The Chasm & EOS®

We’re on a mission to learn what drives organizational success. In our conversation with Garth Reid, we dive into the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS)—a framework transforming how businesses achieve alignment and accountability.

Episode Transcript

Bo Motlagh (00:11):
You're listening to The Hidden Chasm, where we
explore unforeseen growthchallenges that surprise SaaS
Enterprise. The Hidden Chasm isbrought to you by United Effects
Inc in partnership withBluenilla LLC. For more
information on either visitunitedeffects.com or bluenilla.com
respectively. Alright. Let'skick this thing off.

(00:32):
Josh, it has been an interestingyear for us. We we sort of
embarked on this journey tofigure out what is this thing
that we keep seeing all over theplace. We are, watching these
companies. They've been aroundfor 10, 20 years, hitting all of
these going along. Everything isfine, making money, and all of a

(00:55):
sudden they slam into this wall.
You know, retention numbers godown. Dev estimates are a year
long. Sales aren't what theyshould be. And competition's
coming in and eating theirlunch. We gave it a name.
We called it the hidden chasm.And we started thinking through,
alright. Well, what are all theperspectives? And we chatted
with who'd we chat with?Product, tech, m and a.

(01:15):
We chatted with, human resourceand then people and culture. We
chatted with sales. What wasyour favorite conversation,
Josh?

Josh Smith (01:23):
My favorite conversation? I

Bo Motlagh (01:25):
On the spot. Here we go. Can't

Josh Smith (01:26):
pick and choose.

Bo Motlagh (01:27):
Yeah. The one that popped out.

Josh Smith (01:28):
No. I I, I appreciated both. So me,
personally, I appreciate the thehuman ones about the
relationships and the dynamicsbetween people that impact a lot
of this. The stuff that that'sso fuzzy sometimes, it gets
ignored, or disregarded whenyou're looking at the, the
executive level view of thehealth of the company. I love

(01:51):
any conversation where it's whatpart of our humanity do we
ignore for the sake of havingeverything organized in a
perfect grid and how that howthat ends up Okay.
Causing long term, like, harm.Like, that's those, to me, are

(02:14):
fascinating conversations. Thedissonance the distance between
our desire for order and ournatural human like messiness.

Bo Motlagh (02:25):
Okay. No. I think I like that. It'll be fascinating
to see how our guest, speaks tothat today. I'm really excited
because today we've got Garthand do a formal intro in a
second here.
But I think, Garth, you're gonnagive us a a different
perspective because instead ofspeaking to all of these
problems we've seen, Garth hasreally dedicated himself to one

(02:47):
of the tools that I think can beused to sort of climb out of the
of what we've been calling thehidden chasm, or certainly start
addressing some of thoseproblems. But without further
ado, today we are very excitedto introduce Garth Reid, an
accomplished executive with over20 years of experience across
industries like SaaS andHealthcare. Before embarking on

(03:08):
his journey as an EOSimplementer, Garth was focused
on operational excellence andgrowth among other things. At
one point between 2021 and 2023,achieving recognition for the
13th fastest growing company inthe Philadelphia area, a COO for
Ethos Treatment. Since then,Garth has embarked on an
entrepreneurial adventure of hisown building his business as a

(03:28):
professional EOS implementer,where he helps companies
streamline operations and alignteams for long term success.
Welcome, Garth.

Garth Reid (03:34):
Thanks, guys. Appreciate you having me on
today.

Josh Smith (03:36):
Party on, man.

Bo Motlagh (03:37):
No. Thanks for being here.

Garth Reid (03:39):
Party on. There it is. There it is.

Bo Motlagh (03:41):
All of all of one minute.

Garth Reid (03:44):
It's, it's fair game at this point. You know?

Bo Motlagh (03:47):
Well, we're gonna get into EOS and all of those
things. But before and I'mreally interested in the
intersection about what we'vebeen chatting about and and, EOS
as well. I think when Garth andI chatted a little while back, I
was surprised, how much overlapthere was and and the tools that
Garth is bringing to to thatconversation. But before we get

(04:09):
into any of that, Garth, tellthe listeners a little bit about
yourself, how you got into thework that you do, your
background.

Garth Reid (04:17):
Sure. Sure. Do you want the 90-second version, the
10 minute version? You'll cometo realize I I do love the sound
of my own voice. So, sometimesbrevity

Bo Motlagh (04:26):
Do you have any version you like? Right.
Exactly.

Garth Reid (04:28):
Brevity is always my specialty. Born and raised in
Central Western Pennsylvania.And even as a kid, was always
kind of entrepreneurial. Right?Just was was always working
wanted to work.
Right? I mean, first lawncutting business at age 11,
having my own, business waxing,skis and snowboards, you know,

(04:49):
in high school. As I like tosay, maybe or maybe not selling
some bootleg t shirts andfreshman college dorms. I'm not
not sure the statute oflimitations up in upstate New
York, but just always, always,always kind of hustling. And and
then, moved to Philadelphia 22years ago right after right
after college.
And, as you mentioned, we endedup working in the health care

(05:11):
world, worked in the actually,in the insurance industry. But
even in in quote, unquotecorporate America, always kinda
had some type of side hustle. Idid a an LLC doing private
concierge level, technologyconsulting, really focusing on
bringing technology to to agingbaby boomers. So I'm, I've
always been kind of a tech guyand always had this belief that

(05:32):
the technology can really enrichpeople's lives, especially our
aging population. There's justkind of a fear and a, and a
barrier to adoption.
Right. And I saw that with, Isaw it with my mother getting
grandkids to live 400 miles awayfrom her. Right? And once we got
my mother over the fear of andat this time, it was just Skype.
Right?
Getting over the fear and the ofthat technology, how much that

(05:52):
enriched her life. Right? And sothere's a period of time where I
was kind of doing that as a sidehustle, helping other folks,
just kind of in the private, youknow, technology consulting type
stuff. And then through a, aseries of events that we'll
probably get to later in my,early thirties, I had the, the
opportunity to start mentoringand kind of coaching, young men

(06:13):
recovering from drug andalcohol, addiction. And through
a series of events thateventually led me to last, the
job you mentioned is the COO atEthos treatment, which was a
phenomenal drug and alcohol, andnow actually drug and alcohol
and mental health outpatientprovider here in the
Philadelphia region.
And, that's where we, weimplemented EOS there and, and,

(06:35):
you know, just had tremendoussuccess. I do wanna make sure I
say, you know, EOS was a bigpart of that success, but it
would be it would be naive forme to not say that the the the
critical part to the success ofthat company is the quality of
the clinicians and the thetherapeutic, services that
they're offering. Right? So it'snot just it's not just the

(06:55):
system that I'm kinda workingwith now. It's the parts that
are within that system.
But, but, yes, that's that'skinda how I got to to where I'm
at today.

Bo Motlagh (07:03):
But, I mean, it's even without, like, the the
extra pieces you mentioned, youknow, the side hustles and and
all of those things. You've donea lot of different things, to
get to where you are. Andcurious, like, how has that all
sort of come together to your tosort of, to your worldview and
to how you approach what you'redoing?

Garth Reid (07:24):
Sure. So, as long as I can remember, I take actual
pleasure in like making thingswork better, like finding
efficiencies. Right. Even ifit's like finding a shortcut,
driving my son to school, youknow, we've actually figured out
on our drive. I have, I have a 5year old and so we have about a

(07:45):
15 to 25 minute commute.
Right. And, and figuring outthat we can actually go a little
bit longer mileage wise and itsaves us a few minutes. Right?
And like that, that just kind ofexcites me in finding those
efficiencies. And that's justbeen a part of me my whole life.
Throughout my career. I've, I'veworked, I've worked at small
companies where I've experiencedgrave inefficiencies because of

(08:08):
how small they are. But whileworking at these small
companies, we've had clients whowere fortune 100 companies and
marveled at the inefficienciesthey have on the ops end of the
scale. Right. You can see howpeople can be very inefficient
because they only have 3 peopledoing this.
When you see how people can bevery inefficient because they
have 30 people doing this whenwe probably need 8 people.

(08:29):
Right. And so I worked for atechnology company in my late
twenties, kind of on the, thebeginning end of doing a lot of
like mobile phone capture andGPS tracking for field service
workers. And that was anexample. I had a major, garbage
company, you know, wastedisposal company as a client.
And, it was cool to see thembeing able to adopt some of this

(08:49):
new stuff, but the slow pace ittook for them to get approval,
the 14 layers of people, it'slike, listen, we've got a good
idea. We've got a proof ofconcept. Let's do this. Right?
And you actually have theresources to probably roll this
out properly.
Right? Versus a smaller company.Like, yeah, I'd love to do that,
but who has time to do that?We're just trying to keep the
lights on. You know?
So seeing that at differentcompanies, and then when I first

(09:12):
learned about EOS, working at alocal SaaS technology company
here in Philadelphia, that'swhere I was first introduced to
it. A great company by the nameof Clutch. You know, realize
that that's kind of the heart ofwhat this does, right? It's it's
finding that that efficiency,which a lot of times is, you
know, I think a lot of times wethink we have to the more

(09:33):
complicated things are like, thebetter they are. And, and I just
I don't agree with that, right?
Like it's the simpler you canmake something, typically, the
better it is. You know? Complexdoes not necessarily mean
better.

Josh Smith (09:47):
So you've adopted this this framework, this EOS,
which is what? Entrepreneurialoperating system. Correct? Okay.

Garth Reid (09:55):
Correct.

Josh Smith (09:55):
And you're supporting companies, that you
find have a meet do they meetsome sort of threshold when you
meet with them and you discussand you understand your
problems?

Garth Reid (10:08):
Is there

Josh Smith (10:08):
some sort of threshold where you say, ah,
okay. This will help you. Or isit more of regardless of the
circumstances, this would bebeneficial for you?

Garth Reid (10:17):
Yeah. So I I would say it's somewhere in the
middle. You know, there'sthere's kind of 6 main
components to the EOS model thatwe help companies strengthen.
Right? And typically what willhappen is during our
introductions, when we'regetting to know each other and
learning, you know, be learningabout the company and then
learning about EOS, typicallywithin the first 90 minutes, it

(10:37):
becomes pretty glaring wherethat pain really is.
Right. So there's not oneparticular test of like, you
know, well, because of this,then we need it. It's more okay.
How's this going? Right.
And I can tell you one of thebiggest things we work around
with is people. You know, Iwould probably say the vast
majority of clients we end upworking with solving their

(10:58):
people issues, which there's avariety of those, tends to
really be kind of the firstthing. You know, I think what's
interesting to talk to you guysabout, this is something I've
always been geared towards thecomponent that we, we work with
that is normally the most oftenoverlooked though, is around
process and documenting process.And for us, that means about,
you know, getting the mostimportant stuff that you do. I

(11:21):
don't care what it is you do.
Right. Whether if you youdevelop software, if you dig
ditches. Right? But whatever itis you do, getting the most
important stuff you do done theright and best way every time.

Bo Motlagh (11:32):
Let's back up. Let's let's give a proper introduction
to EOS. So tell everybody, like,exactly what is EOS and maybe
talk about the 6 components.

Garth Reid (11:42):
Sure. So, yeah, I'll just start from the from the
high level. So at EOS, we workwith leadership teams, business
owners and their leadershipteams to help them get better at
a high level of 3 things that wecall vision, traction, and
healthy, right? So we start withthat. So vision is the sense of
getting everybody 100% on thesame page with where they're

(12:03):
going and how they're going toget there.
Traction is about instillingaccountability and discipline so
that wherever you go in yourorganization, people are
executing on that shared vision.And then healthy is about making
that team a cohesive,functional, dare I say, fun
loving team, because we know notall the time, but a lot of times

(12:25):
in entrepreneurialorganizations, leadership team
isn't. And so we know as goesthe leadership team, so goes the
rest of the organization. Right.And so eventually that trickles
down and you have everybody 100%on the same page with where
they're going, you know, rowingin the same direction, executing
with accountability anddiscipline, and ultimately
building a culture where, like,people actually enjoy spending

(12:46):
time with each you know, don'tmind going to work.
That's the highest level. Andthen as I mentioned, what we
work with when I go into aclient is we focus on 6
components of their business andhelp them strengthen the 6 of
those components. And so those 6components just real quickly are
vision, which again, aboutgetting everybody on the same

(13:09):
page as where we're going.People. Right.
So making sure you have theright people in the right seats.
Data. So really about makingsure companies are making
decisions for their organizationbased on objective information
rather than thoughts, feelings,emotions, egos that will often
drive decision making at smallerentrepreneur organizations.

(13:30):
Issues, right? So we spend a lotof time working on issues and
not working on the issuesthemselves, but teaching, you
know, how to actually solve yourissues.
It's it's amazing how evenreally great teams can be really
lousy at solving issues, likeactually solving the issue at
its root. You know, there's alot of over discussing, kicking
the can down the road and notreally putting something down
the bed. Process is the 5thcomponent. So again, that's

(13:54):
about really getting the mostimportant stuff you do done the
right and best way every time.Right.
I mean, that's critical forscalability, for consistency,
ultimately for profitability.And then traction is the 6th
component. And traction isreally about taking that vision
we mentioned and kind of pullingthat down to the ground and
executing day in and day out,right. To make sure you're

(14:15):
actually in alignment, achievingthat vision.

Bo Motlagh (14:18):
So you are an EOS implementer. I mean, I think we
can assume what that means, butexactly what does that mean in
terms of how you engage?

Garth Reid (14:25):
I work directly with the leadership teams, and we
basically have a schedule of offull day sessions. They're
they're kind of spaced out. Wedo a a spaced learning approach,
but I'll come in and and meetwith the team. And it's a little
bit more frequent in thebeginning. Right.
And we do it about every coupleof days over over, you know,
every 30 days we do, a sessionand that's to kind of learn some

(14:45):
of these foundational tools. Andthen for the most part, we
really just do kind of quarterlyand annual check ins. Right. And
so, it's not an everyday kind ofthing. It's really just about
teaching you these tools,getting you to use these tools.
And then, you know, I'm, I'm notthere in perpetuity. Right? I
always say, you know, I'm ateacher, a facilitator and a
coach. I'm not a consultant,which I think, and there's

(15:07):
nothing wrong with consultantsand very valuable, but that's
just not what I do. And thereason that is, or what I like
about that is that it makes mywork completely industry
agnostic, which just makes itvery, makes it very fun for me.
Right? I mean, I told you Ilearned about this working for a
marketing analytic, you know,consumer marketing analytics
SaaS company. I took theknowledge I got there and then

(15:32):
implemented this as a drug andalcohol treatment company.
Right. I mean, very, verydifferent things.
But the principles ring true andthat's, you know, you can go
online and look at it veryquickly, find a roster of, of
companies and industries usingthis. And it's completely
agnostic.

Bo Motlagh (15:47):
The curve ball question for you. Cause I know I
do call myself a consultantsometimes. I think there's
probably an overlap to the skillset that you're describing. But,
I know for me, one of the coresort of skill sets that I
learned was from a random job inmy teens. And it was of all the

(16:09):
schooling and everything I had,what sort of helped me learn
people and interact most wasstanding behind a counter at a
camera shop.
Absolutely, but from thatperspective, I'm curious, like,
you described this very robustset of experiences. Is there one
something like that that standsout to you that, that it helps
you when you do this work withcompanies that maybe people

(16:30):
wouldn't think about?

Garth Reid (16:31):
Yeah, sure. I mean, not dissimilar from, from a
camera shopping. I mean, when Iwas in college, I, I worked at a
bar and a restaurant. I didevery single front of house job.
It started as is being abouncer.
And it was not a very rough andtumble school. And a guy like me
could could be a bouncer, youknow, pretty much checking IDs,
but bouncer, bar back, host,waiter, bartender, night

(16:54):
manager, dishwasher doesn't showup, jump in behind the Hobart
and and wash some dishes. Ithink, you know, I think the
experience people get from doingany type of retail service or
food service really, reallyteaches you how to how to deal
with people. You know? I don'tknow if this is too much of a
stretch now or if you want me toget into this or we can, as you
mentioned, edit it.

(17:14):
But another thing I'm, you know,another thing I'm very open
about, and believe firmly is, isI myself am in long term
recovery from drug and alcoholaddiction. You know, I've been
sober for over 14 years. I'mvery, very grateful for that.
You know, the experiences I hadin the depths of my addiction
obviously were formative towardstowards some things. And as far

(17:36):
removed from that as I am now,it's definitely given me
perspective on a lot of things,which I'm I'm very grateful for.
You know, I can have a reallybad day. By today's standards, a
really bad day isn't that badcompared to what some bad days
were like a long time ago. Butalso through the recovery
community, I've been veryblessed to really kind of

(17:57):
strengthen my I don't know ifit's a must, but strengthen my
my empathy for others. Right.And so that applies to
everybody.
I mean, that applies to businessleaders. Right. I truly believe
everybody's out there justtrying to do their best, you
know, and sometimes our approachto how we try to do our best can

(18:19):
maybe be misguided ormismanaged, insecurity and fear
are very, very, very powerfulthings. They're very powerful
influences, right? Powerfulinfluences, right?
How we react, how we, how wetreat people, how we go about
solving problems. And so Ithink, my experiences I've had
through the world of recoveryhave, have given me the ability
to kind of meet people wherethey are, no matter what it

(18:41):
might be. And just, you know,maybe help to take a breath and
just be like, okay, like, whatare we ultimately trying to
achieve here? And, you know,whatever you're doing, like,
that's okay. And let's justlet's just kind of be a little
open and honest and vulnerable.
Right? So I guess that's thelong way of getting to my
willingness to be vulnerable. Itry to bring to the table,

(19:02):
right? Because I think if youcan get others to be vulnerable,
that that creates trust. Andthat's really critical in making
change, which is what's oftenneeded.
Right? Uncomfortable change isoften needed to to kind of right
some of the shifts that we'retrying to right or fix some of
the things that are a littlemisaligned.

Bo Motlagh (19:19):
Amazing. Josh, it comes right back to what you
were saying, that humanity wasyour favorite part too.

Josh Smith (19:23):
And especially in our journey with, of course,
with UnitedFX, our initialassumptions, I don't know if you
feel differently and it's how Itry and live my life, is selling
prevention and saying trying toconvince folks that if you
invest in this now at yourstage, you will save yourself

(19:44):
massive headaches. But then whenyou take that message and you go
out there, you find out thatthat it's not as appealing as
selling a cure. We're constantlygonna pitch to pain, pitch to
pain. We're like, well, what ifwe could pitch before there was
pain? Like, rationally, as muchas that sounds like it makes
sense, and we and we know thatit's it's more helpful, we
always find ourselves inpositions where the audience

(20:07):
does not want to do that.
They want to wait until the painhits a point where they're
looking for a cure. And I knoweven they know that that's not
what they want, but for somereason, humans, we just still do
that. I'm assuming that withwith the work you're doing too,
with companies, you findyourself tell me if I'm wrong,

(20:30):
Garth, you find yourself moreoften meeting folks when they're
when they're more in the lookingfor the cure stage.

Garth Reid (20:36):
Yeah. A 100%. Some of what we do is try to almost,
you know, forecast or predictfor people of that future pain
because I think he hit it hitthe nail on the head. And I
don't know if that's justsomething to do with the human
condition. You know, it'scertainly been my case in in
multiple places in my life.
Right? Where, like, when thepain is great enough, then we
make a change. You know, I wastalking to somebody the other

(20:59):
day, and they're, they're a agrowing company, you know, a
little bit on the smaller end ofof what what I do. And they're
they're in the professionallegal services, and they're
growing. We were talking aboutEOS and, you know, we hear this
all the time.
I think I need to to hire more.I need to hire the right people
first, and then we'll go aheadand move forward with this. And
it's like, what what system areyou using to make sure you hire

(21:22):
the right people? Because that'spart of what what I'm bringing
to the table. Right?
Would you rather think you gotthe right people then put in a
system that kinda tells you,like, I think we got the wrong
people, or let's put the systemin first and use that system to
actually get those right people.Right? So to to predict that
pain, like you were talkingabout, like, yes, you might not
need all these, all these seatsright now, but at your

(21:44):
trajectory, if you startachieving the goals you're
gonna, that you're, you'relaying out for yourself, you're
gonna need these people, oryou're gonna need these
processes or, or whatever it is.And let's, you know, the penny
wise pound foolish. Right?
Or was it a ounce ofprevention's worth of pound of
cure? I think that's the one Iwas looking for. I knew it had
something to do with pounds. ButI think that's kind of what

(22:05):
you're saying about. I don't Idon't know why that is so
common, but I definitely agreewith you that we see it all the
time.

Bo Motlagh (22:11):
Let's come back to the chasm for a second. And then
I'm curious about yourperspective on the intersection
with with your work as any ofus. So I guess the first
question is, do you feel likeyou understand what we mean by
the hidden chasm, in one words?Have you seen do you feel like
you've seen the hidden chasm inthese companies that you're
working with or in the past?

Garth Reid (22:28):
I don't wanna cast shade on anybody, but I've seen
it with with clients, you know,when I worked at other
technology company. It's funnyyou guys are talking about this
hidden chasm and it's we talk alot about a concept called
hitting the ceiling. PatrickLencioni, you know, hitting the
ceiling, which I think there'ssome some similarities to it.
Right. Where I think in bothcases, there's some kind of of

(22:52):
revolution is required to movebeyond that.
Right? The idea that just yourcurrent trajectory is gonna be
halted right no matter what. Andyou need to take action of some
type to to spark a revolutionthat's gonna get you either, you
know, through the ceiling or inyour guys' thinking, you know,
over that over that chasm.

Bo Motlagh (23:13):
Yeah. Same same sort of breakthrough concept. And I
think in our experience and andwhat we've seen is that it tends
to sneak up on them. Mhmm. Andis is that sort of what you see
is that by the time they'vecalled you, is it is it
preventative or is it, and Iguess this is what we were just
chatting about, but, like, is itmore like, we're not sure what
happened.

(23:34):
Help. Is that sort of the theroom you're you tend to walk
into?

Garth Reid (23:38):
Yeah. Definitely. You know, I mean, I I would I
would love to. And part of whatI try to do in in the other 830,
you know, EOS Implementersglobally, we we just try to
really spread knowledge aboutEOS. Right?
Just as much as possible. Justevangelize it. There's a very
significant community of peoplethat that even self implement

(23:58):
EOS. There's there's tools outthere, information. We're very
abundance minded.
We just want people to knowabout this because of what you
said. Right? This is so mucheasier if you can if you can get
out in front of it. Sure. Butmost of the time, you know, I
people ask me, we have theseconversations all the time.
What's, like, what's your yourone sense for what you do?
Right? Because for me to go andexplain the whole model and

(24:20):
everything. So, you know, my onesense is I help business owners
take vacation without looking attheir cell phone.

Bo Motlagh (24:26):
First of all, I love that. 2nd of all, I wish I'd
thought of that question.

Garth Reid (24:30):
Right? So so, I mean, if he but but that's what
I do. Now here's the thing. Abusiness owner doesn't
understand the value of taking avacation without looking at
their cell phone Right. Untilthey've taken multiple vacations
where they're living on theircell phones.
Right. You know, it's, it's oneof those things where you almost

(24:50):
have to experience the bad toappreciate the good. Now it
might even to, so what Joshbrought up, right. Is there, you
know, you need the existence ofthat negative to fully
appreciate what that good is.

Bo Motlagh (25:02):
Yeah. Is there a a size company that you tend to
work with? Are there any limits?

Garth Reid (25:07):
There's no limits. My sweet spot is is company is
about 10 to 250 employees.Right? So our Okay. Typically
privately held.
Really, as I mentioned before,it's about companies that are
that are willing to be honestand vulnerable with themselves
and the people they work with.Gotta be gotta be really growth
oriented, you know,entrepreneurial and spirit. It
can it can work in the nonprofitworld. That's not really,

(25:30):
target. I would say, you know,the nonprofit situation can work
if if the leadership team atthat, organization is able to
kind of function autonomously.
If you have a situation where,you know, you need board
approval to to change the tonercartridge in the in the printer,
it doesn't really work. Theother main thing around the EOS
is, it's it's not really greatfor start ups, per se, and

(25:55):
that's because the tools in theEOS are really about execution.
And so, you know, I've worked atcompanies very, very early
stages where what we're doingtoday is completely different 6
months from now. Right? So wekinda we come to the table with
the assumption of you're you'rein the right market and you have
the right product or service.
Now I understand, of course, youknow, products evolve and and

(26:17):
there there are shifts andthings like that. But if one day
we're, you know, making applepie and the next day we're doing
batting cage construction, theyou know, it's it's hard to
really to put this system inplace because it's not really a
it's not a seminar. It's not aone day thing. It's something
you you work into the entireculture of your company.

Bo Motlagh (26:36):
What are some early warning signs that either from
from your perspective for thechasm or that maybe somebody
should be considering a systemlike EOS as a result of, you
know, you mentioned data. Iimagine that there are KPIs and
but also just cultural feelingsthat could potentially be red
flags that if a CEO is listeningto this, they would they they

(26:59):
maybe should listen to and go,maybe I I need to think about
this a little bit. In yourexperience, what do you think
some of those would be? Sure.

Garth Reid (27:07):
So I'll give you 2 kind of on offs ends of the
spectrum. So, we'll take datafirst. We're obviously just in a
it's crazy the amount of data wehave now when you think to even
what, you know, our parents hadwith you know, my dad was in
advertising sales, and mom is inhealthcare as a nurse. And so
there's some data there, butjust the amount of data that we

(27:27):
have right now, is overwhelming.And one thing we really focus on
is, you know, whatever getsmeasured gets managed.
And so are we being sure thatwe're looking at the right data?
Right. Because I think we canall, be subject to confirmation
bias that, you know, I can say,well, here's, here's my four

(27:49):
numbers to look at from, youknow, that I'm responsible for
and the weekly performance andmy four numbers. These are
great. I'm doing fantastic.
Are those the right fournumbers? And that's something we
spend a lot of time with withthe whole leadership team.
Right. Identifying what arethose numbers. And so, you know,
it's not just about getting databecause, I mean, you guys would

(28:10):
know more than me.
Like, I can get you all the datain the world. But if it's if
it's not meaningful, if I can'treally understand how this is
actually affecting my companyand my people, what what good is
it serving? Sure. On the otherend of the spectrum, we talk
about the people component. And,you know, we talk about
different problems, differenttypes of people problems you can

(28:32):
have.
And there's one that we talkabout a lot we call wrong
person, right seat. And the ideabehind wrong person, right seat
is they're in the right seatmeans they're really good at
their job. Right. So they'regreat at their job, but they're
the wrong person for the companyand they don't fit culturally.
And I think that gets overlookeda ton.

(28:54):
Right. Because especially withwith tough labor markets, when
you have somebody, you know, anddepending on the type of
position, it's easy to saysales, Right? Like, you have you
have a great salesperson.They're hitting all their
numbers. Right?
But if that person, when theywalk into the office, you know,
if 70% of the people in theoffice roll their eyes, they
can't stand the person. Theperson isn't the team player,

(29:14):
and they're not they're notshowing up to company, whatever
it might look like. It's harderto, to, to solidify what that
negative impact is on yourculture. Right. But when
somebody is eating away in theculture of your company, like a
cancer from the inside, That'ssomething we don't have hard
data for necessarily, but justbecause we don't have that data

(29:34):
doesn't mean that's not, that'snot a very significant impact.
And so somebody who's bringingin great business and doing
their job, but is just, islowering the morale of 60, 70%
of the people in your business.You know, that's something we
really help people. We havetools that help companies kind
of measure that, or at leastidentify that. And then whether
if that's something that couldbe corrected, or if it's the

(29:57):
type of thing where sometimes,you know, we'll encourage a
client to to make a reallydifficult change. You know,
where it's like, listen.
I understand it's hard to getrid of this person, but you
don't see it because you're justlooking at, like, a revenue
number. But I assure you they'redoing more harm than good for
your company.

Bo Motlagh (30:11):
How do companies get enough in that situation? Is it
maybe it's just part of thenormal growth curve. I don't
know. Is that what you wouldsay?

Garth Reid (30:19):
Yeah, I think it's part of the normal growth curve.
And I think, you know, when youfind somebody with the skill set
to do their job really, reallywell, that's that's very
attractive. That's veryexciting. Right. Because that's
typically what that's what we weoften think we struggle with.
Right. Anybody that's gonethrough the hiring process.
Right. And to just findsomebody. So you finally find

(30:39):
somebody because that thatculture component, you know,
that can be without the righttools, that can be even harder
to identify during the hiringprocess than their actual skill
set or expertize of doing theirjob.
And also, nobody likes to bewrong. Right. So I hire a person
and they're really good at theirjob. I and they're really good
at their job. I definitely don'twanna be wrong about the fact

(30:59):
that they're terrible for theculture of our company.
So I can very easily fall backon, no, no, no, no. It's
everybody else's the problem.Right? It's not this one
individual. It's the other 13people are the are the problem.
Right? Because this oneindividual I hired is hitting
all their numbers. Right? Or oris doing their their trade or
their service very, very well.You know, and especially if you

(31:22):
start to get into, moreselective roles where that skill
set is even harder to find.
You know, I know there'sorganizations I've been at
where, I mean, I've lived thatsituation of of having what I've
deemed a wrong person in theright seat. And and the more
specialized that person is, orthe more the the more qualified
they are at the actual skill setfor that job, the harder it is

(31:44):
to make that change.

Bo Motlagh (31:45):
It's also interesting, I've noticed is
that the more senior that personis, the more forgiving you are
of their output as well. Yes.That's a bigger mistake, to to
have to admit to.

Garth Reid (31:55):
Yeah. Absolutely.

Josh Smith (31:57):
Yeah. I've seen that a lot too. There was a phrase
phrase used in the past, the10xer who comes in and is the
genius, and they get a pass forso much. They get forgiven, by
laterally or above for behaviorthat could be considered toxic

(32:20):
only because they're they're the10 xer. Lack of accountability
for their the impact that theircharacter has on the
productivity of everyone aroundthem is overlooked.
And, yes, you're right. The datait's hard it's hard to quantify.

Garth Reid (32:37):
You know,

Josh Smith (32:38):
it's easy for everyone down there feeling it,
but it's hard to quantify thatthat the the losses that are
incurring around this person arerelated to them directly, that
they have a significant partthat they play in the problems
that are around them based ontheir behavior. And, yeah, those
dynamics, it's like, how do youhow do you quantify those

(33:00):
dynamics in a way that is asimportant to a business as the
the revenue numbers? I don'tknow.

Garth Reid (33:07):
Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, it's something we talk
a lot about too about spreadingthat openness and honesty
throughout the entireorganization. You know what I
mean? And you really have to,we, we really believe in
transparency, being verytransparent with your entire
organization, you know, from theleadership team down, like, what
is our vision? What are ourgoals?
What are our values? Are youhaving those conversations with
people like know, how manyexecutives know? Or if if you

(33:29):
ask the average executive, and Idon't have a number for this,
but I'm just throwing this outas a something to think about.
You know, what percentage ofyour employees do you think have
the Sunday scaries? Right.
Like what percent of the peopleworking for you on Sunday night
are filled with some angst?Right. A little bit or a lot.
But to have that that termSunday scary, I've definitely

(33:50):
worked in jobs where I've hadthat. Right.
Yeah. And again, going back tothat, you sometimes don't
appreciate the good until youhad the bad. It wasn't till I'd
had jobs where I was. I was, youknow, biting my nails and
tossing and turning Sunday nightuntil I realized when I found
myself and put myself in aposition where I don't have that
Sunday night scaries I'm like,wow. This is amazing.
You know? But I think if you askthe average executive, at least

(34:14):
any that I wanna work with, youknow, do you want your people to
have anxiety Sunday night? Youknow, is that is that what
you're trying to build? Because,you know, our our companies have
a have a mission and they have apurpose, whatever that is.
Right?
We're providing a good or aservice. But at the same time,
in building that company, we arebuilding a community. Right? At

(34:35):
the end of the day, like, wehave a group of people that are
spending a considerable amountof time together either
physically or now, you know,hybrid virtual, but people are
spending their time together.And so what type of community do
you really wanna be building?
Right? I mean, you're just asresponsible for that as you are
as, you know, for the outcome ofyour your company. And maybe I'm
maybe I'm a little too, youknow, star and glitter in the

(34:58):
eyes when I think about that.But at least for me and what I
wanna do and the types of peopleI wanna work with, you know,
that's when we talked about thatthat high level of BOS, that
that healthy component. Right?
Yeah. Like, it's short. We'rewe're all we're all here for a
very short period of time.Right? 100 years, like, at best.
You know what I mean? Like, it'sit's a blink of an eye. We're
all here together. Right? Like,there's been billions of people

(35:18):
on this planet.
And the small group we got here,we're all here together at the
same little, you know,microsecond together. It just
seems too short to really spendit being being unhappy. You
know? And if I can do somethingto help the people around me,
you know, just enjoy their their8 hours that they're spending
with me a day a little bit more,like, I think that's worthwhile.

Bo Motlagh (35:37):
I love that. I also think, my instinct is that to
your point of community or or anorganization that enables that
troubling individual, the 10xer,as Josh put it, there's a bigger
problem there anyway. It's notjust that this one resource has

(35:58):
come in who's doing this amazingoutput that nobody else is doing
and, but they don't fitculturally. It's that what is it
about this situation that nobodyelse can do the same output? Why
is there a hero here?
And Josh and I talk a lot abouthero culture and organizations
that enable and grow heroes, andthat it's really bad for

(36:20):
everybody. Right? It's bad forthe organization because all of
a sudden, you have theseindividuals who, by the way,
aren't necessarily heroes aren'talways bad cultural fits. Some
people can be amazing culturalfits, and they're still in this
situation. But all of theknowledge is in one person.
Nobody else is keeping up.They're not really sure what's
going on. And that one personcan very easily burn out. And

(36:44):
when they eventually decide theyneed to go or if they are a bad
culture fit and everybodyrealizes they need to go, a
whole chunk of the of thecompany's productivity goes with
them. So there's a biggerproblem here.

Garth Reid (36:56):
A 100%. And we and we even see it. We sell a lot of
time with the owners. Right. Andat least in the EOS world.
So a lot of the people that Ihave conversations with, you
know, around talking aboutmutual clients are exit
planners. Right. So, you know,if you look at that that company
size, I'm talking about 10 to250 employees. A lot of times,
you know, the owner, the personwho started that, they're,

(37:18):
they're a person of, of somefinancial means, but in a lot of
cases, their company is theirmost valuable asset. Right?
And there's this idea of, youknow, well, I'm gonna hit a
certain age and I'm gonna sellthe company. And I know that
it's worth this much money, andthen that's how I'm gonna creep
into my retirement. And whatthey don't realize is without
them, the company is, is worth afraction of that. And so we have

(37:40):
these people that have thesevery skewed valuations in their
head of what their company isworth because so much of it is
tied up with them. And that'snot in a malicious way and
that's not a bad, you know, abad culture type thing.
But that's again where whereyou're getting to the bigger
problem there is, okay, how dowe get that knowledge out of
your head? And we actually getthat worked into the company
itself, right, into the designof the company, the designs of

(38:03):
the seats, the types of rules wehave here, and then we can
educate the the the right peopleon those rules and functions.

Bo Motlagh (38:10):
So you guys actually work on that, in in your
session, the the idea ofallowing well, I guess you you
you sort of hinted at this. Thethe idea that the leader can
take a executives can take avacation means that they're
training others to actually runthe business on their own.
You're turning it into anengine. Am I getting that right?

Garth Reid (38:25):
A 100%. So I I have to give a little bit of credit.
My friend, Matt, is the CEO of aof a great construction
consulting company, and heimplemented EOS with another
implementer, not me, withamazing woman, Maria, here in
the Philadelphia area. And Ithink he was about two and a
half years in the EOSimplementation. Matt took his

(38:46):
family on a on a vacation, andthey did, like, a 3 or 4 week
vacation to Europe this summer.
And it was really kind of thefirst test of, like, Matt's
leaving the country, right, forfor the better part of a month.
And, Matt has a teenage son. Andas teenage sons are off to do, I
think on the second day ofvacation, Matt's teenage son
dropped Matt's cell phone in theRed Sea. And, so this is how I

(39:11):
stole a story to make it my own.Right?
Matt didn't buy a new cell phoneuntil he got home.

Bo Motlagh (39:16):
Isn't it? So for the remainder

Garth Reid (39:17):
of that vacation, now he said, you know, it's not
like he was completelyunplugged. He had a laptop and
he would check emails some atnight, whatnot. Like we have to
be a little bit realistic, butthat's exactly what happened
with Matt's company and how hewas able to, you know, start to
remove himself as the CEO or asthe visionary of that company.
Those are words we use a lotmore. We use visionary and

(39:38):
integrator, when we talk aboutthe top of the, of the org
chart.

Josh Smith (39:43):
Thinking about, like, culture and underlying
beliefs, what do you feel arethe ones that lead to these
situations where being a singlepoint of failure is desired,
incentivized, rewarded in anorganization where you have to
I'm assuming you're not the wayyou undo that involves having to

(40:07):
work them through a differentway of thinking as well or
challenge surface underlyingcore beliefs about themselves in
relation to the business that isengendering this need to be a
single point of failure?

Garth Reid (40:23):
Sure. So I think what what lends to a lot of that
mentality of people trying to behero sometimes is a lack of
definition of accountabilitythroughout an organization.
Right? So, and this might not bewhat you're asking me. And if
it's not, let me know.
But as an example, long time agoin my career, I was in a

(40:45):
technology company and I was inthe customer success team. And
there was a culture where if aclient sent an email, right, at,
you know, 10:30 at night or 11o'clock at night, it was almost
a race amongst our internalteam, right, of the 3 or 4
people who got that email, of,like, who's gonna respond first.

(41:09):
Right? Who is more proactive andgonna you're right. Who's gonna
respond at 11:15 at night andnot 7 AM or not 8:30 AM?
And because when an email gotsent to a team, right, and there
were different levels of peopleon this, I don't think it was
very clearly defined of okay.Here's the person who is

(41:31):
accountable and responsible forcommunication with the client.
Right? Or here's who'sresponsible and accountable for
doing, you know, even if we wereto, like, after hours
communication with the client.And so, you know, it's it's
almost like a scarcity mindsetof, like, well, I better I
better be the first one torespond because who knows who's

(41:52):
looking or, you know, whether ifit's the client sees that I'm
the 1st to respond or somebodymanagement comes to find that
I'm the first one to respond.
And so I think more when youhave very clear defined roles
and accountability. Right? Sowe're a big proponent of EOS. We
always say, you know, if 2people are accountable for
something, nobody's accountablefor it. Mhmm.

(42:14):
So part of what we do and one ofthe tools we use is called the
accountability chart, which iskind of a it's like a it's like
an org chart on steroids almost.But what we do more so within
that is we actually define the 5rules, r o l e s. That's my wife
gives me a hard time about my,Western PA accent. So not r u l

(42:36):
e s, but r o l e s roles, forfor every single seat in the
organization. Right?
So that you clearly know who'sresponsible for what. And then
if I'm responsible for it, thenI can trust myself to know the
best way to handle or react tothat. There's not this this
culture bread where I have to gooutside of what might be

(42:57):
appropriate or what might be thenorm because I'm afraid of some
kind of unforeseen competitionwithin my own team.

Bo Motlagh (43:03):
I think from what you've described, I can see how
EOS can be extremely beneficial,to an organization, but it's not
a one size fits all sort oftool. Right? It doesn't like
just solve all your problems.

Garth Reid (43:16):
Right.

Bo Motlagh (43:17):
It's probably worth asking, what doesn't it actually
address that that you mightpoint out in an organization and
go, let's get you connected withsome people that can fix that as
well.

Garth Reid (43:27):
Right. So, I mean, that's that's, that's a that's a
great question. I wanna thinkI'll make sure I say this
properly because, you know, as Ithat's where it was coming is,
like, being a coach. Right? So alot of what what it does address
is helping you identify thosegaps or things that are missing,
but it doesn't actually fixthose gaps.

(43:47):
Right? So, like, to go back tothat accountability chart, a lot
of times, we'll we'll startdiving into that, and we'll find
a lot of empty seats in yourorganization.

Bo Motlagh (43:58):
Interesting.

Garth Reid (43:59):
Right? And so it's people you don't have, and then
we'll we'll often find extraseats too, unfortunately. Right?
So we have we have 6 people heredoing this. It shouldn't be.
You know, we're we're not atechnology company. Right? We
are a technology enabled,coaching company. Right? You can
use software to to run EOS.
You can use literally pen andpaper. Right? You can you can

(44:22):
keep all the tools where you cankeep it all on paper. Right? Not
really my forte.
Right? But you can do that. Butwe don't, you know, we don't
offer, you know, any type offinancial or accounting advice.
Right? Like, that's not what wedo.
We can help you realize that youdon't have a good grasp on your
financial, you know, picture andwhat it looks like and maybe

(44:45):
help you realize, okay. Do weneed to hire a CFO? Do we need
to hire a fractional CFO? Right?A lot of a lot of people in our
world wind up, you know, hiringfractional executives,
especially if you're on thesmaller size company.
Yep. You know, getting started,it can be intimidating. Like, we
have to go hire a COO. We haveto hire a CFO. We have to hire a
CMO.
Like, we don't have that kind ofmoney playing around. And so we

(45:05):
can help identify gaps, andmaybe there's a fractional
solution to it. So we work witha lot of partners like that as
well. Same thing with sales. Wewe don't provide any type of of
sales training.
Right? We're not gonna teach youhow to become a great
salesperson. But if we realizethat there's there's gaps in our
sales process, we can help, youknow, steer you or help you
identify partners that can helpyou get better with that. Same

(45:28):
with technology. We're not we'renot telling you what to do with
your tech stack.
But if we realize there's agaping hole in it, we know we
know professionals that can helpsteer you in the right
direction.

Bo Motlagh (45:37):
The underlying theory then behind it is that
there is a framework forbusiness that not that one is
better than all of them, butthere that allows a business to
thrive agnostic of what thatbusiness may deliver and the
specific needs of that. And ifyou understand that framework,
you can fill in the missingpieces and begin building it so

(45:59):
that the output is where youwant it to be.

Garth Reid (46:01):
A 100%. A 100%. And that's, you know, when I talked
about those those six keycomponents, we focus on getting
each one of those components towhat we call 100% strong. Right?
So we have some tools where wecan kinda measure what your
strength is in each of thosecomponents knowing that, you
know, a 100% strong is that'sutopia.
It's perfection. Nobody everOkay. Right. Next question.

(46:22):
Right.
Yeah. So that's never gonnahappen. Right? But it's that
idea of, you know, kind of, youknow, aim for the stars. And if
you miss, you land on the moon.
It's still pretty good typething. You know?

Bo Motlagh (46:33):
I like to call it North Star. Yeah.

Garth Reid (46:35):
Yeah. Exactly.

Josh Smith (46:36):
On the data end of the work you do, what are some
of the most common vanitymetrics you see that you have to
work organizations through justto to undo their their value in
them and their care for them?

Garth Reid (46:55):
Right. You know, a lot of it is the numbers that we
try to look at are are forwardfacing numbers. And I think a
lot of people

Josh Smith (47:07):
Like, leading leading and lagging?

Garth Reid (47:09):
Yes. Exactly. Right. So making sure we're really
looking at at leading numbers.You know, we the way we set up
our our teams with their meetingpulse and have the frequency
with what how they meet.
So that's a big part of what wedo too is we have a structured
agendas, for leadership teammeetings to actually make those

(47:30):
needs very productive andworthwhile and and shorter than
what they tend to be. And inthat meeting is where a lot of
these numbers are reviewed.Right. And so, you know, this is
kind of a softball one, but agreat example would be, you
know, website uptime, right. To,to go to an it thing on a weekly
basis, check-in on what ourwebsite uptime was.
It has to be 99 with 4 trailingzeros. It's like, we don't need

(47:54):
to report on this at our weeklyleadership team meeting, because
if our website's down, I'm gonnaknow about it right within much
sooner time than the Wednesdayat 11 o'clock in the morning.
Right. Sure. And like, don't bepatting yourself on the back
that the website's always up.
Like, it's supposed to be up.You know what I mean? I like
that. Like, let's not patourselves on the back. We're

(48:15):
just kinda doing our job, youknow, kind of the the table
stakes type stuff.
So I would say a lot of times wesee people, they have kind of
table stakes numbers in therebeing like, well, no, look, I'm
doing great. You know? It'slike, well, that's that's kind
of baseline. Like that just,that should be where it's at.
The the numbers that that welook at, oftentimes, will just

(48:37):
alert you that an investigationis needed.
Right? So they won't necessarilytell you what is wrong, but it's
it's really about because webelieve in in a very quick
pulse. Right? So, like, we webuild a scorecard for leadership
teams and and the, the analogyfor that would be as we'd say,
you know, Bo, let's say you're,you know, chief executive of

(49:00):
your company and, you're onvacation, you're on a little
deserted island, and you pickthe one that has no Wi Fi and it
has no cell phone coverage.

Bo Motlagh (49:08):
Mhmm. Sounds nice.

Garth Reid (49:10):
Right? And so the young man or young woman brings
over a tray with your frostybeverage on it and hands you a
sheet of paper. And that sheetof paper just has, you know, a
column of numbers. What numbersdo you wanna look at right now
that instantly you have a pulseon what's going on with your
business, right? That that's theonly information you get.
That's that's the numbers wehelp drive people towards. And

(49:32):
so if something's off, I don'tnecessarily know what's wrong,
but it leads me to, okay, weneed to investigate this. Is
there actually a problem? Isthere an actual pattern? And a
big part of what we do too islooking at at a trailing history
of numbers.
So maybe not necessarily justwhat's the number this week, but
what's it this week? What was itlast week? What's you know, what
are the past 13 weeks look like?Was there an anomaly or is there

(49:53):
a pattern?

Bo Motlagh (49:54):
So when you're thinking about companies, in the
chasm that, like, we'vedescribed, that maybe are
realizing there's a problem.Maybe it is the hero piece that
you were talking about or otherelements like that. Maybe it's
more of what we've been chattingabout with these leadership
issues leading to strategic gapsand the wrong people or the

(50:16):
right people in the wrong seatsor vice versa. And tech debt and
they're lagging, theircompetition is gaining on them.
In that scenario, if there's onething that you could advise the
CEO to start doing, you know,what would you point to and say,

(50:36):
get started on that, and we'lltalk soon.
Take 2 of these and call me inthe morning.

Garth Reid (50:43):
Right. Right. So you know, because it it kinda spans
the, the whole spectrum of it.The the very tactical thing that
I that I do for folks. So youcan see above me, there's the
book Traction.
Traction is written by GinoWhitman. Gino is the creator of
BOS. And so the whole system iskinda laid out in there. But
what I often tell people is justread the first chapter. Right?

(51:05):
The first chapter. In fact, youcan go to the EOS worldwide
website. You can download, thatfirst chapter for free. It's 9
pages, and there's, there's,like, a 20 question checklist.
It kinda runs the gamut aroundall 6 of those that that those 6
components.
And that really kinda will youknow, I tell people, read those
9 pages. If anything thatresonates, give me a call, and

(51:27):
we'll just have anotherconversation about it. But for,
you know, that that oneexecutive, and this is just me
that that I truly, truly embraceeven outside of EOS, outside of
business. You know, I I have Ihave trusted advisers in my
life. Right?
Whether it be my wife, a couplevery close friends from the the

(51:50):
recovery community, somebusiness mentors. Right? And I'm
a firm believer that a problemshared is a problem halved.
Right? And so probably the worstthing somebody can do is just
continue to just sit and thinkon it, you know, and not not
take any action.
And whether that be reach out toa professional, right, somebody

(52:11):
like me, like in the OSimplementer or, you know, just
your your your buddy, justsomebody you can trust to say,
here's what I'm dealing with.Because I know I myself, there's
something there's somethingmagical, and I'm gonna I'm gonna
get a little fluffier. There'ssomething magical in saying
stuff out loud. I'm a very bigproponent. Now I'm a big
proponent of journaling, like,from personal thing.

(52:32):
I I love to journal. But whenI'm dealing with something hard,
there's something great aboutjust saying it out loud, hearing
myself say what my problem is.Sometimes that even works,
saying it to the the voicemailbox of a friend, calling up
a friend, dumping whateverproblem I have. And when I just
hear myself say it out loud, Itjust it changes it. Right?

(52:53):
It makes it a little less scaryand a little bit more like,
okay, well, if I have a problem,then there is a solution to it.
And so by getting with peopleagain, whoever that might be,
you know, for for an executive,it could be somebody else on
their leadership team. Right?You don't have to go outside of
the company. It's it's thattrusted person you trust that
you can just kinda go to withthat vulnerability we've talked
about and say, here's a problemI'm I'm dealing with.

(53:15):
And that's something we reallywork on on a grander scale
within EOS, but I think anybodycan can practice doing that
without any type of of formaltraining, right, of just getting
in the habit of just finding oneperson and sharing what that
problem or that fear is, to helpmove towards the solution.

Bo Motlagh (53:32):
I love that.

Josh Smith (53:33):
One leading indicator to the problems for
which EOS can help remedy isbeing isolated.

Garth Reid (53:43):
Yeah. Absolutely.

Bo Motlagh (53:46):
Which is probably pretty common for for
executives.

Garth Reid (53:49):
I mean, nobody nobody wants to admit they're
wrong. Right? I mean, there'sbeen a lot of talk and and it's
funny. It's it's come up in myworld this past week, some
different podcasts I've listenedto, but the the word the phrase
imposter syndrome.

Bo Motlagh (54:04):
Yeah. You

Garth Reid (54:05):
know? And, like, as as my career elevated, I kept
waiting for that to go away. Youknow? Okay. And it doesn't.
You know? Like, there are peoplemuch higher above me than I'm
sure have that. And in that samementality, right, of being able
to say, like, maybe not to thisextent, but I definitely have
some buddies I can call up andbe like, dude, I feel like a

(54:26):
complete fraud. I'm they'regonna figure me out any second
now. You know?
And that's not the truth. Right?Because feelings aren't facts.
And I've become very aware ofthat for myself. Right?
My feelings that in the moment Imean, heck, half the time, my
imposter syndrome is cured witha ham sandwich. Like, you know,
I'm not inadequate. I was justhungry. You know what I mean?
Like, I just need to go eatsomething.

(54:48):
And all of a sudden like, ohwait, no, the world isn't
ending. I just, you know,skipped breakfast, you know, but
having that friend that I can goto, or that that other person on
my team and just admit that thatlittle insecurity or I guess
admitting that I see a problemand and removing thinking that I

(55:09):
think of the problem, I think anissue we run into is when I
identify an issue, my insecuritywill flare up. But I think that
that issue or that problem is adirect reflection on me, my
abilities or my skill set. And Ithink executives feel that a lot
of times. Right.
They're like, there's a problemat the company and that must be
a direct reflection on me. Andsometimes it might be, but not

(55:31):
always. But you're not going toyou're not going to move in the
direction of solving thatproblem by continuing to just
keep it to yourself and thatthat fear and that insecurity.
My experience has been is thatwill just continue to build the
longer I keep that to myself, toto Josh's point, the longer I
stay in that isolation.

Bo Motlagh (55:47):
I think it's, it's putting that together, get
change your perspective, ask forhelp, Grab a sandwich.

Garth Reid (55:54):
Right. You know, when I change the way I look at
things, the things I look atchange. Right? I had a mentor
that always said whatever Ifocus on gets bigger. If I focus
on the problem, it gets bigger.
If I focus on the solution, itgets bigger. Talk to somebody.
Right? That'll help you startfocusing on the solution.

Bo Motlagh (56:11):
So as we're kind of getting to the end of this, I
wanted to take a couple ofminutes. I know that you're very
involved with several nonprofitsand as a volunteer, If if you'd
like to tell us about them andtell the world about them, go
ahead.

Garth Reid (56:23):
I would love to. There's there's 2 in particular
that are near and dear to myheart. The first is the
Philadelphia well, I'm sorry.It's the the Ronald McDonald
House Charities. I'm verypartial to the Ronald McDonald
House Charities of the GreaterPhiladelphia region.
The Ronald McDonald House, forthose who don't know, and I'll
try and be quick. The RonaldMcDonald House Charities were

(56:45):
set up as a way to providehousing for families and
children, basically, very sickkids, that need extensive
medical care. And, you know, gobirds. It was actually started,
they just celebrated their 50thanniversary. The Philadelphia
Ronald McDonald House was thefirst one.
They just celebrated their 50thanniversary. It was actually

(57:05):
created in conjunction with theChildren's Hospital of
Philadelphia and thePhiladelphia Eagles. Most people
don't know that, but the theshort story is there was a
member for the Eagles who had avery sick child. They were
spending a lot of time atChildren's Hospital, and they
were seeing these families liveliterally kinda living in the
waiting rooms and and and eatingout of the vending machines.
Right?
Because they were from far awayand they had nowhere to stay.

(57:26):
And so the Eagles, inconjunction with the hospital,
they helped and McDonald's gotbehind it, and they formed this
house where families that livemore than 25 to 35 miles in the
hospital can come and stay, forvery minimal cost or no cost at
all. About 14 years ago, I wasin between jobs. As as I
mentioned, it was right when Iwas I was, in early recovery.

(57:48):
And, I had a mentor who told meI had to get out of the house
one day a week and help peopleto remind myself I didn't have
any real problems.
You know, I'm like learning tolike get over a drug and alcohol
addiction. I'm unemployed. Andhe was like, yeah, you need to
get out of the house to realizeyou don't have any real
problems. And so that's whatstarted my journey with Ronald
McDonald House. And I mean, justthe work they're doing is
unbelievable.

(58:09):
Right? Unbelievable. I've metpeople from all over the world.
And if you wanna seevulnerability, but if you really
wanna see strength and courage,go spend some time with the
people that are coming in andout of that house. It's
tremendous what they're doing.
2nd organization I'd love tojust mention real quick is,
again, it's an internationalorganization called Achilles
International. Me and a group ofother people, we founded a

(58:32):
Philadelphia chapter, gosh,probably 12 or 13 years ago
called Philly Achilles. So Soyou can find them on Philly
Achilles.com, and Achilles'mission is to help, disabled
athletes participate in,physical activities, sports, and
races. So, most of our athletes,a lot of it's centered around

(58:52):
running, so I've I've spent alot of time being a guide
runner. Most of our athletes areare their disability is is
visual, so guide running forblind runners.
Again, just another amazingexperience when we talk about
shifting perspective. Right?And, go run a a half marathon or
a marathon with with somebodywho's blind and, you know, you

(59:13):
hold a rope and they holdanother end of the rope, and and
you have to describe everysingle nook and cranny and
puddle and crack and turn. But,again, just to give that
perspective of, like, you know,there's people out there that
that can't even go for a run,you know, without the assistance
of somebody else. And, again,those people, when I've
encountered them in my life, thethe hope, the courage, and the

(59:35):
laughter that, that I've gottenfrom them is amazing.
So Philly Achilles, andPhiladelphia Ronald McDonald
House, both, really near anddear to my heart. A lot of great
people there.

Bo Motlagh (59:44):
Absolutely amazing. Garth, this has been a fantastic
conversation. Thank you so muchThank you. For taking your time
with us. How can people get intouch with you either to learn
more about, the volunteer workor to learn more about EOS and
tap into that, that big brain ofyours?

Garth Reid (01:00:01):
Yeah. No. Absolutely. I mean, probably,
email would be [e-mail].
You know, I assume there'sprobably somewhere in the in the
podcast you could put a put thator, you know, label that or
something. But, you know,[e-mail] or,
you know, my website iseosworldwide.com/garthdashreed.

(01:00:26):
You can you can find me there inthis contact information.

Bo Motlagh (01:00:29):
And we'll be tagging Garth in LinkedIn as well.

Garth Reid (01:00:31):
Yes. Yeah. LinkedIn is great. Go walk around the the
trails of the Wissahickon, andyou'll find me, you know,
running around in theresomewhere and, get a little
trail running in slowly. But,yeah.
You know, I'm I'm around.

Bo Motlagh (01:00:43):
Awesome. Well, this has been another, just amazing
episode

Garth Reid (01:00:47):
of The

Bo Motlagh (01:00:48):
Hidden Chasm. Thanks for joining us, and tune in next
time. Great.

Garth Reid (01:00:50):
Yeah. Thanks so much, guys. Really had a good
time.

Bo Motlagh (01:00:53):
Thank you for listening to this episode of The
Hidden Chasm. If you'd like toshare your story or if you have
any questions you can reach usvia email at
[e-mail] or byvisiting thehiddenchasm.com