August 25, 2020 • 35 mins
Leading with an ICONIC Mindset during Uncertain Times
Episode #6
It’s been said that turbulent times build great leaders. In this podcast episode, John and Calvin discuss how to lead your team with an ICONIC mindset during uncertain times. They’ll share several important leadership qualities that will help leaders navigate through the next normal while connecting each quality to one (or more) of the 4 P’s of Iconicity - Purpose, People, Passion, and Perseverance. Listen for insights on surefire ways to continue to engage, empower and inspire your team during these uncertain times and into the future.
- 0:01:58 - Intro: Important leadership qualities
- 0:04:58 - Purpose
- 0:07:12 - People
- 0:16:11 - Passion
- 0:24:57 - Perseverance
- 0:31:55 - ICONIC Points
To learn more about John Avola and Calvin Stovall, visit iconicpresentations.net. All The ICONIC Mindset episodes can be downloaded at theiconicmindset.com. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please subscribe to our show. Remember to select a star rating and/or write a review for The ICONIC Mindset podcast.
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- Calvin Stovall: @ICONICspeaker (Twitter), Facebook and LinkedIn
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Don't just be, Be ICONIC!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Introduction (00:07):
Welcome to the iconic mindset podcast with John
Avola and Calvin Stovall.
This is the only place thatuncovers the multiple levels of
iconic businesses and brands.
Every episode rebuilds thesecrets behind what it takes to
make your business idea ormovement iconic.
(00:27):
Now, here is John and Calvin.
John Avola (00:34):
Today, we're going to discuss leading your team
(02:00):
with an iconic mindset duringuncertain times.
Calvin and I are going to sharesome important leadership
qualities that are essential andwe're going to connect those
qualities with the 4 P's ofIconicity to engage, empower,
and inspire teams during theseuncertain times.
Calvin Stovall (02:22):
And for those of you that do not know, or do not
recall what those 4 P's are, letme remind you what they are.
The first one of course ispurpose.
The second is people.
Third is passion.
One of my favorites, and ofcourse, perseverance is also
another favorite of mine.
So those are the 4 P's oficonicity.
John Avola (02:43):
Thank you, Calvin.
And what we'll do is tie inthose leadership qualities,
which with each of those 4 P's,and of course conclude our
podcast with the iconic points.
Calvin, I was thinking as wewere getting together for this
podcast about the issues leaderswere concerned with just six
months ago, compared to whatthey're challenged with today.
(03:05):
Think back six months, maybeseven months ago...
in February or March timeframe,as a leader or a CEO of a
company, you were very focusedon creating a great work
environment.
You were trying to do whateveryou can to get your employees
engaged and motivated in theoffice, contribute and be
(03:26):
productive as possible todaythat mind shift has completely
switched.
It's not so much about creatinga positive in-person work
environment, but instead hasgone to creating a remote
workforce and keeping themengaged.
(03:48):
Also looking at six months ago,the focus was around
investments.
Where can we look at innovatingor changing our product or
service to better enhance thecustomer experience with our
current assets today?
The focus has now gone frominvestments to cashflow
management.
And then look at the politicsand competitive pressures six
(04:08):
months ago, where today a lot ofbrands have decided to really
focus internally on re-imaginingtheir brand positioning for that
uncertain future.
Calvin Stovall (04:17):
I always tell people, COVID has brought a lot
of negative things, but it hasalso brought a lot of positives.
As we always say, when peopleget comfortable or complacent,
that's not what really stretchesus.
(04:38):
It's when things don't go well,that's when you have to get
outside of that comfort zone andstart thinking about now, what
am I going to do.
And not just to survive, but tothrive.
John Avola (04:49):
I'd like to call this pandemic, the ultimate
leadership test.
Calvin Stovall (04:56):
That leads great into the first P, which is
purpose.
I truly believe that for yourorganization, your purpose
shouldn't change.
Stay focused on where you areand as you continue to go
forward, make sure your team israllied around that purpose and
(05:19):
that mission.
That is your rallying cry forsuccess.
If you're one of those peoplethat have to change, changing
your purpose is not the thingdo.
John Avola (05:31):
It's the values, the purpose and keeping employees
connected to the company'smission and vision.
Calvin Stovall (05:40):
If you're in leader, you want to continue to
convey that purpose and makesure your people understand what
you stand for as a brand and asan organization.
So they can rally around that.
And no matter what happens, evenduring uncertain times, your
purpose should not waiver.
John Avola (05:58):
You've got to be able to keep for moving forward
with conveying that message.
You've got to be able to processthe information quickly, make
decisions with conviction, takeimmediate action and adjust
accordingly.
There's a quote by CharlesDarwin that says,"it is not the
strongest or the mostintelligent who will survive,
(06:20):
but those who can best managechange." While we're talking
about purpose and leadership, weshould also discuss the ability
to adapt your leadership style.
What I mean by that is at thebeginning of COVID, your
leadership style may haveadapted to more of a
(06:42):
participative style where youwere deferring to the experts in
the field to help you through aparticular situation.
Now you may adapt or change yourleadership style to more of a
pacesetting leadership style asyou come out of COVID and enter
that next normal to get thingsmoving back on track.
Still align with the purpose,but adjust your style in order
(07:08):
to accommodate what's currentlygoing on in the environment.
A good segway into people iscommunication.
It's communicating personally,consistently, making sure your
colleagues understand thatyou're on the ground with them.
Have those meaningfulconversations about the
company's purpose, the valuesthat it stands for and keep
(07:28):
employees close to the missionand the vision.
Calvin Stovall (07:32):
If you're a leader, you want to make sure
you're checking in with yourteam and making sure that they
(07:54):
know where you're going as anorganization.
This has been a challenging timefor people.
They're hearing about companiesclosing, and it creates a sense
of stress for people.
Anything you can do as a leaderto reduce that level of stress
and those questions that areprobably floating around in
(08:14):
their head is a good thing.
Communication is essential.
If you're a leader, communicateas much as you possibly can,
even if it's not particularlythe best news, people still want
to know what's going on.
People want to be in the knowand when they don't hear it, it
causes additional stress on yourteam.
(08:37):
I think there's some qualitiesnow that are strengths for
leaders, when before they maynot have been viewed as
strengths.
For example, being empathetic orbeing vulnerable or showing
humility.
Now those skills are pluses forleaders.
(09:00):
People are dealing withsituations and they're all very,
very different.
And you have to have anempathetic ear to be able to
walk in their shoes andunderstand where they're coming
from.
People are juggling so muchright now and if you're a leader
(09:28):
and you're not understandingthat people are having having to
juggle different things, you'renot going to be successful.
Not in this environment.
People want a leader that'sgoing to listen to them and
going to care about theirwellbeing.
That's a leader.
(09:53):
It was John Maxwell that said,"people don't care how much you
know, until they know how muchyou care."
John Avola (10:00):
Our armor gets in the way of being human.
Replace the armor.
Calvin Stovall (10:12):
Take off the armor.
In this environment, that armoris going to get in the way of
(10:35):
your success.
John Avola (10:36):
That touches on what we were just talking about
regarding adapting yourleadership style.
In a time like this, you've gotto adapt your leadership style
to the environment in which welive in today, and that is an
empathetic leadership style.
(11:31):
And here's the secret, whenyou're listening, listen
attentively.
Focus on the person in front ofyou or in our case, on the
(12:00):
screen that's in front of you.
It's direct reflection of howmuch you care.
Calvin Stovall (12:08):
That's a good point.
I love this people P because mywhole mantra is...
there's no customer experiencewithout the employee experience.
I'm hoping because of thispandemic and leaders can't be
(12:39):
face to face, they have abetter, stronger, more engaged
(13:22):
relationship with their teams.
It's a different level ofconnection that COVID has
(14:02):
created.
Even before this pandemic, Ialways talk about living in a
soundbite society.
What I mean by that, we live ina world of chats, comments,
texts, TicToks.
(14:22):
When you did go to a restaurantpre-COVID, or BC(Before COVID),
(14:46):
you looked around and people areon their phones.
People weren't really not inconversation.
So what I like about COVID nowit forces you to have
conversation.
John Avola (14:57):
You mentioned humility too.
One of the biggest mistakes Ithink a leader could make is to
pretend you know more than youactually do.
Being human or responding withhumility means it's ok to say, I
don't know.
No one knows the answers today.
(15:38):
Be honest and transparent inthese uncertain times is key to
iconic leadership.
Calvin Stovall (15:45):
For those of you that don't know John Maxwell,
he's a leadership guru.
He has a quote about humility,which is"people with humility
don't think less of themselves,they just think of themselves
less." I'm ready to move on tothe next one.
(16:15):
One of my favorites, passion.
It's the fire in the belly thatyou can't train for, I don't
care how hard you try.
So what are your thoughts onpassion?
John Avola (16:22):
I think you can have passion for different qualities.
Passion for communication,passion for employees, passion
for encouraging teamwork,passion for making decisions,
acting quickly.
I'm looking at passion as anopportunity to drive engagement
and motivation.
Even surveying your employees tofind out how they are you
(16:44):
feeling/doing and determiningwhat actions can be taken to
help make things better to thebest of our ability.
Collecting information, havingpassion about your employees'
concerns and taking action onthose concerns by doing your
best to resolve their concerns.
Having the passion to keepdriving forward and helping your
employees adapt to that nextnormal.
Calvin Stovall (17:07):
That's a big one because if you're in a
leadership role and you are inthe service industry, it's
challenging right now.
And if you are in an environmentwhere there are customers coming
in your door, y ou cannot, not have p assion.
John Avola (17:23):
Every experience needs to be like the first.
Calvin Stovall (17:25):
You are always, and will always still be on
stage.
You're always still on stage.
And so you have to be passionatefor not only the people around
you, but the people on yourteam.
They're going to emulate andthey're going to mirror what
they see and I promise you ifyou are"whoa is me," they're
(17:50):
going to probably feel the sameway.
There's no way you can ask yourteam to be excited and engaged
and enthusiastic, if you're notdoing the same.
If people really are passionate,where they have the purpose, and
(20:34):
the people have been properlytrained and prepared and they
are passionate, the experienceis going to be there.
Leadership plays such a hugerole in that.
There's a statistic that 70% ofthe brands perception is driven
by its employees.
It's a big deal.
Everybody that you come incontact with can either make or
(21:01):
break a relationship.
John Avola (21:42):
It's the details that matter.
(22:04):
You can have the nicest salesmanin the world, but if the product
or the service doesn't equate toyour expectation, you're not
going to purchase or recommend.
And you're going to get on thatsocial media microphone.
Calvin Stovall (22:32):
You got to look at the entire customer journey
from beginning to end.
You cannot look at a customer'sexperience from only your little
piece, you have to look at thewhole thing.
(22:53):
If just one person in thatjourney drops the ball, it's
going to impact everything.
I don't care what your roleis...
if you're in accounting, you'reat the desk, your receptionist
or your waiter, it doesn'tmatter whatever that journey is
and where your piece falls, yougot to make sure you own that
(23:14):
piece of your customerexperience- one hundred percent.
John Avola (23:19):
An assembly line- if you're in a spot and you pull
yourself out or you're droppingthe item, the assembly line
fails.
Calvin Stovall (23:29):
I have to throw a music analogy.
I look at it like this.
Your role and what you do islike a single download, but the
(23:49):
entire journey is like an album.
Look at everybody's role, allthose pieces together make that
album.
So you got to think about thewhole thing, but your role is
critical to that entire journey.
Leaders have to understand, yougot to make sure that everybody
(24:27):
knows that their role isimportant and significant to the
entire experience.
Your customer is not going tocare about this particular
department or this particulararea.
All they're going to see is onecompany, one brand, one
organization.
And that's it.
(24:51):
Let's bring it home...
the 4th P is Perseverance.
Maintain a curiosity mindset.
Keep learning.
You can't get complacent.
You can't get too comfortablebecause there's always somebody
(25:13):
out there waiting for you todrop the ball and steal your
customers.
So don't get comfortable.
You want to be here for the longterm.
You have to watch thecompetition, but that doesn't
(25:36):
mean you do what they do.
I'm all about differentiationand trying to break out from the
clutter.
Make sure you know who yourcustomers are and what their
needs are, making sure thatyou're staying connected to how
their needs and wants areevolving.
And then you make pivots.
Research, survey, learn whatyour customers are looking for.
(25:57):
Don't waste your customer's timefilling out surveys, if you're
not going to do anything withthe information.
If you can let your customersknow what you did, that that's
(26:29):
even better.
John Avola (26:31):
Listen, act and follow up.
If you don't do those threethings, don't survey.
While we're talking aboutperseverance, we should also
talk about the leaderthemselves; specifically self
awareness, self care.
It's an extremely stressfultime.
(26:53):
Leaders are under extremepressure, physical and mental
and their wellbeing and theirhealth, their safety is
important.
Not only to themselves, but alsotheir employees.
Their employees are counting onleadership to take them forward.
And as a leader, you won't beable to effectively lead if
you're also struggling.
(27:14):
When you fly on an airplane,you're instructed to put an
emergency oxygen mask onyourself first, before assisting
others, right?
Why?
Because if you run out ofoxygen, you can't help anybody
else.
(27:35):
As a leader, if you're gaspingfor air, you won't be able to
effectively lead your team tothe next destination.
Calvin Stovall (28:07):
That's why I also think perseverance
mentioned here is about theemotional intelligence.
You have to know where you arebecause stressful situations
could cause you to respond in avery different way than you
normally would respond.
Make sure you are thinking aboutthings proper way, managing your
(28:32):
relationships and all of thosethings.
Emotional intelligence plays abig role in your success as a
leader as well, particularlyduring stressful times.
John Avola (28:49):
You may have heard of Fast Company.
They have said the mostessential skill leaders need to
work through during uncertaintimes is emotional intelligence.
If you were to focus all yourefforts and improving one
quality, Fast Company ispinpointing emotional
(29:12):
intelligence as that quality towork on.
Calvin Stovall (29:16):
That's the cool thing about emotional
intelligence, you can learn it.
John Avola (29:21):
When I think of emotional intelligence, I look
at in four areas.
The first is self awareness,which is managing your own
emotions.
Next is social awareness piece,which we talked about earlier,
empathy.
How well do you understandothers and how you can affect
(29:44):
their needs and their concerns?
And that's the awareness bucket-self awareness and social
awareness.
And then I look at it from amanagement perspective.
Self-management meaningcontrolling your impulsive
feelings and behaviors, managingyour emotions.
And then relationshipmanagement, which is how you're
developing and maintaining goodrelationships, inspiring others,
(30:07):
and then managing conflict.
And those four areas combined isemotional intelligence.
Look at those four areas andlook at the ones you excel and
the ones you need to work on.
Instead of looking at emotionalintelligence as one area, break
it down into those four areas tohelp you pinpoint the areas you
(30:29):
need to focus on.
Calvin Stovall (30:56):
There are EQ assessments available.
For example, Talent Smart, whichdoes a great job.
If you want to find out how youa re on a particular scale
around the ones you justmentioned, there's assessments
that can teach you.
Nobody's perfect.
(31:30):
We all need to get better atthings.
If you want to have an iconicmindset and be an iconic leader,
you want to continue to improveand EQ i s one of those areas
where you can.
That's it.
Let's do something a littledifferent.
(31:54):
I know we have our four iconicpoints, but this time let's
alternate.
I'm going to start-#1, know yourpurpose and have your people
rally around that purpose.
That's your anchor.
John Avola (32:16):
Number two, to be an iconic leader in these uncertain
times, you must be transparent.
You must be honest and do not beafraid to be human.
Calvin Stovall (32:46):
Number three, stay focused on the behaviors
that demonstrate what you wantyour employees to demonstrate.
Walk the talk.
John Avola (33:15):
And number four, perseverance.
Put your oxygen mask on first!
Calvin Stovall (33:30):
That wraps up our show for today, John.
That's good.
John Avola (33:52):
Next time we're going to talk about culture.
We're going to focus on culturein the workplace, even outside
of the workplace.
We've been seeing some trendsaround cancel culture, so we'll
touch on that.
Calvin Stovall (34:14):
I was just going to add how fragile culture is
and that you got to work on itall the time.
It's something that as a leader,you have to constantly emulate
those behaviors again and makingsure your employees are
emulating it.
If you don't define the culture,your team will for you.
John Avola (34:35):
If you want to learn more about us, contact us.
Calvin's on a roll right now,podcasts and keynotes, he's
available! He will turn yourcompany around in a minute.
(35:02):
You can find us aticonicpresentations.net.
Until next time..
Don't just be, BE ICONIC!
Welcome to the iconic mindset podcast with John
Avola and Calvin Stovall.
This is the only place thatuncovers the multiple levels of
iconic businesses and brands.
Every episode rebuilds thesecrets behind what it takes to
make your business idea ormovement iconic.
(00:27):
Now, here is John and Calvin.
John Avola (00:34):
Today, we're going to discuss leading your team
(02:00):
with an iconic mindset duringuncertain times.
Calvin and I are going to sharesome important leadership
qualities that are essential andwe're going to connect those
qualities with the 4 P's ofIconicity to engage, empower,
and inspire teams during theseuncertain times.
Calvin Stovall (02:22):
And for those of you that do not know, or do not
recall what those 4 P's are, letme remind you what they are.
The first one of course ispurpose.
The second is people.
Third is passion.
One of my favorites, and ofcourse, perseverance is also
another favorite of mine.
So those are the 4 P's oficonicity.
John Avola (02:43):
Thank you, Calvin.
And what we'll do is tie inthose leadership qualities,
which with each of those 4 P's,and of course conclude our
podcast with the iconic points.
Calvin, I was thinking as wewere getting together for this
podcast about the issues leaderswere concerned with just six
months ago, compared to whatthey're challenged with today.
(03:05):
Think back six months, maybeseven months ago...
in February or March timeframe,as a leader or a CEO of a
company, you were very focusedon creating a great work
environment.
You were trying to do whateveryou can to get your employees
engaged and motivated in theoffice, contribute and be
(03:26):
productive as possible todaythat mind shift has completely
switched.
It's not so much about creatinga positive in-person work
environment, but instead hasgone to creating a remote
workforce and keeping themengaged.
(03:48):
Also looking at six months ago,the focus was around
investments.
Where can we look at innovatingor changing our product or
service to better enhance thecustomer experience with our
current assets today?
The focus has now gone frominvestments to cashflow
management.
And then look at the politicsand competitive pressures six
(04:08):
months ago, where today a lot ofbrands have decided to really
focus internally on re-imaginingtheir brand positioning for that
uncertain future.
Calvin Stovall (04:17):
I always tell people, COVID has brought a lot
of negative things, but it hasalso brought a lot of positives.
As we always say, when peopleget comfortable or complacent,
that's not what really stretchesus.
(04:38):
It's when things don't go well,that's when you have to get
outside of that comfort zone andstart thinking about now, what
am I going to do.
And not just to survive, but tothrive.
John Avola (04:49):
I'd like to call this pandemic, the ultimate
leadership test.
Calvin Stovall (04:56):
That leads great into the first P, which is
purpose.
I truly believe that for yourorganization, your purpose
shouldn't change.
Stay focused on where you areand as you continue to go
forward, make sure your team israllied around that purpose and
(05:19):
that mission.
That is your rallying cry forsuccess.
If you're one of those peoplethat have to change, changing
your purpose is not the thingdo.
John Avola (05:31):
It's the values, the purpose and keeping employees
connected to the company'smission and vision.
Calvin Stovall (05:40):
If you're in leader, you want to continue to
convey that purpose and makesure your people understand what
you stand for as a brand and asan organization.
So they can rally around that.
And no matter what happens, evenduring uncertain times, your
purpose should not waiver.
John Avola (05:58):
You've got to be able to keep for moving forward
with conveying that message.
You've got to be able to processthe information quickly, make
decisions with conviction, takeimmediate action and adjust
accordingly.
There's a quote by CharlesDarwin that says,"it is not the
strongest or the mostintelligent who will survive,
(06:20):
but those who can best managechange." While we're talking
about purpose and leadership, weshould also discuss the ability
to adapt your leadership style.
What I mean by that is at thebeginning of COVID, your
leadership style may haveadapted to more of a
(06:42):
participative style where youwere deferring to the experts in
the field to help you through aparticular situation.
Now you may adapt or change yourleadership style to more of a
pacesetting leadership style asyou come out of COVID and enter
that next normal to get thingsmoving back on track.
Still align with the purpose,but adjust your style in order
(07:08):
to accommodate what's currentlygoing on in the environment.
A good segway into people iscommunication.
It's communicating personally,consistently, making sure your
colleagues understand thatyou're on the ground with them.
Have those meaningfulconversations about the
company's purpose, the valuesthat it stands for and keep
(07:28):
employees close to the missionand the vision.
Calvin Stovall (07:32):
If you're a leader, you want to make sure
you're checking in with yourteam and making sure that they
(07:54):
know where you're going as anorganization.
This has been a challenging timefor people.
They're hearing about companiesclosing, and it creates a sense
of stress for people.
Anything you can do as a leaderto reduce that level of stress
and those questions that areprobably floating around in
(08:14):
their head is a good thing.
Communication is essential.
If you're a leader, communicateas much as you possibly can,
even if it's not particularlythe best news, people still want
to know what's going on.
People want to be in the knowand when they don't hear it, it
causes additional stress on yourteam.
(08:37):
I think there's some qualitiesnow that are strengths for
leaders, when before they maynot have been viewed as
strengths.
For example, being empathetic orbeing vulnerable or showing
humility.
Now those skills are pluses forleaders.
(09:00):
People are dealing withsituations and they're all very,
very different.
And you have to have anempathetic ear to be able to
walk in their shoes andunderstand where they're coming
from.
People are juggling so muchright now and if you're a leader
(09:28):
and you're not understandingthat people are having having to
juggle different things, you'renot going to be successful.
Not in this environment.
People want a leader that'sgoing to listen to them and
going to care about theirwellbeing.
That's a leader.
(09:53):
It was John Maxwell that said,"people don't care how much you
know, until they know how muchyou care."
John Avola (10:00):
Our armor gets in the way of being human.
Replace the armor.
Calvin Stovall (10:12):
Take off the armor.
In this environment, that armoris going to get in the way of
(10:35):
your success.
John Avola (10:36):
That touches on what we were just talking about
regarding adapting yourleadership style.
In a time like this, you've gotto adapt your leadership style
to the environment in which welive in today, and that is an
empathetic leadership style.
(11:31):
And here's the secret, whenyou're listening, listen
attentively.
Focus on the person in front ofyou or in our case, on the
(12:00):
screen that's in front of you.
It's direct reflection of howmuch you care.
Calvin Stovall (12:08):
That's a good point.
I love this people P because mywhole mantra is...
there's no customer experiencewithout the employee experience.
I'm hoping because of thispandemic and leaders can't be
(12:39):
face to face, they have abetter, stronger, more engaged
(13:22):
relationship with their teams.
It's a different level ofconnection that COVID has
(14:02):
created.
Even before this pandemic, Ialways talk about living in a
soundbite society.
What I mean by that, we live ina world of chats, comments,
texts, TicToks.
(14:22):
When you did go to a restaurantpre-COVID, or BC(Before COVID),
(14:46):
you looked around and people areon their phones.
People weren't really not inconversation.
So what I like about COVID nowit forces you to have
conversation.
John Avola (14:57):
You mentioned humility too.
One of the biggest mistakes Ithink a leader could make is to
pretend you know more than youactually do.
Being human or responding withhumility means it's ok to say, I
don't know.
No one knows the answers today.
(15:38):
Be honest and transparent inthese uncertain times is key to
iconic leadership.
Calvin Stovall (15:45):
For those of you that don't know John Maxwell,
he's a leadership guru.
He has a quote about humility,which is"people with humility
don't think less of themselves,they just think of themselves
less." I'm ready to move on tothe next one.
(16:15):
One of my favorites, passion.
It's the fire in the belly thatyou can't train for, I don't
care how hard you try.
So what are your thoughts onpassion?
John Avola (16:22):
I think you can have passion for different qualities.
Passion for communication,passion for employees, passion
for encouraging teamwork,passion for making decisions,
acting quickly.
I'm looking at passion as anopportunity to drive engagement
and motivation.
Even surveying your employees tofind out how they are you
(16:44):
feeling/doing and determiningwhat actions can be taken to
help make things better to thebest of our ability.
Collecting information, havingpassion about your employees'
concerns and taking action onthose concerns by doing your
best to resolve their concerns.
Having the passion to keepdriving forward and helping your
employees adapt to that nextnormal.
Calvin Stovall (17:07):
That's a big one because if you're in a
leadership role and you are inthe service industry, it's
challenging right now.
And if you are in an environmentwhere there are customers coming
in your door, y ou cannot, not have p assion.
John Avola (17:23):
Every experience needs to be like the first.
Calvin Stovall (17:25):
You are always, and will always still be on
stage.
You're always still on stage.
And so you have to be passionatefor not only the people around
you, but the people on yourteam.
They're going to emulate andthey're going to mirror what
they see and I promise you ifyou are"whoa is me," they're
(17:50):
going to probably feel the sameway.
There's no way you can ask yourteam to be excited and engaged
and enthusiastic, if you're notdoing the same.
If people really are passionate,where they have the purpose, and
(20:34):
the people have been properlytrained and prepared and they
are passionate, the experienceis going to be there.
Leadership plays such a hugerole in that.
There's a statistic that 70% ofthe brands perception is driven
by its employees.
It's a big deal.
Everybody that you come incontact with can either make or
(21:01):
break a relationship.
John Avola (21:42):
It's the details that matter.
(22:04):
You can have the nicest salesmanin the world, but if the product
or the service doesn't equate toyour expectation, you're not
going to purchase or recommend.
And you're going to get on thatsocial media microphone.
Calvin Stovall (22:32):
You got to look at the entire customer journey
from beginning to end.
You cannot look at a customer'sexperience from only your little
piece, you have to look at thewhole thing.
(22:53):
If just one person in thatjourney drops the ball, it's
going to impact everything.
I don't care what your roleis...
if you're in accounting, you'reat the desk, your receptionist
or your waiter, it doesn'tmatter whatever that journey is
and where your piece falls, yougot to make sure you own that
(23:14):
piece of your customerexperience- one hundred percent.
John Avola (23:19):
An assembly line- if you're in a spot and you pull
yourself out or you're droppingthe item, the assembly line
fails.
Calvin Stovall (23:29):
I have to throw a music analogy.
I look at it like this.
Your role and what you do islike a single download, but the
(23:49):
entire journey is like an album.
Look at everybody's role, allthose pieces together make that
album.
So you got to think about thewhole thing, but your role is
critical to that entire journey.
Leaders have to understand, yougot to make sure that everybody
(24:27):
knows that their role isimportant and significant to the
entire experience.
Your customer is not going tocare about this particular
department or this particulararea.
All they're going to see is onecompany, one brand, one
organization.
And that's it.
(24:51):
Let's bring it home...
the 4th P is Perseverance.
Maintain a curiosity mindset.
Keep learning.
You can't get complacent.
You can't get too comfortablebecause there's always somebody
(25:13):
out there waiting for you todrop the ball and steal your
customers.
So don't get comfortable.
You want to be here for the longterm.
You have to watch thecompetition, but that doesn't
(25:36):
mean you do what they do.
I'm all about differentiationand trying to break out from the
clutter.
Make sure you know who yourcustomers are and what their
needs are, making sure thatyou're staying connected to how
their needs and wants areevolving.
And then you make pivots.
Research, survey, learn whatyour customers are looking for.
(25:57):
Don't waste your customer's timefilling out surveys, if you're
not going to do anything withthe information.
If you can let your customersknow what you did, that that's
(26:29):
even better.
John Avola (26:31):
Listen, act and follow up.
If you don't do those threethings, don't survey.
While we're talking aboutperseverance, we should also
talk about the leaderthemselves; specifically self
awareness, self care.
It's an extremely stressfultime.
(26:53):
Leaders are under extremepressure, physical and mental
and their wellbeing and theirhealth, their safety is
important.
Not only to themselves, but alsotheir employees.
Their employees are counting onleadership to take them forward.
And as a leader, you won't beable to effectively lead if
you're also struggling.
(27:14):
When you fly on an airplane,you're instructed to put an
emergency oxygen mask onyourself first, before assisting
others, right?
Why?
Because if you run out ofoxygen, you can't help anybody
else.
(27:35):
As a leader, if you're gaspingfor air, you won't be able to
effectively lead your team tothe next destination.
Calvin Stovall (28:07):
That's why I also think perseverance
mentioned here is about theemotional intelligence.
You have to know where you arebecause stressful situations
could cause you to respond in avery different way than you
normally would respond.
Make sure you are thinking aboutthings proper way, managing your
(28:32):
relationships and all of thosethings.
Emotional intelligence plays abig role in your success as a
leader as well, particularlyduring stressful times.
John Avola (28:49):
You may have heard of Fast Company.
They have said the mostessential skill leaders need to
work through during uncertaintimes is emotional intelligence.
If you were to focus all yourefforts and improving one
quality, Fast Company ispinpointing emotional
(29:12):
intelligence as that quality towork on.
Calvin Stovall (29:16):
That's the cool thing about emotional
intelligence, you can learn it.
John Avola (29:21):
When I think of emotional intelligence, I look
at in four areas.
The first is self awareness,which is managing your own
emotions.
Next is social awareness piece,which we talked about earlier,
empathy.
How well do you understandothers and how you can affect
(29:44):
their needs and their concerns?
And that's the awareness bucket-self awareness and social
awareness.
And then I look at it from amanagement perspective.
Self-management meaningcontrolling your impulsive
feelings and behaviors, managingyour emotions.
And then relationshipmanagement, which is how you're
developing and maintaining goodrelationships, inspiring others,
(30:07):
and then managing conflict.
And those four areas combined isemotional intelligence.
Look at those four areas andlook at the ones you excel and
the ones you need to work on.
Instead of looking at emotionalintelligence as one area, break
it down into those four areas tohelp you pinpoint the areas you
(30:29):
need to focus on.
Calvin Stovall (30:56):
There are EQ assessments available.
For example, Talent Smart, whichdoes a great job.
If you want to find out how youa re on a particular scale
around the ones you justmentioned, there's assessments
that can teach you.
Nobody's perfect.
(31:30):
We all need to get better atthings.
If you want to have an iconicmindset and be an iconic leader,
you want to continue to improveand EQ i s one of those areas
where you can.
That's it.
Let's do something a littledifferent.
(31:54):
I know we have our four iconicpoints, but this time let's
alternate.
I'm going to start-#1, know yourpurpose and have your people
rally around that purpose.
That's your anchor.
John Avola (32:16):
Number two, to be an iconic leader in these uncertain
times, you must be transparent.
You must be honest and do not beafraid to be human.
Calvin Stovall (32:46):
Number three, stay focused on the behaviors
that demonstrate what you wantyour employees to demonstrate.
Walk the talk.
John Avola (33:15):
And number four, perseverance.
Put your oxygen mask on first!
Calvin Stovall (33:30):
That wraps up our show for today, John.
That's good.
John Avola (33:52):
Next time we're going to talk about culture.
We're going to focus on culturein the workplace, even outside
of the workplace.
We've been seeing some trendsaround cancel culture, so we'll
touch on that.
Calvin Stovall (34:14):
I was just going to add how fragile culture is
and that you got to work on itall the time.
It's something that as a leader,you have to constantly emulate
those behaviors again and makingsure your employees are
emulating it.
If you don't define the culture,your team will for you.
John Avola (34:35):
If you want to learn more about us, contact us.
Calvin's on a roll right now,podcasts and keynotes, he's
available! He will turn yourcompany around in a minute.
(35:02):
You can find us aticonicpresentations.net.
Until next time..
Don't just be, BE ICONIC!
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