When you look at failure not as a death sentence, but as an invitation to learn, failure becomes a powerful asset for your business. Use your mistakes to drive yourself forward, not only will your mistakes be temporary, but they’ll push you forward. In this episode of the ROI Online Podcast, business mentor and author Lloyd Brown talks about learning and rising from failure, leadership, and the importance of discovering your core beliefs.
Lloyd is a business mentor for leaders; he helps you identify why you are in business, and guides you through the process of defining your core beliefs. He’s also the author of Refined By Failure–a book that’s insightful, actionable, and offers you at least 5 potential story angles for engaging your audience.
Failure can be a scary place, but it has so many opportunities for us to learn and grow. We should not be afraid to take risks and fail because it will teach us what doesn't work in life, which makes success that much sweeter!
Among other things, Lloyd and Steve discussed:
- Lloyd’s back story
- Everything you should know about his new book–Refined By Failure
- Why integrity and credibility are important in leadership
- The importance of leadership in life
- Trust in leadership
- The main causes of leadership failure
- Examples of leadership failures
You can learn more about Lloyd here:
Follow Lloyd on LinkedIn
Send Lloyd an Email
You can learn more about Refined by Failure here:
https://www.refinedbyfailure.com/
Read the books mentioned in this podcast:
The Golden Toilet by Steve Brown
Refined By Failure by Lloyd Brown
Thinking of starting your own podcast? Buzzsprout’s secure and reliable posting allows you to publish podcasts online. Buzzsprout also includes full iTunes support, HTML5 players, show statistics, and WordPress plugins. Get started using this link to receive a $20 Amazon gift card and to help support our show!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lloyd Brown (00:03):
What has been the impact on your family of
breaking rules, when you don'thave personal boundaries as a
leader, and you break your ownrules, it doesn't just impact
the business. It impactseverybody that's involved in
your life. And that to me,probably, you know, has the, the
(00:27):
greatest impact, because if youcan lead well at work really
makes you a better leader athome. And if you can set those
boundaries at work, and haveclarity there, and you do that
at home, and it just helps onboth sides.
Steve Brown (00:44):
Hi, everybody.
Welcome to the ROI onlinepodcast where we believe you,
the courageous entrepreneurs ofour day, are the invisible
heroes of our economy. You notonly improve our world with your
ideas, your grit and yourpassion, but you make our world
better. I'm Steve Brown. Andthis is a place where we have
great conversations with winnersjust like you while we laugh and
(01:07):
learn together.
Lloyd Brown, welcome to the ROIonline podcast.
Lloyd Brown (01:21):
Thank you, Steve.
exciting to be here. BecauseI've been watching you do this
almost from day one.
Steve Brown (01:29):
Yeah, so I'm, I'm kind of getting good at you hope
that after 107 episode, you getthe hang of things.
Lloyd Brown (01:36):
And what they say is repetition makes you
unconsciously competent, right?
Yeah,
Steve Brown (01:40):
yeah. Well, I'm proud to have you, Lloyd, you're
my, you're, you've been aclient, you're a friend. You're
a confidant. And now you're anauthor. And today we're going to
talk about your book, refined byfailure, breaking rules and
getting burned. This is a tale acautionary tale of a CEO, who
(02:03):
grew a big company had a set ofrules in place to set him up for
success. But you need to readthe book to learn what comes out
of that. So here's the problem.
Why do you set rules to keep youout of trouble, but what happens
if you break your own rules? Theproblem is, most people don't
know how to handle failure, theythink they do until it happens.
(02:24):
And then their confidencecrumbles. And they feel like a
complete failure themselves. Butwhat's cool is this books helps
you learn from your mistakes,and that you're not defined by
your failures, you're refined bythese failures. And so Lloyd,
tell us a little bit about yourprofessional journey. And then
(02:46):
what in the world caused you towrite a book outlining all your
failures,
Lloyd Brown (02:57):
there's a lot of their their stage. So you know,
I grew up with a dad that was aserial entrepreneur and owns his
own company, and at an early agestarted teaching me about
business. Starting with runningvending machines, that his
business and being responsiblefill them up, and both a coke
(03:17):
machine and a candy machine andthen getting into lawn mowing
business, you know, and, andthen, you know, going, going
through that part of life andgetting that preparation, and,
unfortunately, my dad died whenI was 20 years old. And so then
I'm kickstarted into life at athyperspeed while I'm in college,
(03:39):
and I get out and I work for acompany that he founded for a
number of years, and then wentto run a large family operated
construction business, and was amiserable failure at that
business. And I learned a lot ofthings about not what I didn't
want to do, if I ever had theopportunity to lead my own
(04:01):
company. And lo and behold, Iended up starting and found co
founding a company with twoother partners that really took
off and did something veryspecial. And an 11 year
timeframe.
Steve Brown (04:18):
Yeah, so this company you built, I got to
witness it. And as you know, youwere my client during this time,
and we became friends but I gotto witness you excel in a rough
and tumble industry, the oil andgas services industry.
Unknown (04:36):
And that's
Steve Brown (04:38):
you did a big I mean you You fought a good fight
for a long time and experienceda lot of success.
Lloyd Brown (04:48):
Absolutely in and near death experiences and all
the things that you you do whenyou're an entrepreneur and when
you're when you're leading abusiness and you go through
dynamic growth cycles, and thenyou're in In an industry, that
in and of itself is veryvolatile, you know, there's
peaks and valleys and, and they,they, the peaks happen fast, and
(05:09):
the valleys seem to happen evenfaster. And so there's a lot to
be learned in that in thatprocess. And the reason there's
a lot to be learned is you endup failing a lot you make, you
make a lot of decisions thatdon't work out. And, and most of
the time, you're able to recoverfrom those. But this last major
(05:35):
event, and 2020 was one of thosethat I personally as a leader
couldn't recover from.
Steve Brown (05:42):
Yeah, you know, I'm one of the things I admired. And
I recognize when I met you andstarted seeing you and your
company, you had a smallcompany, I think about 25
employees or something, and yougrew it to over 200. But, but I
always felt that you hadidentified these 10 rules. And I
(06:03):
thought, I really recognize howit was smart, and how it
actually led your culture. Andit helped you achieve a certain
amount of success by building ateam by sitting down and coming
up with these rules. Where didthat come from?
Lloyd Brown (06:21):
You know, I was a member of a Vistage group in
Fort Worth, and we had a speakerand I really wish I could
remember his name, I need to goback and research that. But he
was talking about how do you howto help people in your
organization, make decisions, asif you were there, but you're
not. And he he said, You know,one of the really important
(06:44):
things is to create a culture,that everybody understands the
boundaries, everybodyunderstands the guidelines for
them to go make decisions. Andhe really talked about how that
establishes trust within theorganization. And to me, it
resonated, that it's likebuilding a superhighway, right,
(07:06):
you have boundaries on eachside. But when you're within
those boundaries, you can goreally fast. And that was the
intention behind it. And reallyidentify what the expectations
are for how you treat each otheras well. So that that's what we
did. The management team, whichmost of us were shareholders in
(07:30):
the company, we came together.
And we agreed on the 10 rulesover a few months, and then
implemented them and theyreally, they really ended up
defining my life and so much sothat, you know, those roles are
really the foundation of writingthis book.
Steve Brown (07:50):
Yeah. So then, you know, I'm, when I think about
those rules, most businessesdon't get around, maybe doing
that, you know, imagine mostsmall businesses, they just get
an idea and they kind of try tofigure out if it's gonna stick
or not. And then they wake upmaybe a couple of two or three
(08:10):
years later, and and then theystart to investigate. How do I
impact my culture? How do I setup? How do I solve this problem
of my employees? They seem to bekind of out of control or not
understanding what I'm wantingto achieve? And I think it's a
real key to success that if youcan do this in the beginning,
(08:32):
it's a big lever.
Lloyd Brown (08:34):
No, I agree with you. Absolutely. It really goes
back to how do you establish arelationship that you trust each
other. And those those rules orguidelines, whatever you want to
call them within the individualorganization? They're meant to
just give clarity, right?
They're meant. So when somebodygoes, Hey, I've got a choice A,
(08:57):
I got a choice B, you can weighthose against, really those
scales within your organization.
For your culture, and Mike areally good decision. No, we
only had one rule that if youintentionally broke it, you were
terminated. And that was oursafety rule. With everything
(09:19):
else. We wanted to give grace,because from failing, you learn
and I'm finding out that I'mgonna have a PhD by the end of
my life on learning from myfailures.
Steve Brown (09:34):
So, so let's establish when you sit down and
you start to go, so noteverybody's gonna want to do the
same 10 rules that you do, butthose rules that you do decide
they're coming from a place ofyour why.
Lloyd Brown (09:49):
Absolutely.
Steve Brown (09:51):
So tell us about your why and why these 10
specific rules and we'll we'llquickly let you list those out,
but Let's start with your whywhy, where did these come from
and they they impacted your 10roles, or the the Why did
Lloyd Brown (10:12):
the the why really came down stave to I wanted to
have a business to where wetreated our customers, and our
employees with mutual respectand trust, and in the oil and
gas industry and my business wasin the chemical side,
(10:34):
historically has been known as alot of snake oil salesmen. And
employees also had been treatedsomewhat as a commodity, and
where they could come and go,everybody's replaceable. And the
companies that think like that,that just didn't, never
resonated with me, and it's areason why I started the
(10:55):
business was to be able to makethose decisions to help shape
it. And really, you know, treatpeople with trust number one,
and respect number two, and inthat way, assuming that our
products and services were thesame, people choose to do
business, and to work in ourorganization because of those
(11:17):
values.
Steve Brown (11:19):
So when we first started working together, you
know, the default expectation ofan internet marketing company is
that I need more business, Ineed more leads. But that wasn't
what you need it, you had plentyof business, you didn't have
enough employees to take care ofyour business. And you couldn't
scale because of that. And yet,you're having to compete for
(11:39):
these employees with bigcompanies that had more of a
weaponize way of recruiting.
Lloyd Brown (11:47):
Yeah, I've never thought of it, you know, as a
weaponized way, but yeah, they,they really knew how to go find
talent, retain talent, and thenthey deject everybody else. And,
and if you had somebody reallytalented Boy, you know that
we're going to come after him.
So glad to give people a reasonto work for you, I think, you
(12:09):
know, there's a lot to thestatement, you know, treat
people and train them. So theycan leave, but treat them so
well that they don't. And youknow, Sir Richard Branson, he's
the one I've missed, quoted hima little bit there. But, you
know, he really impressed mewhen he said that, because
(12:30):
you're trusting people thatthey're going to stay when you
treat them well. And if youtrain them, they're going to be
able to grow in yourorganization and continue to
propel that organizationforward. You got to have them
both. And you just have to trustthat doing the right thing is
going to provide the rightresults.
Steve Brown (12:51):
Yeah, so I think your rules were your competitive
advantage when the employees,the employees were evaluating
whether they wanted to work forCompany A or your company. And I
think you were pinging somethingthat was really important to
where my valued, where's my lifegoing to fit and be congruent
with my family life?
Lloyd Brown (13:13):
Absolutely. And the funny thing is, a lot of folks
talked about it being a familyatmosphere.
And in reflection, I don't knowthat that's I know what they
mean by it.
My experience, and my family andother families, most of us are
(13:35):
pretty dysfunctional. And youdon't want to have a
organization that that's why butit's when you have the best of a
feeling of a family. That's ahigh compliment, and, and we had
that compliment a lot with anorganization.
Steve Brown (13:49):
So tell us, tell us about your 10 rules.
Lloyd Brown (13:52):
So the 10 rules are rule number one. I'm going to go
back to the old 10 rules. Rulenumber one was a safety role.
Because if you don't go home atnight, nothing else matters.
Rule number two is the goldenrule. Treat others as you want
to be treated. Rule number threeis the gift trust or trust rule.
(14:13):
Rule number four, is the halffun roll. You spend more time at
work than you shouldn't.
anywhere else. You might as wellhave fun. Rule number five was
the vigorous debate roll.
vigorous debate is encouraged,while not violating Rule number
two. Rule number six the bestrule we expect while you're at
(14:33):
you're at work that's going togive your best every day rule
number seven, Zig roll namedafter Zig Ziglar help others get
what they want. Eventuallyyou'll get what you want. Rule
number eight is the commitmentroll. Try is not a commitment.
Say yes or no. So we can knowwhich way we need to go forward.
(14:54):
Roll number nine is thecelebrate roll. Celebrate
business and personal victories.
Rule number 10 is the learningroll, which happens to be
chapter number one of my book.
Steve Brown (15:07):
Hey, I wanted to pause right here and tell you
about a book that you need toget today. It's the funniest
book on marketing. It's calledthe Golden toilet, stop flushing
your marketing budget into yourwebsite and build a system that
grows your business. And guesswho wrote it? That's right, I
wrote it. And I wrote it justfor you. Because I want to help
(15:29):
you get past the last hurdles ofsetting up your business and
getting it squared away. I wroteit so that you can avoid time
wasting time wasting money,wasting frustration, get the
book on Audible, you can get iton Kindle, you can get it on
Amazon, but get the book takeadvantage of the insights in
(15:50):
there. And let me know what youthink. And now back to this
excellent episode. So here weare. And let's let's kind of set
the stage on why you wrote thisbook. Right. So one, one of your
stories in that really impactedme was here you were you were
(16:13):
had, had fought this long fight,you had made a successful sale,
and had kind of settled in andwas going you were going to
version two of the company,you're getting ready to scale
even bigger. And you had areason to celebrate. And you
were at a car dealership, andyou were picking up this, this
(16:36):
dream car, and you get a phonecall.
Unknown (16:41):
Tell us about that story.
Lloyd Brown (16:44):
So we had we had sold the business and December
of 2018. And the originalfounding partners and investors
were bought out and a new groupof investors private equity
investors were brought in. Andthe management team including
myself, we all reinvested. Andso after that 2019 was somewhat
(17:08):
of a turbulent year for thecompany, and then going into
2020, it was March 27 of 2020.
And I got a phone call from thechairman of the board of the
company. And he asked me if Ihad a minute and it's funny, I
was sitting in a car dealership,waiting in the finance to sign
the check and and leave for anew 2020 Corvette. So it was a
(17:33):
it was really a time I wasinternally struggling,
struggling that the business wascrashing around us oil and gas.
Were on our way to a negative,you know, $40 a barrel for all,
it was just a catastrophic time.
And I'm everybody's rememberingI'm sure how that felt in 2020.
(17:56):
And, and he he called and hesaid, Hey, you know, we're
looking at how we can help thebusiness survive. And we think
that we need to to lighten thecompany, and we're heavy in
leadership. And we'd like foryou to step down.
Steve Brown (18:14):
Like, wow, this was a company you started?
Unknown (18:18):
Yes.
Steve Brown (18:20):
How did you feel in that moment?
Lloyd Brown (18:25):
By in that exact moment, I was panicked. I'm mind
racing a million miles an hour.
You know, I have an employmentagreement, as part of the
purchase and, and choosing tostay to lead the company. And so
I'm thinking about, you know,I've got this agreement I've got
(18:46):
all of these things runningthrough my mind and most
prevalent is is how am I goingto have a conversation with my
wife? Wow. You know, it's just awave of emotions. And then you
go into the faking it mode, asthe guy comes in, says, Hey,
we're ready to close the deal.
(19:10):
While
Steve Brown (19:12):
you think about what that drive home was
supposed to feel like in yournew car, and I can just imagine
was that was the farthest thingfrom your mind as you were
driving?
Lloyd Brown (19:23):
Oh, yeah, I did it.
I remember the whole drive everyaspect of the drive and none of
it was on how cool or awesomethat car was. It was just is
completely irrelevant. At thattime.
Steve Brown (19:44):
So fast forward, you you decide I'm going to
write a book. And most peoplewill go and here's here's the
road to success, and this is howyou get there. And I can teach
you but what is Lloyd brown doHe writes a book and outlines
all his rules, and then showsyou where he broke them. What am
(20:07):
I supposed to get out of thisbook?
Lloyd Brown (20:13):
I think the number one thing that if I could have
an impact is that there's noshame and failure. That, that
failure does not define you,unless you let it. And, you
know, our society is really goodabout piling on. And you know,
(20:39):
even your worst enemies, yourown mind. And when you would
have had encouraged me so manytimes to write a book about the
10 roles in the culture, as Istarted to write that it really
became, you know, evident to methat I needed to write not about
our success. But the failurebecause we learned so much more
(21:01):
from that, and it really becamea personal journey. That man, it
was, it was the most awesome,blessed, hard journey of
overtaking.
Steve Brown (21:18):
Yeah, when I encourage you to write this
book, I was, you know, I wasthinking of all the things that
you could help someone that wasbeing acquired, or someone that
was bringing in a investmentteam or whatever could, all the
traps that they were about toencounter, and how you can help
them navigate it. But when youcame out with was just totally
(21:39):
different.
Lloyd Brown (21:41):
You know, what's funny? I think I did outline the
traps. As I stepped in all ofthem. I don't know if I stepped
on all of them. But I step in alot of traps. Most of them were
set by me, and I forgot theywere there and stepped right in.
But yeah, maybe. Maybe weaccomplish that. Anyway.
Steve Brown (22:07):
So we're listening to Lloyd brown are watching.
You're watching Les Brown on theROI online podcast, we're
talking about his book that justreleased yesterday, and three
categories, number onebestseller, refined by failure,
breaking rules and gettingburned. So Lloyd, I always I
hear these questions. Oftenpeople come to us, and they're,
(22:30):
they're, you know, they'rewanting to this investment to
help them grow the value oftheir business. But oftentimes,
we work on our messaging, and itimpacts their leadership. So I
wanted to ask you severalquestions here and just get your
your off the cuff answer.
Unknown (22:48):
Okay, Dan, so
Steve Brown (22:50):
why is leadership important in life?
Lloyd Brown (22:59):
Well, you're either leading or you're following. I
mean, it's just it's a, it's a,I've never really thought of it
this way. But you're, you'refollowing somebody, you're
following a path? And a lot ofpeople say, Hey, no, you're
forging your own way. And I, Idon't know that that's always
(23:19):
correct. I think those pathshave been taken. Sometimes
they're harder than what othershave gone through. And, and but
leadership's important for afollower. To be able to trust
that leader, and to be able tohave clarity of where they're
leading you to, are they leadingyou to a path of abundance and,
(23:46):
and success and growth, or theylead you into a path that is
stagnant and detrimental to yourphysical and mental health? I
mean, leadership'sextraordinarily important.
Steve Brown (24:01):
I think the intent of your 10 rules will impact the
answer and this question here,but why is integrity important
in leadership?
Lloyd Brown (24:14):
I think it all be integrity is the foundation of
trust. You know, ask everybodywhat their definition of
integrity is, and it goes allover the place, but really comes
down to do you trust that personto do what they say and say what
they do. I mean, that's reallywhat it boils down to. So if you
(24:42):
can't trust where you're going,there's no integrity in the
organization. There's reallythere gets to be these little I
don't know if you want to callthem fiefdoms or little pods and
and our cliques and it's justit's just unhealthy. When
there's not clarity andboundaries on how you treat each
(25:03):
other and how you do business.
Unknown (25:08):
So
Steve Brown (25:10):
causes of leadership failure, one of the
top three,
Lloyd Brown (25:19):
great question stay on want to grab a drink of water
while I'm contemplating thatone, top three. arrogance,
number one, and arrogance forme, I'm going to speak for me
was being a know it all andthinking I knew at all and that
(25:42):
I didn't need others advice andthey became my way or the
highway in many instances. SoI'd be, I'd be right up, they're
not applying your roles equally.
And for me that meant when I hadpeople that have been in my
(26:06):
relationships for a really longtime, I would give them a pass
on some of the ways that wetreated people, for example. And
that really created doubt,looking back at created doubt,
and in my leadership and doubtin the trust, because, again,
they weren't they didn't haveintegrity. So one of the
(26:28):
greatest things you can do thatI would not be sitting here
without my friends that came in,and it moments in time within
the business sacrificethemselves, the anenome amazing
way. But at another point, nothaving those boundaries, or that
(26:55):
accountability. And fillingsince they had done so much
sacrificing that I gave themgrace and gave them
opportunities to treat othersthe way they didn't need to be
treated. And it really itreally, it was tough. So hiring
friends and family. If you canavoid it, avoid it. That's
(27:18):
That's it. Number three, Golay,Steve.
I would probably say notfocusing on your profit. I mean,
(27:43):
you got to be profitable. And sowhen you read the book, you'll
find out that my 10 rolls arenot the same 10 rolls that we
just talked about.
Steve Brown (27:56):
Excellent. So that's what leads me on. So this
last one, leadership failureexamples. You have 10 of them in
your book. And you've rearrangedthem. So what are the what are
the, what's the order now?
Lloyd Brown (28:16):
Well, rule number one is today is give trust or
trust. It's because it's thebeginning of any foundation of a
relationship. And before you canhave any other boundaries or
roles, you've got to step into arelationship by either giving
trust, while really alwaysgiving trust and then earning
(28:38):
that trust. Rule number two isthe safety role. Again, because
if you don't go home at night,nothing else matters. Rule
number three is the golden ruletreat others as you want to be
treated. Rule number four isprofit first means you can have
fun. And really if you thinkabout a profit first is putting
people first. Rule number fiveis still the vigorous debate
(29:01):
roll. And six is the best roll708 is the commitment roll nine
is the celebrate roll and 10 islearning roll.
Steve Brown (29:14):
So now that your your books written, folks are
going to read it and they'regoing to look to you for some
sort of input. What's the properexpectation of how you could
help them think through theirrules?
Lloyd Brown (29:39):
While it goes back to the first question you asked
me which was why? And words mainthings big time and it's funny
how as I've been blessed withthe opportunity to mentor some
folks right now. really helpingthem understand the clarity
behind what they say and whythey say it because many times
(30:00):
We'll say something that isreally tied to a feeling without
really diving into the realmeaning and purpose behind that.
And if we can't be completelyclear about it, right, it
creates an opportunity withinthe organization and even the
leadership, to not have clarity,because we each defined
(30:22):
something differently. So giveus an example.
Steve Brown (30:27):
Maybe someone that, obviously, you didn't just come
up with this, you've beenworking with folks for a while,
give us an example of success.
Lloyd Brown (30:46):
And what context?
Steve Brown (30:48):
Well, you've sat down, and you've helped someone
clarify their why and begin andwhat's been the outcome of that.
Lloyd Brown (30:59):
So I think, one fruit, cuz success is something
that you, you work at every day,it's, it's a, it's kind of like
perfection, you have momentsthat you get really, really good
at something, but you're nevergoing to be perfect, it's
(31:20):
impossible to be perfect.
Success is very much it's, youcan have success for a moment.
But a life of success is momentsof having plans. And so where I
really see companies becoming,and transitioning, and really
that owner, entrepreneur, iswhen they have clarity, the
(31:42):
speed that their organizationstarts moving. The alignment
that comes in, I've got I've gota pair of clients, right now,
they both are leading theorganization. And in about four
months, five months, they'vegotten their y down, and they've
really gotten clarity in theorganization, and everything
(32:03):
just starts clicking. It's, it'scrazy, how fast they're moving,
and propelling their businessforward. And then it's, for me,
it's satisfying to go while youguys are just growing in a way
and they're having fun. It's Imean, and that's what a business
is hard. But you ought to havemore time of the day that you're
(32:29):
enjoying it, then you're not. Ifit's drudgery, you might need to
think about doing somethingelse.
Steve Brown (32:38):
I think that this, this assume your organization
has people that are committed,they have the best intent and
interest in success. And imaginethey're all heading to some
point on a horizon somewhere.
And the biggest challenge forany leader is to take this this
direction, and out of their headand clearly make it where
(33:01):
everyone can see it. So all of asudden the energy start to align
and go to the same point. And Iwhen I was reading your book, I
was seeing that this could bevery impactful for a lot of
people. But the other thing Itook away was most of us define
ourselves by our failures, andwe beat ourselves up for so
(33:22):
long. And here you are going noyou don't. You can take this and
flip that. And I think it'ssomething that most leaders need
a little help to talk it throughwith someone. It's it's hard to
let yourself off the hooksometimes.
Unknown (33:43):
And I think absolutely,
Steve Brown (33:45):
I think this is a very empowering aspect of your
book. Thank you. So we'relistening, or you're watching
Lloyd, our conversation withLloyd Brown, and he's an author
now, his book is refined byfailure, breaking rules and
getting burned. It's a Amazonbestseller in three categories
(34:08):
right out of the gate on thefirst day. sirloin. I always ask
this questions like, what's onequestion that I didn't ask that
you wish I would have?
Lloyd Brown (34:25):
I would say what has been the impact on your
family of breaking rules?
Steve Brown (34:38):
So yeah, let's talk about that. That can that's a
little sensitive.
Unknown (34:44):
Well,
Lloyd Brown (34:47):
it is and when you don't have personal boundary
boundaries as a leader and youbreak your own rules, it doesn't
just impact the business. Itimpacts everybody that's
involved in Your life, and thatto me probably, you know, has
(35:08):
the greatest impact. Because ifyou can lead well at work, it
really makes you a better leaderat home. And if you can set
those boundaries at work andhave clarity there, and you do
that at home, and it just helpson both sides. And I can say
since the day that I was called,and actually really, the end of
(35:33):
June, June 29, was really aturning point. For me, because
my wife looked at me and toldme, I'm done. I'm not doing this
craziness anymore. And which ledme to hire a coach from my mind.
guy named Dave Hollis or readhis book, and he talked about,
(35:54):
you know, we do a lot of thingsfor our physical health. But we
don't focus on our most, thestrongest part of our body,
which is our mind. And that,that's really, those two things
are the ones that I had pushedyou to ask me. So you did now.
Steve Brown (36:14):
Yeah, your book starts off with a big gut punch
on that topic. And it's like, Ithink a lot of us all struggle
with with that same experiencein some way where we've
neglected in this fight to besuccessful in this justification
of all this is worth it or Igotta go focus on this and and
(36:37):
yet we neglect the people welove the most.
Unknown (36:40):
To help. Absolutely.
Steve Brown (36:43):
So Lloyd, where's How can people reach out to you
connect with you learn moreabout you get your book, tell us
all of that?
Lloyd Brown (36:51):
Well, books available on my website. And
that's also how you can reachout to me, which is refined by
failure, calm. It's available onAmazon, and all in iBooks. And I
think they'll be some otheroutlets that will be picking it
up here pretty quick. So but wehave the link on my website. And
(37:16):
that's really one of the easiestways to go. It'll take you right
to the page on Amazon to be ableto buy either the Kindle
version, or the printed copy ofthe book.
Steve Brown (37:27):
most business owners write books on how to do
it, right. Here's what you do.
Lloyd brown know, he's going todo it differently. But he's
going to touch in deep, refinedby failure, breaking rules and
getting burned. Stephen, Mr.
cubbies even endorsed you. Socongratulations, Lloyd.
Lloyd Brown (37:50):
Thank you. So thank you. Thank you. And again, thank
you for being one of my coachesand encouragers. And the book
wouldn't happen without that.
Steve Brown (38:02):
Yeah. Well, you're welcome mine. I'm proud. This is
good stuff. Lloyd, you've been agreat guest on ROI online
podcast.
Lloyd Brown (38:12):
Thank you for having me, Steve. I really
appreciate it. And that's a
Steve Brown (38:16):
wrap. Thanks for listening to another fun episode
of the ROI online podcast. Formore, be sure to check out the
show notes of this episode. Andfeel free to connect with me on
LinkedIn where we can chat and Ican help direct you to the
resources you're searching for.
To learn more about how you cangrow your business better. Be
sure to pick up your copy of mybook, that golden toilet at
(38:39):
surprise that golden toilet.comI'm Steve Brown, and we'll see
you next week on another funepisode of the ROI online
podcast.
What has been the impact on your family of
breaking rules, when you don'thave personal boundaries as a
leader, and you break your ownrules, it doesn't just impact
the business. It impactseverybody that's involved in
your life. And that to me,probably, you know, has the, the
(00:27):
greatest impact, because if youcan lead well at work really
makes you a better leader athome. And if you can set those
boundaries at work, and haveclarity there, and you do that
at home, and it just helps onboth sides.
Steve Brown (00:44):
Hi, everybody.
Welcome to the ROI onlinepodcast where we believe you,
the courageous entrepreneurs ofour day, are the invisible
heroes of our economy. You notonly improve our world with your
ideas, your grit and yourpassion, but you make our world
better. I'm Steve Brown. Andthis is a place where we have
great conversations with winnersjust like you while we laugh and
(01:07):
learn together.
Lloyd Brown, welcome to the ROIonline podcast.
Lloyd Brown (01:21):
Thank you, Steve.
exciting to be here. BecauseI've been watching you do this
almost from day one.
Steve Brown (01:29):
Yeah, so I'm, I'm kind of getting good at you hope
that after 107 episode, you getthe hang of things.
Lloyd Brown (01:36):
And what they say is repetition makes you
unconsciously competent, right?
Yeah,
Steve Brown (01:40):
yeah. Well, I'm proud to have you, Lloyd, you're
my, you're, you've been aclient, you're a friend. You're
a confidant. And now you're anauthor. And today we're going to
talk about your book, refined byfailure, breaking rules and
getting burned. This is a tale acautionary tale of a CEO, who
(02:03):
grew a big company had a set ofrules in place to set him up for
success. But you need to readthe book to learn what comes out
of that. So here's the problem.
Why do you set rules to keep youout of trouble, but what happens
if you break your own rules? Theproblem is, most people don't
know how to handle failure, theythink they do until it happens.
(02:24):
And then their confidencecrumbles. And they feel like a
complete failure themselves. Butwhat's cool is this books helps
you learn from your mistakes,and that you're not defined by
your failures, you're refined bythese failures. And so Lloyd,
tell us a little bit about yourprofessional journey. And then
(02:46):
what in the world caused you towrite a book outlining all your
failures,
Lloyd Brown (02:57):
there's a lot of their their stage. So you know,
I grew up with a dad that was aserial entrepreneur and owns his
own company, and at an early agestarted teaching me about
business. Starting with runningvending machines, that his
business and being responsiblefill them up, and both a coke
(03:17):
machine and a candy machine andthen getting into lawn mowing
business, you know, and, andthen, you know, going, going
through that part of life andgetting that preparation, and,
unfortunately, my dad died whenI was 20 years old. And so then
I'm kickstarted into life at athyperspeed while I'm in college,
(03:39):
and I get out and I work for acompany that he founded for a
number of years, and then wentto run a large family operated
construction business, and was amiserable failure at that
business. And I learned a lot ofthings about not what I didn't
want to do, if I ever had theopportunity to lead my own
(04:01):
company. And lo and behold, Iended up starting and found co
founding a company with twoother partners that really took
off and did something veryspecial. And an 11 year
timeframe.
Steve Brown (04:18):
Yeah, so this company you built, I got to
witness it. And as you know, youwere my client during this time,
and we became friends but I gotto witness you excel in a rough
and tumble industry, the oil andgas services industry.
Unknown (04:36):
And that's
Steve Brown (04:38):
you did a big I mean you You fought a good fight
for a long time and experienceda lot of success.
Lloyd Brown (04:48):
Absolutely in and near death experiences and all
the things that you you do whenyou're an entrepreneur and when
you're when you're leading abusiness and you go through
dynamic growth cycles, and thenyou're in In an industry, that
in and of itself is veryvolatile, you know, there's
peaks and valleys and, and they,they, the peaks happen fast, and
(05:09):
the valleys seem to happen evenfaster. And so there's a lot to
be learned in that in thatprocess. And the reason there's
a lot to be learned is you endup failing a lot you make, you
make a lot of decisions thatdon't work out. And, and most of
the time, you're able to recoverfrom those. But this last major
(05:35):
event, and 2020 was one of thosethat I personally as a leader
couldn't recover from.
Steve Brown (05:42):
Yeah, you know, I'm one of the things I admired. And
I recognize when I met you andstarted seeing you and your
company, you had a smallcompany, I think about 25
employees or something, and yougrew it to over 200. But, but I
always felt that you hadidentified these 10 rules. And I
(06:03):
thought, I really recognize howit was smart, and how it
actually led your culture. Andit helped you achieve a certain
amount of success by building ateam by sitting down and coming
up with these rules. Where didthat come from?
Lloyd Brown (06:21):
You know, I was a member of a Vistage group in
Fort Worth, and we had a speakerand I really wish I could
remember his name, I need to goback and research that. But he
was talking about how do you howto help people in your
organization, make decisions, asif you were there, but you're
not. And he he said, You know,one of the really important
(06:44):
things is to create a culture,that everybody understands the
boundaries, everybodyunderstands the guidelines for
them to go make decisions. Andhe really talked about how that
establishes trust within theorganization. And to me, it
resonated, that it's likebuilding a superhighway, right,
(07:06):
you have boundaries on eachside. But when you're within
those boundaries, you can goreally fast. And that was the
intention behind it. And reallyidentify what the expectations
are for how you treat each otheras well. So that that's what we
did. The management team, whichmost of us were shareholders in
(07:30):
the company, we came together.
And we agreed on the 10 rulesover a few months, and then
implemented them and theyreally, they really ended up
defining my life and so much sothat, you know, those roles are
really the foundation of writingthis book.
Steve Brown (07:50):
Yeah. So then, you know, I'm, when I think about
those rules, most businessesdon't get around, maybe doing
that, you know, imagine mostsmall businesses, they just get
an idea and they kind of try tofigure out if it's gonna stick
or not. And then they wake upmaybe a couple of two or three
(08:10):
years later, and and then theystart to investigate. How do I
impact my culture? How do I setup? How do I solve this problem
of my employees? They seem to bekind of out of control or not
understanding what I'm wantingto achieve? And I think it's a
real key to success that if youcan do this in the beginning,
(08:32):
it's a big lever.
Lloyd Brown (08:34):
No, I agree with you. Absolutely. It really goes
back to how do you establish arelationship that you trust each
other. And those those rules orguidelines, whatever you want to
call them within the individualorganization? They're meant to
just give clarity, right?
They're meant. So when somebodygoes, Hey, I've got a choice A,
(08:57):
I got a choice B, you can weighthose against, really those
scales within your organization.
For your culture, and Mike areally good decision. No, we
only had one rule that if youintentionally broke it, you were
terminated. And that was oursafety rule. With everything
(09:19):
else. We wanted to give grace,because from failing, you learn
and I'm finding out that I'mgonna have a PhD by the end of
my life on learning from myfailures.
Steve Brown (09:34):
So, so let's establish when you sit down and
you start to go, so noteverybody's gonna want to do the
same 10 rules that you do, butthose rules that you do decide
they're coming from a place ofyour why.
Lloyd Brown (09:49):
Absolutely.
Steve Brown (09:51):
So tell us about your why and why these 10
specific rules and we'll we'llquickly let you list those out,
but Let's start with your whywhy, where did these come from
and they they impacted your 10roles, or the the Why did
Lloyd Brown (10:12):
the the why really came down stave to I wanted to
have a business to where wetreated our customers, and our
employees with mutual respectand trust, and in the oil and
gas industry and my business wasin the chemical side,
(10:34):
historically has been known as alot of snake oil salesmen. And
employees also had been treatedsomewhat as a commodity, and
where they could come and go,everybody's replaceable. And the
companies that think like that,that just didn't, never
resonated with me, and it's areason why I started the
(10:55):
business was to be able to makethose decisions to help shape
it. And really, you know, treatpeople with trust number one,
and respect number two, and inthat way, assuming that our
products and services were thesame, people choose to do
business, and to work in ourorganization because of those
(11:17):
values.
Steve Brown (11:19):
So when we first started working together, you
know, the default expectation ofan internet marketing company is
that I need more business, Ineed more leads. But that wasn't
what you need it, you had plentyof business, you didn't have
enough employees to take care ofyour business. And you couldn't
scale because of that. And yet,you're having to compete for
(11:39):
these employees with bigcompanies that had more of a
weaponize way of recruiting.
Lloyd Brown (11:47):
Yeah, I've never thought of it, you know, as a
weaponized way, but yeah, they,they really knew how to go find
talent, retain talent, and thenthey deject everybody else. And,
and if you had somebody reallytalented Boy, you know that
we're going to come after him.
So glad to give people a reasonto work for you, I think, you
(12:09):
know, there's a lot to thestatement, you know, treat
people and train them. So theycan leave, but treat them so
well that they don't. And youknow, Sir Richard Branson, he's
the one I've missed, quoted hima little bit there. But, you
know, he really impressed mewhen he said that, because
(12:30):
you're trusting people thatthey're going to stay when you
treat them well. And if youtrain them, they're going to be
able to grow in yourorganization and continue to
propel that organizationforward. You got to have them
both. And you just have to trustthat doing the right thing is
going to provide the rightresults.
Steve Brown (12:51):
Yeah, so I think your rules were your competitive
advantage when the employees,the employees were evaluating
whether they wanted to work forCompany A or your company. And I
think you were pinging somethingthat was really important to
where my valued, where's my lifegoing to fit and be congruent
with my family life?
Lloyd Brown (13:13):
Absolutely. And the funny thing is, a lot of folks
talked about it being a familyatmosphere.
And in reflection, I don't knowthat that's I know what they
mean by it.
My experience, and my family andother families, most of us are
(13:35):
pretty dysfunctional. And youdon't want to have a
organization that that's why butit's when you have the best of a
feeling of a family. That's ahigh compliment, and, and we had
that compliment a lot with anorganization.
Steve Brown (13:49):
So tell us, tell us about your 10 rules.
Lloyd Brown (13:52):
So the 10 rules are rule number one. I'm going to go
back to the old 10 rules. Rulenumber one was a safety role.
Because if you don't go home atnight, nothing else matters.
Rule number two is the goldenrule. Treat others as you want
to be treated. Rule number threeis the gift trust or trust rule.
(14:13):
Rule number four, is the halffun roll. You spend more time at
work than you shouldn't.
anywhere else. You might as wellhave fun. Rule number five was
the vigorous debate roll.
vigorous debate is encouraged,while not violating Rule number
two. Rule number six the bestrule we expect while you're at
(14:33):
you're at work that's going togive your best every day rule
number seven, Zig roll namedafter Zig Ziglar help others get
what they want. Eventuallyyou'll get what you want. Rule
number eight is the commitmentroll. Try is not a commitment.
Say yes or no. So we can knowwhich way we need to go forward.
(14:54):
Roll number nine is thecelebrate roll. Celebrate
business and personal victories.
Rule number 10 is the learningroll, which happens to be
chapter number one of my book.
Steve Brown (15:07):
Hey, I wanted to pause right here and tell you
about a book that you need toget today. It's the funniest
book on marketing. It's calledthe Golden toilet, stop flushing
your marketing budget into yourwebsite and build a system that
grows your business. And guesswho wrote it? That's right, I
wrote it. And I wrote it justfor you. Because I want to help
(15:29):
you get past the last hurdles ofsetting up your business and
getting it squared away. I wroteit so that you can avoid time
wasting time wasting money,wasting frustration, get the
book on Audible, you can get iton Kindle, you can get it on
Amazon, but get the book takeadvantage of the insights in
(15:50):
there. And let me know what youthink. And now back to this
excellent episode. So here weare. And let's let's kind of set
the stage on why you wrote thisbook. Right. So one, one of your
stories in that really impactedme was here you were you were
(16:13):
had, had fought this long fight,you had made a successful sale,
and had kind of settled in andwas going you were going to
version two of the company,you're getting ready to scale
even bigger. And you had areason to celebrate. And you
were at a car dealership, andyou were picking up this, this
(16:36):
dream car, and you get a phonecall.
Unknown (16:41):
Tell us about that story.
Lloyd Brown (16:44):
So we had we had sold the business and December
of 2018. And the originalfounding partners and investors
were bought out and a new groupof investors private equity
investors were brought in. Andthe management team including
myself, we all reinvested. Andso after that 2019 was somewhat
(17:08):
of a turbulent year for thecompany, and then going into
2020, it was March 27 of 2020.
And I got a phone call from thechairman of the board of the
company. And he asked me if Ihad a minute and it's funny, I
was sitting in a car dealership,waiting in the finance to sign
the check and and leave for anew 2020 Corvette. So it was a
(17:33):
it was really a time I wasinternally struggling,
struggling that the business wascrashing around us oil and gas.
Were on our way to a negative,you know, $40 a barrel for all,
it was just a catastrophic time.
And I'm everybody's rememberingI'm sure how that felt in 2020.
(17:56):
And, and he he called and hesaid, Hey, you know, we're
looking at how we can help thebusiness survive. And we think
that we need to to lighten thecompany, and we're heavy in
leadership. And we'd like foryou to step down.
Steve Brown (18:14):
Like, wow, this was a company you started?
Unknown (18:18):
Yes.
Steve Brown (18:20):
How did you feel in that moment?
Lloyd Brown (18:25):
By in that exact moment, I was panicked. I'm mind
racing a million miles an hour.
You know, I have an employmentagreement, as part of the
purchase and, and choosing tostay to lead the company. And so
I'm thinking about, you know,I've got this agreement I've got
(18:46):
all of these things runningthrough my mind and most
prevalent is is how am I goingto have a conversation with my
wife? Wow. You know, it's just awave of emotions. And then you
go into the faking it mode, asthe guy comes in, says, Hey,
we're ready to close the deal.
(19:10):
While
Steve Brown (19:12):
you think about what that drive home was
supposed to feel like in yournew car, and I can just imagine
was that was the farthest thingfrom your mind as you were
driving?
Lloyd Brown (19:23):
Oh, yeah, I did it.
I remember the whole drive everyaspect of the drive and none of
it was on how cool or awesomethat car was. It was just is
completely irrelevant. At thattime.
Steve Brown (19:44):
So fast forward, you you decide I'm going to
write a book. And most peoplewill go and here's here's the
road to success, and this is howyou get there. And I can teach
you but what is Lloyd brown doHe writes a book and outlines
all his rules, and then showsyou where he broke them. What am
(20:07):
I supposed to get out of thisbook?
Lloyd Brown (20:13):
I think the number one thing that if I could have
an impact is that there's noshame and failure. That, that
failure does not define you,unless you let it. And, you
know, our society is really goodabout piling on. And you know,
(20:39):
even your worst enemies, yourown mind. And when you would
have had encouraged me so manytimes to write a book about the
10 roles in the culture, as Istarted to write that it really
became, you know, evident to methat I needed to write not about
our success. But the failurebecause we learned so much more
(21:01):
from that, and it really becamea personal journey. That man, it
was, it was the most awesome,blessed, hard journey of
overtaking.
Steve Brown (21:18):
Yeah, when I encourage you to write this
book, I was, you know, I wasthinking of all the things that
you could help someone that wasbeing acquired, or someone that
was bringing in a investmentteam or whatever could, all the
traps that they were about toencounter, and how you can help
them navigate it. But when youcame out with was just totally
(21:39):
different.
Lloyd Brown (21:41):
You know, what's funny? I think I did outline the
traps. As I stepped in all ofthem. I don't know if I stepped
on all of them. But I step in alot of traps. Most of them were
set by me, and I forgot theywere there and stepped right in.
But yeah, maybe. Maybe weaccomplish that. Anyway.
Steve Brown (22:07):
So we're listening to Lloyd brown are watching.
You're watching Les Brown on theROI online podcast, we're
talking about his book that justreleased yesterday, and three
categories, number onebestseller, refined by failure,
breaking rules and gettingburned. So Lloyd, I always I
hear these questions. Oftenpeople come to us, and they're,
(22:30):
they're, you know, they'rewanting to this investment to
help them grow the value oftheir business. But oftentimes,
we work on our messaging, and itimpacts their leadership. So I
wanted to ask you severalquestions here and just get your
your off the cuff answer.
Unknown (22:48):
Okay, Dan, so
Steve Brown (22:50):
why is leadership important in life?
Lloyd Brown (22:59):
Well, you're either leading or you're following. I
mean, it's just it's a, it's a,I've never really thought of it
this way. But you're, you'refollowing somebody, you're
following a path? And a lot ofpeople say, Hey, no, you're
forging your own way. And I, Idon't know that that's always
(23:19):
correct. I think those pathshave been taken. Sometimes
they're harder than what othershave gone through. And, and but
leadership's important for afollower. To be able to trust
that leader, and to be able tohave clarity of where they're
leading you to, are they leadingyou to a path of abundance and,
(23:46):
and success and growth, or theylead you into a path that is
stagnant and detrimental to yourphysical and mental health? I
mean, leadership'sextraordinarily important.
Steve Brown (24:01):
I think the intent of your 10 rules will impact the
answer and this question here,but why is integrity important
in leadership?
Lloyd Brown (24:14):
I think it all be integrity is the foundation of
trust. You know, ask everybodywhat their definition of
integrity is, and it goes allover the place, but really comes
down to do you trust that personto do what they say and say what
they do. I mean, that's reallywhat it boils down to. So if you
(24:42):
can't trust where you're going,there's no integrity in the
organization. There's reallythere gets to be these little I
don't know if you want to callthem fiefdoms or little pods and
and our cliques and it's justit's just unhealthy. When
there's not clarity andboundaries on how you treat each
(25:03):
other and how you do business.
Unknown (25:08):
So
Steve Brown (25:10):
causes of leadership failure, one of the
top three,
Lloyd Brown (25:19):
great question stay on want to grab a drink of water
while I'm contemplating thatone, top three. arrogance,
number one, and arrogance forme, I'm going to speak for me
was being a know it all andthinking I knew at all and that
(25:42):
I didn't need others advice andthey became my way or the
highway in many instances. SoI'd be, I'd be right up, they're
not applying your roles equally.
And for me that meant when I hadpeople that have been in my
(26:06):
relationships for a really longtime, I would give them a pass
on some of the ways that wetreated people, for example. And
that really created doubt,looking back at created doubt,
and in my leadership and doubtin the trust, because, again,
they weren't they didn't haveintegrity. So one of the
(26:28):
greatest things you can do thatI would not be sitting here
without my friends that came in,and it moments in time within
the business sacrificethemselves, the anenome amazing
way. But at another point, nothaving those boundaries, or that
(26:55):
accountability. And fillingsince they had done so much
sacrificing that I gave themgrace and gave them
opportunities to treat othersthe way they didn't need to be
treated. And it really itreally, it was tough. So hiring
friends and family. If you canavoid it, avoid it. That's
(27:18):
That's it. Number three, Golay,Steve.
I would probably say notfocusing on your profit. I mean,
(27:43):
you got to be profitable. And sowhen you read the book, you'll
find out that my 10 rolls arenot the same 10 rolls that we
just talked about.
Steve Brown (27:56):
Excellent. So that's what leads me on. So this
last one, leadership failureexamples. You have 10 of them in
your book. And you've rearrangedthem. So what are the what are
the, what's the order now?
Lloyd Brown (28:16):
Well, rule number one is today is give trust or
trust. It's because it's thebeginning of any foundation of a
relationship. And before you canhave any other boundaries or
roles, you've got to step into arelationship by either giving
trust, while really alwaysgiving trust and then earning
(28:38):
that trust. Rule number two isthe safety role. Again, because
if you don't go home at night,nothing else matters. Rule
number three is the golden ruletreat others as you want to be
treated. Rule number four isprofit first means you can have
fun. And really if you thinkabout a profit first is putting
people first. Rule number fiveis still the vigorous debate
(29:01):
roll. And six is the best roll708 is the commitment roll nine
is the celebrate roll and 10 islearning roll.
Steve Brown (29:14):
So now that your your books written, folks are
going to read it and they'regoing to look to you for some
sort of input. What's the properexpectation of how you could
help them think through theirrules?
Lloyd Brown (29:39):
While it goes back to the first question you asked
me which was why? And words mainthings big time and it's funny
how as I've been blessed withthe opportunity to mentor some
folks right now. really helpingthem understand the clarity
behind what they say and whythey say it because many times
(30:00):
We'll say something that isreally tied to a feeling without
really diving into the realmeaning and purpose behind that.
And if we can't be completelyclear about it, right, it
creates an opportunity withinthe organization and even the
leadership, to not have clarity,because we each defined
(30:22):
something differently. So giveus an example.
Steve Brown (30:27):
Maybe someone that, obviously, you didn't just come
up with this, you've beenworking with folks for a while,
give us an example of success.
Lloyd Brown (30:46):
And what context?
Steve Brown (30:48):
Well, you've sat down, and you've helped someone
clarify their why and begin andwhat's been the outcome of that.
Lloyd Brown (30:59):
So I think, one fruit, cuz success is something
that you, you work at every day,it's, it's a, it's kind of like
perfection, you have momentsthat you get really, really good
at something, but you're nevergoing to be perfect, it's
(31:20):
impossible to be perfect.
Success is very much it's, youcan have success for a moment.
But a life of success is momentsof having plans. And so where I
really see companies becoming,and transitioning, and really
that owner, entrepreneur, iswhen they have clarity, the
(31:42):
speed that their organizationstarts moving. The alignment
that comes in, I've got I've gota pair of clients, right now,
they both are leading theorganization. And in about four
months, five months, they'vegotten their y down, and they've
really gotten clarity in theorganization, and everything
(32:03):
just starts clicking. It's, it'scrazy, how fast they're moving,
and propelling their businessforward. And then it's, for me,
it's satisfying to go while youguys are just growing in a way
and they're having fun. It's Imean, and that's what a business
is hard. But you ought to havemore time of the day that you're
(32:29):
enjoying it, then you're not. Ifit's drudgery, you might need to
think about doing somethingelse.
Steve Brown (32:38):
I think that this, this assume your organization
has people that are committed,they have the best intent and
interest in success. And imaginethey're all heading to some
point on a horizon somewhere.
And the biggest challenge forany leader is to take this this
direction, and out of their headand clearly make it where
(33:01):
everyone can see it. So all of asudden the energy start to align
and go to the same point. And Iwhen I was reading your book, I
was seeing that this could bevery impactful for a lot of
people. But the other thing Itook away was most of us define
ourselves by our failures, andwe beat ourselves up for so
(33:22):
long. And here you are going noyou don't. You can take this and
flip that. And I think it'ssomething that most leaders need
a little help to talk it throughwith someone. It's it's hard to
let yourself off the hooksometimes.
Unknown (33:43):
And I think absolutely,
Steve Brown (33:45):
I think this is a very empowering aspect of your
book. Thank you. So we'relistening, or you're watching
Lloyd, our conversation withLloyd Brown, and he's an author
now, his book is refined byfailure, breaking rules and
getting burned. It's a Amazonbestseller in three categories
(34:08):
right out of the gate on thefirst day. sirloin. I always ask
this questions like, what's onequestion that I didn't ask that
you wish I would have?
Lloyd Brown (34:25):
I would say what has been the impact on your
family of breaking rules?
Steve Brown (34:38):
So yeah, let's talk about that. That can that's a
little sensitive.
Unknown (34:44):
Well,
Lloyd Brown (34:47):
it is and when you don't have personal boundary
boundaries as a leader and youbreak your own rules, it doesn't
just impact the business. Itimpacts everybody that's
involved in Your life, and thatto me probably, you know, has
(35:08):
the greatest impact. Because ifyou can lead well at work, it
really makes you a better leaderat home. And if you can set
those boundaries at work andhave clarity there, and you do
that at home, and it just helpson both sides. And I can say
since the day that I was called,and actually really, the end of
(35:33):
June, June 29, was really aturning point. For me, because
my wife looked at me and toldme, I'm done. I'm not doing this
craziness anymore. And which ledme to hire a coach from my mind.
guy named Dave Hollis or readhis book, and he talked about,
(35:54):
you know, we do a lot of thingsfor our physical health. But we
don't focus on our most, thestrongest part of our body,
which is our mind. And that,that's really, those two things
are the ones that I had pushedyou to ask me. So you did now.
Steve Brown (36:14):
Yeah, your book starts off with a big gut punch
on that topic. And it's like, Ithink a lot of us all struggle
with with that same experiencein some way where we've
neglected in this fight to besuccessful in this justification
of all this is worth it or Igotta go focus on this and and
(36:37):
yet we neglect the people welove the most.
Unknown (36:40):
To help. Absolutely.
Steve Brown (36:43):
So Lloyd, where's How can people reach out to you
connect with you learn moreabout you get your book, tell us
all of that?
Lloyd Brown (36:51):
Well, books available on my website. And
that's also how you can reachout to me, which is refined by
failure, calm. It's available onAmazon, and all in iBooks. And I
think they'll be some otheroutlets that will be picking it
up here pretty quick. So but wehave the link on my website. And
(37:16):
that's really one of the easiestways to go. It'll take you right
to the page on Amazon to be ableto buy either the Kindle
version, or the printed copy ofthe book.
Steve Brown (37:27):
most business owners write books on how to do
it, right. Here's what you do.
Lloyd brown know, he's going todo it differently. But he's
going to touch in deep, refinedby failure, breaking rules and
getting burned. Stephen, Mr.
cubbies even endorsed you. Socongratulations, Lloyd.
Lloyd Brown (37:50):
Thank you. So thank you. Thank you. And again, thank
you for being one of my coachesand encouragers. And the book
wouldn't happen without that.
Steve Brown (38:02):
Yeah. Well, you're welcome mine. I'm proud. This is
good stuff. Lloyd, you've been agreat guest on ROI online
podcast.
Lloyd Brown (38:12):
Thank you for having me, Steve. I really
appreciate it. And that's a
Steve Brown (38:16):
wrap. Thanks for listening to another fun episode
of the ROI online podcast. Formore, be sure to check out the
show notes of this episode. Andfeel free to connect with me on
LinkedIn where we can chat and Ican help direct you to the
resources you're searching for.
To learn more about how you cangrow your business better. Be
sure to pick up your copy of mybook, that golden toilet at
(38:39):
surprise that golden toilet.comI'm Steve Brown, and we'll see
you next week on another funepisode of the ROI online
podcast.
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