September 11, 2025 • 40 mins
In this episode of The Leadership Table Podcast, Jason E. Brooks sits down with Anthony Presley, CEO of TimeForge.
Anthony shares how his journey from coding in Cairo to leading a workforce technology company shaped his perspective
on leadership, labor, and the future of work.
They dive into:
- The shift from “managing schedules” to truly leading people
- How technology can empower operators instead of overwhelming them
- The importance of retention, re-skilling, and rewarding employees
- Stories from TimeForge’s evolution and Anthony’s leadership journey
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🌐 Learn more about TimeForge: https://timeforge.com/
🔗 Connect with Anthony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apresley/
#TheLeadershipTable #HospitalityLeadership #Podcast #TimeForge #Leadership
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Jason E Brooks, ceo of TimeForge, a workforce
management platform that helpsoperators tackle some of the
toughest challenges in ourindustry from labor forecasting
and compliance to team cultureand leadership accountability at
(00:47):
an early age, but his patheventually connected him with
the hospitality world, givinghim a unique perspective on what
it takes to lead people in atech-powered workplace.
Under his leadership,timeforged has expanded its
capabilities from gig workershift coverage to AI-powered
forecasting, all while stayinglaser-focused on helping leaders
run smarter, more people-firstoperations.
(01:08):
Before we dive in, remember tosubscribe so you never miss an
episode that can help you leadstronger, scale smarter and
build the kind of team yourguests will never forget.
Let's dive into it, mr Anthony.
Mr Presley, you didn't start ina tech company.
(01:30):
You know you've been on thefront lines of hospitality
period.
Can you walk our listenersthrough your journey from
operations to leading TimeFororge and how that experience
shapes the way you serveoperators right now?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I can, I'm happy to do that.
I don't have a traditionaljourney, as I'm sure most of
your guests don't.
Right, everybody's unique.
I actually did start primarilyon the tech side, and I started
with tech when I was in middleschool.
My father was stationed inCairo, egypt, and this was pre
(02:18):
Osama bin Laden in any of theuprising there, and so if
there's not a base in Cairo andso we were on the streets with
all the locals, it's a very poorarea of the world.
And, um, I went to a, a, aprivate school, and at that
private school were some amazingteachers and instructors and I
(02:39):
had a Apple fellow that was onsabbatical from Apple, who
taught me how to program on alanguage called HyperCard in
seventh grade.
And so in the summers I wouldcome back and forth to the
States, we'd steal computergames and we'd buy them with
(02:59):
cash and then we'd hack them andbreak the security and
encryption so that we couldshare them around.
There was no internet, right.
This was pre-anything, and so Ihad enjoyed that.
When I got back to the States asa teenager and went to school,
I needed to find a job.
My dad was like you've got togo find a job.
(03:21):
You're not, you know, no 16year old of mine sitting around
here consuming gas and nothaving a real job.
And so I went and applied, andI applied for all the places a
16 year old should apply for,and it turned out that in the
midst of this, my um high schoolwanted to pay me money to write
a software program to do aValentine's Day dance and so a
(03:47):
matching program between theguys and the gals.
And so I wrote prematchcom, alittle piece of software that
tied all of the high schoolcouples together.
None of those couples are stillcouples, by the way, but yeah.
So I started down that path andthen I ended up in the software
(04:07):
business and I had a smallsoftware company in high school.
And then, when I went to college, I had a roommate that worked
for his dad's I'm sorry, hisuncle's restaurant, and it was
on the other side of town and hedidn't have a car, and so this
would have been in 2000.
(04:28):
And he needed to find aschedule.
It was a silly.
It was a silly problem.
Right, I need to, I need, butthey only had one phone line and
you can't use that phone linefor staff, so you really just
need to use that phone line forfor customers to call in.
You really just need to usethat phone line for you know
customers to call in.
And so the schedule got postedon Sunday night and you needed
(04:48):
to drive in Sunday night to findout what the schedule was.
So you need to know if you'regoing to be at work the next
morning.
So he paid me beer money andgas money and I drove him across
town to his uncle's restaurantand he'd look at the schedule.
And then we talk about how dumbthat was as we drove back.
(05:10):
But I never thought that thatwas going to lead me to go build
a product like that and insteadI had several software
companies and scaled some ofthem 60, 80 employees and did
custom software and some otherthings.
But anyway, so that is roughlyhow I got into the industry, was
?
You know?
I did have a softwarebackground.
(05:31):
I did have a tech background.
I was going to go work in arestaurant and then I got an
alternate offer.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Dude, who knew you were the founder of Grindr way
back in like high school forValentine's Day?
I did not.
I didn't know that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, yeah, back in the day, man.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
You know what?
I actually remember gettingrestaurant schedules and me
having to drive up there inorder to see was the schedule
ready?
Yet I actually remember doingthat and but back then hate to
(06:14):
say it, but it seemed likemanagers were a bit more
efficient with getting theschedule done on time because no
one wanted to drive back andforth six, seven times over
several days.
These days we still have somemanagers that the schedule
should be posted on Friday fornext week.
It doesn't go up until Tuesdayafternoon and it's like, well,
(06:37):
you usually work on Monday at 8am, so I figured I'd just post
it on Tuesday.
No, it should be up on Fridaythe week before.
But no, I did not know that.
About Cairo and Apple and allof that, that is an amazing
journey.
You actually really do havethat tech prowess etched into
(07:02):
your bloodstream.
That is amazing, yo man.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, thanks.
It's the only story I got, soit's Whatever.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
So now labor.
You know because you focus onthe labor aspect and labor
within our industry.
This is one of the biggestpressure points out there,
whether it is compliance orscheduling or just keeping great
people on the schedule.
How do you see leaders shiftingthe conversation from managing
(07:40):
schedules to actually leadingtheir teams better, because this
is the leadership table, soit's not just about managing
those schedules but aboutleading better teams.
How do you see them shiftingthat conversation?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, that's a great question and I would wrap in.
There's something that happenedsince COVID which changes a
little bit of the lens of how Ithink our industry needs to
operate, and you and I havetalked about this in the past.
But you know, roughly 40% ofour customer base are actually
(08:19):
in grocery and general retailand the rest are in restaurants,
and so we have this unique view, I think, to be able to see
across several industries andsee what's going on across the
board, and there's a lot ofturmoil amongst frontline
workers right now in alldifferent kinds of industries.
But one of the things thathappened during COVID was that
(08:43):
tenured managers left therestaurant industry, and you can
see that in the stats, right,you can see that the average
restaurant manager right now hasbeen there less than two years.
And so what was going on?
Back when you were driving into get your schedule, you had a
manager that had a gut, visceralknowledge and, beyond the gut,
(09:04):
their brain was working behindthe scenes and they knew, hey,
on Thursday or Friday we'regoing to look at this kind of a
trend and there's the sidewalksale.
And they knew because they hadbeen running a thriving business
for a decade or two decades,and they knew how to interact
and they knew how to lead Right.
And now you've got a situationwhere a lot of those folks left
the industry either for otheropportunities or they took the
time to lead Right.
And now you've got a situationwhere a lot of those folks left
(09:26):
the industry either for otheropportunities, or they took the
time to retire.
They turned in a single parenthousehold.
There's a lot of things thathappened during COVID, and so
now you have, by and large, theaverage tenure is less than two
years, and it's not gettinglonger, it's getting shorter.
And so, now that you're going,well, how do these folks know
(09:48):
what's going on?
To your point, managing theschedule, but then how are they
leading and bringing people toacknowledge?
And it's really all aboutcommunication.
It's always been aboutcommunication, right?
How do we communicate thebusiness needs to the people
that we need to help execute onthe goals for the business?
And and you know, there'scommand and control, which
(10:11):
almost never will work for ashort time, right, but it's not
going to work for very long.
And then there's this whole ideaof setting goals and leading.
And, to your point, how do weretain those employees?
And it's amazing to me how mucha restaurant will spend on
dollars to go get new guests inthe door or to get retained
(10:32):
guests back, and then you go.
Well, how much did you spend onkeeping your employees around?
And it's like, oh, none, zero.
Why would we do that?
Like you know, and it turns outthat if we spent about that same
amount of time and effort moneyI'll take a 10, a 20 to keep
those staff there, train them,educate them, reskill them, then
(10:56):
you would actually have a moreholistic organization, because
they'll then take care of theemployees or the customers,
because they'll then take careof the employees or the
customers, and so, yeah, sothat's what we're seeing at the
leadership level is that smartleaders are coming in, they're
communicating really well whatthe business priorities are and
that those clear expectationsare set.
(11:19):
Then you've got the backside ofthat, which is that there's
rewards and you participate inthose rewards, and it's an
industry that is typically theaverage person and the frontline
worker is living below thepoverty level.
But it doesn't have to be thatway.
How do we, how do you make surewe hit the goals?
And then everybody gets a bonus, everybody gets a spiff,
everybody gets to participateand then, and then, suddenly
(11:41):
you're not having to go.
Well, my employees all havethree jobs.
Well, it doesn't have to bethat way.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Hey, quick pause.
If you're a hospitality leaderand this conversation with
Anthony Presley is hitting homeI want to personally invite you
to take it a step further insidethe AIM DRIVE SCALE leadership
circle.
It's my small group coachingexperience, designed
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(12:08):
We meet regularly to workthrough real challenges, sharpen
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If this sounds like somethingyou've been looking for, head to
aimdrivescalecom or click thelink in the show notes.
Now back to the episode.
You know everything that you'resaying.
Uh, you're not just saying.
(12:29):
Your business actually reflectsthat.
Now, for those who are listeningon their favorite streaming
service for audio, you can't seethis, but I've actually went
through the Time Forge websiteand it is just amazing how what
you're saying from it's not justabout the schedule.
(12:52):
It's about how to recruitbetter, how to reward your team
members, the differentrefinements within, how to do
scheduling and then how toretain your team.
You do go a bit further beyond,not a bit?
A lot further beyond the actualscheduling software and then
(13:15):
who it's for, just like you said, from grocery to restaurant, to
specialty retail, to, to, toconvenience stores and then
franchises.
You do touch on a lot of thosedifferent things throughout your
software, so it's actually goodnot to hear you just talk about
(13:36):
it, but that is how yoursoftware is built, is built.
Now, one thing that I've noticedin talking to leaders is that
growth can sometimes erodeculture if it's not intentional
Having those four things, thosefour R's, in place.
If you don't intentionally doit, as restaurants grow, culture
(14:02):
can fade.
So how do you balance scalingthe reach of your product while
keeping trust and culture at thecenter of the process?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
That's a great question.
Are you talking about us withour software or how we help
customers do that?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Both, but first you with your software.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Well, to do that, I will give you a very small,
simple story.
And when we founded when Ifounded Timeforged, so I went to
college, you know 2000, westarted to come up with these
ideas and then the idea satdormant till 2007.
The idea of fat dormant till2007.
(14:49):
And in 2007 we built the firstversion and I wanted to bring
automated scheduling andcommunication to the restaurant
industry 2007,.
Most of our competitors are inthe market Now.
It did not exist.
Uh, ray and David were buildinghot schedules, um and so they
were kind of the only one, andum and anyway.
So I went and took this andshowed it to a group, a Mexican
(15:10):
table service restaurant.
I went and showed it to the CEO, who I knew that hey, look at
this, it's automated scheduling.
That's his 2007.
This was before an iPad.
And he looked me dead in theface and said Anthony, I already
pay my managers to buildschedules.
Why would I pay you?
And that hit me like a ton ofbricks.
It was very first customer, veryfirst feedback was basically
(15:34):
there's, we don't have thisproblem.
And as a young entrepreneur,I'm not that much smarter now
than I was then, but I wasreally not very smart at the
time and said well, what is theproblem you do have?
And he went oh, compliance.
We have a problem withcompliance and tracking time.
We have a problem withemployees showing up before
they've actually been onboarded.
(15:54):
We have all these HR situationsand I didn't know what to do
other than to listen to thefeedback of my customers and go
build those things.
And so our team, having heardfrom customers what they wanted,
our team having heard fromcustomers what they wanted, we
went and built those things.
And so, as we've scaled andgrown, we've continued to build
(16:16):
into our feedback loops that youknow.
Hey, how do we go talk tocustomers?
How do we make sure that whatwe're building isn't what we
want to build?
It's what the customers areneeding, what is a real world
problem?
And over the years, I'veactually found out this is a
very well documented process.
It's what the customers areneeding, what is a real world
problem?
And over the years, I'veactually found out this is a
(16:38):
very well documented process.
It's called the business modelcanvas and you can actually go
look this up and it's a niceprocess that entrepreneurs use
and they get taught at startupschools.
I teach this when I'mvolunteering at universities
universities, um, and.
But it's actually a process togo talk to people, identify
their needs, find out who thedecision makers are and then
build the things that theyactually care about, cause it
turns out they may really have aproblem with turnover, but
(16:59):
turnover is not the problem.
The problem is is that managerin the back is a horrible
manager, right, and so so itturns out you've got to ask a
lot of questions and figure outwhat the issue is, and so our
team does that.
We have a small but mighty team, and it's a lot of
communication with customers tofind out what they need.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Wow.
So you started this in 2000.
You really started to get intoit in 2007.
And since then you've beenreiterating, re-listening to
(17:56):
your customer to find out whatthey need, helping to make sure,
scaling while the culture offixing things, that and you're
still doing things now to helpmake things better for the
customer I think gig workerfunctions now.
That came out in mid July ofthis year.
Square POS is now integratedwith it.
That came out this year as well.
Triple seat that you'vepartnered with them that was
(18:16):
also this year.
Ai powered forecasting thatcame out last year.
So you have been staying on topsince then.
You really haven't let it slipor slept since then.
Is that true?
You have had zero sleep or justa really strong team.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Which one is it?
Well, you and I have the samebarber, and so you know this is
the stress that comes from beingan entrepreneur.
Maybe or maybe it's from havingadult kids, I'm not sure which,
but it's called gravity.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
It just drops down with the weight of the world
down to the chin.
That's all that happens.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
It builds up the whole beard.
I love that.
I love that, oh man.
To answer your question.
It's a little of both.
We have a strong team.
We have a strong team.
The AI thing is kind of funnyto me because we've had machine
learning and AI since versionone was released in 2007.
(19:17):
But we continue to build andenhance and grow it.
There's been a lot of renewedinterest.
Actually, we got a.
We got a lead on the Time Forgewebsite a couple of days ago
from a manager at a let's's callit 7,000 location chain and he
said the request on the subjectline was I'm looking for an
(19:38):
agentic AI agent that will builda schedule for me and tell me
when my labor rules are broken.
That was what the request was,which I thought was very forward
for an industry that's notalways known for being tech
forward.
That's true, yeah.
(19:59):
But yeah, we've had a good team.
We integrate to 40 or 50 POSs.
I'm a software guy at heart, sowe like to build things, things
and we build things for ourcustomers.
Gig work is a great example youbrought up.
It's hard to retain staff, it'shard to find staff.
(20:20):
We've got we've got customersthat can't open stores because
they can't find enough people.
So how do you augment that?
Well, you bring in some gigworkers and you build up your
stable of gig workers that helpyou.
It's a new model and healthcarehas been doing that for decades
, but restaurants and retailhaven't until recently.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Well, we are known to be last adopters.
Even when it came down tocredit cards, we were famous for
saying no, we only take cash.
How do we know there's realmoney on that thing?
We are last to adopt manythings.
I think that's starting tochange these days, but I think
(21:00):
that there is that fear, thatold school fear of that
technology sometimes hinders.
Now, tech should help, nothinder.
So what makes the difference inyour mind between tools that
overwhelm managers and toolsthat actually make their lives
(21:24):
easier?
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Yeah, that's a good one.
I'm curious about your inputhere as well, but I like to use
the Gartner maturity scale,right.
So there's this as you thinkabout.
You know, the typical two bytwo.
Every consultant on the planethas seen this two by two grid.
But we find that tech and plentyof people have said the last
(21:52):
couple of years that there havebeen a lot of tech vendors that
have overpromised their productsand their portfolios, and I get
that, like I get that You'vealways been careful about
vaporware and what you're buying.
But yeah, that's that's.
That's a whole, notherdiscussion but the um.
You know the core, the corething here.
(22:13):
Um, just lost my train ofthought.
Gosh, dang it.
Um, help not hinder, help nothinder.
Yes, sorry, yeah.
Well, lots of cutting there.
So the um, as as folks adopt newsoftware and it's, it's easier,
I think, I think in these daysto pick a particular module and
(22:35):
do one module at a time, likewhat's the thing that's going to
make your team the mostefficient?
And you start looking atproducts.
I mean, now managers are using40, 50 software products in any
given week or month to try andget through everything, and so
there's a lot of tech clutterand the cycles in the market.
(22:56):
Right they'll be consolidation,everybody will buy.
You'll end up with one product.
You're seeing that with some ofthe back office providers and
then everybody gets annoyed thatthe back office provider
doesn't have the best widget,whatever that is, and so then
they stop using that widget andthey go buy another widget and
then you end up with 50 productsagain.
So it's an expansion cycle andhelping, not hurting, is really
(23:20):
about picking the right modules.
I mean we have features andproducts all over the place.
You know the big guys that areout.
There are 365 and CrunchTimeand PAR.
I mean they have modules foreverything.
You probably don't need themall, like, you probably need the
one or two.
And then I would say there's alot of change management that
goes into any product Um, makingsure it sticks and making sure
(23:45):
you adapt the operational flowsaround that product Um, and if
you don't do that, then you'realways going to be rubbing the
product against your operationsteam and you will never get
adoption and it's always goingto hurt.
Does that make sense?
Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 1 (24:02):
I would agree with all of those and I would also
layer in that there's a lot oftimes that we will choose
products as a brand because wewant the functionality at a much
higher level in order to pullin data faster, and we rarely
(24:25):
ever ask the people or theprocesses that are really
inputting that data, thatinformation or doing those steps
what would actually help themmore good versus the people that
(24:48):
are actually there doing theleading, the managing, the
coaching, the processes at thestorefront.
And that's where the gap is.
Or, if we choose to getfeedback, we get feedback from
the top 5% of locations versusthe 95% that do it, maybe even a
(25:13):
whole different way.
So really finding out what'sactually happening in the retail
store, what's actuallyhappening in the restaurant, in
the grocery store, what's goingon there, and then saying what
needs to be better, versus werolling something out and it
then there's the overwhelmbecause that's actually not
(25:35):
what's happening within thestorefront.
So I think that is that is oneway that we can help close the
gap of feeling like that, thethat some tech, not all tech,
some tech isn't actually helping, that it is hindering.
I think that the other piece isjust making sure that we are
(25:59):
being tech forward from thebeginning.
Yes, we bootstrap within ourindustry, within hotels, within
restaurants and within retail.
We move quickly.
We are one of the very rareplaces that our product is
consumed within the four walls,within minutes after a person
(26:23):
leaves.
It doesn't happen with asweater, it doesn't happen with
a car, it doesn't happen withpencils.
We have one of the very rareproducts that the actual thing
that a customer buys is consumedright then and then they leave
unless it's takeout.
So we have to really think thatthrough of.
(26:46):
Yes, it's more than justsmiling, greeting, cooking,
feeding.
There are more things thathelps us to understand how well
that we are doing or where wecan improve.
And when we come up with thatidea in the beginning, we have
to be tech forward at that pointand not think too much oh it's
(27:10):
simple, it's not simple.
There's things that are commonthese days that we need to be
more common at doing, not justkeeping it simple.
Anyways, I digress so.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
I think I think all of that's valid.
I think it's 100 percent valid.
I think the other thing thatyou see, that that you you
skirted around but didn't saywas that you end up in these
situations where people havetech, they already have system A
and they're looking for systemB because the grass is always
greener and so they're you know,and they've either forgotten
(27:45):
that tech A has thatfunctionality.
They just turned it off threeyears ago when they implemented
it.
And when they call vendor B andthey're like, oh well, I need
this thing, that vendor is notgoing to go back and tell you
that vendor A has that.
So you're going to do this hugelift.
And I always tell people, beforethey go, look at new tech,
(28:06):
regardless of what the tech is,make sure you evaluate whether
or not the old one can do it orif you're using the old one
properly.
They've probably added newfeatures since the last time you
were there and then really needto think through what the
change management is to get tothat new thing.
And, to your point, the 95% andit's amazing how many people
(28:27):
will go fire up an MVP with onestore and one manager and they
try it for one week and thenthey're like system-wide rollout
.
Let me issue a press releaseand it's like what are you doing
?
Stop.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
You know.
Oh, that is so true.
And then one more layer is thattech is just like a vehicle.
It's just like any vehicle, anydashboard.
How many people actually lookat the pressure of the oil on
the dashboard Like rarely anyonedoes?
(29:02):
How many people look at theactual RPMs in an automatic even
in a stick shift you're feelingwhen to shift gears.
But all of these things are onthat dashboard.
We have so many things that areon there that we don't
typically look at.
So first think through what arethe things that you know your
(29:27):
team actually needs to look aton a weekly, daily, monthly,
hourly basis.
Then everything else is nice tohave.
And then second thing is it alldepends on the environment,
meaning that a race car driveron a racetrack is looking at
different things on thatdashboard than someone driving
(29:51):
through a suburban neighborhoodor that is off-roading.
So you need to think thatthrough of.
I may have one brand, but I mayhave that food truck, I may
have that street side, I mayhave the airport, I may have the
freestanding, differentenvironments calling for
(30:12):
different things to be viewed atat different times within that
dashboard.
Making sure that we're thinkingthrough those pieces too.
Anyway, so Love it.
Let's get down to our signature.
Closing questions for theleadership table.
Now I ask these questions toevery guest on this podcast.
(30:34):
So if you could sit at aleadership table, at a
leadership table with threeother leaders, whether alive or
from history, who would youchoose, and why?
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Yeah, great, great question.
And since I've been listeningto your podcast, I knew this
question was coming, so I had Ihad my answer pre prepared.
So I I did have to think aboutthis quite a bit and bounced
around a couple of folks thatcame back to the three, the
three that I would choose.
Seth Godin would be somebody Iwould bring to the table.
(31:26):
He's not a traditionalleadership guy, but when you
start reading his books, whichhe's out there as the lead
marketer and he createdessentially, but he's he's a
great marketer, but heunderstands that in business you
need to be able to market toyour people, you need to be able
to do some of those kinds ofthings.
Um, and so I I'd bring Seth um,I was thinking of, like a modern
day, like you know, massiveTitan.
(31:48):
That would just be kind of funto buy, you know, ask questions,
and I think I'd probably putMark Cuban into that group.
He's a technologist, he's onsports companies, he's on
satellite companies, he's ashark on Shark Tank, but most of
his money has come throughfinancial engineering, which is
kind of fun, and so I think I'dbring him out there.
(32:09):
And he loves to be a contrarian, which is kind of fun.
So, and then Ken Blanchard, andso I think I'd bring him out
there and he loves to be acontrarian, which is kind of fun
.
And then Ken Blanchard I don'tknow if you're familiar with Ken
.
He's the author of theOne-Minute Manager.
You know One-Minute ManagerMeets the Monkey, which is a
fantastic little book about youknow, task management and how to
lead your team, but he alsoinvented situational leadership
(32:35):
that I think a lot of peopleforget about, and so those would
be the three folks I wouldthrow, and then I think between
those three there'd be a lot offireworks, which would be a lot
of fun too.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
So Well, you have a very impressive dream board of
directors there.
That would.
They would definitely getthings done at the table.
There would be some fireworksthere too.
Second question and finalquestion what's one conversation
in your career that profoundlyshaped you as a leader?
(33:08):
I know there's been lots ofconversations that you've had
with other leaders, especiallyin your role and what you do,
but what's one conversation inyour career that shaped who you
are as a leader?
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, this we've talked about a few already that
have been that have been shapedme a little bit.
The the one, though, um, thatprobably has had the most
profound impact on me was in inFebruary of 2015, was running a
growing business.
We'd actually raised someventure capital into Time Forge
(33:45):
and I was busy.
Um and um, we get a call and areceptionist transferred it over
to me, a very upset lady andshe starts off the conversation
by telling me her name.
I didn't know who this lady wasand she then tells me that her
separated husband has passedaway and I'm running a tech
(34:08):
company and I'm like I don'tknow you.
I don't really understand whyyou're calling me about this.
She then goes on to tell me hey, he committed suicide.
We left her and her childrenwithout anything, Um, and all
they had was his last paycheckand his life insurance.
And I was walking across thefloor and I just stopped and I
was like I could hang up.
This sounds like a crazy lady,Like I don't really know what to
(34:31):
say.
Um, but I had a little.
There was a little voice in myhead.
It was like a little empathy,Like this lady is having a very
hard time.
Let's talk to her.
So I started asking questionsand it turns out that I had
previously met her, almost 10years prior.
Um, and I knew her deceasedhusband and hadn't talked to the
(34:51):
guy in almost a decade.
Um, and she said something.
The guy in almost a decade andshe said something completely
stopped me on my tracks and shesaid well, did you get our
Christmas presents?
We went shopping for you.
And so I started asking evenmore questions and save you a 20
minute story here.
It turns out that her ex-husbandhad been laid off and had for a
(35:16):
decade almost been parking hiscar in our shared parking lot
and had been telling her thatshe worked, and she thought that
he worked for me because he wastrying to get ahead in life and
(35:37):
he wanted to show her that hewas not a construction worker
anymore, that he was in the techcycle and he was in finance,
and so he had imagined thisentire story for a decade and
told his ex or separated wifethat he was doing all of these
things, and then he ultimatelywould park his car in our
parking lot it was a very largeparking lot, I'd never noticed
(36:00):
it and then he'd get on the busand take the bus to work, and so
we unraveled this over a fewdays and obviously it was a very
sad situation that he passedaway and she thought there was
life insurance and was getting apaycheck and none of that was
true.
But from an empathy perspective,it really hit me that like you
(36:21):
don't really know what's goingon with other people, Like you
have no idea.
I mean that's a very extremeexample, but most of us get up
every day, put our pants on oneleg at a time, walk out the door
, and I just assume that all ofmy neighbors do the same
freaking things I do every day,and it's probably not true.
(36:41):
There's billions of people onthe planet.
Everybody has got their ownstory.
They're doing it their own way.
Um, and working with, with thislady and her ex-husband Trey,
and, you know, trying to helpher collect some pieces which
I'd spent most of my day doing,was a bit profound for me and
kind of shook me to my core,going you never know what's on
(37:02):
the other side.
I mean you just you don't know,and so it's best to lead with
questions and empathy andunderstanding, because
everybody's different.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Wow, that is definitely something that I
don't think any leader, anymanager could imagine that
conversation happening on theend of their phone call when
they pick up the phone.
And I'm glad that you listenedto that voice and had the
(37:39):
empathy, not being rushed,because at times, yeah, we feel
like we are having a very busyday.
I need to do this Stop callingme, you crazy lady and to be
there for her in that moment andunderstand that this wasn't
just a situation on the end ofthat phone call.
(38:00):
That can happen day to day inevery interaction with the
people that we have working withus, working for us, and to
pause, take a moment and saywhat does this situation need
from me right now versus what Ineed from it can quickly change
(38:21):
everything in a good way.
So that is amazing, man.
Now I don't want to end it on asomber note, but that's still
an amazing story.
But before we wrap up, wherecan listeners connect with you
and learn more about how TimeForge is helping leaders run
(38:42):
better teams?
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Yeah, I'm.
I'm the least difficult personto find on the Internet.
I think If you'll just type myname into Google Anthony Presley
, you'll find me.
You'll find my LinkedIn.
I'm very active on LinkedIn.
Most of this industry is not,but certainly connect with me on
LinkedIn and then you cancertainly go to our website,
(39:05):
timeforgecom.
It's pretty straightforward.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Nice Well, anthony, thank you for your insights and
for sharing how leadership andtechnology work hand in hand and
it creates workspaces that notonly help lift people, but can
also lift profits too it.
(39:35):
If you found this episodevaluable, please subscribe,
leave a review and share it witha leader who's navigating the
challenges of leading in today'sworkplace.
You can always visit us atjasonebrookscom forward slash
podcast for more tools andresources to help grow your
leadership.
Until next time, manage, lead,coach and repeat.
(39:57):
Anthony, thank you so much.
Jason E Brooks, ceo of TimeForge, a workforce
management platform that helpsoperators tackle some of the
toughest challenges in ourindustry from labor forecasting
and compliance to team cultureand leadership accountability at
(00:47):
an early age, but his patheventually connected him with
the hospitality world, givinghim a unique perspective on what
it takes to lead people in atech-powered workplace.
Under his leadership,timeforged has expanded its
capabilities from gig workershift coverage to AI-powered
forecasting, all while stayinglaser-focused on helping leaders
run smarter, more people-firstoperations.
(01:08):
Before we dive in, remember tosubscribe so you never miss an
episode that can help you leadstronger, scale smarter and
build the kind of team yourguests will never forget.
Let's dive into it, mr Anthony.
Mr Presley, you didn't start ina tech company.
(01:30):
You know you've been on thefront lines of hospitality
period.
Can you walk our listenersthrough your journey from
operations to leading TimeFororge and how that experience
shapes the way you serveoperators right now?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I can, I'm happy to do that.
I don't have a traditionaljourney, as I'm sure most of
your guests don't.
Right, everybody's unique.
I actually did start primarilyon the tech side, and I started
with tech when I was in middleschool.
My father was stationed inCairo, egypt, and this was pre
(02:18):
Osama bin Laden in any of theuprising there, and so if
there's not a base in Cairo andso we were on the streets with
all the locals, it's a very poorarea of the world.
And, um, I went to a, a, aprivate school, and at that
private school were some amazingteachers and instructors and I
(02:39):
had a Apple fellow that was onsabbatical from Apple, who
taught me how to program on alanguage called HyperCard in
seventh grade.
And so in the summers I wouldcome back and forth to the
States, we'd steal computergames and we'd buy them with
(02:59):
cash and then we'd hack them andbreak the security and
encryption so that we couldshare them around.
There was no internet, right.
This was pre-anything, and so Ihad enjoyed that.
When I got back to the States asa teenager and went to school,
I needed to find a job.
My dad was like you've got togo find a job.
(03:21):
You're not, you know, no 16year old of mine sitting around
here consuming gas and nothaving a real job.
And so I went and applied, andI applied for all the places a
16 year old should apply for,and it turned out that in the
midst of this, my um high schoolwanted to pay me money to write
a software program to do aValentine's Day dance and so a
(03:47):
matching program between theguys and the gals.
And so I wrote prematchcom, alittle piece of software that
tied all of the high schoolcouples together.
None of those couples are stillcouples, by the way, but yeah.
So I started down that path andthen I ended up in the software
(04:07):
business and I had a smallsoftware company in high school.
And then, when I went to college, I had a roommate that worked
for his dad's I'm sorry, hisuncle's restaurant, and it was
on the other side of town and hedidn't have a car, and so this
would have been in 2000.
(04:28):
And he needed to find aschedule.
It was a silly.
It was a silly problem.
Right, I need to, I need, butthey only had one phone line and
you can't use that phone linefor staff, so you really just
need to use that phone line forfor customers to call in.
You really just need to usethat phone line for you know
customers to call in.
And so the schedule got postedon Sunday night and you needed
(04:48):
to drive in Sunday night to findout what the schedule was.
So you need to know if you'regoing to be at work the next
morning.
So he paid me beer money andgas money and I drove him across
town to his uncle's restaurantand he'd look at the schedule.
And then we talk about how dumbthat was as we drove back.
(05:10):
But I never thought that thatwas going to lead me to go build
a product like that and insteadI had several software
companies and scaled some ofthem 60, 80 employees and did
custom software and some otherthings.
But anyway, so that is roughlyhow I got into the industry, was
?
You know?
I did have a softwarebackground.
(05:31):
I did have a tech background.
I was going to go work in arestaurant and then I got an
alternate offer.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Dude, who knew you were the founder of Grindr way
back in like high school forValentine's Day?
I did not.
I didn't know that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, yeah, back in the day, man.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
You know what?
I actually remember gettingrestaurant schedules and me
having to drive up there inorder to see was the schedule
ready?
Yet I actually remember doingthat and but back then hate to
(06:14):
say it, but it seemed likemanagers were a bit more
efficient with getting theschedule done on time because no
one wanted to drive back andforth six, seven times over
several days.
These days we still have somemanagers that the schedule
should be posted on Friday fornext week.
It doesn't go up until Tuesdayafternoon and it's like, well,
(06:37):
you usually work on Monday at 8am, so I figured I'd just post
it on Tuesday.
No, it should be up on Fridaythe week before.
But no, I did not know that.
About Cairo and Apple and allof that, that is an amazing
journey.
You actually really do havethat tech prowess etched into
(07:02):
your bloodstream.
That is amazing, yo man.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, thanks.
It's the only story I got, soit's Whatever.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
So now labor.
You know because you focus onthe labor aspect and labor
within our industry.
This is one of the biggestpressure points out there,
whether it is compliance orscheduling or just keeping great
people on the schedule.
How do you see leaders shiftingthe conversation from managing
(07:40):
schedules to actually leadingtheir teams better, because this
is the leadership table, soit's not just about managing
those schedules but aboutleading better teams.
How do you see them shiftingthat conversation?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, that's a great question and I would wrap in.
There's something that happenedsince COVID which changes a
little bit of the lens of how Ithink our industry needs to
operate, and you and I havetalked about this in the past.
But you know, roughly 40% ofour customer base are actually
(08:19):
in grocery and general retailand the rest are in restaurants,
and so we have this unique view, I think, to be able to see
across several industries andsee what's going on across the
board, and there's a lot ofturmoil amongst frontline
workers right now in alldifferent kinds of industries.
But one of the things thathappened during COVID was that
(08:43):
tenured managers left therestaurant industry, and you can
see that in the stats, right,you can see that the average
restaurant manager right now hasbeen there less than two years.
And so what was going on?
Back when you were driving into get your schedule, you had a
manager that had a gut, visceralknowledge and, beyond the gut,
(09:04):
their brain was working behindthe scenes and they knew, hey,
on Thursday or Friday we'regoing to look at this kind of a
trend and there's the sidewalksale.
And they knew because they hadbeen running a thriving business
for a decade or two decades,and they knew how to interact
and they knew how to lead Right.
And now you've got a situationwhere a lot of those folks left
the industry either for otheropportunities or they took the
time to lead Right.
And now you've got a situationwhere a lot of those folks left
(09:26):
the industry either for otheropportunities, or they took the
time to retire.
They turned in a single parenthousehold.
There's a lot of things thathappened during COVID, and so
now you have, by and large, theaverage tenure is less than two
years, and it's not gettinglonger, it's getting shorter.
And so, now that you're going,well, how do these folks know
(09:48):
what's going on?
To your point, managing theschedule, but then how are they
leading and bringing people toacknowledge?
And it's really all aboutcommunication.
It's always been aboutcommunication, right?
How do we communicate thebusiness needs to the people
that we need to help execute onthe goals for the business?
And and you know, there'scommand and control, which
(10:11):
almost never will work for ashort time, right, but it's not
going to work for very long.
And then there's this whole ideaof setting goals and leading.
And, to your point, how do weretain those employees?
And it's amazing to me how mucha restaurant will spend on
dollars to go get new guests inthe door or to get retained
(10:32):
guests back, and then you go.
Well, how much did you spend onkeeping your employees around?
And it's like, oh, none, zero.
Why would we do that?
Like you know, and it turns outthat if we spent about that same
amount of time and effort moneyI'll take a 10, a 20 to keep
those staff there, train them,educate them, reskill them, then
(10:56):
you would actually have a moreholistic organization, because
they'll then take care of theemployees or the customers,
because they'll then take careof the employees or the
customers, and so, yeah, sothat's what we're seeing at the
leadership level is that smartleaders are coming in, they're
communicating really well whatthe business priorities are and
that those clear expectationsare set.
(11:19):
Then you've got the backside ofthat, which is that there's
rewards and you participate inthose rewards, and it's an
industry that is typically theaverage person and the frontline
worker is living below thepoverty level.
But it doesn't have to be thatway.
How do we, how do you make surewe hit the goals?
And then everybody gets a bonus, everybody gets a spiff,
everybody gets to participateand then, and then, suddenly
(11:41):
you're not having to go.
Well, my employees all havethree jobs.
Well, it doesn't have to bethat way.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Hey, quick pause.
If you're a hospitality leaderand this conversation with
Anthony Presley is hitting homeI want to personally invite you
to take it a step further insidethe AIM DRIVE SCALE leadership
circle.
It's my small group coachingexperience, designed
specifically for operators,owners and executives who want
to scale smarter, lead strongerand build teams that truly care.
(12:08):
We meet regularly to workthrough real challenges, sharpen
leadership systems and create aculture that actually sticks.
If this sounds like somethingyou've been looking for, head to
aimdrivescalecom or click thelink in the show notes.
Now back to the episode.
You know everything that you'resaying.
Uh, you're not just saying.
(12:29):
Your business actually reflectsthat.
Now, for those who are listeningon their favorite streaming
service for audio, you can't seethis, but I've actually went
through the Time Forge websiteand it is just amazing how what
you're saying from it's not justabout the schedule.
(12:52):
It's about how to recruitbetter, how to reward your team
members, the differentrefinements within, how to do
scheduling and then how toretain your team.
You do go a bit further beyond,not a bit?
A lot further beyond the actualscheduling software and then
(13:15):
who it's for, just like you said, from grocery to restaurant, to
specialty retail, to, to, toconvenience stores and then
franchises.
You do touch on a lot of thosedifferent things throughout your
software, so it's actually goodnot to hear you just talk about
(13:36):
it, but that is how yoursoftware is built, is built.
Now, one thing that I've noticedin talking to leaders is that
growth can sometimes erodeculture if it's not intentional
Having those four things, thosefour R's, in place.
If you don't intentionally doit, as restaurants grow, culture
(14:02):
can fade.
So how do you balance scalingthe reach of your product while
keeping trust and culture at thecenter of the process?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
That's a great question.
Are you talking about us withour software or how we help
customers do that?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Both, but first you with your software.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Well, to do that, I will give you a very small,
simple story.
And when we founded when Ifounded Timeforged, so I went to
college, you know 2000, westarted to come up with these
ideas and then the idea satdormant till 2007.
The idea of fat dormant till2007.
(14:49):
And in 2007 we built the firstversion and I wanted to bring
automated scheduling andcommunication to the restaurant
industry 2007,.
Most of our competitors are inthe market Now.
It did not exist.
Uh, ray and David were buildinghot schedules, um and so they
were kind of the only one, andum and anyway.
So I went and took this andshowed it to a group, a Mexican
(15:10):
table service restaurant.
I went and showed it to the CEO, who I knew that hey, look at
this, it's automated scheduling.
That's his 2007.
This was before an iPad.
And he looked me dead in theface and said Anthony, I already
pay my managers to buildschedules.
Why would I pay you?
And that hit me like a ton ofbricks.
It was very first customer, veryfirst feedback was basically
(15:34):
there's, we don't have thisproblem.
And as a young entrepreneur,I'm not that much smarter now
than I was then, but I wasreally not very smart at the
time and said well, what is theproblem you do have?
And he went oh, compliance.
We have a problem withcompliance and tracking time.
We have a problem withemployees showing up before
they've actually been onboarded.
(15:54):
We have all these HR situationsand I didn't know what to do
other than to listen to thefeedback of my customers and go
build those things.
And so our team, having heardfrom customers what they wanted,
our team having heard fromcustomers what they wanted, we
went and built those things.
And so, as we've scaled andgrown, we've continued to build
(16:16):
into our feedback loops that youknow.
Hey, how do we go talk tocustomers?
How do we make sure that whatwe're building isn't what we
want to build?
It's what the customers areneeding, what is a real world
problem?
And over the years, I'veactually found out this is a
very well documented process.
It's what the customers areneeding, what is a real world
problem?
And over the years, I'veactually found out this is a
(16:38):
very well documented process.
It's called the business modelcanvas and you can actually go
look this up and it's a niceprocess that entrepreneurs use
and they get taught at startupschools.
I teach this when I'mvolunteering at universities
universities, um, and.
But it's actually a process togo talk to people, identify
their needs, find out who thedecision makers are and then
build the things that theyactually care about, cause it
turns out they may really have aproblem with turnover, but
(16:59):
turnover is not the problem.
The problem is is that managerin the back is a horrible
manager, right, and so so itturns out you've got to ask a
lot of questions and figure outwhat the issue is, and so our
team does that.
We have a small but mighty team, and it's a lot of
communication with customers tofind out what they need.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Wow.
So you started this in 2000.
You really started to get intoit in 2007.
And since then you've beenreiterating, re-listening to
(17:56):
your customer to find out whatthey need, helping to make sure,
scaling while the culture offixing things, that and you're
still doing things now to helpmake things better for the
customer I think gig workerfunctions now.
That came out in mid July ofthis year.
Square POS is now integratedwith it.
That came out this year as well.
Triple seat that you'vepartnered with them that was
(18:16):
also this year.
Ai powered forecasting thatcame out last year.
So you have been staying on topsince then.
You really haven't let it slipor slept since then.
Is that true?
You have had zero sleep or justa really strong team.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Which one is it?
Well, you and I have the samebarber, and so you know this is
the stress that comes from beingan entrepreneur.
Maybe or maybe it's from havingadult kids, I'm not sure which,
but it's called gravity.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
It just drops down with the weight of the world
down to the chin.
That's all that happens.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
It builds up the whole beard.
I love that.
I love that, oh man.
To answer your question.
It's a little of both.
We have a strong team.
We have a strong team.
The AI thing is kind of funnyto me because we've had machine
learning and AI since versionone was released in 2007.
(19:17):
But we continue to build andenhance and grow it.
There's been a lot of renewedinterest.
Actually, we got a.
We got a lead on the Time Forgewebsite a couple of days ago
from a manager at a let's's callit 7,000 location chain and he
said the request on the subjectline was I'm looking for an
(19:38):
agentic AI agent that will builda schedule for me and tell me
when my labor rules are broken.
That was what the request was,which I thought was very forward
for an industry that's notalways known for being tech
forward.
That's true, yeah.
(19:59):
But yeah, we've had a good team.
We integrate to 40 or 50 POSs.
I'm a software guy at heart, sowe like to build things, things
and we build things for ourcustomers.
Gig work is a great example youbrought up.
It's hard to retain staff, it'shard to find staff.
(20:20):
We've got we've got customersthat can't open stores because
they can't find enough people.
So how do you augment that?
Well, you bring in some gigworkers and you build up your
stable of gig workers that helpyou.
It's a new model and healthcarehas been doing that for decades
, but restaurants and retailhaven't until recently.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Well, we are known to be last adopters.
Even when it came down tocredit cards, we were famous for
saying no, we only take cash.
How do we know there's realmoney on that thing?
We are last to adopt manythings.
I think that's starting tochange these days, but I think
(21:00):
that there is that fear, thatold school fear of that
technology sometimes hinders.
Now, tech should help, nothinder.
So what makes the difference inyour mind between tools that
overwhelm managers and toolsthat actually make their lives
(21:24):
easier?
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Yeah, that's a good one.
I'm curious about your inputhere as well, but I like to use
the Gartner maturity scale,right.
So there's this as you thinkabout.
You know, the typical two bytwo.
Every consultant on the planethas seen this two by two grid.
But we find that tech and plentyof people have said the last
(21:52):
couple of years that there havebeen a lot of tech vendors that
have overpromised their productsand their portfolios, and I get
that, like I get that You'vealways been careful about
vaporware and what you're buying.
But yeah, that's that's.
That's a whole, notherdiscussion but the um.
You know the core, the corething here.
(22:13):
Um, just lost my train ofthought.
Gosh, dang it.
Um, help not hinder, help nothinder.
Yes, sorry, yeah.
Well, lots of cutting there.
So the um, as as folks adopt newsoftware and it's, it's easier,
I think, I think in these daysto pick a particular module and
(22:35):
do one module at a time, likewhat's the thing that's going to
make your team the mostefficient?
And you start looking atproducts.
I mean, now managers are using40, 50 software products in any
given week or month to try andget through everything, and so
there's a lot of tech clutterand the cycles in the market.
(22:56):
Right they'll be consolidation,everybody will buy.
You'll end up with one product.
You're seeing that with some ofthe back office providers and
then everybody gets annoyed thatthe back office provider
doesn't have the best widget,whatever that is, and so then
they stop using that widget andthey go buy another widget and
then you end up with 50 productsagain.
So it's an expansion cycle andhelping, not hurting, is really
(23:20):
about picking the right modules.
I mean we have features andproducts all over the place.
You know the big guys that areout.
There are 365 and CrunchTimeand PAR.
I mean they have modules foreverything.
You probably don't need themall, like, you probably need the
one or two.
And then I would say there's alot of change management that
goes into any product Um, makingsure it sticks and making sure
(23:45):
you adapt the operational flowsaround that product Um, and if
you don't do that, then you'realways going to be rubbing the
product against your operationsteam and you will never get
adoption and it's always goingto hurt.
Does that make sense?
Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 1 (24:02):
I would agree with all of those and I would also
layer in that there's a lot oftimes that we will choose
products as a brand because wewant the functionality at a much
higher level in order to pullin data faster, and we rarely
(24:25):
ever ask the people or theprocesses that are really
inputting that data, thatinformation or doing those steps
what would actually help themmore good versus the people that
(24:48):
are actually there doing theleading, the managing, the
coaching, the processes at thestorefront.
And that's where the gap is.
Or, if we choose to getfeedback, we get feedback from
the top 5% of locations versusthe 95% that do it, maybe even a
(25:13):
whole different way.
So really finding out what'sactually happening in the retail
store, what's actuallyhappening in the restaurant, in
the grocery store, what's goingon there, and then saying what
needs to be better, versus werolling something out and it
then there's the overwhelmbecause that's actually not
(25:35):
what's happening within thestorefront.
So I think that is that is oneway that we can help close the
gap of feeling like that, thethat some tech, not all tech,
some tech isn't actually helping, that it is hindering.
I think that the other piece isjust making sure that we are
(25:59):
being tech forward from thebeginning.
Yes, we bootstrap within ourindustry, within hotels, within
restaurants and within retail.
We move quickly.
We are one of the very rareplaces that our product is
consumed within the four walls,within minutes after a person
(26:23):
leaves.
It doesn't happen with asweater, it doesn't happen with
a car, it doesn't happen withpencils.
We have one of the very rareproducts that the actual thing
that a customer buys is consumedright then and then they leave
unless it's takeout.
So we have to really think thatthrough of.
(26:46):
Yes, it's more than justsmiling, greeting, cooking,
feeding.
There are more things thathelps us to understand how well
that we are doing or where wecan improve.
And when we come up with thatidea in the beginning, we have
to be tech forward at that pointand not think too much oh it's
(27:10):
simple, it's not simple.
There's things that are commonthese days that we need to be
more common at doing, not justkeeping it simple.
Anyways, I digress so.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
I think I think all of that's valid.
I think it's 100 percent valid.
I think the other thing thatyou see, that that you you
skirted around but didn't saywas that you end up in these
situations where people havetech, they already have system A
and they're looking for systemB because the grass is always
greener and so they're you know,and they've either forgotten
(27:45):
that tech A has thatfunctionality.
They just turned it off threeyears ago when they implemented
it.
And when they call vendor B andthey're like, oh well, I need
this thing, that vendor is notgoing to go back and tell you
that vendor A has that.
So you're going to do this hugelift.
And I always tell people, beforethey go, look at new tech,
(28:06):
regardless of what the tech is,make sure you evaluate whether
or not the old one can do it orif you're using the old one
properly.
They've probably added newfeatures since the last time you
were there and then really needto think through what the
change management is to get tothat new thing.
And, to your point, the 95% andit's amazing how many people
(28:27):
will go fire up an MVP with onestore and one manager and they
try it for one week and thenthey're like system-wide rollout
.
Let me issue a press releaseand it's like what are you doing
?
Stop.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
You know.
Oh, that is so true.
And then one more layer is thattech is just like a vehicle.
It's just like any vehicle, anydashboard.
How many people actually lookat the pressure of the oil on
the dashboard Like rarely anyonedoes?
(29:02):
How many people look at theactual RPMs in an automatic even
in a stick shift you're feelingwhen to shift gears.
But all of these things are onthat dashboard.
We have so many things that areon there that we don't
typically look at.
So first think through what arethe things that you know your
(29:27):
team actually needs to look aton a weekly, daily, monthly,
hourly basis.
Then everything else is nice tohave.
And then second thing is it alldepends on the environment,
meaning that a race car driveron a racetrack is looking at
different things on thatdashboard than someone driving
(29:51):
through a suburban neighborhoodor that is off-roading.
So you need to think thatthrough of.
I may have one brand, but I mayhave that food truck, I may
have that street side, I mayhave the airport, I may have the
freestanding, differentenvironments calling for
(30:12):
different things to be viewed atat different times within that
dashboard.
Making sure that we're thinkingthrough those pieces too.
Anyway, so Love it.
Let's get down to our signature.
Closing questions for theleadership table.
Now I ask these questions toevery guest on this podcast.
(30:34):
So if you could sit at aleadership table, at a
leadership table with threeother leaders, whether alive or
from history, who would youchoose, and why?
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Yeah, great, great question.
And since I've been listeningto your podcast, I knew this
question was coming, so I had Ihad my answer pre prepared.
So I I did have to think aboutthis quite a bit and bounced
around a couple of folks thatcame back to the three, the
three that I would choose.
Seth Godin would be somebody Iwould bring to the table.
(31:26):
He's not a traditionalleadership guy, but when you
start reading his books, whichhe's out there as the lead
marketer and he createdessentially, but he's he's a
great marketer, but heunderstands that in business you
need to be able to market toyour people, you need to be able
to do some of those kinds ofthings.
Um, and so I I'd bring Seth um,I was thinking of, like a modern
day, like you know, massiveTitan.
(31:48):
That would just be kind of funto buy, you know, ask questions,
and I think I'd probably putMark Cuban into that group.
He's a technologist, he's onsports companies, he's on
satellite companies, he's ashark on Shark Tank, but most of
his money has come throughfinancial engineering, which is
kind of fun, and so I think I'dbring him out there.
(32:09):
And he loves to be a contrarian, which is kind of fun.
So, and then Ken Blanchard, andso I think I'd bring him out
there and he loves to be acontrarian, which is kind of fun
.
And then Ken Blanchard I don'tknow if you're familiar with Ken
.
He's the author of theOne-Minute Manager.
You know One-Minute ManagerMeets the Monkey, which is a
fantastic little book about youknow, task management and how to
lead your team, but he alsoinvented situational leadership
(32:35):
that I think a lot of peopleforget about, and so those would
be the three folks I wouldthrow, and then I think between
those three there'd be a lot offireworks, which would be a lot
of fun too.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
So Well, you have a very impressive dream board of
directors there.
That would.
They would definitely getthings done at the table.
There would be some fireworksthere too.
Second question and finalquestion what's one conversation
in your career that profoundlyshaped you as a leader?
(33:08):
I know there's been lots ofconversations that you've had
with other leaders, especiallyin your role and what you do,
but what's one conversation inyour career that shaped who you
are as a leader?
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, this we've talked about a few already that
have been that have been shapedme a little bit.
The the one, though, um, thatprobably has had the most
profound impact on me was in inFebruary of 2015, was running a
growing business.
We'd actually raised someventure capital into Time Forge
(33:45):
and I was busy.
Um and um, we get a call and areceptionist transferred it over
to me, a very upset lady andshe starts off the conversation
by telling me her name.
I didn't know who this lady wasand she then tells me that her
separated husband has passedaway and I'm running a tech
(34:08):
company and I'm like I don'tknow you.
I don't really understand whyyou're calling me about this.
She then goes on to tell me hey, he committed suicide.
We left her and her childrenwithout anything, Um, and all
they had was his last paycheckand his life insurance.
And I was walking across thefloor and I just stopped and I
was like I could hang up.
This sounds like a crazy lady,Like I don't really know what to
(34:31):
say.
Um, but I had a little.
There was a little voice in myhead.
It was like a little empathy,Like this lady is having a very
hard time.
Let's talk to her.
So I started asking questionsand it turns out that I had
previously met her, almost 10years prior.
Um, and I knew her deceasedhusband and hadn't talked to the
(34:51):
guy in almost a decade.
Um, and she said something.
The guy in almost a decade andshe said something completely
stopped me on my tracks and shesaid well, did you get our
Christmas presents?
We went shopping for you.
And so I started asking evenmore questions and save you a 20
minute story here.
It turns out that her ex-husbandhad been laid off and had for a
(35:16):
decade almost been parking hiscar in our shared parking lot
and had been telling her thatshe worked, and she thought that
he worked for me because he wastrying to get ahead in life and
(35:37):
he wanted to show her that hewas not a construction worker
anymore, that he was in the techcycle and he was in finance,
and so he had imagined thisentire story for a decade and
told his ex or separated wifethat he was doing all of these
things, and then he ultimatelywould park his car in our
parking lot it was a very largeparking lot, I'd never noticed
(36:00):
it and then he'd get on the busand take the bus to work, and so
we unraveled this over a fewdays and obviously it was a very
sad situation that he passedaway and she thought there was
life insurance and was getting apaycheck and none of that was
true.
But from an empathy perspective,it really hit me that like you
(36:21):
don't really know what's goingon with other people, Like you
have no idea.
I mean that's a very extremeexample, but most of us get up
every day, put our pants on oneleg at a time, walk out the door
, and I just assume that all ofmy neighbors do the same
freaking things I do every day,and it's probably not true.
(36:41):
There's billions of people onthe planet.
Everybody has got their ownstory.
They're doing it their own way.
Um, and working with, with thislady and her ex-husband Trey,
and, you know, trying to helpher collect some pieces which
I'd spent most of my day doing,was a bit profound for me and
kind of shook me to my core,going you never know what's on
(37:02):
the other side.
I mean you just you don't know,and so it's best to lead with
questions and empathy andunderstanding, because
everybody's different.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Wow, that is definitely something that I
don't think any leader, anymanager could imagine that
conversation happening on theend of their phone call when
they pick up the phone.
And I'm glad that you listenedto that voice and had the
(37:39):
empathy, not being rushed,because at times, yeah, we feel
like we are having a very busyday.
I need to do this Stop callingme, you crazy lady and to be
there for her in that moment andunderstand that this wasn't
just a situation on the end ofthat phone call.
(38:00):
That can happen day to day inevery interaction with the
people that we have working withus, working for us, and to
pause, take a moment and saywhat does this situation need
from me right now versus what Ineed from it can quickly change
(38:21):
everything in a good way.
So that is amazing, man.
Now I don't want to end it on asomber note, but that's still
an amazing story.
But before we wrap up, wherecan listeners connect with you
and learn more about how TimeForge is helping leaders run
(38:42):
better teams?
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Yeah, I'm.
I'm the least difficult personto find on the Internet.
I think If you'll just type myname into Google Anthony Presley
, you'll find me.
You'll find my LinkedIn.
I'm very active on LinkedIn.
Most of this industry is not,but certainly connect with me on
LinkedIn and then you cancertainly go to our website,
(39:05):
timeforgecom.
It's pretty straightforward.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Nice Well, anthony, thank you for your insights and
for sharing how leadership andtechnology work hand in hand and
it creates workspaces that notonly help lift people, but can
also lift profits too it.
(39:35):
If you found this episodevaluable, please subscribe,
leave a review and share it witha leader who's navigating the
challenges of leading in today'sworkplace.
You can always visit us atjasonebrookscom forward slash
podcast for more tools andresources to help grow your
leadership.
Until next time, manage, lead,coach and repeat.
(39:57):
Anthony, thank you so much.
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