July 12, 2025 • 27 mins
Caroline Biesalski introduces Doug Thorpe, who shares a pivotal early career lesson that shaped his leadership journey. The discussion highlights key leadership lessons, emphasizing the significance of communication, clarity, and vision. Doug shares insights on building trust with high-level leaders and reflects on his passion for mentoring, drawing from his inspirational journey. He discusses the profound impact mentors have had on his career, offering listeners valuable perspectives. The conversation shifts to Doug's online presence and his upcoming projects, providing a glimpse into his future endeavors. The episode concludes with closing remarks and final thoughts on leadership and mentorship.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
What department are you part of?
And lo and behold, it turns out the form wasthe very basic entry form for setting up new
accounts at the bank.
A pretty critical thing, you're a customer.
You walk into the bank lobby.
You say, I want to open a checking account or asavings account, and you fill out a form.
(00:23):
And then in those days, the lobby personnelcouldn't do it on the spot.
They had to transfer the form up to my team.
So I explained to this young lady who was on myteam.
I said, you play a pretty critical role here.
Those forms are and I, you know, I went over itall again with her, and the lady that was
(00:43):
picking them up and taking them away wasbasically building a permanent file on that
customer so that we had the records we neededto do the right thing.
Welcome to Inspired Choice Today.
I'm your host, Caroline Biesalski, here tobring you authentic stories, surprising
lessons, and powerful takeaways to fuel yourjourney in business and life.
(01:05):
In each episode, I'll take you from oneinspiring guest to the next, blending their
experiences with my expertise to uncoverpractical strategies you can use right away.
Whether you're starting out or stepping up,stay tuned for insights and actionable tips
that make a difference.
And stick around until the end for a specialfreebie just for our listeners.
(01:32):
Hello, and welcome, inspired podcast community.
This is your new episode.
My name is Caroline, and my today's guest isDoug Thorpe.
And I'm so happy that he said yes to ourinterview.
How are you doing today?
Well, I'm doing great, Caroline, and thanks forhaving me on the show.
It's a great day today, and I would like tointroduce you to the audience.
(01:57):
Of course, you are a seasoned executive coachwith over 30 years of leadership experience in
military, corporate, and entrepreneurialsettings.
From your time as a U.S.
Army officer to senior roles in banking andleading multiple startups, you have honed your
expertise in building trust, fostering growth,and developing high-performing teams.
(02:21):
You have worked with global corporations likeExxonMobil and UPS, as well as regional mid-cap
brands while sharing your leadership insightsthrough public speaking, authorship, and the
top-ranked blog and podcast.
Welcome to the Inspired Choice Today podcast,Doug Thorpe.
(02:41):
Wow.
The bio.
I'm impressed.
I'm inspired already.
And my first question is, you've led in theArmy, corporate boardrooms, and startups.
What's the single most valuable leadershiplesson you've learned across such diverse
settings?
Well, to make it very simple and common senseapproach, which is kind of my mantra, is
(03:07):
people.
You can't do anything without having the rightpeople working and all of them understanding
what you want to do.
So a very close second behind the peoplethemselves is the idea of creating clarity,
being able to explain what the next right thingis that you expect them to do and need them to
(03:34):
do.
And, as long as you can identify and work withthe right people and give those already
motivated people the clarity they need to knowwhat the right thing may be, you've got a good
launch pad for great things.
Wow.
I understand.
(03:55):
What a great message.
So that means you, as the leader, you alwaysknow where you are going, so you know what the
next step is.
And you said clarity.
Clarity gives us power, of course, as well.
And what would you say communication is thekey?
Well, communication is always the vehicle forproviding clarity, and that communication may
(04:18):
be in the spoken word, the written word, ornowadays, I guess it's technically writing, but
how you may present it in a program offering ofsome sort.
But having the very direct ability tocommunicate with clarity what it is you want
(04:38):
people to do.
And there's one more.
The reason I have gravitated to a theme ofoperating with common sense, that's the name of
my podcast, Leadership Powered by Common Sense.
We live in a very complex and ambiguous worldright now, and it's not resolving itself.
(05:00):
It's only getting more complex, more squishy,if you will.
There are too many variables that are out therein the world, so it puts a premium on a
leader's role to really cut through all ofthat.
Everything is ultimately a very basic idea.
(05:22):
You're at point A right now.
You want to get to point B.
And what do we know about the physics of movingfrom A to B?
The fastest, most efficient way is a straightline.
So can you, as a leader, determine where thatstraight line needs to be, and can you
communicate that to the people around you sothat they understand the path to get there?
(05:47):
Yes.
I understand.
Because if you ask the other people, theneveryone will have their own definition of what
is the direct way or the best way.
Yes.
I had a client recently.
I'll share a quick story with you.
I had a client recently that said he was—I hadchallenged him to identify leaders above him in
(06:10):
the organization that he admired and reallythink about what, what about those people does
he admire?
Do they have a very unique skill and ability todo?
And he talked about one executive, and he saidhe realized that every time this person shows
up, he's fundamentally talking about the samething.
(06:31):
And we started talking about what does thatmean, and he realized, he said, that leader is
taking the opportunity every chance he gets torestate the straight-line path to where they
want to go.
And this leader doesn't assume that people getit the first time.
(06:53):
He repeats it, repeats it, repeats it, repeatsit, almost to the point of insanity for those
who do get it, but my client realized thatthere's real power in him doing that, that
there was nobody in that part of theorganization that misunderstood where they were
(07:14):
supposed to be going.
That's a great message.
I also found out that repetition is the key,and this is the way we learn.
And, also, we learned in childhood.
Our conditioning is I learned it that you haveto repeat it 700 times or so for a kid, that
they learn to brush their teeth and do theirhomework or whatever they do.
(07:38):
And the same is for employees, I assume.
It is.
And that is in no way speaking disrespectful ofthe employee.
I like to think of it this way.
I go back to my early statement.
People are so vital in everything and that thatthat may somebody may be listening saying,
(07:58):
well, gee, Doug.
Great.
Brilliant.
Wonderful.
If you are able to identify good talent that isalready motivated to do good work, here's what
you run into.
If you do not tell them what the next rightthing is that needs to be done, those
(08:20):
individuals are going to fundamentally find away to do nothing because they don't want to do
the wrong thing.
It is contrary to their own value system tointentionally do something wrong.
So they tend to do nothing, just kind of paddlein the pond for a little bit, going in circles,
(08:42):
waiting for clarity on the next right thingthat needs to happen.
So when I hear leaders say I'm frustrated withmy team, they don't get it, we're not going
anywhere, I put it back on them and say, whenwas the last time you presented the picture?
The picture means the vision?
(09:04):
The vision of where you want them to go.
What is the right next thing?
And, you know, I realize there's a lot of workeffort that can be repetitious.
You know you're going to do fundamentally thesame thing every day.
And I learned this in a very tangible way earlyin my banking career.
(09:25):
I was put in charge of a team, about 14employees, and it was easy for me to go
basically sit with each employee at their deskand have a discussion about what it is they did
and how they did it, etc.
And I went to this one lady.
I said, so tell me about your work.
And she said, well, I come in every day.
(09:46):
I take these forms out of this drawer over hereon my right-hand side.
I enter them in the system, and then I put theform in the left-hand drawer.
I said, okay.
Well, how do the forms get in the right-handdrawer to start with?
And she said, oh, so-and-so from down in thelobby brings them up to me.
I go, okay.
And where do they go when they get to yourleft-hand drawer?
(10:08):
Well, another person comes and picks them upand takes them.
I don't know where, but they just come getthem.
And I thought, well, that sounds reallyunfulfilling.
And so I thought a minute, and I reached out tothose two couriers, and I said, you know, who
do you work for?
What department are you part of?
(10:30):
And lo and behold, it turns out the form wasthe very basic entry form for setting up new
accounts at the bank.
And pretty critical thing, you're a customer.
You walk into the bank lobby.
You say, I want to open a checking account or asavings account, and you fill out a form.
(10:51):
And then in those days, the lobby personnelcouldn't do it on the spot.
They had to transfer the form up to my team.
So I explained to this young lady who was on myteam.
I said, you play a pretty critical role here.
Those forms are and I, you know, I went over itall again with her, and the lady that was
(11:11):
picking them up and taking them away wasbasically building a permanent file on that
customer so that we had the records we neededto do the right thing.
And when I told this lady that, she said, Iworked here for six years.
Nobody's ever explained that to me.
And she said, I'm kinda excited.
I'm a pretty big deal.
You know?
And she just got elevated just in having thatclarity of what it was she was doing and what
(11:39):
cog in the chain she represented.
And I thought, well, how sad for her that mypredecessors hadn't taken the time to do that
for her.
But, you know, that was the kind of thing, andthat's what really crystallized it for me is
that, when you've got a dedicated person—Imean, she had been doing the same mundane task
(12:00):
for six years and seemed to be okay with it,but had no clue why.
Yes.
It all starts with why.
There's a famous book, right, as well.
I love that so much.
And, yeah, what you said, it is important.
So clarity to know what you are doing, to knowwhere you are going, why you are doing this,
(12:21):
and that you play an important role as anemployee, like a piece in the puzzle.
Right?
Right.
That's right.
Yes.
And I have another question for you, of course.
Go ahead.
Your clients include giants like ExxonMobil andUPS.
How do you approach building trust andconnection with leaders at such high levels?
(12:45):
Well, great question.
And I do think it starts with just having thatvery intentional one-on-one with the individual
to find out what it is that burdens them abouttheir work and, you know, what questions might
they have.
(13:06):
Because the truth is people that get on thecorporate journey and get into the management
chain, ultimately leadership chain, it is agrowth progression.
You learn something at the, you know, the firsttime you're asked to be a team leader, you
begin learning and developing your managementleadership skills, and you think you've got it
(13:30):
figured out and then you get promoted to a newjob.
There's new demands, new details, that, youknow, you don't know when you realize all of a
sudden now I got some more growth.
I've got some more learning.
And that is ultimately true all the way up tothe top of the house.
And I've talked to plenty of CEOs that whenthey divulge the truth, they're constantly
(13:54):
learning and figuring out, you know, thingsaround them.
So it's kind of building that bridge to say,alright.
You are where you are.
What kind of leader do you want to be?
You know, have you defined your leadershipframework and values for how you are going to
(14:15):
show up every day, and are you consistent inbeing that leader?
And if you have your classic off day or badday, you know, what do you do about repairing
the damage that might have come from that?
And, you know, those are some key questionsthat to date, I've had no trouble in people
(14:41):
leaning into that kind of discussion andadmitting that, yes, there's opportunity.
Yes, they can change.
And every once in a while, I'll get anindividual that starts out kind of like, I've
been doing this for 20 years.
You know, I know how we need to do it, and, youknow, I am what I am.
I'm not gonna change.
Well, we, you know?
(15:01):
And my usual somewhat snarly answer to that is,how's that working out for you?
And inevitably, they'll say, well, you know,I've got this problem here, that problem there,
and blah blah blah.
And then it all comes back to that idea of,have you really thought about the leader you
(15:22):
need to be in this situation?
And have you been willing to adjust a littlebit either to pick up a new skill or modify an
old skill and do something slightly differentfor the new situation?
Yes.
What a great answer.
Thank you so much.
And it's so true.
I didn't believe this myself when I started towork on my, let's say, growth mindset because
(15:48):
you mentioned it, growth mindset versus fixedmindset.
And I thought I'd take a course, like, sixmonths or so, and that's it.
But that was only the beginning.
You have to be in constant change or personalgrowth.
Yes.
Let's say this is a choice.
And, of course, name of the podcast, InspiredChoice.
(16:11):
And my next question for you is you foundedthree startups and author thought leadership
content for 1,000.
What drives your passion for sharing knowledgeand inspiring others?
Well, likewise, a great question.
I guess part of it is it's just something aboutthe way I am wired and the way I was born, and
(16:37):
I tell a story that many have heard.
There's a joke in my family about me being thecaptain of the crossing guard in elementary
school.
Back in my day, when I was in fifth grade, wehad traffic patrols.
We would send students out into the trafficwith stop signs to stop the cars so other
(16:59):
students could make the journey over thecrosswalk.
Everybody just shudders to think about thatnowadays, but that's how we did it.
It was a student organization, and there wassupervision, but nonetheless, students got to
(17:19):
lead, and I saw that going on.
I got started with it when I was in third gradeand worked my way up into fourth grade.
And then finally in fifth grade, I was thestudent in charge of the whole thing.
And it wasn't an ego trip for me.
It was just I saw this what seemed like a veryneat way to serve the school because that was
(17:43):
the program.
We needed students out doing that.
And so I said, I wanna help make that happen.
And that's just kinda been a mindset for me allalong, and I have found opportunity practically
everywhere.
If I move and relocate and change churches, Istart attending and somehow, somewhere, next
(18:09):
thing you know, somebody's asking me, hey.
We have this committee or we have this project.
Would you like to be a part of it?
And they're not necessarily saying be theleader of it, but would you like to be a part
of it?
And I'll inevitably say yes because I have athing about just serving others.
And then often those lead one thing to another,and they say, well, maybe you should just run
(18:32):
this committee.
Why don't you help us make this happen?
And it's like, okay.
Here we go.
I understand you attract those leadershiproles.
It's your nature.
I love it.
Of course.
And I would like to know about your coaches andmentors.
Do you have coaches and mentors for yourself?
(18:52):
And who was the best coach you ever had?
Wonderful question.
And, yes, absolutely.
Also related to my life story is, I was raisedthe only child of a hardworking single mom.
And, my father had actually passed away rightafter I was born, and so I had no connection
(19:16):
with him.
And, my mother had the wisdom to surround mewith mentors at an early age.
I mean, I got into Boy Scouts.
I did that.
But even over and above that, she recruitedmentors, and I had a whole host in my early
years.
(19:37):
One gentleman taught me how to do woodworkingand taught me how to run power tools and
respect and have safety in using the powertools.
But I was running table saws and power sawswhen I was 12 and, again, under his
supervision.
But, you know, another man taught me fishingand hunting, and another man taught me how to
(20:00):
play golf.
And, you know, it was just in those momentstogether, our discussions about life and life
practices and principles and all that.
So that idea of mentorship just became a bit ofa second nature for me.
When I did finally pack up and go to college, Iwas not afraid to walk up to somebody and say,
(20:22):
hey.
You seem like somebody that knows somethingthat I need to know.
Would you be a mentor for me?
There was a gentleman in college.
His name was Wayne Stark.
He was head of our student center, and I gotinvolved in a lot of student activities,
extracurricular outside of the classroom.
(20:44):
Finally, there was an opportunity, and one ofthe things he did in his spirit of mentorship,
he would have students shadow him during theday.
Just observe his day running a very largehigh-dollar operation.
There wasn't a lot of direct teaching orexplaining, but it was more observation.
(21:10):
But he was a man of high integrity, very wellrespected everywhere, and he was a visionary.
He had some amazing ideas.
Seeing those ideas come to being and watchinghim operate, he was a very big part of
(21:32):
influence in my life.
But I've kept going.
I will, next month, be 72 years old, and Istill have two mentors now to this day.
Oh, I love it.
This is really encouraging for everyone becauseyou are not alone.
There are coaches and mentors.
And, yeah, where can we find you when peoplewant to reach out to you after listening to
(21:57):
this episode?
Well, thank you, Caroline, again, for thistime.
The best way to reach me is on my website,which is simply dougthorpe.com.
There's a lot of information there.
I have a blog archive.
There's about 1,000 articles on leadership andmanagement there.
(22:18):
Again, there's a link also there to my podcast,Leadership Powered by Common Sense, and I'm all
over the internet.
You can reach me on LinkedIn if that's yourplatform of choice, but I'm very active in
social media as well.
Wow.
I will check it out, of course.
I put it in the show notes, and I have one lastquestion for you, and it is about your goals.
(22:44):
Will you set goals for yourself or intentions,and what is one of your next projects?
You know, that's a great question also.
Yes.
I do set goals.
I am a guy that advocates not doing New Year'sresolutions, but rather I'm in the camp that
(23:05):
says pick a word for the year.
You know, what is your anchor word that you'regoing through?
And, interestingly, for me, after ponderingthat for a while before Christmas, I came up
with the word revival.
And, you know, for a 72-year-old guy that'sbeen doing this a long time, how in the world
(23:26):
would you think about a revival?
What possibly could you do?
And the answer for me is pretty simple.
I can always uplevel an effort in the thingsI'm doing and revive an energy or revive a
spirit about it.
Because if you allow yourself to kinda get rundown in the repetition of what you might be
(23:50):
doing—I mean, I do coaching calls.
I have about 35 active clients now.
So I spend two or three hours a day on callswith clients.
You can get run down.
You can kinda get in a rut about how you'redoing.
So I think it's on me to renew and revive theenergy and the commitment to it, and I like
(24:14):
that idea.
I think that's a valuable direction that I needto go next.
Wow.
Revival.
What a great word.
I love it.
I can reveal this because I was thinking aboutmy word of the year, and I received it.
It's the word joker.
You know, like the joker.
(24:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Fun or having fun or enjoying life.
Something like that.
This is wonderful.
Sure.
Sure.
Thank you so much for our interview.
I learned so much.
I have to relisten to it again.
And now it's time for your final thoughts tothe audience, please.
Well, I love—I'm a big fan of the show TedLasso, and I love one of his bits that he did
(25:02):
during that show.
And it's the famous scene in the pub, and he'shaving the dart contest with the villain.
And his bottom line was be curious, notjudgmental.
That's the total tag, but be curious.
I think it's so important that people in allwalks, in all ages think back about are you
(25:28):
still curious about things, or have you justgiven up and let some status quo creep in?
Why not be curious?
You know, find a new hobby, find a newinterest, explore something, go take a trip,
but be curious.
I think that is such a mentally healthy—is thata phrase?
(25:54):
It's good for your mental health to open thedoor and be curious about something next that
you might be able to explore and get into.
Wow.
What a great message.
Thank you so much.
I'm inspired.
Start a new podcast or start a business,whatever makes your heart sing, I would add.
And thank you so much for the interview today.
(26:18):
Absolutely, Caroline.
Pleasure to be here, and thank you for theopportunity.
Of course.
And I see you in the next episode.
Thank you for listening to "Inspired ChoiceToday." I'm thrilled to have you on this
journey of growth and transformation.
Don't forget to hit follow or subscribe to stayconnected and never miss an episode.
(26:39):
And here's something special.
Grab your free 20-minute breakthrough sessionwith me.
It's designed to help you kick-start or levelup your business.
Just check out the show notes for more.
Until next time, keep making those inspiredchoices.
See you in the next episode.
What department are you part of?
And lo and behold, it turns out the form wasthe very basic entry form for setting up new
accounts at the bank.
A pretty critical thing, you're a customer.
You walk into the bank lobby.
You say, I want to open a checking account or asavings account, and you fill out a form.
(00:23):
And then in those days, the lobby personnelcouldn't do it on the spot.
They had to transfer the form up to my team.
So I explained to this young lady who was on myteam.
I said, you play a pretty critical role here.
Those forms are and I, you know, I went over itall again with her, and the lady that was
(00:43):
picking them up and taking them away wasbasically building a permanent file on that
customer so that we had the records we neededto do the right thing.
Welcome to Inspired Choice Today.
I'm your host, Caroline Biesalski, here tobring you authentic stories, surprising
lessons, and powerful takeaways to fuel yourjourney in business and life.
(01:05):
In each episode, I'll take you from oneinspiring guest to the next, blending their
experiences with my expertise to uncoverpractical strategies you can use right away.
Whether you're starting out or stepping up,stay tuned for insights and actionable tips
that make a difference.
And stick around until the end for a specialfreebie just for our listeners.
(01:32):
Hello, and welcome, inspired podcast community.
This is your new episode.
My name is Caroline, and my today's guest isDoug Thorpe.
And I'm so happy that he said yes to ourinterview.
How are you doing today?
Well, I'm doing great, Caroline, and thanks forhaving me on the show.
It's a great day today, and I would like tointroduce you to the audience.
(01:57):
Of course, you are a seasoned executive coachwith over 30 years of leadership experience in
military, corporate, and entrepreneurialsettings.
From your time as a U.S.
Army officer to senior roles in banking andleading multiple startups, you have honed your
expertise in building trust, fostering growth,and developing high-performing teams.
(02:21):
You have worked with global corporations likeExxonMobil and UPS, as well as regional mid-cap
brands while sharing your leadership insightsthrough public speaking, authorship, and the
top-ranked blog and podcast.
Welcome to the Inspired Choice Today podcast,Doug Thorpe.
(02:41):
Wow.
The bio.
I'm impressed.
I'm inspired already.
And my first question is, you've led in theArmy, corporate boardrooms, and startups.
What's the single most valuable leadershiplesson you've learned across such diverse
settings?
Well, to make it very simple and common senseapproach, which is kind of my mantra, is
(03:07):
people.
You can't do anything without having the rightpeople working and all of them understanding
what you want to do.
So a very close second behind the peoplethemselves is the idea of creating clarity,
being able to explain what the next right thingis that you expect them to do and need them to
(03:34):
do.
And, as long as you can identify and work withthe right people and give those already
motivated people the clarity they need to knowwhat the right thing may be, you've got a good
launch pad for great things.
Wow.
I understand.
(03:55):
What a great message.
So that means you, as the leader, you alwaysknow where you are going, so you know what the
next step is.
And you said clarity.
Clarity gives us power, of course, as well.
And what would you say communication is thekey?
Well, communication is always the vehicle forproviding clarity, and that communication may
(04:18):
be in the spoken word, the written word, ornowadays, I guess it's technically writing, but
how you may present it in a program offering ofsome sort.
But having the very direct ability tocommunicate with clarity what it is you want
(04:38):
people to do.
And there's one more.
The reason I have gravitated to a theme ofoperating with common sense, that's the name of
my podcast, Leadership Powered by Common Sense.
We live in a very complex and ambiguous worldright now, and it's not resolving itself.
(05:00):
It's only getting more complex, more squishy,if you will.
There are too many variables that are out therein the world, so it puts a premium on a
leader's role to really cut through all ofthat.
Everything is ultimately a very basic idea.
(05:22):
You're at point A right now.
You want to get to point B.
And what do we know about the physics of movingfrom A to B?
The fastest, most efficient way is a straightline.
So can you, as a leader, determine where thatstraight line needs to be, and can you
communicate that to the people around you sothat they understand the path to get there?
(05:47):
Yes.
I understand.
Because if you ask the other people, theneveryone will have their own definition of what
is the direct way or the best way.
Yes.
I had a client recently.
I'll share a quick story with you.
I had a client recently that said he was—I hadchallenged him to identify leaders above him in
(06:10):
the organization that he admired and reallythink about what, what about those people does
he admire?
Do they have a very unique skill and ability todo?
And he talked about one executive, and he saidhe realized that every time this person shows
up, he's fundamentally talking about the samething.
(06:31):
And we started talking about what does thatmean, and he realized, he said, that leader is
taking the opportunity every chance he gets torestate the straight-line path to where they
want to go.
And this leader doesn't assume that people getit the first time.
(06:53):
He repeats it, repeats it, repeats it, repeatsit, almost to the point of insanity for those
who do get it, but my client realized thatthere's real power in him doing that, that
there was nobody in that part of theorganization that misunderstood where they were
(07:14):
supposed to be going.
That's a great message.
I also found out that repetition is the key,and this is the way we learn.
And, also, we learned in childhood.
Our conditioning is I learned it that you haveto repeat it 700 times or so for a kid, that
they learn to brush their teeth and do theirhomework or whatever they do.
(07:38):
And the same is for employees, I assume.
It is.
And that is in no way speaking disrespectful ofthe employee.
I like to think of it this way.
I go back to my early statement.
People are so vital in everything and that thatthat may somebody may be listening saying,
(07:58):
well, gee, Doug.
Great.
Brilliant.
Wonderful.
If you are able to identify good talent that isalready motivated to do good work, here's what
you run into.
If you do not tell them what the next rightthing is that needs to be done, those
(08:20):
individuals are going to fundamentally find away to do nothing because they don't want to do
the wrong thing.
It is contrary to their own value system tointentionally do something wrong.
So they tend to do nothing, just kind of paddlein the pond for a little bit, going in circles,
(08:42):
waiting for clarity on the next right thingthat needs to happen.
So when I hear leaders say I'm frustrated withmy team, they don't get it, we're not going
anywhere, I put it back on them and say, whenwas the last time you presented the picture?
The picture means the vision?
(09:04):
The vision of where you want them to go.
What is the right next thing?
And, you know, I realize there's a lot of workeffort that can be repetitious.
You know you're going to do fundamentally thesame thing every day.
And I learned this in a very tangible way earlyin my banking career.
(09:25):
I was put in charge of a team, about 14employees, and it was easy for me to go
basically sit with each employee at their deskand have a discussion about what it is they did
and how they did it, etc.
And I went to this one lady.
I said, so tell me about your work.
And she said, well, I come in every day.
(09:46):
I take these forms out of this drawer over hereon my right-hand side.
I enter them in the system, and then I put theform in the left-hand drawer.
I said, okay.
Well, how do the forms get in the right-handdrawer to start with?
And she said, oh, so-and-so from down in thelobby brings them up to me.
I go, okay.
And where do they go when they get to yourleft-hand drawer?
(10:08):
Well, another person comes and picks them upand takes them.
I don't know where, but they just come getthem.
And I thought, well, that sounds reallyunfulfilling.
And so I thought a minute, and I reached out tothose two couriers, and I said, you know, who
do you work for?
What department are you part of?
(10:30):
And lo and behold, it turns out the form wasthe very basic entry form for setting up new
accounts at the bank.
And pretty critical thing, you're a customer.
You walk into the bank lobby.
You say, I want to open a checking account or asavings account, and you fill out a form.
(10:51):
And then in those days, the lobby personnelcouldn't do it on the spot.
They had to transfer the form up to my team.
So I explained to this young lady who was on myteam.
I said, you play a pretty critical role here.
Those forms are and I, you know, I went over itall again with her, and the lady that was
(11:11):
picking them up and taking them away wasbasically building a permanent file on that
customer so that we had the records we neededto do the right thing.
And when I told this lady that, she said, Iworked here for six years.
Nobody's ever explained that to me.
And she said, I'm kinda excited.
I'm a pretty big deal.
You know?
And she just got elevated just in having thatclarity of what it was she was doing and what
(11:39):
cog in the chain she represented.
And I thought, well, how sad for her that mypredecessors hadn't taken the time to do that
for her.
But, you know, that was the kind of thing, andthat's what really crystallized it for me is
that, when you've got a dedicated person—Imean, she had been doing the same mundane task
(12:00):
for six years and seemed to be okay with it,but had no clue why.
Yes.
It all starts with why.
There's a famous book, right, as well.
I love that so much.
And, yeah, what you said, it is important.
So clarity to know what you are doing, to knowwhere you are going, why you are doing this,
(12:21):
and that you play an important role as anemployee, like a piece in the puzzle.
Right?
Right.
That's right.
Yes.
And I have another question for you, of course.
Go ahead.
Your clients include giants like ExxonMobil andUPS.
How do you approach building trust andconnection with leaders at such high levels?
(12:45):
Well, great question.
And I do think it starts with just having thatvery intentional one-on-one with the individual
to find out what it is that burdens them abouttheir work and, you know, what questions might
they have.
(13:06):
Because the truth is people that get on thecorporate journey and get into the management
chain, ultimately leadership chain, it is agrowth progression.
You learn something at the, you know, the firsttime you're asked to be a team leader, you
begin learning and developing your managementleadership skills, and you think you've got it
(13:30):
figured out and then you get promoted to a newjob.
There's new demands, new details, that, youknow, you don't know when you realize all of a
sudden now I got some more growth.
I've got some more learning.
And that is ultimately true all the way up tothe top of the house.
And I've talked to plenty of CEOs that whenthey divulge the truth, they're constantly
(13:54):
learning and figuring out, you know, thingsaround them.
So it's kind of building that bridge to say,alright.
You are where you are.
What kind of leader do you want to be?
You know, have you defined your leadershipframework and values for how you are going to
(14:15):
show up every day, and are you consistent inbeing that leader?
And if you have your classic off day or badday, you know, what do you do about repairing
the damage that might have come from that?
And, you know, those are some key questionsthat to date, I've had no trouble in people
(14:41):
leaning into that kind of discussion andadmitting that, yes, there's opportunity.
Yes, they can change.
And every once in a while, I'll get anindividual that starts out kind of like, I've
been doing this for 20 years.
You know, I know how we need to do it, and, youknow, I am what I am.
I'm not gonna change.
Well, we, you know?
(15:01):
And my usual somewhat snarly answer to that is,how's that working out for you?
And inevitably, they'll say, well, you know,I've got this problem here, that problem there,
and blah blah blah.
And then it all comes back to that idea of,have you really thought about the leader you
(15:22):
need to be in this situation?
And have you been willing to adjust a littlebit either to pick up a new skill or modify an
old skill and do something slightly differentfor the new situation?
Yes.
What a great answer.
Thank you so much.
And it's so true.
I didn't believe this myself when I started towork on my, let's say, growth mindset because
(15:48):
you mentioned it, growth mindset versus fixedmindset.
And I thought I'd take a course, like, sixmonths or so, and that's it.
But that was only the beginning.
You have to be in constant change or personalgrowth.
Yes.
Let's say this is a choice.
And, of course, name of the podcast, InspiredChoice.
(16:11):
And my next question for you is you foundedthree startups and author thought leadership
content for 1,000.
What drives your passion for sharing knowledgeand inspiring others?
Well, likewise, a great question.
I guess part of it is it's just something aboutthe way I am wired and the way I was born, and
(16:37):
I tell a story that many have heard.
There's a joke in my family about me being thecaptain of the crossing guard in elementary
school.
Back in my day, when I was in fifth grade, wehad traffic patrols.
We would send students out into the trafficwith stop signs to stop the cars so other
(16:59):
students could make the journey over thecrosswalk.
Everybody just shudders to think about thatnowadays, but that's how we did it.
It was a student organization, and there wassupervision, but nonetheless, students got to
(17:19):
lead, and I saw that going on.
I got started with it when I was in third gradeand worked my way up into fourth grade.
And then finally in fifth grade, I was thestudent in charge of the whole thing.
And it wasn't an ego trip for me.
It was just I saw this what seemed like a veryneat way to serve the school because that was
(17:43):
the program.
We needed students out doing that.
And so I said, I wanna help make that happen.
And that's just kinda been a mindset for me allalong, and I have found opportunity practically
everywhere.
If I move and relocate and change churches, Istart attending and somehow, somewhere, next
(18:09):
thing you know, somebody's asking me, hey.
We have this committee or we have this project.
Would you like to be a part of it?
And they're not necessarily saying be theleader of it, but would you like to be a part
of it?
And I'll inevitably say yes because I have athing about just serving others.
And then often those lead one thing to another,and they say, well, maybe you should just run
(18:32):
this committee.
Why don't you help us make this happen?
And it's like, okay.
Here we go.
I understand you attract those leadershiproles.
It's your nature.
I love it.
Of course.
And I would like to know about your coaches andmentors.
Do you have coaches and mentors for yourself?
(18:52):
And who was the best coach you ever had?
Wonderful question.
And, yes, absolutely.
Also related to my life story is, I was raisedthe only child of a hardworking single mom.
And, my father had actually passed away rightafter I was born, and so I had no connection
(19:16):
with him.
And, my mother had the wisdom to surround mewith mentors at an early age.
I mean, I got into Boy Scouts.
I did that.
But even over and above that, she recruitedmentors, and I had a whole host in my early
years.
(19:37):
One gentleman taught me how to do woodworkingand taught me how to run power tools and
respect and have safety in using the powertools.
But I was running table saws and power sawswhen I was 12 and, again, under his
supervision.
But, you know, another man taught me fishingand hunting, and another man taught me how to
(20:00):
play golf.
And, you know, it was just in those momentstogether, our discussions about life and life
practices and principles and all that.
So that idea of mentorship just became a bit ofa second nature for me.
When I did finally pack up and go to college, Iwas not afraid to walk up to somebody and say,
(20:22):
hey.
You seem like somebody that knows somethingthat I need to know.
Would you be a mentor for me?
There was a gentleman in college.
His name was Wayne Stark.
He was head of our student center, and I gotinvolved in a lot of student activities,
extracurricular outside of the classroom.
(20:44):
Finally, there was an opportunity, and one ofthe things he did in his spirit of mentorship,
he would have students shadow him during theday.
Just observe his day running a very largehigh-dollar operation.
There wasn't a lot of direct teaching orexplaining, but it was more observation.
(21:10):
But he was a man of high integrity, very wellrespected everywhere, and he was a visionary.
He had some amazing ideas.
Seeing those ideas come to being and watchinghim operate, he was a very big part of
(21:32):
influence in my life.
But I've kept going.
I will, next month, be 72 years old, and Istill have two mentors now to this day.
Oh, I love it.
This is really encouraging for everyone becauseyou are not alone.
There are coaches and mentors.
And, yeah, where can we find you when peoplewant to reach out to you after listening to
(21:57):
this episode?
Well, thank you, Caroline, again, for thistime.
The best way to reach me is on my website,which is simply dougthorpe.com.
There's a lot of information there.
I have a blog archive.
There's about 1,000 articles on leadership andmanagement there.
(22:18):
Again, there's a link also there to my podcast,Leadership Powered by Common Sense, and I'm all
over the internet.
You can reach me on LinkedIn if that's yourplatform of choice, but I'm very active in
social media as well.
Wow.
I will check it out, of course.
I put it in the show notes, and I have one lastquestion for you, and it is about your goals.
(22:44):
Will you set goals for yourself or intentions,and what is one of your next projects?
You know, that's a great question also.
Yes.
I do set goals.
I am a guy that advocates not doing New Year'sresolutions, but rather I'm in the camp that
(23:05):
says pick a word for the year.
You know, what is your anchor word that you'regoing through?
And, interestingly, for me, after ponderingthat for a while before Christmas, I came up
with the word revival.
And, you know, for a 72-year-old guy that'sbeen doing this a long time, how in the world
(23:26):
would you think about a revival?
What possibly could you do?
And the answer for me is pretty simple.
I can always uplevel an effort in the thingsI'm doing and revive an energy or revive a
spirit about it.
Because if you allow yourself to kinda get rundown in the repetition of what you might be
(23:50):
doing—I mean, I do coaching calls.
I have about 35 active clients now.
So I spend two or three hours a day on callswith clients.
You can get run down.
You can kinda get in a rut about how you'redoing.
So I think it's on me to renew and revive theenergy and the commitment to it, and I like
(24:14):
that idea.
I think that's a valuable direction that I needto go next.
Wow.
Revival.
What a great word.
I love it.
I can reveal this because I was thinking aboutmy word of the year, and I received it.
It's the word joker.
You know, like the joker.
(24:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Fun or having fun or enjoying life.
Something like that.
This is wonderful.
Sure.
Sure.
Thank you so much for our interview.
I learned so much.
I have to relisten to it again.
And now it's time for your final thoughts tothe audience, please.
Well, I love—I'm a big fan of the show TedLasso, and I love one of his bits that he did
(25:02):
during that show.
And it's the famous scene in the pub, and he'shaving the dart contest with the villain.
And his bottom line was be curious, notjudgmental.
That's the total tag, but be curious.
I think it's so important that people in allwalks, in all ages think back about are you
(25:28):
still curious about things, or have you justgiven up and let some status quo creep in?
Why not be curious?
You know, find a new hobby, find a newinterest, explore something, go take a trip,
but be curious.
I think that is such a mentally healthy—is thata phrase?
(25:54):
It's good for your mental health to open thedoor and be curious about something next that
you might be able to explore and get into.
Wow.
What a great message.
Thank you so much.
I'm inspired.
Start a new podcast or start a business,whatever makes your heart sing, I would add.
And thank you so much for the interview today.
(26:18):
Absolutely, Caroline.
Pleasure to be here, and thank you for theopportunity.
Of course.
And I see you in the next episode.
Thank you for listening to "Inspired ChoiceToday." I'm thrilled to have you on this
journey of growth and transformation.
Don't forget to hit follow or subscribe to stayconnected and never miss an episode.
(26:39):
And here's something special.
Grab your free 20-minute breakthrough sessionwith me.
It's designed to help you kick-start or levelup your business.
Just check out the show notes for more.
Until next time, keep making those inspiredchoices.
See you in the next episode.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.