Ep. 31 - Increase the Leader Inside of You

The toughest tightrope in business might be the one leaders walk every day – balancing authority with connection, demonstrating care without becoming buddies, and growing personally while staying true to core values. This episode dives deep into the art of leadership evolution without losing your edge.

We explore the power of leading by example through our "three-minute rule" – if something needs attention and takes less than three minutes, handle it yourself. Picture this: snow needs clearing, trash needs picking up, or a customer needs assistance. Your willingness to tackle these small tasks speaks volumes without saying a word. However, we also discuss the critical importance of knowing when to step back – because while you could change the oil or rebuild an engine, that's probably not the best use of your leadership time.

The leadership journey becomes increasingly isolating as you climb higher, but that's not necessarily bad. We share practical strategies for maintaining meaningful connections with your team without crossing into territory that undermines your authority. From structured recognition events to thoughtful check-ins, there are ways to demonstrate genuine care without becoming "one of the gang."

Perhaps most importantly, we emphasize that "everyone wins when the leader gets better." Like the lumberjack who stops to sharpen his axe while others keep hacking away with dull blades, the most effective leaders prioritize their own growth and development. Through podcasts, books, mentors, or online resources, leaders who continuously learn bring fresh insights and renewed energy to their organizations.

Ready to evolve as a leader without compromising your authority or authenticity? This conversation provides the roadmap for your next steps in leadership development.

Feel the dynamic energy of the Lewis Brothers as they deliver real stories and lessons that keep local businesses on their toes, and share how experiences in the community inspire them to keep on driving.

Check out all our great episodes at CrossroadConversationsPodcast.com!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hate is a strong word , but I would tell you I hate
someone who says I don't havethe time, it's there.
You have not correctlyallocated your time to better
yourself.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
You have to tell your time what to do.
Yes, if not, it's going to fillthe space.
Your employees will never say,hey, you should take an hour and
do this.
No, they'll take the time.
They'll take the time from you.
You must prioritize and youjust need to remember this in
your mind.
You're prioritizing that so youcan bring your best and value

(00:30):
to your employees.
Hey everyone, welcome toCrossroad Conversations with the
Lewis Brothers, where we aim toshare real stories about
running a successful familybusiness, working through
adversity and pouring back intothe community that keeps our
door open.
We're your hosts, matt, shelbyand Taylor, and we bring you
relevant local business adviceand automotive insights that are

(00:53):
sure to change the way you lookat running a business and maybe
even throw in a plug for you todo business with us.
Welcome back to CrossroadConversations with the Lewis
Brothers.
We're your hosts, matt andShelby, today, ready to dive in
to really Shelby, simple thingsthat can help business leaders
every single day, and that'swhat we do is we try to bring

(01:13):
you value out there, businessleaders, on things you can put
into place or maybe you'redealing with in your small
business on a day-to-day basis,and today is going to be a fun
yet kind of complex subject thatsome people cross the line too
far on.
You know, today we're going totalk about increasing the leader
inside of you.

(01:33):
We're going to talk about, youknow, self-improvement as
ourself.
How do we continue to grow as aleader?
But then two, where do we andhow do we walk that fine line
between being the leader yetcaring about the employee?
Yeah, so that's an exciting oneto dive into.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Now, don't forget last week.
If you did not listen, you needto go back.
Don't stop what you're doingnow, but take the time to go
back.
We talked about business buzzengage or stay neutral, oh yeah,
and kind of edged into what ifwe're talking politics, or
should I support this or supportthat?
And so we did our very best tosay how do you stay neutral,

(02:15):
when to engage, when not toengage, and how to support all
things to eventually grow yourbusiness.
So that was a really goodepisode and, as always, don't
forget to tune in and check outour website, lowestsuperstorecom
, as it always updates with ourlatest inventory, our latest and
greatest service specials andhow we can reach out and help

(02:35):
you.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
You know, we got to plug what we drove because
that's a fun part of this wholeepisode of the podcast.
And today we're going to talkabout something a little bit
different.
We talked about the fun stuff.
Last week we talked about whatcould tow.
We talked about the upper end.
You know, suvs and trucks.
Today we're talking aboutvehicles that make sense.
That's that small SUV category.
You know if you're looking fora four-wheel drive or you're

(02:56):
looking for a two-row SUV thatgets great fuel mileage but it's
under $30,000.
And we got two picks for youtoday, yeah, and make no mistake
that it's not not a fun vehicle.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Very true, right.
They've done a really good jobof being affordable, not overall
in the cost of it, but also inthe daily and the monthly cost
to operate these things.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
So we're talking about the Ford Escape, that's
right, and then we're talkingalso about the Jeep Compass, so
that gives you two great options.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Those are two great two-row B or C segment SUV there
that are 30 to 39 miles pergallon.
You can do a plug-in escape,hybrid and go well beyond that.
That are sub 30 grand.
We have some specials that are25 and 26 grand, but they got
all the technology they got thetechnology.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
They got the big screens, they've got all the
safety equipment.
You can get them in the fullwheel drive.
So if you're a business leaderout there or if you're looking
for something, maybe for arunaround vehicle maybe you got
an office manager or you need togo check the job site these are
great vehicles because they gota little cargo space in them
too.
You're talking under $30,000.
They're safe, they're easy todrive, easy to see out of, and

(04:08):
we've got a great selection,whether you're looking on the
escape or you're looking for thecompass.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
No doubt about that.
They're both redesigned, bothhave the latest and greatest
technology and you would not bedisappointed, whether it's your
family vehicle or it's yourbusiness vehicle.
So what did we drive One ofthose two?
Come check them out.
So today we're going to diveinto increasing the leader
inside of you.
So the first topic I want tokind of throw out, and we'll
break it down balance andengagement and detachment,

(04:33):
leading without losing authority.
So if I say that, what's yourfirst thought?
What does that mean?

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Man.
You know, when you startthinking about it it's like how
do I have authority to holdpeople accountable to get in?
And the whole reason you'redoing that is to get the results
you're looking for to help themachieve their goals.
Yet at the same time you know,it's been written about, talked
about, we've talked about it Ifyou don't show an employee that
you actually care about them asa human being, you're never

(05:02):
going to get full potential outof them.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
I think that's one of the hardest things is people
don't care how much you knowuntil they know how much you
care.
That's right.
We're talking about employeesor customers.
But with employees they need toknow.
Like let's talk last week aboutsnow removal we do snow removal
, we get the whole team to dosnow removal, so we're ready to
go.
And it cannot be from the topof the castle that's right

(05:31):
saying go hair, do this, do thatwhile you're sitting with your
feet propped up.
You know.
So it's leading by example, andso that's where they know that
hey, you're getting involved,you bet, to show them.
Here's how it needs to be done,and I want to support me beside
you so that's most important.
To get by, and that's where theyknow that, hey, you're getting
involved, you bet, to show themhere's how it needs to be done,
and I want to support me besideyou.
So that's most important.
To get by, and that's where youlearn some more about them.

(05:52):
That's right so you can ask hey, how's your family, how's such
and such doing, but you got tobe careful not to go too far.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
You do no-transcript.
Pet peeve of yours too, and nottoo many things aggravate me,
but one of the things that justgets under my skin is when an

(06:20):
employee says that's not my.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
And we've learned by that.
It drives me nuts becausethere's nothing in a business
that I wouldn't do, that youwouldn't do, that.
No one should be above thatright Now.
Is it the best use of your time?
Always no, sir, but we'vestarted writing in job
descriptions, initially whenhiring and rebuilding job

(06:45):
descriptions.
At the very bottom and it saysincludes all other aspects of
the job that may or may not bedefined currently, but may arise
and will be part of your job.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
You know, that's one of the things we've learned,
especially as we've scaled andwe've moved and this year we're
going through a whole lot ofthat is things that you assume
as a leader or as a businessowner.
Your employees will not do so.
You have to write that stuffdown.
But you know, for example andShelby brings up this point I
get asked this question all thetime like why don't you hire

(07:15):
somebody to do that?
And there's probably areas thatI could do a better job at
doing that.
But at the same time, I'm nevergoing to lose walking across
the lot and if there's a pieceof trash I'm going to pick it up
.
I'm never going to stop.
If we're backed up in serviceand they need help moving the
vehicles through, becauseeverybody's checking in and
service, I'm going to jump inthe car and I'm going to move it

(07:37):
forward.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
That goes to your nonverbal communication.
You know, you might not have tosay a word, you just hop in the
car, move forward, run throughthe car wash, pick up some trash
.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Same thing.
If the coffee maker's out ofcoffee, I'm not saying, hey,
that's somebody else, I'm goingto sit there, I'll get the
coffee going.
Of course we have the fancycoffee machines now, but if it
needs to be cleaned or thefilter, I can do that.
Interact with somebody else.
So we're talking about smallthings there that a leader can
do, that it doesn't become a two, three, four hour task.
You're talking about a fiveminute, a three minute, a ten

(08:09):
minute.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
Last week we talked about filters right Running
through the filter, so one ofthe filters that I will
generally, if it's somethingthat I see needs attention, if
it can be done in three minutesor less, as long as I don't have
a window that I need to be in ameeting in three minutes.
I don't have a window that Ineed to be in a meeting in three
minutes, don't have a customer,a specific decision.
If it can be done in threeminutes or less go ahead and do

(08:34):
the task.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
That's a good point and that's I'm glad you bring
the filters back up, because youdo have to have some checks and
balances and boundaries,because we're we're prone to
doing this.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
It's going down a rabbit hole and getting too deep
, so like if the oil change lineis really long, which is rare,
right, because we have over 10oil change service bays plugged
you should always be able tocome in and get a not long way.
But can you change oil in a car?

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Absolutely.
I can change oil in a car wehave changed tires for a
customer but should you?
No, I should not, unlessthey're backed up and they
really need the help.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
And I have the time available, so that would be in
your filter, like what I'm.
What I'm getting to is that youhave the ability to change a
tire.
Yes, you know how to change.
Well, you could rebuild anengine just because you
understand that.
That would not be a good use ofyour time and that would be
well enough that you go findother people to help you to do
that and say, hey, what if welooked at this and they're like,
oh okay, all right, that works.

(09:30):
So that would be the filter ifthat takes more than three
minutes.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
So in that three minutes, instead of just
completely ignoring the problem,you could go identify the
people to help you to do that,that you've hired, that have a
better skill set to be able todo that and I think to go into
my answer there of maybe moredefined because you bring up a
great point we talked about thison a couple podcasts ago is we
were listening to some otherpeople as far as growing as a

(09:56):
leader and one of those leaderssaid hey, just because you can
doesn't mean you should.
Yes, so that's the great filterfor that.
So, so maybe I don't go all theway through changing the oil,
but if it's moving the vehicleonto the rack because so then
they're prepared and they haveless steps there, yeah, plus,
then it frees up service.
Okay, that's less than threeminutes.
They show that I wasprogressively helping them

(10:17):
towards their goals, so on andso forth.
Same same thing in sales.
So we all like getting involved, especially on a saturday in
sales of how else can we helpone?
It puts our thumb on what'sgoing on.
Yeah, so we hear currentobjections or current struggles,
this and that, but there may betime on on a saturday or during
the week where I see thembacked up.

(10:37):
I may go grab the keys to go doa trade appraisal, because that
keeps the sales manager at thedesk, keeps, keeps them active,
so I can help with the processwithout taking over the deal
that I might be with for an hour.
Yes, because within three in mytable.
I'm in three minutes to do theappraisal, but it's not taking a
long time.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
Yeah, and that's the time that you like.
On a Saturday there's less ofall the other operations, so
you'd have a little more timethere.
And you have to know this, andI have to plug this because we
had this example.
I don't want to waste it.
Just know that you can set theexample of picking up the trash,
moving the car.
Don't be frustrated when noteveryone gets it, because when

(11:17):
we were clearing snow I mean,february is a short month
anyways, and it's about thenumbers and you take three or
four days of snow and I was like, oh, I hate snow, I hate snow,
I hate the snow, but we make themost of it.
And still had days where wewere super productive.
There were people on the teamand we were out we're the first
ones there, I assure you withthe plow trials and the game

(11:39):
plan and you'd come up with thewhole strategy to tell everyone
how they could help.
And there were people standingat the door looking out to say I
only get paid X dollars an hourand it's not enough to go
outside and plow the snow.
And oh, buddy, just like checkyour butt like never before.
Like, do you think this is agood use of my time to be able

(12:01):
to do this.
So just don't give up.
When the first sign of aperson's like yeah, I saw you
pick up trash, that means Idon't have to.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yeah, you just, man, that's a tough one because I
don't get under your skin andyou want to unleash, which we
don't.
But you know, you just have toknow it's a science.
But I'll tell you.
You know, you talk about thatsnow removal parts.
That's a hot topic.
We'll talk about that.
Is you know?
Before, when we had done it,we're like, hey, people will see
us doing it and they'll jump inand help.

(12:28):
And it never happened.
They all sat inside eatingdonuts, drinking coffee, and you
shelby, you taylor and I wouldbe out there plowing for eight
hours removing this, removingthat, while they're all inside.
Like we got to give betterdirection.
Yes, that's a reflection.
Okay, you get over being angryand then you're like, what could
I have changed there?
So I don't have that issuegoing forward.

(12:48):
So then we color coded thewhole thing, had.
The meeting didn't fixeverybody, but 80% of them, and
we talked about that in previousepisodes.
If you can get 70 or 80% out ofsomebody else, that's a win.
That's a win.
If they're given 100%, like youwould give, it's probably time
to elevate them to a newposition.
Yep.
They need something thatchallenges them a little more.

(13:10):
They really do so.
You know, leading by example.
You know that's our first partthere and that's our management
style and I'd say, you know, welead a whole lot by walking
around and they can see, youknow we're involved there, we're
doing this, we're doing that.
But there's no quicker way toget employees buy-in than
helping them to achieve theirgoals.

(13:31):
You know and to the quote youwent to just a minute ago about,
hey, they don't care about howmuch you know until they know
how much you care, the quickestway to prove to an employee that
you care is not by running themyour mouth and saying, hey, we
care about you, we care aboutyou.
It's like show me, yeah, showme.
So you help somebody do that,you help them close a deal, you
help them pull a car in, youhelp them take checks here or

(13:53):
this or that Stuff that you cando in those three-minute
increments.
Like you said, that proves andthat gets buy-in faster than
anything else than anything else.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
So that is the way that we do it and the way that
we found that works.
So that allows us to get pastsurface level.
With employees, it does Rightto know that we care, know that
we're there for them, check onthe family.
So how do we do that withoutbecoming one of the crowd, like
one of the guys, one of the boys, like, hey, we're going out to

(14:22):
the bar, hey, we're going out tothe bar, hey, we're going out
to this?
Because, you know, sometimesyou're just like no, no, no.
Okay, majority of the timeyou're like no, no, no, I'm worn
out, I'm whipped, I'm goinghome, but it's still like you'd
like to get the invite of.
Like, hey, we're going to dofight night.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Or we're going out to dinner for this or that, how do
you not become one of the crowd?
Let me first bust a bubble foreverybody real quick.
And you don't realize thisuntil you really.
You either scale your businessor you start moving up in
positions.
The farther you get up, there'sless people at the top of the
mountain and there's lessinvites.
It's funny because I wassitting that exact the further
you go, which is everyone wantsto be at the top of the mountain
and there's less invites.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
It's funny because I was sitting that exact the
further you go, which iseveryone wants to be at the top
of the ladder.
For a majority of the people, Ishould say the lonelier it gets
.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
You don't get near as many invites, you don't have
near as many friends.
You know, it's just, and I'mnot being doom and gloom here,
I'm just saying like that's whatit is here.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
I'm just saying like that's what it is, that's okay,
but it's funny and for whateverreason they might be like, hey,
they're intense.
I do not want them to level meup, I don't want them to see me
do an X or Y, but it stillhappens.
So let's say you're mid-levelon the ladder.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
It still happens.
So one of the things we'vealways done is how do we show
employees that we care, yet wedon't cross over the line really
honestly.
So we is.
You get emotionally invested inthat person.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, and so then, when they're not performing at
the level, doing their job ortheir duties as they should, can
you then still make managingdecisions without being biased?

Speaker 2 (16:17):
Because that's your bud, and it's not that person
that you're affecting, it's therest of the team.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
That's the big thing, because no he's his buddy.
Like no, he was late, he wentpicked up his kids.
Hey, he was behind the salesgoal.
It's his buddy.
He gets all the deals.
That's his buddy.
And then the water startsboiling.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
It's funny.
You say that because we'vehired new managers before and
they've come in and I've hadthem specifically ask me this.
They say, hey, I just need toknow are there any employees
that are off limits or that I, Ican't manage or I can't fire,
like they're a protectedemployee.
That's the easiest way to saythis.
Okay, I'm like what are youtalking about?

(17:00):
They're like well, you know, wecame from so and so and it was
the boss's college buddy or thisor that, and like that's no, no
, there's not.
This is a.
We're running a business.
Do I care about people?
Yes, but the last thing I wantand it happens to us anyways, as
strict as we are about whatwe're talking about, they're
like no, you know, they've knownthem for a long time, they can

(17:23):
get away with that.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, you know, and that that's so bad, it's toxic
for your culture, yeah, and youdon't need to give them any more
of a foothold than that isactually gonna happen anyway.
It's by just the stories thatpeople make and create just
because of a high five or uh,whatever so my suggestion there
now we do that through, we domonthly what we call a cake day.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
We used to do luncheons and that, just
honestly, that got out of hand.
Like a luncheon sounds great.
We'll still do it every once ina while, but what we found is
we would have a luncheon andthen the employee would still go
to lunch and we put so mucheffort because in a survey they
would say, yeah, I wish theywould do more.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
And it was we.
We kept doing more and theykept saying I wish they'd do
more.
It's like, all right, so wewould.
We were bringing a couple foodtrucks, shut the whole store
down for an hour.
We would take the time to buildan entire presentation, to
scrub all the numbers, to saythis person did great and this
person had growth.
There was a lot of effort was alot and then they would either

(18:25):
be busy still in their bay orthey would be with a customer.
They would come and get thefood they would not take in any
of the presentation, and then,as soon as that was over, they'd
punch out and go for lunch, foran hour.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
I know so once we looked at that and you got to
remember how the brain works.
And I'm not going to get deephere, but you just need to
understand all these things.
We're talking about yourinitial thought inside your
brain.
It's the front part of yourbrain and it's that fight or
flight where the emotions getinvolved and you're mad about it
because they're not helpingpick up trash.
You're mad about it becausethey're not engaged in the

(18:59):
luncheon.
And if you'll just calm and notreact, then logical takeover
and it's like, okay, we justneed to adjust.
We need to adjust Now.
Let's adjust to an afternooncake day that takes 15, 20
minutes.
We can celebrate everybody, sothat's how we can show
recognition.
I think what really crosses theline is when you start having

(19:20):
the after-hours stuff.
Now, like you said, and I'm thesame way, at the end of the day
I'm done, which is a great sign, because that means we laid it
all out there for our businessand our employees.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
I had that same talk this morning while running,
talking about that when youfinish something, when you
finish a race, you should never.
if it's a goal to be a race, youshould never cross the finish
line and say I feel like I hadsome more in the tank.
I feel like and I'm saying this, and you're faster than up over
there.
And so I was talking to a guythat had just ran one of his

(19:53):
first races and I said at theend you should almost be able to
taste the lactic acid.
Yes, you should not be able tohave an extra breath, and when
you feel like you should turn itup, that means you're just
holding on.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
yes, but when you cross the finish line you should
almost collapse at the finishline and it doesn't matter the
distance, it doesn't matter ifwe're talking about one mile of
5k, a half marathon or 100, itdoesn't even mean the speed, it
at all.
That's just.
That's irrelevant.
Now I'm going to tell you twotimes here.
Okay, because we got to usethis as a story.
The times are irrelevant, butI'm just using them as reference
.
Yeah, okay, I can remember ayear we took a whole crew over

(20:29):
to tulsa to run the route 66marathon.
Yeah, okay, we finished theroute 66 marathon and, just like
you said, like no matter whatit was in, no matter what shape
we're in, it's all going on theline max effort for whatever
condition we're in.
Yes, you know so.
So we finish and then someother people finish almost three
hours after us.

(20:50):
Yes, and I'm not saying becauseof speed, we're faster than
them, okay, but three hoursafter us and I was like, oh,
great job, you did really good.
How'd that feel?
They're like man, that was,that was really easy, and I'm
going don't ever say that again.
If you say that was really easyafter a marathon, you were

(21:12):
wall-yagging.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah.
So if you say work hey, thatwas pretty simple and easy, you
didn't give enough effort, youdidn't put enough effort in, you
just got by, I know so we'veseen that.
So it's funny.
I was saying that becausethere's been some people that we
followed like I know the finishline, I felt like I had some
more in the tank was like whatwere you holding back?

Speaker 2 (21:33):
for you know, goggins talks about this and some of
y'all may have listened to davidgoggins.
He's pretty crazy and out there.
But one of the things I alwaysremember in my mind is when he's
talking about some of the racesand he sits there and he wants
to soak in and embrace at theend of it all of his effort and
what he calls the suck and thepain.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, he'd broken like six toes and I think his
finger.
He's like let me sit there.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
I earned this, I earned this.
I know.
So that's a point too, I know.
So that's a point too.
Like when I get done, it's likelet me sit there and be at the
end of the day, let me be woreout, but let me be proud of what
I put in because I'm helpingothers be successful.
Yeah so and I know that got offon a tangent, but I guess what
I'm saying there is and I followsome other business leaders and
they take some employees towatch you know, the employees of

(22:21):
the month.
So it's not random buddy-buddythere, or whether you do a cake
day or this or that, there'sways to engage without just
having after hours.
Or everybody's going to aconcert together or this or that
.
And I'm not saying if you're asmaller business and you've got
eight employees and you're goingto take everybody to the county
fair or whatever, I'm justmaking things up.
I'm not saying that's wrong,it's just not working for us.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
I'm not saying that's wrong.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
It's just not working for us.
When you're there, though, it's, you know, and I don't care if
you buy beer and drink shots andall this stuff, but don't be
buying a round of shots for yourentire team.
That's just not going to equalsomething.
That's productive?

Speaker 1 (22:57):
No, because, remember , we're leading without losing
authority.
Yeah, and if you can't properlycontrol the things you might
think, no, I'm in charge, I'malways in charge, that's what
you think.
But around the coffee potthey're like oh, look it up,
larry, he was, you know, overhere with this, or she was that.
Whatever it may be, you've lostauthority.

(23:18):
You don't even realize it.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
So that will be.
That'll be like a silentassassin in your business.
And then it starts getting whenyou get people not following
you.
And it's funny.
I was talking about this tostudents at the U of A last
night and I said your biggestthing is you can have the
greatest idea or the greatestproduct or whatever else it may
be, but if you don't have peopleon your side in your vision,

(23:43):
helping you pull the wagontowards that goal, you have
nothing yeah, it's like, thinkabout a ox, a team of ox or
mules or whatever.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
If you don't have the whole team yoked up, you're
gonna be.
You'll have plenty of peoplearound watching, you will, and
you'll be like all right, here'sthe game plan, here's what
we're gonna do, and you'll bethe only one hooked up pulling
the cart, and they won't goanywhere.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
So I think that's really important and that's a
tough line.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
We're not sitting here saying that, that that's
easy, because it's tough, nobecause you have to push the
edge of the line to get to knowthe family, to get to know the
workers.
How's the daughter doing?
Hey, how was the basketballgame?
At a surface level, we're notsitting down and that's our
introvert, you know.
But you have to get closeenough so that there's buy-in,

(24:28):
that you're not.
Hey, everyone go do this.
I'm gonna go to the countryclub and go play golf, exactly,
and then you send me the resultsand how it goes.
They don't respect you, theydon't right, and so you have to
get close enough to that,without going too far.
I've never heard great examplesof how going too far worked out
.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
I haven't either.
I'll tell you another old cheatcode too If you have an
employee or a manager that ispassionate about something or
they have a new idea when you'resitting around and they have
the ability, allow them to takethe lead on that subject.
Not only allow them to take thelead, but then you step back

(25:12):
and you're their biggest supportand cheerleader.
I know, don't say you take thelead on this and go play golf
for the afternoon.
But if they see you supportingthem, like let's say it's a new,
whatever, yeah, and they'vedone all the research.
Hey, why don't you take thelead on this?
Yeah, and then you support them.
How much are they going tosupport you?
Oh, yeah, and then you supportthem.
How much are they going tosupport you?
Oh, yeah, no doubt you know.

(25:32):
So that's the thing as a leaderis about being engaged, knowing
your employees.
But I don't know what myemployees do on vacation.
You know.
I don't know all their hobbies.
You know you got to know at asurface level enough to know
what their driving factor is onwhy they're at work, yet not
crossing over that line.
You know, we're not going on acruise together.

(25:53):
We're not going here, we're notgoing there.
That's just guys you think liketoo many people fall in that
trap.
You know there's two traps thatI'm going to say uneducated
leaders fall into.
All right, one is beingbuddy-buddy with employees, and

(26:14):
number two is managing by fear.
Either one of those when I seethose out of a leader, I'm like
that's a leader that needs towork on themselves.
First, because they're tryingto manage out of fear, because
they don't know how to actuallylead and get the most out of
people.
Or two, they think if they'llbuddy buddy with somebody,
they'll work harder and whatthat's actually doing is the

(26:38):
opposite of it.
Yeah, you know.
So those are really two thingsthat, as a leader, you've got to
challenge yourself to be ableto evolve and adapt and continue
to move forward.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah, absolutely, I think that's great, for sure.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Okay, hey, let's get to a fun fact quiz of the week.
Wow, how many small businessesstarted in 2024?
I paused there because I waslike, are we talking about
Fayetteville?
Are we talking about Arkansas?
I think this is probably.
I think this is yeah, we'regoing to go big, we're going to
be here.
So how many small businessesstarted in just 2024?

(27:13):
Now the numbers are 375,000,1.1 million, 3.3 million or 5.2
million.
I love reading those numbers andI don't even know what the
answer is yet, because they'reall big numbers and it tells me
that there are entrepreneurs outthere wanting to hustle, make
their mark and open up abusiness and rock and roll.

(27:34):
Yep, yeah, the ambition isthere.
The ambition is there, for sure.
So we'll come back to that one.
Hey, next up is now.
We're going to switch gears alittle bit, and I kind of led
into it with those two, butlet's talk about personal growth
and leadership development tostay ahead of the team.
And you and I both work on thisbecause we know we really we

(27:55):
work on it for selfish reasonsof ourself, but then,
inadvertently, everybody elsesees us working on it, so it
bleeds over, and I love thequote that Craig Groeschel has.
He said everyone wins when theleader gets better.
So if you'll think about that,is you as a leader?
If you get better, your entireteam.

(28:16):
That trickles down, and we'veall seen that that if you're
progressing organically, youdon't even have to say anything.
Everybody else sees it going on.
They start adapting, they startchallenging themselves.
However, if you stay stale orneutral or plateau or whatever
you want to call it, they do thesame.
What are your thoughts there?

Speaker 1 (28:35):
So a couple different things of like personal growth
so that you can be a betterleader.
Some people, naturally, willwant this and some people will
not at all.
Some people will actually do itand some people will stay still
.
And so I'll tell you from mypersonal personal.
When I became a leader and hadpeople underneath me and then
grew that I had to teach andpreach to some more people and

(28:58):
then had more eyeballs on me andI had to teach them something
new, or more people were comingto me for answers.
I had to realize I cannotcontinue to tell them the same
story and based on the samemetrics.
You have to circle back tothose sure things.
But then I needed to have newmaterial to be able to teach

(29:22):
them so that they paid attentionwell enough.
Imagine going to true apresentation or a church service
and they taught the same thingevery single time.
You would lose followership,you lose viewership, you would
lose trust, and so I waschallenged to be able to deliver

(29:43):
the latest and greatest, themost relevant, the best
converting, uh, the highestmanaging level of material right
.
And so then I had we know whatwe know right, and that we can
spend hours and months and weekstalking about all those things.
But I had to make it surfacelevel of how do they put the

(30:05):
rubber to the road, and so I hadto continually I still have to
continually grow to see what'sthe market doing, how are people
responding.
And then how do I teach andpreach to our team that they see
growth is happening?
That's right, hey, we see thisand it's not the same thing.
And we do teach on the sameprinciples because they're the

(30:27):
basics and people have thistough thing where they forget
the basics.
But then I get to.
I can see their eyes light upevery Monday morning when I get
to talk in front of the entiresales team, if one.
I can say let me tell you astory, and that is a inside
trader tip.
If you are teaching or talking,if you will stop for a second
and say let me tell you a story.
If the learning pyramid was uphere, only 5% of them are really

(30:50):
paying attention.
If you'll say that, it willcatch their attention and they
will all pay attention.
So one, make sure it's a goodstory, don't go too long, you
bet, and then circle it backaround to what you're trying to
say.
But if I can say hey, do youmind if I show you something new
that I just learned, and sothen I can show them?
Hey, based on me learning this,this is where it shows and how
it converts and how you canapply it.

(31:11):
You bet it allows me.
So the crazy thing is, I helpthem get better and in them
getting better, I get better.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Very true.

Speaker 1 (31:20):
And so then, in the competitiveness that we are, I'm
like there's got to be more,there's got to be more.
So on my way to work I canlisten to an audio book, and
then in the sauna I can listento this, and then I have some
people that I'll send amotivational this, and so then
it just keeps going and I'llwatch these videos to scrub them
, to see if I'll send them tothe sales team, sure, and this,

(31:40):
and it just keeps going andgoing.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
That's very true, and I think if you look at that and
I'll have people ask me wheredo you get it from?
Guys, it's everywhere.
Yeah, it's everywhere.
And if you, if you'll build it,so, for example, you have to
and I'll go through myself herebut you have to absolutely
surround yourself with that soit's coming at you everywhere.
So the amount of newslettersthat I'm subscribed to that come

(32:04):
into my email on a daily or aweekly basis, on leadership tips
or new habits or this or that,that's organically coming at me.
I don't have to go find it,because I've set that up.
If you look at any of my socialfeeds, whether it's a Facebook
or an Instagram or a TikTok, 90%of my feed is all about
business, motivational,investing, strategy, this.

(32:28):
That it's all those people onthere.
So organically, like anytime, Iwould click on any of those
apps.
It's just in my face and it'scoming at me.
You know, if you'll look at thepodcast I'm following or the
books or this, so it's all thesesources and streams that are
constantly around me refillingme up, because you got to think
as a leader.

(32:49):
When we're at work, we're beingdrained.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
Yes, at the end of the day we talked about, you are
drained.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
So that if you don't fill yourself back up, you just
can't go to sleep and then begood, like energy-wise, okay,
you know.
But if you want to be filledback up so you can pour back
into others, you must prioritizeyourself, and that's something
that I didn't always know.
I was always growing and thisand that, but I would just keep
grinding, keep grinding, keepgrinding.

(33:17):
I'm like I can't take an hourout to do this, or I can't do
this or that.
Yes, I can, and it's actuallycosting me more to not do it,
because I have to take care offilling myself up first to be
able before I can pour intoothers.

Speaker 1 (33:29):
It's the same philosophy and I tell this story
one to get people to payattention, to tell a story, but
two because it's so relevant.
So two lumberjacks set out tocut down an acre.
You bet they both are given anax.
They're both given a day to cutdown this acre of forest.
And so they said, all right, goget them.
So two of them take off.
They start cutting down,cutting down, cutting down.
Then one stops and the other onelooks over.

(33:50):
He's like man, that guy'staking a rest, I'm gonna beat
him to it.
Yeah, I don't know what thegoal was at the end, but it was
the goal of the person cuttingit down first wins.
And so he's like what's thisguy doing?
So he stops to sharpen his axeand in the time that he stops to
sharpen his axe he gets threetrees ahead the guy who didn't
stop.
So then they keep cutting, keepcutting, and keep cutting and
keep cutting.
And then he stopped to sharpenhis axe again.

(34:12):
Well then, at this point he'dstill cut some more trees down,
but at that time he wasn'tcutting trees down as fast.
Shako had not stopped.
By the end he had stopped fiveor six times to sharpen his axe
While the other guy was justlike I'm still spraying, I'm
still grinding, I'm stillgetting it, and meanwhile the

(34:33):
other guy who had stopped topolish and sharpen his axe, had
passed him by 15 plus trees inthat one acre because he had
stopped to work on what wasworking.
Yes, you stop and pour intoyourself.
Yes, instead of I've got somany meetings and I have so many
projects to do.
If, if you ask any businessowner, manager or leader, hey,

(34:53):
how's it going?
They're gonna say how was yourday?
You know, past the surfacelevel, they're like it's so busy
I can't get my head above water.
You have to schedule that andyou've got time.
I hate it as a strong word, butI would tell you I hate someone
who says I don't have the time,someone who says I don't have
the time, it's there.
You have not correctlyallocated your time to better

(35:13):
yourself.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
You have to tell your time what to do.
If not, it's going to fill thespace.
Your employees will never say,hey, you should take an hour and
do this.
No, they'll take the time.
They'll take the time from you.
You must prioritize and youjust need to remember this in
your mind You're prioritizingthat so you can bring your best

(35:35):
and value to your employees.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
That's a really hard thing to conceptualize there.
If you're thinking to take awayfrom directly the business, so
directly you know.
If you're a plumber out thereand you're thinking to take away
from directly the business, sodirectly, you know.
If you're a plumber out thereand you're like, no, I need to
help them get their supply list,I need to get these things
ordered so they can get the jobdone yeah like one, you need to
have somebody else that'shelping you do that.
But two, if you're saying no, Ineed to better myself, and

(35:59):
everyone betters themselves in adifferent form of fashion.
Matt gave you his ways that hedoes it, so there's's.
You know, when you scrollInstagram or Facebook, it's
pretty thoughtless, but ifthere's something that's
relevant to help you, you'lleither save it, listen to it,
consume it, send it, and thenit's like non-thoughtful
programming in your brain.
It's just like constantly.

(36:20):
It's just a download, and so ifyou can do that, then the
thoughtfulness of I'm I amactually taking the time and
it's okay for my team to bewithout me while I'm bettering
myself to help them.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
I'm stopping to sharpen in my axe and it seems
like you're sitting on your buttnot doing anything, but you're
actually working on the betterdown the road that's so good and
I hope everybody's graspingthat and I just I promise you,
whatever stage you're in, we canrelate, because we've been
there and working 14, 16, 17hours a day and just going.

(36:54):
I just got to keep grindingwe're the best at grinding.
Oh yeah yeah, we have the dullaxe and I mean I'll just keep
swinging it until the axe comesoff.
Oh yeah, I've done it.
But then you look at the otherside and there's like there's a
better way to do this and youdon't realize that until you get
around people that are at adifferent level than you.
And I can tell you I hadsomebody else ask me this well,

(37:16):
who do you reach out to?
And I said the majority ofpeople I follow and get
information from they don't knowme from.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
Adam, that's the funniest thing.
They don't know you, they don'tknow that they're teaching you,
and that's okay.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
Yeah, that's okay.
So the easiest way to do thisand then I'm going to talk about
different chapters here in justa minute but the easiest way to
do this is you just start witha Google search Top podcast on
managing plumbers, top podcaston estimating jobs, Top podcast
on how to develop layers ofleaders, whatever it is and then

(37:49):
you might have to go through 10of them to figure out the one
that relates To find the onethat you like.

Speaker 1 (37:54):
It's so funny because there's a lady, cody Sanchez,
that I follow.
That is all about hands-onbusinesses, yep, and she came
from the stock market and waspretty big in New York, came
from the stock market and waspretty big in New York and the
stock market exchange has gonecompletely over to building
businesses and taking over thisbusiness.
That is exiting.
And so she talks about that andshe just I love that and she's

(38:20):
like you have to make sure thatyou're fully encapsulating
yourself in that and taking thetime.
And so she says I will just doa Reddit search.
Yeah, I will do a Reddit searchof hey, how does this business
scale?
How does this do this?
Even use ChatGPT and ask itquestions and say, hey, what
does a successful plumbingbusiness look like?

(38:40):
And it'll tell you because it'sbasing it off the Internet.
And then you say, okay, so if Iwas new to a plumbing business,
how would I structure a day?
And if I'm looking for X amountof gross profit or gross
revenue, what would that looklike and what is that structure?
It is free and you talked aboutthe content to find that people

(39:02):
don't even know you, becausewe're in a society of people who
want to be the most successfuland all those new businesses we
talked about.
That we'll find out hereshortly.
All those people generally or alot of them are putting it all
out there, you bet, because theywant the views.
So you get all this freecontent.
I even saw Tony Robbins theother day.
He had a whole three-dayworkshop and his workshops are

(39:27):
expensive because they're good.
Sure, it was a free three-dayworkshop because he knew if he
could get you in, that you gotto consume it.
He could put you on a planabsolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
I think it's no different than like when we're
talking.
So many people poured into us,whether they know it or not.
Yeah it, that's the whole pointof this podcast.
Honestly, we don't have paidadvertisement on here.
I mean, yeah, we plug a car atthe first, but we're not really
trying to sell cars on here.
Our goal is to be able to helpsmall businesses that can dive

(39:55):
into any of these subjects thatthey're going through.
That might be able to help thembetter lead their business and
then maybe organically, when itcomes time for a car, they're
like hey, they poured into me,at least give them a shot.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
That's the hope.
And the funny thing is, as wecontinue to grow and lead and
build, our business is a lot ofthings we assume that our entire
team knows and they're like,well, I just didn't know how to
do that.
It's like we've been talkingabout that forever.
So then in the podcast, like,ok, let's spend a whole entire
hour just on one subject, so one, we can either send the team to

(40:27):
it or it's helped us reallybreak that down.
So then when they say thatwe're like, no, actually we do
need to spend more time to helpthem refocus, they should know
that.
So if you're a small businessout there and you're just tuned
out driving to work, listen tothis, like stop and take some
notes because it is very simple,but it has to be done with the
process.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
So another piece I want to dive in before we move
on about personal growth andleadership is you must make sure
that you're adapting to thechapter you're in in your
business, and what I'll say bythat is you know, when I first
started off, it wasn't as muchin leadership, it was always
surrounding around it.
I was in F&I at the time, sosales and word tracks, and it
was constantly about that untilI really polished my craft on

(41:16):
that.
Well then, as it moved on and Imoved out of that role and into
more of a leadership, I had toreteach myself like how do you
manage managers?
How do you lead at an executiverole that I didn't have a
playbook for, while we'resuccessful at the other?
I needed to reach out, startworrying about some new subjects
on that.

(41:36):
How do you get better at goalsetting?
How do you teach people that?
So you got to move with that.
And even in construction, youknow I'll now get people that
ask me how do you know so muchabout construction?
I don't, and I didn't.
I know more now than I did, butI just started looking at
podcasts and reading books onhow to run a commercial
construction project, what toask the GCs, you know, so on and

(41:59):
so forth.
There's so much knowledge outthere.
You don't have to be thesmartest person out there, just
go get it.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
I think the important part there of realizing that if
you get to a road of you'resaying how, you have two options
.
You can either say I don't knowhow and my leader above me
never taught me, and I'm justgoing to sit there and we have
people that say that no one evertaught me how to use CDK, no
one ever taught me how toproperly do that.
Well, we had a lot of peoplethat taught us basics and

(42:28):
fundamentals you know, our dadand some other leaders but then
we were going to new chaptersand we're going to whole new
heights, and so you had theoption of saying no one did, and
then you'll stay right whereyou're at.
You're probably going toprogress backwards because more
small businesses are starting.
Or you can say you know what?
Let me take all the resourcesand go figure it out, Absolutely

(42:50):
, and that's how you grow as aleader.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
It really is.
You keep pushing.
If you ask any of ourespecially manager level, wise
and up, you know, in ourbusiness, especially starting
this year, that's been the themeon growth and how do we scale
and they would say, man, ourmeetings look different and what
they're talking about isdifferent.
Their challenge is it'sdifferent than it was last year.

(43:12):
So that's leading by example ingrowth.
So we're kind of combining boththose first two subjects we
talked about and you could justask them.
You know, okay, they're seeingthat.
So now we see them againleading by example.
Now they're scaling.
And some now we see them againleading by example.
Now they're scaling and someemployees that haven't done that
in a long time are now going.
Hey, well, I took what you wentover in the meeting and now I'm

(43:33):
restructuring my meetings thisway.
And growth for my team.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
And it's not as uncomfortable for them because
it's happening to them from adifferent level, and they're
like, yeah, I can do this, likeI've grown, grown a little bit.
Let me see if I can help someother people grow, you bet.
Yeah, good stuff, all right.
So how many small businessesstarted in 2024?
I believe we're talking global,from forbes and sbagov.
Okay, that's real.
The options were 375 000, 1.1million, 3.3 million or 5.2

(44:03):
million in 2024.
Okay, 5.2 million In 2024, 5.2million new businesses started.
That's incredible.
That's ridiculous.
5.2 million.
Yep, wow, I never would haveguessed that.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
That just makes me proud for the entrepreneurs out
there.
Go get you some, don't give up.
Don't give up at the first sightof trouble, as I told some
people again, this is fresh onmy mind because I up at the
first side of trouble.
As I told some people againthis is fresh on my mind because
I was at the U of a speaking.
I'm one of those guys that likeshow me the odds in the stats
and then I can beat it.
You know, we love talking aboutour business.

(44:37):
We've beat 95% of businesses bymaking it to the fourth
generation.
Not because we're the lowestpriced, you know.
Not because of this, notgeneration.
Not because we're the lowestpriced, you know.
Not because of this, not becauseof that, because we hung in
there and we had the processesand we didn't give up when it
was tough.
We picked 95% of otherbusinesses out.
Things like that fire me up,you know, no different than in
sales.
They say over 80% of customersforget their salesperson's name

(45:02):
after one year.
I tell salespeople you want tobeat 80% of other salespeople,
just keep following up so theyknow your name.
Hey, it's me, my name's Shelton, that's it.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
It's not that hard to be successful.
No, because I don't know whatthe stat is, but I think it's
very.
The amount of small businessesthat'll close within the first
year is like 80 somethingpercent Don't quote me exactly.
So year is like 80 somethingpercent, don't quote me exactly.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
So up to 5.2 million yeah, 80 percent are going to
close within the first year,just hang in there, just hold,
and I think that that's why andI'm not gonna get off a tangent
here, but that's one of thereasons that attracts us to
endurance sports is this whetherit be life or it be business,
it's not a sprint, it's anendurance and you've got a
problem solved and you've got toproblem solve and you've got to

(45:48):
adjust along the way and ifyou'll get that right mental
mindset, you can bury people.
Oh, I love it, I love it.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
All right.
So last segment we'll go overhere is the leader's identity.
So, the leader's identity we'vebeen talking about personal
growth and leadershipdevelopment and how not leading
without losing authority,staying true to core value as a
leader while adapting.
So core values are superimportant.
We talk about culture, we talkabout your core values of like.
We're not going to go away fromour core values, even when

(46:20):
you're trying to lead and whenyou're trying to grow, and so
how leaders can evolve withoutlosing sight of their original
principles.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
I think once you develop those, that always stays
at the core.
Yeah, you know.
So, if you look at our coreprinciples in our business, it's
that we're family owned andoperated, you know.
It's that we operate ethically,honestly, yeah, and our overall
goal is to provide a greatplace for employees to earn a

(46:52):
living with a fantastic cultureand then to be able to give back
to the local community.
So if that stays the focuswhether that was in 1946 or in
2025, now and then you just keepscaling that you can do that.
There's no reason you have tolose sight of that right there,
yet still improve as a business.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
Yeah, and I think we touched on that a little bit of
last week talking and in thetrendy of things.
So if you get in the trendytrying to get views or follows
or trying to gain business, andyou get lost too far in that,
you might lose your personalauthenticity.
Yes, you know, like, what yourcore value is and people are

(47:35):
like man.
You've changed.
It needs to be you changing ina good way and I'd love that
you've stayed grounded to sayyou want to take care of your
people, want to be family ownedand operated.
You want to take care of yourpeople, want to be family owned
and operated.
You want to be able to giveback to the community, serve
customers at the highest level,without going just over the
training because it worked Right.
You know people say, hey, I'lldo whatever it takes to get a
like, share, follow, like, ok,but what did you?

Speaker 2 (47:59):
gain there.
I think those are two differenttrains of thought.
The one's a short term gain,the other one's a long termterm
game.
And you run it through that andI know we said this word again.
But you run it through thatfilter and I'm okay with
progressive or try this overhere or try that, but does it
point back here or is it goingagainst what your core values
are?
You can do business in adifferent way.

(48:20):
It's evolved.
We sell cars differently nowthan they did in the 70s or the
80s or the 90s.
That doesn't mean we've losthow we do business.
We've evolved.
Yet our nucleus, the center ofit, has stayed the same.
Yeah, about caring about ouremployees, a great culture at
work and then pouring back intothe local community.
Yeah, you know, those are thefilters that we go through too.

(48:42):
When people ask aboutsponsorships, is it a local
sponsorship?
You know so that's one of thosethings that come.
Sponsorships change, donationschange every single year, but
they're always circled around.
Is that somebody local?
Are they a customer of ours?
You know we're not interestedin sponsoring stuff in orlando,
florida.
You know we're down in dallas,you know, really even down in

(49:03):
little rock it's?
does it affect the local peoplethat do business with us?

Speaker 1 (49:08):
Because it's full circle.
So if you got caught up in theidea of trying to get away from
personal authenticity because itgrew that short-term growth and
like, hey, let me get someone,an online creator, to support
our product yes, you know, anambassador per se You're not

(49:29):
giving back to someone local.
Sure, you're helping someone,but it doesn't help your circle.
We talked about how much of thedollar of a local business
stays local.
So if you have that person butit gets you more views or it
gets you more eyeballs, whateveryour core value, our core value
is local.
So that does not align withthat.
So you have to be careful thatyou have that balance between

(49:50):
personal authenticity andprofessional adaptability.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
I think that's a great point, and one of the
traps we've always ran iswhatever you see online or you
see on TV or you're hearing thispodcast, if you walked into one
of our physical locations, youwould see, feel and hear the
same.
We always want to be the same.
We never want to be chasing.

(50:15):
Well, I said this over here,but it's really this, honestly,
we got too much going on and I'mnot strong enough to juggle all
that on.
What I would have said.
It's like let's just betransparent.
Let's be transparent.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
Let's be transparent, let's be real, always be honest
.
And then, as we have grown andhired more and more managers,
we've had to be very clear inthat whether it's our pricing,
like our online pricing, is ourprice.
Yes, you think that'sridiculous, but the automotive
business has never been knownfor hey, these people are angels
and these people are alwayshave the best interest of the
consumer, our businesses.
I can assure you that 79 yearslater.

(50:51):
But it takes work because wehave new managers and it's not
that they mean wrong, butthey've been in the wrong
atmosphere.
They've been in the boilingwater for too long, and so
everyone's going to have tocheck on that and that might be
via a salesperson or via acustomer or a secret shop and to
say, hey, are we still stickingto our core values, to what we

(51:12):
say is what we actually do?
Because we want to be able totake those odds.
The endurance race that's rightof saying people rank it with
getting your teeth knocked outor having to pay your taxes,
with buying a car like it is nota tough thing and it should be
fun and enjoyable, and so welove that endurance race to make
it say this is easy and so wehave to make sure our team

(51:34):
understands, because there'ssome of them that say we used to
do it like this, that you wouldchange the price, or if they
don't have a trade you can jackit up.
Or I was having a conversationwith another uh ford dealer the
other day and he was like wedon't offer all these rebates
that are out there but peopledon't qualify for.
That's just not how we dobusiness.
And I said you and I are on thesame page.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
I think that is that is so true because we're in a
business where really the oddsand even the persona out there
is against us.
Yeah, so we've made it veryclear that, like, whatever price
you see online is the sameprice you'll get in the store
and we will hire somebody fromsomewhere else and we got to
reprogram them.
Yes, the other thing is on thetrade.
We take a lot of pride thatwhatever number we put on your

(52:17):
trade, your trade in value, evenif you don't buy the car from
us, we'll write you a check forit, like it's a real number.
And if you want to cheat codeon other dealers and you think
they're messing around with youto say, hey, if I don't buy your
car, will you still buy minefor this amount, that'll tell
you real quick how real thenumbers are In our business.
It's like, no, we want to sellyour car and get your car, but

(52:40):
if not, if we tell you it'sworth $10,000, we'll still write
you a $10,000 check for it.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
Yep, that will quickly show you the honesty of
what you're dealing with, and sothat's important that we
understand it with true darkcore values, while adapting to
what's currently going on sothat we're still lucrative and
things make sense for people towork there and a place to do
business with.
So that's super important there.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
Hey, I got to hit you with one more quote and it just
it's overall for what we'vetalked about today, but I
thought this was too good to notshare.
And I'm going back to CraigGroeschel again because I've
just been on a kick on readingand listening to his stuff and
he's got so much greatleadership advice.
He said when you delegate task,you create followers.
Okay, so that's good.
When you delegate authority,you create followers.

(53:24):
Okay, so that's good.
When you delegate authority,you create leaders, and you were
talking about that just acouple episodes ago, about
giving people authority withinyour organization.
That's how you create the nextlevel of leaders within your
business.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
That's so good and we talked about it.
We were talking about it in amanager meeting yesterday.
Sometimes there's FOMO, like asyou climb the ladder of like no
, I still want to be over that,I still want to order the cars,
I still want to close the deals,I still want to write the
service tickets.
Now, it's rare the person willsay that, but they still want to

(54:01):
feel a part of it.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
They do.

Speaker 1 (54:03):
And so if you're just giving tasks, hey, you go do
this, go do that, sure you havethe followers, but you, as you
scale, you need to give thatauthority to make those
decisions, to help in thisprocess.
Yeah, and and be okay, justknow that.
And so if you can identify that, point that out and you're like
, okay, that's right, I don'tneed followers, I need authority

(54:26):
figures, I need leaders in this, and so if you that that is a
very simple change that is sohard to do, sometimes without
actually looking at it right inthe face and saying, no, I need
to delegate the authority, notthe task.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
Yeah, no, that's good , that's good for sure that is
so good, so frequently askedquestions.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
We always uh love.
Just like Bill, I are likewhat's what else?
Right, cause we're 30, I don'tknow 33 into this thing is like
all right, what else you know?
So this one, matt, how do youconnect but maintain as a leader
?

Speaker 2 (54:59):
So the way I do that and we've kind of talked about
it in the episode but but theway I do, that is sure, I have a
conversation, you know, andonce you scaled a, we're almost
300 employees now you gotta youknow that that's tough with 300
um.
But I connect with havingone-on-ones with managers,
especially in the role I'm innow, you know, talking to them

(55:20):
about what's going on, trying tofigure out their goals.
But then when it comes tooverall as a group, we're
putting in those cake days,those recognitions for all the
employees, so we can connect,yet I'm not crossing that line
and I'm not having get togethersat my house or barbecues or
this or that.

(55:40):
So I'm connecting yet not goingover the line, if that makes
sense.

Speaker 1 (55:46):
Yeah, that definitely makes sense.
We spent a long time talking onthat, yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:49):
And so then back at you.
How do you continue to setyourself apart as a leader?

Speaker 1 (55:55):
We definitely talked about that as well.
But it's about personal growth,because if you sit stagnant
then you kind of lose.
It's a thing of the poster thatyou see that young kids say,
hey, you know they go throughthe phases of like I love my dad
, my dad's the best, he's myhero.
And it's like, hey, I wish mydad would leave me alone.
And like, dad, let me make mydecision, I know more than you,

(56:18):
I know more than you all thosethings.
So if you don't continue to bethe superhero, the person that
might saying, how did you knowthat?
Like when somebody comes to askyou like, hey, then I've got
this problem and you're like, ohyeah, it's just like this, this
and this.
If you don't continue to do that, they'll stop coming to you for
that and they won't look up toyou as much.
And then you don't get to bethe catalyst to help them grow

(56:40):
to their new heights.
So I think that challenges youconstantly to continue to build
and grow on yourself, to be agreat, leaner, so that you can
always you're filled up.
You get to say, hey, here's 20%of me downloading them and that
might fill them to 90%.
Absolutely, you're not alwaysone-to-one there, the download

(57:02):
that you have probably is a lotmore dense.
So when you take it and breakit apart, you don't only say
here's how you fix it, but letme give you five minutes and
show you how I came up with aprocess to fix it.
And that's where it goes fromyour 20% to their 80%, because
you showed them through it andyou don't delegate the task, but
you delegate the authority.
So I would say that just helpskeeping you grow, so then you

(57:24):
can continue to be the spotlightthat helps them.

Speaker 2 (57:27):
I think that's a great point and on top of that,
just as a closing remark, Iwould say you've got to remember
your mind is a muscle and it'sno different than any other
muscle on your body.
If you don't use it, you'lllose it.
So if you don't work it out nodifferent than being in the gym
and working muscles out it won'tgrow and the body starts

(57:47):
prioritizing other areas thatyou don't use.
So your mind is the same thing.
You've got to exercise it,You've got to challenge it,
You've got to fill it up.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
I love that and it's usually uncomfortable.
So think about that and we talkabout this often because that's
what we do.
But in the endurance space, ifsomeone asks me whether it's
weightlifting or some type ofCrossFit or a run or a long run
or a hard run, oh my gosh, howdo you push through that?
Because there's the point Ifyou've pushed yourself not the

(58:17):
easy, but the hard you're likethis is impossible.
I cannot go another step.
I cannot do another rep and saywait until you finish.
I've never stood a finish lineand said that was awful, I'm mad
, I pushed through.
I mean mad that I pushedthrough that right like and
there's been bad ones andthere's been like whoo and it,

(58:38):
you know.
No, the, the just yitzel says nopain, no story.
Yeah, I love that people say nopain again, no pain, no story.
I love that People say no pain,no gain, no pain, no story.
I love the story.
I'm a storyteller.
Keep that in mind there.
Push through it.
Challenge your mind, grow yourmind to say I need to learn
something new, to teachsomething new.
Do not be stale.

Speaker 2 (58:57):
Just get out there and do something yourself,
individual, that pushes you pastyour limits.
If you'll do that, when youcome back to work, everything
else is pretty easy as far asproblem solving.
Hey, thanks for joining ustoday.
This has been a great episode,you know.
Just talking about a leader,talking about being right on
that line between knowing youremployees, not getting

(59:19):
emotionally involved, and, asalways, if you have other
subjects you'd like us to coverthat would help you in our
business.
All of our contact informationis there.
Make sure to see us atCrossroadConversationsPodcastcom
and even stop by any of thedealerships.
Say hi to us.
We'd love to show you aroundand go farther into depth on any
of these subjects or cover newsubjects for you as well.

(59:40):
Thanks for joining us today.
Hey, thanks for joining ustoday and we hope you enjoyed
this episode.
Make sure to give it a like,share it with your friends and
family, visit our website andsend us some questions.
We want to know what you'd liketo hear, who you'd like to hear
from and what you want to see,or maybe even some questions for
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business in general.