders.
It's why we exist, it's whatgets us up in the morning, it's
what fuels us, it's what causesus to constantly be iterating on
new frameworks and models andanalyzing the data and looking
at our own experiences andreally listening to our clients
and studying the trends that arehappening across changing
(25:33):
workplaces, because how can webetter develop leaders?
It's what caused this whole in30 course Like well, what are
the frustrations companies areexperiencing?
It's taken too long to trainleaders.
What are the core areas?
They need to develop?
These four areas.
We'll leave the rest foreverybody else.
They can sell their 2000courses and whatever else and
(25:55):
that'll be awesome.
We'll focus on thesefundamental areas that actually
drive business outcomes andwe'll go on that.
That's our purpose.
I've defined for you the enemy.
It's the organization, the badleader, the toxic leader, the
ineffective leader.
So what is it for you?
So I'd ask you to define twothings.
(26:15):
This is what creates unity andreduces division.
What's your common purpose?
Why should people be excited toget out of bed?
Why should they not be?
Why should they be anxious toget in?
How often do you talk about it?
How do you define it in asuccinct way?
It can't be growth, it can't berevenue, it can't be.
(26:39):
It's got to be purpose-driven.
So what is it?
For some of you, it's supereasy to come up with.
For others of you, you're likewell, I got to really think
about that.
Well, you need to define it.
That's what unifies us.
When you speak to that, I haveto constantly remind myself,
(27:00):
russ, don't lead with just thekey results in the meetings of
our team.
Talk about the purpose, why weexist, share stories of where
we're having an impact in that.
So, and then the common threatand it needs to be out there.
And how often are you talkingabout it?
What we're up against, why wedo what we do, what we're trying
to defeat.
What's the problem we're outthere trying to solve, what
(27:21):
motivates us, what excites us?
And then key results.
You guys know I talk about thisso much.
But having shared metrics whenthe sales team has one set of
goals and nothing above that,and the marketing team has
another set, and the productionor innovation or research and
development or whatever, hasanother set, and then HR has
another set, and then financehas these other sets and they're
(27:44):
all up against each other.
Then you develop this division,this us versus them mentality,
because we're measuring successby this and you're a threat to
that.
And so that top line, top ofthe house, enterprise, wide set
of key results is so criticaland and you, so you just,
(28:04):
wherever, whatever level you'reat in the org chart, you, that's
what you can control.
And so you make sure that theteam underneath you, whether
that's one team of five peopleor whether it's 25 teams of 50
people each, you think how do Iunify them?
Well, I've given you some ideasand it's uh, it's interesting
to think about.
I wish somebody in society wouldrally around this, but the
(28:27):
challenge is that, um, well,they're all.
That's another podcast, that'sanother, that's another um genre
of podcast.
I don't have a lot of optimismthat's going to be solved.
The thing that typically bringsus together are when evil or
threats that exist against usare successful in at least
(28:50):
occasionally rearing their uglyhead, in at least occasionally
rearing their ugly head and then, for a moment, we're unified
because we have identified thethreat that is common for all of
us and we seek to defeat it.
And then, typically within days, unfortunately, or weeks, we
forget about that and we argueabout so much and it creates
(29:10):
nothing but bitterness andchallenges when unity is such
the better way to go.
So, anyway, we can't solve allthat, but we can solve what
exists in our organizations.
I've given you some things tothink about and I'll talk to you
in the next episode of the Leadin 30 podcast.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Share this episode with a colleague, your team or a
friend.
Tap on the share button andtext the link.
Thanks for listening to theLead in 30 podcast with Russ
Hill.
Division.
It's one of our biggest issuesin society, right?
So much division, and it'sinteresting to think about how
that also exists at the sametime inside so many of our
companies.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
This is the Lead in 30 podcast with Russ Hill.
You cannot be serious.
Strengthen your ability to leadin less than 30 minutes.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
You're listening to Lead in minutes.
Where have you been?
For those of you that listen tothis podcast on a regular basis
, which is nobody recently,because somebody has been MIA
yeah, that's me.
You know what Intentions are sogood, aren't they?
(00:46):
And yet they don't reallymatter at the end of the day.
It matters on what we actuallydo, and I'm I'm guilty of the
podcast not being prioritized asmuch as I would have wanted it
to be this last little while.
Um.
So for those of you who areregular listeners, uh, don't
worry, I'm back in the routine,back in the habit.
I didn't want to put outanother episode until I could
(01:07):
fully commit to doing that.
And we're back.
We're back on track.
So you will notice, if youlisten carefully or have the
volume turned up too much, thatI've got a little bit of a
nasally sound battling just inthe last stages of a cold that
I'm fighting, and so forgive mefor that.
Hopefully you won't notice.
(01:28):
Hardly at all.
All right, welcome into thelead in 30 podcast in less than
30 minutes, and each episode wegive you something to think
about, a framework, a model, abest practices, story and
experience, something for you toconsider incorporating in the
way that you lead, because theway that you lead, your
leadership ability, cannot bestagnant.
(01:49):
It can't be stationary, becausethe world out there is not,
it's constantly like.
Has anyone noticed any changesin, like the last 48 hours, the
last at the time that we'reputting this out, the last week
or two?
Anybody heard of the wordtariff at the time that we're
putting this out.
There are so many changes, good, bad, indifferent, doesn't
(02:12):
matter.
You can debate that all daylong.
You can be upset, frustrated,ticked off, angry, bitter at
changes happening around you,and the reality is we control so
few of them and so we just haveto learn how to adapt.
It's that resiliency word thatwe hear so often, right?
(02:33):
So we're going to.
We're going to dig into onething that's been on my mind as
it as it impacts leadershipability.
Here in a moment.
Just a quick introduction.
Russ Hill, I make my livingcoaching, consulting senior
executive teams at some of theworld's biggest companies.
Lone Rock Leadership is thename of our organization.
Two sides to it, two parts toit.
(02:53):
One is an executive teamconsulting firm.
We've been doing that for along, long time and on the other
side is a leadership trainingcompany we now have.
We now have four courses.
We used to have one, which isthe name of this podcast, lead
in 30, which teaches thefoundational aspects of
(03:15):
effective leadership that scales, clarity, alignment, movement.
They're just the core ofeffective leadership, but they
aren't the only thing that youneed to know in order to be an
effective leader.
And so now we have we've beenso hard at work, you all, in
launching three additionalcourses.
They are called adapt in 30.
(03:35):
It's built around something wecall change OS, the change
operating system.
So many organizations get stuckmorning change when what you
really need is to adapt and youneed to quit being reactionary
and be proactive, leaning intothe future rather than resisting
it.
So if you can change themindset of the leaders in your
(03:59):
organization, get them to leaninto change and innovate, be
proactive rather thanreactionary, you have a massive
competitive advantage.
Lead in 30, adapt in 30, two ofthe courses.
The third one is called PowerPower in 30.
And that's the.
You know.
We spent the my partners,business partners and I, the
(04:21):
three co-founders of our firm.
We spent a combined 50 yearsteaching accountability,
frameworks and models that weare passionate about.
They are amazing, and yet wefelt like something was missing.
It wasn't just that.
You wanted to be accountable,like successful people aren't
just accountable, avoiding theexcuse trap, what we call the
(04:41):
excuse trap.
They don't just do that, theymake a choice to show up
powerful, and there's nothingthat's more debilitating,
anything that's more paralyzingthan this feeling of
powerlessness.
Feeling powerless, you justwant to surrender because you
don't have control on the thingsaround you, or at least you
(05:05):
don't think you do, or you'refocused your attention is on the
things you can't impact, whichthen causes you to feel
powerless, which then thinkabout all the emotions attached
to that.
So we decided over the courseof multiple years, my business
partners and I, along with theteam that we've assembled around
(05:25):
us, to create a course to notjust teach accountability like
that that was awesome for ourcombined 50 years of doing that
and then we wanted to teach howto be powerful in all aspects of
your life, and so power in 30is the third course.
The fourth course is aroundscaling an organization, making
(05:48):
decisions in a way that buildstrust, and it is one of the most
common challenges we see inorganizations their ability to
scale decision making.
So we're great at delegatingtasks all day long, but you want
me to delegate decisions tosomebody down the org chart.
Oh no, that's a whole differentcan of worms.
(06:10):
I'm not sure I'm comfortabledoing that.
Now I can complain about allthe people below me on the org
chart that aren't takinginitiative to make decisions and
why I'm the one I can complainabout them escalating things to
my level of the organization allday long.
But then when I go and I talkto those lower level managers or
supervisors, you know what theysay.
We've done this so many times.
You all our career is made upof these meetings.
(06:32):
You get down to the lower level.
What they say is those seniorexecutives complain about us not
making decisions.
But we got so much fear downhere that we're going to make
the wrong decisions.
We do not feel empowered tomake decisions.
So we created a course aroundthe framework, not a new
framework.
We've been teaching it for gosh12, 13, 14 years.
(06:52):
Now it's on the wall ofconference rooms of numerous
organizations that we consult,especially the fastest growing
ones of those organizations.
We call that course Decide in30.
You get the commonality, ourproprietary method of teaching,
of training.
These are.
You know it's so often we getinto this leadership development
(07:13):
space.
We interact with those folks,amazing professionals, who make
their living in the HR or L&Dlearning and development space,
and they have these year-long ortwo-year-long curriculum on
teaching leaders, developingleaders, and the reality is the
leader doesn't have that long toimprove or grow, and the
executives that they report intoneed production Now.
(07:34):
They need execution yesterday,and so hence the 30 day.
It should not take you a year,six months, three months, a year
and a half in order to furtherdevelop leaders.
You can do it in 30 days.
So lead in 30 was thefoundation.
That's what we've taught forthe last three or four years,
and then these models andframeworks that we've developed
(07:55):
over the years and theconsulting side of our business.
We have finally built thecurriculum around them in order
to teach them in courses.
You've got any interest in that, by the way?
Go to lonerockio or directmessage me or anybody on our
team and uh, and we'll get youthe details.
We had, uh, we unveiled these,rolled them out at a uh
(08:16):
executive summit we had here inscottsdale, in the scottsdale
area, in when was that?
One month, january, I thinkjanuary.
You guys, it's all a blur.
Can you believe?
Like how much of the yearsalready come by.
It's insane and um, it was latejanuary, early february I think
.
Late january we unveiled themand the response was um was more
(08:37):
than we anticipated theappetite for these, and so now
we're just rolling them out tothe masses, those four courses.
Okay, here's what I want to talkabout in this episode division.
Now, this exists in societyaround us, right, and it's just
one of the major issues, one ofthe major plagues, problems,
(08:57):
challenges, diseases of our time.
Is this lack of unity of ourtime.
Is this lack of unity?
Somehow we've gotten ourselvesinto this trench, this position,
where you have to lose in orderfor me to win.
Our politicians are absolutelyinfected and our leaders all
(09:20):
around us, this us versus them,now that mentalities are always
existed, but the us was broader.
We keep narrowing this us, sojust so narrow that there are so
many of them's now, if you will, that it's us against everybody
and I need you to lose in orderfor me to win.
(09:43):
And the, the, the amount of umvindictiveness, the amount of um
anger, uh, and and justbitterness around it is so
intense, and and so you start tostudy this and you start to
think about it and and if it'salways going to be that way or
get worse, or or why it's thatway, and there's a lot that you
(10:05):
could do there.
I spent a fun I don't know howlong it was multiple occasions,
just on some of the AI toolsthat I love digging into is am I
making this up?
Did society used to bedifferent or has this gotten
worse?
And what the AI engines told me?
The more and more data, worse.
And what the AI engines told methe more, more and more data,
(10:27):
the more and more researchpapers and more and more uh
stories.
It gave me it's it.
It concluded that it's muchworse now than it has been.
You can take position, aposition against that um opinion
, um, and you'll be wrong.
I'm just kidding, um man.
I just don't think you'll finddata to back yourself up.
(10:49):
There's always been an usversus them, but the us was
broader.
You could argue, and I startedto think about this one day when
I was contemplating just howmuch this infects our society,
how much it bothers me and howmany voices are out there
monetizing the bitternessagainst others.
(11:11):
There's a lot of money.
There's a lot of money to bemade in me convincing you that
he, she, they are the enemy andthat you need to vote for me,
you need to contribute to me,you need to rally for me, you
need to contribute to me, youneed to rally for me.
(11:31):
There's a lot of money that Icould make for a long period of
time If I can get enough peopleto believe that I am their
protector, I am their defenderand that those people out there
are the enemy.
Now let's take this intobusiness, because this is not a
political podcast, it's not asocietal podcast.
We're interested in leadingteams, and so that's where I'd
(11:53):
make the connection toorganizations, the organizations
that we are leaders in, all ofus, in all different shapes and
forms and different positionsand different industries and
different geography.
We got people listening to thispodcast all over the world,
working in all kinds ofindustries, at all levels of the
York chart, at all stages oftheir career, and I can just
(12:19):
tell you that, ever since I gotinvolved in the consulting space
, one of the most frequentissues, challenges that we have
run up against, and organizationafter organization, is
summarized by the word silo,summarized by the description of
a lack of one team mentality.
So, when you start to reallythink about it, what the issues
(12:43):
we see in our company, in ourorganization, so often parallel
what we see in society.
Now we don't have hopefully wedon't have the same amount of
bitterness, the same amount ofvitriol in our organizations as
it pertains to us versus them,as exists in the political
(13:04):
sphere, but it still exists, andso I want to talk about why
this exists.
And then I want to get you, Iwant to get you thinking about a
few ways that are actually notthat complicated to solve this.
There are some things that youcould be doing more actively in
order to solve this.
Okay, so you start to thinkabout what defines a team, and
(13:26):
what defines a team really comesdown to that.
A team and what defines a teamreally comes down to that.
You could, you could, you couldlist multiple things, but it
really comes down to two, twothings.
Number one is a common desiredoutcome or a common desired
purpose, right, so that commonpurpose or outcome makes a team.
(13:50):
Another thing that makes a teamis a common threat, a common
enemy.
That makes a team Interestingto think about that.
I want you to think about thatas it pertains to society and as
it pertains to the us's versusthem's that you're a part of,
(14:15):
and I would even add maybe athird one in that's connected to
these two others, which is acommon mindset, that, or
worldview or perspective, thatone's not as critical because
it's tied to purpose and desiredoutcome.
Let me give you a few examples.
So I associate with specificgroups.
(14:36):
There aren't very many that Iassociate with, but I associate
with them.
So let me kind of go through afew different examples to get
you thinking, because you do tooright.
Some of you, when I say it is aspecific group that you
associate with, you immediatelygo to politics.
I don't, because there is nopolitical party that I have been
(14:59):
able to find in my lifetimethat represents my worldview and
that represents a group ofpeople who I feel are actually
driven by purpose.
I think that they exist formoments of time, but then I
think most of their leaders thisis just my view, you could
think very differently.
I think that there's so muchself-interest that I'm not
(15:22):
really sure what that person issaying in that podcast or on
that television interview or atthat political rally really
believes what they're saying.
There are exceptions, butthey're few in my opinion.
I think that as long as whatthey're saying generates more
donations, generates more energy, generates more frustration,
(15:46):
riles up their base, so to speak, then they'll say it.
But so often I'm old enough nowto have seen politicians change
their views radically, partiesto change their views radically,
and working in the media andbehind the scenes chatting with
politicians having access, thatwas unusual for most civilians.
(16:11):
I would notice that a certainpolitician would deliver this
speech about, let's say,immigration on the stage.
This is years ago when I workedin media.
Immigration is not a new issue,it's been around my entire life
, and so there were politiciansI'd cover a speech on stage and
then you would talk to that samepolitician backstage or get
(16:33):
them in a casual environment andyou'd realize that the lines
they were delivering on stage,with that incredible emotion and
passion, they didn't actuallyhold.
The same thing I would noticeabout well-known media
personalities on very famouscable networks.
I got to meet some of thesefolks at events when I was in
(16:54):
the media business and backstage, so to speak, and they were
different.
They were different backstagethan they were on stage.
I could share so many examples,you all, even from recent.
I was listening to an interview, actually a monologue, by
somebody recently who's wellknown, and he was talking about
(17:15):
meeting somebody who he hadadamant political disagreements
with and he actually finally metthis person in person a few
within the last few weeks at thetime I'm recording this and he
said he was totally a differenthuman being.
The person on TV was not theperson he met.
Like, yes, that's because thenice, generous, kind individual
(17:40):
doesn't generate dollars, anyway.
So when I say groups that weassociate with, many of you
think political parties.
You're a Democrat, you're aliberal, you're a conservative,
you're a Republican, you're anindependent, whatever, okay,
depending on what country you'rein Others of you you think
about religion.
This is a group I do associatewith.
I happen to be Christian, Ihappen to belong to a specific
(18:04):
faith, the Church of JesusChrist of Latter-day Saints, and
we are a very tight-knitcommunity.
There are people who adamantlydisagree with our theology and
doctrine, and that's fine.
I adamantly disagree with themand I think they're wonderful
people, right, it's awesome wecan disagree.
It's amazing and we can stillhave high amounts of respect for
(18:24):
each other.
But so, but I associate withthat group of people that are
trying to be.
In fact, I go to church everySunday.
I am very active in my faith.
Why?
Because I want closeassociation with people who
proclaim to be disciples ofJesus Christ.
(18:46):
Again, I don't care what yourreligion is or no religion, or
doesn't matter Right, but I havefound in multiple decades of
living on this earth that thereis a benefit maybe not for you,
but for me in associating withlike-minded individuals in that
space.
Now I know that there arethings that they believe and we
(19:07):
believe and I believe that maybearen't right.
Maybe we'll get on the otherside if there is another side
and find out jokes on us.
Okay, that's okay.
So I know it's not a perfectgroup, I know it's got whatever,
but this association with thisgroup has made my life
measurably better.
(19:28):
Right, it has made the lives ofmy four children measurably
better.
You can argue with that, youcan debate, you could see it
differently Awesome.
So that's a group I associatewith.
I associate with, I try toassociate with groups of people
who are successful, my circle offriends.
(19:48):
My kids would say, dad, youhave friends A few and they are
driven.
They are businessmen and womenwho tend to be successful.
I don't tend to do well aroundpeople who are victims, who are
entitled, who are waiting for ahandout, who view life as having
(20:13):
been wrong to them?
I don't.
I just don't find it to bepleasurable, I don't find it to
add to.
So I associate.
That's more of a looseassociation, right, but that's
driven me.
In my line of work.
I get access to theseincredibly successful executives
.
These are people who are driven.
(20:34):
They don't tolerate me in theircompany If I waste their time.
They don't pay for the servicesthat our firm offers If they
view like it is not helping themor their teams.
So I associate with that group,okay, or their teams, so I
associate with that group, okay.
(20:54):
So we associate with like-mindedgroups, common purposes, and
it's interesting to think abouteach one of these groups and the
enemies.
So, if you think about thereligious group that I associate
with, we do have a common enemywe believe in.
You know evil influences andSatan and whatever, however you
want to term that, and thatthere's actual temptation and
(21:14):
evil forces in the world.
You may roll your eyes at thatand be like, oh my gosh, I can't
believe.
We bought into it.
I have bought into it.
I think there's right andthere's wrong.
I think there's good and bad.
I think these are forces thatare at odds and at war against
each other, and I feel the pull,the drag, the urge to respond
(21:36):
to both of those calls, if youwill.
So I share a common threat withit.
So let's go back to the businessor organizational impact.
Who's the enemy in yourorganization, who's the common
threat?
And I will tell you what youcommonly hear in organizations
that have cultural problems orwhere there are massive silos,
(21:59):
or where we're not functioningas one team, do you know who the
enemy is?
And that's too strong of a word.
It's not enemy, but a thread orthe them is.
It's the other department, it'sthat other leader, it's that,
(22:20):
uh, it's internal, it's internal.
And then what do you hear?
In organizations that areunified, the threat is out there
and the threat is for a healthcare, it's illness, it's disease
, it's certain conditions thatwe're battling In our
(22:41):
organization, the firm.
Let me give you a few thingsthat unify us.
The common threat we face areuneducated, untrained,
underdeveloped leaders andmanagers.
Untrained, underdevelopedleaders and managers.
They threaten the organizationsthat they work at.
They are a liability, not onpurpose, not intentionally, but
(23:02):
they're holding the organizationback.
The organization that wastestime and money on training their
employees or their managers ononly things like regulations and
compliance and basic skills howto make a pizza, how to run
that machinery in the factory,how to do this.
(23:23):
They only train on that andthen they put them out there and
have them lead the most complex, the most difficult aspect of
their job called people, andthey don't help them with how to
do that.
Those organizations are gettingleft behind.
(23:44):
The underdeveloped leader was mewhen I was early in my career.
That's why my employeeengagement scores were a
disaster.
I didn't know better.
I hadn't even thought about theway you lead, how you lead
people.
I thought it was all about whatyou deliver and I was
(24:06):
exceptional.
Sorry, it's true, I was drivenby that Scrappy and dedicated
and committed to deliver results.
I just didn't know until I wasdriven by that scrappy and
dedicated and committed todeliver results.
I just didn't know until I wasdeveloped, until I was trained
in how to lead people in a waythat they felt good about, that
(24:26):
caused them to become loyal,that caused them to take
ownership and accountability andto buy in and to want to.
How to create a purpose thesethings I'm talking about.
So so many of you are inorganizations where we have not
defined and we're not talkingfrequently about the common
(24:50):
purpose In our organization.
The purpose of our company isnot to drive top line revenue.
It is a key result.
That is an important KPI for us.
We are not nonprofit and sorevenue matters.
Growth matters to us immensely,but it's not the foundation.
(25:11):
The foundation is developingleaders.
It's why we exist, it's whatgets us up in the morning, it's
what fuels us, it's what causesus to constantly be iterating on
new frameworks and models andanalyzing the data and looking
at our own experiences andreally listening to our clients
and studying the trends that arehappening across changing
(25:33):
workplaces, because how can webetter develop leaders?
It's what caused this whole in30 course Like well, what are
the frustrations companies areexperiencing?
It's taken too long to trainleaders.
What are the core areas?
They need to develop?
These four areas.
We'll leave the rest foreverybody else.
They can sell their 2000courses and whatever else and
(25:55):
that'll be awesome.
We'll focus on thesefundamental areas that actually
drive business outcomes andwe'll go on that.
That's our purpose.
I've defined for you the enemy.
It's the organization, the badleader, the toxic leader, the
ineffective leader.
So what is it for you?
So I'd ask you to define twothings.
(26:15):
This is what creates unity andreduces division.
What's your common purpose?
Why should people be excited toget out of bed?
Why should they not be?
Why should they be anxious toget in?
How often do you talk about it?
How do you define it in asuccinct way?
It can't be growth, it can't berevenue, it can't be.
(26:39):
It's got to be purpose-driven.
So what is it?
For some of you, it's supereasy to come up with.
For others of you, you're likewell, I got to really think
about that.
Well, you need to define it.
That's what unifies us.
When you speak to that, I haveto constantly remind myself,
(27:00):
russ, don't lead with just thekey results in the meetings of
our team.
Talk about the purpose, why weexist, share stories of where
we're having an impact in that.
So, and then the common threatand it needs to be out there.
And how often are you talkingabout it?
What we're up against, why wedo what we do, what we're trying
to defeat.
What's the problem we're outthere trying to solve, what
(27:21):
motivates us, what excites us?
And then key results.
You guys know I talk about thisso much.
But having shared metrics whenthe sales team has one set of
goals and nothing above that,and the marketing team has
another set, and the productionor innovation or research and
development or whatever, hasanother set, and then HR has
another set, and then financehas these other sets and they're
(27:44):
all up against each other.
Then you develop this division,this us versus them mentality,
because we're measuring successby this and you're a threat to
that.
And so that top line, top ofthe house, enterprise, wide set
of key results is so criticaland and you, so you just,
(28:04):
wherever, whatever level you'reat in the org chart, you, that's
what you can control.
And so you make sure that theteam underneath you, whether
that's one team of five peopleor whether it's 25 teams of 50
people each, you think how do Iunify them?
Well, I've given you some ideasand it's uh, it's interesting
to think about.
I wish somebody in society wouldrally around this, but the
(28:27):
challenge is that, um, well,they're all.
That's another podcast, that'sanother, that's another um genre
of podcast.
I don't have a lot of optimismthat's going to be solved.
The thing that typically bringsus together are when evil or
threats that exist against usare successful in at least
(28:50):
occasionally rearing their uglyhead, in at least occasionally
rearing their ugly head and then, for a moment, we're unified
because we have identified thethreat that is common for all of
us and we seek to defeat it.
And then, typically within days, unfortunately, or weeks, we
forget about that and we argueabout so much and it creates
(29:10):
nothing but bitterness andchallenges when unity is such
the better way to go.
So, anyway, we can't solve allthat, but we can solve what
exists in our organizations.
I've given you some things tothink about and I'll talk to you
in the next episode of the Leadin 30 podcast.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Share this episode with a colleague, your team or a
friend.
Tap on the share button andtext the link.
Thanks for listening to theLead in 30 podcast with Russ
Hill.
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