July 25, 2023 • 33 mins
Welcome Back, Uncommon Leaders!
On this episode of The Uncommon Leader Podcast, I am joined by guest Craig Gini, the Chief Transformation Officer and an owner at Collins Electrical in Stockton, CA. Craig and I discuss a great deal on this podcast including:
- His insights on the feedback process and its importance in staying focused on important issues.
- The transition from doing the business to developing others to run the business.
- He also emphasizes the significance of disciplines, daily routines, and contemplation time in becoming better leaders and growing others.
- The importance of core values and culture in creating a positive work environment.
- The need for discomfort and uneasiness for growth and success in business.
With the expertise and experiences shared by Craig Gini, listeners will gain practical strategies for becoming uncommon leaders in their own lives and careers.
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Did you know that many of the things that I discuss on the Uncommon Leader Podcast are subjects that I coach other leaders and organizations ? If you would be interested in having me discuss 1:1 or group coaching with you, or know someone who is looking to move from Underperforming to Uncommon in their business or life, I would love to chat with you. Click this link to set up a FREE CALL to discuss how coaching might benefit you and your team)
Until next time, Go and Grow Champions!!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, uncommon Leaders , welcome back.
This is the Uncommon Leaderpodcast and I'm your host, john
Gallagher.
On this episode of the UncommonLeader podcast, I'm joined by
Craig Genie, the ChiefTransformation Officer at
Collins Electrical and Stockton,california.
I've been fortunate enough towork with Craig the past couple
of years as an executive coachand performance consultant,
helping him and Collins Electricto deploy Lean, or the Collins
(00:23):
Business System, as they havedubbed it, throughout their
organization.
Craig's leadership developmentjourney is one that many leaders
need to hear.
Our discussion will providevaluable insights on feedback,
leadership, personal development, creating a positive work
culture within organizations andmore.
With the expertise, experiencesand stories that Craig shares,
(00:44):
listeners will gain practicalstrategies for becoming Uncommon
Leaders in their own lives andcareers.
Let's get started.
Craig Genie, welcome to theUncommon Leader podcast.
It's great to have you as aguest on the show today.
How are you doing, my friend?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I am doing fantastic.
Thank you, looking forward toour conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
buddy, I think there's some really good things
you're going to have to offerour listeners as you talk about
your leadership journey.
It's going to be pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I appreciate that.
I just want to say, startingoff of, I listened to your
podcast.
You know that I read yourchampions Brew religiously on
Fridays as part of my standardwork.
Just to say thank you.
It helps me keep my headstraight on just new thoughts to
think about throughout the week, gives me a good lighthouse to
(01:36):
focus on.
So thank you for that.
I truly appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Craig, I appreciate that I didn't even pay you to
say that to get started.
You didn't I appreciate youstarting out with that right off
the bat.
But I'll turn it around to youand give you the question that I
always gave my first-timeguests on the podcast.
Sure, that's for you to tellour listeners.
It's really about your personaldevelopment journey from way
back, a story from yourchildhood that may still impact
who you are today as a leaderand as a person.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I mean, that's actually a greatquestion Kind of goes to the
psychology of things, at leastfor me, and probably the most
impactful event.
As I look back on my life, oneof the most impactful events
that happened to me was probablysomewhere around 10 to 11 years
old and I was in middle school.
(02:22):
There was a young kid thateverybody in our school wanted
to be friends with.
His family was kind ofwell-respected and everybody
wanted to be this guy's friendand I was lucky enough at one
point in time to be able to beriding bikes with him and we
were heading back to his houseand he stopped and it's so funny
(02:45):
, you remember the details rightin front of this beautiful
green lawn before his drivewayand he turned to me and he said
hey, you can't come into myhouse.
And I said well, why is that?
And he said my mom said youcuss too much and you can't come
into our house.
And at that moment in time thathad such a profound impact into
(03:09):
my 50s.
The shame sorry, I getemotional about it right now
even the shame that you feelabout that because somebody's
making a judgment about you.
I felt as though I was from thewrong side of the tracks and so
you start to associate meetingsto that kind of traumatic
experience.
That isn't really true.
(03:30):
But you made that up and I madethat up for myself, that I'm
from the wrong side of thetracks and I lived with that for
decades and it manifesteditself over the time over time
in positive and negative ways.
And here's the interestingthing about those traumatic
experiences is that if you lookback later on in your life,
(03:53):
there was a purpose to that andthe purpose for that event was
it drove me to want to provethem wrong.
That was the fire in my bellyto say no, I'm not from the
wrong side of the track, eventhough it was a little bit in my
head saying you are.
I then wanted I got intomodeling when I was 17 years old
(04:15):
.
I moved to Los Angeles tobecome an actor when I was 19
years old because I was going toprove to them I was somebody.
And as I look back at my lifetoday and it took me to my early
to mid fifties to come to gripswith it, to to allow
forgiveness to take over, notjust for the mom, because she
(04:35):
was doing what she needed to do,for what she thought she needed
to do for her child at thattime, not for myself for judging
myself in that manner for 30,40, 40 years.
So there's a lot of forgiveness.
That had to happen.
But if that didn't happen, Iwouldn't be where I'm at today,
because it drove me, it createdthe fire for me to be who and
(04:57):
what I am today, and I I likewho I am.
So I appreciate you letting meshare that, that experience.
But yeah, the point to that isis be careful in judging those
experiences as being bad,because one of my favorite
quotes from Napoleon Hill isevery obstacle has within it a
(05:18):
seed of equal or greater benefit.
And, as you can tell, Imemorized that bad boy Because
when I heard that it made animpact in it that also
influenced my life.
So that's how, I'm sure of that.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
That's a fantastic story and one that, when you
think about that, has stuck withyou that for that long and has
driven you and has brought thatburn.
That's how those things happeninside of us.
They happen at a very young ageas you go forward, and I love
the perspective that you'retalking about with regards to
(05:52):
every negative situation.
In some way, shape or form is alearning opportunity as well,
and what am I?
learning for that opportunity.
For me as an individual, Igotta tell you, I feel a lot
like it took me a long time tohave that perspective.
I held on to things for a longtime as well as a kid and really
probably as an adult also thatreally I held on to too long.
(06:15):
And then the last thing on thatis I think about it, as you
said in terms of forgivenessthat relies on that space is
that it's important for us toalso, in essence, forgive
yourself and forgive them aswell, regardless of the
conversation that comesafterwards, so to speak.
So I think that says a lotabout your maturity as you've
(06:36):
gone through that.
I do appreciate you as welltalking about your journey and
the modeling and acting and thattype of piece and getting into
ultimately getting into what hasbeen a family business that's
gone on for a while.
You and your two brothers arethe owners of Collins Electrical
.
Your dad is the chairman of theboard and it's a family
business that's been around fora hundred years.
(06:57):
You've been on quite a journeywith them, even in the time that
you've been with them, and aswe shift from kind of your
personal story and how thatdrives you today, how that burn
inside of you drives you.
Today we get a chance to talkabout your leadership journey.
You and I have known each otherfor about two years now and
what that means.
So, as I introduced you at thestart, you were the chief
(07:19):
transformation officer forCollins Electrical.
Tell our listeners what reallyis under your area of
responsibility that makes youthe chief transformation officer
cause.
That can be a lot of differentthings to a lot of different.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I was hoping you were gonna say what is a chief
transformation officer and I wasgonna go.
I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
That's okay, that might be part of it as well.
We might have made up a prettygood.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
That's part of the beauty of it.
You know it's not truly definedat this point in time.
It is.
We have certain aspects that Iam responsible and I take great
pride in being responsible for.
One is we're on our leanjourney, which is, I think we're
four and a half years into ourlean journey.
So I and we have branded thatin our company as our Collins
(08:03):
business system, or CBS.
So one of my main prioritiesand functions is to help to
integrate CBS throughout ourfive branches within our company
.
That is probably one of thebigger aspects that take my
focus.
And then the two other thingsthat I think run hand in hand
(08:26):
and they are close to my heart.
I'm very much a heart person,so it means a lot to me.
The core values making sure thatwe've taken time to think about
our core values.
What are the drivers of who wewant to become?
To put definitions that weaspire to, certain definitions
(08:48):
of those core values and then toattribute behaviors to those
core values, and to me that'sthe foundation of creating
culture within our company.
All of that is what's thepurpose for us to be here, and
if it's just to make money, ifit's just to come to work and
pay the bills.
That's one thing, and that's alevel of life that I don't want
(09:11):
to participate in.
I want to have a purpose.
I want our people to feel thatthey have a purpose.
I want our people to feel greatwhen they come to work, that,
hey, I'm working towardssomething that can even fulfill
my outside of work life.
So it comes down to the threeelements for me, which is CBS,
(09:32):
core values and culture.
So it's been a journey and I'veenjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Did you know that many of the things that I
discussed on the Uncommon Leaderpodcast are subjects that I
coach other leaders andorganizations on?
If you would be interested inhaving me discuss one-on-one or
group coaching with you or knowsomeone who is looking to move
from underperforming to uncommonin their business or life, I
would love to chat with you.
Click the link in the shownotes to set up a free call to
discuss how coaching mightbenefit you and your team.
(10:03):
Now back to the show, and it isa journey right in terms of
that space.
I mean, as you define that, cbs, deploying the Collins Business
System through yourorganization, instilling the
core values, defining theaspirations, who you want to be
as an organization and who youwant your leaders to be inside
(10:23):
the company.
And then the culture side ofthat, which we know that without
the right culture, regardlessof the business model that we
have, it's gonna be verydifficult to have a sustainable
business.
The fact that you've done thatfor 100 years now as an
organization says that you'vegot a culture that's pretty
strong and makes that happen.
Having said that, those typesof things don't necessarily have
(10:44):
the accountability for thebusiness results.
You have to use influence inyour work that you have.
You have to use your leadershipabilities to instill that in
individuals, and that's been abig change for you.
You had responsibility for, inessence, building your
renewables business inside ofyour organization for a number
(11:06):
of years and that was measuredby revenue and profit.
That's how you measure successinside of that space, and now
that's not as clear.
So you're working less in thebusiness on a daily basis and
working on the business For youand your development.
What's been kind of the biggestchallenge for you as you've
made that transition and workingin the business to working on
the business from an influentialstandpoint.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yep, I appreciate that question and it's something
both myself and my brothershave had to go through as well,
because when we made thatdecision to pull ourselves out
of being in the business, myoldest brother, kevin, who was
one of the co-CEOs, was thefirst to pull out of the
business completely.
I was the second, and then mymiddle brother, brian, who's the
(11:49):
other co-CEO, has justtransitioned in this January,
and I think the biggest issuethat all of us face is obstacle.
That we face is hey, I knew myvalue when I was working in the
business because it showed up onour ballot sheet at the end of
our financial statements.
(12:11):
At the end this is what yourbranch did, this is what your
branch did, and we can quantifyour input and our benefit to the
company.
So now, when you pull yourselfout of that position, there's a
bit of your self-worth thattakes a bit of a beating because
you're not able to point tosomething concrete.
(12:32):
It's more like we always jokearound saying it's like trying
to grasp liquid soap in water.
You can see it, but you can'treally grab ahold of it.
So number one is being okaywith the fact that I still bring
benefit, but it's not in thesame way.
It's in a different way.
I still have value, because youstart to make value judgments
on yourself as to am I reallybringing the value as an owner
(12:56):
to the company in this position,and you have to be okay with
that.
So I would say that both BrianKevin and I have had some time
where we really had to getcomfortable with changing our
perspective as to what value webring to the company, so that
(13:16):
has been my personal greatestobstacle.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Well, I have so enjoyed and I think that I hope
that's the right word, because Iknow it's not been easy.
It wouldn't be easy for anyleader to make that transition
from being in the business toworking on the business, but I
love how you all have embracedit.
It hasn't been smooth, it'sbeen bumpy, and we're still not
there yet to your point.
We still are on this journey ofdeveloping ourselves, but what
(13:41):
this has required you to do aswell is to develop the next
generation of leaders at CollinsElectrical.
That in and of itself, has beena huge transition where you all
have had to, in essence,delegate the responsibility for
running the business, and it'snot something that you're used
to.
So what's that part of it feltlike having to, in essence,
(14:05):
delegate that responsibility toothers and grow them?
It's been what's beenchallenging and fruitful for you
in both ways in that space.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Let's see what is her name.
I just when you said that Ikeep thinking of the song Jesus,
take the Wheel, gary Underwood,gary Underwood, yeah, it's an
absolute level of oh my God, I'mtaking my hands off the wheel.
It's scary, you know it's.
I hope somebody's driving thisthing because we are we are very
(14:32):
involved in our business.
So to now pull yourself out,you've got to have a level of
trust in the people that youwork with, and you also have to
have a level of trust in yourability to lead them, and that
helps to raise you up.
One of the things you thinkabout when you start to get out
of the being in the business ishey, I was, people mentored me
(14:54):
and they gave me opportunitiesto learn, to rise and to push
myself.
You know the knife against thestone to sharpen my blade.
And now, when you move toworking on the business, it's a
clear delineation of it's timefor me to do that for other
people now.
And so that's where it's movedinto.
(15:16):
Yes, you've got to take yourhands off the wheel, but you've
got to trust that now I'm goingto help others reach their goals
, and so there's a there's anuplifting feeling to that too,
with that uneasiness, I thinkyou should always be a little
bit uncomfortable.
It's, it's.
You've always got to be a bituncomfortable, as you've always
said, you got to sit in thatseat a little like ooh gosh,
(15:38):
that's uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, we don't have that seat.
But I mean, if it moves youaround a little bit, you're like
, ah, that that means we'reprobably going in the right
direction.
If you're just leaning back andsaying, no problem, shoot, you
know, it's the old, anybody cando that kind of thing, and you
might as well check out and justgo.
You know, buy a boat and andsail for the rest of your life
and that's that's what you allwant, because there's a.
There's a level of impact, notonly from a business standpoint
(16:01):
but from a legacy standpoint,that you know the three of you
and your dad are trying to leaveinside of this world if you
will not just the world ofCollins electrical although
that's your main focus is the300 or 400 plus employees at
Collins electric, to make surethey've got something there that
they can hold on to as wellwhen you think about that
(16:22):
transition.
So you've moved from in essenceto doing the business to
developing those to run thebusiness.
Let's get a little bit real,tactical here.
What are some of thedisciplines that you've had to
put in place for your owndevelopment to make you a better
leader?
You know we refer to itsometimes as the leader standard
work, but what are some of thedaily or weekly disciplines that
(16:45):
you're working to do to becomemore successful at growing
others?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well, I used to watch my brother do this and I you
have a phrase that you've coinedand I always used to say be a
thief.
But you told me a different one, which is swipe, just deal with
integrity, practicallyeverything.
I watched my brother dosomething called, and I called
it butterfly, walking aroundeverybody.
Hey, how you doing, how youdoing Making touches, and so
(17:14):
when I moved here, it was veryimportant for me to make touches
with everybody two to threetimes, four times a week, and
it's them understanding that youknow, there are some owners
that are very untouchable.
We're not like that.
We don't want that in any way,shape or form.
I want to know the people thatI work with.
I want to.
When I go to them, I make it apoint to look them in the eyes
(17:38):
and we do a little fist bump.
That's my thing.
I do a fist bump, but it'slooking in the eyes.
You can do a fist bump and thenwalk away, but when you look
somebody in the eye and youtouch, there's an energy that's
transferred.
So that's one of the thingsthat I do.
I try to do, at least here inour corporate office, and when
(17:58):
we go to some of our otherbranches.
I go to see everybody in theoffice.
It's always, it'snon-negotiable you need to say
hello to everybody, find out howthey're doing so.
That's one thing.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I love that the butterfly.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Love that.
Yeah, you saw it.
It's up on my wall where itsays butterfly on my leader,
standard work, Some of the otherthings.
Boy, that just kind of caughtme off guard a little bit.
Some of the other leaders.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Well, here's one of the ones that we've talked about
.
Just in thinking, and you and I, we actually talk about this on
a regular basis.
You used to call it your.
I think it was your visioningtime.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, my magic board time.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
My magic board and one of the things that we really
have was.
I believe personally indevelopment that purposeful
reflection leads to purposefulresults in terms of what you're
going through it, and so you'veoften used it as contemplation.
Why is reflection important toyou?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Thank you for bringing that up, because I
thought about that beforehand.
But then when your mind getsgoing, I lose it, my mind.
Contemplation time is veryimportant because of the fact
that we're constantly dealingwith fires every single day, and
that is typically notpurposeful in the development of
a department or development ofa culture in a company.
(19:13):
It's really not purposeful.
But when you sit down and youallow yourself to ruminate over
what is the type of leader thatI want to be, if that is a type
of leader I want to be, what arethe steps that I have to take
to become that leader?
And then we start to say whenam I going to start taking those
(19:34):
steps?
So the contemplation time startsto.
Everything starts with a dreamin my mind.
If you're gonna do anythingbreakthrough, if you're gonna do
anything great, you have tothink greater than your
environment, and so that givesyou the time and the space to
think greater than yourenvironment of how, if I wanted
this to be a world class,whatever, what would it take for
(19:57):
me to do that?
It gives you that time toruminate, gives you that time to
get the emotions going of whatit would feel like, and then you
start to manifest it throughyour action.
So that's why I lovecontemplation time.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
I think it's one of the I believe, as I've observed
you, greg, in your developmentas one of the disciplines that's
been instrumental for you and,as you and I have talked about
on a regular basis, it's one ofthose until we having faith that
it's powerful, until weactually do it, we don't
necessarily know the power ofpurpose.
(20:30):
Full reflection time.
Blocking out 15 minutes in ourcalendar a week to say what's
gone well this week and whatcould have gone better.
Blocking out time on yourcalendar to say what do I need
to do differently going forward?
How could I have handled thatsituation differently?
So I've appreciated how you'vepicked up that habit and
recognize the importance of itin your own personal development
(20:51):
.
Oftentimes, as I've talked toother leaders, it's real easy,
as we start to look at thesefires, to start to think about
you know all the problems thatothers have faced, if you will.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
And really as leaders , when we reflect and we look
internally and say what part ofthe problem am I?
That's where we can start toreally grow as a leader.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Maybe the one not just gonna, I'm just gonna poke
and jog your memory on one toolthat we've that we've used a lot
.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
that's been helpful for you, especially in the
deployment of the values in theorganization, and that's SBI
situation behavior.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
How does that help you in giving and receiving
feedback Of that SBI situationbehavior, impact and action.
So we talk about nice versuskind, and that really clarified
things for me.
Nice is hey, I'm not gonna saythis to you because it's gonna
make you uncomfortable and it'sgonna make me uncomfortable and
(21:49):
that lets everybody off the hook.
Kind is I'm gonna be nice aboutwhat I'm saying, but I'm also
gonna hold you accountable and Iowe it to you to hold you
accountable Right.
So what that does is thatallows you to stay focused.
We know that when you have togive somebody feedback or you
(22:12):
know you've got to have adiscussion, that's difficult.
It keeps you focused on what'simportant so that you don't get
away from from dealing with theissue.
It is.
Here's the situation that Inoticed.
Here's the behavior that wasexhibited that is not acceptable
or is acceptable.
You can use it for positive ornegative feedback, either way.
(22:32):
Here's the impact you had on usas a group, on me personally,
and here's the impact it had onyou those behaviors that you
exhibited and then you finallycome to the action line, which
is in the future, in thissituation again, I'm gonna need
you to behave this way.
So you're going through, andthe goal is not to shame anybody
(22:57):
.
The goal is to simply say veryconcretely here's how you can
improve.
Here's the situation, here's thebehavior that you're very aware
of and here's the impact thatit had.
Usually, the impact is thething that drives somebody to
change.
Wow, I impacted other people inthat manner because of my
behavior.
I have a path forward.
(23:18):
Here's the actions that I knowthat I need to take in the
future for that.
So I've used it many times.
It's very impactful.
It helps other people who maynot be receiving the feedback in
an open manner.
Sometimes they'll say, yeah,but what about so-and-so?
What about so-and-so?
It brings us back to.
If you want to talk about thatlater, we can, but for you,
(23:41):
we're talking about yourspecific behavior in this
situation and the impact you had.
So it's always the ability tobring them back to center of the
issue that we're discussing.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
And I love how you've correlated that tool with the
kind and nice, like being niceto say, hey, come on, man, I
don't want you to do thatanymore.
But being kind is look, this iswhat I observed and it impacted
us.
It impacted you.
We need to again either changethat or, to your point about
positive, do that moreAbsolutely.
(24:13):
I appreciate that you've donethat.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
And then the key to that, the finishing it off
portion, probably is tying it toour core values and the respect
for people of listen.
The impact you had obviouslyshows that there was a bit of a
lack of respect for yourcoworkers or whoever it is, and
we really need you to understandthat, and that's why this
action needs to be taken.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
You know it's interesting.
So let's go all the way back toyour story, craig.
So I didn't know your story atthe start, the 10 or 11 year old
.
And going back through that, ofthe seven core values at
Collins Electric, I don't thinkthere's any doubt the one that
you really have a burn for isrespect for people, and maybe
that's tied back to that storyas well in terms of how they go
on.
But what is it about that corevalue that just really burns
(25:00):
inside of you and why it's so?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
important.
There's two of them and they'rein hand and hand to me
Integrity and respect for people.
I made it a point at a certainpoint in my life to live my life
in a certain manner andintegrity.
You know, I think I let myintegrity go at times in my life
and it made me not feel asthough I was kind of a man.
(25:23):
It did make me feel good aboutmyself and I made a decision
saying wait, I want to be anintegrity based human being and
spirit and you can't do thatwithout being having a respect
for people.
You can't walk through life andhave an integrity and not have
respect for people.
I love people.
(25:43):
I love the fact that we're sodifferent.
We're individuals and that'swhat makes us special and you've
got to respect that.
When I had my own department, Iused to tell our people you
guys have quirks, such crazyquirks, but I love you for every
single one of your quirks.
You drive me crazy with yourquirks, but it's because you
(26:04):
have those quirks that I loveyou and it's just that respect
for who they are as a humanbeing, and it's the same thing
we all want.
I'm trying to give what I wantmyself and that's why it burns
for me.
That's why it's a passion forme.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Thank you for sharing that.
I know it does.
I can tell when I'm with youand when I talk with you.
That that's one of those things, Craig.
That's been really cool to talkabout your journey as a
leadership.
I want the listeners to get achance to learn about you a
little bit more, so let's havesome fun.
I said, okay if I ask you somequestions.
Anybody didn't tell you I wasgoing to pull out for you.
That'll just be fun, that won'tbe anything bad.
So let's go back to April 2002.
(26:40):
You really started as the GM,for it turned into renewables or
turned into solar in terms ofgoing through that, but
responsible for business atCollins Electric.
Go back those 20-plus years andyou get to see that Craig Genie
sitting in that chair kind oflearn in the business.
What's a piece of advice thatyou're going to give him now
(27:02):
that you've been on this journeyfor 20-plus years?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
It's the thing that I tell a lot of people that are
coming up right now this tooshall change and you've got to
go through it.
If you want to feel confidentin yourself, you've got to go
through the fire.
But remember, this too shallchange.
When you are down and you feellike you're ready to quit, I
(27:27):
promise you it's going to changeand when you're feeling high on
top of the world, this tooshall change.
So just remember you've got togo through it.
But the thing that will helpyou is just remember it's not
forever and you are going tocome out so far ahead just
because you've done it.
Love that.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Love that, craig.
What accomplishment are youmost proud of?
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Wow, wow.
That is not something that Ithought you would.
That's not even something Ithought about.
I think, if I think about itfrom business standpoint, I'm
proud of the fact that I had thecourage to lead with my heart.
When you're first starting off,you're trying to prove yourself
(28:13):
and you're trying to be a hardass, you're trying to do
whatever you do and you're in aconstruction field where guys
are rough and tumble, at acertain point in time I said
I've got to be me and I've gotto lead with my heart, because
that's the way I feel I havebenefit and that's what feels
true to me.
(28:33):
I think I'm proud of the factthat I was able to lead with my
heart at a certain point in timein my career.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Thanks for sharing that.
Yeah, all right, I'll lightenit up a little bit for you.
What's your karaoke?
Speaker 2 (28:47):
song.
What do you think my karaokesong is?
Speaker 1 (28:52):
I know what it is.
I just want you to telleverybody what karaoke song.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Live Like you Were Dying by Timmy McGraw.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Tim McGraw yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
That one touches me.
It's an anthem like you betterget living or you're going to
get dying.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
That's right, absolutely so.
You're an actor, you're focusedon that.
Did you have a childhoodactress crush that you had?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
I had a childhood actress crush.
Well, not that I can remember,I know that at one point in time
I thought Natalie Portman wasall that kind of special.
Yeah, I can't remember when Iwas a child if I had that.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
All right, okay, well , we just had the blessing of
seeing your brother in an Elviscostume.
I wish I could have thatpicture?
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Yes, we did.
I don't know if that was ablessing.
I think it burned my eyes, Iknow right, Exactly, I mean it
made him sweat.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
That was so funny to see that.
What an awesome suit.
What about again, as you'vegrown up and gone through this,
what's the most embarrassingfashion trend that you rocked?
And they use that man.
This is like really, oh yeah, Ican tell you that.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Well, there's probably two of them from the
80s.
One was those three quarterpants that looked like somebody
just took paint and threw it allover them.
Those I thought I was hot.
You know, those are, those arehot.
And then in the 80s to 90s,koogee sweaters were all the
rage in Los Angeles.
You know, those again were justthose colorful, swirly sweaters
(30:23):
.
So when you look back at themnow you're like, oh God, that
was that?
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Did I really wear those?
In terms of that would be good,so funny, all right, last one,
last fun one you are going to bea late night show host.
Who's going to be your firstguest that you have on your late
night show?
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Who's going to be my first guest on my late night
show?
Who do I want to see?
Wow, you got some good ones,because I there's a bunch of
different people that I, that I,that I like that's a great
question, the stupid one thatkeeps coming to my mind, and I
don't know why, because I'llwatch YouTube sometimes, but I
enjoy watching Matt Damon,especially with Jimmy Kimmel.
(31:01):
They're a sense of humor.
Oh yeah, just playing the partout.
I just think I like that senseof humor that he's got.
I think he's a very I thoughtyou might have said Ted Lasso
you know, even though he's oldlead tassel, I just watched that
episode and you got me hookedon that thing, man.
So I know you're going throughit, that it's the third time
that I've gone through that Seethe whole three seasons.
(31:23):
It's such a heart warming.
I cry all the time.
I laugh my ass off.
I love that show.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
So anybody out?
Speaker 2 (31:31):
there just listening.
If you have not watched TedLasso, it is worth the four to
$5 a month to get Apple.
I don't get paid for this butit is a heartwarming.
It's like.
It's like cheers.
You know you want to go whereeverybody knows your name.
Just have that warm feeling.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
So somebody's going to write the book Maybe it
should be you about all thelasso isms that he has.
It's pretty.
Oh yeah, they got through someof those stories from a
leadership standpoint and just alife standpoint it is.
It is kind of funny.
I mean the English humor attimes is a little bit raw, but
you all just have to know thatit's going forward, but it is
getting better.
Yeah, you move yourself throughthat.
So I'm we're getting intoseason two now, at Craig's
(32:07):
behest, and I think we're reallyenjoying it as a family.
So hey, craig, this has been ablast what I'm going to do is
I'm going to put a link to yourwebsite.
I know you're not that active onsocial media, but I want folks
to learn more about you by goingto the website and they can see
what Collins Electric has goingon.
I'm very honored to be able towork with you on this leadership
development journey and Collinsbusiness system journey and I'm
(32:30):
proud of what you've been doing.
So I appreciate you taking thetime to invest with the
listeners the uncommon leaderpodcast today.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Well, I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to
be able to do this.
You know you mean a lot to meand how you've helped me and I I
absolutely appreciate that aswell.
So it's a mutual respect andit's a mutual gratitude.
So thank you for theopportunity.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
You're welcome, craig .
Be well, buddy.
Well, that's all for today'sepisode of the uncommon leader
podcast.
Thanks for listening in.
Please take just a minute toshare this podcast with that
someone you know that youthought of when you heard this
episode.
One of the most valuable thingsyou can do is to rate the
(33:16):
podcast and leave a review.
You can do that on Applepodcasts or you can rate the
podcast on Spotify or any otherplatform you listen.
Until next time, go and growchampions.
Hey, uncommon Leaders , welcome back.
This is the Uncommon Leaderpodcast and I'm your host, john
Gallagher.
On this episode of the UncommonLeader podcast, I'm joined by
Craig Genie, the ChiefTransformation Officer at
Collins Electrical and Stockton,california.
I've been fortunate enough towork with Craig the past couple
of years as an executive coachand performance consultant,
helping him and Collins Electricto deploy Lean, or the Collins
(00:23):
Business System, as they havedubbed it, throughout their
organization.
Craig's leadership developmentjourney is one that many leaders
need to hear.
Our discussion will providevaluable insights on feedback,
leadership, personal development, creating a positive work
culture within organizations andmore.
With the expertise, experiencesand stories that Craig shares,
(00:44):
listeners will gain practicalstrategies for becoming Uncommon
Leaders in their own lives andcareers.
Let's get started.
Craig Genie, welcome to theUncommon Leader podcast.
It's great to have you as aguest on the show today.
How are you doing, my friend?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I am doing fantastic.
Thank you, looking forward toour conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
buddy, I think there's some really good things
you're going to have to offerour listeners as you talk about
your leadership journey.
It's going to be pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I appreciate that.
I just want to say, startingoff of, I listened to your
podcast.
You know that I read yourchampions Brew religiously on
Fridays as part of my standardwork.
Just to say thank you.
It helps me keep my headstraight on just new thoughts to
think about throughout the week, gives me a good lighthouse to
(01:36):
focus on.
So thank you for that.
I truly appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Craig, I appreciate that I didn't even pay you to
say that to get started.
You didn't I appreciate youstarting out with that right off
the bat.
But I'll turn it around to youand give you the question that I
always gave my first-timeguests on the podcast.
Sure, that's for you to tellour listeners.
It's really about your personaldevelopment journey from way
back, a story from yourchildhood that may still impact
who you are today as a leaderand as a person.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I mean, that's actually a greatquestion Kind of goes to the
psychology of things, at leastfor me, and probably the most
impactful event.
As I look back on my life, oneof the most impactful events
that happened to me was probablysomewhere around 10 to 11 years
old and I was in middle school.
(02:22):
There was a young kid thateverybody in our school wanted
to be friends with.
His family was kind ofwell-respected and everybody
wanted to be this guy's friendand I was lucky enough at one
point in time to be able to beriding bikes with him and we
were heading back to his houseand he stopped and it's so funny
(02:45):
, you remember the details rightin front of this beautiful
green lawn before his drivewayand he turned to me and he said
hey, you can't come into myhouse.
And I said well, why is that?
And he said my mom said youcuss too much and you can't come
into our house.
And at that moment in time thathad such a profound impact into
(03:09):
my 50s.
The shame sorry, I getemotional about it right now
even the shame that you feelabout that because somebody's
making a judgment about you.
I felt as though I was from thewrong side of the tracks and so
you start to associate meetingsto that kind of traumatic
experience.
That isn't really true.
(03:30):
But you made that up and I madethat up for myself, that I'm
from the wrong side of thetracks and I lived with that for
decades and it manifesteditself over the time over time
in positive and negative ways.
And here's the interestingthing about those traumatic
experiences is that if you lookback later on in your life,
(03:53):
there was a purpose to that andthe purpose for that event was
it drove me to want to provethem wrong.
That was the fire in my bellyto say no, I'm not from the
wrong side of the track, eventhough it was a little bit in my
head saying you are.
I then wanted I got intomodeling when I was 17 years old
(04:15):
.
I moved to Los Angeles tobecome an actor when I was 19
years old because I was going toprove to them I was somebody.
And as I look back at my lifetoday and it took me to my early
to mid fifties to come to gripswith it, to to allow
forgiveness to take over, notjust for the mom, because she
(04:35):
was doing what she needed to do,for what she thought she needed
to do for her child at thattime, not for myself for judging
myself in that manner for 30,40, 40 years.
So there's a lot of forgiveness.
That had to happen.
But if that didn't happen, Iwouldn't be where I'm at today,
because it drove me, it createdthe fire for me to be who and
(04:57):
what I am today, and I I likewho I am.
So I appreciate you letting meshare that, that experience.
But yeah, the point to that isis be careful in judging those
experiences as being bad,because one of my favorite
quotes from Napoleon Hill isevery obstacle has within it a
(05:18):
seed of equal or greater benefit.
And, as you can tell, Imemorized that bad boy Because
when I heard that it made animpact in it that also
influenced my life.
So that's how, I'm sure of that.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
That's a fantastic story and one that, when you
think about that, has stuck withyou that for that long and has
driven you and has brought thatburn.
That's how those things happeninside of us.
They happen at a very young ageas you go forward, and I love
the perspective that you'retalking about with regards to
(05:52):
every negative situation.
In some way, shape or form is alearning opportunity as well,
and what am I?
learning for that opportunity.
For me as an individual, Igotta tell you, I feel a lot
like it took me a long time tohave that perspective.
I held on to things for a longtime as well as a kid and really
probably as an adult also thatreally I held on to too long.
(06:15):
And then the last thing on thatis I think about it, as you
said in terms of forgivenessthat relies on that space is
that it's important for us toalso, in essence, forgive
yourself and forgive them aswell, regardless of the
conversation that comesafterwards, so to speak.
So I think that says a lotabout your maturity as you've
(06:36):
gone through that.
I do appreciate you as welltalking about your journey and
the modeling and acting and thattype of piece and getting into
ultimately getting into what hasbeen a family business that's
gone on for a while.
You and your two brothers arethe owners of Collins Electrical
.
Your dad is the chairman of theboard and it's a family
business that's been around fora hundred years.
(06:57):
You've been on quite a journeywith them, even in the time that
you've been with them, and aswe shift from kind of your
personal story and how thatdrives you today, how that burn
inside of you drives you.
Today we get a chance to talkabout your leadership journey.
You and I have known each otherfor about two years now and
what that means.
So, as I introduced you at thestart, you were the chief
(07:19):
transformation officer forCollins Electrical.
Tell our listeners what reallyis under your area of
responsibility that makes youthe chief transformation officer
cause.
That can be a lot of differentthings to a lot of different.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I was hoping you were gonna say what is a chief
transformation officer and I wasgonna go.
I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
That's okay, that might be part of it as well.
We might have made up a prettygood.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
That's part of the beauty of it.
You know it's not truly definedat this point in time.
It is.
We have certain aspects that Iam responsible and I take great
pride in being responsible for.
One is we're on our leanjourney, which is, I think we're
four and a half years into ourlean journey.
So I and we have branded thatin our company as our Collins
(08:03):
business system, or CBS.
So one of my main prioritiesand functions is to help to
integrate CBS throughout ourfive branches within our company
.
That is probably one of thebigger aspects that take my
focus.
And then the two other thingsthat I think run hand in hand
(08:26):
and they are close to my heart.
I'm very much a heart person,so it means a lot to me.
The core values making sure thatwe've taken time to think about
our core values.
What are the drivers of who wewant to become?
To put definitions that weaspire to, certain definitions
(08:48):
of those core values and then toattribute behaviors to those
core values, and to me that'sthe foundation of creating
culture within our company.
All of that is what's thepurpose for us to be here, and
if it's just to make money, ifit's just to come to work and
pay the bills.
That's one thing, and that's alevel of life that I don't want
(09:11):
to participate in.
I want to have a purpose.
I want our people to feel thatthey have a purpose.
I want our people to feel greatwhen they come to work, that,
hey, I'm working towardssomething that can even fulfill
my outside of work life.
So it comes down to the threeelements for me, which is CBS,
(09:32):
core values and culture.
So it's been a journey and I'veenjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Did you know that many of the things that I
discussed on the Uncommon Leaderpodcast are subjects that I
coach other leaders andorganizations on?
If you would be interested inhaving me discuss one-on-one or
group coaching with you or knowsomeone who is looking to move
from underperforming to uncommonin their business or life, I
would love to chat with you.
Click the link in the shownotes to set up a free call to
discuss how coaching mightbenefit you and your team.
(10:03):
Now back to the show, and it isa journey right in terms of
that space.
I mean, as you define that, cbs, deploying the Collins Business
System through yourorganization, instilling the
core values, defining theaspirations, who you want to be
as an organization and who youwant your leaders to be inside
(10:23):
the company.
And then the culture side ofthat, which we know that without
the right culture, regardlessof the business model that we
have, it's gonna be verydifficult to have a sustainable
business.
The fact that you've done thatfor 100 years now as an
organization says that you'vegot a culture that's pretty
strong and makes that happen.
Having said that, those typesof things don't necessarily have
(10:44):
the accountability for thebusiness results.
You have to use influence inyour work that you have.
You have to use your leadershipabilities to instill that in
individuals, and that's been abig change for you.
You had responsibility for, inessence, building your
renewables business inside ofyour organization for a number
(11:06):
of years and that was measuredby revenue and profit.
That's how you measure successinside of that space, and now
that's not as clear.
So you're working less in thebusiness on a daily basis and
working on the business For youand your development.
What's been kind of the biggestchallenge for you as you've
made that transition and workingin the business to working on
the business from an influentialstandpoint.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yep, I appreciate that question and it's something
both myself and my brothershave had to go through as well,
because when we made thatdecision to pull ourselves out
of being in the business, myoldest brother, kevin, who was
one of the co-CEOs, was thefirst to pull out of the
business completely.
I was the second, and then mymiddle brother, brian, who's the
(11:49):
other co-CEO, has justtransitioned in this January,
and I think the biggest issuethat all of us face is obstacle.
That we face is hey, I knew myvalue when I was working in the
business because it showed up onour ballot sheet at the end of
our financial statements.
(12:11):
At the end this is what yourbranch did, this is what your
branch did, and we can quantifyour input and our benefit to the
company.
So now, when you pull yourselfout of that position, there's a
bit of your self-worth thattakes a bit of a beating because
you're not able to point tosomething concrete.
(12:32):
It's more like we always jokearound saying it's like trying
to grasp liquid soap in water.
You can see it, but you can'treally grab ahold of it.
So number one is being okaywith the fact that I still bring
benefit, but it's not in thesame way.
It's in a different way.
I still have value, because youstart to make value judgments
on yourself as to am I reallybringing the value as an owner
(12:56):
to the company in this position,and you have to be okay with
that.
So I would say that both BrianKevin and I have had some time
where we really had to getcomfortable with changing our
perspective as to what value webring to the company, so that
(13:16):
has been my personal greatestobstacle.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Well, I have so enjoyed and I think that I hope
that's the right word, because Iknow it's not been easy.
It wouldn't be easy for anyleader to make that transition
from being in the business toworking on the business, but I
love how you all have embracedit.
It hasn't been smooth, it'sbeen bumpy, and we're still not
there yet to your point.
We still are on this journey ofdeveloping ourselves, but what
(13:41):
this has required you to do aswell is to develop the next
generation of leaders at CollinsElectrical.
That in and of itself, has beena huge transition where you all
have had to, in essence,delegate the responsibility for
running the business, and it'snot something that you're used
to.
So what's that part of it feltlike having to, in essence,
(14:05):
delegate that responsibility toothers and grow them?
It's been what's beenchallenging and fruitful for you
in both ways in that space.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Let's see what is her name.
I just when you said that Ikeep thinking of the song Jesus,
take the Wheel, gary Underwood,gary Underwood, yeah, it's an
absolute level of oh my God, I'mtaking my hands off the wheel.
It's scary, you know it's.
I hope somebody's driving thisthing because we are we are very
(14:32):
involved in our business.
So to now pull yourself out,you've got to have a level of
trust in the people that youwork with, and you also have to
have a level of trust in yourability to lead them, and that
helps to raise you up.
One of the things you thinkabout when you start to get out
of the being in the business ishey, I was, people mentored me
(14:54):
and they gave me opportunitiesto learn, to rise and to push
myself.
You know the knife against thestone to sharpen my blade.
And now, when you move toworking on the business, it's a
clear delineation of it's timefor me to do that for other
people now.
And so that's where it's movedinto.
(15:16):
Yes, you've got to take yourhands off the wheel, but you've
got to trust that now I'm goingto help others reach their goals
, and so there's a there's anuplifting feeling to that too,
with that uneasiness, I thinkyou should always be a little
bit uncomfortable.
It's, it's.
You've always got to be a bituncomfortable, as you've always
said, you got to sit in thatseat a little like ooh gosh,
(15:38):
that's uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, we don't have that seat.
But I mean, if it moves youaround a little bit, you're like
, ah, that that means we'reprobably going in the right
direction.
If you're just leaning back andsaying, no problem, shoot, you
know, it's the old, anybody cando that kind of thing, and you
might as well check out and justgo.
You know, buy a boat and andsail for the rest of your life
and that's that's what you allwant, because there's a.
There's a level of impact, notonly from a business standpoint
(16:01):
but from a legacy standpoint,that you know the three of you
and your dad are trying to leaveinside of this world if you
will not just the world ofCollins electrical although
that's your main focus is the300 or 400 plus employees at
Collins electric, to make surethey've got something there that
they can hold on to as wellwhen you think about that
(16:22):
transition.
So you've moved from in essenceto doing the business to
developing those to run thebusiness.
Let's get a little bit real,tactical here.
What are some of thedisciplines that you've had to
put in place for your owndevelopment to make you a better
leader?
You know we refer to itsometimes as the leader standard
work, but what are some of thedaily or weekly disciplines that
(16:45):
you're working to do to becomemore successful at growing
others?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well, I used to watch my brother do this and I you
have a phrase that you've coinedand I always used to say be a
thief.
But you told me a different one, which is swipe, just deal with
integrity, practicallyeverything.
I watched my brother dosomething called, and I called
it butterfly, walking aroundeverybody.
Hey, how you doing, how youdoing Making touches, and so
(17:14):
when I moved here, it was veryimportant for me to make touches
with everybody two to threetimes, four times a week, and
it's them understanding that youknow, there are some owners
that are very untouchable.
We're not like that.
We don't want that in any way,shape or form.
I want to know the people thatI work with.
I want to.
When I go to them, I make it apoint to look them in the eyes
(17:38):
and we do a little fist bump.
That's my thing.
I do a fist bump, but it'slooking in the eyes.
You can do a fist bump and thenwalk away, but when you look
somebody in the eye and youtouch, there's an energy that's
transferred.
So that's one of the thingsthat I do.
I try to do, at least here inour corporate office, and when
(17:58):
we go to some of our otherbranches.
I go to see everybody in theoffice.
It's always, it'snon-negotiable you need to say
hello to everybody, find out howthey're doing so.
That's one thing.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I love that the butterfly.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Love that.
Yeah, you saw it.
It's up on my wall where itsays butterfly on my leader,
standard work, Some of the otherthings.
Boy, that just kind of caughtme off guard a little bit.
Some of the other leaders.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Well, here's one of the ones that we've talked about
.
Just in thinking, and you and I, we actually talk about this on
a regular basis.
You used to call it your.
I think it was your visioningtime.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, my magic board time.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
My magic board and one of the things that we really
have was.
I believe personally indevelopment that purposeful
reflection leads to purposefulresults in terms of what you're
going through it, and so you'veoften used it as contemplation.
Why is reflection important toyou?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Thank you for bringing that up, because I
thought about that beforehand.
But then when your mind getsgoing, I lose it, my mind.
Contemplation time is veryimportant because of the fact
that we're constantly dealingwith fires every single day, and
that is typically notpurposeful in the development of
a department or development ofa culture in a company.
(19:13):
It's really not purposeful.
But when you sit down and youallow yourself to ruminate over
what is the type of leader thatI want to be, if that is a type
of leader I want to be, what arethe steps that I have to take
to become that leader?
And then we start to say whenam I going to start taking those
(19:34):
steps?
So the contemplation time startsto.
Everything starts with a dreamin my mind.
If you're gonna do anythingbreakthrough, if you're gonna do
anything great, you have tothink greater than your
environment, and so that givesyou the time and the space to
think greater than yourenvironment of how, if I wanted
this to be a world class,whatever, what would it take for
(19:57):
me to do that?
It gives you that time toruminate, gives you that time to
get the emotions going of whatit would feel like, and then you
start to manifest it throughyour action.
So that's why I lovecontemplation time.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
I think it's one of the I believe, as I've observed
you, greg, in your developmentas one of the disciplines that's
been instrumental for you and,as you and I have talked about
on a regular basis, it's one ofthose until we having faith that
it's powerful, until weactually do it, we don't
necessarily know the power ofpurpose.
(20:30):
Full reflection time.
Blocking out 15 minutes in ourcalendar a week to say what's
gone well this week and whatcould have gone better.
Blocking out time on yourcalendar to say what do I need
to do differently going forward?
How could I have handled thatsituation differently?
So I've appreciated how you'vepicked up that habit and
recognize the importance of itin your own personal development
(20:51):
.
Oftentimes, as I've talked toother leaders, it's real easy,
as we start to look at thesefires, to start to think about
you know all the problems thatothers have faced, if you will.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
And really as leaders , when we reflect and we look
internally and say what part ofthe problem am I?
That's where we can start toreally grow as a leader.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Maybe the one not just gonna, I'm just gonna poke
and jog your memory on one toolthat we've that we've used a lot
.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
that's been helpful for you, especially in the
deployment of the values in theorganization, and that's SBI
situation behavior.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
How does that help you in giving and receiving
feedback Of that SBI situationbehavior, impact and action.
So we talk about nice versuskind, and that really clarified
things for me.
Nice is hey, I'm not gonna saythis to you because it's gonna
make you uncomfortable and it'sgonna make me uncomfortable and
(21:49):
that lets everybody off the hook.
Kind is I'm gonna be nice aboutwhat I'm saying, but I'm also
gonna hold you accountable and Iowe it to you to hold you
accountable Right.
So what that does is thatallows you to stay focused.
We know that when you have togive somebody feedback or you
(22:12):
know you've got to have adiscussion, that's difficult.
It keeps you focused on what'simportant so that you don't get
away from from dealing with theissue.
It is.
Here's the situation that Inoticed.
Here's the behavior that wasexhibited that is not acceptable
or is acceptable.
You can use it for positive ornegative feedback, either way.
(22:32):
Here's the impact you had on usas a group, on me personally,
and here's the impact it had onyou those behaviors that you
exhibited and then you finallycome to the action line, which
is in the future, in thissituation again, I'm gonna need
you to behave this way.
So you're going through, andthe goal is not to shame anybody
(22:57):
.
The goal is to simply say veryconcretely here's how you can
improve.
Here's the situation, here's thebehavior that you're very aware
of and here's the impact thatit had.
Usually, the impact is thething that drives somebody to
change.
Wow, I impacted other people inthat manner because of my
behavior.
I have a path forward.
(23:18):
Here's the actions that I knowthat I need to take in the
future for that.
So I've used it many times.
It's very impactful.
It helps other people who maynot be receiving the feedback in
an open manner.
Sometimes they'll say, yeah,but what about so-and-so?
What about so-and-so?
It brings us back to.
If you want to talk about thatlater, we can, but for you,
(23:41):
we're talking about yourspecific behavior in this
situation and the impact you had.
So it's always the ability tobring them back to center of the
issue that we're discussing.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
And I love how you've correlated that tool with the
kind and nice, like being niceto say, hey, come on, man, I
don't want you to do thatanymore.
But being kind is look, this iswhat I observed and it impacted
us.
It impacted you.
We need to again either changethat or, to your point about
positive, do that moreAbsolutely.
(24:13):
I appreciate that you've donethat.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
And then the key to that, the finishing it off
portion, probably is tying it toour core values and the respect
for people of listen.
The impact you had obviouslyshows that there was a bit of a
lack of respect for yourcoworkers or whoever it is, and
we really need you to understandthat, and that's why this
action needs to be taken.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
You know it's interesting.
So let's go all the way back toyour story, craig.
So I didn't know your story atthe start, the 10 or 11 year old
.
And going back through that, ofthe seven core values at
Collins Electric, I don't thinkthere's any doubt the one that
you really have a burn for isrespect for people, and maybe
that's tied back to that storyas well in terms of how they go
on.
But what is it about that corevalue that just really burns
(25:00):
inside of you and why it's so?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
important.
There's two of them and they'rein hand and hand to me
Integrity and respect for people.
I made it a point at a certainpoint in my life to live my life
in a certain manner andintegrity.
You know, I think I let myintegrity go at times in my life
and it made me not feel asthough I was kind of a man.
(25:23):
It did make me feel good aboutmyself and I made a decision
saying wait, I want to be anintegrity based human being and
spirit and you can't do thatwithout being having a respect
for people.
You can't walk through life andhave an integrity and not have
respect for people.
I love people.
(25:43):
I love the fact that we're sodifferent.
We're individuals and that'swhat makes us special and you've
got to respect that.
When I had my own department, Iused to tell our people you
guys have quirks, such crazyquirks, but I love you for every
single one of your quirks.
You drive me crazy with yourquirks, but it's because you
(26:04):
have those quirks that I loveyou and it's just that respect
for who they are as a humanbeing, and it's the same thing
we all want.
I'm trying to give what I wantmyself and that's why it burns
for me.
That's why it's a passion forme.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Thank you for sharing that.
I know it does.
I can tell when I'm with youand when I talk with you.
That that's one of those things, Craig.
That's been really cool to talkabout your journey as a
leadership.
I want the listeners to get achance to learn about you a
little bit more, so let's havesome fun.
I said, okay if I ask you somequestions.
Anybody didn't tell you I wasgoing to pull out for you.
That'll just be fun, that won'tbe anything bad.
So let's go back to April 2002.
(26:40):
You really started as the GM,for it turned into renewables or
turned into solar in terms ofgoing through that, but
responsible for business atCollins Electric.
Go back those 20-plus years andyou get to see that Craig Genie
sitting in that chair kind oflearn in the business.
What's a piece of advice thatyou're going to give him now
(27:02):
that you've been on this journeyfor 20-plus years?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
It's the thing that I tell a lot of people that are
coming up right now this tooshall change and you've got to
go through it.
If you want to feel confidentin yourself, you've got to go
through the fire.
But remember, this too shallchange.
When you are down and you feellike you're ready to quit, I
(27:27):
promise you it's going to changeand when you're feeling high on
top of the world, this tooshall change.
So just remember you've got togo through it.
But the thing that will helpyou is just remember it's not
forever and you are going tocome out so far ahead just
because you've done it.
Love that.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Love that, craig.
What accomplishment are youmost proud of?
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Wow, wow.
That is not something that Ithought you would.
That's not even something Ithought about.
I think, if I think about itfrom business standpoint, I'm
proud of the fact that I had thecourage to lead with my heart.
When you're first starting off,you're trying to prove yourself
(28:13):
and you're trying to be a hardass, you're trying to do
whatever you do and you're in aconstruction field where guys
are rough and tumble, at acertain point in time I said
I've got to be me and I've gotto lead with my heart, because
that's the way I feel I havebenefit and that's what feels
true to me.
(28:33):
I think I'm proud of the factthat I was able to lead with my
heart at a certain point in timein my career.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Thanks for sharing that.
Yeah, all right, I'll lightenit up a little bit for you.
What's your karaoke?
Speaker 2 (28:47):
song.
What do you think my karaokesong is?
Speaker 1 (28:52):
I know what it is.
I just want you to telleverybody what karaoke song.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Live Like you Were Dying by Timmy McGraw.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Tim McGraw yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
That one touches me.
It's an anthem like you betterget living or you're going to
get dying.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
That's right, absolutely so.
You're an actor, you're focusedon that.
Did you have a childhoodactress crush that you had?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
I had a childhood actress crush.
Well, not that I can remember,I know that at one point in time
I thought Natalie Portman wasall that kind of special.
Yeah, I can't remember when Iwas a child if I had that.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
All right, okay, well , we just had the blessing of
seeing your brother in an Elviscostume.
I wish I could have thatpicture?
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Yes, we did.
I don't know if that was ablessing.
I think it burned my eyes, Iknow right, Exactly, I mean it
made him sweat.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
That was so funny to see that.
What an awesome suit.
What about again, as you'vegrown up and gone through this,
what's the most embarrassingfashion trend that you rocked?
And they use that man.
This is like really, oh yeah, Ican tell you that.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Well, there's probably two of them from the
80s.
One was those three quarterpants that looked like somebody
just took paint and threw it allover them.
Those I thought I was hot.
You know, those are, those arehot.
And then in the 80s to 90s,koogee sweaters were all the
rage in Los Angeles.
You know, those again were justthose colorful, swirly sweaters
(30:23):
.
So when you look back at themnow you're like, oh God, that
was that?
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Did I really wear those?
In terms of that would be good,so funny, all right, last one,
last fun one you are going to bea late night show host.
Who's going to be your firstguest that you have on your late
night show?
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Who's going to be my first guest on my late night
show?
Who do I want to see?
Wow, you got some good ones,because I there's a bunch of
different people that I, that I,that I like that's a great
question, the stupid one thatkeeps coming to my mind, and I
don't know why, because I'llwatch YouTube sometimes, but I
enjoy watching Matt Damon,especially with Jimmy Kimmel.
(31:01):
They're a sense of humor.
Oh yeah, just playing the partout.
I just think I like that senseof humor that he's got.
I think he's a very I thoughtyou might have said Ted Lasso
you know, even though he's oldlead tassel, I just watched that
episode and you got me hookedon that thing, man.
So I know you're going throughit, that it's the third time
that I've gone through that Seethe whole three seasons.
(31:23):
It's such a heart warming.
I cry all the time.
I laugh my ass off.
I love that show.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
So anybody out?
Speaker 2 (31:31):
there just listening.
If you have not watched TedLasso, it is worth the four to
$5 a month to get Apple.
I don't get paid for this butit is a heartwarming.
It's like.
It's like cheers.
You know you want to go whereeverybody knows your name.
Just have that warm feeling.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
So somebody's going to write the book Maybe it
should be you about all thelasso isms that he has.
It's pretty.
Oh yeah, they got through someof those stories from a
leadership standpoint and just alife standpoint it is.
It is kind of funny.
I mean the English humor attimes is a little bit raw, but
you all just have to know thatit's going forward, but it is
getting better.
Yeah, you move yourself throughthat.
So I'm we're getting intoseason two now, at Craig's
(32:07):
behest, and I think we're reallyenjoying it as a family.
So hey, craig, this has been ablast what I'm going to do is
I'm going to put a link to yourwebsite.
I know you're not that active onsocial media, but I want folks
to learn more about you by goingto the website and they can see
what Collins Electric has goingon.
I'm very honored to be able towork with you on this leadership
development journey and Collinsbusiness system journey and I'm
(32:30):
proud of what you've been doing.
So I appreciate you taking thetime to invest with the
listeners the uncommon leaderpodcast today.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Well, I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to
be able to do this.
You know you mean a lot to meand how you've helped me and I I
absolutely appreciate that aswell.
So it's a mutual respect andit's a mutual gratitude.
So thank you for theopportunity.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
You're welcome, craig .
Be well, buddy.
Well, that's all for today'sepisode of the uncommon leader
podcast.
Thanks for listening in.
Please take just a minute toshare this podcast with that
someone you know that youthought of when you heard this
episode.
One of the most valuable thingsyou can do is to rate the
(33:16):
podcast and leave a review.
You can do that on Applepodcasts or you can rate the
podcast on Spotify or any otherplatform you listen.
Until next time, go and growchampions.
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