May 13, 2025 • 35 mins
Episode 97 Navigating IT Challenges: Mousa Hamad's Blueprint for Business Success Frederick Dudek (Freddy D) Copyright 2025 Prosperous Ventures, LLC
Mousa Hamad joins us today, bringing nearly two decades of experience as an IT and operations leader who knows how to transform technology teams and infrastructure from the ground up. His journey spans from a help desk to managing large-scale IT operations and multimillion-dollar procurement initiatives, showcasing a unique blend of technical expertise and a people-first leadership style.
In our conversation, we dive deep into Mousa's insights on cost management, IT strategy, and the human side of innovation, emphasizing the importance of building relationships in the tech world. He shares actionable strategies for creating "superfans" within organizations, demonstrating how empathy and genuine support can drive success. Get ready for an enlightening discussion that's all about making complex challenges approachable, both for tech professionals and business leaders alike.
Discover more with our detailed show notes and exclusive content by visiting: https://bit.ly/3S0VTnZ
Kindly Consider Supporting Our Show: Support Business Superfans Podcast
Mousa Hamad brings a rich tapestry of experience in IT and operations to the podcast, sharing his unique journey from a help desk technician to a respected leader in enterprise technology. His candid storytelling reveals not just the professional milestones he's achieved but also the challenges and learning experiences that shaped his perspective on leadership. Starting his career with a knack for problem-solving, he emphasizes the value of empathy and relationship-building in tech roles, which he argues are often overlooked in favor of technical expertise. Through anecdotes, he illustrates how genuine connections with colleagues and clients foster a more supportive and productive workplace.
The conversation flows into Mousa's philosophy of 'people first' leadership, where he underscores the importance of understanding the human aspect of technology. He shares strategies for effective communication, stressing that the ability to listen and empathize is as critical as technical skills. Mousa's experiences working closely with high-net-worth individuals, such as Paul Allen, provided him with insights into the intersection of technology and visionary leadership. He advocates for creating 'super fans' within organizations — individuals who feel valued and empowered to contribute positively to the business environment.
Listeners will find actionable insights throughout the episode, particularly in Mousa's approach to managing IT operations and fostering team cohesion. He outlines practical steps for leaders to engage their teams, such as regular check-ins and collaborative goal-setting, which can help mitigate the frustrations that often arise from technology issues. By the end of the discussion, it becomes clear that Mousa’s leadership style is not just about managing technology but about nurturing the people who operate within that space, ultimately driving both personal and organizational success.
This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.
Takeaways:
- Mousa Hamad emphasizes the importance of empathy in technology leadership, showcasing how relationships foster trust and support.
- His journey illustrates that starting from the ground up in IT helps develop a strong foundation for effective leadership.
- Creating a superfan culture within businesses hinges on addressing unglamorous problems and providing exceptional service to all...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(01:46):
Hey Superfans superstarFreddie D. Here in this episode,
we're joined by Musa Hamad, adynamic IT and operations leader
with nearly two decades ofexperience transforming technology
teams and infrastructure fromthe ground up. Moussa's journey began
on a help desk and has growninto a career managing large IT operations,
(02:08):
multimillion dollarprocurement initiatives and digital
transformation projects acrossthe globe. With a deep background
in enterprise technology andSaaS, Musa is known not just for
his technical acumen, but forhis People first leadership style.
He's built procurementdepartments from scratch, unified
complex IT functions andmentored high performing teams to
(02:32):
success. Here's a fun fact.For a time he served as Paul Allen's
personal IT professional,giving him a front row seat to the
intersection of elite tech andvisionary leadership. Musa brings
a unique perspective thatblends strategic vision with hands
on experience, making complexchallenges approachable for both
(02:53):
tech professionals andbusiness leaders alike. Get ready
for a conversation packed withactionable insights on cost management,
IT strategy and a human sideof innovation.
Let's dive in. Welcome Moussa,to the Business Superfans podcast.
Glad to be here. Appreciatethe time.
Yeah, we're excited. So tellus a little bit about your backstory.
(03:14):
You've been in the IT worldfor a long time, but how did you
get there? What's the story?
Yeah, absolutely. It's one Ilove to tell. Went to college for
Government InternationalPolitics and only chose that major
because it was natural andeasy for me. School was not a great
fit. I ended up not finishingand did a little bit of work in various
(03:34):
areas. Got hooked up with sometemp agencies. It turned out I could
type really fast. I didn'tknow that was a marketable skill
until somebody told me.Bounced around a little bit and moved
to Memphis, Tennessee with awoman I was dating and couldn't quite
find a job or the thing Iwanted to do. But I was really adept
at fixing her dad's computer.I didn't have the heart to tell him
I would just Google things andfigure it out, but that's what I
(03:57):
would do. One day, out of theblue, he comes and he says to me,
hey. He was a CFO at anautomotive group that had a couple
Cadillac and Saab dealerships.He said, hey, we need an IT guy.
I remember this conversationlike it was yesterday because it
changed my life. I said tohim, I don't know the first thing
about computers. And he said,fake it. And so he hired me on I
showed up day one, I said,where do I start? He said, inventory
(04:20):
and So I started going aroundtaking inventory and machines. As
I was doing that, peoplestarted asking me questions. And
then it just seemed logical toset up a ticketing system and it
all kind of just made sense.And what really drew me to it was
solving people's problems,providing good support to them and
enabling them to do theirjobs. From there I landed a couple
of different help desk roles,kind of entry level type stuff. I
(04:44):
would say the big cutting ofmy teeth was at a law firm called
Perkins Coie, which hasactually been recently in the news
because of an executive orderthat was signed by President Trump.
And from there I was luckyenough to have an opportunity to
provide direct IT support toPaul Allen for a couple of years,
which was really neat. Butsupporting high net worth individuals
(05:04):
can be a little taxing andexhausting from a travel perspective.
And from there I pivoted intomanagement and was able to convince
a consulting company inWashington to give me a shot as their
first IT manager. So they hadmanaged service provider and they
wanted to bring it all inhouse and then dovetailed into SaaS
World, a medium sized SaaScompany. And I've worked for large
(05:24):
enterprise company called ZiffDavis as well. And it just kind of
all cascaded from there. Alongthe way I did the tech thing, also
picked up the procurementthing and then site operations, interestingly
enough, management of thefacilities. I always joke, I tell
people I made my career ondoing the things nobody wanted to
do. There's not a lot ofglamour in managing of purchasing
(05:46):
or back office it, but I tooka lot of pride in it and enjoyed
the aspect of customerservice. One thing led to another.
I was able to put together acareer I'm pretty proud of.
Well, you said an importantpoint back there, Moussa. You started
out working customer serviceand that is a challenging position
(06:06):
because you're dealing withpeople that are unhappy because something
is not working on their systemor whatever it is. You've got to
be a saint to be dealing. Youhave to have enormous amount of empathy
as well as patience. Andyou've got to come across as caring
to solve their problems.Sometimes it's just the fact that
(06:28):
they're able to vent tosomebody was what they really needed.
And the problem wasn't thatbig of an issue. Probably a 10 second
fix. It's like somebody notbeing able to find a remote control
and be able to turn on the tv.
Yeah.
And it's simple as that. Butthe fact that they got it off their
chest, they feel like they'rewonderful and really appreciate it.
(06:50):
And they became a super fanjust because of the fact that you
listened to.
Yeah. I'll say two things tothat. The first is I've often told
people one of the jobs thatactually prepared me the most for
my life in the corporate worldwas waiting tables. You think about
the idea that you're there toprovide exceptional service to a
person who's coming to spendtheir hard earned money on an experience
(07:13):
along with the food and theskill set of anticipating need, the
skill set of providing servicein the face of less than ideal conditions,
being able to prioritizethings were really things that I
picked up along the way. As Iprogressed in my career and advanced
more into the leadership sideof information technology, I often
had this tough track that Iwould give to people that said, look,
(07:35):
you can go about supportingpeople one of two ways. You can be
standoffish and be the typicalIT person, or you can provide exceptional
support with grace andempathy. If you're going to do the
former, you better be reallygood at your job because people are
not going to tolerateotherwise. But if you do the latter,
you're going to get a littlebit of grace because you're not going
to be able to solve everyproblem right away. You build a relationship
(07:58):
and that's how you make thosesuper fans within the business.
Yeah, it's all about therelationships. And you said, another
key thing that I want toemphasize is creating that experience,
because that's what people aregoing to remember. They're going
to remember how you made themfeel. Yeah.
There's a quote that somebodyhas said.
Where it's like, remember whatyou still remember how you made them
(08:21):
feel. The whole experience ofwhether you're onboarding a company
with a new IT system, how thatexperience, what the expectations
you set up for that business,because you set up the proper expectations,
you minimize challengesinternally for that business because
(08:42):
at least they have an idea ofwhat's going to happen, what's going
to take place, and they canplan appropriately for their business
versus being in a reactionarymode. So if you set that up, you've
already started to create asuper fan out of that business because
they can know, okay, we got topivot. This is not going to work.
This is going to be shut down.They can plan and that creates an
(09:02):
experience that they can say,man, Musa really set us up nicely.
Yeah, and I'll add a littlebit to that, too. One of the things
is if you build that solidfoundation and you do all that great
work that you said, but leadand lean in with empathy. You create
an environment where we allknow, what does Mike Tyson say the
plan is? Everybody's got aplan till they get punched in the
mouth. Nothing's ever going togo perfectly. So when you've created
(09:25):
that relationship with yourcustomer partner, you're better suited
and able to handle any pivotsthat are required to achieve the
outcome.
Oh, absolutely. Correct.Stuff's gonna happen. But if you've
got that relationship to yourpoint earlier, they're gonna go,
okay, well, you know, Musa'sworking on it. Hey, he's got it and
he's gonna take care of itversus the other guy. They're gonna
(09:48):
say, this guy's supposed to bean expert, you know, and all of a
sudden the whole conversationis different. This guy's full of
crap and maybe he's not and itjust. Train wreck.
No, absolutely.
So that's really the fun. Solet's talk a little bit about how
you evolved into theleadership role.
Yeah, because I mentionedearlier I was doing a little bit
(10:08):
of that high net worthindividual support and realizing
that wasn't reallysustainable. And I think, I don't
think this is true foreverybody, but this was true for
me. I reached a point in mycareer where I had a decision to
make. Did I want to become amore technical resource to a business
or that I want to focus moreon the leadership side. For me, as
(10:28):
much as I love the tech, theidea of becoming an expert in just
a couple of things andfocusing on that wasn't exciting.
I've been playing sports sinceI was 5 years old. I've coached youth
sports all the way throughadulthood. I'm just obsessed with
the idea of building teams. Itwas a natural progression for me
to want to go to themanagement track. It's difficult
(10:50):
to break into that. I was veryfortunate. I found a company that
was looking to hire theirfirst IT manager. You know, we talk
about an NFL draft. You try tofind high value picks in the later
rounds. I convinced them thatI was that late round pick that would
have high upside. They took achance on me as their IT manager
with no experience. And thebenefit to them was I wasn't big
(11:11):
salary heading. They gave methat opportunity. Once I was able
to slide into that seat, itfelt natural, you know, recruiting,
hiring people, getting them towork in a cohesive way, focusing
on the support of the businessand helping grow the business. One
of the biggest things thatserved me well in leadership was
advice my mom gave me. When Ibecame a supervisor at a bagel shop
(11:31):
when I was 15. My mother was arestaurant manager her whole career.
And she said, don't ever askyour people to do something they
haven't seen you do. Whentaking that and leaning into the
building of teams, it justkind of all felt really natural for
me and I've always enjoyed it.
Yeah, that's where goodleadership comes in because you've
got to be able to get in thetrenches with the team. I've been
(11:53):
in leadership roles for awhile. In the last opportunity I
was involved with, I reallyhelped get some of the people transformed
because I was in there doingthe things that they needed. It was
teaching them by doing it withthem. That was the approach they
used to help severalindividuals learn a process and set
(12:15):
up an SOP for them. But I didit with them. So we created it together,
the SOP for the task that wewere looking for. So we both had
ownership in it. It wasn't medirecting it. This is the way you're
doing it. We worked. Wecreated it together. They had complete
ownership. One of the thingsthat I've learned is that's one of
(12:36):
the game changers inmanagement. Get ownership of the
team.
Ownership of the team. Part ofthe way you do that is by giving
them ownership of the outcomethey're trying to drive. You're centered
around the idea of buildingsuper fans. The importance for any
business is that oftenoverlooked function. Those folks
in the back office doing itwork. If you drive them and get good
(12:57):
engagement and satisfaction,that's infectious to the rest of
the business. It drives a goodoutcome. It does start with leading
from the front. Big believerin that. So what you said resonated
in terms of being alongsidethem and building those processes
and things like that.
Because you're doing ittogether. It's very different if
you tell somebody to dosomething versus saying, let's work
(13:18):
on this thing together andthen at some point let them continue
running with it. That's wherea transfer of ownership takes place.
When you empower people.Successful businesses understand
this. They know how to empowertheir people. Unsuccessful businesses
have more of a directive bossemployee mindset. And that never
(13:41):
ends well.
No, it doesn't. I think a lotof people miss an opportunity where
there's those types of folksthat lean into the idea of being
directive leaders. I've foundthat you can still direct, but it's
a lot more effective when youask questions, when you ask well
positioned and well timedquestions. And hopefully you've built
(14:02):
a type of team where thosetypes of questions aren't off putting.
It's like, oh, this issomething I didn't consider. This
is something I didn't thinkabout. And it drives a different
type of conversation.
Absolutely.
Yeah. And gets away from justdictating orders, which nobody wants
to work in that environment.
No. And now you've created acamaraderie in this because now it's
(14:23):
more of a brainstormingsession. Even though it's a leadership
approach, but it becomes abrainstorming session and everybody
walks away like, wow, that wasgreat. We got this thing figured
out and everybody's happy.
Yeah.
So let's pivot a little bithere, Moussa, and share a story of
someone that had an ITsituation and you came in and turned
(14:45):
that thing around.
Well, I think I would have togo back. I always say either, like,
the build or rebuild teams.Probably one of the ones I'm most
proud of was the first one atthe consultancy where there was no
IT infrastructure. You comein, there's no staff. They'd hired
one other individual to workalongside me. Luckily, we built a
(15:05):
really good bond and actuallyremained friends till today. He's
ascended to being a directorof IT himself at a company. I'm very
proud that I had a hand inhelping guide and mold him. I think
that was it. The expectationsof that business, of the tech support
they received, was very low.There was no real formalized process.
You were lucky to get feedbackand response within a few days on
(15:26):
any issues. The networks werespotty. All these things that you
don't want out of your ITinfrastructure, they don't enable
your people to do their job,which drives revenue for the business.
What we did was we choppedwood. We said, what's the first thing
we gotta do? Well, theplumbing's broken, so let's get reliable
Wi Fi, let's get reliableISPs. Let's get that rolling. Once
you focus on that. Okay,that's great. Now, the biggest thing
(15:48):
that you've done by gettingthe plumbing to work is you've gained
the confidence of peoplearound you because now they're not
having to worry about, am Ieven going to be able to reach SharePoint
or get to my email withoutusing the hotspot on my phone. From
there, it very quickly becameconversations with business leaders.
A really big emphasis for me.Anywhere I've ever gone is I set
(16:10):
up monthly syncs with allleaders of various groups to understand,
hey, what big things do youhave coming? What's going on in your
world? What are you worriedabout? What is working? What isn't
working for you. And you takethat information and feedback, it
informs how you prioritize theinitiatives and the things you're
going to do. So you learnthings like, oh, the computers we're
rolling out really aren't upto spec for what the business needs.
(16:33):
So we go out and take care ofthat. And you just chop wood a little
bit at a time. Then you havethe need. You hire another person,
you make sure that they're agood culture fit that focuses on
the customer support aspect.You put in a ticketing system, you're
building the foundation andyou're earning trust. And that trust
gets you the feedback thatinforms what you need to do to better
(16:53):
support the business. And Idon't think. I mean, there's been
multiple places where I'vebeen part of a turnaround of a department,
but I think your first one'salways one that you're proud of.
Right. And in that situationwhere it really wasn't ground up,
built, I took a lot of pridein doing that. And all the people
that I did it alongside andkeep in touch with most of them till
today. In fact, one of thefolks that worked with me, a young
(17:15):
lady, just had her first childand she sent me a picture, said,
hey, just had the first kid.And so that's when you know you've
built something special with ateam. When we're talking 10 years
later, they're still in touchwith you, sharing about what's going
on in their lives. Buildingthat team is what allowed us to be
successful, which ultimatelydrove the success of the business.
That particular business,Blueprint Technologies, was the fastest
(17:37):
privately held company in thestate of Washington at the time.
When I started as their ITmanager, we went from 300 to 700
employees in 18 months. It wasdefinitely a badge of honor that
we built them up and scaledthem quickly.
We had a couple of things thatI want to reiterate. The people,
especially in technology, canget frustrated when stuff doesn't
(17:58):
work. And that frustrationaffects their attitude at the office.
It affects their productivityand the business overall. If they're
frustrated because stuff's notworking, they can't just flip it
off. That frustration can becarried over to a prospective customer,
an existing customer. So forSMBs to really think about that technology,
(18:22):
because in today's world, welive by it. When I was working one
company, the Internet wentdown. Everybody got frustrated because
they can't do their jobs. Itjust turned into a negative thing.
Yeah.
The other thing that youbrought up, and I want to reemphasize
is making sure your technologyis current. Years ago, I got picked
(18:44):
to speak at the Mold MakersAssociation. I was selling manufacturing
software at the time, but Iwas told, I can't sell. I cannot
talk about my product. I'msupposed to provide value and education.
So I was like, what am I goingto talk about? And I came up with
something that really hitpeople right across the forehead.
(19:08):
And that was compute time.Because if you think of engineering,
especially in themanufacturing space, the system's
got to calculate to generate.Especially if you're doing programming
for milling machines, lathes,and wire EDMs, it's got to calculate
the tool path and everythingelse that may take 15, 20 minutes
back then to do thecalculation before it displayed the
(19:32):
output. So what's that guydoing for 20 minutes?
Whittling his thumbs.
Whirling his thumbs. And nowthat tool path is not exactly correct.
He makes another tweak. Guesswhat makes the tweak? Just keeping
it simple. You calculate twohours a day times loss. Now take
(19:55):
the company's burden ratetimes those two hours, times five
days, times four weeks. And Isays, you're too cheap to spend 6,
7, $10,000 on upgrading thecomputer. You're spending that so
you get faster productivity.So your guy's not sitting there twiddling
his thumbs for two hours aday. He never looked at it from that
(20:18):
perspective.
Right.
You could see the blank lookson their face. And then everybody's
kind of going, wow, that makessense. People came up to me and started
asking me questions after thepresentation, but I went through
a whole presentation of thinktime. That person's thinking, so
he's not being productivebecause he's, you know, he's being
productive, but he's thinking.And to the point that you were making.
(20:40):
And that's where I was goingwith making sure you're running the
most efficient technology. Soyou're maximizing your. Throughput
is everything in today's world.
It is. And so many businessestry to thread that needle. Years
ago, one of the jobs I had, hewas at a law firm. And I developed
a really good relationshipwith many of the partners. One of
(21:02):
them always cracked me upbecause he'd see me in the hallway
go, hey, overhead, what's up?So many businesses think of the back
office IT function and it isoverhead. Let's not get it twisted.
But if that is not operatingwell, you are losing money in the
front of the house.
Exactly what I just said.
I think so many folks need it.I don't want to beat Your audience
(21:23):
over the head with it.
But that needs to. Yeah,because it's cheap money today, especially
back then, we're talking tensof thousands of dollars. Today you
go to Costco and pick up a newlaptop under a thousand bucks, but
it's faster and does amultitude of other things.
Yeah. And I think part of itis, I think there's a challenge with
(21:45):
a lot of folks in technologythat they've resigned themselves
to accepting that the businessis not going to be willing to spend.
And so they're almost notwilling to push their ownership or
their CEOs in a way. Andagain, you hit the nail on the head.
You can get a CEO to payattention when you start talking
about money out the door. Somany folks in tech leadership and
(22:05):
back office functions, if theywere to focus on that, I think they
would find that they woulddrive better outcome for their budgets,
which would allow them toserve the business better. Let's
not get it twisted. You haveto spend money to make these things
work, but there's a balance tohow much you have to spend in order
to be effective. You don'tneed to go out and get that $5,000
machine when an $1800 one willget you 80% of the way and improve
(22:28):
your ROI significantly.
Yeah, and it's huge gamechanger because I worked with a construction
company and I mean, they hadantique technology and it was like,
you know, you know, you'rerunning on stuff that's so yesteryear
and you're struggling andwondering why you're not gaining.
(22:49):
In Arizona, there's $159billion worth of commercial construction.
You're getting 0.0000, 0.1% of that.
Right.
And if you implement somebetter technology, some better follow
up systems, you could, youknow, just a small increase would
be significant to your business.
(23:10):
Right? Yeah, yeah. But gettingfolks to make that investment understand
that I think that's what'sincumbent on us as leaders of those
functions, which are oftenoverlooked in terms of the value
they add to the business. Wehave to find a way, tell a story
to our ownership groups and toour CEOs that meets them where they
are. One of the things that Ilearned early on is my problem is
(23:33):
not the most important problemto the business. Even if I go to
them and say I need these twofirewalls that are $10,000 and if
we get them, it'll solve ourbandwidth problem, all they've heard
is that I need $10,000. I'vegot to tell them why. I need that
$10,000 and why it drivesvalue to their bottom line to get
them to come along. So I thinkwhen you talk about technology leaders
(23:55):
and folks that lead those backoffice functions, we have to become
better storytellers. We haveto be able to meet our audience where
they are to drive the outcomethat we're seeking.
Well, I'm going to make itreal simple. CEOs after three things.
What's it cost me, what's itdo for me, and how fast am I going
to make my money back and makea profit?
(24:16):
That's right.
No more than percent. There'sno more than that.
I read this article and ittalked about when you're trying to
ingrain something intosomeone, three things is a sweet
spot. You do more than that,you've overloaded them with information.
You do less than that, youhaven't given them enough. You went
to the three things and youhit those three things. Well, you
(24:37):
should be able to drive theresult that you want.
Absolutely. I mean, that's howI used to sell. I got out of the
technical aspect becausethat's not what they're interested
in. There are three, fourother software tools in the same
space. They all do the job. Myconversation wasn't about how well
we can do this and flip that.I mean, where's the business strategy,
(25:00):
where you want to go? This iswhat it's going to do for you. This
is his investment and this ishow fast you're going to make your
money back. We had that typeof a conversation and I blew away
all the competition becausethey were busy talking about features
and benefits. I'm talkingbusiness strategy.
Yeah, that's storytelling andI think you're able to do that. When
you came into those discoverycalls and conversations, you asked
(25:21):
a lot of questions. Youlearned quite a bit. And I think
that's one of the things Iwould impart to your audience. Those
folks in that SMB space thatwhen they're going out to purchase,
look for the people that areseeking to learn about you and your
business because they're goingto empower you to then go back and
sell internally and think youwould have been the type of partner
that I would have gravitatedto. The folks that are just saw this
(25:44):
feature and that feature, toyour point, they're going to miss
out eventually.
And you know what you're doingtoo. You're creating that super fan
internally that you partneredwith to start talking and learning
about that business. They'rethe ones that's going to be promoting
you internally to the uppermanagement. One of the things I used
to do, which was a lot of fun,is I would do a whole ROI and sit
(26:07):
down with the engineeringmanager or the manufacturing manager
and we will put together theroi. Whose roi? Was it mine or was
it theirs?
Well, it was theirs, Freddie.But I will say one thing. I don't
know that anybody's everdescribed building an ROI as fun.
So you're definitely a uniqueanimal in that way. But it certainly
was the ROI for the businessfor sure.
(26:28):
Right.
They owned it. You wereproviding a service in that way.
Because now I gave the toolsto my inside superfan, wanted the
technology, they had thetools. When they presented it, it
wasn't diluted. Where Icreated it, transferred it to them,
and then they tried to explainit to the management, it was theirs.
(26:48):
Yeah, that's really good. AndI think when we talk about those
technology leaders and backoffice leaders, you start by building
super fans within the team andthey become an asset to you and to
the business. But it's alsoimportant to build superfans with
those vendors and thoserelationships that you're trying
to build. They give you thetools to enable what the business
(27:09):
does. And I think if you dothose two things, the third domino
is your customer base. Andwhen I talk about customer base,
I'm talking about internalemployees to a business. Because
as an IT leader, that's whoI'm serving. If I serve them well,
then the fourth domino is wego out and get customers that use
our product. That's where theCEO gets met and says, oh, this is
(27:31):
why Musa wants to go buy thesetwo firewalls.
Right.
To circle it back to that example.
Oh, yeah, absolutely correct.And really, it takes the whole ecosystem
to be involved. You need totransform that whole ecosystem. What
I call business superfans,brand advocates, superfans schooler.
Now you got a supplier, you'rein a bind. You've got a good relationship
(27:52):
with the supplier. They'regoing to go out of their way to help
you through that bind. Ifyou've always been complaining to
that supplier about why thisdelivery is late and that didn't
show up and this was the wrongpart, stuff happens, right? But you
handle it with finesse andsay, hey, you know, John, I appreciate
the ship. It's the wrong part.They're still really grateful for
(28:15):
your effort to get it outhere. Can you get us the next one
tomorrow and we'll be fine.You didn't chastise them.
Can't beat him over the headfor a Mistake.
Yeah. And so they're going togo out of their way because you handled
it eloquent to make sure it'staken care of. And then in the future,
they're going to remember you.Two other companies are looking for
a particular part who's goingto get favored 100%.
(28:37):
100%. That's spot on. It goesback to the thing we talked about,
where if you're supportingsomebody, you can be prickly about
it or you can be empatheticabout it. And that latter approach
is always going to yieldbetter results. What's the saying?
You catch more flies withhoney than you do vinegar. So I think
that applies with the peopleyou support. It applies with the
(28:59):
people that you buy from. Itapplies the whole ecosystem.
It's everybody. You gotdistributors, you've got suppliers,
you've got ancillarybusinesses, you've got complimentary
partners.
Yeah, I'll tell you a reallygood example of that. When I was
at a company during the startof the lockdowns for the pandemic,
a large portion of ourworkforce were on desktops. Now all
(29:23):
of a sudden, we've senteverybody home and I had a supplier
that I worked with and Ineeded 500 laptops, had a really
good relationship with thesupplier. We met weekly. It was cordial.
We had a text thread where wewould talk sports. It was a really
good dynamic with these folks.Well, guess who got 500 computers
pretty quick. Right. And thenyou look like a superhero because
(29:47):
you've made super fans of yoursupplier, who then are going to put
you at the top of the listwhen you need those 500 laptops,
when everybody in the worldliterally is playing for the same
thing. It's a really good example.
Yeah, it goes back. People dobusiness with people that they like
and trust. And, you know, oneof my sayings in my book, Creating
(30:08):
Business Superfans is peoplewill crawl through broken glass for
appreciation, recognition.
Yeah, that's very true. Aslong as you give it to them in a
right and meaningful way.
Yeah. Genuine, not artificial.
Yeah, it's gotta be genuine.And people can tell the difference.
Yes, people can tell thedifference. When you're paying lip
service to get something inthe short term versus laying the
(30:30):
foundation for a strongrelationship and partnership, it
doesn't always yield somethingin the next month or the two months,
but when you need it, it'sthere because you've done all of
that intentional work. And Ithink that's a really good point.
That point is applicable tobusiness, regardless of size, whether
it's a large enterprise or asmall mom and pop shop. The way you
treat the people that supportyour business, both internally and
(30:52):
externally, is going to drivea massive result for your business
if you do it the right way.
Yeah. And then your thing,too, is remember, say thank you.
I think we lack a little bitof gratitude in this world. Sometimes
we take the things that we'reowed for granted.
Yeah. Thank you. Express. Alittle gratitude goes a long way.
Hey, thank you for that extraeffort. The other thing I talk about
is the unexpected extra. Yousend them a little gift card or something
(31:15):
that says, hey, you reallyhelped me out on that thing. Might
be your supplier,complimentary business, et cetera.
I just want to say a littleextra. Here's a $10 Starbucks cup.
It doesn't have to be a lot.
It's the fact you did it.
I'll tell you what. I had oneinstance where I was working with
an account executive who wasselling some software into the business
I was working for. We closedthe deal. Throughout the course of
(31:37):
that, she and I discoveredthat we have an affinity for the
same type of books. At the endof the deal, I sent her a book as
a thank you, a copy of a bookwe had talked about. Wouldn't you
know it, a couple years later,she was different company, I was
at a different company, shewas my account executive again. And
the relationship was alreadyon such a strong foundation because
of that little bit extra I didto show gratitude for the work she'd
(31:59):
done previously. And when youcan take the opportunity to make
it even a more personal touch,that goes such a long way for people,
they remember that stuff. Theyreally do. But they'll remember the
gift card, too. I think whenthey get the unexpected next level
of gratitude, it makes youmemorable. And when you're memorable
and you come across somebodyagain, you're going to get their
best effort.
(32:20):
Absolutely correct.
Yeah.
Musa, it's been a greatconversation. You and I could talk
on this for several hours. Definitely.
It's flown by. I didn'trealize how long we've already been
going.
Yeah, we've been going for alittle bit of good conversation.
Great. And how can people find you?
Yeah, absolutely. So for Now,I'm on LinkedIn specifically and
(32:42):
exclusively, Moussa Hamad. Thename's going to be up on the title
of the podcast.
Yeah. Watch show notes as well.
Perfect. And, you know, feelfree to reach out if you've got business
problems you want to chatabout, if you're trying to get some
cohesion with your leadershipteam. Whatever. One of the biggest
things that I love is solvingproblems and helping people think
about problems in a differentway. Always welcome a good conversation
(33:03):
and a good connection. Yeah,you can find me on LinkedIn for now
and I look forward to hearingfrom some members of your audience.
And then you've starting offyour own consulting business, right?
I am and just really focusedon that business process, business
procedure, kind of leadership,cohesion and things like that. And
so shortly here to follow. Tobe honest with you, I didn't expect
as much traction on podcastsas quickly as I was doing my reach
(33:24):
outs. So the site is going tobe forthcoming here soon, but in
the interim you can find me on LinkedIn.
Great. Asad, thank you verymuch for your time. We definitely
look to having you on the showdown the road.
Thank you so much, Freddie.It's been a pleasure.
Hey superfans. SuperstarFreddie D. Here. Before we wrap,
(33:45):
here's your three A playbookpower move to attract ideal clients,
turn them into advocates, andaccelerate your business success.
Here's a top insight fromtoday's episode. You don't earn trust
with technology. You earn itby showing up with empathy, fixing
the unglamorous problems, andserving your people like they matter.
So here's your business growthaction step. Schedule one conversation
(34:09):
this week with the frontlineemployee and ask them what's slowing
you down and how can we fix ittogether? If today's conversation
sparked an idea for you, or ifyou know of a fellow business leader
who could benefit, share itwith them and grab the full breakdown
in the show.
Notes.
Let's accelerate together andstart creating business superfans
(34:30):
who champion your brand.
Hey Superfans superstarFreddie D. Here in this episode,
we're joined by Musa Hamad, adynamic IT and operations leader
with nearly two decades ofexperience transforming technology
teams and infrastructure fromthe ground up. Moussa's journey began
on a help desk and has growninto a career managing large IT operations,
(02:08):
multimillion dollarprocurement initiatives and digital
transformation projects acrossthe globe. With a deep background
in enterprise technology andSaaS, Musa is known not just for
his technical acumen, but forhis People first leadership style.
He's built procurementdepartments from scratch, unified
complex IT functions andmentored high performing teams to
(02:32):
success. Here's a fun fact.For a time he served as Paul Allen's
personal IT professional,giving him a front row seat to the
intersection of elite tech andvisionary leadership. Musa brings
a unique perspective thatblends strategic vision with hands
on experience, making complexchallenges approachable for both
(02:53):
tech professionals andbusiness leaders alike. Get ready
for a conversation packed withactionable insights on cost management,
IT strategy and a human sideof innovation.
Let's dive in. Welcome Moussa,to the Business Superfans podcast.
Glad to be here. Appreciatethe time.
Yeah, we're excited. So tellus a little bit about your backstory.
(03:14):
You've been in the IT worldfor a long time, but how did you
get there? What's the story?
Yeah, absolutely. It's one Ilove to tell. Went to college for
Government InternationalPolitics and only chose that major
because it was natural andeasy for me. School was not a great
fit. I ended up not finishingand did a little bit of work in various
(03:34):
areas. Got hooked up with sometemp agencies. It turned out I could
type really fast. I didn'tknow that was a marketable skill
until somebody told me.Bounced around a little bit and moved
to Memphis, Tennessee with awoman I was dating and couldn't quite
find a job or the thing Iwanted to do. But I was really adept
at fixing her dad's computer.I didn't have the heart to tell him
I would just Google things andfigure it out, but that's what I
(03:57):
would do. One day, out of theblue, he comes and he says to me,
hey. He was a CFO at anautomotive group that had a couple
Cadillac and Saab dealerships.He said, hey, we need an IT guy.
I remember this conversationlike it was yesterday because it
changed my life. I said tohim, I don't know the first thing
about computers. And he said,fake it. And so he hired me on I
showed up day one, I said,where do I start? He said, inventory
(04:20):
and So I started going aroundtaking inventory and machines. As
I was doing that, peoplestarted asking me questions. And
then it just seemed logical toset up a ticketing system and it
all kind of just made sense.And what really drew me to it was
solving people's problems,providing good support to them and
enabling them to do theirjobs. From there I landed a couple
of different help desk roles,kind of entry level type stuff. I
(04:44):
would say the big cutting ofmy teeth was at a law firm called
Perkins Coie, which hasactually been recently in the news
because of an executive orderthat was signed by President Trump.
And from there I was luckyenough to have an opportunity to
provide direct IT support toPaul Allen for a couple of years,
which was really neat. Butsupporting high net worth individuals
(05:04):
can be a little taxing andexhausting from a travel perspective.
And from there I pivoted intomanagement and was able to convince
a consulting company inWashington to give me a shot as their
first IT manager. So they hadmanaged service provider and they
wanted to bring it all inhouse and then dovetailed into SaaS
World, a medium sized SaaScompany. And I've worked for large
(05:24):
enterprise company called ZiffDavis as well. And it just kind of
all cascaded from there. Alongthe way I did the tech thing, also
picked up the procurementthing and then site operations, interestingly
enough, management of thefacilities. I always joke, I tell
people I made my career ondoing the things nobody wanted to
do. There's not a lot ofglamour in managing of purchasing
(05:46):
or back office it, but I tooka lot of pride in it and enjoyed
the aspect of customerservice. One thing led to another.
I was able to put together acareer I'm pretty proud of.
Well, you said an importantpoint back there, Moussa. You started
out working customer serviceand that is a challenging position
(06:06):
because you're dealing withpeople that are unhappy because something
is not working on their systemor whatever it is. You've got to
be a saint to be dealing. Youhave to have enormous amount of empathy
as well as patience. Andyou've got to come across as caring
to solve their problems.Sometimes it's just the fact that
(06:28):
they're able to vent tosomebody was what they really needed.
And the problem wasn't thatbig of an issue. Probably a 10 second
fix. It's like somebody notbeing able to find a remote control
and be able to turn on the tv.
Yeah.
And it's simple as that. Butthe fact that they got it off their
chest, they feel like they'rewonderful and really appreciate it.
(06:50):
And they became a super fanjust because of the fact that you
listened to.
Yeah. I'll say two things tothat. The first is I've often told
people one of the jobs thatactually prepared me the most for
my life in the corporate worldwas waiting tables. You think about
the idea that you're there toprovide exceptional service to a
person who's coming to spendtheir hard earned money on an experience
(07:13):
along with the food and theskill set of anticipating need, the
skill set of providing servicein the face of less than ideal conditions,
being able to prioritizethings were really things that I
picked up along the way. As Iprogressed in my career and advanced
more into the leadership sideof information technology, I often
had this tough track that Iwould give to people that said, look,
(07:35):
you can go about supportingpeople one of two ways. You can be
standoffish and be the typicalIT person, or you can provide exceptional
support with grace andempathy. If you're going to do the
former, you better be reallygood at your job because people are
not going to tolerateotherwise. But if you do the latter,
you're going to get a littlebit of grace because you're not going
to be able to solve everyproblem right away. You build a relationship
(07:58):
and that's how you make thosesuper fans within the business.
Yeah, it's all about therelationships. And you said, another
key thing that I want toemphasize is creating that experience,
because that's what people aregoing to remember. They're going
to remember how you made themfeel. Yeah.
There's a quote that somebodyhas said.
Where it's like, remember whatyou still remember how you made them
(08:21):
feel. The whole experience ofwhether you're onboarding a company
with a new IT system, how thatexperience, what the expectations
you set up for that business,because you set up the proper expectations,
you minimize challengesinternally for that business because
(08:42):
at least they have an idea ofwhat's going to happen, what's going
to take place, and they canplan appropriately for their business
versus being in a reactionarymode. So if you set that up, you've
already started to create asuper fan out of that business because
they can know, okay, we got topivot. This is not going to work.
This is going to be shut down.They can plan and that creates an
(09:02):
experience that they can say,man, Musa really set us up nicely.
Yeah, and I'll add a littlebit to that, too. One of the things
is if you build that solidfoundation and you do all that great
work that you said, but leadand lean in with empathy. You create
an environment where we allknow, what does Mike Tyson say the
plan is? Everybody's got aplan till they get punched in the
mouth. Nothing's ever going togo perfectly. So when you've created
(09:25):
that relationship with yourcustomer partner, you're better suited
and able to handle any pivotsthat are required to achieve the
outcome.
Oh, absolutely. Correct.Stuff's gonna happen. But if you've
got that relationship to yourpoint earlier, they're gonna go,
okay, well, you know, Musa'sworking on it. Hey, he's got it and
he's gonna take care of itversus the other guy. They're gonna
(09:48):
say, this guy's supposed to bean expert, you know, and all of a
sudden the whole conversationis different. This guy's full of
crap and maybe he's not and itjust. Train wreck.
No, absolutely.
So that's really the fun. Solet's talk a little bit about how
you evolved into theleadership role.
Yeah, because I mentionedearlier I was doing a little bit
(10:08):
of that high net worthindividual support and realizing
that wasn't reallysustainable. And I think, I don't
think this is true foreverybody, but this was true for
me. I reached a point in mycareer where I had a decision to
make. Did I want to become amore technical resource to a business
or that I want to focus moreon the leadership side. For me, as
(10:28):
much as I love the tech, theidea of becoming an expert in just
a couple of things andfocusing on that wasn't exciting.
I've been playing sports sinceI was 5 years old. I've coached youth
sports all the way throughadulthood. I'm just obsessed with
the idea of building teams. Itwas a natural progression for me
to want to go to themanagement track. It's difficult
(10:50):
to break into that. I was veryfortunate. I found a company that
was looking to hire theirfirst IT manager. You know, we talk
about an NFL draft. You try tofind high value picks in the later
rounds. I convinced them thatI was that late round pick that would
have high upside. They took achance on me as their IT manager
with no experience. And thebenefit to them was I wasn't big
(11:11):
salary heading. They gave methat opportunity. Once I was able
to slide into that seat, itfelt natural, you know, recruiting,
hiring people, getting them towork in a cohesive way, focusing
on the support of the businessand helping grow the business. One
of the biggest things thatserved me well in leadership was
advice my mom gave me. When Ibecame a supervisor at a bagel shop
(11:31):
when I was 15. My mother was arestaurant manager her whole career.
And she said, don't ever askyour people to do something they
haven't seen you do. Whentaking that and leaning into the
building of teams, it justkind of all felt really natural for
me and I've always enjoyed it.
Yeah, that's where goodleadership comes in because you've
got to be able to get in thetrenches with the team. I've been
(11:53):
in leadership roles for awhile. In the last opportunity I
was involved with, I reallyhelped get some of the people transformed
because I was in there doingthe things that they needed. It was
teaching them by doing it withthem. That was the approach they
used to help severalindividuals learn a process and set
(12:15):
up an SOP for them. But I didit with them. So we created it together,
the SOP for the task that wewere looking for. So we both had
ownership in it. It wasn't medirecting it. This is the way you're
doing it. We worked. Wecreated it together. They had complete
ownership. One of the thingsthat I've learned is that's one of
(12:36):
the game changers inmanagement. Get ownership of the
team.
Ownership of the team. Part ofthe way you do that is by giving
them ownership of the outcomethey're trying to drive. You're centered
around the idea of buildingsuper fans. The importance for any
business is that oftenoverlooked function. Those folks
in the back office doing itwork. If you drive them and get good
(12:57):
engagement and satisfaction,that's infectious to the rest of
the business. It drives a goodoutcome. It does start with leading
from the front. Big believerin that. So what you said resonated
in terms of being alongsidethem and building those processes
and things like that.
Because you're doing ittogether. It's very different if
you tell somebody to dosomething versus saying, let's work
(13:18):
on this thing together andthen at some point let them continue
running with it. That's wherea transfer of ownership takes place.
When you empower people.Successful businesses understand
this. They know how to empowertheir people. Unsuccessful businesses
have more of a directive bossemployee mindset. And that never
(13:41):
ends well.
No, it doesn't. I think a lotof people miss an opportunity where
there's those types of folksthat lean into the idea of being
directive leaders. I've foundthat you can still direct, but it's
a lot more effective when youask questions, when you ask well
positioned and well timedquestions. And hopefully you've built
(14:02):
a type of team where thosetypes of questions aren't off putting.
It's like, oh, this issomething I didn't consider. This
is something I didn't thinkabout. And it drives a different
type of conversation.
Absolutely.
Yeah. And gets away from justdictating orders, which nobody wants
to work in that environment.
No. And now you've created acamaraderie in this because now it's
(14:23):
more of a brainstormingsession. Even though it's a leadership
approach, but it becomes abrainstorming session and everybody
walks away like, wow, that wasgreat. We got this thing figured
out and everybody's happy.
Yeah.
So let's pivot a little bithere, Moussa, and share a story of
someone that had an ITsituation and you came in and turned
(14:45):
that thing around.
Well, I think I would have togo back. I always say either, like,
the build or rebuild teams.Probably one of the ones I'm most
proud of was the first one atthe consultancy where there was no
IT infrastructure. You comein, there's no staff. They'd hired
one other individual to workalongside me. Luckily, we built a
(15:05):
really good bond and actuallyremained friends till today. He's
ascended to being a directorof IT himself at a company. I'm very
proud that I had a hand inhelping guide and mold him. I think
that was it. The expectationsof that business, of the tech support
they received, was very low.There was no real formalized process.
You were lucky to get feedbackand response within a few days on
(15:26):
any issues. The networks werespotty. All these things that you
don't want out of your ITinfrastructure, they don't enable
your people to do their job,which drives revenue for the business.
What we did was we choppedwood. We said, what's the first thing
we gotta do? Well, theplumbing's broken, so let's get reliable
Wi Fi, let's get reliableISPs. Let's get that rolling. Once
you focus on that. Okay,that's great. Now, the biggest thing
(15:48):
that you've done by gettingthe plumbing to work is you've gained
the confidence of peoplearound you because now they're not
having to worry about, am Ieven going to be able to reach SharePoint
or get to my email withoutusing the hotspot on my phone. From
there, it very quickly becameconversations with business leaders.
A really big emphasis for me.Anywhere I've ever gone is I set
(16:10):
up monthly syncs with allleaders of various groups to understand,
hey, what big things do youhave coming? What's going on in your
world? What are you worriedabout? What is working? What isn't
working for you. And you takethat information and feedback, it
informs how you prioritize theinitiatives and the things you're
going to do. So you learnthings like, oh, the computers we're
rolling out really aren't upto spec for what the business needs.
(16:33):
So we go out and take care ofthat. And you just chop wood a little
bit at a time. Then you havethe need. You hire another person,
you make sure that they're agood culture fit that focuses on
the customer support aspect.You put in a ticketing system, you're
building the foundation andyou're earning trust. And that trust
gets you the feedback thatinforms what you need to do to better
(16:53):
support the business. And Idon't think. I mean, there's been
multiple places where I'vebeen part of a turnaround of a department,
but I think your first one'salways one that you're proud of.
Right. And in that situationwhere it really wasn't ground up,
built, I took a lot of pridein doing that. And all the people
that I did it alongside andkeep in touch with most of them till
today. In fact, one of thefolks that worked with me, a young
(17:15):
lady, just had her first childand she sent me a picture, said,
hey, just had the first kid.And so that's when you know you've
built something special with ateam. When we're talking 10 years
later, they're still in touchwith you, sharing about what's going
on in their lives. Buildingthat team is what allowed us to be
successful, which ultimatelydrove the success of the business.
That particular business,Blueprint Technologies, was the fastest
(17:37):
privately held company in thestate of Washington at the time.
When I started as their ITmanager, we went from 300 to 700
employees in 18 months. It wasdefinitely a badge of honor that
we built them up and scaledthem quickly.
We had a couple of things thatI want to reiterate. The people,
especially in technology, canget frustrated when stuff doesn't
(17:58):
work. And that frustrationaffects their attitude at the office.
It affects their productivityand the business overall. If they're
frustrated because stuff's notworking, they can't just flip it
off. That frustration can becarried over to a prospective customer,
an existing customer. So forSMBs to really think about that technology,
(18:22):
because in today's world, welive by it. When I was working one
company, the Internet wentdown. Everybody got frustrated because
they can't do their jobs. Itjust turned into a negative thing.
Yeah.
The other thing that youbrought up, and I want to reemphasize
is making sure your technologyis current. Years ago, I got picked
(18:44):
to speak at the Mold MakersAssociation. I was selling manufacturing
software at the time, but Iwas told, I can't sell. I cannot
talk about my product. I'msupposed to provide value and education.
So I was like, what am I goingto talk about? And I came up with
something that really hitpeople right across the forehead.
(19:08):
And that was compute time.Because if you think of engineering,
especially in themanufacturing space, the system's
got to calculate to generate.Especially if you're doing programming
for milling machines, lathes,and wire EDMs, it's got to calculate
the tool path and everythingelse that may take 15, 20 minutes
back then to do thecalculation before it displayed the
(19:32):
output. So what's that guydoing for 20 minutes?
Whittling his thumbs.
Whirling his thumbs. And nowthat tool path is not exactly correct.
He makes another tweak. Guesswhat makes the tweak? Just keeping
it simple. You calculate twohours a day times loss. Now take
(19:55):
the company's burden ratetimes those two hours, times five
days, times four weeks. And Isays, you're too cheap to spend 6,
7, $10,000 on upgrading thecomputer. You're spending that so
you get faster productivity.So your guy's not sitting there twiddling
his thumbs for two hours aday. He never looked at it from that
(20:18):
perspective.
Right.
You could see the blank lookson their face. And then everybody's
kind of going, wow, that makessense. People came up to me and started
asking me questions after thepresentation, but I went through
a whole presentation of thinktime. That person's thinking, so
he's not being productivebecause he's, you know, he's being
productive, but he's thinking.And to the point that you were making.
(20:40):
And that's where I was goingwith making sure you're running the
most efficient technology. Soyou're maximizing your. Throughput
is everything in today's world.
It is. And so many businessestry to thread that needle. Years
ago, one of the jobs I had, hewas at a law firm. And I developed
a really good relationshipwith many of the partners. One of
(21:02):
them always cracked me upbecause he'd see me in the hallway
go, hey, overhead, what's up?So many businesses think of the back
office IT function and it isoverhead. Let's not get it twisted.
But if that is not operatingwell, you are losing money in the
front of the house.
Exactly what I just said.
I think so many folks need it.I don't want to beat Your audience
(21:23):
over the head with it.
But that needs to. Yeah,because it's cheap money today, especially
back then, we're talking tensof thousands of dollars. Today you
go to Costco and pick up a newlaptop under a thousand bucks, but
it's faster and does amultitude of other things.
Yeah. And I think part of itis, I think there's a challenge with
(21:45):
a lot of folks in technologythat they've resigned themselves
to accepting that the businessis not going to be willing to spend.
And so they're almost notwilling to push their ownership or
their CEOs in a way. Andagain, you hit the nail on the head.
You can get a CEO to payattention when you start talking
about money out the door. Somany folks in tech leadership and
(22:05):
back office functions, if theywere to focus on that, I think they
would find that they woulddrive better outcome for their budgets,
which would allow them toserve the business better. Let's
not get it twisted. You haveto spend money to make these things
work, but there's a balance tohow much you have to spend in order
to be effective. You don'tneed to go out and get that $5,000
machine when an $1800 one willget you 80% of the way and improve
(22:28):
your ROI significantly.
Yeah, and it's huge gamechanger because I worked with a construction
company and I mean, they hadantique technology and it was like,
you know, you know, you'rerunning on stuff that's so yesteryear
and you're struggling andwondering why you're not gaining.
(22:49):
In Arizona, there's $159billion worth of commercial construction.
You're getting 0.0000, 0.1% of that.
Right.
And if you implement somebetter technology, some better follow
up systems, you could, youknow, just a small increase would
be significant to your business.
(23:10):
Right? Yeah, yeah. But gettingfolks to make that investment understand
that I think that's what'sincumbent on us as leaders of those
functions, which are oftenoverlooked in terms of the value
they add to the business. Wehave to find a way, tell a story
to our ownership groups and toour CEOs that meets them where they
are. One of the things that Ilearned early on is my problem is
(23:33):
not the most important problemto the business. Even if I go to
them and say I need these twofirewalls that are $10,000 and if
we get them, it'll solve ourbandwidth problem, all they've heard
is that I need $10,000. I'vegot to tell them why. I need that
$10,000 and why it drivesvalue to their bottom line to get
them to come along. So I thinkwhen you talk about technology leaders
(23:55):
and folks that lead those backoffice functions, we have to become
better storytellers. We haveto be able to meet our audience where
they are to drive the outcomethat we're seeking.
Well, I'm going to make itreal simple. CEOs after three things.
What's it cost me, what's itdo for me, and how fast am I going
to make my money back and makea profit?
(24:16):
That's right.
No more than percent. There'sno more than that.
I read this article and ittalked about when you're trying to
ingrain something intosomeone, three things is a sweet
spot. You do more than that,you've overloaded them with information.
You do less than that, youhaven't given them enough. You went
to the three things and youhit those three things. Well, you
(24:37):
should be able to drive theresult that you want.
Absolutely. I mean, that's howI used to sell. I got out of the
technical aspect becausethat's not what they're interested
in. There are three, fourother software tools in the same
space. They all do the job. Myconversation wasn't about how well
we can do this and flip that.I mean, where's the business strategy,
(25:00):
where you want to go? This iswhat it's going to do for you. This
is his investment and this ishow fast you're going to make your
money back. We had that typeof a conversation and I blew away
all the competition becausethey were busy talking about features
and benefits. I'm talkingbusiness strategy.
Yeah, that's storytelling andI think you're able to do that. When
you came into those discoverycalls and conversations, you asked
(25:21):
a lot of questions. Youlearned quite a bit. And I think
that's one of the things Iwould impart to your audience. Those
folks in that SMB space thatwhen they're going out to purchase,
look for the people that areseeking to learn about you and your
business because they're goingto empower you to then go back and
sell internally and think youwould have been the type of partner
that I would have gravitatedto. The folks that are just saw this
(25:44):
feature and that feature, toyour point, they're going to miss
out eventually.
And you know what you're doingtoo. You're creating that super fan
internally that you partneredwith to start talking and learning
about that business. They'rethe ones that's going to be promoting
you internally to the uppermanagement. One of the things I used
to do, which was a lot of fun,is I would do a whole ROI and sit
(26:07):
down with the engineeringmanager or the manufacturing manager
and we will put together theroi. Whose roi? Was it mine or was
it theirs?
Well, it was theirs, Freddie.But I will say one thing. I don't
know that anybody's everdescribed building an ROI as fun.
So you're definitely a uniqueanimal in that way. But it certainly
was the ROI for the businessfor sure.
(26:28):
Right.
They owned it. You wereproviding a service in that way.
Because now I gave the toolsto my inside superfan, wanted the
technology, they had thetools. When they presented it, it
wasn't diluted. Where Icreated it, transferred it to them,
and then they tried to explainit to the management, it was theirs.
(26:48):
Yeah, that's really good. AndI think when we talk about those
technology leaders and backoffice leaders, you start by building
super fans within the team andthey become an asset to you and to
the business. But it's alsoimportant to build superfans with
those vendors and thoserelationships that you're trying
to build. They give you thetools to enable what the business
(27:09):
does. And I think if you dothose two things, the third domino
is your customer base. Andwhen I talk about customer base,
I'm talking about internalemployees to a business. Because
as an IT leader, that's whoI'm serving. If I serve them well,
then the fourth domino is wego out and get customers that use
our product. That's where theCEO gets met and says, oh, this is
(27:31):
why Musa wants to go buy thesetwo firewalls.
Right.
To circle it back to that example.
Oh, yeah, absolutely correct.And really, it takes the whole ecosystem
to be involved. You need totransform that whole ecosystem. What
I call business superfans,brand advocates, superfans schooler.
Now you got a supplier, you'rein a bind. You've got a good relationship
(27:52):
with the supplier. They'regoing to go out of their way to help
you through that bind. Ifyou've always been complaining to
that supplier about why thisdelivery is late and that didn't
show up and this was the wrongpart, stuff happens, right? But you
handle it with finesse andsay, hey, you know, John, I appreciate
the ship. It's the wrong part.They're still really grateful for
(28:15):
your effort to get it outhere. Can you get us the next one
tomorrow and we'll be fine.You didn't chastise them.
Can't beat him over the headfor a Mistake.
Yeah. And so they're going togo out of their way because you handled
it eloquent to make sure it'staken care of. And then in the future,
they're going to remember you.Two other companies are looking for
a particular part who's goingto get favored 100%.
(28:37):
100%. That's spot on. It goesback to the thing we talked about,
where if you're supportingsomebody, you can be prickly about
it or you can be empatheticabout it. And that latter approach
is always going to yieldbetter results. What's the saying?
You catch more flies withhoney than you do vinegar. So I think
that applies with the peopleyou support. It applies with the
(28:59):
people that you buy from. Itapplies the whole ecosystem.
It's everybody. You gotdistributors, you've got suppliers,
you've got ancillarybusinesses, you've got complimentary
partners.
Yeah, I'll tell you a reallygood example of that. When I was
at a company during the startof the lockdowns for the pandemic,
a large portion of ourworkforce were on desktops. Now all
(29:23):
of a sudden, we've senteverybody home and I had a supplier
that I worked with and Ineeded 500 laptops, had a really
good relationship with thesupplier. We met weekly. It was cordial.
We had a text thread where wewould talk sports. It was a really
good dynamic with these folks.Well, guess who got 500 computers
pretty quick. Right. And thenyou look like a superhero because
(29:47):
you've made super fans of yoursupplier, who then are going to put
you at the top of the listwhen you need those 500 laptops,
when everybody in the worldliterally is playing for the same
thing. It's a really good example.
Yeah, it goes back. People dobusiness with people that they like
and trust. And, you know, oneof my sayings in my book, Creating
(30:08):
Business Superfans is peoplewill crawl through broken glass for
appreciation, recognition.
Yeah, that's very true. Aslong as you give it to them in a
right and meaningful way.
Yeah. Genuine, not artificial.
Yeah, it's gotta be genuine.And people can tell the difference.
Yes, people can tell thedifference. When you're paying lip
service to get something inthe short term versus laying the
(30:30):
foundation for a strongrelationship and partnership, it
doesn't always yield somethingin the next month or the two months,
but when you need it, it'sthere because you've done all of
that intentional work. And Ithink that's a really good point.
That point is applicable tobusiness, regardless of size, whether
it's a large enterprise or asmall mom and pop shop. The way you
treat the people that supportyour business, both internally and
(30:52):
externally, is going to drivea massive result for your business
if you do it the right way.
Yeah. And then your thing,too, is remember, say thank you.
I think we lack a little bitof gratitude in this world. Sometimes
we take the things that we'reowed for granted.
Yeah. Thank you. Express. Alittle gratitude goes a long way.
Hey, thank you for that extraeffort. The other thing I talk about
is the unexpected extra. Yousend them a little gift card or something
(31:15):
that says, hey, you reallyhelped me out on that thing. Might
be your supplier,complimentary business, et cetera.
I just want to say a littleextra. Here's a $10 Starbucks cup.
It doesn't have to be a lot.
It's the fact you did it.
I'll tell you what. I had oneinstance where I was working with
an account executive who wasselling some software into the business
I was working for. We closedthe deal. Throughout the course of
(31:37):
that, she and I discoveredthat we have an affinity for the
same type of books. At the endof the deal, I sent her a book as
a thank you, a copy of a bookwe had talked about. Wouldn't you
know it, a couple years later,she was different company, I was
at a different company, shewas my account executive again. And
the relationship was alreadyon such a strong foundation because
of that little bit extra I didto show gratitude for the work she'd
(31:59):
done previously. And when youcan take the opportunity to make
it even a more personal touch,that goes such a long way for people,
they remember that stuff. Theyreally do. But they'll remember the
gift card, too. I think whenthey get the unexpected next level
of gratitude, it makes youmemorable. And when you're memorable
and you come across somebodyagain, you're going to get their
best effort.
(32:20):
Absolutely correct.
Yeah.
Musa, it's been a greatconversation. You and I could talk
on this for several hours. Definitely.
It's flown by. I didn'trealize how long we've already been
going.
Yeah, we've been going for alittle bit of good conversation.
Great. And how can people find you?
Yeah, absolutely. So for Now,I'm on LinkedIn specifically and
(32:42):
exclusively, Moussa Hamad. Thename's going to be up on the title
of the podcast.
Yeah. Watch show notes as well.
Perfect. And, you know, feelfree to reach out if you've got business
problems you want to chatabout, if you're trying to get some
cohesion with your leadershipteam. Whatever. One of the biggest
things that I love is solvingproblems and helping people think
about problems in a differentway. Always welcome a good conversation
(33:03):
and a good connection. Yeah,you can find me on LinkedIn for now
and I look forward to hearingfrom some members of your audience.
And then you've starting offyour own consulting business, right?
I am and just really focusedon that business process, business
procedure, kind of leadership,cohesion and things like that. And
so shortly here to follow. Tobe honest with you, I didn't expect
as much traction on podcastsas quickly as I was doing my reach
(33:24):
outs. So the site is going tobe forthcoming here soon, but in
the interim you can find me on LinkedIn.
Great. Asad, thank you verymuch for your time. We definitely
look to having you on the showdown the road.
Thank you so much, Freddie.It's been a pleasure.
Hey superfans. SuperstarFreddie D. Here. Before we wrap,
(33:45):
here's your three A playbookpower move to attract ideal clients,
turn them into advocates, andaccelerate your business success.
Here's a top insight fromtoday's episode. You don't earn trust
with technology. You earn itby showing up with empathy, fixing
the unglamorous problems, andserving your people like they matter.
So here's your business growthaction step. Schedule one conversation
(34:09):
this week with the frontlineemployee and ask them what's slowing
you down and how can we fix ittogether? If today's conversation
sparked an idea for you, or ifyou know of a fellow business leader
who could benefit, share itwith them and grab the full breakdown
in the show.
Notes.
Let's accelerate together andstart creating business superfans
(34:30):
who champion your brand.
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