WEBVTT 00:00:00.270 --> 00:00:02.690 Welcome to the Live with Sondra podcast where 00:00:02.690 --> 00:00:05.290 we dive deep into business, tech, and entrepreneurship. 00:00:06.150 --> 00:00:09.349 Hosted by me, Sondra Shannon, CEO of GateMaster 00:00:09.349 --> 00:00:12.689 Technology. Each show, we explore the latest 00:00:12.689 --> 00:00:15.009 trends in ticketing attractions and guest experience, 00:00:15.369 --> 00:00:17.929 helping you stay ahead of the curve in this ever 00:00:17.929 --> 00:00:21.510 -evolving world of attractions and events. Whether 00:00:21.510 --> 00:00:24.010 you're an industry expert or just getting started, 00:00:24.269 --> 00:00:27.129 this show has insights to inspire and empower 00:00:27.129 --> 00:00:30.480 you. Today's episode is sponsored by GateMaster 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:32.799 Technology, your trusted partner for ticketing 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:36.000 and attraction management solutions. Let's get 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:42.079 started with the show. All right. Welcome to 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:44.920 today's episode of Live with Sondra. I'm your 00:00:44.920 --> 00:00:49.520 host, Sondra Shannon. And we've got a fantastic 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:52.020 guest for you today. But first, let me ask you 00:00:52.020 --> 00:00:55.140 a couple of things about your business. Let's 00:00:55.140 --> 00:01:00.799 talk about this. You can, if you're watching 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:02.579 live, because this is the part of the show where 00:01:02.579 --> 00:01:05.379 we wait for some of our live audience to show 00:01:05.379 --> 00:01:08.439 up, I'd like you to mention in the chat, what 00:01:08.439 --> 00:01:12.159 is one strategic change your organization has 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:15.659 made in the last year and how did it impact your 00:01:15.659 --> 00:01:19.140 team and guests? If you're an attraction or an 00:01:19.140 --> 00:01:21.060 entertainment venue that's watching, I'd love 00:01:21.060 --> 00:01:23.359 to understand more about whether or not these 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:27.260 strategic changes have had an impact on the guest 00:01:27.260 --> 00:01:30.920 experience. So to get started for today, we're 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:33.379 going to be talking about strategic resilience 00:01:33.379 --> 00:01:36.500 and leading attractions through change and AI. 00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:39.219 And before I get started with today's guest, 00:01:39.480 --> 00:01:42.680 first, I have to mention, because this show would 00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:45.040 not be possible without our sponsor, that today's 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:47.700 episode is proudly sponsored by GateMaster Technology, 00:01:48.140 --> 00:01:50.319 the trusted name in attraction management software. 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:56.930 If you are stuck in clunky or outdated and platforms 00:01:56.930 --> 00:02:00.329 that slow your team down and frustrate your guests, 00:02:00.549 --> 00:02:04.109 it might be time for an upgrade. And GateMaster 00:02:04.109 --> 00:02:06.090 is trying to make that real easy for you with 00:02:06.090 --> 00:02:09.270 GateMaster's competitive replacement program, 00:02:09.569 --> 00:02:11.409 which they are bringing back, we're bringing 00:02:11.409 --> 00:02:14.509 back, to make it real easy for you to transition 00:02:14.509 --> 00:02:19.750 from your old system to a new system with dedicated 00:02:19.750 --> 00:02:23.349 support, seamless data migration, and no business 00:02:23.349 --> 00:02:26.460 interruptions. We've been powering theme parks 00:02:26.460 --> 00:02:29.099 and museums and attractions for over 25 years, 00:02:29.219 --> 00:02:32.460 and we know what it takes to keep you running 00:02:32.460 --> 00:02:35.479 smooth and profitably. You can visit gate master 00:02:35.479 --> 00:02:40.020 .info forward slash replacement to learn more 00:02:40.020 --> 00:02:43.099 and to schedule your free discovery call at gate 00:02:43.099 --> 00:02:45.460 master technology. We are software that works 00:02:45.460 --> 00:02:48.539 as hard as you do. We know how hard you guys 00:02:48.539 --> 00:02:51.840 out there are working in your businesses. and 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:54.800 to take care of your guests. So please take a 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:58.740 moment and visit gatemaster .info forward slash 00:02:58.740 --> 00:03:03.219 replacement. So let's get back to the show. Today, 00:03:03.419 --> 00:03:06.280 we're again going to be talking about strategic 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:09.060 resilience, leading attraction through change 00:03:09.060 --> 00:03:13.659 and AI. Today's guest is the president and owner 00:03:13.659 --> 00:03:19.520 of Steve Gavitorta Group. So sorry. Cat's out 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:21.039 of the bag. We know who's coming on the show. 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:25.099 He empowers individuals and organizations to 00:03:25.099 --> 00:03:30.240 identify, develop, and exceed performance goals. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:33.360 He's a certified professional behavioral analyst 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:40.020 and certified professional value analyst. Something 00:03:40.020 --> 00:03:42.919 Steve can't live without, and I love this because 00:03:42.919 --> 00:03:44.680 I think this is the first time I've ever had 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:48.139 a quote this thoughtful. Victor Frankl's famous 00:03:48.139 --> 00:03:51.939 quote, Between stimulus and response, there is 00:03:51.939 --> 00:03:56.979 a space. In that space, in our power to choose 00:03:56.979 --> 00:04:01.460 our response, which this quote highlights the 00:04:01.460 --> 00:04:03.860 importance of conscious choice over our reactions 00:04:03.860 --> 00:04:06.819 to life's circumstances. And I'm really excited 00:04:06.819 --> 00:04:12.340 to welcome Steve Gavitorta to the show. So please 00:04:12.340 --> 00:04:16.939 help me give a welcome to today's guest. Steve, 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:19.980 welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you. And 00:04:19.980 --> 00:04:22.220 I can't believe you didn't roll the R. I'm really 00:04:22.220 --> 00:04:24.259 upset about when you said my name. You didn't 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:27.899 roll that R. You know, great job on that name. 00:04:27.980 --> 00:04:30.480 Perfect. Perfect. I'm just teasing you. Oh, I 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:33.399 appreciate it. Hey, before we dive into who you 00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:36.980 are, though, I really I want to call out that 00:04:36.980 --> 00:04:39.560 quote that you that you sent in because I thought 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:41.660 that was pretty cool. And I hope that we're going 00:04:41.660 --> 00:04:43.720 to touch a little bit more on why that's important 00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:49.480 to you. But our audience. Would love to know 00:04:49.480 --> 00:04:51.420 a little bit more about who you are, what you 00:04:51.420 --> 00:04:53.899 do. And I know that you are a man showing up. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:57.379 So would you mind just giving us a little bit 00:04:57.379 --> 00:05:00.259 more about where you're coming from and how you've 00:05:00.259 --> 00:05:04.000 gotten to where you are? Yeah, I'm owner of Steve 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:07.259 Gavitorto Group, original name, right? But I 00:05:07.259 --> 00:05:09.800 just do custom -based coaching, training, consulting 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:13.079 programs that try to solve for customer -specific 00:05:13.079 --> 00:05:16.649 needs. uh the core key word in there is custom 00:05:16.649 --> 00:05:20.129 customized custom customization um each of my 00:05:20.129 --> 00:05:23.230 clients has you very unique uh scenarios going 00:05:23.230 --> 00:05:26.250 on different problems to solve different uh customers 00:05:26.250 --> 00:05:28.990 and whatnot and what i really enjoy is solving 00:05:28.990 --> 00:05:31.790 the puzzle you know figure out their needs figure 00:05:31.790 --> 00:05:34.009 out the issues they're facing and building custom 00:05:34.009 --> 00:05:37.339 -based programs to fit those needs and meet their 00:05:37.339 --> 00:05:39.579 goals and objectives, whether it be the full 00:05:39.579 --> 00:05:42.699 package strategic planning on down or whether 00:05:42.699 --> 00:05:44.860 it's just soft skills, leadership skills, sales 00:05:44.860 --> 00:05:48.120 training, team building, dealing with adversity, 00:05:48.300 --> 00:05:53.160 things of that of those natures. Kind of people 00:05:53.160 --> 00:05:55.779 like why doesn't he specialize? Does he is he 00:05:55.779 --> 00:05:59.240 can he do all these things? And I say yes, because 00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:01.259 I have a great background as well, too. I've 00:06:01.259 --> 00:06:04.540 owned my business for 20 years. Prior to starting 00:06:04.540 --> 00:06:08.720 my business, I spent 20, 21 years in consumer 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:12.019 packaged goods industry, basically selling products 00:06:12.019 --> 00:06:15.980 you can buy in a grocery store. So things like 00:06:15.980 --> 00:06:20.339 Aquafresh toothpaste, Listerine, Dentine. I spent 00:06:20.339 --> 00:06:22.839 10 years with a division of GlaxoSmithKline, 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:25.519 five with a division of Warner Lambert, some 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:27.519 time with a company called Catalina Marketing 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:30.350 that ended my career with the company. people 00:06:30.350 --> 00:06:33.509 may may remember i'm not sure uh called eastman 00:06:33.509 --> 00:06:35.589 kodak they kind of went the way of the horse 00:06:35.589 --> 00:06:38.329 and buggy because uh their head was in the santa 00:06:38.329 --> 00:06:41.189 bat digital uh but through that time in corporate 00:06:41.189 --> 00:06:43.750 america i did a little everything i carried the 00:06:43.750 --> 00:06:46.709 bag i was in sales i was in account management 00:06:47.290 --> 00:06:51.350 I led different sales teams. I spent time in 00:06:51.350 --> 00:06:54.009 marketing. I spent time as a liaison between 00:06:54.009 --> 00:06:58.009 sales and marketing. I led team in category management, 00:06:58.250 --> 00:07:01.290 loyalty marketing, and then did some time in 00:07:01.290 --> 00:07:04.689 training as well, too. So I really did. I have 00:07:04.689 --> 00:07:07.949 an array of background experiences, which enables 00:07:07.949 --> 00:07:12.069 me to be able to deliver a lot of custom -based 00:07:12.069 --> 00:07:15.930 programs. I do today because I live the corporate 00:07:15.930 --> 00:07:18.269 life. I've lived the various jobs within those 00:07:18.269 --> 00:07:21.490 companies I've worked with. And I kind of can 00:07:21.490 --> 00:07:23.790 feel people's pain and know their pain points 00:07:23.790 --> 00:07:25.569 and know things they're struggling with. And 00:07:25.569 --> 00:07:28.149 that helps me build those custom based programs, 00:07:28.290 --> 00:07:30.490 so to speak. Well, you know, it's interesting 00:07:30.490 --> 00:07:32.569 that you say custom based programs because, you 00:07:32.569 --> 00:07:35.550 know, I look at business. A lot of people look 00:07:35.550 --> 00:07:37.819 at business as. their problems are going to be 00:07:37.819 --> 00:07:40.420 unique because it's a certain industry, right? 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:43.420 And there is some of that in the work that we 00:07:43.420 --> 00:07:47.879 do. But when we look at the business side of 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:50.740 business, I think it's very interesting with 00:07:50.740 --> 00:07:53.360 your strategic leadership approach and what you've 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:56.540 mentioned here, how you can be in all of those 00:07:56.540 --> 00:07:58.139 different areas of corporate America. And you 00:07:58.139 --> 00:08:00.480 probably saw very similar things across each 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:02.779 of those that led you to where you are today. 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:06.220 Yeah, absolutely. You know, there are similar 00:08:06.220 --> 00:08:09.899 things I see, number one. Number two, there are 00:08:09.899 --> 00:08:12.860 similar skill sets that would be transferable 00:08:12.860 --> 00:08:14.800 across various industries, like a four -step 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:18.600 solution selling process or leadership skills, 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:21.879 which... across various industries and various 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:24.480 customers. So what I do in training development 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:27.339 is lay down the fundamentals for success, teach 00:08:27.339 --> 00:08:30.139 people of a four -step process or the fundamentals 00:08:30.139 --> 00:08:32.559 of leadership skills or a plan for strategic, 00:08:32.820 --> 00:08:36.299 an outline for strategic planning. The difference 00:08:36.299 --> 00:08:39.539 is though. is the customization of implementing 00:08:39.539 --> 00:08:42.659 those skills within training so teaching those 00:08:42.659 --> 00:08:45.620 four spelling skills to a pharmaceutical company 00:08:45.620 --> 00:08:48.980 may be very different than to a biz dev team 00:08:48.980 --> 00:08:52.440 on a con in a construction organization sure 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:54.360 because their customers are different the issues 00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:56.500 they're facing are different and that's where 00:08:56.500 --> 00:08:58.600 i really create the point of differentiation 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:01.990 for my business because we lay the skills That's 00:09:01.990 --> 00:09:05.570 a foundation right there. Then we apply those 00:09:05.570 --> 00:09:08.970 skills to real -world scenarios these people 00:09:08.970 --> 00:09:11.850 are facing through case studies, role plays, 00:09:12.269 --> 00:09:17.009 interactive exercises. What that does, that hits 00:09:17.009 --> 00:09:19.610 that brain part and builds that cortex part of 00:09:19.610 --> 00:09:22.470 our brain, so we're making that muscle memory. 00:09:22.549 --> 00:09:24.769 We're seeing how these skills apply to my world, 00:09:24.870 --> 00:09:28.210 and that helps. uh create immediate usage of 00:09:28.210 --> 00:09:30.429 skills but most importantly long -term retention 00:09:30.429 --> 00:09:34.350 of those skills as well too yeah yeah i don't 00:09:34.350 --> 00:09:36.389 want to be a one and done with my clients and 00:09:36.389 --> 00:09:39.350 say oh this was a nice thing today um then they 00:09:39.350 --> 00:09:41.429 it falls out of bed they never use it again it 00:09:41.429 --> 00:09:43.549 does i mean it's nice for me i made a paycheck 00:09:43.549 --> 00:09:47.309 that day but it doesn't create long -term sustainable 00:09:47.309 --> 00:09:50.289 success for my clients and that's what i'm striving 00:09:50.289 --> 00:09:54.620 for so Well, and the thing that I've noticed 00:09:54.620 --> 00:09:58.559 is that a lot of us get some of these skills, 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:00.799 the fundamental skills that you're talking about, 00:10:00.899 --> 00:10:03.960 but then lack on the execution part, which is 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:06.259 probably where someone like you comes in really 00:10:06.259 --> 00:10:09.500 handy, especially because you need that accountability. 00:10:09.940 --> 00:10:12.360 You need somebody to help you apply that to real 00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:14.620 world scenarios. And I know a lot of the audience 00:10:14.620 --> 00:10:17.740 that's listening, you know, certainly. is bumping 00:10:17.740 --> 00:10:20.080 up against some of these challenges, but it is 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:22.059 nice to have somebody who understands how to 00:10:22.059 --> 00:10:25.779 organize this and roll it out. Do you mind if 00:10:25.779 --> 00:10:29.120 I, I've got a question for you. And the thing 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:31.220 is, the thing that I want to ask you is given 00:10:31.220 --> 00:10:34.440 your experience in strategic leadership, you 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:36.340 know, what are some of the biggest challenges 00:10:36.340 --> 00:10:39.940 you see organizations facing when developing 00:10:39.940 --> 00:10:45.019 clear strategic vision? And it's a loaded question. 00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:48.639 How can they overcome it? Yeah, well, let's assume 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:51.039 that their strategic vision was done right in 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:54.240 the first place. So we'll put that most of them 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:56.779 are not done correctly. Number one, number two. 00:10:56.799 --> 00:10:59.120 Well, I'll give them kudos for going on. A lot 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:01.399 of companies really don't do it. Other companies 00:11:01.399 --> 00:11:04.879 do do it. The third aspect of it is they do it. 00:11:04.899 --> 00:11:07.820 They do a great job. It's not communicated effectively. 00:11:08.179 --> 00:11:11.039 There's never reinforcement and people don't 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:14.580 feel accountability to it. If you've created 00:11:14.580 --> 00:11:16.860 vision, mission, values, your company, everyone 00:11:16.860 --> 00:11:18.980 within your company should eat, drink, and sleep 00:11:18.980 --> 00:11:22.480 that and see how, I don't care what role or responsibility 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:26.179 they're in, how they connect into the vision, 00:11:26.220 --> 00:11:28.840 mission, values, or the strategic objective, 00:11:29.100 --> 00:11:32.259 driving top line sales, profitability, or some 00:11:32.259 --> 00:11:35.179 sort of incremental growth objective. So everybody 00:11:35.179 --> 00:11:38.539 within an organization needs to feel how they 00:11:38.539 --> 00:11:41.860 contribute to that. Typically, things such as 00:11:41.860 --> 00:11:43.860 vision, mission, values, strategic objectives 00:11:43.860 --> 00:11:46.360 drive. Again, let me repeat the three. What I 00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:49.240 talk about is driving top line revenue slash 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:52.000 cash flow. That's strategic objective one, because 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.039 if you don't have make money, you don't have 00:11:54.039 --> 00:11:56.320 cash flow. You can't pay bills. You can't investment 00:11:56.320 --> 00:12:00.639 spend. Two is you want to be profitable. Number 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:03.059 three, you want to have some some sort of growth 00:12:03.059 --> 00:12:06.159 objective, whether an incremental growth objective, 00:12:06.279 --> 00:12:08.639 I should say, whether it's grow my market share. 00:12:09.370 --> 00:12:12.529 bring new customers into the fold or have my 00:12:12.529 --> 00:12:15.669 current customers spend more money. Those are 00:12:15.669 --> 00:12:18.690 all incremental growth objectives. So everybody 00:12:18.690 --> 00:12:21.110 within an organization needs to understand how 00:12:21.110 --> 00:12:23.970 they may feed into that. Typically, where I was 00:12:23.970 --> 00:12:26.309 going with this is typically vision, mission, 00:12:26.389 --> 00:12:29.009 value, strategic objectives, leadership, sales 00:12:29.009 --> 00:12:32.649 and marketing feel closest to it because they're 00:12:32.649 --> 00:12:36.090 the ones driving the strategy externally. They're 00:12:36.090 --> 00:12:41.059 engaging with the customers. firsthand. But underneath 00:12:41.059 --> 00:12:47.480 them is finance, IT, human resource, operations, 00:12:47.820 --> 00:12:51.179 and oftentimes all those other departments. We 00:12:51.179 --> 00:12:53.100 are on the same team working towards the same 00:12:53.100 --> 00:12:56.379 goals. Don't feel the connection to those. Does 00:12:56.379 --> 00:12:59.000 that make sense? Yeah. I mean, I totally get 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:01.259 it. Like with regards to some, you know, a company's 00:13:01.259 --> 00:13:05.360 mission, which I think is what aligns most. the 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:09.240 team. However, if that mission is in, in our 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:12.000 case, our mission is to help attractions massively 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:16.419 succeed. And that's and, and, but at the same 00:13:16.419 --> 00:13:19.120 time, if you're doing HR work, you may not feel 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:22.220 connected to that mission. Right. I'm hoping 00:13:22.220 --> 00:13:24.740 that I'm understanding you correctly. That's 00:13:24.740 --> 00:13:27.220 correct. Cause I need every department needs 00:13:27.220 --> 00:13:30.320 to understand. We are working as a team together. 00:13:30.539 --> 00:13:33.179 You've heard, I'm sure, silos, siloed departments. 00:13:33.659 --> 00:13:36.720 Those are created when people don't feel the 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:39.019 connection to the vision, missions, values, and 00:13:39.019 --> 00:13:41.940 strategic objectives. When we all understand 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:46.210 how we play a role in that. That's when we create 00:13:46.210 --> 00:13:50.509 a robust company. So my point is, first, you 00:13:50.509 --> 00:13:53.570 want to create a strong strategic plan and a 00:13:53.570 --> 00:13:56.450 strategy. You want to communicate it out effectively. 00:13:56.850 --> 00:13:59.769 You want to connect the dots so everyone understands 00:13:59.769 --> 00:14:03.389 how they fit into the strategic plan, strategic 00:14:03.389 --> 00:14:05.950 objectives. And lastly, you want to reinforce 00:14:05.950 --> 00:14:10.539 things every day, every day. So just I'll give 00:14:10.539 --> 00:14:12.740 you a kind of a funny example people can resonate 00:14:12.740 --> 00:14:16.100 with. One of it's not a vision statement, but 00:14:16.100 --> 00:14:18.700 it's a statement made by a Harley Davidson executive. 00:14:19.480 --> 00:14:22.139 And I'll throw it out to you and maybe your audience. 00:14:22.220 --> 00:14:26.659 What does Harley Davidson sell? They sell motorcycles. 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:33.580 They sell apparel. They've got all the goods. 00:14:34.490 --> 00:14:37.309 Ultimately, according to Harley Davidson executive, 00:14:37.590 --> 00:14:41.009 what he says we sell is the ability for a 43 00:14:41.009 --> 00:14:44.370 -year -old accountant to dress up in black leather, 00:14:44.590 --> 00:14:49.169 drive through small towns and scare people. What 00:14:49.169 --> 00:14:51.990 he's saying is, yes, we sell motorcycles, but 00:14:51.990 --> 00:14:54.389 we sell something greater. We sell a lifestyle. 00:14:54.929 --> 00:14:58.230 We make an emotional connection. And with that, 00:14:58.250 --> 00:15:00.110 very much what you were saying, not only do they 00:15:00.110 --> 00:15:04.620 sell a premium motorcycle, which in this. I love 00:15:04.620 --> 00:15:08.320 this statement because it enables them to create 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:10.460 a point of differentiation for themselves. Let 00:15:10.460 --> 00:15:14.220 Kawasaki and Honda sell motorcycles. We at Harley 00:15:14.220 --> 00:15:17.220 sell something greater than that. And that allows 00:15:17.220 --> 00:15:19.700 them to charge a premium price, number one. Number 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:21.720 two, they can sell other things like you said, 00:15:21.779 --> 00:15:24.419 the apparel, the boots, belt buckles. All those 00:15:24.419 --> 00:15:27.100 things are profit drivers, incremental sales 00:15:27.100 --> 00:15:30.539 drivers. It's a beautiful model. So where I'm 00:15:30.539 --> 00:15:33.220 going with this whole thing is I'm blabbing here 00:15:33.220 --> 00:15:36.970 is, If I'm in a department and I don't understand 00:15:36.970 --> 00:15:39.610 that we sell premium motorcycles and we're building 00:15:39.610 --> 00:15:42.230 plans to sell a shitty, excuse my French, a shitty 00:15:42.230 --> 00:15:45.309 motorcycle. That is away from the vision of Harley 00:15:45.309 --> 00:15:48.850 Davidson. We sell premium motorcycles. We sell 00:15:48.850 --> 00:15:52.370 the best. You know, everyone has to understand 00:15:52.370 --> 00:15:55.889 that dynamic. So we're all in sync of what we're 00:15:55.889 --> 00:15:58.730 trying to work. If we're low ball in price on 00:15:58.730 --> 00:16:01.070 our motorcycles, that's not a premium motorcycle. 00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:04.159 We forgot what we're about. Does that, does that 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:06.960 make sense? Yeah. But I also love, I love what 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:09.480 you said about the example of like a 45 year 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:11.720 old moving into a small town, dressed in leather, 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:13.879 scaring the local community or whatever, whatever 00:16:13.879 --> 00:16:16.019 that, I don't know the exact quote that you mentioned, 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:19.480 but you know, what that does is gives everyone 00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:27.600 this vision of who that is, what they want. They 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:30.620 can reverse engineer so much from that idea. 00:16:31.730 --> 00:16:35.990 Yep. It's very simple. Yeah. It's very simple. 00:16:36.029 --> 00:16:37.950 It's very cool. Thank you for sharing that. I 00:16:37.950 --> 00:16:39.629 didn't know that about them. I mean, I don't 00:16:39.629 --> 00:16:42.269 ride motorcycles, but even just hearing that. 00:16:42.889 --> 00:16:45.629 No, I heard that. I heard that quote several 00:16:45.629 --> 00:16:47.570 years back and I use it all the time. I just 00:16:47.570 --> 00:16:50.129 think it's beautiful because it speaks to, they've 00:16:50.129 --> 00:16:52.230 created a point of differentiation with themselves 00:16:52.230 --> 00:16:55.110 with that statement. They can sell a premium 00:16:55.110 --> 00:16:56.889 motorcycle, which is a good thing. They're going 00:16:56.889 --> 00:17:00.700 to make more revenue from that. Through that 00:17:00.700 --> 00:17:04.519 vision and mission that they've set up, they 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:07.160 can sell all these other cool little items that 00:17:07.160 --> 00:17:09.279 drive profitability and incremental growth. I'm 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:11.740 not just buying a motorcycle. I'm buying belt 00:17:11.740 --> 00:17:16.779 buckles, shoes, bandanas, boots. You know, it's 00:17:16.779 --> 00:17:19.200 a great business model. And that's a smart strategic 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:23.299 plan. And that's something that everyone within 00:17:23.299 --> 00:17:25.440 the organization of Harley can get behind and 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:29.299 clearly understand. It needs to be reinforced 00:17:29.299 --> 00:17:32.599 down. Well, and I think I heard somewhere from 00:17:32.599 --> 00:17:34.700 somebody at some point, I think actually their 00:17:34.700 --> 00:17:39.359 apparel, that part of their business might even 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:43.039 exceed or match. I can't remember what it was, 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:45.980 but either matched or exceed what they were doing 00:17:45.980 --> 00:17:49.279 in selling their motorcycles, which was fascinating 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:52.380 to me because your average person doesn't hear 00:17:52.380 --> 00:17:55.119 that name and think this is an apparel company. 00:17:55.559 --> 00:17:58.359 Yeah, that's right. You're right. Yeah. Yeah. 00:17:58.460 --> 00:18:01.680 Yeah. So I can't remember whether I'm riffing 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:03.319 here because I'm passionate about this topic. 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:05.099 I don't know where the original question was. 00:18:05.180 --> 00:18:08.559 I hope I answered it. No, I mean, you answered 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:10.339 that question because the question is, you know, 00:18:10.339 --> 00:18:12.980 how can you overcome, you know, not having that 00:18:12.980 --> 00:18:17.440 clear strategic vision? And this executive over 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:20.099 there clearly says it in a way that he's now 00:18:20.099 --> 00:18:24.519 aligning all of his team and, you know, everything 00:18:24.519 --> 00:18:27.450 that they do. can't align with that, including 00:18:27.450 --> 00:18:30.549 the retail and apparel, which is why I think 00:18:30.549 --> 00:18:33.890 I was alluding to also the reinforcement mechanism. 00:18:34.049 --> 00:18:37.130 You know, we teach people training one time. 00:18:37.130 --> 00:18:40.609 We expect them to use it and not reinforce it 00:18:40.609 --> 00:18:42.589 on a daily basis. That's the same with vision, 00:18:42.630 --> 00:18:46.089 mission, values, strategic objectives. If I if 00:18:46.089 --> 00:18:48.829 an employee deviates from the vision, mission, 00:18:48.890 --> 00:18:51.619 values or strategic objectives. He or she should 00:18:51.619 --> 00:18:54.119 be brought back in the loop and reminded about 00:18:54.119 --> 00:18:58.000 what we do, reinforce why we do. Here's what 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:00.799 we do. Here's why we do it. So it's building 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:03.259 that muscle memory within the organization. It's 00:19:03.259 --> 00:19:05.539 not enough to create one. It should be a great, 00:19:05.619 --> 00:19:07.720 you should create one, number one. Number two, 00:19:07.740 --> 00:19:09.980 it should be awesome and create a point of differentiation. 00:19:10.099 --> 00:19:13.029 Three, it should be communicated. But most importantly, 00:19:13.089 --> 00:19:15.730 it needs to be reinforced as well, too. Yeah, 00:19:15.730 --> 00:19:17.829 you know, that's interesting. The reinforcement 00:19:17.829 --> 00:19:19.289 part is very interesting because, you know, one 00:19:19.289 --> 00:19:21.250 of the things, and I have to say this, after 00:19:21.250 --> 00:19:23.589 hearing that about Harley, it makes me want to 00:19:23.589 --> 00:19:26.430 maybe rework my mission statement to be way cooler 00:19:26.430 --> 00:19:31.869 than it is. But, you know, and I do think that 00:19:31.869 --> 00:19:34.410 what we do is pretty cool. But what I think is 00:19:34.410 --> 00:19:37.970 even more interesting is the reinforcement piece. 00:19:38.789 --> 00:19:41.029 And I think that's actually a real challenge 00:19:41.029 --> 00:19:45.109 for businesses that maybe, you know, maybe they 00:19:45.109 --> 00:19:47.390 do have vision. Maybe they do have mission and 00:19:47.390 --> 00:19:50.670 values clearly, you know, displayed on their 00:19:50.670 --> 00:19:53.769 website, given to their teams in their handbooks. 00:19:54.049 --> 00:19:56.990 But, you know, with regards to overcoming the. 00:19:58.440 --> 00:20:01.599 not having that clear strategic vision. I think 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:03.440 you're right about the reinforcement piece for 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:06.519 sure. And I'm curious if you would mind giving 00:20:06.519 --> 00:20:08.700 some examples of what does that reinforcement 00:20:08.700 --> 00:20:13.859 look like? Yeah, well, anything, okay. i'll give 00:20:13.859 --> 00:20:16.859 an example one of my clients is a it's a franchise 00:20:16.859 --> 00:20:20.640 they do donuts let's put it that way and the 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:23.220 um their vision statement i'll paraphrase now 00:20:23.220 --> 00:20:25.900 it's something about creating smiling faces happy 00:20:25.900 --> 00:20:29.240 customers or smiling faces every day or something 00:20:29.240 --> 00:20:32.119 like it's really you know bubbly uplifting so 00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:35.140 there's a lot of tension that goes on at the 00:20:35.140 --> 00:20:39.450 at those retail outlets And there could be issues 00:20:39.450 --> 00:20:43.089 with the staff, staff treating leaders in a store 00:20:43.089 --> 00:20:47.890 or region manager treating staff poorly or staff 00:20:47.890 --> 00:20:51.430 treating customers poorly. Sure. None of that 00:20:51.430 --> 00:20:55.789 ties to a smiling face, happy workplace, right? 00:20:55.930 --> 00:20:59.410 You are not eating, drinking, living your vision, 00:20:59.529 --> 00:21:02.490 mission, values in the daily workplace. So there's 00:21:02.490 --> 00:21:04.970 your reinforcement has to come in play. If a 00:21:04.970 --> 00:21:08.980 manager sees another manager, Barking out, creating 00:21:08.980 --> 00:21:13.359 bad morale, that is a misalignment versus our 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:15.640 vision, mission, and it needs to be called out 00:21:15.640 --> 00:21:20.119 and reviewed and discussed. And same if a manager 00:21:20.119 --> 00:21:23.200 sees someone grumpy with a customer, that's, 00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:25.539 again, not aligned to our vision, mission, values. 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:28.359 That needs to be called out and training needs 00:21:28.359 --> 00:21:31.140 to be conducted to teach people that, you know, 00:21:31.140 --> 00:21:33.599 here's our vision, mission, values. Here's skills 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:36.849 you learned from Steve. in dealing with difficult 00:21:36.849 --> 00:21:39.089 customers or customer service, things of that 00:21:39.089 --> 00:21:41.630 nature. Does that answer your question? Yeah, 00:21:41.630 --> 00:21:43.430 I think that answers the question a lot because, 00:21:43.509 --> 00:21:45.089 you know, a lot of it, you're right, just goes 00:21:45.089 --> 00:21:48.289 back to proper training, right? Did we give them 00:21:48.289 --> 00:21:54.569 the tools to align them and reinforce this mission? 00:21:54.849 --> 00:21:58.009 You're right. If somebody's not treating, if 00:21:58.009 --> 00:22:00.930 a manager, and, you know, I don't like the word 00:22:00.930 --> 00:22:03.910 manager. I think I just saw that. I was listening 00:22:03.910 --> 00:22:06.190 to it. Someone speak the other day and they were 00:22:06.190 --> 00:22:10.029 saying that Gallup has a book. I wish I could 00:22:10.029 --> 00:22:12.410 remember the book that was talking about disengagement. 00:22:12.950 --> 00:22:15.430 And I'm sure, as you know, in the work that you 00:22:15.430 --> 00:22:19.329 do, disengagement is. what is hurting so many 00:22:19.329 --> 00:22:21.450 businesses out there, especially small businesses 00:22:21.450 --> 00:22:25.109 that don't have that alignment. They aren't reinforcing 00:22:25.109 --> 00:22:28.670 that, but disengagement, I mean, what 70 % of 00:22:28.670 --> 00:22:31.829 employees are disengaged. And I'm sure that a 00:22:31.829 --> 00:22:34.950 lot of that goes back to what you're saying with 00:22:34.950 --> 00:22:37.869 regards is having that clear strategic vision. 00:22:38.700 --> 00:22:40.900 Because if you don't know where you're going, 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:42.440 what you're doing, and it's not transparent, 00:22:42.619 --> 00:22:44.420 it's not transparent about what the goals of 00:22:44.420 --> 00:22:48.019 the company are, as you said, I think it's very 00:22:48.019 --> 00:22:52.200 easily to have people who become misaligned and 00:22:52.200 --> 00:22:57.259 or disengaged. That's where the silos happen, 00:22:57.480 --> 00:22:59.839 departmental silos. That's where bad attitudes 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:02.720 happen. And think about it. You have bad morale, 00:23:03.019 --> 00:23:06.619 high turnover. There's a cost associated with 00:23:06.619 --> 00:23:10.839 that. I think I heard that a mishire or a loss 00:23:10.839 --> 00:23:13.779 of a good hire can cost something up to nine 00:23:13.779 --> 00:23:17.359 times base salary. Wow. Most companies don't 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:20.299 realize the cost associated with bad morale or 00:23:20.299 --> 00:23:23.779 high turnover as well, too. I just thought of 00:23:23.779 --> 00:23:25.740 another. I'll give you another example. It's 00:23:25.740 --> 00:23:28.440 a high -level example, but it covers a lot of 00:23:28.440 --> 00:23:30.779 industries I work with. But let's hypothetically 00:23:30.779 --> 00:23:34.630 say we've created a premium product. like a Harley, 00:23:34.789 --> 00:23:37.769 that we want to sell our customers. We don't 00:23:37.769 --> 00:23:40.609 want to sell our crappy lower -end items. We 00:23:40.609 --> 00:23:42.450 want to focus on these premium items that bring 00:23:42.450 --> 00:23:45.910 revenue to them, bring revenue to us. The sales 00:23:45.910 --> 00:23:50.890 teams often forget. They get an objection from 00:23:50.890 --> 00:23:53.150 a customer. They chicken out, and they give something 00:23:53.150 --> 00:23:55.049 away at the lowest price because it's the easiest 00:23:55.049 --> 00:23:57.829 thing to do. That is not in alignment with what 00:23:57.829 --> 00:24:01.569 we talked about and needs to be enforced. I see 00:24:01.569 --> 00:24:03.950 that one all the time. You know, salespeople 00:24:03.950 --> 00:24:05.970 want the easy sale. They'll give price away. 00:24:06.109 --> 00:24:08.430 They'll get something lowball just to give it, 00:24:08.430 --> 00:24:10.589 you know, to make the sale. And that is that 00:24:10.589 --> 00:24:13.210 may not be in align to what we're trying to do 00:24:13.210 --> 00:24:15.849 here. We sell premium products. We don't want 00:24:15.849 --> 00:24:17.849 to sell what our competition does. We want to 00:24:17.849 --> 00:24:19.910 create a point of differentiation for our company. 00:24:20.089 --> 00:24:23.349 And those are areas that I mean, we're reinforced 00:24:23.349 --> 00:24:26.349 that needs to take place. I saw a good visual 00:24:26.349 --> 00:24:30.289 the other day. It has a bar that goes, you know. 00:24:31.180 --> 00:24:35.779 left to right green bar and in, in like quarter 00:24:35.779 --> 00:24:37.740 of the way. And there's a red line and it says 00:24:37.740 --> 00:24:41.119 training. And there's then, then the work day, 00:24:41.220 --> 00:24:43.880 the rest of the time, then it says professional 00:24:43.880 --> 00:24:48.779 sports. It has the same graphic, but it has a 00:24:48.779 --> 00:24:51.579 practice, a little thing, game day practice, 00:24:51.819 --> 00:24:55.369 little thing, game day practice. So in sports, 00:24:55.509 --> 00:24:58.809 we know to lay down fundamental skills for success 00:24:58.809 --> 00:25:02.809 and we practice, we repeat, we watch film, we 00:25:02.809 --> 00:25:06.410 reinforce. But we don't do that in the business 00:25:06.410 --> 00:25:08.809 world. You know, and that's the thing where I 00:25:08.809 --> 00:25:10.730 think there's a great opportunity for companies. 00:25:11.529 --> 00:25:13.289 Yeah. Well, you know, it's funny that you brought 00:25:13.289 --> 00:25:17.450 up sports, which I was just talking to my husband. 00:25:17.490 --> 00:25:19.049 He was mentioning because we were talking about 00:25:19.049 --> 00:25:21.150 this, like you said, training is a big part. 00:25:21.690 --> 00:25:25.130 It's like the biggest part. Who is it? Oh, goodness. 00:25:25.269 --> 00:25:27.029 Maybe somebody in the audience, maybe you'll 00:25:27.029 --> 00:25:30.369 know, Steve, that basketball player that's doing 00:25:30.369 --> 00:25:35.890 500 shots a day, minimum. Yeah. And the greatest 00:25:35.890 --> 00:25:40.509 in the world. Yep. He didn't stop. He did it 00:25:40.509 --> 00:25:43.170 every day, even when he was seen as the greatest. 00:25:43.769 --> 00:25:46.150 And I'm going to connect some further dots to 00:25:46.150 --> 00:25:51.700 that Viktor Frankl objective or quote. So in 00:25:51.700 --> 00:25:54.000 between stimulus and response, there is a space. 00:25:54.019 --> 00:25:56.880 In that response, in that space, we have a chance 00:25:56.880 --> 00:26:00.160 to choose our response. What good training can 00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:03.259 do, what a strong strategic plan can do, can 00:26:03.259 --> 00:26:07.319 give people rational thinking things to fall 00:26:07.319 --> 00:26:11.400 back on in rural workplace scenarios. What I 00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:14.700 mean by that, I'll simplify it. If a salesperson... 00:26:15.079 --> 00:26:18.339 does not know how to, he or she is not trained 00:26:18.339 --> 00:26:21.619 on how to handle a customer objection. You know 00:26:21.619 --> 00:26:23.500 what that is, right? The customer says no objection. 00:26:24.539 --> 00:26:27.019 There's a chance that if that objection comes 00:26:27.019 --> 00:26:29.619 back, the salesperson's gonna panic. They're 00:26:29.619 --> 00:26:31.480 gonna get angry, push back, or they're gonna 00:26:31.480 --> 00:26:33.420 shut down. They're not gonna know how to handle 00:26:33.420 --> 00:26:36.259 it because they were never trained on how to 00:26:36.259 --> 00:26:40.619 handle it. If they are trained on that, they're 00:26:40.619 --> 00:26:44.079 gonna have the foundational structure on. how 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:46.960 to handle that. So the stimulus is the objection 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:51.299 I have time to fall back into. Steve trained 00:26:51.299 --> 00:26:56.160 us on how to handle objections. Boom. Here, we're 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:58.500 going to handle that objection now. So what I'm 00:26:58.500 --> 00:27:01.539 saying is a strong strategic plan, good training, 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:06.200 laid down, reinforced, can help that gap between 00:27:06.200 --> 00:27:09.059 stimulus and response. If I'm not trained, if 00:27:09.059 --> 00:27:11.400 I don't know where a strategic plan is, when 00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:14.460 the real world... Stuff hits the fan, so to speak. 00:27:14.660 --> 00:27:16.740 There's a chance I'm going to fall into an emotional 00:27:16.740 --> 00:27:20.680 state of freeze, fight or flight versus handling 00:27:20.680 --> 00:27:23.240 it rationally because I've been trained on it 00:27:23.240 --> 00:27:26.720 or I clearly understand our strategic plan. I 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:29.220 know our vision, mission, values, and it's not 00:27:29.220 --> 00:27:31.319 aligned. And here's how I have to handle it. 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:35.400 So all this structure reinforcement I'm talking 00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:38.519 about can help us all make wiser workplace decisions. 00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:42.269 Yeah, I love that. I love that. And you don't 00:27:42.269 --> 00:27:46.430 want your team, you know, figuring it out on 00:27:46.430 --> 00:27:50.109 your customers. Right. Like that's that's the 00:27:50.109 --> 00:27:53.450 worst possible scenario. And that that doesn't 00:27:53.450 --> 00:27:55.470 make them feel good. That doesn't make the customer 00:27:55.470 --> 00:27:58.849 feel good. You know, I saw a statistic recently. 00:27:58.950 --> 00:28:00.650 The number one reason people leave their job 00:28:00.650 --> 00:28:02.470 is because the lack of confidence in what they 00:28:02.470 --> 00:28:09.160 do. Well, that's solved by training. Well, one, 00:28:09.319 --> 00:28:11.420 I wouldn't doubt that. Number two, that's one 00:28:11.420 --> 00:28:14.980 reason I got into training as I did, because 00:28:14.980 --> 00:28:17.839 I had those times where I didn't know what I 00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:20.500 was doing and I was floundering. Fortunately, 00:28:20.920 --> 00:28:24.640 most of my career, I did work for companies that 00:28:24.640 --> 00:28:27.619 trained and developed their people. So I know 00:28:27.619 --> 00:28:30.380 what good training is. I know the importance 00:28:30.380 --> 00:28:33.539 of it. And I know the other side of that table, 00:28:33.640 --> 00:28:35.799 you know, where it's either no training or bad 00:28:35.799 --> 00:28:38.789 training. and the repercussions of that. You 00:28:38.789 --> 00:28:42.089 know, it's not good. It's not good. Well, it's 00:28:42.089 --> 00:28:43.990 interesting. You know, I heard a quote one time, 00:28:43.990 --> 00:28:46.410 and I don't remember who the CEO was, but they 00:28:46.410 --> 00:28:50.250 were asked, like, how do you value the return, 00:28:50.569 --> 00:28:53.210 you know, the ROI on training your team? Like, 00:28:53.210 --> 00:28:55.250 what is the ROI on training your team? And he 00:28:55.250 --> 00:28:58.650 said something along the lines of, well, what's 00:28:58.650 --> 00:29:04.150 the ROI if I don't? That's right. Yeah. What's 00:29:04.150 --> 00:29:06.029 the ROI if I don't, which is why I'm so glad 00:29:06.029 --> 00:29:08.609 people like you exist in the world that are helping 00:29:08.609 --> 00:29:10.470 businesses do that, because that's probably my 00:29:10.470 --> 00:29:13.150 first. I love attractions. I love what we do 00:29:13.150 --> 00:29:15.809 at Gate Master, but my first love is really business 00:29:15.809 --> 00:29:18.650 owners. I think there's business owners and people 00:29:18.650 --> 00:29:20.809 who are operating businesses and trying to do 00:29:20.809 --> 00:29:23.069 really big things with these big visions and 00:29:23.069 --> 00:29:26.250 mission. But a lot of times, like the tools that 00:29:26.250 --> 00:29:29.660 that you're talking about aren't. first nature 00:29:29.660 --> 00:29:32.440 to most people because in most cases you didn't 00:29:32.440 --> 00:29:36.480 go into business to in the case of maybe the 00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:38.720 the donut chain you work with they didn't go 00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:41.000 into business to build business systems they 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:42.680 went into business to create were probably really 00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:46.380 great donuts make people smile right and so you 00:29:46.380 --> 00:29:49.680 know that doesn't come as most people's first 00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:52.960 nature, I think, to be thinking about these other 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:55.299 things, the tools and how we get people. The 00:29:55.299 --> 00:29:57.000 other thing I wanted to mention in that Gallup 00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:00.960 book, and I'll maybe post it in the chat later 00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:04.759 once I can remember what it's called. But the 00:30:04.759 --> 00:30:09.400 number one thing that comes up with regards to 00:30:09.400 --> 00:30:13.160 like workplace problems is management, right? 00:30:13.299 --> 00:30:15.779 So you have disengagement, which is directly 00:30:15.779 --> 00:30:20.279 tied to bad management. And bad management, in 00:30:20.279 --> 00:30:23.200 my opinion, and maybe you'll agree with me, is 00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:26.319 the lack of training for your team. Oh, no. Yeah. 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:29.720 Yeah. If I have this coaching skills, if I don't 00:30:29.720 --> 00:30:32.519 have know how to deal with different workplace 00:30:32.519 --> 00:30:35.359 situations and coach and train my team, there 00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:39.000 is going to be problems even tying into when 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:41.980 I talk about freeze, fight or flight. If I am 00:30:41.980 --> 00:30:45.039 not aware of I talk about in my second book in 00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:47.480 defensive adversity. Two important parts of the 00:30:47.480 --> 00:30:50.259 brain, the cortex and the limbic system. Our 00:30:50.259 --> 00:30:52.660 limbic system is what we're born with. It's our 00:30:52.660 --> 00:30:55.819 emotional brain. When we're functioning in our 00:30:55.819 --> 00:31:00.279 limbic system, our response to negative stimulus 00:31:00.279 --> 00:31:02.839 can be freeze, fight or flight or some combination 00:31:02.839 --> 00:31:06.099 of those. You can imagine that's not where you 00:31:06.099 --> 00:31:08.880 want to be in the workplace. Yes. The other part 00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:11.880 of the brain is our cortex. The cortex does grow, 00:31:12.039 --> 00:31:14.809 transform and evolve through time. through our 00:31:14.809 --> 00:31:18.690 life experiences, good and especially bad, through 00:31:18.690 --> 00:31:22.750 our education system, through training and development. 00:31:23.109 --> 00:31:27.309 So what I look at is training and development 00:31:27.309 --> 00:31:29.809 can help people build their cortex muscles so 00:31:29.809 --> 00:31:33.190 when workplace situations happen, they're going 00:31:33.190 --> 00:31:36.609 to respond. rationally using their cortex part 00:31:36.609 --> 00:31:38.390 of the brain, because I know how to do this because 00:31:38.390 --> 00:31:40.690 I was trained to do that. Right. Or I was trained 00:31:40.690 --> 00:31:43.769 to be a leader. I know how to coach. I know how 00:31:43.769 --> 00:31:46.289 to deal with a difficult customer. I know how 00:31:46.289 --> 00:31:48.970 to give constructive feedback. If that structure 00:31:48.970 --> 00:31:51.289 isn't there and something happens in the workplace, 00:31:51.450 --> 00:31:53.450 the chance of freeze, fight or flight in someone 00:31:53.450 --> 00:31:56.309 is going to come out or it's going to manifest 00:31:56.309 --> 00:32:00.390 more often than not. Fight might be anger, short 00:32:00.390 --> 00:32:02.769 fuse, impatience, taking control of a situation. 00:32:03.170 --> 00:32:06.130 Flight might be not dealing with it, acting like 00:32:06.130 --> 00:32:09.130 it's not happening. Oh, I'm not seeing it. Freeze 00:32:09.130 --> 00:32:12.190 could be shutting down and not explaining your 00:32:12.190 --> 00:32:17.089 true thoughts of something. So my point is training 00:32:17.089 --> 00:32:20.690 a manager to be a manager, a leader, is imperative 00:32:20.690 --> 00:32:24.430 in how he or she shapes and leads his or her 00:32:24.430 --> 00:32:28.150 team. and that and that that training builds 00:32:28.150 --> 00:32:30.450 that cortex muscle though so they can respond 00:32:30.450 --> 00:32:34.190 properly with real world works work environments 00:32:34.190 --> 00:32:36.509 work situations and that ties back into that 00:32:36.509 --> 00:32:40.150 victor frankl um quote as well too in between 00:32:40.150 --> 00:32:42.950 stimulus response what i want to do is through 00:32:42.950 --> 00:32:46.150 training is help optimize between stimulus response 00:32:46.150 --> 00:32:49.190 what happens in the brain whether it's simultaneous 00:32:49.190 --> 00:32:51.890 or whether i have some time to think through 00:32:51.890 --> 00:32:54.880 it if i'm trained properly Something happens 00:32:54.880 --> 00:32:56.640 in workplace, boom, I'm going to know how to 00:32:56.640 --> 00:32:59.380 handle that. I have a difficult employee. I'm 00:32:59.380 --> 00:33:01.519 going to handle that in a proactive, productive 00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:04.579 way rather than losing my patience or getting 00:33:04.579 --> 00:33:08.140 angry or so on and so forth. Sure. It's building 00:33:08.140 --> 00:33:13.220 that muscle memory too, right? Like even with 00:33:13.220 --> 00:33:15.299 what we do, I mean, I'm in a little bit of a 00:33:15.299 --> 00:33:16.980 different aspect of the business because we're 00:33:16.980 --> 00:33:19.039 more focused on the technology around revenue 00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:24.109 systems. But when we originally built, Our first 00:33:24.109 --> 00:33:28.049 product back in the early 2000s, our founder, 00:33:28.069 --> 00:33:31.450 who was a chiropractor, was real focused on like 00:33:31.450 --> 00:33:34.369 how the body aligned and was it ergonomically 00:33:34.369 --> 00:33:37.470 correct the way that people were moving and what 00:33:37.470 --> 00:33:39.789 the muscle memory would look like if they were 00:33:39.789 --> 00:33:42.569 properly trained on how to use the product and 00:33:42.569 --> 00:33:44.450 the best ways to do that. So I think this is 00:33:44.450 --> 00:33:47.430 a really fascinating conversation, which I want 00:33:47.430 --> 00:33:49.569 to ask you about your books. You mentioned your 00:33:49.569 --> 00:33:51.309 books. Can you tell the audience a little bit 00:33:51.309 --> 00:33:53.980 about what you've done there? Yeah, I'm actually 00:33:53.980 --> 00:33:57.000 a three -time publisher, and my pride and joys 00:33:57.000 --> 00:33:59.480 are in defense of adversity and thrive in the 00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:03.200 face of adversity. So both of these really hone 00:34:03.200 --> 00:34:06.480 in on that Viktor Frankl, the comment I made 00:34:06.480 --> 00:34:08.860 about cortex versus limbic system and really 00:34:08.860 --> 00:34:12.500 understanding the base premise behind the book 00:34:12.500 --> 00:34:15.659 is adversity is meant to happen in our lives. 00:34:15.679 --> 00:34:18.320 They help us grow, transform, and evolve. into 00:34:18.320 --> 00:34:21.019 the people we're meant to become. So through 00:34:21.019 --> 00:34:24.800 that book, I give some facts about adversity, 00:34:25.300 --> 00:34:27.820 how people overcome it, what they ultimately 00:34:27.820 --> 00:34:30.539 become by overcoming it. Then I teach people 00:34:30.539 --> 00:34:32.980 to understand that brain dynamic that I talked 00:34:32.980 --> 00:34:35.900 about, cortex versus limbic system, which I actually 00:34:35.900 --> 00:34:38.860 learned from a martial arts coach. And then I 00:34:38.860 --> 00:34:43.900 tie that into understanding ourselves, understanding 00:34:43.900 --> 00:34:47.719 how we respond to adversity based on our... personality 00:34:47.719 --> 00:34:50.739 style or behavior style. Are you familiar with 00:34:50.739 --> 00:34:55.340 this? Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. The certified behavioral 00:34:55.340 --> 00:34:58.159 analyst, which you met is DISC. So what I've 00:34:58.159 --> 00:35:02.300 done, I've tied this into how a person functions 00:35:02.300 --> 00:35:05.739 in their best state of mind and their worst state 00:35:05.739 --> 00:35:09.570 of mind. by DISC, by the three disc styles. So, 00:35:09.590 --> 00:35:11.969 you know, if I'm a dominant style, I'm competitive, 00:35:12.250 --> 00:35:15.210 I get things done, I'm a go -getter. But on the 00:35:15.210 --> 00:35:17.309 negative side, that's the cortex part of the 00:35:17.309 --> 00:35:19.150 brain. If you're in the emotional part of the 00:35:19.150 --> 00:35:22.070 brain, you're a fighter. You get angry, you get 00:35:22.070 --> 00:35:24.829 short cues. So I connect the dots with the four 00:35:24.829 --> 00:35:27.130 disc styles. And when someone's functioning in 00:35:27.130 --> 00:35:30.349 the optimal brain set versus the emotional one. 00:35:30.909 --> 00:35:33.510 So they make better decisions, stimulus response. 00:35:33.650 --> 00:35:38.230 And then I have some real world ways, skills 00:35:38.230 --> 00:35:41.130 people can use to self -reflect and reconnect 00:35:41.130 --> 00:35:45.889 themselves to learn from any situation, good 00:35:45.889 --> 00:35:49.210 and especially bad as well, too. I subscribe 00:35:49.210 --> 00:35:52.909 to the fact that people can learn. You'll learn 00:35:52.909 --> 00:35:55.130 your greatest lessons from your failures, your 00:35:55.130 --> 00:35:58.440 defeats. That's where the greatest lessons lie. 00:35:58.599 --> 00:36:01.920 So I encourage people not to be afraid. As long 00:36:01.920 --> 00:36:04.320 as you're learning a lesson from adversity, from 00:36:04.320 --> 00:36:07.340 difficulties, from disappointment, then it's 00:36:07.340 --> 00:36:10.780 really not a negative, it can be a positive. 00:36:10.920 --> 00:36:13.840 And that builds your cortex brain as well too. 00:36:13.960 --> 00:36:17.159 If I'm shielded from adversity or if I'm shielding 00:36:17.159 --> 00:36:20.000 others from adversity, I'm not building their 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:23.000 cortex muscle. And then when real world things 00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:26.039 happen, Chances are these people are going to 00:36:26.039 --> 00:36:27.980 respond in an emotional state of freeze, fight 00:36:27.980 --> 00:36:30.960 or flight, which is not productive. So, yeah, 00:36:31.059 --> 00:36:34.099 I love it. I love that you brought up the, you 00:36:34.099 --> 00:36:37.480 know, the inoculation distress. Because a lot 00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:39.079 of times we don't want to mention that that's 00:36:39.079 --> 00:36:41.480 actually part of the job sometimes. Right. Like, 00:36:41.559 --> 00:36:45.000 I mean, imagine being a firefighter or an EMT. 00:36:45.139 --> 00:36:47.739 Like they definitely have to. And it's interesting 00:36:47.739 --> 00:36:49.119 that you brought up martial arts. That was something 00:36:49.119 --> 00:36:51.239 that taught me. I did. My husband and I used 00:36:51.239 --> 00:36:55.329 to. own a gym and we, he's a mixed martial arts 00:36:55.329 --> 00:36:59.610 coach. And we did, we did Krav Maga back in the 00:36:59.610 --> 00:37:01.610 early two thousands. And when I was training, 00:37:01.730 --> 00:37:05.969 I remember one time there was this, I was holding 00:37:05.969 --> 00:37:08.769 the pad for this big guy. He was huge. And he's 00:37:08.769 --> 00:37:11.050 like, should I go, you know, light on her? And 00:37:11.050 --> 00:37:12.550 they were like, no, go ahead and give it to her. 00:37:12.590 --> 00:37:18.359 Right. And he punched the bag and just my. I 00:37:18.359 --> 00:37:20.599 wasn't even upset. I mean, I agreed to it. It 00:37:20.599 --> 00:37:23.619 was totally consensual. We were training. But 00:37:23.619 --> 00:37:28.280 my, I don't know what part of the brain you would 00:37:28.280 --> 00:37:32.480 call this, but my body's response was to cry. 00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:35.019 And he's like, are you? And this poor guy was 00:37:35.019 --> 00:37:36.440 mortified. He's like, are you okay? I'm like, 00:37:36.519 --> 00:37:38.380 I'm totally cool. I don't even understand why 00:37:38.380 --> 00:37:41.039 this is happening right now. As you said, the 00:37:41.039 --> 00:37:43.619 fight or flight, it was just the way that I responded. 00:37:43.739 --> 00:37:45.360 But the lesson that I learned there was that 00:37:45.360 --> 00:37:47.800 I had to inoculate myself to certain levels of 00:37:47.800 --> 00:37:51.519 stress in order to be successful in areas of 00:37:51.519 --> 00:37:54.860 my life. And it goes beyond training for martial 00:37:54.860 --> 00:37:56.840 arts or self -defense. It's in our businesses. 00:37:57.199 --> 00:37:59.480 It's in training our teams. It's in dealing with 00:37:59.480 --> 00:38:02.460 people, our customers. If you are inoculated 00:38:02.460 --> 00:38:04.079 to the stress, you're going to make better decisions. 00:38:04.599 --> 00:38:08.000 That's right. Um, and you're, uh, and so that's 00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:10.239 been, this was 20 years ago, but that has been 00:38:10.239 --> 00:38:12.019 a lesson that I've learned and brought forward 00:38:12.019 --> 00:38:14.579 for many, many years. And maybe that was a failure. 00:38:14.599 --> 00:38:16.599 Like you said, that I just learned from, you 00:38:16.599 --> 00:38:19.199 know, cause here I let this guy punch me full 00:38:19.199 --> 00:38:23.400 speed, but. Well, let's her husband. I am a Muay 00:38:23.400 --> 00:38:25.539 Thai practitioner on it. You know, if you know 00:38:25.539 --> 00:38:29.679 what that is, everything we're speaking on to 00:38:29.679 --> 00:38:35.389 this ties into, because I, um, The word in Thailand 00:38:35.389 --> 00:38:38.510 for Muay Thai fighters for relax is sabai sabai. 00:38:39.269 --> 00:38:42.769 So what I work with my coach on to help keep 00:38:42.769 --> 00:38:47.050 me in the cortex is I have him push me in very 00:38:47.050 --> 00:38:51.510 uncomfortable places, corner me, tire me out, 00:38:51.630 --> 00:38:55.090 overwhelm me. And what I'm trying to get him 00:38:55.090 --> 00:38:59.510 to do is help me learn how to stay calm with 00:38:59.510 --> 00:39:04.309 all this chaos to see things. In all this chaos 00:39:04.309 --> 00:39:06.989 and it's hard as hell because, you know, you're 00:39:06.989 --> 00:39:10.449 getting a kick, you're hard and stuff, but it's 00:39:10.449 --> 00:39:14.190 helping me translate Sabai Sabai thinking in 00:39:14.190 --> 00:39:17.210 the cortex, falling back on my training, falling 00:39:17.210 --> 00:39:20.090 back on all those things he taught me and staying 00:39:20.090 --> 00:39:23.730 calm under pressure. And that's it's transferring 00:39:23.730 --> 00:39:26.449 from there into my business life, too, because 00:39:26.449 --> 00:39:28.150 if you can stay calm while you're getting your 00:39:28.150 --> 00:39:30.869 butt beat and see things and work your way out 00:39:30.869 --> 00:39:33.289 of it, it's going to parlay into your personal 00:39:33.289 --> 00:39:35.630 life as well or professional life as well, too. 00:39:36.650 --> 00:39:39.030 You know, one of my biggest clients, Stanley 00:39:39.030 --> 00:39:41.610 Black and Decker, they they they say we are in 00:39:41.610 --> 00:39:44.530 a VUCA world. Volatility, uncertainty, change 00:39:44.530 --> 00:39:49.110 and ambiguity is the new norm. And so my premise 00:39:49.110 --> 00:39:52.239 is if we can. be more strategic thinking more 00:39:52.239 --> 00:39:55.079 strategic leaders think rationally rather than 00:39:55.079 --> 00:39:58.820 emotionally that can be a point of differentiation 00:39:58.820 --> 00:40:03.440 for the leader and the organization because we're 00:40:03.440 --> 00:40:05.460 in this vuca world which i totally agree with 00:40:05.460 --> 00:40:10.519 so thinking logically thinking rationally only 00:40:10.519 --> 00:40:12.699 when we're thinking rationally logically in our 00:40:12.699 --> 00:40:14.480 cortex part of the brain are we going to be able 00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:17.019 to solve problems are we going to be able to 00:40:17.019 --> 00:40:20.130 see see a competitive advantage? Are we going 00:40:20.130 --> 00:40:22.750 to minimize conflict? Are we going to say the 00:40:22.750 --> 00:40:26.289 right things? Yes. If we're in an emotional state, 00:40:26.369 --> 00:40:27.809 we're not going to be able to solve problems. 00:40:27.929 --> 00:40:30.610 We're going to create conflict. We may say things 00:40:30.610 --> 00:40:33.590 we soon regret later. So it's the importance 00:40:33.590 --> 00:40:37.929 of staying in that cortex part of our brain during 00:40:37.929 --> 00:40:42.190 these VUCA times, which will be, in my opinion, 00:40:42.269 --> 00:40:44.829 a point of differentiation. Well, and I think 00:40:44.829 --> 00:40:46.949 a lot of what you're saying is resiliency, right? 00:40:48.079 --> 00:40:54.579 It's being resilient. To me, I think being resilient 00:40:54.579 --> 00:40:58.500 is something that happens over time. When you've 00:40:58.500 --> 00:41:00.519 been introduced to certain stresses, this is 00:41:00.519 --> 00:41:02.340 why it's so important to train managers because 00:41:02.340 --> 00:41:05.079 that's what's going to keep them from being bad 00:41:05.079 --> 00:41:09.000 managers. My husband always has this saying when 00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:12.679 he's on stage. He says, you could ask a thousand 00:41:12.679 --> 00:41:14.900 kids, not one of them is going to say, I want 00:41:14.900 --> 00:41:17.739 to be managed. That's right. When I grow up. 00:41:17.739 --> 00:41:20.460 Right. Nobody wants that. But, you know, resilient 00:41:20.460 --> 00:41:23.840 being resilient is something that we earn to 00:41:23.840 --> 00:41:25.639 some degree, like you're saying, through training, 00:41:25.679 --> 00:41:27.880 through practice, through understanding different 00:41:27.880 --> 00:41:32.500 mindsets around adversity. I know in one of your 00:41:32.500 --> 00:41:35.480 in your book, you. one of the takeaways in your 00:41:35.480 --> 00:41:38.500 books is the defense of adversity. So I kind 00:41:38.500 --> 00:41:40.500 of love that we talked a little bit about self 00:41:40.500 --> 00:41:43.559 -defense because I think that's maybe along the 00:41:43.559 --> 00:41:45.699 lines of what you're talking about in this book. 00:41:45.980 --> 00:41:49.519 And, you know, actually, would you elaborate 00:41:49.519 --> 00:41:52.659 on that? I'm real curious. In defense of adversity 00:41:52.659 --> 00:41:55.980 means I'm defending adversity. Adversity is okay. 00:41:56.599 --> 00:41:59.800 It's okay to have. It's brought into our lives 00:41:59.800 --> 00:42:03.039 to help us. Again, grow, transform and evolve. 00:42:03.300 --> 00:42:05.900 I mean, let's take something simplistic like 00:42:05.900 --> 00:42:09.360 lifting weights. Do we gain more muscle from 00:42:09.360 --> 00:42:13.420 curling five pounds or 50 pounds? More resistance 00:42:13.420 --> 00:42:16.480 creates better muscles. Do we build better endurance 00:42:16.480 --> 00:42:20.539 with the wind or against the wind? You know that 00:42:20.539 --> 00:42:24.320 I mean, Mother Nature is teaching us this lesson. 00:42:24.420 --> 00:42:27.219 You know, one of my favorite quotes is. You know, 00:42:27.219 --> 00:42:29.980 I can't even remember. It's a diamond. What's 00:42:29.980 --> 00:42:31.840 a diamond before it's a diamond? It's a piece 00:42:31.840 --> 00:42:35.380 of coal. You know, the only way diamond is through 00:42:35.380 --> 00:42:38.199 friction and pressure. You know, I think Mother 00:42:38.199 --> 00:42:41.079 Nature gives us its lessons in many ways that 00:42:41.079 --> 00:42:44.639 through our adversity is how we become the people 00:42:44.639 --> 00:42:47.500 we were meant to become. So I'm not saying it's 00:42:47.500 --> 00:42:50.039 easy. I'm not saying I rush out and seek difficulties. 00:42:50.280 --> 00:42:53.480 But what I'm saying is two things. One, you can 00:42:53.480 --> 00:42:56.030 be sure adversity is going to happen. I mean, 00:42:56.050 --> 00:42:58.110 let's not, you can hide from it. It is going 00:42:58.110 --> 00:43:01.590 to find you. That's number one. So accept that 00:43:01.590 --> 00:43:03.650 it's a part of life. Number two, acknowledge 00:43:03.650 --> 00:43:08.150 that it is a chance for me to grow or a company 00:43:08.150 --> 00:43:11.110 to grow or to learn a lesson. So if you take 00:43:11.110 --> 00:43:13.789 that attitude, this is important for a couple 00:43:13.789 --> 00:43:16.949 of reasons, especially the acceptance side. Remember 00:43:16.949 --> 00:43:19.150 what I said about the limbic system and the cortex, 00:43:19.349 --> 00:43:21.150 the rational brain versus the emotional brain. 00:43:21.389 --> 00:43:23.989 If I accept that diversity is a part of life, 00:43:24.659 --> 00:43:27.280 There's a higher opportunity for me to stay in 00:43:27.280 --> 00:43:32.039 that cortex versus me not accepting it. If something 00:43:32.039 --> 00:43:35.139 happens, I'm like, oh, Jesus, I'm already putting 00:43:35.139 --> 00:43:39.380 myself into a negative state. Right. It's like, 00:43:39.480 --> 00:43:43.420 OK, here it is. Now, what am I going to do about 00:43:43.420 --> 00:43:47.019 it? I either can fall back on training. I can 00:43:47.019 --> 00:43:50.099 fall back on education. I can fall back on past 00:43:50.099 --> 00:43:54.300 life experiences or. I can say, I'm going to 00:43:54.300 --> 00:43:58.019 learn a lesson from this moving forward. So that's 00:43:58.019 --> 00:44:00.579 all, you know, so, so that's the importance of, 00:44:00.599 --> 00:44:03.360 of accepting the diversity support. Like it, 00:44:03.360 --> 00:44:07.199 it, it transfers that ability to stay in the 00:44:07.199 --> 00:44:10.500 cortex versus immediately, you know, going to 00:44:10.500 --> 00:44:13.340 that. Yeah. When we're thinking about it, this 00:44:13.340 --> 00:44:16.440 is important not to allow yourself for that to 00:44:16.440 --> 00:44:21.250 happen. Because if I get angry, I can't get on 00:44:21.250 --> 00:44:24.329 that unangry like that. I can't all of a sudden 00:44:24.329 --> 00:44:26.869 say, oh, I'm not mad anymore. It may take time. 00:44:27.110 --> 00:44:30.710 I may say the wrong thing. I may make a bad decision. 00:44:31.130 --> 00:44:33.550 You know, same goes with shutting down, freezing 00:44:33.550 --> 00:44:37.369 or hiding from some things. A lot of damage can 00:44:37.369 --> 00:44:40.289 be done in that time frame. And that's why you 00:44:40.289 --> 00:44:43.389 don't want that to happen in the first place. 00:44:43.429 --> 00:44:47.869 You want to keep that mind open and know that. 00:44:48.219 --> 00:44:50.099 And that's why I'm saying training is so important. 00:44:50.199 --> 00:44:51.980 Having a good strategic plan is so important. 00:44:52.260 --> 00:44:56.280 It gives people within an organization a foundation 00:44:56.280 --> 00:45:00.440 to fall back on to make wise decisions. I've 00:45:00.440 --> 00:45:03.579 been trained on this. It's in our policies and 00:45:03.579 --> 00:45:07.260 procedures. It's my KPI. It's what our vision, 00:45:07.300 --> 00:45:09.940 mission, and values said. If we're all falling 00:45:09.940 --> 00:45:12.639 back on these things we've been trained or communicated 00:45:12.639 --> 00:45:15.099 about, we're all going to function on it as a 00:45:15.099 --> 00:45:17.730 well -oiled machine. But if it's not created, 00:45:17.929 --> 00:45:20.170 it's not communicated, it's not taught, it's 00:45:20.170 --> 00:45:22.170 not reinforced, then you're going to have all 00:45:22.170 --> 00:45:24.389 these silos run in a lot of different directions. 00:45:24.809 --> 00:45:27.590 Right. I'm curious, where do you fall on the 00:45:27.590 --> 00:45:33.110 disc? I'm a high, believe it or not, I'm a high 00:45:33.110 --> 00:45:37.289 S with some secondary D. So I'm actually more 00:45:37.289 --> 00:45:40.769 of an introvert with a dominant style. And what's 00:45:40.769 --> 00:45:43.449 interesting. when i talk about this cortex limbic 00:45:43.449 --> 00:45:46.010 system when i was doing the research for my second 00:45:46.010 --> 00:45:48.590 book in defensive adversity and i was connecting 00:45:48.590 --> 00:45:51.630 the dots between the disc styles and those four 00:45:51.630 --> 00:45:54.489 so basically dominant styles are when they're 00:45:54.489 --> 00:45:57.610 in that emotional state not the good state when 00:45:57.610 --> 00:46:00.909 they're in the emotional state the dominant styles 00:46:00.909 --> 00:46:05.389 are fighters influencers are flighters steadiness 00:46:05.389 --> 00:46:08.449 styles are freezers compliance styles are freezer 00:46:08.449 --> 00:46:12.239 fighters And researching this and putting this 00:46:12.239 --> 00:46:16.119 all together really helped me because it spoke 00:46:16.119 --> 00:46:18.960 to me. This is exactly what happens to me when 00:46:18.960 --> 00:46:21.820 I fall in, when I get emotional. I shut down. 00:46:21.940 --> 00:46:25.619 That's my high S, a freezer. I internalize things. 00:46:25.860 --> 00:46:28.639 I don't say anything. I might nod my head like 00:46:28.639 --> 00:46:31.179 everything's okay, but my mind's going 18 ,000 00:46:31.179 --> 00:46:35.960 miles an hour. Then my dominant style kicks in 00:46:35.960 --> 00:46:40.590 and Italian Steve comes out. think about that 00:46:40.590 --> 00:46:43.369 people are like this guy's okay he's calm cool 00:46:43.369 --> 00:46:46.889 collected he seems fine and boom what the hell 00:46:46.889 --> 00:46:52.030 happened to steve i i realize i do this so what 00:46:52.030 --> 00:46:55.360 it's helped me do is learn i've got to communicate 00:46:55.360 --> 00:46:58.920 things that are bothering me or or call it out 00:46:58.920 --> 00:47:01.960 or participate or give my two cents because if 00:47:01.960 --> 00:47:05.360 i don't it's going to fester and that italian 00:47:05.360 --> 00:47:07.920 steve's going to come out so it's helped me and 00:47:07.920 --> 00:47:10.940 i talk about my book understanding better are 00:47:10.940 --> 00:47:13.579 our emotional triggers or triggers and emotional 00:47:13.579 --> 00:47:17.079 responses so what are those situations events 00:47:17.079 --> 00:47:21.760 or people who can set us into a state of freeze 00:47:21.760 --> 00:47:25.840 fight or flight And how do I respond? Am I a 00:47:25.840 --> 00:47:28.059 freezer, fighter, or flighter? So through that 00:47:28.059 --> 00:47:30.420 knowledge, I'm going to be able to better self 00:47:30.420 --> 00:47:32.980 -manage. So hypothetically, let's say I have 00:47:32.980 --> 00:47:35.320 a really difficult customer who drives me nuts. 00:47:35.559 --> 00:47:39.480 I know he or she is a trigger for me, and I can 00:47:39.480 --> 00:47:41.840 mentally prepare for that and not allow that 00:47:41.840 --> 00:47:46.099 to happen. And I can manage that better. So am 00:47:46.099 --> 00:47:50.360 I perfect? No. I still step in my doo -doo. However, 00:47:51.019 --> 00:47:54.380 I don't step in my doo -doo as much, number one. 00:47:54.420 --> 00:47:58.119 Number two, when I do, I'm able to recognize 00:47:58.119 --> 00:48:00.659 it and get out of it faster, if that makes sense. 00:48:00.780 --> 00:48:03.239 I'm able to say I'm shutting down. I'm not speaking 00:48:03.239 --> 00:48:05.880 my mind. You know, I'm able to get out of that 00:48:05.880 --> 00:48:08.280 faster. So through understanding my triggers, 00:48:08.340 --> 00:48:11.619 responses, my disc style, I've been better able 00:48:11.619 --> 00:48:16.039 to stay in the cortex during VUCA -type scenarios. 00:48:17.320 --> 00:48:20.139 Well, you know what? I really, I, I, I love this 00:48:20.139 --> 00:48:23.539 because I think that it's so, you know, when 00:48:23.539 --> 00:48:26.380 you talk about investing in people and your team, 00:48:26.420 --> 00:48:29.239 you know, one of the things that I really, uh, 00:48:29.500 --> 00:48:33.340 I really appreciate about disc is I'm a high 00:48:33.340 --> 00:48:35.340 influencer, which I'm sure you probably could 00:48:35.340 --> 00:48:39.280 have guessed a high influencer, but I'm married 00:48:39.280 --> 00:48:44.630 to a high driver or deep. Yeah. And Not only 00:48:44.630 --> 00:48:48.710 did doing this assessment for my team and the 00:48:48.710 --> 00:48:51.409 people that I work with, and my husband is on 00:48:51.409 --> 00:48:54.239 the team that I work with. you know, it, it made 00:48:54.239 --> 00:48:56.340 everything better in my life. Cause as you said, 00:48:56.420 --> 00:48:58.500 you know, you know what your triggers are, you 00:48:58.500 --> 00:49:00.159 know what, how somebody can trigger you and better 00:49:00.159 --> 00:49:02.199 control of that. But one of the things that I 00:49:02.199 --> 00:49:05.719 loved about it is, and, and I, and, and, and 00:49:05.719 --> 00:49:07.539 I were bumping up on time. Cause I think I could 00:49:07.539 --> 00:49:10.300 talk to you about this stuff all day. Um, is 00:49:10.300 --> 00:49:13.460 that when, when you understand where people are 00:49:13.460 --> 00:49:17.239 at or even understand the different styles. then 00:49:17.239 --> 00:49:20.840 you have a lot more. This is a fantastic tool. 00:49:20.960 --> 00:49:23.659 This gives you so much more understanding of 00:49:23.659 --> 00:49:24.980 the people around you and that you're working 00:49:24.980 --> 00:49:29.380 with. Not only did it teach me how to talk to 00:49:29.380 --> 00:49:32.320 other people, but also being married to a high 00:49:32.320 --> 00:49:37.280 driver, there used to be, when he'd start coming 00:49:37.280 --> 00:49:39.059 in here and cracking the whip and people would 00:49:39.059 --> 00:49:42.179 be like, what's going on? It allowed even the 00:49:42.179 --> 00:49:45.880 people who didn't like that. You know, the stabilizers, 00:49:45.920 --> 00:49:49.460 the S's or even the analyzers, like pretty much 00:49:49.460 --> 00:49:51.500 everybody in all the other quadrants don't probably 00:49:51.500 --> 00:49:54.559 care for that. Right. But it allowed us to even 00:49:54.559 --> 00:49:59.000 accept him. Exactly. Right. And I think it's 00:49:59.000 --> 00:50:01.119 so important. I think there's so much gold in 00:50:01.119 --> 00:50:03.019 what you're offering here and what you're teaching 00:50:03.019 --> 00:50:07.400 us today is that you need these tools. You need 00:50:07.400 --> 00:50:10.119 to understand each other. You need to understand 00:50:10.119 --> 00:50:12.980 where you're going emotionally, mentally, physically, 00:50:13.039 --> 00:50:15.860 because I think sometimes our emotional responses 00:50:15.860 --> 00:50:20.679 show up in all sorts of ways. Right. You're managing 00:50:20.679 --> 00:50:23.179 people. You're going to have hard times. And 00:50:23.179 --> 00:50:25.539 even if you're just dealing with customers and 00:50:25.539 --> 00:50:30.219 guests, that's inevitable. Yep. So understanding 00:50:30.219 --> 00:50:33.320 who you are, how you respond to things and how 00:50:33.320 --> 00:50:37.199 someone might. trigger you is super important. 00:50:37.280 --> 00:50:40.780 It's helped me a ton. Absolutely. That's raising 00:50:40.780 --> 00:50:44.679 your EQ. I talk a lot about EQ too. And three 00:50:44.679 --> 00:50:48.000 facets I talk about is interpersonal skills, 00:50:48.119 --> 00:50:50.699 self -knowledge, interpersonal skills, knowledge 00:50:50.699 --> 00:50:52.679 of those people with whom you're engaging with, 00:50:52.780 --> 00:50:57.099 then situational awareness. It's how I and we 00:50:57.099 --> 00:51:00.579 will respond under various workplace scenarios. 00:51:01.639 --> 00:51:03.699 You know, if I know part of if we're going through 00:51:03.699 --> 00:51:06.139 a change initiative, I'm going if I'm the leader, 00:51:06.199 --> 00:51:09.739 I'm going to know the styles of my team and what 00:51:09.739 --> 00:51:13.000 buttons to push to get them to accept the change 00:51:13.000 --> 00:51:15.940 initiative. You know, even if they don't like 00:51:15.940 --> 00:51:18.460 that. So what we're talking about is also raising 00:51:18.460 --> 00:51:21.840 that emotional intelligence using disk is one 00:51:21.840 --> 00:51:24.039 of those tools. Yeah. And what a great thing 00:51:24.039 --> 00:51:27.800 to give to the people with your team, the people 00:51:27.800 --> 00:51:31.440 who are. out there serving your customers and 00:51:31.440 --> 00:51:34.760 helping you move forward with your mission, whether 00:51:34.760 --> 00:51:37.119 you're an owner, operator, or somebody who's 00:51:37.119 --> 00:51:39.099 just assisting with the business. So thank you 00:51:39.099 --> 00:51:43.019 so much for what you do, because I think humanizing 00:51:43.019 --> 00:51:47.159 the work experience is super important, especially 00:51:47.159 --> 00:51:51.400 in today's world. And even looking at the stress, 00:51:51.599 --> 00:51:54.159 I was fortunate a couple of years ago to get 00:51:54.159 --> 00:51:57.059 to hear from the founder of the Spartan Races. 00:51:57.760 --> 00:52:00.679 And he made a really interesting point that, 00:52:00.679 --> 00:52:03.480 you know, a lot of people today, because everything 00:52:03.480 --> 00:52:05.820 is so easy today. And for being completely real, 00:52:05.860 --> 00:52:07.360 I mean, with AI, we didn't even get to touch 00:52:07.360 --> 00:52:09.840 on that. There were so many things I wanted to 00:52:09.840 --> 00:52:11.820 ask you that we didn't get to talk about today. 00:52:12.019 --> 00:52:15.280 So I got to have you back. We got to do this 00:52:15.280 --> 00:52:17.719 again so we can talk about that. But with AI 00:52:17.719 --> 00:52:20.719 and, you know, you can have something delivered 00:52:20.719 --> 00:52:23.039 in two hours from Amazon with everything being 00:52:23.039 --> 00:52:26.579 so easy. easy one of the things that he talked 00:52:26.579 --> 00:52:29.360 about was inoculating ourselves to stress this 00:52:29.360 --> 00:52:31.480 is why the spartan race exists because there 00:52:31.480 --> 00:52:33.239 are people out there going i have to do hard 00:52:33.239 --> 00:52:37.760 stuff yeah yep i have to go push myself i mean 00:52:37.760 --> 00:52:40.559 i went with i i got in from miami i told you 00:52:40.559 --> 00:52:44.280 earlier before the show at i got in at 2 a .m 00:52:44.280 --> 00:52:47.760 i had an appointment with my trainer and nine 00:52:47.760 --> 00:52:49.719 o 'clock this morning. And he's like, what are 00:52:49.719 --> 00:52:51.860 you doing here? And I'm like, I'm committed to 00:52:51.860 --> 00:52:56.659 this and it's hard. And, you know, but it's important 00:52:56.659 --> 00:52:58.300 that we do hard stuff. Cause I'm going to be 00:52:58.300 --> 00:53:00.539 honest every morning I get up and I go lift weights. 00:53:00.579 --> 00:53:02.820 There's nothing that can come through my door. 00:53:02.880 --> 00:53:06.599 That's as difficult. Yeah. Right. And so it is 00:53:06.599 --> 00:53:08.480 super important that we understand these concepts 00:53:08.480 --> 00:53:10.579 and, and I appreciate what you you're bringing 00:53:10.579 --> 00:53:13.059 to the show today and your insights and knowledge. 00:53:13.099 --> 00:53:15.619 So thank you for being here. No, thank you. That's 00:53:15.619 --> 00:53:16.960 part, you know, going back to that, it's part 00:53:16.960 --> 00:53:19.079 of my Muay Thai practice. If I showed people 00:53:19.079 --> 00:53:22.139 my shins now, they'd think I was nuts. But, you 00:53:22.139 --> 00:53:24.820 know, I like being put in those uncomfortable 00:53:24.820 --> 00:53:27.380 positions because if I can stay comfortable, 00:53:27.519 --> 00:53:30.199 live, and that's my new word now. I have a bunch 00:53:30.199 --> 00:53:33.260 of shirts. Remember this, Sabai Sabai. It's S 00:53:33.260 --> 00:53:37.300 -A -B -A -I, S -A -B -A -I. And it means basically 00:53:37.300 --> 00:53:40.320 relax, relax. So be in that, even though you're 00:53:40.320 --> 00:53:44.320 in all this turmoil in a kickboxing match. How 00:53:44.320 --> 00:53:46.980 can you stay calm? And when you stay calm, your 00:53:46.980 --> 00:53:49.860 brain's functioning on all cylinders. You're 00:53:49.860 --> 00:53:51.500 going to be able to see how to counter and do 00:53:51.500 --> 00:53:54.179 all these things. And that translates into your 00:53:54.179 --> 00:53:56.559 personal and professional life as well, too, 00:53:56.599 --> 00:53:58.719 in the workplace. You know, when you're dealing 00:53:58.719 --> 00:54:00.579 with these stress -filled situations, if you 00:54:00.579 --> 00:54:04.309 can stay calm, stay calm in that workplace. Again, 00:54:04.449 --> 00:54:08.230 you can solve problems. You can be creative. 00:54:08.409 --> 00:54:11.510 You can say the right things. You know, it is 00:54:11.510 --> 00:54:14.210 a point of differentiation in this world today. 00:54:14.289 --> 00:54:16.789 I truly believe that. Yeah, well, I believe it 00:54:16.789 --> 00:54:19.550 too. And, you know, I'm a huge believer that 00:54:19.550 --> 00:54:23.289 comfort is a dream killer, right? You got to 00:54:23.289 --> 00:54:25.269 get uncomfortable sometimes, especially if you 00:54:25.269 --> 00:54:28.210 want to be great. So, you know, get out there 00:54:28.210 --> 00:54:32.139 and do hard things like you said. And it's better 00:54:32.139 --> 00:54:34.219 if we do it to ourselves, right? You're going 00:54:34.219 --> 00:54:35.900 and getting kicked in the shins. I'm going and 00:54:35.900 --> 00:54:38.960 getting my butt kicked by my trainer, you know, 00:54:38.960 --> 00:54:40.900 who I'm afraid of. So I make sure to show up 00:54:40.900 --> 00:54:44.940 every day and check in with my cardio. You know, 00:54:45.019 --> 00:54:48.039 I don't mess around, right? Because it's hard. 00:54:48.340 --> 00:54:52.500 So thank you for helping us understand how hard 00:54:52.500 --> 00:54:57.539 is an important part of. Being open to doing 00:54:57.539 --> 00:54:59.079 the things that are hard is an important part 00:54:59.079 --> 00:55:00.800 of what we do, and training your team is certainly 00:55:00.800 --> 00:55:05.260 hard. But people like you exist, and you can 00:55:05.260 --> 00:55:08.159 help guide and companies navigate through that. 00:55:08.260 --> 00:55:11.579 So before I let you go, if somebody is interested 00:55:11.579 --> 00:55:16.219 in doing this with you or contacting you or has 00:55:16.219 --> 00:55:17.960 questions about what we talked about today, what's 00:55:17.960 --> 00:55:20.199 the best way for them to get a hold of you? Yeah, 00:55:20.219 --> 00:55:22.820 shoot me an email or give me a call. My cell 00:55:22.820 --> 00:55:28.349 phone is 813 -777. My email address is real simple, 00:55:28.510 --> 00:55:32.389 steve at symbol, mylastname .com. That's probably 00:55:32.389 --> 00:55:34.449 not so easy. You can see it on the screen though, 00:55:34.489 --> 00:55:39.349 but steve at gavatorta .com. I'd also urge people 00:55:39.349 --> 00:55:42.949 to Google me. I have a ton of information out 00:55:42.949 --> 00:55:44.449 there, good content. If you want to see some 00:55:44.449 --> 00:55:46.869 good stuff on YouTube, a lot of the stuff we 00:55:46.869 --> 00:55:49.630 talked about today, you can get some free stuff 00:55:49.630 --> 00:55:52.940 up there on YouTube. Google me. You can see me 00:55:52.940 --> 00:55:56.320 on some TV events, other podcasts, webinars and 00:55:56.320 --> 00:55:59.739 all that good stuff. And on TV, actually. And, 00:55:59.940 --> 00:56:02.780 you know, there's and get my books on Amazon 00:56:02.780 --> 00:56:07.079 to shameless plug. You'll find anything you want 00:56:07.079 --> 00:56:09.420 about me and find a way to reach me as well, 00:56:09.460 --> 00:56:11.599 too. But I love what I do. I'll tell people I 00:56:11.599 --> 00:56:13.920 don't work anymore because I love what I do. 00:56:14.320 --> 00:56:17.059 So if anyone if anyone has any questions on this, 00:56:17.059 --> 00:56:20.139 feel free to reach out or I'd be happy to chat. 00:56:20.679 --> 00:56:22.420 Hey, well, thank you for being here, Steve. I 00:56:22.420 --> 00:56:25.500 certainly appreciate you. Thanks for the invite. 00:56:25.679 --> 00:56:28.579 I appreciate it. Of course. We'll see you soon. 00:56:28.679 --> 00:56:34.659 Okay. Bye -bye. Bye. Well, you know, if you guys 00:56:34.659 --> 00:56:36.920 are watching this show, I've got to say, this 00:56:36.920 --> 00:56:39.860 is one of my favorite things to talk about because 00:56:39.860 --> 00:56:44.960 I think strategic resilience. You know, we didn't 00:56:44.960 --> 00:56:47.199 get to cover all. I have so many questions for 00:56:47.199 --> 00:56:50.019 Steve. So I always say if that if that happens 00:56:50.019 --> 00:56:51.539 during a show where I don't get all my questions 00:56:51.539 --> 00:56:54.099 answered, that's just a reminder that this person 00:56:54.099 --> 00:56:56.780 has to come back because I'm sure like me, you 00:56:56.780 --> 00:56:59.579 probably have more questions and things for Steve 00:56:59.579 --> 00:57:02.460 that would give you insights that will help you 00:57:02.460 --> 00:57:05.639 be better at what you're doing. And if you're 00:57:05.639 --> 00:57:07.980 watching this show, I want to thank you today 00:57:07.980 --> 00:57:11.900 for one, what you're doing to invest in yourself. 00:57:12.440 --> 00:57:16.079 by learning more about what you do, where you've 00:57:16.079 --> 00:57:19.139 got to go, the things that you can, you can gain 00:57:19.139 --> 00:57:22.440 from having these tools and the people out there 00:57:22.440 --> 00:57:25.300 who can help you. I love hosting this show because 00:57:25.300 --> 00:57:28.219 I get to meet people like Steve. I get to learn 00:57:28.219 --> 00:57:31.280 from people like Steve and I, I know I'm getting 00:57:31.280 --> 00:57:34.320 better and better every single time. So I want 00:57:34.320 --> 00:57:36.840 to hear from you in the chat. If you're watching 00:57:36.840 --> 00:57:39.400 this on replay, hashtag replay net, let us know 00:57:39.400 --> 00:57:43.219 that you were here. If you're on, uh one of the 00:57:43.219 --> 00:57:47.179 podcast channels listening to us please repost 00:57:47.179 --> 00:57:51.119 this let other people know that there's information 00:57:51.119 --> 00:57:53.559 out there like this and you're just investing 00:57:53.559 --> 00:57:55.320 a little bit of your time listening to a show 00:57:55.320 --> 00:57:58.739 like this and getting yourself knowledge and 00:57:58.739 --> 00:58:01.900 tools to be better at what you do and i really 00:58:01.900 --> 00:58:04.619 really appreciate steve coming on the show thank 00:58:04.619 --> 00:58:09.460 you to everybody who joined us and A quick last 00:58:09.460 --> 00:58:14.659 shameless plug for our sponsor, GateMaster Technology, 00:58:15.219 --> 00:58:19.239 your trusted name in attraction management software. 00:58:19.820 --> 00:58:24.619 And don't forget, they've got their repetitive, 00:58:24.860 --> 00:58:28.699 sorry, competitive. I was going to say repetitive, 00:58:28.920 --> 00:58:32.659 but this is me getting tongue -tied. We've got 00:58:32.659 --> 00:58:36.230 our repetitive. Competitive replacement program. 00:58:36.650 --> 00:58:41.650 So if you've got a clunky, chunky system that's 00:58:41.650 --> 00:58:44.369 not performing for you, that's creating frustration 00:58:44.369 --> 00:58:46.510 for your team and your guests. And listen, guys, 00:58:46.630 --> 00:58:53.409 tool fatigue is real. When we help attractions, 00:58:53.710 --> 00:58:56.369 we usually replace anywhere between three and 00:58:56.369 --> 00:58:58.489 six systems that your team is having to learn 00:58:58.489 --> 00:59:01.329 and manage. And I'm pretty sure you're probably 00:59:01.329 --> 00:59:03.880 putting them into fight or flight. When they 00:59:03.880 --> 00:59:05.800 got to deal with problems they don't understand 00:59:05.800 --> 00:59:09.420 or things they don't know how to deal with simply 00:59:09.420 --> 00:59:11.500 because the technology is not doing what it was 00:59:11.500 --> 00:59:13.980 meant to do for you. You guys have a lot of hard 00:59:13.980 --> 00:59:16.719 work ahead of you when you are running these 00:59:16.719 --> 00:59:20.000 attractions. And at GateMaster Technology, we 00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:23.260 know how hard you work and we work with you. 00:59:23.440 --> 00:59:27.320 Our software works as hard as you do. So please 00:59:27.320 --> 00:59:31.460 visit us, gatemaster .info. forward slash replacement 00:59:31.460 --> 00:59:35.260 for your free competitive replacement discovery 00:59:35.260 --> 00:59:38.000 call and quote, we're going to meet or beat whatever 00:59:38.000 --> 00:59:41.599 you're paying right now. So that's my offer to 00:59:41.599 --> 00:59:45.940 you. This is exclusive to this show. Head over 00:59:45.940 --> 00:59:49.000 to gate master .info forward slash replacement. 00:59:49.980 --> 00:59:52.440 And I'm your host at the live with Sandra show. 00:59:52.559 --> 00:59:55.019 Thank you for being here with me today. Thank 00:59:55.019 --> 00:59:56.539 you for listening. Thank you to the team who 00:59:56.539 --> 00:59:58.679 puts all of this together. Thank you to the audience 00:59:58.679 --> 01:00:01.559 that makes this possible for your support and 01:00:01.559 --> 01:00:04.360 to all of our amazing guests like Steve, who 01:00:04.360 --> 01:00:07.380 keeps showing up and sharing just gold with all 01:00:07.380 --> 01:00:10.260 of you. We'll see you guys on the next live with 01:00:10.260 --> 01:00:10.460 Sandra.