Ep. 67 - The Leadership Blind Spot: What You Can’t See Might Be Holding You Back - Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
No, you have to evolve and have the customer
service level to where you cantake care of a customer and meet
them at their needs.
Like whenever we talk aboutparts for any of our customers
during the holidays, if we haveto put somebody in to drive five
hours, we'll do it to be able toget our customer what they need.
They're not asking them to tell,they're not asking you to tell

(00:23):
them, hey, it's going to be thisexpensive.
They just want a solution.

SPEAKER_05 (00:30):
Hey everyone, welcome to Crossroad
Conversations with the LewisBrothers, where we aim to share
real stories about running asuccessful family business,
working through adversity, andpouring back into the community
that keeps our door open.
We're your host, Matt Shelby,and Taylor, and we bring you
relevant local business adviceand automotive insights that are
sure to change the way you lookat running a business.

(00:51):
And maybe even throw in a plugfor you to do business with us.

SPEAKER_00 (00:55):
Welcome to Crossroads Conversation Podcast
with the Lewis brothers, episode67.
Christmas time.
And we're going to bring you theabsolute thunder today.
But Christmas time, all thecheer.
Shelby's the only one thatremembered his suit today.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13):
Ho ho ho.
Happy you have a Merry Christmasand a happy holidays.

SPEAKER_05 (01:17):
He is uh aesthetically carrying the cheer
for all of us today.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
But hey, it is Christmas, so wedo want to pause just a second
and say Merry Christmas toeverybody.
Absolutely.
Thank you guys.
We we hope that you're spendingtime with your family.
If you happen to be listening tothe podcast on Christmas, thank
you.
If you're listening to it afterChristmas, hope you had a Merry
Christmas.

(01:37):
Hope you enjoyed time with yourfamily.
And thank you guys forsupporting us here on this
podcast and then in our businessas well.
We love being able to give backuh to the community and to each
other as well.
We got a cool topic today,though.

SPEAKER_01 (01:51):
And if you woke up and what you wanted was not
under the tree, you still gottime to get exactly what you
wanted, a brand new vehicle.

SPEAKER_05 (01:58):
And you know that a lot of those, I'm glad you bring
that up, a lot of those, youdon't even have to answer any
questions for 90 days.
And what I mean by that is wegot 90 days till first payment.
I think last time we counted up,it was something like 20 plus
models that'll get you 90 days.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (02:12):
That would be March 25th before your payment was
due.

SPEAKER_05 (02:15):
March 25th.
So think about that.
You got a new ride, and maybeyour significant others like
that just really isn't in thebudget right now.
So no worries.
I made a great financialdecision for the family.
We don't start making paymentson this until the end of March
that gets us through Christmas.
You can still celebrate uhValentine's Day and all the rest
of it.

SPEAKER_01 (02:34):
So don't sit around and pout, just come get.

SPEAKER_05 (02:36):
Hey, but I gotta know, you know, this is episode
67, and I'm throwing this inthere.
You know, is it 67 or like ourkids say, is it 6'7?

SPEAKER_01 (02:45):
Just the same way as they don't know.
So, yeah, it's episode 67.

SPEAKER_00 (02:48):
We only had one shot to throw that in there.

SPEAKER_01 (02:49):
Okay, good job.

SPEAKER_00 (02:50):
Getting in the middle of it.
What are we talking about, Doug?
Great topic today, theleadership blind spot.
What you can't see might beholding you back.
So we're gonna definitely divedeep into this.

SPEAKER_05 (03:01):
But uh if you missed last week, last week was episode
66, which kind of goes straightinto this week.
You know, last week we talkedabout trusting the equations,
again about leaders, because wetalked about leadership on this
podcast, but really trusting theprocess and knowing where you
stand, allowing people to pourinto you, pouring into others,

(03:22):
and building your team.
So if you didn't get thatepisode, go back and check it
out because it is a process.
It's not a light switch, it'snot overnight.
You do have to trust the processand you have to build your team
that trust and believes in thesame vision that you do.

SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
Absolutely.
Hey, and as always, check us outat lewissupershore.com, browse
over a thousand models of athousand vehicles in stock, many
models, different makes, and forall things podcasts, crossroads
conversation podcast.com.
Like and subscribe so you cansee every single Thursday when
that new episode drops.

SPEAKER_00 (03:54):
Mm-hmm.
Well, what's in the garagetoday?
I'm talking about Ram EVProMasters.
These are the absolute bargainthat we have found.
We talked about this a coupleepisodes ago, had a couple come
in, we're able to find a fewmore.
We're talking about saving over$55,000 for what the vehicle was
upfitted for, full deliveryservice vehicle.

(04:18):
I mean, Matt, you know the morespecifics about this thing.

SPEAKER_05 (04:21):
Well, we found a awesome opportunity really for
our customers that we jumped onand we we researched this one.
We brought one in at first, youknow, to check it out and make
sure, like, is this really whatit says it is?
Because we're talking aboutsaving$55,000.
Yeah.
We're talking about a vehiclethat was almost$90,000 that is
now, you know, in the low 30s.

(04:42):
Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 (04:43):
What I want to point out about this is it is an EV,
so it's 100% pure electric.
And where many, and I mean manypeople have just completely said
no to EV at$55,000 off for aessentially brand new, and I say
essentially because it's a 24model uh still being sold on

(05:04):
MSO, but sold as a new vehiclewith less than 200 miles.
You're talking about it's about60% off, 66% off, somewhere
around there.
It kind of makes you say, allright, I know I said no to EV,
but let's forget how it gets itspower.
A new van that is fully upfittedfor$35,000 just kind of makes

(05:28):
sense.

SPEAKER_05 (05:28):
It just like that doesn't exist.
And when we're talking aboutupfitted, we're not talking
about like if you and I wouldbought a cargo van and we did it
as least expensive as possible.

SPEAKER_01 (05:38):
I think it's most expensive.

SPEAKER_05 (05:39):
It was over a$30,000 conversion with a commercial
sliding side door, a roll-uprear door, LED lighting,
paneling, shelves, shelves thatthey're on, shock assist to get
out of the way.
They were Amazon Vans.

SPEAKER_01 (05:55):
It's a high frequency, the best of the best,
because it had to work.
Uh, but you need to check theseout.
And by the time this thinglaunches, I don't know if we'll
have any more laptop.

SPEAKER_05 (06:04):
We've already reloaded once.
I know.

SPEAKER_01 (06:05):
Yeah, so we've already had 20 come and go.
Uh so if you're hearing this,you're gonna need to come by and
check this out and forget howit's powered.

SPEAKER_05 (06:14):
I and I think that's a great point.
And I'll say one other thing,just because this is that's what
we do, is at an EV, you gottaremember EVs have an eight-year,
100,000 mile warranty on them.
Yeah.
Okay.
So let's take the the worst casescenario here.
Yeah, because people are like,what am I gonna do when the
battery goes out?
Okay, buy this thing for the low30s, all right, use it for

(06:35):
100,000 miles.

SPEAKER_01 (06:37):
Ride it off 100%.

SPEAKER_05 (06:39):
Ride 100% of it off.
Yeah.
And then if it's only worth zeroat the end, and it's gonna be
worth more than zero.

SPEAKER_04 (06:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (06:47):
But but even if it was just worth zero, you save
$55,000.
You had a vehicle fully coveredunder warranty for 100,000
miles, you spent zero in gas,didn't have to change the oil,
none of it.
Yeah, maybe you put a set oftires on it.

SPEAKER_04 (07:01):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (07:02):
You know, maybe a set of brakes.
So when you look at it through adifferent lens and focus, you're
like, dang, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 (07:08):
Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_05 (07:08):
And if it ends up bringing 10 grand with 95,000
miles on it, I'm way ahead.
All right.

SPEAKER_01 (07:13):
Way ahead.
Its current gas equivalent isgoing to be 65 plus grand.
Yeah, it is.
And it's just like, how do youjustify paying 30 grand more
because you were so rudimentaryand saying, I only will drive
gas, I only will do this.

SPEAKER_05 (07:27):
Like, or you're like, in September they went
away with the EV credits.
We just got you 55,000.

SPEAKER_01 (07:33):
Put that credit in your bank, and like we have
chargers galore everywhere.
And it comes with a charger.

SPEAKER_05 (07:37):
It comes with a level two charger up to 80 amp,
and you're like, well, itdoesn't come with a level three
charger.
You don't want a level threecharger.

SPEAKER_01 (07:42):
You couldn't put that in your install at your
house, anyways.
Let me tell you the other threeyears we've been trying to
install ours at the dealership.

SPEAKER_05 (07:48):
So it's so we parked there a little bit, but because
really honestly, these thingsare gonna sell, but we'd rather
our podcast family out thereknow the inside track on the
savings.
So there you go.
You do with it what you want.
If you want to save 55 grand ornot, it's up to you to take
action.
All right, let's talk aboutleadership.
Yep.
Now let's talk about leadershipblind spots.

(08:08):
Because a lot of time blindspots, and I'm not talking about
like the blind spots that youknow are blind spots.
I don't know if those are simplyblind spots.

SPEAKER_02 (08:16):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (08:17):
But I'm talking about blind spots that creep up
on you, and you're like, dang, Ididn't even think about that.
Man, I didn't even know that washappening.
Or I didn't realize that I wastalking to or addressing people
in a way that we're not gettingthe correct response.
That could be a blind spot too.
Or I thought what we were doingthe team really liked.
No, they were just doing itbecause you're your boss.

(08:37):
So those are the blind spotswe're talking about.
Behaviors, behaviors you don'trealize that are affecting
others.
And so you got to remember, wetalked about this in our manager
meeting this morning.
You know, it's important whatyou say, and it's important what
you don't say.
People are watching andlistening to your actions every
single day, and that's on yourshoulders.

SPEAKER_01 (08:59):
I think that's a really important reminder.
Remember, statistically sayingthat's written down, so it's
gotta be true, uh, that 70% ofyour communication is nonverbal.
So you say what you say or whatyou don't say, or even
importantly, how you say it.
Like sometimes I'll do that inour manager meetings, and
afterwards I'm like, okay, Isaid what I wanted to say, but

(09:21):
like I don't know, the feelingin the room just wasn't right.
You know, and so then I'm like,All right, well, do I need to
refocus that, try it again?
Do I need to go around and talkto the guys, like to try to
figure out because it's man, itthere's a whole lot of how you
say it, how often you say it, towhat actually they take it, is

(09:44):
this serious or not, or is thisimportant or not?

SPEAKER_05 (09:47):
I I I think we we're gonna need to be really honest.
You said something that was goodthere, and that resonated with
me, is that no matter how muchwe prepare, no matter how well
we lay out a meeting, they'renot all gonna go perfect.
You your your employees are notalways gonna be receptive and
grab a hold of the subject thatyou're trying to cover.

(10:09):
And there are times when youhave to evaluate right after the
meeting, okay, did it feel likethey were engaged?
Did it feel like they understoodwhat I talked about?
And if they didn't, then it'stime for you to go around
one-on-one, you know, and do alittle investigating your
meeting tomorrow may recap withwhat you found.

SPEAKER_04 (10:27):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (10:28):
So then you can drive it home again, okay?
But don't just assume that youkill it every single time.
We're all human.
You know, we'd like to thinkthat, but that's not the truth.

SPEAKER_01 (10:36):
Generally, you can tell by the looks on their
faces.
Like in the sales meeting, whenone of us are leading the sales
meeting, you kind of got to goaround.
Sometimes it means you toss therest of your slides.
Like I had a lot more to cover,but this is really good and I
need to peel it back, nodifferent than in this podcast.
Or you and sometimes in themiddle of our sales meeting say,

(10:56):
All right, I need everyone tostand up, I need everyone to do
10, 10 jumping jacks, 10push-ups, because I can tell
just the maybe it's me, but I'mgonna reprogram me and everyone
else.
But because it's just we're notgetting anywhere, and it's a
waste of time, and we just can'twaste that time, and we can't
waste the opportunity to pourinto people that are gonna pour

(11:17):
into you guys, the customers forthat experience or a process or
something we're working on totrain or teach on.
So you kind of they read it fromyou, but you gotta read it from
them as well.

SPEAKER_05 (11:27):
You do, and that's a great point of hey, quit trying
to just get through the agenda.
That who who's gonna give you acookie or an attaboy.

SPEAKER_01 (11:36):
Who's your who says your agenda is to get through
the agenda?

SPEAKER_05 (11:39):
And and if you only get through half of your agenda
that you had written fortraining, who knows that you
didn't go over the other half?
Only you.

SPEAKER_01 (11:47):
No one, right?

SPEAKER_05 (11:48):
Only you.
So you're better off to do lesswith more impact there, you
know.
And I just as you guys startthinking about these things
about, you know, what is aleadership blind spot, you know,
success can actually createblind spots.
Now, think about that one moretime because I think this is one

(12:09):
of the areas where people missblind spots.
I think when your business ismaybe not profitable or you had
a bad month, or the bank'scalling, or sales are down, or
it's tough to make payroll, youare micro attention to every
single area and you identifyblind spots easier.

SPEAKER_02 (12:29):
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (12:29):
However, when you're on a roll and highly successful,
you might not even be digging inand finding those blind spots.

SPEAKER_01 (12:37):
That's a really good point.
And people talk about that of umwhen business is down,
oftentimes will people startcutting, cutting advertising,
cutting certain expenses, evenlooking at possibly cutting
people, right?
Because the sales aren't there,the business isn't there.
And I heard a guy say this on apodcast previously listening to,

(12:59):
and he said, I I do the completeopposite.
When business is down, which youcan only do this for so long,
but you know, it kind ofgenerates, is that I in hyper
invest more in people, but alsoin my advertising because
business is down.
And then when business is up,then I hyper focused on the
details of the expenses and thelittle things that would then be

(13:22):
a blind spot in success.
So that was completely backwardsthinking.
But as you're saying that, I waslike, I remember that guy
talking about that.
That he does of your naturalreaction says this, when it's
good, it's okay, and when it'sbad, pay attention to it.
He does the complete opposite.

SPEAKER_05 (13:38):
I hope everybody grasps that what Shelby just
went over is because that's whatwe we think about that
opposite-wise.
When it's going down, then we'rereduce expenses, reduce
expenses, reduce expenses, butyou need to actually generate
more revenue, which takes somemoney.
And then when it's rocking androlling, how can I reduce
expenses so we keep more of it?
Hey, I'll tell you this, and weand we won't go through all uh
10 here, but some of the waysthat can develop blind spots,

(14:03):
and and I love this first onehere, and I think it's a great
subject to talk about, isavoiding conflict.
If you as a leader avoidconflict, you're probably not
identifying what some of theblind spots are.
You know, if you're just runningfrom like, oh, that'll just work
itself out, or just let thatplay out, you're not seeing some

(14:24):
issues that could be even deeperthan what's just on fire on the
surface.

SPEAKER_01 (14:30):
That's internal and external, right?
You know, if you're notlistening to what the people are
saying, and you gotta take out agrain of salt from a customer
perspective, especially thepeople that like to.
I'm not talking about thecustomer who says, Hey, uh, I
just wanted you to know this.
I appreciate those, right?
Uh, but it's the ones that arejust as you would call it Karen,
it's just like, what in theworld?

(14:50):
And so you click on their Googleprofile and you can see that
they've left 75% bad reviews.
But it's still important todissect that and say, okay, is
there something to be learnedthere?
And one of the things that I sawthat we went over in our manager
meeting this morning, that thiswas one of the guys' metrics
from a store that he said, if acustomer is having to reach out
to you to check the progress ontheir vehicle and service, to

(15:11):
check on the progress of a partthey ordered, or to check the
progress of a vehicle that theyordered, or how the process is
coming, if they have to reachout to you, they have failed.
We have failed.
Right?
We should be the first point ofcontact every single time.
Hey, just wanted to update you.
Hey, here's where we're at,here's how it's going.
And if you can do that andlisten and learn, I think that
helps avoid blind spots andtaking that customer interaction

(15:35):
and winning at that.

SPEAKER_05 (15:36):
I think so.
And, you know, I think this nextsubject, um, and I got a quick
story to go with this one, butit says what got you here won't
always get you there.

SPEAKER_04 (15:46):
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (15:46):
And that's a that's you know, you guys have heard us
talk about this on the podcastof, you know, what built our
business over the past 80 yearsand got us to this, you know,
new facility and new structureand new scale is great.
And that was successful, but itmight not get us to where we
need to go in the future.
Uh recently I had one of my uhhad a fireplace go out of my

(16:07):
house.
Like I could hear the igniterwas trying to ignite the gas,
but nothing ever happened.
So I went through all thetroubleshooting I could go
through, and I'm like, okay,just call the place that
originally installed them.
And I won't say who it is.
So I call them, I call themyesterday, okay, because I'm
like, I know I need to get thisdone.
We got family coming over forChristmas, this is important,
blah, blah, blah, blah.

(16:28):
So I call them.
I got a, and they take down myinformation, um, and they said,
Okay, we'll have somebody callyou back to schedule service.
I'm like, okay, great.
So then I call them back today.
All right.
And then I'm still okay withthat.
They're a smaller company.
And she said, okay, yeah,somebody usually calls you in 48
to 72 hours, usually about threeor maybe four days, then to

(16:49):
schedule your service.
Looking way out.
And I'm like, okay, I respectthat.
And I'm calm.
I respect that.
But I said, I just I need toknow a little bit of if this is
a solution for me or not.
I said, when they call me, shegoes, if you haven't heard from
them by Thursday, Friday, callus back.
And I said, I need to know whenthey call me.

(17:10):
Are we scheduling one day outlike they're scheduling for the
next day?
Or are we two weeks out, or wethree weeks out?
Because I'm needing to find asolution.
I'm not upset.
I just need clear expectations.
And she said, Well, they shouldcall you Friday, and then
they'll be scheduling anywherefrom a week to two weeks.

SPEAKER_01 (17:26):
Okay, thank you.
Have a good day.

SPEAKER_05 (17:27):
You know, so then I know I got to take action, but I
had to call them back and to andto go through all that.
And they're a successfulcompany.
They've been here for a while,family-owned company.
But just because that worked inthe past, it's gonna slowly
dwindle away their business andthey're gonna look up and then
all of a sudden they won't betwo weeks scheduled out.

(17:47):
They won't be three weeksscheduled out in search just
because it's working today, butbecause it's easier and it's a
different way to do business,it's you don't take somebody's
number down and call them inthree days to schedule a service
appointment.

SPEAKER_01 (18:01):
If you think about that, like just in business,
forget the company.
If it takes and someone gavethem that word track long ago,
right?
Like when they had to call themanufacturer and it's not the
employees' fault.
No, no, no, no.
They said exactly what someonetold them to do.
But think about that.
If you told me that, I canoftentimes, like what you're

(18:24):
probably gonna end up doing istaking it apart yourself.
I just know this, and and you'regonna catalog it.
You can oftentimes findsomething, and I'm not just
talking about me, it's a lotabout me.
You can find something on Amazonand have it delivered the same
day because they're distributionwarehouses, but they tell you to
wait three to four days to callto look at their books to tell

(18:46):
you that, hey, we can scheduleit January 12th through the
18th.
Will that work for you?

SPEAKER_05 (18:52):
And then flight coming back from Shankar.

SPEAKER_01 (18:54):
And then the problem is the technician will show up.
He's like, Oh, you need anigniter.
I can just see where this isgoing.
I've done this a thousand times.
And so then, like, okay, howquick can you have an igniter?
And they're like, let me call myparts.
So they call parts and they'relike, hey, that's three to four
weeks out.
You'd be you'd be in March.
It'd be March, and then Iwouldn't even need the fireplace
anymore.

(19:15):
And and you would never callthat company again.
Not because they lied, sold orcheated from you, because what
got them there is not today'show you do business.

SPEAKER_05 (19:24):
And I think you're spot on, obviously.
But I'm not gonna go leave a badGoogle review.
No, no, no, no.
I'm not gonna call yes, cuss.
That's the silent blind spot.
Or it's the silent one, whichthere's more of those out there
than the Karen's.
Yeah, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 (19:39):
I the the silent blind spot.
It's funny, we were talkingabout at the sales tower last
night about uh of all these likeif you can find somebody that
does a good job, like I I camehome the other night and one of
my huge windows in my livingroom was busted.
And I was just like, oh, son ofa gun.
Like one, because of Our windowescapade we had on another

(20:02):
property.
It took us over a year.
Oh, yeah.
You have PDS.
I'd like to say the name of thiscompany, but I won't.
But so that was my it wasn't thecost because I knew the cost
would be expensive, but it waswhat it was, right?
They're 20-year-old windows.
So I called someone I knew thatdoes a lot of windows for us.
I was like, hey, can you handlethis thing?
It's 69 inches by 64.
She's like, good night.

(20:23):
No way.
That's humongous.
I was like, yeah, you gotanything out back we can fit in
there?
He's like, no.
They're not going to have arental.
I said, all right, I trust you.
Who do you know that can help meout uh efficiently?
Yeah.
And so he's like, I got thisguy.
This is gonna blow your mindbecause of what you've been
through in the window.

(20:44):
I called them, told them whatthe dimensions are.
So in the time that I call themto the time that it was
installed was less than ninedays.
Oh my gosh.
You couldn't get a company tocall you in nine weeks.
Oh yeah, 55 plus windows withthem.

(21:04):
But because I knew somebody andthey were like, hey, call this
guy.
And they called me on Saturdayand they were like, hey, Mr.
Lewis, um, weather doesn't lookgood next week.
Can we come today?
I said, Absolutely.
I'm not home.
Uh I'll unlock my door, don'tlet my dog or cat out.
And thank you so much.
He called me, he's like, Hey,you got a broom, I want to clean
this up, you're done.
I said, Send me the link so Ican pay you right now.

(21:27):
Please, can I give you a tip?
Right?

SPEAKER_05 (21:28):
That's where a tip comes in.
You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 (21:30):
A link for Google Review so I can give you a five
star.

SPEAKER_05 (21:33):
I I think all those examples, like what you have to
remember as a leader, and we allget stuck in this.
And as a leader, if we don'ttalk to our employees about
this, they're just doing what wetold them back 15 years ago in
orientation.
Yeah.
Is customers have options.

SPEAKER_01 (21:49):
They do.

SPEAKER_05 (21:49):
They have options.
They're not, we're not the onlygame in town.
I don't care what industryyou're in unless you're NASA.

SPEAKER_01 (21:56):
You're still not the only one.

SPEAKER_05 (21:57):
But now NASA has competition.
You know, everybody hascompetition.
And that means that thecustomers quit getting upset
when a customer is asking for asolution.
You need to be the one findingthe solution, or they'll just
replace you.
And that is the biggest blindspot of all.

SPEAKER_00 (22:14):
That's it.
That's in everything we talkedabout.
So there was, and you'relistening to this saying, okay,
there's two one off.
It happens everywhere.
Let me give you something thatevery single person listening to
this podcast has went over.
Okay.
We talked about this.
So you're in the fireplace, youhad a window.
I went to go get cell phones.
That's a headache for everybody.
I'd sit my wife to go get a cellphone going through.

(22:36):
I was like, hey, run to BestBuy, they'll have it.
You can buy it underneath and gothrough there.
And the guy couldn't even openup the program to be able to go
through.
Said, ma'am, I don't know how todo this.
The worker was there saying,ma'am, I don't know how to do
this.
Go to the ATT store.
And they said, Oh, you're inluck.
Uh, I don't have it, but I couldhave it and blah, blah, blah,

(22:58):
this amount of time.
I said, you know what?
Just go home.
I ordered it online onWednesday.
It was delivered on Thursday.
People, people still want to dobusiness local.
They want to be able to go andget the service, but we have so
many people, whether it bewhatever industry it's in, that
they're just saying, I can't dothis, or it's going to be this

(23:19):
out, or it's going to be thisway because it's always been
that way.
No, you have to evolve and havethe customer service level to
where you can take care of acustomer and meet them at their
needs.
Like whenever we talk aboutparts for any of our customers
during the holidays, if we haveto put somebody in to drive five
hours, we'll do it to be able toget our customer what they need.

(23:41):
They're not asking them to tellyou, they're not asking you to
tell them, hey, it's going to bethis expensive.
They just want a solution.

SPEAKER_01 (23:49):
Because generally speaking, you've never said,
hey, I need it really fast, Ineed it really good, and I need
it really cheap.
You can have two of the three.
But in any of those scenarios, amajority of the time you want
good value, but you have peoplecoming over for Christmas.
They know when Christmas is,right?
And they have not beenprogrammed to say, you know

(24:11):
what?
We have an option for a fasttrack.

SPEAKER_05 (24:14):
They could have said, hey, we're booked up for
two weeks.
However, we've talked to some ofour employees that are willing
to work on Saturday.
Now we've had to offer them moremoney if you need an express
service.
I don't know if you need it donebefore Christmas or not, but you
could do it Saturday.
We got to pay them time and ahalf.
I'd be like, okay, sign me up.
Thank you for giving me thoseoptions.
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (24:33):
Just think that.
And even if you think I wouldnever pay that, how many people
are getting food delivered totheir house?
And it's generally 50% higher.
Yeah, at least.
Right?

SPEAKER_05 (24:44):
Now you got to explain it though.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (24:46):
You know.
Yeah, no, no, no.
You do do not assume any of it.
Yeah.
But just like, hey, I got anoption that's normally going to
be this long, or it sounds likeyou're kind of in a rush.
We have an expedited version.
Would you like to hear aboutthat?

SPEAKER_02 (24:56):
Yep.

SPEAKER_01 (24:57):
Right?
So same thing in shipping.
They give you this, this, this,or this.
And based on, and it'll, it'sprobably a hundred percent
greater in cost every singletime.
Right.
And but it's the option.
And probably if you surveyedthose delivering companies, they
would say majority of the timepeople pick the quicker time.

SPEAKER_05 (25:16):
Yeah, I bet so.
And spend more money.
But since you gave them theoptions, then they made the
decision that was their choice.
Hey, here's the next one.
I think y'all are gonna havesome great input on this.
Why are blind spots so hard tosee yourself?
You know, why is it hard for anyof these stories we talked
about?
You know, the the the fireplace,the the cell phone, the other

(25:41):
instances you're talking about,that those people thought that
they killed it and they didexactly what they were supposed
to, yet they were so far awayfrom being able to achieve it.
Why are blind spots so hard tosee yourself?

SPEAKER_01 (25:54):
Well, and and it says in yourself, but if you
think yourself or in yourself,either way, I there's a lot of
different ways, right?
And there's a lot of differentreasons.
It's may maybe you don't overlycare about what you're doing.
Okay, right.
So then you're just goingthrough the process, like you
were midway in a story aboutgossip, and someone called and

(26:15):
you're like, Thank you for gone.
Dan's windows, how's it going?
Yeah.
And like, hey, how long does ittake to get a window?
Oh, normally 18 to 16 weeks.
And they're like, Oh my gosh.
It's like, is there a fasteroption?
Nope.
Normally 18 to 16 weeks.
Gotta pay up front, right?

SPEAKER_02 (26:30):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (26:30):
And like, all right, well, let me know if you have
any more questions.
And it's like, well, like I wassaying, so I would say one, you
don't overly care.
So you're never dissecting it.
Uh, but two, it's if you don'tbelieve in yourself that you're
one that you're better at itthan a lot of people, then you

(26:51):
know, so if you believe inyourself, you think you don't
have blind spots.
That's right.
Right?
You're thinking you're doing itthe best, the best or most
efficient way.

SPEAKER_00 (26:58):
Well, and you're not coachable.
We talked about this yesterdayin a manager meeting.
It's it we'll go to football.
We just always can relate backto football, but you're greats,
your quarterback greats.
When they go to the sideline,whether they did good, they did
bad, what are they doing?
They're sitting there, they'restudying, and they're going
over.
So whenever I leave, whether Iwas successful in providing the

(27:19):
service to you, getting a newwindow, anything else, I go back
and review that.
And I would say 90 plus percentof people do not go back and
review.
I talked to you on the phone,you answered, and I heard about
that.
I'm like, oh great.
He was just mean, didn't want asolution.
So I moved on to the nextperson.
So they don't have they justdon't have necessarily the

(27:43):
process in place to where theygo back and they want to humble
themselves and say, hey, Ididn't serve this person at the
highest level.

SPEAKER_05 (27:50):
It all starts at the leadership level.
And I'll tell you what I see asa common factor when when people
are just stuck, what's called inthe forest, same thing as the
blind spot, is they're notconstantly evaluating themselves
versus others.
They're stuck into this of Ithink we're killing it, nobody

(28:10):
else is close.
Well, are you?
Is it just because emotionallyyou feel that way?
Is it just because you're twoweeks backed up on service?
What's your benchmark there?
And, you know, again, sports iseasy to relate to.
Every single week, how manystats are out there on sports?
I mean, they've got how manypeople made third down, the
third game of the year, and howmany did this and that when

(28:32):
their leg was hurt, how manyless.
I the the game was it last nightwhen the Dolphins were playing,
they were talking about the staton the Dolphins record when they
go to below X amount of degrees.
You know, all these stats, butbut they're always comparing
themselves to find blind spotsand opportunities to grow.
In your business, okay, how doyou do that?

(28:53):
Well, you get around others, yourealize too, and here's
something I've realized,especially you guys have heard
me talk about this, especiallyin the five last five years, is
that each business is not on anisland by itself.
Business is business isbusiness.
You have people and processes,and you just change the product.
That's it.

(29:14):
But so many people, even withinour organization, we used to
have this manager in ourcollision center, and he
wouldn't let us pour into himbecause he thought his business
was so much different, we didn'tunderstand it.
It's just a different product.
So you've got to constantly belooking outside.
And the thing we have our teamsdo all the time is they'll send

(29:37):
in inquiries, they'll send inleads, they'll call other
dealerships to figure out hey,we think we're killing it, but
let's look, let's be vulnerablefor a second and see and not let
these blind spots come up andjust whack us and keep us from
success.
But that starts at the leaderlevel.
Like, don't expect that youremployee at down at ground zero
is gonna bring that up to you.

(29:58):
Like, hey, boss, I mysteryshopped 10 of our competitors in
the HVAC business, and here'swhat I found.

SPEAKER_04 (30:04):
No.

SPEAKER_05 (30:04):
That's gonna start from leadership down.

SPEAKER_04 (30:06):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (30:07):
You know, certainly there.
And that really kind of rollsinto, you know, where where most
leaders assume that they'redoing fine, but aren't they?
Well, you put the thermometer inand you become vulnerable.
And you go, okay, I think I'mkilling it, but there's probably
somebody out there that's betterat doing it.

SPEAKER_01 (30:20):
Gosh, there's a lot to a lot to learn and a lot to
grow, you know, that that says,okay, I'm here, but I want to go
there, or at least want to staythe same.
So I need to be competitive, andyou just got to see what else is
offered out.
Like you'll learn so much justby seeing what's offered out
there.

SPEAKER_05 (30:36):
Oh, that's right, for sure.
All right, next up is theChristmas reflection.
What do you got?
If your team gave you one pieceof honest feedback as a
Christmas gift, what do youthink it would be?

SPEAKER_01 (30:50):
I don't know if it was a Christmas gift.
It might not be something youwant to open.

SPEAKER_05 (30:56):
I, you know, I'm gonna take let me take a stab at
this.
Um, and then we can just correcteach other because we probably
know each other what it wouldbe.
Um, I'll say a funny one, butmaybe not a funny one, is you
you would probably get somefeedback from our team members
of Matt needs to not walk sofast when he's walking between
the buildings or within thestore because I can't even catch

(31:19):
up to him to talk to him aboutsomething.
You know, that's it's that's agood one.
So, you know, maybe, you know,and that's could be a blind spot
in my mind.
You know, I'm thinking, hey, Igotta get there quicker because
it's boom, boom, boom, timeline.
And uh sometimes that'sintentional.

(31:41):
You know, there because I knowthat so and so that I gotta go
past is just gonna want togossip.
And it's very hard to clarifywho's just wanting to gossip and
talk, and then who really has asubject that we need to talk
about that could improve thebusiness.
You know, so I probably saidthat would be one.

SPEAKER_00 (32:03):
Yeah, probably one of mine would be uh if feedback
coming, and this is probably myfault of growing up, but any of
the employees that I've workedwith a long time, they I love
and they come to me and theysay, Well, Taylor's gotten too
busy.
Well, it's because I've grownand I hadn't been able to go
back and still hold their handthrough.

(32:26):
And they've become accustomed tome going over the top and
helping them way overboard withso I laugh whenever they come
through and they're, oh, you'rejust too busy for me.
No, I'm not too busy with you.
You should have grown some.
I need you to continue to go.
So they would tell me, just outof, I don't know, whether giving
me a hard time or not.
You know, that's a great point.

SPEAKER_05 (32:46):
Hopefully, some of the some people out there are
listening.
I was about to say some of them.
Yeah.
Some people are listening.
People of them.
But but think about growing up.
Okay, think about like whenyou're a little child, somebody
changed your diaper.
And then they spoon fed you.
And then, okay, now all of asudden, yay, you can potty by
yourself.
Yeah.
Okay.
And then you can feed yourself.

(33:06):
And now all of a sudden you cantake a shower yourself.
Now you can drive yourself.
And then now you moved out ofthe house.
Mom and dad are still there, butyou're not asking them to spoon
feed you and to change yourdiaper anymore.
Okay.
You should grow.
Yes.
You know, keep thatrelationship, but you should
grow.

SPEAKER_01 (33:23):
Yeah, you should still ask questions.
They should just be at anotherlevel.
At a different level.
Don't keep asking the samequestion.
And uh over and over again.
Wow.
I I uh I I think it depends eachone of us who you ask and what
kind of feedback they would giveus.
I would say one thing, uh notsay it's walking, but people

(33:45):
would generally say maybe I wishShelby wasn't so intense.
Yeah.
And some things.
You know, sometimes they'relike, I wish he was just normal,
right?
Whatever it may be, ofefficiency, uh, my wife would
certainly say that oforganization, or can you not be
so intense in this moment oflike, no, no, no, like you

(34:08):
should be able to get so muchdone in this amount of time.
Yeah.
You know, and that's just thethat's the madness in me of just
like there should be so muchthat we could get done.
Why are we falling short onthat?
And I'd say 90% of the time I aman encouraging style of, hey,
this is opportunity.
Hey, did you guys see this?

(34:30):
And then the other 10% might belike, all right, I've asked
enough.
Here's what we're doing.
We need to do this, this, this,and this.
So maybe maybe somebody wrappedup up in a gift and say, hey,
maybe I wish you weren't sointense.
I don't know.
I was trying to pull up the um,we sent out a uh survey for our
Christmas party to ouremployees.
Christmas party top golf.
It was a lot of fun to try tofigure out was it what people

(34:54):
wanted?
You know, it's tough.
So 250 plus employees that wesaid, hey, I want to be there
with their families.
So well over 600 people, right?
Not the whole top floor, topgoth.
But one, it was very expensive.
Yeah.
Want to make sure he's it real.

SPEAKER_05 (35:09):
And I think, you know, as we're talking about
that, and as we've talked tosome key leaders to help us with
some of these surveys back, it'sit's tricky because we do our
Christmas party not likeeverybody else.
We encourage and we invitefamily members there, and the
kids are there and everythingelse.
So it's tough to just rent out aballroom and have a casino night

(35:32):
or just have an open bar becausewe want them to bring their
family.
Family.
And guys, let's just be honest.
With kids, you have to have anactivity.
That it's not gonna work to havea bunch of cocktail tables and
them sit around and talk.
Now, that might connect some ofthe employees better, and but it
wouldn't connect the family aswell.
So there's been a little bit ofback and forth on that of like,

(35:55):
okay, well, there's this style,but yeah, that wouldn't work
with a family, and we don't wantto give that aspect of it up.
Yeah.
So yeah, that's good.
That's good for sure.
All right.
So next up, we're talking aboutcommon blind spots.
Leaders don't realize that theyactually have.

SPEAKER_01 (36:14):
So think about that.
Common blind spots that leadershave but don't realize that they
have.

SPEAKER_05 (36:20):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (36:20):
Right?
Pretty basic and simple, butvery far away from basic and
simple.
Thinking that you're more clearthan you actually are.

SPEAKER_04 (36:28):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (36:29):
I'm a raise my hand and say, I am super guilty in
that.
Working on it, getting muchbetter than I actually have
been, so that I communicatethat, but like think about when
something goes wrong.
I'm just like, I golly, Ithought it was super crystal
clear.
Every Friday and Saturday, thisneeds to happen.
When you get here first thing inthe morning, this thing needs to

(36:49):
happen.
And you think you're justcrystal clear in that, and then
there was a blind spot.
And maybe you were crystal clearinitiating the process, but
there wasn't then the followingup to it of something written
down and you didn't circle backand follow up to say, hey, just
following up, it's Monday again.

(37:10):
Did we do this?
Do you have any questions?
Do you still have the pieces,the parts, the time, and all
those?

SPEAKER_05 (37:16):
I think one of the things that really helped me
with what you brought up, andyou guys are gonna laugh about
this because I talk about it allthe time now, is the learning
pyramid.
And that comes from theeducation industry.
And if you've been in any kindof uh uh lecture or speech we've
talked about, we always bringthis learning pyramid up.
It really helps to understandthe retention rate that people

(37:39):
have that you're talking to.
So you won't get frustrated.
You got to remember during thelecture, and just Google it up,
look for the image, the learningpyramid.
But during a lecture, they onlyretain 5% of it.
If you're reading, it's 10%.
However, if you're teaching,it's 90%.
So it's flip-flop and you'reteaching it and you think
everybody got it, and two weekslater they're not doing any of
it.
And it's because you only gavethe lecture and that was a 5%

(38:01):
retention rate.
You know, so that is a big blindspot for people because they go
over a process procedure andthey've got a PowerPoint
presentation, you send out amemo, you send out an email, and
you're like, done, it's good, onto the next deal.
It's not done.
You introduced it.
You have a 5% retention rate onthat.

(38:24):
So then you got to get the groupback together.
Need to discuss it.
That'll get you to a 50%.
So that's a 10x.

SPEAKER_03 (38:30):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (38:30):
Like introduce it.
Okay, let's get into groups ofthree or four and talk about how
we're gonna implement this, andthen we'll talk together any
blind spots that you guys maysee.
Now let's all get up andpractice, drill, and rehearse.
Act like we've got a customer onthe phone.
We each have a room full ofphones.
Remember, we put all the phonesout.

SPEAKER_04 (38:47):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (38:48):
Because once you practice by doing, then that's
75%.
So you just got to rememberthose.
Because if not, and we've allbeen there, it just frustrates
the crap out of you.

SPEAKER_01 (38:57):
That drive you nuts because you've moved on to the
next item to handle.
And my my busyness and myintensity says I address that, I
handled that.
Now, next problem, nextopportunity, next solution.
And then you just happen tocircle back around and you're
like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,whoa, I thought I lit that
candle.
I thought I pushed that traindown the tracks, right?

(39:18):
Why is it still sitting here?
What happened?
And it's because in any industrythere will be so many
distractions.
Like we'll say, hey, I needproduct to help me move this.
Well, then product will getasked by seven other people.
Then I, you know, every singleday we featured a car of the
day.
And so that's the first thing.
And you guys know my philosophyon getting prepared for

(39:39):
something, do it the day before.
And I've I've pushed this tomanagers, hey, I need this, I
need this, I need this.
And first thing in the morning,I want the car of the day ready
to go so it can last all day,right?
If you get 100% and you releaseit.
So yesterday I kept, I was like,where is this car of the day at?
And I was asking, man, it waslike one o'clock, and I was
like, guys, you realize.

(40:00):
This still has to get shot,edited, and sent out to the
world to then scroll and see itbecause that's the whole point
of this.
And we've already wasted half ofour energy, half of our battery.
I was like, what in the heck?
So we went over to our keytrack, who's got the keys to
this thing, and it was oh, it'sa CT out, it's CTN, don't know.
It's just like ping-pongeverywhere.
And I was like, this guy has it.

(40:21):
And he'd brought it the key up.
He's like, is this it?
And I was like, get the car uphere now, please.
Like that was me being nice ofnot just taking the key and
doing it, but realizing they'regetting pulled in all different
directions and they're trying tofigure out what's my hierarchy
of direction I need to go.
So just saying it and thinkingthat was crystal clear is less
than 5% was actually retained.

SPEAKER_05 (40:43):
And I didn't even realize I did a uh internship
during college with a ummotivational leader.
His name was Paul Cummings, andhe would he would stand up and
he would introduce whatever thesubject was of leadership.
Okay.
And then we would all stand upand we went through a segment
called I Say You Say.
And he would say it, they wouldrepeat.

(41:04):
No different than when you werea kid.
I mean, this is reallyelementary.
I say you say.
Okay.
Then we would break out intogroups of two and repeat it to
each other on practice drillingand rehearsing.
And then the fourth step was hewould call people out to come in
front of the room.
We may have only covered onesubject in 45 minutes, but by

(41:24):
the end of that, we had gonethrough the lecture, the I say
you say, the practice drill andrehearse, and then coming in
front of the class and doing it.
So we were crystal clear, andthen we knew it.
And that was more effective atone subject that 90% of the
group got and had, and it wasinstalled, versus going over 10

(41:46):
subjects that only 5% got partof it.

SPEAKER_01 (41:50):
And that's so tricky as a presenter, a manager, a
leader to say, I am wasting mytime by only bringing up one
item.
Me, intense person in learningthat says, I could I should be
able to go over threeobjections.
I should be able to cover thisnew item, this new item, this
item in 30 to 45 minutes, and weshould be golden.

(42:11):
But at the end, I've had to slowdown, then I've also had to
implement things to say, here'show you will learn more.
Sure.
But if you if you do need toslow down and go through those
steps so that it is proven andit actually is plugged in and
working, it's important to slowdown, sharpen your axe before
you just keep whacking the tree.
You know, so that realizing thatthere.

(42:33):
All right, so think of thisbelieving effort equals
effectiveness.
So what's your thoughts on that?
If you have a believing effort,does that equal effectiveness?

SPEAKER_05 (42:44):
Um that starts the idea that it can work, but must
be followed up with the nextaction.
Okay.
You know, so I I think thatthere is some truth to that
because if if you don't believethat you can accomplish this, if
you don't believe in what youguys are gonna do, it'll never
get started.

(43:04):
But that just starts the fire,and then you have to follow up
with the action and how we'regoing to achieve that.

SPEAKER_01 (43:10):
Yep.
Assuming silence meansagreement.
Like that's a tough thingbecause it is so rare that you
get pushback.

SPEAKER_00 (43:18):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (43:19):
Right?
That that someone so if you justwe're talking about blind spots
that leaders don't realize theyhave, if you assume, hey,
anybody, even if you go furtherand say, hey, does anybody have
any questions?
And there's silence.
It's like, okay, so I assume noquestions, everybody's good to
go, right?
And assuming that meansagreement.

SPEAKER_05 (43:38):
Yeah, and very rarely is anybody gonna say
anything.
They just aren't, you know.
So unless it's something simple,like somebody has a question
about an incentive, you know,they'll ask about that.

SPEAKER_04 (43:51):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (43:51):
But if it's a new process, if we're talking about
this or that, they're justthey're not gonna say anything.
And some of them are just beingsilent saying, get the heck out
of your meeting because yourmeetings are boring.
I mean, let's be honest.
Yeah.
Like, like if you're if peoplecringe coming to your meetings,
that's on you.
Fix your meeting.
Yeah.
Um, if it's a smaller group, no,we can't do it with our big

(44:12):
group because it would, it wouldjust last too long.
Um, so we tell them to writethings down.
But when it's our smaller groupof six, seven, ten, twelve
people, then sometimes we'll gothrough in the end and give me
your one takeaway, give me yourone or two actions, and we'll
write it on the board up there.
So we force that instead of justasking the question.

SPEAKER_00 (44:30):
Yeah.
I think it it's twofold as well.
From one, they don't want to letyou down, like not responding.
Like if I ask and say, heyShelby, I need you to show me
how to work this on thecomputer.
I feel like I'm letting him downby not already knowing that.
And then two, their second,their pride comes in, like, oh,
I know how to do all this.

(44:50):
I don't need to ask for help onit.
This morning I was going throughwith the manager that I had gone
over pretty quick with, but itwas taking some time, like,
okay, because you know, a lot oftimes things that are outside
out of mind, you don'tnecessarily go and sit down and
go through with.
And so I was working through allof my things there.
And hey, what'd you just do onthat deal?

(45:10):
Let's go through it real quick.
And do you know how to do this?
So it was secondary to gothrough on um printing off the
full rebates and incentives andeverything else.
He's like, No, I didn't knowthat.
So, okay, great.
Let me show you this.
This is how it needs to be setup going through finance.
I said, pull up a deal and let'scheck for going through rebates
and incentives.
And he said, Oh, yeah, look overhere, the whole, let me pull

(45:31):
this other.
I was like, Nope, go back tothat other deal.
He's like, Well, yeah, but Ineed to pull all my rebates and
incentives.
I said, Great, let me show youthis.
I thought you knew this, but outof Ford's system, you can
actually work it out of thewhole pencil.
He wasn't gonna say, one, Idon't know how to do that
because he's new to the team anddoesn't want to say, hey, I need
help.
Yeah.
But me going and inspecting andsaying, no, let me show you

(45:53):
this.
This is the way that it needs tobe structured and going through.
You have to circle back aroundto your team sometimes because
in a group atmosphere, they'regonna be embarrassed by their
colleagues as well becausethey're gonna be the only one
asking for help.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (46:08):
Super good there.
This one uh just uh circles tothe other ones, but not
realizing how closely peoplewatch your reactions.
They always do, always they'realways watching Wazowski, always
watching.

SPEAKER_00 (46:22):
Where they see that one, and it really hits you is
whenever you make a reaction,not necessarily by even anyone
else in your group to get aresponse from, like you make a
reaction because you were justreacting and you're moving on,
and then you hear either fromthat group or someone else that
they said, Shelby acted this waywhenever.
Like, what do you mean I actedthat way?

(46:44):
I didn't even say anything toanybody, but it's the way you
respond to the situation, andthen whoever was in the group
around you then told others soyou can see how fast it does
travel.

SPEAKER_01 (46:56):
Uh not that I'm I'm all for giving kudos or pats on
the back, but that's one thingthat we've always been around
and uh we get from our dad uh isto not overreact to situations.
And it's it's the way that youdo business, it's the way that
you lead, because we've had somemangers and I even had a heart
to heart with the manager andsaid, in the position that we're

(47:18):
in now, and I was talking aboutmy position and his position,
said, You don't get theopportunity to act that way.
Yeah.
We no longer can act that way.
When we were kids, we could actlike kids.
When we were just this person,this person, you could act that
way because you didn't have thatinfluence.
One, you're losing respect bydoing that, but two, everyone's

(47:39):
watching.
Even if no one's around, somehowsomeone is paying attention and
they are the house mouse gonnatalk about everybody.
So you just have to think aboutthat.
So that that's one thing that wehaven't had to work as hard at,
but just to de-escalate and justlike no matter what it is, like,

(47:59):
hey, and that's the thing, likewhen my w window was blown out
and I knew it was gonna beexpensive and the time was gonna
be long.
I was like, okay, well, let'sget inside and figure it out.
And my wife was just like, uh,and the kids were just like, oh,
and I was like, all right, whatare we having for dinner?
Yeah.
And you know, it's it's it'spretty natural to us,

(48:20):
thankfully, blessed, but uh it'snot to everyone because everyone
is watching how you react tothis situation.

SPEAKER_00 (48:25):
I don't know.
Human nature is for you to havea stressful situation such as
that and it explode.
That drives me nuts.

SPEAKER_01 (48:32):
Explode in the moment.
I like to act like nothinghappened.

SPEAKER_05 (48:35):
Okay, let's rock on.

SPEAKER_01 (48:37):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (48:37):
You know, like I like Like back in the day
whenever the RAM saw itsreflection, you said, yeah, I
mean, uh like anything, right?

SPEAKER_01 (48:48):
I won't go anymore.
People are gonna say I'm moreintense.
So I'll just shut up there.
But uh just like think about it.

SPEAKER_05 (48:53):
But that's developed, like we weren't born
with that.
No, no, no.
So the like if you're going,man, that's me, I overreact.
And I know some good businessleaders out there, but man, do
they fly off the handle?
Man, do they fly off the handle?
And I'm like, and I've tried tohelp them because I'm just
friends of theirs, and you know,they can't fire me.

(49:14):
I mean, I guess they can fire meas a friend, but you know, I'm
like, dude, just pause.
Like, just walk around thebuilding one time before you
react to that.
Just deal with it after lunch,unless the building's actually
on fire or somebody's got a gunin your head.
Yeah.
Like, like just pause.
It's so powerful if you'll pauseand your emotions go down.

(49:36):
You can make a clear decisionthat's not gonna have some
fallout that later on you'regonna regret.
That's a huge blind spot thaty'all brought up there, is just
the emotions.
Everything's not fight orflight.
No.
Actually, very few things arefight or flight.
Very, very, very few.
Now you're gonna want to justblow up and fly off the handle.

(49:57):
And I feel that way, but the wayI address that trigger inside of
me is breathe through it.
Can't address it right thissecond.
Walk around the building, gathersome more information, but stop
making emotional decisions.

SPEAKER_00 (50:12):
And and learn that and push it down to your team.
I had one of our managers on theother team, you know, it was so
good.
So he's grown so much, he'sstill wild as can be, but has
grown so much.
And I had this customer that itjust rode him like the NFR
rodeo, just over and over andover again.

(50:33):
And this customer, bless theirheart, everything kept happening
to them.
Fix their, fixed their vehicle.
They bought from us, it brokedown again.
They lived in Fort Smith, got itback again, fixed it again, it
broke down.
Fixed it a third time, it brokedown again.
And we're like, we are tryingour best, get it all to go.
They're in there, hauler andeverything.
Manager, sales manager thatdidn't even sell it to them is

(50:56):
having to deal with this wholething, going through it.
So we get it all done.
Tow truck driver delivering avehicle, rolls off of a rollback
that didn't even then justsmashes into the side of their
vehicle, but had to go throughthe whole thing.
Needless to say, we did a greatjob of going through the whole
process, but I was so proud ofthe manager because he's learned

(51:16):
and adapted from other leadersaround him that he killed it.
He killed it.
They left in a completely brandnew vehicle and they were
tickled.
They were thrilled, loved thisprocess.
Not everyone can do that.
That's good.

SPEAKER_01 (51:30):
Yeah, that takes a lot of coaching.
So the next slide is uh whichblind spot do you see most often
in leaders?
I would say what we talked aboutis overreacting too soon is one
that I would say.
Yeah.
Is there something else you guyssee most often in leaders?

SPEAKER_05 (51:44):
I think you know the the overreacting is a good one.
And then the other one is forthem that do not ever look
outside of their business incomparison to other businesses
out there.
You you must, there's so muchvalue in stepping away and and
taking off the hat if you thinkyou're the best and just going,
hey, let me look at others in myindustry.

SPEAKER_01 (52:05):
Yeah.
That's super good there.
Of those, do you feel likethere's one that's more damaging
for long term, like long-termbusiness, long-term employment?

SPEAKER_05 (52:14):
I don't know if if if I had to pick one of those
two, you know, the the emotionalone is gonna cause higher
turnover in your employeesbecause they're they're just at
some point in time gonna get fedup with people just flying off
the handle before they get allthe facts.
Yeah.
Because let's be honest, likecustomers don't always tell the
truth.

SPEAKER_04 (52:35):
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (52:36):
You know, they inflate it.
There's some truth in there.
Uh, but at the same time, thenI've had some people that are
very protectant of theirbusiness.
And and I told this story, youknow, at a different episode
when I was trying to schedulesome appliance repair, and you
know, the guy was like, No, myemployees would have never done
that, never done that.
And they misscheduled me threedifferent times.

(52:57):
And I was like, sir, I don'thave a fight for this, but if
you'd like me to send youscreenshots of the text messages
that show the dates and theconfirmation, I'll do that so
it'll help you out.
But if not, no big deal.
So, like both of those emotionscan really hurt.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (53:13):
Yeah, it's emotional too, of like you're mismanaging
of that you're managing themimproperly of you think it's
okay to always be hard on thisemployee and not necessarily
addressed in the way that theyneed to be, it can be
detrimental to where you look upand not only is that one
employee left, but the otheremployees shared all of their

(53:36):
circumstances with the rest ofyour team, and then you start to
lose.
There's a big turnover there.

SPEAKER_05 (53:41):
Hey, and I'll say you brought something up right
there that we haven't talkedabout it being a blind spot is
if you manage everybody thesame.

SPEAKER_04 (53:48):
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (53:49):
You know, that that could be a huge blind spot
because I can prom I don't carewhat industry you're in, all
your employees do not react tocriticism, improvement, and
management the same.

SPEAKER_01 (54:01):
Most certainly there.
Uh one last thing.
How do you how do blind spotsimpact culture without leaders
realizing it?

SPEAKER_05 (54:11):
Well, I kind of all the pieces we've talked about
there, at some point in time,when you have those blind spots,
employees just get numb and itjust becomes a J-O-B, a job.
And when it becomes a J-O-B,they're just punching in,
punching out.
That's it.
And then all of a sudden theculture just goes downhill.

(54:32):
Nobody's having fun.
Nobody really cares.
They're there to just get apaycheck.
And they'll yes, yes, yes, youjust so you'll go away and they
can keep earning their hourlyrate or their commission.

SPEAKER_02 (54:42):
Yep.

SPEAKER_05 (54:43):
So I think that's the biggest is they get to where
they're just numb and they theyreally don't care.

unknown (54:47):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (54:48):
You know, they just care to get their paycheck.

SPEAKER_01 (54:50):
I think that becomes the difference of, yeah, you
know what, let me wiggle myschedule around to see if we can
get to you to look at yourfireplace today, or it's just a
job, hey, we'll call you in 48to 72 hours, sure, then schedule
you for a week to two out.
Like, there's the difference.
And then your culture, likemaybe that receptionist is
sitting next to an installer orsomeone else and hears that on

(55:12):
the phone, they're like, allright, so that's the temperature
we're at, right?
And they're not like, all right,so that's what we're doing, but
they're just like, well, that'swhat they're doing, and that's
what they're doing.
So why so then your culturebecomes relaxed and not as
forward thinking.
So it makes all the differencein the world.
And if you are flying off thehandle, then there's a pretty
good chance when they get theopportunity to be the leader or

(55:33):
the good or bad deliverer ofnews, they have the opportunity
to fly off the handle.

SPEAKER_03 (55:37):
Agreed.

SPEAKER_01 (55:37):
Right?
It's no different than how youteach or train or coach your
kids.
You know, if they're justcompletely disrespectful and all
these things, it's like, well,probably should look in the
mirror, right?
You should probably look in themirror, and it probably has
something to do with how youtreat people, how you talk.
And they're watching you.

(55:58):
Your discipline, you know, yourintensity, your efficiency, all
those things, and like, hmm, allright.
Now, it is very few, right?
So if you're listening to this,pay attention, right?
Like, you're listening to thisbecause you care and want to
grow.
It's not because we're tellingjokes or you know, whatever.
But so many people will not takeresponsibility.
But it generally it is look inthe mirror, it's you or the

(56:21):
leader that is not setting thatgood example.

SPEAKER_00 (56:24):
Exactly.
Absolutely.
Hey, driving, this is a new buttwo truths and a lie.
I'm gonna read you two things inhere.
Three total things, but two ofthem are truths and one of
them's a lie.
Okay.
So leadership edition holidayset here.
So leaders receive less honestfeedback as they gain authority.

(56:45):
So leaders receive less honestfeedback as they gain authority.
Okay.
Most employees decide whetherthey trust a leader within the
first 30 days.
Okay.
Leaders are usually the bestjudge of how they're perceived.
Two truths and a lie.

SPEAKER_05 (57:01):
I'd say which one you I'm gonna say though, the
like the the first one, no one'sfor sure a truth.
Okay.
Leaders receive less honestfeedback as they gain authority.
So the farther you go up, themore timid people are to be able
to say things.
Do you think ding ding ding?
Okay, that's the truth.

SPEAKER_00 (57:16):
You're right there.

SPEAKER_05 (57:17):
Yep.

SPEAKER_01 (57:18):
You got a truth in there?
Uh most employees decide whetherthey trust a leader within the
first 30 days, or leaders areusually the best judge of how
they're perceived.

SPEAKER_05 (57:30):
I think the last one is false.
I think some leaders probablythink they're the best judge of
themselves, but they're not.

SPEAKER_00 (57:40):
That is correct.
Yep, you're right there.
That's a lie.
Yep.
So the other truth, mostemployees decide whether they
trust a leader within the first30 days.
So, really important wheneveryou bring somebody on your team,
make sure you're diving in andbeing involved with them.
So, last area there, uncoveringyour blind spots as a leader.
So, this, and you just hit thechannel on this, is this is one

(58:01):
we haven't really talked about,but creating that safe feedback
channel that makes you whereyou're approachable.

SPEAKER_05 (58:08):
And that one, I I've listened to some different
podcasts on this.
Let me just tell you this one,and I'm not gonna say that I'm
the best at this, because thistakes a lot of work, and you
have to create an atmosphere anda space where people feel
comfortable giving you feedbackand their job's not in jeopardy.

(58:29):
There's only so many people atour level that will actually
give us feedback and not justyes, yes, yes.
Um, one of the things to do, andwe've talked about this, if
you're in a meeting, especiallyin a brainstorming meeting or a
feedback about the business, youhave to be the last one to talk.
If you are the first one totalk, everybody else will adjust

(58:50):
what they're gonna say basedupon what you said to make you
feel like that they're on yourteam and they support you more.

SPEAKER_01 (58:59):
And let me tell you, when you do do that, because
more often than not, when you'regetting that feedback, if you
get that feedback, you alreadyknow the answer of what they're
bringing up.
Hey, here's the issue, here'swhat we're seeing, or hey, I
don't understand this, this, andthis.
I'm trying this.
We've all been in theseconversations, and you're like,

(59:20):
I know in my mind, here'sexactly how it's supposed to go.
I know what you're supposed todo.
We've gone over this, and it'sjust one person's demeanor
versus another, one person'smindset versus another.
As you're asking for thatfeedback, remember you asked for
it, whether you want it or not,you do need it to realize what's
going on from another level,from a more honest level.

(59:40):
You're gonna have to just takenotes and listen.

SPEAKER_00 (59:44):
And don't try to fix it right then.
You will have to, and a lot oftimes you'll see if an employee
that you take some time to lookat an issue or go address
something, you'll findsometimes, more times than not,
that they'll continue on showingyou some other.
Issues because they finally gota hold of you to and it's uh not
awkward to just walk up and say,Hey, I want to go over this.

(01:00:07):
You're already talking aboutthings.
Then it opens your mind andsays, Hmm, maybe I need to pay a
little bit more attention.

SPEAKER_05 (01:00:13):
Even if Taylor, you bring up a good point here.
So let's, and you guys know Ilike peeling the layers of the
onion back.
The first piece they bring up toyou may be way off course,
uh-huh.
But but don't start defendingthat.
Nope.
Oh, just take notes and listen,shall be like you said, because
the second or third thing, likeonce you open the door and they

(01:00:34):
felt comfortable, there mightactually be value in the third
thing.
The first and second, they couldhave been way off.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:40):
Like the segue or the icebreaker.
You know, think like if you'regoing to have a difficult
conversation with someone,you're not like, hey, uh, by the
way, we need to go our separateways.
You know, well, that's those twoextreme.
But like, hey, here's somethingwe need to work on.
Yeah.
You're gonna lead in withsomething else.
And so if you are not adaptablein listening and taking notes,

(01:01:01):
you're just gonna shoot themdown the first thing and they're
just gonna soul up and go back.

SPEAKER_05 (01:01:06):
But we gotta make sure everybody understands this.
Because let's say you go, okay,it's 2026, a new year.
I'm gonna get feedback from myteam.
I don't care what they say,okay?
Even if it's highly offensive toyou, do not try to debate and
defend yourself right then.
Because what you're after issomething two and three layers

(01:01:28):
deep where there might actuallybe gold.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:30):
Looking for that golden nugget.

SPEAKER_05 (01:01:31):
But if you defend it, you're like, whoa, hang on.
I don't think you know bothsides of the stuff.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:35):
We don't do business that way.

SPEAKER_05 (01:01:37):
Let me explain this to you always done it like that.
They're gonna shut down.
They're gonna be like, why didthey even ask you?

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:42):
They're like, cool story, thanks for the time.
Yep.
I'll be downstairs if you needme.
Yeah.
Right.
It's exactly what'll happen.
That seems so simple.
Yet, I mean, when you weretalking to the business owner of
the one thing, he's like, No, wenever do that.
Like, I'm not trying to createheat here.
I'm just telling you.

SPEAKER_05 (01:01:59):
I wasn't asking for anything for free.
I wasn't yelling, cussing, nobad review, any of that.
And I was like, sir, I'll sendit to you.
And he's like, No, I don't needyou to do that.
I said, no big deal.
I just thought if you wanted itto help with your business and
to see what's going on, uh, I'llcall somebody.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:15):
If that's how we take feedback from custers,
imagine how a person like thattakes feedback from their
employees.
Yep.
They don't.
Let me tell you, they don't.

SPEAKER_05 (01:02:23):
And I know what the guy was thinking in the back of
his mind, he goes, I'm too busyright now to even look at that.
No, that's when you should lookat it.
It's no different than we talkedabout when business is so good
that's because it'll be thesilent assassin a thousand cuts
at a time, and all of a sudden,they're now going, I need to
spend money on advertising.
We're not, we don't have anybodyto work for tomorrow.

(01:02:45):
What happened?
We used to be three weeks backedup.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:47):
It's your phone operator.
That's what happened.
Yep.
Your ability to listen, that'swhat happened.

SPEAKER_00 (01:02:52):
Put it all together.
What about building peoplearound you who challenge you?
We always talk about howvaluable this is, but that's so
good.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:00):
You know, the the the saying that we say is you're
an average of the five peopleyou're closest to, whether that
be in your your work circle, uh,your home circle, or your just
influencer.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:11):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:11):
Right?
And you become an average ofthem in all aspects, how you
speak, what you do in your sparetime, how you spend your money.
So if you can continue to buildyour team around you and have
those brainstorming ideasessions that's just free will,
write ideas up on the board, putthem on a paper, let's talk
about it.

(01:03:31):
That intent continues to pushyou to grow to uncover blind
spots and say, that's a greatidea.
Yep.
Or actually, we're doing thatover here.
Is there a way that someone cando it better over here?
And I think surrounding yourselfwith those people is a big thing
to do.

SPEAKER_05 (01:03:45):
And then circling back and thanking them for that.
You know, and so there's there'sthe circle, Shelby, you're
talking about of, you know, thefive closest around you.
But then there's also someemployees, and it doesn't happen
every day, but you'll have anemployee that'll bring up a
subject of like, hey, what if wedid this?
And it might be something assimple as changing the coffee or
or, you know, changing from thethe brown paper towels to the

(01:04:08):
white paper towels or whateverit may be.
And they may be ground levelemployee.
But if you do that, like even ifit just costs you a little bit,
and then you go around and youthank them, how does that spread
amongst the rest of all youremployees?

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:21):
That's good.

SPEAKER_05 (01:04:22):
I mean, like wildfire.
And they're like, no, they docare.
They replace the brown papertowels with the white paper
towels because the brown oneswouldn't soak up any water off
your hands.
You know, and I know I'm beingsilly here, but but I'm not.

SPEAKER_00 (01:04:35):
No, it's no different than we weren't
necessarily paying attention tothe there wasn't a changing
table in the women's bathroom,and somebody had brought it to
my attention.
I'm like, oh my gosh, well, holdon, let me go check this.
Because obviously I'm not in thewomen's bathroom every day, so I
wouldn't know about it.
Yeah.
That's a good thing.
That is a good thing.
Um that was brought to ourattention and then was able to

(01:04:55):
get it.
I'm like, absolutely, we need tohave that done.
I had it done and installed, andI had someone come up and said,
Thank you so much for puttingthat in there.
Just little, little things likethat that you wouldn't pay
attention or notice if you'renot listening and looking.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:08):
So let me give you the other side of that just so
you're not sitting and waitingfor this.
Yes, listen to those people, andif there's something good, put a
little effort in and implementit.
And then third step was makesure you tell them thank you.
And even the more fun is in agroup atmosphere of saying, hey,
I bet you guys noticed we had achangeover.
I want to let you know.
You shouldn't take credit foranything as a leader, right?

(01:05:31):
There's find find somewhere topoint out your team or a select
person that made that work.
The fifth side that I want youto see to this, if those all
added up correctly, is uh do notexpect any feedback.
And by feedback, I is positiveaccolades of waiting for you.

(01:05:54):
Good job, Matt.
Good job, Taylor.
You guys saw that.
No one cares as much as you doas a leader.
You have to realize that, andthey're not gonna be like, hey
man, because you did that, thatallowed me to sell more.

SPEAKER_04 (01:06:08):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:08):
And if you're waiting for that, you're you're
putting your storehouse and inthe wrong buckets.
And you're gonna be sittingthere at your desk all by
yourself, waiting for people tosay thank you so much.
It's not happening.
It's not happening.
You need to get your joy andfulfillment and finding other
people and helping them grow.
And you tell them good job.
And maybe if you say good job athousand times, somebody would

(01:06:30):
be like, hey man, you're a greatleader.
You'd allowed us to grow this,this, and this.
But don't ever wait for it.

SPEAKER_05 (01:06:35):
And don't expect it.
And it's it's a tough one tograsp with.
And then the higher you move up,you know the less feedback you
get, the less you're like, hey,great job, good job hitting
those numbers.
It's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:48):
Because generally that comes from someone above
you, right?
Yes, yes.
Generally that's someone aboveyou that says, Hey, great job.
And they don't always know themicro things.
And so if there's people belowyou, tell them good job.
But if you're one of the higherlevels, find fulfillment in
something else.

SPEAKER_05 (01:07:05):
So let's let's go back to football for just a
second, because that's a greatsubject.
I want you to drive it homebecause some of y'all are on
your pity party right now andyou own a business.
You're nobody ever tells me goodjob.
Hey, if no one's told you goodjob.
And welcome to being a businessowner.
Oh, so back in football,paycheck.
So I want you to think about theGM of the football team, the
general manager, the one thatassembled all of it.

unknown (01:07:28):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (01:07:28):
Okay, he hired the head coach and he worked on all
the money stuff, and he put allof it together.
How often do you see the GM of afootball team get accolades for
an undefeated season?
No Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_00 (01:07:43):
They have to have multiple.

SPEAKER_05 (01:07:46):
It's the they're interviewing the quarterback,
the MVP, the head coach.
They're never going, well,thanks to our GM here that hired
this head coach, that helpedrecruit all these people, that
put all the mathematical piecestogether to make this work.

SPEAKER_01 (01:08:01):
Now, there is a little bit of flaw to that, but
it's not the good job, is theydo get attention.
Oh, yeah.
On the other side.
On the other side.
And it's no different than weget attention when there's a
problem.
I want to speak to Mr.
Jerry Lewis.
It's like, oh, okay.
It's like I went to school withhim.
It's like, let me, yeah, JimLewis just left.
Yeah.
Right?
That's when they get attention.

(01:08:21):
It's like Hunter Yurchek isconstantly taking fire, like he
should be fired.
He should be fired.
It's like, hang on, there's alot that goes into that, and you
have no clue.
You've never stepped a day inhis shoes.
Yeah.
So that when it's bad, sure, youget all the attention.
When it's good, so stop lookingfor it, right?

SPEAKER_05 (01:08:39):
Just you you gotta get internally of yourself proud
that others have succeeded.

SPEAKER_01 (01:08:44):
They couldn't set it back.

SPEAKER_05 (01:08:47):
And when you do that, you'll come at peace.
If not, you'll become an angryold person.
Mm-hmm.
That's all I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 (01:08:55):
Well, y'all probably already kind of dove into this,
but you can tell me if there'sanything else.
So, um, this is end of the yearquestion here, but what's one
blind spot you would want to bemore aware of heading into the
new year?

SPEAKER_05 (01:09:12):
I think mine would be those missing opportunities
and the people because I knowit's happened, even though as
much as we've talked about it,the people that have called in
to get pricing on a vehicle, thepeople that have called in to
try to schedule their vehicle,and that we have not offered a
solution on it.

(01:09:33):
Because as much as we talk aboutit and we go through it,
unfortunately, I know that ithappens, but just how to better
identify those and to geteverybody more percentage of the
team solution based.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:50):
I would say I a thousand percent agree in that.
Uh I had somebody that thatalways texts me for an old
change.
And it's a friend of mine, he'slike, hey, and he's like, hey,
man, he's been doing this foryears.
And I'm like, you know, I neverput friction to it.
I'm like, yeah.
So I text someone else who'ssure in that system and it gets
it done.
And he texts me, he's like, Man,I'm sorry.
I would use, he's I try to usethe app.

(01:10:12):
He said, but it's weeks out.
And I know that we've gotsomeone staying around ready to
do it right now.
So we gotta fix that, right?
So that's making sure thateverything is aligned there with
your messages aligned acrosseverything there.
Uh one blind spot we talkedabout was talking about uh
thinking that you're more clearthan you actually are.

(01:10:32):
I'd say staying hyper focusedand not just me, but the entire
employee group of 270 pluspeople, that they understand
clarity and how to completelycommunicate that across.
And I think it would be just anamazing goal that we can just
set like set it in stone andsay, be the first to
communicate.

(01:10:52):
Sure.
Right at any level of thatprocess, be the first to
communicate.
And if we can do that, it'sgonna solve 90% of our problems.

SPEAKER_04 (01:10:59):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:59):
If we communicate before a customer ever says, Can
I get an update on my order orwhen's this gonna be done or
what's going on?
That just helps with clearexpectations and communication,
and we are the first one toinitiate.

SPEAKER_02 (01:11:11):
All right, that's so good.

SPEAKER_00 (01:11:12):
That's so good.
That's really good.
Both of those I agreed 100% withjust diving in and whatever
yours is, just grab a hold of itand make it relevant and that
your team knows hey, this iswhat I want to be a part of.
So uh really good topic goingover today.
Hey, always check us out atlewis superstore.com for all the

(01:11:33):
specials we have, crossroadsconversation podcast.com for up
to 67 episodes we have.
Now we will see you in the newyear.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:42):
Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

SPEAKER_05 (01:11:47):
Hey, thanks for joining us today, 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, or what you want to see,or maybe even some questions for
us to answer about either theautomotive industry or just
business in general.

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Ep. 67 - The Leadership Blind Spot: What You Can’t See Might Be Holding You Back

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 67 - The Leadership Blind Spot: What You Can’t See Might Be Holding You Back