Status Quo Is Not Company Policy, With David Naylor

David Naylor co-authored a book about Rayburn Electric Cooperative with a focus on how the cooperative realigned its core values to push for innovation throughout the organization.

The book is available on Amazon, https://a.co/d/dYuErZ0.

Episode Transcript

Intro: A production of Pioneer Utility Resources. (00:05):
undefined
StoryConnect, helping communicators discover ideas to shapetheir stories and connect with their customers.

Andy Johns: What are some tools to fight the fight about doing the way things have always been? (00:16):
undefined
That's what we'll be talking about on this episode of The StoryConnect Podcast.
My name is Andy Johns, your host with Pioneer, and I'm joined onthis episode by David Naylor, who is in addition to being the
CEO at Rayburn Electric Cooperative, he is also the author of"Status Quo Is Not Company Policy." David,

(00:38):
thanks so much for joining me.

David Naylor: Happy to be here. Thanks, Andy. (00:40):
undefined

Andy Johns: So we have enjoyed working with the folks over at Rayburn for quite a while. (00:41):
undefined
And when I saw this book came out, I knew that I wanted to haveDavid on an episode here because I know a
lot of folks – status quo, sometimes David is just so dangcomfortable, it's hard to shake things up.
But tell us a little bit about the idea of the book, "Status QuoIs Not Company Policy."

David Naylor: Sure. So I will tell you my natural inclination for reading books is more like, you know, Calvin and Hobbes and (01:05):
undefined
[inaudible], but.

Andy Johns: All right. (01:15):
undefined

David Naylor: This was one that, you know, when an opportunity presented itself, it was a great opportunity for Rayburn to (01:15):
undefined
help increase our profile and everything.
But, you know, "Status Quo Is Not Company Policy," the utilityspace is very much an
industry where you ask a question of why are we doing things acertain way?

(01:36):
And the response is because we've always done it that way.

Andy Johns: Right. (01:40):
undefined

David Naylor: And, you know, when I first took over as CEO here at Rayburn, we had a lot (01:41):
undefined
of projects that had to get done, had tight deadlines.
We'd had three employees who retired, representing 84 years ofexperience walking out the door.
And we just had a lot of challenges that we faced.

(02:06):
And again, we only had, at that time, about 25 employees.
And so it was a phrase that really was born out of necessity.
Just saying practically, guys, we can't keep doing what we'vebeen doing and meet these deadlines that we have to meet.
And so "Status Quo Is Not Company Policy," that's where it wasborn.
And then as Rayburn has continued to grow, it's really expandedand really become part of one of our core values of

(02:33):
innovation. You know, that just it anchors that.
And as we continue to add new employees, I mean, that's one ofthe things we encourage them to do is, hey, look at what we're
doing. Does it still make sense?
And if not, then, hey, let's improve the processes.

Andy Johns: Sure. And it was interesting to me, reading through the book, full disclosure, I have not finished it yet. (02:49):
undefined
I know that my boss Anne Harvey had just finished it this week.
We were talking about it, but in reading through the book, Iexpected it to be a lot of kind of high
minded ideas.
You know, I've read a lot of leadership books before.

(03:11):
What I thought was interesting about this book is this is reallythe story of Rayburn Electric Cooperative.
You know, there are employees quoted in here.
There are board members quoted in here.
The examples you use, you know, you talk about that growth.
You've got the chart in, I saw in one of the pages where ittalks about the number of folks hired and the head count going
up. I mean, this is really a lot more than just a bunch of ideasfrom the CEO.

(03:34):
This is really the story of Rayburn Electric Cooperative.

David Naylor: Yeah. And that was really the, I mean, I think that's who Rayburn is. (03:38):
undefined
I mean, yeah, I may be the CEO and the face as far as, you know,where we've been.
But what makes Rayburn is the employees.
And, you know, I think, well, I can certainly tell you some ofmy ideas and some of my thoughts.
And, you know, I may have been instrumental in terms of helpingchart the path, if you will.

Andy Johns: Sure. (04:05):
undefined

David Naylor: It's the employees who have to implement it, and they're the ones who have to deal with it and have to figure things (04:06):
undefined
out. And, you know, so their successes are our successes and mysuccesses are their successes.
And that's, you know, it's a combination of who Rayburn is.
I mean, look, at the end of the day, we're here to serve ourmembers.

(04:28):
That's our first and foremost priority.
But the way that gets done is our employees.
And so, you know, making sure that they were included in theprocess and included in, you know, like you
said, a lot of quotes from them, a lot of quotes from our board.
You know, this may have been, you know, my initial thought, butit's

(04:52):
got a lot of contributions from various folks here who havereally helped to make Rayburn Rayburn.

Andy Johns: Yeah, clearly. (04:59):
undefined
This section here, you talk about, you know, some of the corevalues.
You talk about the Rayburn DNA.
You mentioned in here, it's so easy to coast, and we know that'strue.
There's so much the temptation to just stay with the way thingshave always been.
But you talk about Rayburn being a value focused organizationrather than just a project

(05:23):
focused organization.
Tell me a little bit about what it means to be value focusedrather than project focused.

David Naylor: Yeah. So like I mentioned, when I first took over, we had I mean, the situation that we had, we were about to (05:29):
undefined
become a transmission operator as defined by NERC.
So we had a whole bunch of compliance obligations we had tomeet.
We had a power supply contract that was about to terminate andhad a hard, fast deadline.

(05:52):
And so in order to meet all these deadlines, we had to buildabout $40 million worth of
projects between a substation, a couple of short transmissionlines.
And so we had all these things and projects that had to be done.
And so what we ended up doing, I mean, we met the deadlines, butwe were hiring employees because we

(06:17):
needed to get things done.
And so everything was geared towards those deadlines.
And what we found was, that's well and good while we're all busyfocused in on a common, you know,
task and project.
But when things started to slow down a bit, you start torealize, wait a minute, I'm not sure that this person really fits

(06:41):
the culture of what Rayburn is trying to do.
And you start heading into, well, all right now, I'm trying tomanage – the management process becomes more prevalent, if you
will. You know, when everybody's looking towards towards acommon goal, you kind of just the management stuff
kind of gets, you know, shifted towards the back.

(07:02):
And we recognized that, hey, this is not who we want to be.
This is not really who we are.
And we really need to shift our focus and let's focus on thesevalues.
And that way the values drive everything that we do, not theprojects.
And that means, you know, again, our core values are pretty, youknow, I mean, respect, integrity, excellence and innovation.

(07:25):
Ironically, three out of those four were shared by Enron forwhat that's worth.

Andy Johns: I don't know that I would put it that way usually, but yeah. (07:30):
undefined

David Naylor: Yeah, I mean. I didn't realize that either, but I was brought to my attention not too long ago, and I thought, well, (07:33):
undefined
that's interesting, but just.

Andy Johns: Turns out that that "integrity" one is a key one. (07:43):
undefined

David Naylor: Ironically, innovation is the one that's different. (07:45):
undefined
But that was, Enron's fourth was communication, and ours isinnovation.
But, I mean, it just illustrates the point.
You can have all the values you want; you better walk them, andyou got to walk the walk and talk the talk.
And so as we shifted from being project focused to valuefocused, you know, we wanted to make sure one we're

(08:12):
walking the walk. We're doing, we're exercising our core values.
They're not just words upon a wall or on a piece of papersomewhere.
This is who we are.
This is the Rayburn DNA.
And as we hire people, you know, those are the core values thatwe're looking for.
Those are the traits that we're wanting to make sure that, hey,we got somebody that, you know, what?
If there is a questionable thing that pops up, I mean, to followalong with the Enron thing.

(08:37):
Hey, they're going to say something.
Say, "Look, this doesn't line up with who Rayburn is or who I ampersonally." And then we say, "Yep, that's absolutely right.
Let's fix it. Status quo is not company policy.
Let's take care of it, and stay true to who we are and thosecore values."

Andy Johns: One of those things in here, especially if you're going to be as innovative as having, you know, innovation in one of your core (08:55):
undefined
values there, it talks about mistakes being okay.
And I like the line in here, "Failure avoidance is not aproductive mindset if you believe in pushing the status quo." And
I think that's the trap that so many folks fall into.

(09:16):
The status quo is safe.
You know, you're not going to get called out for making amistake by doing things the way they've always been.
It's easy to get called out and get in trouble for tryingsomething that's different.
So I like that piece in there.
But I'm sure it's, you know, that's got to be top down.
And much easier said than done to make sure that everybody feelslike it's okay to make mistakes.

David Naylor: Yeah, without a doubt. (09:38):
undefined
It's a balance. I mean, look, I can't sit here and tell you thatthere are certain mistakes that you're like, look, I can't, you
know, that's just it.
You're sorry, but that's unavoidable.
But the reality is, most of the things I mean, look, you reflecton your own career and how you came up.
And you recognize that man, you know what?

(09:59):
I made some mistakes along the way, but I was given the time andthe opportunity to learn from those mistakes, and then improve.
And so that's really what we're trying to do, what we want to dois say, "Look, yeah, we don't want you to make mistakes, but we
recognize that mistakes happen." And really, this is where theexcellence core value comes into play.
Excellence is not perfection.
So we're not asking for perfection, but we're asking you to dois do your best.

(10:23):
And what we want to happen is your best tomorrow is better thanyour best today.
And it was better than it was than your best was yesterday.
And so it's continued, you're continuing to grow.
You're continuing to develop.
And, you know, again, I mean, if every time you make a mistake,you know, you got a

(10:45):
lot of consequences.
Well, consequences, then also fear starts coming in and, youknow, you've got to have that mentality of, you know,
complacency just can't.
We've got to fight complacency.
And, you know, I'd rather have folks who take that risk and takethat step to try to make an improvement.
And then we can help rein them in and give them some training ifwe need to from there.

(11:08):
But, you know, again, you've wasted a lot of time, effort andfrankly
cost if, you know, just because you make a mistake, you're gone.
I mean, that's just not the mentality that we want to have here.

Andy Johns: Right, right. (11:23):
undefined
Well said. I do want to get into here in just a minute, a littlebit about the art of publishing a book and kind of how that
process went for you, and even the reasoning why you felt likeit was an important thing to do.
But before we do that, just to stay a little bit more on thekind of organizational philosophy piece of it.
You know, chapter seven of the book you're talking about WinterStorm Uri, that is a an inflection point, a watershed moment.

(11:49):
Not just for y'all, for utilities all over Texas and Oklahoma inparticular, but really the whole southeast
or the southern part of the United States.
Tell us a little bit about how an event like that kind of bringsthings like this into razor sharp focus for you?

David Naylor: Well, I mean, I can tell you when you have an event like a Winter Storm Uri, and so in Rayburn's case, we incurred three years of (12:07):
undefined
power cost in a five day period.
And it was, I mean, it was, I mean, there's plenty of articlesand public
information that's out there on what all that happened.
But for Rayburn's case, you know, that was a very significantevent.

(12:31):
And it's amazing how five days out of the year can impact notonly that one year, but it continues to impact how
we operate and think today.
And you know, that was again, that was really, like you said, itwas really a watershed moment.
And of course, you know, one of the things that happened as we,you know, went through Winter Storm Uri here in Texas is, you

(12:53):
know, the largest G&T in Texas filed bankruptcy.
And, you know, that G&T was about three times the size ofRayburn.
And, you know, so you don't have the luxury of pulling out theCEO manual and say, "Well, okay, in the event
of, you know, we got a winter storm.
Okay, here's what you do. Steps one, two and three." That's not there.

(13:16):
And so, you know, you're flying by the seat of your pants in alot of ways.
You know, I've got to deal with my board who recognized that, ohmy gosh, we got three years of power cost, cooperative.
I don't have an investor that can eat that.
It's going to have to go to the members in some form or fashionat some point.
And so we're trying to figure out, you know, have thoseconversations.

(13:39):
So we immediately pivot to having, you know, we have our normal monthly board meetings, but also we're having weekly calls.
"Hey, here's what's an update." You know, we also we brought inadditional counselors or advisors, both financial
advisors, legal advisors.
You know, we even had some political and lobbyists that webrought in, again, trying to solve the problem of, first

(14:04):
off, you know, let's understand what happened.
Second, let's figure out, you know, how we're going to meet thisneed.
Not to mention we got, you know, folks saying, "Hey, we got, yougot bills that are due.
How are you going to pay for them?" That's just the board sideof the things, if you will.
But in the meantime, I've got all these employees and, you know,we had hired several employees just a few

(14:31):
months before this happened.
And, you know, largest G&T in Texas files for bankruptcy.
People see that in the news.
And immediately we pivot and say, "Okay, guys, let's companymeeting.
Here's what's going on." And so –

Andy Johns: Right. (14:44):
undefined

David Naylor: You know, we had those meetings about every week as well. (14:45):
undefined
And I'd just get in front of the group and say, "Guys, here'swhat happened.
Here's what's going on.
Here's how we're trying to approach that.
Yes –" you know, I was very up front.
"We had a G&T that filed bankruptcy.
I'll be honest with you. I got a bankruptcy filing in front ofme ready, if that's the option that we end up

(15:11):
deciding. And here's what that would entail on the impact on therest of you." But, you know, again, I tell them that
that's our least objectionable.
I mean, that's the last resort.
We don't want to do that.
And of course, ultimately we ended up being able to dosecuritization to meet the, you know, pay those

(15:32):
bills. So everybody was paid that Rayburn owed.
Nobody was, I mean, we weren't a penny short anywhere.
Anyway, that's, I can probably talk more about Winter Storm Urithan anybody cares to.
The bottom line is, we don't want to ever go through that again.

Andy Johns: Yeah, right. Definitely. (15:48):
undefined
Well, let me shift gears away from the kind of the content ofthe book and the Rayburn story and get into a little bit about
about writing the book.
So that's something I've never done.
I'm assuming this is the first time that you had written one.
What all kind of surprised you about the process of, you know,it's kind of intimidating, just all that, those blank pages in

(16:10):
front of you, finding something to say.
What surprised you about the book writing process?

David Naylor: Yeah. So I'll give a lot of props here to Heidi Scott, the coauthor. (16:15):
undefined
And, you know, I will tell you, this was originally going to be,she was originally going to ghostwrite
the book. And typical Rayburn fashion, "Status Quo Is NotCompany Policy," as we were working through it, I said, "Look, I

(16:35):
don't think ghostwriting is going to be the right way to dothis.
Let's put your name out there and take the credit that youreally, frankly, that you deserve." So, you
know, this was not on my bucket list, not on something I waslooking to do it.
Frankly, I think it was a result of Winter Storm Uri.

(16:56):
I think that's probably where Forbes kind of came acrossRayburn, and ultimately they reached out.
And, you know, from Rayburn standpoint, this was, again, how dowe increase our profile?
That was one of the challenges we faced during Uri was nobodyknew who Rayburn was.
And prior to Uri, frankly, we were comfortable being the bestkept secret in Texas or even the nation.

(17:17):
But that was you know, that's not the case now.
But no, Heidi came in and, you know, the initial process, it wasactually really good.
We just talked.
She'd ask questions and, you know, she had everything recorded,and we talked and just.
And then she talked to the employees and the board members and,you know, then they saw all the stories kind of started coming

(17:42):
together. We had a couple of other folks here from, you know,Gentry Ewing and Chris Anderson
from Rayburn, who kind of helped part of the team, if you will.
And, you know, so Heidi came one day, and we kind of put somebig old not
whiteboards, but sheets of paper on the board, or all around ourboard room.

(18:05):
Here's a story. And then you just start putting pieces together,and then you start refining the process and go from there.
I mean, you know, it probably took a little over a year, alltold.
There's some times there's certainly more fun than others, but,you know, you work through that.
And it was very interesting.
It was definitely a learning experience for me.

Andy Johns: Well, you talked about there being a, you know, a hypothetical CEO's manual, you know, to have a book like this with your name (18:26):
undefined
on it, kind of telling that Rayburn story to have so many folks from the co-op involved and quoted in the text,
it certainly helps.
I know when we've talked, you know, your goal, like you said, tostep out from the background and really be one of the preeminent

(18:51):
G&Ts around the country.
So I mean, it's a great opportunity in terms of positioningRayburn, you know, to have the CEO with a book out talking about
status quo in terms of communications strategy and position.
I know it sounds like kind of the opportunity kind of fell yourway, but couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to kind of
help position Rayburn and yourself as thought leaders in thisspace.

David Naylor: Yeah. No, it was great. (19:14):
undefined
I mean, that was definitely a, when I first got the call fromForbes about doing this, I'm like, I got to talk to my board
about this. And so that was something that again, you know inyour CEO manual, you know, talking
to your board about a book is, that's a little not somethingthat is very common, I would think, or at least not that I found.

(19:38):
And certainly it wasn't in my CEO manual, but, you know, to thepoint we talked about earlier, you know,
I told them, I said, "Guys, look, this is a, I mean, we'retalking about a way to increase Rayburn's profile.
While this may not have been on the list of options we hadconsidered, here's an opportunity that presents itself." And

(19:59):
frankly, that's one of the things about Rayburn, we like to beopportunistic.
And so we took advantage of it.
And, you know, I guess I'd probably be remiss to say all theproceeds of the book actually reduce our member rates.

Andy Johns: And we talk a lot about storytelling. (20:11):
undefined
Obviously, the podcast is called StoryConnect.
The book seems from the sections of it that I've read, I mean,it seems like a pretty authentic account, especially getting into
the, you know, the Winter Storm Uri.
You know, any time that you tell those stories, and you're goingto publish it, and you don't know who all is going to read the

(20:32):
book. Was some of that uncomfortable sharing some of thosestories or, you know, is it the kind of thing that just comes
natural and that was a decision to make to go ahead and tellthose stories, get that out there?

David Naylor: Well, I mean, I think, you know, at the end of the day, all we can do is be who we are. (20:46):
undefined
And, you know, so that's kind of the approach that we took isguys, look this is our story.
People may like it. People may not like it, but that's who weare.
And I'm not trying to sugarcoat anything.
I'm not trying to, you know, bad mouth, anything.

(21:06):
It's just this is who we are.
And this is what's worked for us.
And, you know, I think that's the, our day to day.
It's how we live things here at Rayburn and what we really wantto accomplish.
That's not to say that we're perfect, not to say we still don'thave challenges, but, you know, it's a process.
And I think that's really what, you know, that's the whole pointof the book is status quo is not company policy.

(21:31):
You're always trying to improve and always trying to get better.
And so hopefully, you know, folks who read it, I mean, maybe cantake a few things from that book and, you know, make it
applicable to what they've got, whether they're a cooperative,whether they're somebody else, whether they're in the electric
utility industry or not.
That's, you know, I think some of these principles, I think areapplicable regardless, but I think it's certainly been successful

(21:56):
for us here. And, you know, honestly, I look forward to seeingwhere we're going to continue to go.

Andy Johns: Yeah. Have you gotten any feedback or have there been any members or board members or employees or folks around the industry that (22:02):
undefined
have read it and had any feedback for you or anything?

David Naylor: Yeah, I mean, I think it's been pretty well received. (22:11):
undefined
It's certainly been doing well on Amazon in terms of, I mean,best sellers in several categories.
I know several of my managers around my board members, I guessyou'd say, general managers, you know, they bought several of
them, and they're passing them out to some of their folks.

(22:31):
I was just at the Texas Electric Cooperatives statewide, theirmanagers meeting, and
they asked me to speak on it.
And then they also want me to speak on it at their director'sconference.
Of course, I'm doing a podcast here, and I know we've got someothers that I've got lined up as well, but so, you know, it seems

(22:51):
to be pretty well received.
You know, I guess the proof's in the pudding.
And, you know, hopefully we'll actually see folks who say,"Look, I took this and implemented it.
And, man, here's what how it took off." I mean, that's reallywhat you want, right?

Andy Johns: Yeah. Yeah. If there's a little less status quo around the around the electric co-op space, I think that a lot of folks that might (23:07):
undefined
benefit from that.
I highlighted a couple of sections that I mentioned earlierabout, you know, mistakes being okay and some of that Rayburn
DNA. Was there anything else that I missed or that you wanted toshare some any big other takeaways from the book that that you

(23:29):
want to be sure folks don't miss?

David Naylor: You know, I can't necessarily think of any. (23:34):
undefined
you know, well, I guess the only other thing that I probablykind of mentioned is, you know, at the end of the day, when it
comes to what we're trying to do with "Status Quo Is Not CompanyPolicy" and developing our employees, you know, it really takes
a commitment. And you're not going to I mean, if you're lookingfor a quick fix, I don't think this is a quick fix.

(24:00):
I mean, I think the what we saw was a culmination of events,culmination of time.
It's people who are willing to step up and take responsibility,take accountability.
And be willing to, you know, essentially leave a legacy here andsay, "Hey,

(24:20):
I want to make a difference." And, you know, so it's giving themthat opportunity, and then being committed to that process.
And not just saying, "Man, you know what?
I tried this for a couple of weeks.
It's just not working out." That's not going to work.
You've got to give it the time.
You know people go through training.
You're trying to get them better and better.
You're expanding their comfort zones, right?

(24:41):
I mean, what we're comfortable today is great, but I need to be,if I'm going to grow, my comfort zone has to continue to get
better or get bigger.

Andy Johns: Sure, I think those are wise words. (24:52):
undefined
Well, David, congratulations.
I had the book right before this call.
I had it back between Patrick Lencioni and Simon Sinek on mybookshelf here.
So that's not bad company.
Congratulations for coming out with the book.
And it is available on Amazon if anybody wants to check it out.
It's "Status Quo Is Not Company Policy." And I think folks willenjoy it.

(25:16):
So congratulations on coming out with the book and thanks forjoining me.

David Naylor: I appreciate it. Thank you. (25:20):
undefined

Andy Johns: He is David Naylor, CEO at Rayburn Electric Cooperative in Texas. (25:22):
undefined
I'm your host Andy Johns with Pioneer.
And until we talk again, keep telling your story.

Outro: StoryConnect is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources, a communications cooperative that is built to share your story. (25:30):
undefined