April 23, 2025 • 46 mins
Jay Halliday of Vaxinova joins host Brandon Molnix for a heartfelt conversation about servant leadership that goes far beyond traditional management advice. Their candid exchange dives into how leadership principles transform not just workplaces but every human relationship.
Jay shares his unexpected journey into agriculture through his language skills, which launched him into an international business development role requiring extensive global travel. While professionally exhilarating, this schedule created personal challenges that taught him valuable lessons about balance and priorities. His revelation came through discovering servant leadership and specifically the "Coach Approach" - learning to ask "what does your gut tell you?" instead of always providing answers. This simple shift empowers others and builds genuine ownership and passion.
The discussion takes a compelling turn as they explore how asking better questions transforms relationships. Brandon and Jay reveal how changing "how was your day?" to "what was a win today?" creates deeper connections with children, team members, and even bosses. They unpack the importance of aligning people's natural talents with appropriate roles, using frameworks like "get it, want it, capacity to do it" to ensure everyone thrives in their position.
Perhaps most powerfully, Jay opens up about his personal growth journey toward humility, offering his favorite definition: "Humility isn't thinking less of yourself—it's thinking of yourself less." This vulnerability creates space for listeners to reflect on their own leadership approach, whether they lead teams, families, or simply influence those around them.
What leadership principles have transformed your relationships? Have you discovered the power of asking better questions? Join the conversation and share your experiences with the Poultry Leadership community.
Hosted by Brandon Mulnix - Director of Commercial Accounts - Prism Controls
The Poultry Leadership Podcast is only possible because of its sponsor, Prism Controls
Find out more about them at www.prismcontrols.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brandon Mulnix (00:26):
Welcome to the Poultry Leadership Podcast.
I'm your host, Brandon Mulnix.
This has been quite theadventure.
If you've been listening overthe last few episodes, you've
heard some amazing people fromour industry and I pride myself
in just being able to capturestories and share those stories
with you, the listeners.
Throughout the journey, Icontinue to meet all of these
(00:47):
great people and as I look backI'm like hey, who can I get on
the show?
That has had a pretty bigimpact on me.
From afar, he probably doesn'teven realize how much of an
impact he has.
I want to bring Jay Hallidayfrom Vaxinova to you today
because Jay is one of thesepeople in the industry that,
(01:08):
wherever you go, he's probablythere and he's probably talking
to somebody.
He's probably already deeplyengaged in their family story
and all of these things.
I'm excited to bring Jay ontothe show.
So, Jay, welcome to the show.
Jay Halliday (01:21):
Hey, Brandon, you're such a rock star.
Hey, thank you too kind, tookind, too kind.
Brandon Mulnix (01:25):
So, Jay, tell the audience a little bit about
who you are, so they can kind ofput the picture together.
Jay Halliday (01:36):
Sure, holy cows.
So currently working forVaxinova.
Vaxinova is a vaccine company.
I'm sure we'll talk more aboutit Feel really blessed in sales
and marketing Always been apassion of mine.
People relationships how did Iget here?
I was kind of thinking aboutthat when you kicked this off.
It's kind of a shout out toanybody listening to this that
is not too involved in ag or hasfamily and friends that aren't
too immediately involved in ag,because I did not come from an
(01:56):
ag background.
When I thought of agriculture Ithought it was just row crop
farming, really didn't see thegreater picture.
And now I see that ag has somany different, fun and exciting
career opportunities.
We need IT, we need tech.
Of course there's HR andaccounting.
This is outside of justhandling birds or grain or
anything of the sort.
Thousands of career optionshere in Ag.
(02:19):
So I fell into this prettybackwards.
I graduated from the Universityof Minnesota with Spanish,
global and Foreign Studies anddidn't really know what I wanted
to do.
But actually the couple ofthings I wanted to do was take a
one-way ticket to Europe or toAsia or go to LA, for acting
school was my hopes and dreams.
I speak some Spanish and I waslooking for a job coming back to
the summer here in Minnesotathat was kind of a Spanish focus
(02:41):
, and found this job Novatec,novatec Engineering.
They needed a Spanishtranslator and traveler, and so
I just kind of threw my name inthe hat and that brought me
right into a poultry career.
That was in 2007 and I'vereally loved it ever since.
Brandon Mulnix (02:56):
It doesn't surprise me that you wanted to
go to Hollywood and be an actor.
That's a piece of the storythat I'm not surprised about.
I didn't guess that.
But man, that is absolutely Ican see.
Jay Halliday (03:07):
I never made it.
Brandon Mulnix (03:09):
Well, you're famous.
Now You're on a podcast, atleast let's go.
So, Jay, you just mentionedwhere you kind of started in the
industry and how did you getthere?
I mean, what are some of thethings that you really noticed
right off the bat that wereinfluential to you and helped
you become who you?
Jay Halliday (03:26):
are today.
Undoubtedly with Novatec.
I had a really big passion fortravel, didn't do a lot of
traveling in my younger years.
I always had the bug for it,ideally, internationally, really
wanted to use that Spanish andNovatec really afforded me that
opportunity.
So Novatec does the infraredbeak treatment and vaccination
in the hatchery.
So if you get birds, chickens,ducks, turkeys, you're probably
(03:50):
seeing their product in thefield.
I was in charge of internationalbusiness development Mexico,
down South South America, spainand Portugal.
Me and a team of people like mewere traveling almost two weeks
on, two weeks off, probablylike 10, 12 days out and then
home for a couple of weeks anddo it again.
It's so interesting, that team,if you're kind of flying the
wall listening to that team talk.
It was so normal for us butprobably so wild for others to
hear because the conversationswould be like, hey, this week
(04:17):
I'm going to Spain, I'm going tobe in the weekend in Paris.
Before I dropped down to theNetherlands I got to put in a
new machine.
Someone's like hey, I'm goingto be in Bulgaria, I'm actually
blessing to see in the world andgetting paid to do it.
Spent a month down in Australia, new Zealand, in China for a
few weeks launching our companythere.
Really have been blessed to seea lot of the world.
Brandon Mulnix (04:40):
Yeah, what an opportunity you do take it for
granted when you're havingconversations about bouncing
around to all of thoseincredible places that people
just put on their bucket list togo there for personal and
vacation and stuff like that,where it's like, yeah, I'm just
going to run through Paris todayand, oh, I might drive by the
Eiffel Tower on the way to thejob site, whatever you know,
things like that where you justkind of take it for granted.
I know it's been important forme the travel piece spending all
(05:01):
of the years in my previouscareer in an ambulance looking
up in the sky, going.
How do those people get thosejobs where they get to fly all
the time?
And now I'm in a role where Iget to travel a lot.
But you said you were on twoweeks on, two weeks off.
How did that work for youpersonally?
Jay Halliday (05:14):
Brandon, not that well, if I could go back,
someone asked me recently.
They said what's the dumbestthing you've ever done in your
life?
Literally the dumbest thingI've ever done in my whole life
when we had our first child.
I didn't stop.
I actually was quite theopposite.
We were kind of incentivized insalary more.
Did you hear that A bird justhit my window?
Did you hear that I did?
That was weird, I apologize.
(05:35):
We were incentivized moresalary-wise to travel.
So when we had our first childI just thought the right thing
to do for the family was totravel significantly, both
financially to support, and thenwhen my wife at the time would
come back to work, I could takesome time off and be home.
And that is just the dumbestthing.
It's really hard to haveespecially young children and
travel.
So that puts quite a bit ofstress on a relationship.
Brandon Mulnix (05:57):
So how did you overcome that?
Jay Halliday (05:58):
I don't know that.
I did Brandon, so I have twokids.
They're my whole world actually.
Right at the time that Itransitioned to Vaxnova, that
was 2019 so I went frominternational business
development to national businessdevelopment and I actually I
don't miss the internationalfraction that much.
I have some great friendsaround the world that I love
seeing and we we still getinvites for weddings in this.
But the national piece has beenso much healthier and easier
(06:20):
relationally just to pop out twonights or three nights a week
and be back, versus these reallylong, grudging couple of weeks
on, couple of weeks off, right.
But it's a hard and uniquelifestyle.
The traveler's lifestyle itreally is, and you know very
well, you're familiar with it.
So really kudos or cheers toanybody that is able to manage
that with their family andrelationships and find the
balance with work Well.
Brandon Mulnix (06:41):
I think it's balance.
You use that word right therebalance.
If I were 20-something,30-something, travel probably
would be a lot harder, based onraising my family being part of
that, instead of me traveling.
In those years I just worked alot.
I had the same challenges youdid in terms of not being there
for my family, but mine wasbecause I was putting in the
hours 100 and some hours a week.
Because putting in the hourshundred and some hours a week
(07:03):
because there was plenty ofhours to fill and not realizing
what that would do to thatdevelopment of my child and
relationship and all of thatstuff, that's really important.
Thankfully, my kids have grownup so it's not nearly as much of
a challenge.
Now they can, as I say, wipetheir own butts and feed
themselves.
At 17 years old my youngestGood stage.
Jay Halliday (07:21):
Oh, that's good, he can finally learn he doesn't
listen to this.
So I can say that it's not coolfor him.
Yeah, you know, when you saythat, that reminds me.
You hear of people when theyinterview people on their
deathbed and they ask a lot ofquestions and the one thing that
never turns out and you'veprobably heard this is that
people say I wish I worked more.
I want to be careful when I saythat I'm really very passionate
(07:42):
about my customers and mycareer, but it's great to work
for a company that reallyunderstands the work-life
balance.
They're very supportive andwith all the travels, I'm pretty
able to look at my familyschedule when kids got maybe
baseball games or things andthen build my travel around that
.
So I'm still getting out twonights a week but I'm home for
all those primary importantmoments with my family and I've
(08:03):
got the full support of Accinomabehind me to do that.
Brandon Mulnix (08:06):
Well, you got to remember our customers also
have a usually work-life balanceissue.
They don't hide from the factthat their kids have sports and
their kids have dance and theirkids have all of the same
activities that yours do andmine do.
So to explain to them yeah, I'mtaking some time off to do that
, they get it.
And in fact, that's the bestpart of our industry is they get
(08:27):
it.
I've not met a customer yet inour industry that has said my
company is more important thanyour personal life.
I've never heard that we dolife together.
That's a great thing about, likeeven a social media world is
when you're friends with yourcustomers on social media, you
start to be able to relate towhat they're going through and
the challenges that they have.
You know sickness, or you startreading about their family
(08:48):
members dealing with cancer ordeath in their family and it's
like we're all one big familyhere.
We just have different parts.
And so for you, you were off,you know, traveling the world
excited and, and now it's itseems to be like you're settling
in, which is great.
I see, get to see your pictureswith your kids and all the
adventures you guys do too.
So you're doing a good job, dad.
Way to way to reshift yourfocus.
Jay Halliday (09:10):
It's the, it's the greatest man.
Being dad is the absolutegreatest.
And priorities is important.
I think for everybody,priorities is important.
You know, something I learnedthe hard way by really
overstretching myself in myyounger years was, the more you
say no to, you're actuallysaying yes to your current
commitments right, not spreadingyourself too thin.
So being self-aware of yourtime and what you say yes to
(09:32):
becomes really important.
Brandon Mulnix (09:33):
I'm sorry, Jay.
I said yes to this podcast.
I may have to cancel that no.
Jay Halliday (09:39):
I want to comment on something you said, though,
and this is kind of the same foryou and I both, because I see
you frequently around theindustry and love spending time
with you.
The people in the poultryindustry are wonderful people
like the best.
Right, I see people in thepoultry industry more than I see
my friends at home, honestly.
So I'm in the middle ofMinnesota.
This is one of the highest well, it's the highest turkey
producing county in the nation,maybe the world.
(10:01):
We believe it's kind of likeGenio and us here with Select
Genetics and then Butterballdown in North Carolina, but a
ton of poultry here, a ton ofpoultry companies and families
here, and I could discuss someof the history as of why.
But even some of these peoplethat live right next to me, I
only see them out in Californiaor out in Ohio or Indiana at
some of these events.
Right, it's so funny and Ithink, that's important.
I love sales, but I don't lookat sales through short-sighted,
(10:24):
cold call type sales.
My sales philosophy is buildrelationships.
Hopefully in those conversationsyou might have an opportunity
to share with a customer or afriend the product lines that
you have and then, if there's aneed down the future that they
say oh yeah like, for instance,we have a really great E coli
product, and so my hope is justto be able to share that at some
point with customers, maybe howit's worked for other producers
(10:45):
no pushing, no tails and thenin the future maybe they go cage
free or they have some organicoutdoor birds and they're really
struggling with some E coliperitonitis or some E coli
mortality and they think, ohyeah, Jay and I had that
conversation and so they giveyou a call.
So it's a really big win-win Nowanyway.
So anyway, love the people inthe poultry industry Some of my
besties, for sure.
Brandon Mulnix (11:04):
So one of your passions is leadership.
Though when we were talking,it's like hey, what topic are we
going to do?
And you're like well, you hosta leadership podcast.
Idiot, you should probably talkabout leadership with me.
And I'm like okay, so, Jay, whyare you so passionate about
leadership?
Jay Halliday (11:18):
That's so funny.
So when I was at Novatec, I wasleading a couple teams that
were traveling all over theworld and when I came here to
Vaxanova, actually I'm notleading people, which leading
people can be hard.
It can be a challenge.
It can be very rewarding If youreally care about your people
and then watching them continueto grow and develop and excel is
extremely rewarding.
Certainly can be some stressright At the same time.
Leadership principles there's acouple that I really live by.
(11:40):
Sometimes you go to differentconferences or you know it could
be again like a different kindof leadership training and you
walk away really with nothing.
And then there'll be that onethat changes everything, and for
me I would say that thatfoundation was called servant
leadership.
For your listeners that they'veheard of servant leadership
Even further, it's kind of amodule of that called the coach
(12:01):
approach, and coach approachreally changed everything for me
.
Brandon Mulnix (12:05):
Why?
Why did it change?
Jay Halliday (12:07):
everything for you .
So again, at Novocheck, we hadkind of the same product for 12
years and I kind of felt like anexpert, right.
And so someone would come intoyour office and they'd say, hey,
I've got this problem and ofcourse you've seen it before.
And so you say, yeah, here'sthe solution, here's the answer.
Go do right.
Yeah, maybe you're probablyright, but you have to
understand that you're hiringhumans and not robots.
You're hiring good people.
You want them to bring theirideas, their creativity, their
(12:29):
energy to the job.
You don't want robots to say godo.
And then they go do.
The coach approach really taughtme when someone comes in to
your office and they say, hey,I'm really struggling with this,
instead of saying go do, say oh, that must be hard, right,
there's some empathy there.
And then to say, what's yourgut?
Tell you that you should do.
And what happens is people.
Maybe if your coworker oremployee is hearing this for the
first time, I mean I'd be likeme.
(12:50):
You care, you care about myideas.
It breeds a lot of ownership,first off, because it's their
idea right A lot of passion fortheir job.
When I started to really, outof curiosity, say, okay, what do
you Sounds a little silly.
I wouldn't have thought of that, but maybe it turns out to be
the best thing for the situationand you can learn alongside
(13:13):
your people.
You also have to be okay withfailure or fail, as I like to
say right, fail F-A-I-L.
First attempt in learning, it'sokay to fail.
I mean, as a leader, you wantto build an environment around
you where people know it's okayto fail.
Now, it's not okay for peopleto get hurt or for you to wipe
out a barn of birds right, thereare limits to this failure.
(13:34):
But to fail small and thenlearn from failure we shouldn't
continue to have the samefailures.
Right, it should be a learningmechanism.
But you really want to letpeople know hey, I'm here for
you, I care for you, I want youto bring your creativity.
If you fail, I've got your back, I'm going to support you and
we're going to learn from it.
That's the coach approach in anutshell.
Brandon Mulnix (13:51):
Not easy but really powerful.
Well, you said a lot of greatthings there, Jay.
The empathy piece is important.
We can continue as managerstell people what to do or as
leaders guide them in what to do.
There's a huge difference, andyou also mentioned in there that
, as you have people that you'renot currently responsible for,
(14:12):
you know in your chain ofcommand, so to speak.
I've always find myself a leaderwherever I'm at, and try to
keep the same principles around.
If I'm having a conversation atchurch, it's empathy.
Oh man, that's hard.
What does your gut feel?
Saying very similar typeconversations?
Because we don't have to boxourself in as leaders at work.
(14:32):
We're leaders of our family.
How do we talk to our kids?
Are you doing the samequestions with your kids, or are
you giving them the solutionevery time they walk through the
door?
Hey dad, I've got an issue withthis.
Are we leading at home?
Are we leading with our wives,where sometimes we're not as
guys supposed to fix things?
We want to do that, butsometimes as leaders, we need to
step back and say that's hard.
(14:53):
How can we support you in that?
Or what do you feel?
Jay Halliday (14:55):
about that.
I love what you just said.
Sometimes we're not supposed tofix things.
Have you seen the littleYouTube video, two minute video
called nail, in the forehead.
Brandon Mulnix (15:03):
Oh my word, I have used that video probably a
hundred times in conversationsand send that to people.
Okay For your listeners.
Jay Halliday (15:10):
If you haven't just pause, go to YouTube, type
and, I think, nail on theforehead right, they can find it
and then come back to thispodcast.
That silly little two minuteskit also fundamentally changed
my whole life, and I really meanthat because I've always been a
fixer right, always been a holdup the mirror.
Here's what you should do.
Never been innately anempathetic person, and that
(15:31):
changed everything for me.
When I saw this, like wow, thishuman just needs to know that
someone hears them.
Stop pointing out the obvious,stop trying to fix things.
Literally, just be present.
They will figure it out, theywill fix it.
They just need you to empathizewith their situation.
It's really powerful.
Not easy to do.
That one's even harder to do.
Brandon Mulnix (15:50):
Yeah, going back to that video and pointing out
the most obvious things, becauseit's not just about a man with
his girlfriend or his wife andpointing out the problem.
It's more than that.
It's the trust in building thatrelationship with a person and
you mentioned that with yourcustomers, that it's important
to get to understand theirproblems and to not just be a
(16:10):
salesperson.
In that I've even found myselfover the last number of years
being a leader to my customersin times where they're trying to
deal with some challenge andit's not my product or solution
that's going to help them.
It's going to be helping askthe right question so that way
they're guided in potentiallythe right direction.
Maybe they're stuck and theydon't even know a direction, but
(16:32):
at least guiding them in adirection, because we have our
life's experiences that we cango on to help them.
I have a question have you evergiven someone advice that you
know they're absolutely notgoing to take?
Jeepers Brandon.
Jay Halliday (16:47):
I was married once .
Is that okay to say in thepodcast?
No, I don't know it is.
It is I, brandon.
I was married once.
Is that okay to say in thepodcast?
Brandon Mulnix (16:54):
No, I don't know , it is.
It is, I don't know.
I don't know.
Have you Tell me?
Yes, oh, all the time.
When I first got into fixingthings being a leader, my job
was I had to fix everything.
I'm a supervisor they're goingto come to me for everything and
I had the best advice.
Just ask me.
I could tell you that I had thebest advice.
I walk away and watch them,literally do absolutely nothing,
I say and it's reiterating thefact I have a son- yeah, I was
going to say he does basicallythe same thing.
Jay Halliday (17:15):
I'll do something related with my son.
Brandon Mulnix (17:16):
You know, Hit him with a two-by-four Guy's
just thick-skulled, right, butit's because there's no buy-in,
there's no relationship.
I didn't stop and listen.
I'm trying to solve the problem.
So, in the theory, with thenail and I have a hammer every
problem that I'm currentlydealing with could be used.
I need a hammer for, and so I'mpassionate about the hammer
right now, and that's the onlytool I need to use.
(17:38):
And so growth, personal growth,self-assessment, things like
that have really helped me.
Go man, I was a moron when Iused to lead people, because,
one, it's youthfulness.
Two, it's inexperience.
Three, emotional immaturity.
When you think that I've got tohave the answers to prove
myself as a leader.
When you realize that the bestleaders are usually the ones
(18:00):
that just ask the best questions, you go huh.
It's so important to have therelationship, to understand the
real problem, to say, hey, whatis that nail, so to speak, in
the person's life?
You can identify it, you canhelp them identify it, but it
doesn't mean you're there with ahammer trying to either pound
(18:22):
it in or pull it out.
Jay Halliday (18:25):
All these tools we're talking about, empathy,
coach, approach, all thesethings really they culminate and
come together in raising littlechildren.
Raising little children can bereally hard.
This book that still stickswith me on raising little kids
taught me so much.
So, for instance, in a youngchild, if they are frustrated
because maybe someone has theirtoy, instead of kind of trying
to hammer them and saying, hey,stop it, stop these behaviors,
(18:46):
it's not okay.
Learning to really empathizewith them.
I bet you're really hurtingbecause Jimmy took your toy.
Oh, that's your favorite toy,isn't it?
I bet that makes you feel sad.
And really helping youngchildren, you know, put words to
those emotions that they'refeeling, can really bond and
bring trust that you're therefor them.
And as long as they get thatout, then they can move forward
(19:07):
right.
So anyway, there's just goodluck for anybody with
four-year-olds.
You know it's not an easy stage.
My kids are past that now.
It's not always an easy stageand I always say too, kids
should be uh, the, they shouldbe fbi hostage negotiators like
you're trying to negotiate withthe child.
Brandon Mulnix (19:21):
They're so good, it's so hard yeah, one of the
best tips that I was ever givenwas actually um brian fretwell.
He was a guest on the podcastlast season and he talks about
asking really good questions.
I've brought this up probably acouple of times on the podcast
because I've seen it work.
I've seen this change, howquestions change relationships,
(19:45):
and so when you ask your kid,hey, how was your day, what do
they say?
Jay Halliday (19:49):
Good or nothing, whatever, you know not much.
But if you ask your kid, hey,what's your day?
What do they say?
Brandon Mulnix (19:51):
Good or nothing, whatever, Not much.
But if you ask your kid, hey,what was a win today or what was
something you were proud oftoday, they will go into an
incredible story about somethingthey're proud of that maybe
their teacher didn't see ormaybe their teacher told them
that they did a good job.
People will tell you when youask that question.
Well, what does the personvalue asking the question?
(20:12):
If you just say how was yourday?
Is it just a quick hey, is thata platitude?
To say hey, how was your day?
You know hey, yep, good, andyou walk away.
But if I ask you that tougherquestion oh, dad cares about my
wins today, it's positive, it'sa win and we talk about kids.
We talk about kids, we talkabout relationships, but it's
also your relationships withyour team.
It's not much different.
(20:42):
Because if you talk to yourteam member and say, hey, what
was a win today or what was awin this week that maybe I
didn't see because we workremote, it's awesome what they
share with you and you connecton a completely different level
than just saying, hey, how wasyour day?
Jay Halliday (20:46):
Or did you get your work done?
And I would even say, that'snot just for kids.
Ask your colleagues that, askyour friends, ask your parents.
That I think it really leansinto that personal relationship.
People realize you really care.
Brandon Mulnix (20:59):
Well, when is the last time you asked your
parent hey dad, what's a win?
Hey mom, what's a win today?
Or what made you proud thisweek?
And instead of going over toyour parents sitting there I
don't visit my parents nearlyenough, but it's like, hey,
what's going on with the entirefamily?
What do you care about?
I care about what my mom anddad's wins are, what their
(21:21):
moments are, and so, yeah, whenyou talk about your colleagues,
ask your boss.
It it's called managing upno-transcript.
When they're at the top of thecompany, if you're especially
the higher level you get veryrarely do you get a chance to be
asked what a win is.
(21:41):
Think of the CEO.
Well, who do they report toother than the people?
And the people on the teamusually aren't going to say, hey
, boss, what was your win thisweek?
Or what are you proud of, whatdid you bring value to the
company at?
They never ask him that becausethat's his job to ask them,
it's their job to show off tothe company, kind of thing.
Well, it's important.
Ask your boss, hey, what wasthe win this week?
Jay Halliday (22:05):
And watch their expression, because very rarely
have they ever been asked thatquestion.
You probably draw some of theirpassion for the company and it
helps break that kind of thatsurface barrier right.
Just to take that relationshipone step deeper.
Brandon Mulnix (22:13):
Especially if you've got a negative person, if
you're working with a negativeperson all the time to ask that
question hey, what was a winthis week?
Or hey, what did something thatwent right this week?
And you don't have to tell them, man, all you do is complain.
Don't tell them that, becausethat'll just make them complain.
But make them complain.
But you say, hey, you want tochange the tone.
You go hey, what was somethingthat went right this week?
Oh well, I wasn't late for worktoday.
(22:35):
Okay, that's a win.
Jay Halliday (22:42):
I don't know, at some point too, I mean, what
you're talking about and this isa really tough part of
leadership is on your team.
You got to get the right personin the right seat in the bus
and sometimes you got to sharesomeone with the competition.
That's my favorite way to sayit right Share someone with the
competition.
So I mean invest in a negativeNancy, but I don't know, maybe
they're not fit for your team.
Right, the 80-20 principle?
Right?
If all of your 80% of your timeis just working on some really
(23:03):
low performance, maybe youshould share them with the
competition.
Brandon Mulnix (23:05):
Well, I will share a different perspective on
that is, a lot of folks don'treally know what the
expectations of their bosses areand unless the boss really does
give the expectation of culture, and for example, if that
person's complaining all thetime and the boss just keeps
asking the same question overand over again and keeps getting
(23:25):
the complaint and doesn'tchange the hey, I want this to
be a positive work environment.
So they ask positive, directedquestions that get them to talk
about the wins and talk aboutthe challenges that they've
overcome, instead of just the Iwant to call them opportunities
but the problems that irritatethem.
We talk about changing tones ofwords and all that stuff, but
again, it's getting peoplealigned with your culture in
(23:46):
that If you give them everyopportunity there, I'm
absolutely sure that they maynot be on the right seat on the
bus.
But talk about that busprinciple a little bit more.
How have you seen thatprinciple work about making sure
people are the right seat onthe bus?
Jay Halliday (23:58):
Yeah, you know there's so many different
studies that people can take.
There is one that Iparticularly like called
StrengthsFinders.
You ever heard of that bychance?
Yeah, oh yeah.
So StrengthsFinder, it'sanother assessment.
You know, there's like 34strengths and it'll give you
your top five and the idea isthat you don't want to know the
rest of them or the bottom five,because that's what you focus
on.
You really want to focus onwhat, what the Lord put in, in a
(24:19):
sense, and it's it's kind ofthat idea.
Here's a really good principleis if you have a child that
comes home and has a you, whatdoes the parent focus on?
That D has to get up.
Instead, that StrengthsFinderprinciple is going hey, this
looks like an area that's reallytough for you.
You're probably never going tobe good at it, irrespective of
how much you pour into it.
(24:39):
Look at these two A's over here.
How can we double down on theseA's?
How can we utilize your talentshere more?
And it's a very upside downprinciple, essentially so
getting some idea orself-awareness of your personal
character and the naturaltalents that you have in your
heart.
So it could be StrengthsFinders.
There's Disc Analysis, there'sMyers-Briggs, there's a whole
(25:00):
pile of them, but just reallyunderstanding self.
And then how do you apply thatto your work?
Sometimes, it is true, there arejobs that you might hate, that
others might love.
I know it sounds crazy becauseyou're like I really don't enjoy
doing this.
How could anybody enjoy doingthis?
But some people do sorearranging the pieces so that
people fall into the items thatthey're naturally good at and
that they enjoy, and soeverybody is filled with.
(25:22):
I guess we call them greencards, let's say.
Now you of course, might havesome red cards, some things that
you just have to do, right?
I mean, I got to submit myexpenses every month.
It's not that fun.
I don't think anybody can do itfor me.
So there are some of theseitems, but on a large part, if
you can arrange all the peoplein your team that they're
executing on their naturaltalents, I think it'll lift the
whole team further.
Brandon Mulnix (25:42):
Yeah, in our company we use principle through
EOS or Entrepreneur OperatingSystem, but it's called get it,
want it and have the capacity todo it.
Let's say a maintenance guy andhe gets it.
He's got great problem-solvingskills and he could do this job
in his sleep.
Let's get it, want it.
Well, maybe that maintenanceguy the role that you put him in
is in a supervisory role wherehe does not want to do
(26:05):
evaluations, he doesn't want tobuild on the company culture.
So maybe the want it's notthere, but the capacity to do it
.
You've got these great people.
They want to do it, but they'reso overwhelmed with everything
on their plate that they have nocapacity to actually get it
done.
It's like, okay, yourcapacities is just not there.
(26:25):
So you evaluate we do this on aquarterly basis where every
team member goes quickly.
Can you see anything thatchanges their get it, want it or
have the capacity to do it?
And if any of those are a no,they become something to discuss
.
Is it the role has changed orevolved, which happens to jobs?
It happens all the time wherelife happens outside and all of
(26:45):
a sudden the job continues onand life changed and maybe they
don't have the capacity to do itanymore.
Maybe they don't have the wantit to do it anymore.
It's not that they're a bad fitfor your company, but the role
that you're asking them to dodoesn't work for them anymore.
So, as a leader, you have acouple of choices.
Do you change the role, make itmore fit for what their skill
(27:06):
set is meaning their naturalabilities or do you find a
different role for them orcreate a different role within
the company?
Because we don't want to losetalent.
We never want to lose peoplethat have a great cultural fit,
but if they don't want the rolethey're in, you're never going
to see them as an A player inthat role, and it shows up in so
many different ways.
You set a project goal and afew years go by and they still
(27:29):
haven't hit that goal, andyou're like what's keeping you
from doing it?
Oh, do you need to go toclasses?
You need to learn how to do it?
No, I know how to do it.
Oh, you don't want to do it.
Yeah, I don't want to do it.
Okay, well then, maybe that'snot the goal for them, or maybe
this isn't the role, especiallyif that's going to take your
company much, much fartherforward, and it's fair
assessment of everybody.
I look at myself and it's aconstant self-assessment of do I
(27:52):
get the job I'm in, do I havethe capacity to do the job I'm
in, or do I have the want to dothe job I'm in, especially as
now that I'm in a higher levelof leadership where if I'm not
an A player in my role, Ishouldn't be here.
I mean, I'm a detriment to thecompany and most people don't
have enough self-awareness.
They're just thinking, well,this is my job.
I've been here for 30 years, Ideserve this job Well, but if
(28:15):
you don't have the want it toget it or the capacity to do it,
maybe you're holding thecompany back.
Maybe you'd actually like alower role where you're not
having 20 reports or you're nothaving this mundane admin stuff
that you're responsible for.
That you just.
I go back to the paramedicworld.
Taking the best paramedics outthere and making the managers
was the worst decision that mostpeople could make, and it
(28:38):
happened all the time.
It was like, yeah, the bestparamedic doesn't mean they're
the best manager, because you'reliterally tying them down with
administrative tasks and that'susually what paramedics are not
that great at doing yeah, so Iyou say that, I mean I think a
lot of things when you say that,but when you, when you said
that, one just there thatreminds me sometimes in our
industry too.
Jay Halliday (28:57):
This is kind of for anybody working in well in
birds in our industry.
But with animals, what I oftenfind, unfortunately, is that
veterinarians, who are the mostvaluable people, are bogged down
in paperwork.
Right, you're absolutelyoverwhelmed and sitting in their
office doing paperwork and I'mthinking, man, these are the
people that should be on withthe birds, right, these are the
people that add the most value.
Brandon Mulnix (29:17):
There's definitely some truth to that If
you're looking across theindustry, there's a lot of
people that have evolved intheir roles, that the thing that
they went to school for they'repassionate about, they're no
longer doing because they'rebogged down by administrative
tasks that, honestly, you takeaway their talent.
So if you look out at your team, this is directly to you
audience.
(29:37):
If you look out at your teamand you find somebody that man,
they were a rock star and nowthey're not.
Did you promote it out of them?
I mean, that's a great questionAre they in the right role?
Would they be better off backin their old role where they
were happiest?
And that's your job as a leaderto evaluate that with your team
all the time.
Jay Halliday (29:56):
Yeah, you know, a fundamental tenet of servant
leadership is, instead of, let'ssay, telling your people what
to do, you ask the question isthere any barriers that I can
remove for you?
Right, so, as the leader, youwant to set the vision.
Very important.
Hey, here's the end zone.
You have to have boundaries.
Hey, this is out of bounds.
So we need to get this ball tothat end zone.
You never watch an NFL gamewith the coach with his headset
(30:16):
runs on and plays thequarterback.
You want to teach and train andencourage your people, but the
question is, if they have thegoal right, they have to
understand the purpose.
Is there any barrier that I canremove for you?
You want to liberate or freethem up to go do their best work
.
Brandon Mulnix (30:29):
It's a great question to ask.
It's usually the question I getto start with.
It's easier to say, hey, whatcan I change in this to make you
more successful, and it'samazing.
A lot of times I'll say no,there's nothing that you can do
for me.
I'm like, okay, then what doyou need to change?
This doesn't work with a spouseas well, you know.
It goes back to the what do Ineed to change to make this very
successful.
But there's some truth in it,though.
(30:50):
If it's real and you say, hey,what can I change?
Or what can I the barriers Ican take, and how much people
grow from that and just connect,because that is your role as a
coach.
You're right, they're not onthe field at all.
Jay Halliday (31:01):
I really feel like in relationships.
The two key principles ofmaintaining a relationship are
humility, which we should talkabout, and communication.
Right, I mean communicationfirst to say all the things
right, but if you're strugglingwith something, to say, hey, I
need this in this relationship,and then the other person has to
bring the humility to say, wow,okay, you're right, I'm willing
to make this change, you'rewilling to do something
(31:22):
different.
Communication and humility.
Humility, I'll tell you, sincewe're talking about leadership
journey and my personal journey,I never knew that the word
humility existed until I wasabout 30 years old, which is
really sad.
There are a few things you know.
Of course, all of us like tojump in the time machine and
change some things, but if Icould go back and hit myself
over the head with a two by fourand just draw the word humility
(31:43):
on my forehead, I would.
It's been a journey for meagain, somewhere around 30, to
just continue to understand thatand grow with that.
What does humility mean?
A lot of different ways todescribe it.
My favorite way is humility isnot thinking less of yourself.
It's thinking of yourself less,right.
So not thinking less ofyourself, but thinking of
(32:03):
yourself less and putting othersfirst, lifting others up.
Brandon Mulnix (32:07):
And where did you see that biggest struggle in
the pre 30 year J?
Jay Halliday (32:13):
Such a good question.
My first thought went to Ilearned something about myself.
I'm an eternal optimist andsomeone had said, hey, optimists
are always late and I thoughtoh because the issue is, as
optimists, we think we can fiteverything in.
Like you've got a 15 minutedrive and you have to get in the
car and you're trying to packand I can do this and this and
this and this and this, and thenyou know you only got 10
(32:34):
minutes to get there and thenyou end up being five minutes
late because you thought youcould pack in so many things
before you had to jump in thecar and get there.
In a sense, that was my wholelife.
I mean, I just packed ineverything, I thought I could
fit everything in right, and itended up being a little bit the
Jay show in a sense, right whenI was, it was about me.
It was about me essentially,man.
I can't tell you how muchthat's flipped on its head Now.
This weekend I drove six, sevenhours to help a guy move for a
(32:56):
day and then drive back.
It's like how can I serve, howcan I help Right, being
available for others, listening,being really receptive.
Brandon, I think your faith isreally important to you.
It's been huge, huge part of mylife.
And so there's a verse I haveit right in front of me John
3.30 that says he must becomegreater, I must become less.
It's my new favorite verse andI think all the time.
If there was less Jay and moreJesus, right, how much better
(33:20):
would the world be.
Just the characteristics ofbeing really patient and really
present for people and reallycaring and really listening.
You go through all those thingslike man.
If those things were more andmy ego was less, it would just
be better.
We can join each other on thejourney and encourage each other
and put humility first.
Brandon Mulnix (33:38):
So what flipped the switch?
I mean, was there a moment, wasthere a situation, was there a
mistake?
What flipped that?
Jay Halliday (33:45):
switch for you?
Certainly some mistakes.
I probably first jumped on it,though, in the servant
leadership principles and evenwhat we talked about, that coach
approach.
When someone comes in youroffice with a problem, instead
of saying, yeah, I know theanswer, I know all the things
right, this is what's right.
Do this.
To just have the humility andjust take a breath and say, all
right, what do you think?
How can I support you?
(34:05):
You're important.
Yeah, I would say probably.
There, I mean, let's nottotally gloss it over I've
certainly made some mistakes inmy life that I wish.
Brandon Mulnix (34:17):
I could go back and sprinkle some humility in
there.
You are speaking to the choiras well.
I mean, it's taken me a longway 46 years to get to this
version of me.
There are many versions alongthe way that weren't so humble,
that weren't so giving Periodsof I mean years of focused on
self instead of being selfless.
And it takes moments, it takesthings to happen.
(34:40):
It takes feedback from othersbefore you go oh crap, whether
that's your spouse, parents,friends that say, yeah, I don't
like that version, don't likethat version at all.
And it takes growth.
It takes those moments becauseso many people go well, that's
their problem and don't realizethat, nope, if they're willing
to give you that feedback, thatis your problem and you should
(35:03):
probably listen.
Jay Halliday (35:04):
Yeah, that's the humility part, if people are
willing to give that feedback,that communication we're talking
about, really to receive that.
But so you mentionedrelationship.
I'll just say this to anybodywith a significant other, I
think, natural tendencies Okay,I'm just kind of painting a
larger picture, but we sometimes, as men, view things different.
I'll give you something from myown personal relationship.
(35:25):
Putting work first, I thought,was putting the family first.
What do I mean?
I thought that the best thing Icould do for my family lift up
my family, family's the priority, family's first, I thought, was
work and provide.
I think that's just our naturaltendencies as men.
We want to provide.
So I'm saying, hey, I'm puttingthe family first by working.
And then a spouse might say, no, you're being selfish, you're
(35:47):
putting your career and yourlife and your desires first and
the family is on the back burner.
And in all honesty, she'sprobably right.
But you can see how just thosedifferent viewpoints come at an
entirely different perspectiveand that's where it takes that
humility to say, wow, I see itfrom your perspective.
You're right.
Brandon Mulnix (36:05):
I'm willing to make some change.
I agree with you when it comesto the way man was designed as a
species, going back to thecreation.
It's okay, man is there toprovide and it's just in our DNA
.
There's Maslow's hierarchy ofneeds and it's security and it's
our basic food needs and ourbasic needs of of anything, and
it's just the way we grew up,our culture.
(36:26):
I mean, I looked at my dad.
He was an amazing hard workerand I thought, man, if I could
be just as successful as he canbe is if he does that, if I do
that, and put in those hours.
But it's also what is the needsof relationship, acceptance and
love.
And when you put yourself outthere, you know facing in the
direction of work, sometimesyou're turning your back on
(36:46):
those other needs within evenyour kids.
They need dad for certainperiods until they turn about 13
and know everything.
It's so important that we doboth.
It's not and or or.
We still have to be in ourminds, find our purpose, go
after that purpose with the sameconcept of also supporting
those around us and having thatawareness of hey, how is my
(37:09):
desire to go?
Do this affecting their needs,what they need from me, and it's
a balancing game.
Everybody has a different deckof cards.
People have different struggles, people have different needs,
people value things differently.
That's the whole thing aboutthe relationship is working
through all that and making surethat both needs are met while
still being who we are as people, without completely sacrificing
(37:30):
our identities as well, becausethat's the opposite.
That's when people totally aregiven everything they got and
never actually care forthemselves, and I know a couple
folks that that's the seasonthey're in where they've
literally expounded themselvesfor everybody else.
They're selfless, but they havenothing left to give and
they're unhealthy becausethey've just yes, yes, yes, yes,
(37:52):
yes, yes, yes.
Jay Halliday (37:53):
And they say no to themselves.
The airplane oxygen mask theoryright, it's like you got to put
your oxygen mask out first ifyou want to be able to help
others.
Brandon Mulnix (37:59):
But I don't have time for that.
Jay Halliday (38:00):
Yeah, you got to have boundaries.
You really do.
I heard you say that you had agood role model in your dad.
Do you have a good relationshipwith your old man?
Brandon Mulnix (38:08):
Oh yeah, oh yeah , he's proud of me, he tells me
I'm proud, he's proud of me allthe time, he's a big fan of the
show, listens, listens to theshow and you know just, it's
cool.
It's one of those things where,when I was a young punk, I
always wanted to grow up.
I want to make more money thanmy dad, not having a clue that
inflation would have probablymade that happen, you know
pretty easily.
But the idea was I want toprovide a better life for my
(38:31):
family than my dad did.
Just as a goal, you know to say, hey, my dad did good, he
worked really hard as anelectrician.
How can I take that to thatnext level?
And so I did have a great rolemodel with my dad and it's yeah,
yeah, that's just that's beenthe huge thing.
Jay Halliday (38:46):
My dad too.
He's my best friend and he'sbeen my greatest role model.
I think this world could be abetter place if we had more good
dads.
I really do it, that's probablyI've got a huge soft spot for
that and just being role models.
And hey, legacy is real, Legacyis really real.
Right, you hear like thatdoesn't quite have that
(39:07):
relationship and anencouragement to anybody that's
a father, to think about legacy.
Brandon Mulnix (39:08):
You know, Jay, I'm going to expound on that.
I think every man has thecapability of being a father,
even if it's not to their ownkids.
Jay Halliday (39:16):
And.
Brandon Mulnix (39:16):
I say that because there are so many people
that their kids grow up andthey move away and they just
feel like abandoned in a way.
But there's so many youngerpeople that they can have that
same influence on of being a dadthat maybe didn't have a good
dad situation or maybe their daddied, maybe they're in that gap
.
But as human beings it's okayto be a fatherly figure to
(39:38):
people older people than you.
Sometimes, I mean again, we goback to servant leadership and
giving of ourselves, and thatdoesn't mean just to our kids,
our employees, it means to theworld.
I mean there's no boundariesthat we were set on.
I mean there's no rule book,there's no guidelines.
It's like, no, you're called toserve.
Well, how do I serve toeverybody within boundaries?
(40:00):
Yeah, yeah.
Jay Halliday (40:02):
Yeah, that actually reminds me of a long
distant memory of a Wednesdaynight youth group.
I remember I kind of want to dowhatever I want to do, whatever
I want to do.
And I remember this reallystrong mentor of mine, one of
the youth pastors there, saying,hey, you don't realize, but all
these little kids around you, Imean they're, they're just a
couple of years younger, theyall look up to you.
It's like what do you mean?
I'm living my that to me as aleader, I'm just saying for all
(40:29):
men that we're speaking to now,all the people around you in
your sphere, those listening tothis, they're looking up to you.
Brandon Mulnix (40:34):
So you are that role model Very well put, I find
myself being a little fatherlyto younger guys coming into the
company, taking them under yourwing.
You know, we just had aconversation with a young man
the other day a couple of usguys at the company and you know
he just got his acceptanceletter to a big university and
we're going to miss the crap outof this young talent.
(40:54):
But it's like, hey, have youthought of these things?
These are all good things andwe're so proud of you, but have
you thought of these things?
Doesn't matter, doesn't changeour opinion, but have you
thought of these things?
Because if you've thought ofthem, great, if you haven't,
just at least take time to thinkabout them.
You know what I mean, becauseyou don't want to tell somebody
what to do, but, again, as afather, it's to guide them.
(41:15):
It's to have them learn frommaybe something that you
experienced, and that's the sameis true for work, as it is in
your family.
You want to guide your kids.
You want to guide your team.
Use your life experience.
It's okay to be vulnerable.
If you've been in jail, it'sokay to talk about.
Hey, I made some mistakes, Iwent to jail, and you know what.
I've grown from it, because I'mgoing to respect that person
(41:36):
way more than if I found out 20years down the road that I've
been with them and they've neverbeen that vulnerable for me to
say, you know, because they'reso embarrassed about their story
.
It's like we all have stories.
We all have grown, live it, useit as part of your story, not
as a bad thing, but somethingthat you've overcome.
That, to me, is so important isto be real and transparent with
(41:57):
your team, your kids and youknow, at the right time, share
the right information.
It's not the walk in the doorand go yeah, I'm a convicted
felon, no, no, no, no, no.
Exactly, you know it's.
It's share the right story,share what you've overcome and
it's okay, you've got.
It's your story and that's thereason this podcast exists is
because of stories of peopleovercoming things, people
(42:21):
sharing their hearts and theirvisions and and also, you know,
like your, passion forleadership.
So, Jay, I'm going to kind oftry to close this in here a
little bit.
If I'm a new person gettinginto this industry and I'm in
sales or some support of ourfarmers, what advice do you have
for me?
Jay Halliday (42:37):
Well, first, off, everybody is a leader.
My description for leadershipis influence, and so you, as a
human, human, you areinfluencing the people around
you.
Undoubtedly, you know youpeople say like you are the
product of the five influencersaround you, right?
Whether that's books andpodcasts or humans, for sure.
So already you are a leader,you are influencing.
(42:58):
I like to say, start with theend in mind, and so I think, if
I'm speaking to that personindividually right now, think
about both your character, whoyou want to be, and then your
career aspirations.
A really good mental exerciseis to think about having a
funeral today and your lovedones are all around you and
(43:18):
imagine just kind of being inthe room listening to what
they're saying about yourcharacter, about your person,
right, they're all standing upsharing an anecdote about
you.
Are they sharing the thingsthat you want them to share?
Maybe?
If so, double down.
You're doing great.
If not, have that humility tolook inside and make that
personal change.
So that would be the first one,and that can be the same.
The career aspirations too.
I mean just people talkingabout some of the wonderful
(43:40):
things that you did for theindustry or humanity, or however
big your aspirations are, youknow, are you on the track to,
to do that and develop that?
That'd probably one.
Brandon, you said the wordvulnerability.
I think that's great, also fora young person coming in here be
vulnerable.
The people in the poultryindustry are awesome people, you
know.
If anybody came to me or came toyou, brandon said hey, I'm new
(44:01):
to this industry.
Could you help plug me in?
We've got Peak coming up here.
This will probably launchbefore Peak, which is a poultry
show.
If anybody came to my booth andsaid I'm new here, would you
walk me around?
What an honor.
How neat would that be to walkaround and share right?
Or ask the same question thatyou asked hey, I'm new here.
What are some things that Ireally need to learn?
Can you help shorten mylearning curve here?
Absolutely, all of us arewilling to invest, but you got
(44:23):
to reach out.
You have to take thatinitiative and show some
vulnerability.
Brandon Mulnix (44:26):
No, thank you.
This is an incredible industry.
That's why this podcast existsis for this industry, for the
great people in this industry.
If I didn't think that theywere amazing people, there's no
way that I would take this timeto do a podcast for them.
You know what I mean.
It would be like, no, not worthit.
But this is.
This is why I get giddy to haveinterviews with folks.
I get giddy to talk aboutreally, really tough topics that
(44:49):
I'm starting to see after beingin the industry for a while,
starting to see people open upand be vulnerable and to show
that, hey, we're not a bunch oftough guys in the industry.
We're actually a big family andpeople fall, people stumble and
we're going to all learn fromfrom the adventure.
So, Jay, I know we didn't havenearly enough time of us talking
(45:11):
about.
Jay Halliday (45:14):
We didn't talk about, yeah, the industry
vaccines.
Brandon Mulnix (45:16):
We'll call it.
Consider this episode one ofthe Jay and Brandon podcast and
we will bring him back on totalk more about the industry
issues.
But, man, what you brought forleadership today was so, so
incredible.
Thank you for being a guest onthe show today.
Jay Halliday (45:32):
Thank you, Brandon .
I'm so proud of you for puttingthis together.
This is fun.
Brandon Mulnix (45:35):
Hey podcast listeners.
This podcast wouldn't bepossible without Prism Controls
it's my plug for theiradvertising, but they do invest
a lot in this podcast throughthe opportunities that they give
me and just their value andwhat they appreciate about the
industry they're here to serve.
They have a selfless.
They give more than probablywhat they ever should or what's
(45:58):
ever expected of them, andthat's our values.
Again, it's all about giving.
It's all about caring about theindustry.
Use Again, it's all aboutgiving.
It's all about caring about theindustry.
So please check out PrismControls on Facebook, linkedin
website, prismcontrolscom, andif you found this show valuable,
please share it, like it,subscribe, just to make sure
(46:18):
that you get all the futureepisodes and with that, have a
great day.
Welcome to the Poultry Leadership Podcast.
I'm your host, Brandon Mulnix.
This has been quite theadventure.
If you've been listening overthe last few episodes, you've
heard some amazing people fromour industry and I pride myself
in just being able to capturestories and share those stories
with you, the listeners.
Throughout the journey, Icontinue to meet all of these
(00:47):
great people and as I look backI'm like hey, who can I get on
the show?
That has had a pretty bigimpact on me.
From afar, he probably doesn'teven realize how much of an
impact he has.
I want to bring Jay Hallidayfrom Vaxinova to you today
because Jay is one of thesepeople in the industry that,
(01:08):
wherever you go, he's probablythere and he's probably talking
to somebody.
He's probably already deeplyengaged in their family story
and all of these things.
I'm excited to bring Jay ontothe show.
So, Jay, welcome to the show.
Jay Halliday (01:21):
Hey, Brandon, you're such a rock star.
Hey, thank you too kind, tookind, too kind.
Brandon Mulnix (01:25):
So, Jay, tell the audience a little bit about
who you are, so they can kind ofput the picture together.
Jay Halliday (01:36):
Sure, holy cows.
So currently working forVaxinova.
Vaxinova is a vaccine company.
I'm sure we'll talk more aboutit Feel really blessed in sales
and marketing Always been apassion of mine.
People relationships how did Iget here?
I was kind of thinking aboutthat when you kicked this off.
It's kind of a shout out toanybody listening to this that
is not too involved in ag or hasfamily and friends that aren't
too immediately involved in ag,because I did not come from an
(01:56):
ag background.
When I thought of agriculture Ithought it was just row crop
farming, really didn't see thegreater picture.
And now I see that ag has somany different, fun and exciting
career opportunities.
We need IT, we need tech.
Of course there's HR andaccounting.
This is outside of justhandling birds or grain or
anything of the sort.
Thousands of career optionshere in Ag.
(02:19):
So I fell into this prettybackwards.
I graduated from the Universityof Minnesota with Spanish,
global and Foreign Studies anddidn't really know what I wanted
to do.
But actually the couple ofthings I wanted to do was take a
one-way ticket to Europe or toAsia or go to LA, for acting
school was my hopes and dreams.
I speak some Spanish and I waslooking for a job coming back to
the summer here in Minnesotathat was kind of a Spanish focus
(02:41):
, and found this job Novatec,novatec Engineering.
They needed a Spanishtranslator and traveler, and so
I just kind of threw my name inthe hat and that brought me
right into a poultry career.
That was in 2007 and I'vereally loved it ever since.
Brandon Mulnix (02:56):
It doesn't surprise me that you wanted to
go to Hollywood and be an actor.
That's a piece of the storythat I'm not surprised about.
I didn't guess that.
But man, that is absolutely Ican see.
Jay Halliday (03:07):
I never made it.
Brandon Mulnix (03:09):
Well, you're famous.
Now You're on a podcast, atleast let's go.
So, Jay, you just mentionedwhere you kind of started in the
industry and how did you getthere?
I mean, what are some of thethings that you really noticed
right off the bat that wereinfluential to you and helped
you become who you?
Jay Halliday (03:26):
are today.
Undoubtedly with Novatec.
I had a really big passion fortravel, didn't do a lot of
traveling in my younger years.
I always had the bug for it,ideally, internationally, really
wanted to use that Spanish andNovatec really afforded me that
opportunity.
So Novatec does the infraredbeak treatment and vaccination
in the hatchery.
So if you get birds, chickens,ducks, turkeys, you're probably
(03:50):
seeing their product in thefield.
I was in charge of internationalbusiness development Mexico,
down South South America, spainand Portugal.
Me and a team of people like mewere traveling almost two weeks
on, two weeks off, probablylike 10, 12 days out and then
home for a couple of weeks anddo it again.
It's so interesting, that team,if you're kind of flying the
wall listening to that team talk.
It was so normal for us butprobably so wild for others to
hear because the conversationswould be like, hey, this week
(04:17):
I'm going to Spain, I'm going tobe in the weekend in Paris.
Before I dropped down to theNetherlands I got to put in a
new machine.
Someone's like hey, I'm goingto be in Bulgaria, I'm actually
blessing to see in the world andgetting paid to do it.
Spent a month down in Australia, new Zealand, in China for a
few weeks launching our companythere.
Really have been blessed to seea lot of the world.
Brandon Mulnix (04:40):
Yeah, what an opportunity you do take it for
granted when you're havingconversations about bouncing
around to all of thoseincredible places that people
just put on their bucket list togo there for personal and
vacation and stuff like that,where it's like, yeah, I'm just
going to run through Paris todayand, oh, I might drive by the
Eiffel Tower on the way to thejob site, whatever you know,
things like that where you justkind of take it for granted.
I know it's been important forme the travel piece spending all
(05:01):
of the years in my previouscareer in an ambulance looking
up in the sky, going.
How do those people get thosejobs where they get to fly all
the time?
And now I'm in a role where Iget to travel a lot.
But you said you were on twoweeks on, two weeks off.
How did that work for youpersonally?
Jay Halliday (05:14):
Brandon, not that well, if I could go back,
someone asked me recently.
They said what's the dumbestthing you've ever done in your
life?
Literally the dumbest thingI've ever done in my whole life
when we had our first child.
I didn't stop.
I actually was quite theopposite.
We were kind of incentivized insalary more.
Did you hear that A bird justhit my window?
Did you hear that I did?
That was weird, I apologize.
(05:35):
We were incentivized moresalary-wise to travel.
So when we had our first childI just thought the right thing
to do for the family was totravel significantly, both
financially to support, and thenwhen my wife at the time would
come back to work, I could takesome time off and be home.
And that is just the dumbestthing.
It's really hard to haveespecially young children and
travel.
So that puts quite a bit ofstress on a relationship.
Brandon Mulnix (05:57):
So how did you overcome that?
Jay Halliday (05:58):
I don't know that.
I did Brandon, so I have twokids.
They're my whole world actually.
Right at the time that Itransitioned to Vaxnova, that
was 2019 so I went frominternational business
development to national businessdevelopment and I actually I
don't miss the internationalfraction that much.
I have some great friendsaround the world that I love
seeing and we we still getinvites for weddings in this.
But the national piece has beenso much healthier and easier
(06:20):
relationally just to pop out twonights or three nights a week
and be back, versus these reallylong, grudging couple of weeks
on, couple of weeks off, right.
But it's a hard and uniquelifestyle.
The traveler's lifestyle itreally is, and you know very
well, you're familiar with it.
So really kudos or cheers toanybody that is able to manage
that with their family andrelationships and find the
balance with work Well.
Brandon Mulnix (06:41):
I think it's balance.
You use that word right therebalance.
If I were 20-something,30-something, travel probably
would be a lot harder, based onraising my family being part of
that, instead of me traveling.
In those years I just worked alot.
I had the same challenges youdid in terms of not being there
for my family, but mine wasbecause I was putting in the
hours 100 and some hours a week.
Because putting in the hourshundred and some hours a week
(07:03):
because there was plenty ofhours to fill and not realizing
what that would do to thatdevelopment of my child and
relationship and all of thatstuff, that's really important.
Thankfully, my kids have grownup so it's not nearly as much of
a challenge.
Now they can, as I say, wipetheir own butts and feed
themselves.
At 17 years old my youngestGood stage.
Jay Halliday (07:21):
Oh, that's good, he can finally learn he doesn't
listen to this.
So I can say that it's not coolfor him.
Yeah, you know, when you saythat, that reminds me.
You hear of people when theyinterview people on their
deathbed and they ask a lot ofquestions and the one thing that
never turns out and you'veprobably heard this is that
people say I wish I worked more.
I want to be careful when I saythat I'm really very passionate
(07:42):
about my customers and mycareer, but it's great to work
for a company that reallyunderstands the work-life
balance.
They're very supportive andwith all the travels, I'm pretty
able to look at my familyschedule when kids got maybe
baseball games or things andthen build my travel around that
.
So I'm still getting out twonights a week but I'm home for
all those primary importantmoments with my family and I've
(08:03):
got the full support of Accinomabehind me to do that.
Brandon Mulnix (08:06):
Well, you got to remember our customers also
have a usually work-life balanceissue.
They don't hide from the factthat their kids have sports and
their kids have dance and theirkids have all of the same
activities that yours do andmine do.
So to explain to them yeah, I'mtaking some time off to do that
, they get it.
And in fact, that's the bestpart of our industry is they get
(08:27):
it.
I've not met a customer yet inour industry that has said my
company is more important thanyour personal life.
I've never heard that we dolife together.
That's a great thing about, likeeven a social media world is
when you're friends with yourcustomers on social media, you
start to be able to relate towhat they're going through and
the challenges that they have.
You know sickness, or you startreading about their family
(08:48):
members dealing with cancer ordeath in their family and it's
like we're all one big familyhere.
We just have different parts.
And so for you, you were off,you know, traveling the world
excited and, and now it's itseems to be like you're settling
in, which is great.
I see, get to see your pictureswith your kids and all the
adventures you guys do too.
So you're doing a good job, dad.
Way to way to reshift yourfocus.
Jay Halliday (09:10):
It's the, it's the greatest man.
Being dad is the absolutegreatest.
And priorities is important.
I think for everybody,priorities is important.
You know, something I learnedthe hard way by really
overstretching myself in myyounger years was, the more you
say no to, you're actuallysaying yes to your current
commitments right, not spreadingyourself too thin.
So being self-aware of yourtime and what you say yes to
(09:32):
becomes really important.
Brandon Mulnix (09:33):
I'm sorry, Jay.
I said yes to this podcast.
I may have to cancel that no.
Jay Halliday (09:39):
I want to comment on something you said, though,
and this is kind of the same foryou and I both, because I see
you frequently around theindustry and love spending time
with you.
The people in the poultryindustry are wonderful people
like the best.
Right, I see people in thepoultry industry more than I see
my friends at home, honestly.
So I'm in the middle ofMinnesota.
This is one of the highest well, it's the highest turkey
producing county in the nation,maybe the world.
(10:01):
We believe it's kind of likeGenio and us here with Select
Genetics and then Butterballdown in North Carolina, but a
ton of poultry here, a ton ofpoultry companies and families
here, and I could discuss someof the history as of why.
But even some of these peoplethat live right next to me, I
only see them out in Californiaor out in Ohio or Indiana at
some of these events.
Right, it's so funny and Ithink, that's important.
I love sales, but I don't lookat sales through short-sighted,
(10:24):
cold call type sales.
My sales philosophy is buildrelationships.
Hopefully in those conversationsyou might have an opportunity
to share with a customer or afriend the product lines that
you have and then, if there's aneed down the future that they
say oh yeah like, for instance,we have a really great E coli
product, and so my hope is justto be able to share that at some
point with customers, maybe howit's worked for other producers
(10:45):
no pushing, no tails and thenin the future maybe they go cage
free or they have some organicoutdoor birds and they're really
struggling with some E coliperitonitis or some E coli
mortality and they think, ohyeah, Jay and I had that
conversation and so they giveyou a call.
So it's a really big win-win Nowanyway.
So anyway, love the people inthe poultry industry Some of my
besties, for sure.
Brandon Mulnix (11:04):
So one of your passions is leadership.
Though when we were talking,it's like hey, what topic are we
going to do?
And you're like well, you hosta leadership podcast.
Idiot, you should probably talkabout leadership with me.
And I'm like okay, so, Jay, whyare you so passionate about
leadership?
Jay Halliday (11:18):
That's so funny.
So when I was at Novatec, I wasleading a couple teams that
were traveling all over theworld and when I came here to
Vaxanova, actually I'm notleading people, which leading
people can be hard.
It can be a challenge.
It can be very rewarding If youreally care about your people
and then watching them continueto grow and develop and excel is
extremely rewarding.
Certainly can be some stressright At the same time.
Leadership principles there's acouple that I really live by.
(11:40):
Sometimes you go to differentconferences or you know it could
be again like a different kindof leadership training and you
walk away really with nothing.
And then there'll be that onethat changes everything, and for
me I would say that thatfoundation was called servant
leadership.
For your listeners that they'veheard of servant leadership
Even further, it's kind of amodule of that called the coach
(12:01):
approach, and coach approachreally changed everything for me
.
Brandon Mulnix (12:05):
Why?
Why did it change?
Jay Halliday (12:07):
everything for you .
So again, at Novocheck, we hadkind of the same product for 12
years and I kind of felt like anexpert, right.
And so someone would come intoyour office and they'd say, hey,
I've got this problem and ofcourse you've seen it before.
And so you say, yeah, here'sthe solution, here's the answer.
Go do right.
Yeah, maybe you're probablyright, but you have to
understand that you're hiringhumans and not robots.
You're hiring good people.
You want them to bring theirideas, their creativity, their
(12:29):
energy to the job.
You don't want robots to say godo.
And then they go do.
The coach approach really taughtme when someone comes in to
your office and they say, hey,I'm really struggling with this,
instead of saying go do, say oh, that must be hard, right,
there's some empathy there.
And then to say, what's yourgut?
Tell you that you should do.
And what happens is people.
Maybe if your coworker oremployee is hearing this for the
first time, I mean I'd be likeme.
(12:50):
You care, you care about myideas.
It breeds a lot of ownership,first off, because it's their
idea right A lot of passion fortheir job.
When I started to really, outof curiosity, say, okay, what do
you Sounds a little silly.
I wouldn't have thought of that, but maybe it turns out to be
the best thing for the situationand you can learn alongside
(13:13):
your people.
You also have to be okay withfailure or fail, as I like to
say right, fail F-A-I-L.
First attempt in learning, it'sokay to fail.
I mean, as a leader, you wantto build an environment around
you where people know it's okayto fail.
Now, it's not okay for peopleto get hurt or for you to wipe
out a barn of birds right, thereare limits to this failure.
(13:34):
But to fail small and thenlearn from failure we shouldn't
continue to have the samefailures.
Right, it should be a learningmechanism.
But you really want to letpeople know hey, I'm here for
you, I care for you, I want youto bring your creativity.
If you fail, I've got your back, I'm going to support you and
we're going to learn from it.
That's the coach approach in anutshell.
Brandon Mulnix (13:51):
Not easy but really powerful.
Well, you said a lot of greatthings there, Jay.
The empathy piece is important.
We can continue as managerstell people what to do or as
leaders guide them in what to do.
There's a huge difference, andyou also mentioned in there that
, as you have people that you'renot currently responsible for,
(14:12):
you know in your chain ofcommand, so to speak.
I've always find myself a leaderwherever I'm at, and try to
keep the same principles around.
If I'm having a conversation atchurch, it's empathy.
Oh man, that's hard.
What does your gut feel?
Saying very similar typeconversations?
Because we don't have to boxourself in as leaders at work.
(14:32):
We're leaders of our family.
How do we talk to our kids?
Are you doing the samequestions with your kids, or are
you giving them the solutionevery time they walk through the
door?
Hey dad, I've got an issue withthis.
Are we leading at home?
Are we leading with our wives,where sometimes we're not as
guys supposed to fix things?
We want to do that, butsometimes as leaders, we need to
step back and say that's hard.
(14:53):
How can we support you in that?
Or what do you feel?
Jay Halliday (14:55):
about that.
I love what you just said.
Sometimes we're not supposed tofix things.
Have you seen the littleYouTube video, two minute video
called nail, in the forehead.
Brandon Mulnix (15:03):
Oh my word, I have used that video probably a
hundred times in conversationsand send that to people.
Okay For your listeners.
Jay Halliday (15:10):
If you haven't just pause, go to YouTube, type
and, I think, nail on theforehead right, they can find it
and then come back to thispodcast.
That silly little two minuteskit also fundamentally changed
my whole life, and I really meanthat because I've always been a
fixer right, always been a holdup the mirror.
Here's what you should do.
Never been innately anempathetic person, and that
(15:31):
changed everything for me.
When I saw this, like wow, thishuman just needs to know that
someone hears them.
Stop pointing out the obvious,stop trying to fix things.
Literally, just be present.
They will figure it out, theywill fix it.
They just need you to empathizewith their situation.
It's really powerful.
Not easy to do.
That one's even harder to do.
Brandon Mulnix (15:50):
Yeah, going back to that video and pointing out
the most obvious things, becauseit's not just about a man with
his girlfriend or his wife andpointing out the problem.
It's more than that.
It's the trust in building thatrelationship with a person and
you mentioned that with yourcustomers, that it's important
to get to understand theirproblems and to not just be a
(16:10):
salesperson.
In that I've even found myselfover the last number of years
being a leader to my customersin times where they're trying to
deal with some challenge andit's not my product or solution
that's going to help them.
It's going to be helping askthe right question so that way
they're guided in potentiallythe right direction.
Maybe they're stuck and theydon't even know a direction, but
(16:32):
at least guiding them in adirection, because we have our
life's experiences that we cango on to help them.
I have a question have you evergiven someone advice that you
know they're absolutely notgoing to take?
Jeepers Brandon.
Jay Halliday (16:47):
I was married once .
Is that okay to say in thepodcast?
No, I don't know it is.
It is I, brandon.
I was married once.
Is that okay to say in thepodcast?
Brandon Mulnix (16:54):
No, I don't know , it is.
It is, I don't know.
I don't know.
Have you Tell me?
Yes, oh, all the time.
When I first got into fixingthings being a leader, my job
was I had to fix everything.
I'm a supervisor they're goingto come to me for everything and
I had the best advice.
Just ask me.
I could tell you that I had thebest advice.
I walk away and watch them,literally do absolutely nothing,
I say and it's reiterating thefact I have a son- yeah, I was
going to say he does basicallythe same thing.
Jay Halliday (17:15):
I'll do something related with my son.
Brandon Mulnix (17:16):
You know, Hit him with a two-by-four Guy's
just thick-skulled, right, butit's because there's no buy-in,
there's no relationship.
I didn't stop and listen.
I'm trying to solve the problem.
So, in the theory, with thenail and I have a hammer every
problem that I'm currentlydealing with could be used.
I need a hammer for, and so I'mpassionate about the hammer
right now, and that's the onlytool I need to use.
(17:38):
And so growth, personal growth,self-assessment, things like
that have really helped me.
Go man, I was a moron when Iused to lead people, because,
one, it's youthfulness.
Two, it's inexperience.
Three, emotional immaturity.
When you think that I've got tohave the answers to prove
myself as a leader.
When you realize that the bestleaders are usually the ones
(18:00):
that just ask the best questions, you go huh.
It's so important to have therelationship, to understand the
real problem, to say, hey, whatis that nail, so to speak, in
the person's life?
You can identify it, you canhelp them identify it, but it
doesn't mean you're there with ahammer trying to either pound
(18:22):
it in or pull it out.
Jay Halliday (18:25):
All these tools we're talking about, empathy,
coach, approach, all thesethings really they culminate and
come together in raising littlechildren.
Raising little children can bereally hard.
This book that still stickswith me on raising little kids
taught me so much.
So, for instance, in a youngchild, if they are frustrated
because maybe someone has theirtoy, instead of kind of trying
to hammer them and saying, hey,stop it, stop these behaviors,
(18:46):
it's not okay.
Learning to really empathizewith them.
I bet you're really hurtingbecause Jimmy took your toy.
Oh, that's your favorite toy,isn't it?
I bet that makes you feel sad.
And really helping youngchildren, you know, put words to
those emotions that they'refeeling, can really bond and
bring trust that you're therefor them.
And as long as they get thatout, then they can move forward
(19:07):
right.
So anyway, there's just goodluck for anybody with
four-year-olds.
You know it's not an easy stage.
My kids are past that now.
It's not always an easy stageand I always say too, kids
should be uh, the, they shouldbe fbi hostage negotiators like
you're trying to negotiate withthe child.
Brandon Mulnix (19:21):
They're so good, it's so hard yeah, one of the
best tips that I was ever givenwas actually um brian fretwell.
He was a guest on the podcastlast season and he talks about
asking really good questions.
I've brought this up probably acouple of times on the podcast
because I've seen it work.
I've seen this change, howquestions change relationships,
(19:45):
and so when you ask your kid,hey, how was your day, what do
they say?
Jay Halliday (19:49):
Good or nothing, whatever, you know not much.
But if you ask your kid, hey,what's your day?
What do they say?
Brandon Mulnix (19:51):
Good or nothing, whatever, Not much.
But if you ask your kid, hey,what was a win today or what was
something you were proud oftoday, they will go into an
incredible story about somethingthey're proud of that maybe
their teacher didn't see ormaybe their teacher told them
that they did a good job.
People will tell you when youask that question.
Well, what does the personvalue asking the question?
(20:12):
If you just say how was yourday?
Is it just a quick hey, is thata platitude?
To say hey, how was your day?
You know hey, yep, good, andyou walk away.
But if I ask you that tougherquestion oh, dad cares about my
wins today, it's positive, it'sa win and we talk about kids.
We talk about kids, we talkabout relationships, but it's
also your relationships withyour team.
It's not much different.
(20:42):
Because if you talk to yourteam member and say, hey, what
was a win today or what was awin this week that maybe I
didn't see because we workremote, it's awesome what they
share with you and you connecton a completely different level
than just saying, hey, how wasyour day?
Jay Halliday (20:46):
Or did you get your work done?
And I would even say, that'snot just for kids.
Ask your colleagues that, askyour friends, ask your parents.
That I think it really leansinto that personal relationship.
People realize you really care.
Brandon Mulnix (20:59):
Well, when is the last time you asked your
parent hey dad, what's a win?
Hey mom, what's a win today?
Or what made you proud thisweek?
And instead of going over toyour parents sitting there I
don't visit my parents nearlyenough, but it's like, hey,
what's going on with the entirefamily?
What do you care about?
I care about what my mom anddad's wins are, what their
(21:21):
moments are, and so, yeah, whenyou talk about your colleagues,
ask your boss.
It it's called managing upno-transcript.
When they're at the top of thecompany, if you're especially
the higher level you get veryrarely do you get a chance to be
asked what a win is.
(21:41):
Think of the CEO.
Well, who do they report toother than the people?
And the people on the teamusually aren't going to say, hey
, boss, what was your win thisweek?
Or what are you proud of, whatdid you bring value to the
company at?
They never ask him that becausethat's his job to ask them,
it's their job to show off tothe company, kind of thing.
Well, it's important.
Ask your boss, hey, what wasthe win this week?
Jay Halliday (22:05):
And watch their expression, because very rarely
have they ever been asked thatquestion.
You probably draw some of theirpassion for the company and it
helps break that kind of thatsurface barrier right.
Just to take that relationshipone step deeper.
Brandon Mulnix (22:13):
Especially if you've got a negative person, if
you're working with a negativeperson all the time to ask that
question hey, what was a winthis week?
Or hey, what did something thatwent right this week?
And you don't have to tell them, man, all you do is complain.
Don't tell them that, becausethat'll just make them complain.
But make them complain.
But you say, hey, you want tochange the tone.
You go hey, what was somethingthat went right this week?
Oh well, I wasn't late for worktoday.
(22:35):
Okay, that's a win.
Jay Halliday (22:42):
I don't know, at some point too, I mean, what
you're talking about and this isa really tough part of
leadership is on your team.
You got to get the right personin the right seat in the bus
and sometimes you got to sharesomeone with the competition.
That's my favorite way to sayit right Share someone with the
competition.
So I mean invest in a negativeNancy, but I don't know, maybe
they're not fit for your team.
Right, the 80-20 principle?
Right?
If all of your 80% of your timeis just working on some really
(23:03):
low performance, maybe youshould share them with the
competition.
Brandon Mulnix (23:05):
Well, I will share a different perspective on
that is, a lot of folks don'treally know what the
expectations of their bosses areand unless the boss really does
give the expectation of culture, and for example, if that
person's complaining all thetime and the boss just keeps
asking the same question overand over again and keeps getting
(23:25):
the complaint and doesn'tchange the hey, I want this to
be a positive work environment.
So they ask positive, directedquestions that get them to talk
about the wins and talk aboutthe challenges that they've
overcome, instead of just the Iwant to call them opportunities
but the problems that irritatethem.
We talk about changing tones ofwords and all that stuff, but
again, it's getting peoplealigned with your culture in
(23:46):
that If you give them everyopportunity there, I'm
absolutely sure that they maynot be on the right seat on the
bus.
But talk about that busprinciple a little bit more.
How have you seen thatprinciple work about making sure
people are the right seat onthe bus?
Jay Halliday (23:58):
Yeah, you know there's so many different
studies that people can take.
There is one that Iparticularly like called
StrengthsFinders.
You ever heard of that bychance?
Yeah, oh yeah.
So StrengthsFinder, it'sanother assessment.
You know, there's like 34strengths and it'll give you
your top five and the idea isthat you don't want to know the
rest of them or the bottom five,because that's what you focus
on.
You really want to focus onwhat, what the Lord put in, in a
(24:19):
sense, and it's it's kind ofthat idea.
Here's a really good principleis if you have a child that
comes home and has a you, whatdoes the parent focus on?
That D has to get up.
Instead, that StrengthsFinderprinciple is going hey, this
looks like an area that's reallytough for you.
You're probably never going tobe good at it, irrespective of
how much you pour into it.
(24:39):
Look at these two A's over here.
How can we double down on theseA's?
How can we utilize your talentshere more?
And it's a very upside downprinciple, essentially so
getting some idea orself-awareness of your personal
character and the naturaltalents that you have in your
heart.
So it could be StrengthsFinders.
There's Disc Analysis, there'sMyers-Briggs, there's a whole
(25:00):
pile of them, but just reallyunderstanding self.
And then how do you apply thatto your work?
Sometimes, it is true, there arejobs that you might hate, that
others might love.
I know it sounds crazy becauseyou're like I really don't enjoy
doing this.
How could anybody enjoy doingthis?
But some people do sorearranging the pieces so that
people fall into the items thatthey're naturally good at and
that they enjoy, and soeverybody is filled with.
(25:22):
I guess we call them greencards, let's say.
Now you of course, might havesome red cards, some things that
you just have to do, right?
I mean, I got to submit myexpenses every month.
It's not that fun.
I don't think anybody can do itfor me.
So there are some of theseitems, but on a large part, if
you can arrange all the peoplein your team that they're
executing on their naturaltalents, I think it'll lift the
whole team further.
Brandon Mulnix (25:42):
Yeah, in our company we use principle through
EOS or Entrepreneur OperatingSystem, but it's called get it,
want it and have the capacity todo it.
Let's say a maintenance guy andhe gets it.
He's got great problem-solvingskills and he could do this job
in his sleep.
Let's get it, want it.
Well, maybe that maintenanceguy the role that you put him in
is in a supervisory role wherehe does not want to do
(26:05):
evaluations, he doesn't want tobuild on the company culture.
So maybe the want it's notthere, but the capacity to do it
.
You've got these great people.
They want to do it, but they'reso overwhelmed with everything
on their plate that they have nocapacity to actually get it
done.
It's like, okay, yourcapacities is just not there.
(26:25):
So you evaluate we do this on aquarterly basis where every
team member goes quickly.
Can you see anything thatchanges their get it, want it or
have the capacity to do it?
And if any of those are a no,they become something to discuss
.
Is it the role has changed orevolved, which happens to jobs?
It happens all the time wherelife happens outside and all of
(26:45):
a sudden the job continues onand life changed and maybe they
don't have the capacity to do itanymore.
Maybe they don't have the wantit to do it anymore.
It's not that they're a bad fitfor your company, but the role
that you're asking them to dodoesn't work for them anymore.
So, as a leader, you have acouple of choices.
Do you change the role, make itmore fit for what their skill
(27:06):
set is meaning their naturalabilities or do you find a
different role for them orcreate a different role within
the company?
Because we don't want to losetalent.
We never want to lose peoplethat have a great cultural fit,
but if they don't want the rolethey're in, you're never going
to see them as an A player inthat role, and it shows up in so
many different ways.
You set a project goal and afew years go by and they still
(27:29):
haven't hit that goal, andyou're like what's keeping you
from doing it?
Oh, do you need to go toclasses?
You need to learn how to do it?
No, I know how to do it.
Oh, you don't want to do it.
Yeah, I don't want to do it.
Okay, well then, maybe that'snot the goal for them, or maybe
this isn't the role, especiallyif that's going to take your
company much, much fartherforward, and it's fair
assessment of everybody.
I look at myself and it's aconstant self-assessment of do I
(27:52):
get the job I'm in, do I havethe capacity to do the job I'm
in, or do I have the want to dothe job I'm in, especially as
now that I'm in a higher levelof leadership where if I'm not
an A player in my role, Ishouldn't be here.
I mean, I'm a detriment to thecompany and most people don't
have enough self-awareness.
They're just thinking, well,this is my job.
I've been here for 30 years, Ideserve this job Well, but if
(28:15):
you don't have the want it toget it or the capacity to do it,
maybe you're holding thecompany back.
Maybe you'd actually like alower role where you're not
having 20 reports or you're nothaving this mundane admin stuff
that you're responsible for.
That you just.
I go back to the paramedicworld.
Taking the best paramedics outthere and making the managers
was the worst decision that mostpeople could make, and it
(28:38):
happened all the time.
It was like, yeah, the bestparamedic doesn't mean they're
the best manager, because you'reliterally tying them down with
administrative tasks and that'susually what paramedics are not
that great at doing yeah, so Iyou say that, I mean I think a
lot of things when you say that,but when you, when you said
that, one just there thatreminds me sometimes in our
industry too.
Jay Halliday (28:57):
This is kind of for anybody working in well in
birds in our industry.
But with animals, what I oftenfind, unfortunately, is that
veterinarians, who are the mostvaluable people, are bogged down
in paperwork.
Right, you're absolutelyoverwhelmed and sitting in their
office doing paperwork and I'mthinking, man, these are the
people that should be on withthe birds, right, these are the
people that add the most value.
Brandon Mulnix (29:17):
There's definitely some truth to that If
you're looking across theindustry, there's a lot of
people that have evolved intheir roles, that the thing that
they went to school for they'repassionate about, they're no
longer doing because they'rebogged down by administrative
tasks that, honestly, you takeaway their talent.
So if you look out at your team, this is directly to you
audience.
(29:37):
If you look out at your teamand you find somebody that man,
they were a rock star and nowthey're not.
Did you promote it out of them?
I mean, that's a great questionAre they in the right role?
Would they be better off backin their old role where they
were happiest?
And that's your job as a leaderto evaluate that with your team
all the time.
Jay Halliday (29:56):
Yeah, you know, a fundamental tenet of servant
leadership is, instead of, let'ssay, telling your people what
to do, you ask the question isthere any barriers that I can
remove for you?
Right, so, as the leader, youwant to set the vision.
Very important.
Hey, here's the end zone.
You have to have boundaries.
Hey, this is out of bounds.
So we need to get this ball tothat end zone.
You never watch an NFL gamewith the coach with his headset
(30:16):
runs on and plays thequarterback.
You want to teach and train andencourage your people, but the
question is, if they have thegoal right, they have to
understand the purpose.
Is there any barrier that I canremove for you?
You want to liberate or freethem up to go do their best work
.
Brandon Mulnix (30:29):
It's a great question to ask.
It's usually the question I getto start with.
It's easier to say, hey, whatcan I change in this to make you
more successful, and it'samazing.
A lot of times I'll say no,there's nothing that you can do
for me.
I'm like, okay, then what doyou need to change?
This doesn't work with a spouseas well, you know.
It goes back to the what do Ineed to change to make this very
successful.
But there's some truth in it,though.
(30:50):
If it's real and you say, hey,what can I change?
Or what can I the barriers Ican take, and how much people
grow from that and just connect,because that is your role as a
coach.
You're right, they're not onthe field at all.
Jay Halliday (31:01):
I really feel like in relationships.
The two key principles ofmaintaining a relationship are
humility, which we should talkabout, and communication.
Right, I mean communicationfirst to say all the things
right, but if you're strugglingwith something, to say, hey, I
need this in this relationship,and then the other person has to
bring the humility to say, wow,okay, you're right, I'm willing
to make this change, you'rewilling to do something
(31:22):
different.
Communication and humility.
Humility, I'll tell you, sincewe're talking about leadership
journey and my personal journey,I never knew that the word
humility existed until I wasabout 30 years old, which is
really sad.
There are a few things you know.
Of course, all of us like tojump in the time machine and
change some things, but if Icould go back and hit myself
over the head with a two by fourand just draw the word humility
(31:43):
on my forehead, I would.
It's been a journey for meagain, somewhere around 30, to
just continue to understand thatand grow with that.
What does humility mean?
A lot of different ways todescribe it.
My favorite way is humility isnot thinking less of yourself.
It's thinking of yourself less,right.
So not thinking less ofyourself, but thinking of
(32:03):
yourself less and putting othersfirst, lifting others up.
Brandon Mulnix (32:07):
And where did you see that biggest struggle in
the pre 30 year J?
Jay Halliday (32:13):
Such a good question.
My first thought went to Ilearned something about myself.
I'm an eternal optimist andsomeone had said, hey, optimists
are always late and I thoughtoh because the issue is, as
optimists, we think we can fiteverything in.
Like you've got a 15 minutedrive and you have to get in the
car and you're trying to packand I can do this and this and
this and this and this, and thenyou know you only got 10
(32:34):
minutes to get there and thenyou end up being five minutes
late because you thought youcould pack in so many things
before you had to jump in thecar and get there.
In a sense, that was my wholelife.
I mean, I just packed ineverything, I thought I could
fit everything in right, and itended up being a little bit the
Jay show in a sense, right whenI was, it was about me.
It was about me essentially,man.
I can't tell you how muchthat's flipped on its head Now.
This weekend I drove six, sevenhours to help a guy move for a
(32:56):
day and then drive back.
It's like how can I serve, howcan I help Right, being
available for others, listening,being really receptive.
Brandon, I think your faith isreally important to you.
It's been huge, huge part of mylife.
And so there's a verse I haveit right in front of me John
3.30 that says he must becomegreater, I must become less.
It's my new favorite verse andI think all the time.
If there was less Jay and moreJesus, right, how much better
(33:20):
would the world be.
Just the characteristics ofbeing really patient and really
present for people and reallycaring and really listening.
You go through all those thingslike man.
If those things were more andmy ego was less, it would just
be better.
We can join each other on thejourney and encourage each other
and put humility first.
Brandon Mulnix (33:38):
So what flipped the switch?
I mean, was there a moment, wasthere a situation, was there a
mistake?
What flipped that?
Jay Halliday (33:45):
switch for you?
Certainly some mistakes.
I probably first jumped on it,though, in the servant
leadership principles and evenwhat we talked about, that coach
approach.
When someone comes in youroffice with a problem, instead
of saying, yeah, I know theanswer, I know all the things
right, this is what's right.
Do this.
To just have the humility andjust take a breath and say, all
right, what do you think?
How can I support you?
(34:05):
You're important.
Yeah, I would say probably.
There, I mean, let's nottotally gloss it over I've
certainly made some mistakes inmy life that I wish.
Brandon Mulnix (34:17):
I could go back and sprinkle some humility in
there.
You are speaking to the choiras well.
I mean, it's taken me a longway 46 years to get to this
version of me.
There are many versions alongthe way that weren't so humble,
that weren't so giving Periodsof I mean years of focused on
self instead of being selfless.
And it takes moments, it takesthings to happen.
(34:40):
It takes feedback from othersbefore you go oh crap, whether
that's your spouse, parents,friends that say, yeah, I don't
like that version, don't likethat version at all.
And it takes growth.
It takes those moments becauseso many people go well, that's
their problem and don't realizethat, nope, if they're willing
to give you that feedback, thatis your problem and you should
(35:03):
probably listen.
Jay Halliday (35:04):
Yeah, that's the humility part, if people are
willing to give that feedback,that communication we're talking
about, really to receive that.
But so you mentionedrelationship.
I'll just say this to anybodywith a significant other, I
think, natural tendencies Okay,I'm just kind of painting a
larger picture, but we sometimes, as men, view things different.
I'll give you something from myown personal relationship.
(35:25):
Putting work first, I thought,was putting the family first.
What do I mean?
I thought that the best thing Icould do for my family lift up
my family, family's the priority, family's first, I thought, was
work and provide.
I think that's just our naturaltendencies as men.
We want to provide.
So I'm saying, hey, I'm puttingthe family first by working.
And then a spouse might say, no, you're being selfish, you're
(35:47):
putting your career and yourlife and your desires first and
the family is on the back burner.
And in all honesty, she'sprobably right.
But you can see how just thosedifferent viewpoints come at an
entirely different perspectiveand that's where it takes that
humility to say, wow, I see itfrom your perspective.
You're right.
Brandon Mulnix (36:05):
I'm willing to make some change.
I agree with you when it comesto the way man was designed as a
species, going back to thecreation.
It's okay, man is there toprovide and it's just in our DNA
.
There's Maslow's hierarchy ofneeds and it's security and it's
our basic food needs and ourbasic needs of of anything, and
it's just the way we grew up,our culture.
(36:26):
I mean, I looked at my dad.
He was an amazing hard workerand I thought, man, if I could
be just as successful as he canbe is if he does that, if I do
that, and put in those hours.
But it's also what is the needsof relationship, acceptance and
love.
And when you put yourself outthere, you know facing in the
direction of work, sometimesyou're turning your back on
(36:46):
those other needs within evenyour kids.
They need dad for certainperiods until they turn about 13
and know everything.
It's so important that we doboth.
It's not and or or.
We still have to be in ourminds, find our purpose, go
after that purpose with the sameconcept of also supporting
those around us and having thatawareness of hey, how is my
(37:09):
desire to go?
Do this affecting their needs,what they need from me, and it's
a balancing game.
Everybody has a different deckof cards.
People have different struggles, people have different needs,
people value things differently.
That's the whole thing aboutthe relationship is working
through all that and making surethat both needs are met while
still being who we are as people, without completely sacrificing
(37:30):
our identities as well, becausethat's the opposite.
That's when people totally aregiven everything they got and
never actually care forthemselves, and I know a couple
folks that that's the seasonthey're in where they've
literally expounded themselvesfor everybody else.
They're selfless, but they havenothing left to give and
they're unhealthy becausethey've just yes, yes, yes, yes,
(37:52):
yes, yes, yes.
Jay Halliday (37:53):
And they say no to themselves.
The airplane oxygen mask theoryright, it's like you got to put
your oxygen mask out first ifyou want to be able to help
others.
Brandon Mulnix (37:59):
But I don't have time for that.
Jay Halliday (38:00):
Yeah, you got to have boundaries.
You really do.
I heard you say that you had agood role model in your dad.
Do you have a good relationshipwith your old man?
Brandon Mulnix (38:08):
Oh yeah, oh yeah , he's proud of me, he tells me
I'm proud, he's proud of me allthe time, he's a big fan of the
show, listens, listens to theshow and you know just, it's
cool.
It's one of those things where,when I was a young punk, I
always wanted to grow up.
I want to make more money thanmy dad, not having a clue that
inflation would have probablymade that happen, you know
pretty easily.
But the idea was I want toprovide a better life for my
(38:31):
family than my dad did.
Just as a goal, you know to say, hey, my dad did good, he
worked really hard as anelectrician.
How can I take that to thatnext level?
And so I did have a great rolemodel with my dad and it's yeah,
yeah, that's just that's beenthe huge thing.
Jay Halliday (38:46):
My dad too.
He's my best friend and he'sbeen my greatest role model.
I think this world could be abetter place if we had more good
dads.
I really do it, that's probablyI've got a huge soft spot for
that and just being role models.
And hey, legacy is real, Legacyis really real.
Right, you hear like thatdoesn't quite have that
(39:07):
relationship and anencouragement to anybody that's
a father, to think about legacy.
Brandon Mulnix (39:08):
You know, Jay, I'm going to expound on that.
I think every man has thecapability of being a father,
even if it's not to their ownkids.
Jay Halliday (39:16):
And.
Brandon Mulnix (39:16):
I say that because there are so many people
that their kids grow up andthey move away and they just
feel like abandoned in a way.
But there's so many youngerpeople that they can have that
same influence on of being a dadthat maybe didn't have a good
dad situation or maybe their daddied, maybe they're in that gap
.
But as human beings it's okayto be a fatherly figure to
(39:38):
people older people than you.
Sometimes, I mean again, we goback to servant leadership and
giving of ourselves, and thatdoesn't mean just to our kids,
our employees, it means to theworld.
I mean there's no boundariesthat we were set on.
I mean there's no rule book,there's no guidelines.
It's like, no, you're called toserve.
Well, how do I serve toeverybody within boundaries?
(40:00):
Yeah, yeah.
Jay Halliday (40:02):
Yeah, that actually reminds me of a long
distant memory of a Wednesdaynight youth group.
I remember I kind of want to dowhatever I want to do, whatever
I want to do.
And I remember this reallystrong mentor of mine, one of
the youth pastors there, saying,hey, you don't realize, but all
these little kids around you, Imean they're, they're just a
couple of years younger, theyall look up to you.
It's like what do you mean?
I'm living my that to me as aleader, I'm just saying for all
(40:29):
men that we're speaking to now,all the people around you in
your sphere, those listening tothis, they're looking up to you.
Brandon Mulnix (40:34):
So you are that role model Very well put, I find
myself being a little fatherlyto younger guys coming into the
company, taking them under yourwing.
You know, we just had aconversation with a young man
the other day a couple of usguys at the company and you know
he just got his acceptanceletter to a big university and
we're going to miss the crap outof this young talent.
(40:54):
But it's like, hey, have youthought of these things?
These are all good things andwe're so proud of you, but have
you thought of these things?
Doesn't matter, doesn't changeour opinion, but have you
thought of these things?
Because if you've thought ofthem, great, if you haven't,
just at least take time to thinkabout them.
You know what I mean, becauseyou don't want to tell somebody
what to do, but, again, as afather, it's to guide them.
(41:15):
It's to have them learn frommaybe something that you
experienced, and that's the sameis true for work, as it is in
your family.
You want to guide your kids.
You want to guide your team.
Use your life experience.
It's okay to be vulnerable.
If you've been in jail, it'sokay to talk about.
Hey, I made some mistakes, Iwent to jail, and you know what.
I've grown from it, because I'mgoing to respect that person
(41:36):
way more than if I found out 20years down the road that I've
been with them and they've neverbeen that vulnerable for me to
say, you know, because they'reso embarrassed about their story
.
It's like we all have stories.
We all have grown, live it, useit as part of your story, not
as a bad thing, but somethingthat you've overcome.
That, to me, is so important isto be real and transparent with
(41:57):
your team, your kids and youknow, at the right time, share
the right information.
It's not the walk in the doorand go yeah, I'm a convicted
felon, no, no, no, no, no.
Exactly, you know it's.
It's share the right story,share what you've overcome and
it's okay, you've got.
It's your story and that's thereason this podcast exists is
because of stories of peopleovercoming things, people
(42:21):
sharing their hearts and theirvisions and and also, you know,
like your, passion forleadership.
So, Jay, I'm going to kind oftry to close this in here a
little bit.
If I'm a new person gettinginto this industry and I'm in
sales or some support of ourfarmers, what advice do you have
for me?
Jay Halliday (42:37):
Well, first, off, everybody is a leader.
My description for leadershipis influence, and so you, as a
human, human, you areinfluencing the people around
you.
Undoubtedly, you know youpeople say like you are the
product of the five influencersaround you, right?
Whether that's books andpodcasts or humans, for sure.
So already you are a leader,you are influencing.
(42:58):
I like to say, start with theend in mind, and so I think, if
I'm speaking to that personindividually right now, think
about both your character, whoyou want to be, and then your
career aspirations.
A really good mental exerciseis to think about having a
funeral today and your lovedones are all around you and
(43:18):
imagine just kind of being inthe room listening to what
they're saying about yourcharacter, about your person,
right, they're all standing upsharing an anecdote about
you.
Are they sharing the thingsthat you want them to share?
Maybe?
If so, double down.
You're doing great.
If not, have that humility tolook inside and make that
personal change.
So that would be the first one,and that can be the same.
The career aspirations too.
I mean just people talkingabout some of the wonderful
(43:40):
things that you did for theindustry or humanity, or however
big your aspirations are, youknow, are you on the track to,
to do that and develop that?
That'd probably one.
Brandon, you said the wordvulnerability.
I think that's great, also fora young person coming in here be
vulnerable.
The people in the poultryindustry are awesome people, you
know.
If anybody came to me or came toyou, brandon said hey, I'm new
(44:01):
to this industry.
Could you help plug me in?
We've got Peak coming up here.
This will probably launchbefore Peak, which is a poultry
show.
If anybody came to my booth andsaid I'm new here, would you
walk me around?
What an honor.
How neat would that be to walkaround and share right?
Or ask the same question thatyou asked hey, I'm new here.
What are some things that Ireally need to learn?
Can you help shorten mylearning curve here?
Absolutely, all of us arewilling to invest, but you got
(44:23):
to reach out.
You have to take thatinitiative and show some
vulnerability.
Brandon Mulnix (44:26):
No, thank you.
This is an incredible industry.
That's why this podcast existsis for this industry, for the
great people in this industry.
If I didn't think that theywere amazing people, there's no
way that I would take this timeto do a podcast for them.
You know what I mean.
It would be like, no, not worthit.
But this is.
This is why I get giddy to haveinterviews with folks.
I get giddy to talk aboutreally, really tough topics that
(44:49):
I'm starting to see after beingin the industry for a while,
starting to see people open upand be vulnerable and to show
that, hey, we're not a bunch oftough guys in the industry.
We're actually a big family andpeople fall, people stumble and
we're going to all learn fromfrom the adventure.
So, Jay, I know we didn't havenearly enough time of us talking
(45:11):
about.
Jay Halliday (45:14):
We didn't talk about, yeah, the industry
vaccines.
Brandon Mulnix (45:16):
We'll call it.
Consider this episode one ofthe Jay and Brandon podcast and
we will bring him back on totalk more about the industry
issues.
But, man, what you brought forleadership today was so, so
incredible.
Thank you for being a guest onthe show today.
Jay Halliday (45:32):
Thank you, Brandon .
I'm so proud of you for puttingthis together.
This is fun.
Brandon Mulnix (45:35):
Hey podcast listeners.
This podcast wouldn't bepossible without Prism Controls
it's my plug for theiradvertising, but they do invest
a lot in this podcast throughthe opportunities that they give
me and just their value andwhat they appreciate about the
industry they're here to serve.
They have a selfless.
They give more than probablywhat they ever should or what's
(45:58):
ever expected of them, andthat's our values.
Again, it's all about giving.
It's all about caring about theindustry.
Use Again, it's all aboutgiving.
It's all about caring about theindustry.
So please check out PrismControls on Facebook, linkedin
website, prismcontrolscom, andif you found this show valuable,
please share it, like it,subscribe, just to make sure
(46:18):
that you get all the futureepisodes and with that, have a
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