Podcasts about c12 group

Are you spending time every day with God?In this episode, Jeff, Jeff, and Jay discuss: Learning the perils of debt early.Succeeding in real estate without debt leverage.Living intentionally.Pray first, do second.  Key Takeaways: Grow slowly, invest in portfolios, and work with partners - these are some ways you can continue to grow your business using Biblical principles to stay out of debt.Walk by faith, not by sight.Pick the one or two things you feel God wants you to do, complete those, and then you can pick something else. But pick something and implement that to glorify God. If you're going to give anyway, give before tax and you can give more.  "Start somewhere, even if it's small." —  Jay Fechtel Episode References: Business by the Book by Larry Burkett: amazon.com/Business-Book-Complete-Principles-Workplace/dp/0785287973C12: https://www.joinc12.com/Lead with Prayer by Ryan Skoog, Peter Greer, and Cameron Doolittle: https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Prayer-Spiritual-World-Changing-Leaders-ebook/dp/B0C3ZR4HR5NCF: https://www.ncfgiving.com/ About Jay Fechtel: Jay Fechtel and his wife, Terri, have shared 35 years of marriage and are grateful parents of four children and three grandchildren. Jay is committed to integrating his faith with his professional life, focusing on practicing business as a ministry. He's also highly motivated to care for those who can't care for themselves, innovate in church practices/disciple-making, and advocate for religious and other freedoms. With over 35 years of experience in entrepreneurial business development and ownership, Jay has made significant contributions to the design, construction, real estate, and energy efficiency industries. He began his career as a CPA in the public accounting field before founding a design-build firm that specializes in custom residential and light commercial construction. His firm is renowned for its innovative designs and energy-efficient technologies, earning over 25 national and regional architectural and environmental design awards. Jay has also developed several residential and commercial real estate projects and is the founder and CEO of Olive Tree Energy, which developed the ZeroEnergy heat recovery water heating system. Jay is a graduate of Washington and Lee University and has served on several boards, including the National Christian Foundation Tampa Bay, the Pocket Testament League, and Abe Brown Ministries. Currently, he and Terri serve as leaders of 1 Body Church, part of a church planting and disciple-making movement in the U.S. and overseas. Jay also serves as a board member of The C12 Group, which currently equips over 4,300 Christian business owners and executives globally to build great businesses with the greater purpose of advancing the gospel in the marketplace. Connect with Jay Fechtel:Website: https://thefechtelcompany.com/Website: https://olivetreeenergy.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-fechtel-53b471a   Connect with Jeff Thomas: Website: https://www.arkosglobal.com/Podcast: https://www.generousbusinessowner.com/Book: https://www.arkosglobal.com/trading-upEmail: jeff.thomas@arkosglobal.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/ArkosGlobalAdv Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arkosglobal/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arkosglobaladvisorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/arkosglobaladvisors/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLUYpPwkHH7JrP6PrbHeBxw

Join Darryl Lyons as he explores the intersection of faith and finance, offering practical insights and strategies for aligning your investments with biblical principles. Darryl Lyons is one of PAX Financials' three founders and current CEO. His commitment to ongoing professional development is exemplified by his membership in relevant professional groups, such as the National Federation of Independent Business Owners (NFIB), C12 Group, Dave Ramsey Investment Advisory Council, and Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management Advisory Council. Before PAX, Darryl was on track for a future on Wall Street, but his love for Texas and dreams of a more rewarding career led him to create PAX Financial instead. Influenced both by an upbringing without privileges and close association with associates whose wealth failed to make them happier, Darryl's mission is both to aid clients in growing their wealth and guide clients toward aligning their wealth with their values and goals. In his latest book, "Biblical Responsible Investing," Darryl dives into how faith and finance intersect. He talks about aligning investments with biblical principles, like integrity and stewardship. Drawing from his time as CEO of PAX Financial, Lyons gives practical advice for investors who want to make a positive impact while growing their wealth. This book is a guide for anyone who wants to connect their faith with their financial decisions, showing them how to do Biblical Responsible Investing. Connect with Darryl Lyons on LinkedIn | PAX Financial Group#faithbasedinvesting #christianfinancial advice #behavioralfinance

Todd Stewart is President of Gulf Winds International. He graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a B.S. in Marketing and immediately joined Gulf Winds International in 1996. Beginning as a fork-lift operator, he has served within or led every department within the company, leading to his current position of President. Todd is primarily responsible for working with key stakeholders to establish and maintain a culture that reflects the mission, values and overall strategic "world class" vision for the organization. Through being an active C12 Group member, Todd Stewart continues to learn how Gulf Winds International is here to serve a greater purpose and holds strongly to the biblical servant leadership model that empowers team members to grow personally, professionally and spiritually. He is passionate about how the gospel of Christ can restore hope in local and global communities. In 2017, this led Todd to found More Than The Move Foundation which exists to aid life-changing non-profits such as International Cooperating Ministries, Steiger International and Ground Wire via corporate generosity, corporate volunteerism and corporate advocacy. Gulf Winds International, Inc. is a second-generation family-owned business that was founded in April 1996 near Port Houston. With a mission to glorify God by providing world-class logistics services through continual investment in people, clients, community and the world Gulf Winds continues to have a clear direction and a broad horizon. Two things that separate Gulf Winds from other logistics companies is its authentic core values and common sense business strategy. Driven by Values Gulf Winds is driven by values and those values are intentionally and continually instilled in every employee in the company.

In this episode Brian sits down with guest Doug Fincannon from C12 Group to talk about how to make your business better today, specifically focusing on strategic operating systems.The opinions on this podcast are Mark and Brian's and not in any way a reflection of RE/MAX or anyone else in the industry.Doug's Contact InformationPhone: 336.212.1322Email: doug.fincannon@c12forums.comBook LinksTraction (Get a Grip On Your Business) - https://a.co/d/0G8iFlZScaling Up (How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't) - https://a.co/d/8cYJwVPBusiness Model Generation (A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers) - https://a.co/d/dIkAWhUSocial Media and Contact InformationLink Tree:  https://linktr.ee/raisingrealestatestandards

Darryl Lyons is one of PAX Financial's three founders and current CEO. PAX Financial Group, is a full-service approach to our client's needs, including financial assessments to see their financial standing, retirement planning, investment management, and advice on insurance and personal finance questions. They believe in giving back to the community, while also incorporating Christian values throughout their organization. Darryl has membership in professional groups, such as the National Federation of Independent Business Owners (NFIB), C12 Group, Dave Ramsey Investment Advisory Council, and Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management Advisory Council. Darryl's mission is both to aid clients in growing their wealth and guide clients toward aligning their wealth with their values and goals. He has lobbied in DC for small business reform, chaired a board that redeveloped part of San Antonio, published books and articles, and co-founded a non-profit in Moldova. His faith and church memberships are integral to his personal and professional development. He carves out time to join church committees, including financial committees and international ministry committees, while also facilitating a Bible study that helps men be better husbands and fathers. Our Biblical discuussion is to Honor God with our Finances. Phone: (210) 881-5700 https://www.linkedin.com/company/pax-fg-llc/ https://paxfinancialgroup.com/  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Possibly the most pernicious and evil consequence of the COVID tyranny has been how our kids' educations have been destroyed. From 2019 to 2022 scores across the board plummeted in the largest and fastest way ever recorded. Eight-grade math scores plummeted a whopping 8 points on average as remote learning and increasingly unsafe public school environments throttle the learning process.  Friends of this channel will know I spent decades in education, specifically Classical Christian Education, because long before COVID and when wokeness was still relegated to University campuses I, like many Christians and Patriots around the country, realized that public education was rotten and was headed in a dangerous direction. Of course, we have talked to Doug Wilson many times on this channel who has led a revival of private classical schools across the country that many families are turning to. Scores of families are also turning to homeschooling, specifically with classical Christian curriculums.  I have the pleasure of being joined today by Robert Bortins, CEO of Classical Conversations which is the largest Classical Christian homeschooling curriculum in the world! I know many families that have used classical conversations for every step of their kids' education and it is great.  Robert has become a thought leader on a biblical worldview in education and culture and is the host of a successful podcast called Refining Rhetoric. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Gutenberg College, the Classical Learning Test, and NAV Sevens Rugby. He is also a member of C12 Group, the largest professional development network of Christian CEOs and executives. Under Robert's leadership, Classical Conversations has been named a Certified Best Christian Workplace by BCW for five years in a row.    Resources: Escape woke public schools and give your child a truly amazing education HERE: https://classicalconversations.com/ Don't be unprepared for a cyber attack, and take back your privacy with Sekur! Try it today with NO Big Tech Hosting at https://drstevesekur.com/ Don't let Big Tech WIN by staying connected to Dr Steve and joining the movement to reclaim our freedoms at: https://join.turleytalks.com/insiders-club=podcast   *The content presented by our partners may contain affiliate links. When you click and shop the links, Turley Talks may receive a small commission.* #sponsored" Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode.  If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and/or leave a review. Make sure to FOLLOW me on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/DrTurleyTalks BOLDLY stand up for TRUTH in Turley Merch! Browse our new designs right now at: https://store.turleytalks.com/ Do you want to be a part of the podcast and be our sponsor? Click here to partner with us and defy liberal culture! https://advertising.turleytalks.com/sponsorship If you want to get lots of articles on conservative trends, sign up for the 'New Conservative Age Rising' Email Alerts: https://turleytalks.com/subscribe/. 

Episode Description: Episode Description:  How do you foster a Biblical Worldview? From its humble beginnings in a basement to its widespread domestic and international presence and influence, Classical Conversations (CC) has embodied this call to know God and make him known within the homeschooling community through its Biblical worldview curriculum. Our guest this week is the CEO of CC, Robert Bortins. Robert, who was one of the initial 11 students in his parent's basement that embarked on this journey, joins Bobby to discuss the heart, mission, and growth of the homeschooling movement that is CC. Robert believes that “all subjects reveal God's glory,” and through the resources and curriculum that CC offers, parents are equipped to help their children grow in God's truth and to grow a community of like-minded Christ followers.   In this week's episode, Robert and Bobby will discuss the following:   What it looks like to know God and make him known through homeschooling. Living out our faith in contemporary society. The intersection of our faith and the subjects that the students will learn. The importance of who we interact with and how we interact with them on a daily basis. Establishing and following through with good habits will help us meet our goals. Fostering an organizational culture that embodies the mission and lives out its values. Embracing and living out a servant lifestyle.   STOP losing your best people today, with this FREE GUIDE (a $250 value)! >>https://values-driven-leadership-llc.ck.page/8cbcb90c87   Find more great tools and resources with the Lead2Grow Academy Subscription. Learn more here ➝ www.lead2growacademy.com       ____________________________________________________________ About the guest: Robert Bortins is the CEO of Classical Conversations®. The company has grown from supporting homeschoolers in about 40 states to supporting homeschoolers in over 50 countries and has become the world's largest classical homeschooling organization under his guidance.   Robert is on the academic board of the Classical Learning test and on Gutenberg College's board of advisors. He is also a member of C12 Group, the largest professional development network of Christian CEOs and executives.   Under Robert's leadership, Classical Conversations has been named a Certified Best Christian Workplace by BCWI for five years and he has recently launched his own Podcast, Refining Rhetoric.   About the host: Following a successful career as CEO, Bobby sold his business to a publicly-traded company.  In what he calls his "second half of life", Bobby seeks to pour Biblically-based principles into growth-minded business, church, and non-profit leaders.   Through Values-Driven Leadership, Bobby serves as an Executive Coach and Training Consultant for organizations.  He shares many of his principles and practices through a weekly blog, the True North Leader podcast, and through three books he has authored:   Principled Profits: Outward Success Is an Inside Job True North Business: A Leader's Guide to Extraordinary Growth and Impact The Freedom Paradox: Is Unbridled Freedom Dividing America?   Find out more at valuesdrivenculture.com

In moments of crisis, should Christian leaders take the easy path to revenue or trust God and lean on biblical values?  Today, on True North Leader, guest George Green IV discusses establishing excellence and integrity across his Christian non-profit, from big decisions to culture. George is a licensed professional engineer and the Chief Executive Officer and President of Water Mission. Since 2013, in this role, he has led the development and implementation of comprehensive and sustainable safe water projects in Afghanistan, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and many other nations. George's family said no when a big tech company offered a donation that would keep the ministry solvent. Why? Because this tech giant said Water Mission needed to keep their faith and clean water projects separate - after all, they told him, "Money is in corporate America." Tune in to hear how God came through and rewarded Water Mission for sticking to its values when times were tough.   About the guest: As the Chief Executive Officer and President, George Greene IV, PE, works with the Board of Directors to set and direct strategy. He is responsible for overseeing the financial health of the organization and ensuring all projects are executed with excellence and integrity. Mr. Greene is also responsible for developing key strategic partnerships with other international organizations. Under his leadership, the ministry has experienced an average annual growth rate of more than 20 percent for the last seven years. Mr. Greene joined Water Mission at its founding in 2001 as a project engineer. He transitioned to vice president of international programs in 2010. In this role, he led the development and implementation of comprehensive and sustainable safe water projects in Afghanistan, Belize, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan, Peru, Sri Lanka, and Uganda. He became president and chief operating officer in 2013. A licensed professional engineer in South Carolina, Mr. Greene graduated from Clemson University with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. In 2011, he completed Harvard Business School's Program for Leadership Development, followed by a Work Study Program with Water Mission's Strategic Partner Grundfos at their corporate headquarters in Bjerringbro, Denmark. He is an active member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, St. Andrews Anglican Church, and the C12 Group, a network of Christian executives working together to integrate faith and business.     About the host: Following a successful career as CEO, Bobby sold his business to a publicly-traded company.  In what he calls his "second half of life", Bobby seeks to pour Biblically-based principles into growth-minded business, church, and non-profit leaders. Through Values-Driven Leadership, Bobby serves as an Executive Coach and Training Consultant for organizations.  He shares many of his principles and practices through a weekly blog, the True North Leader podcast, and through three books he has authored:   Principled Profits: Outward Success Is an Inside Job,  True North Business: A Leader's Guide to Extraordinary Growth and Impact, and The Freedom Paradox: Is Unbridled Freedom Dividing America?

Register for the Two hour Live Online Lesson Planning Masterclass Below    October 15th from 10am to 12pm PST for only $25!!  Click link to Register  Intro  CEO of Classical Conversations is a job that Robert Bortins was born to do…literally.  Leigh Bortins dissatisfied with the education options she found as a new mom, decided first to homeschool her four sons, and then decided to develop her own curriculum, and Robert, her oldest son, was her first pupil.  Robert has a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Clemson University in 2006. After graduating, he worked as a management trainee for UPS and as a plant engineer for Easy Gardener, a Jobes company. In 2011 he returned to the family business, Classical Conversations, Inc., to develop a marketing program. He was then appointed CEO of the family-owned company in 2012. In the years since Robert Bortins became CEO of Classical Conversations, the company has grown by 300 percent and has become the world's largest classical homeschooling organization.  Robert is a member of the board of directors of Homeschool Now USA, the Carolinas Rugby Union and the Clemson University Rugby Foundation Board. He is also a member of C12 Group, the largest professional development network of Christian CEOs and executives. Under Robert's leadership, Classical Conversations has been named a Certified Best Christian Workplace by BCWI for four years in a row.   Very Powerful, Convicting and Thought Provoking Takeaways  You do not need to be a trained educator to teach your children; sometimes being trained is a hinderance since homeschooling is not schooling at home but a way of life, and unlearning those habits can be hard.   When parents say they cannot be around their children all day is a sign of a deeper that parents do not want to address. Not wanting to be around your kid also means you did not raise them in way that you would want to be around them.  Education is to prepare you to engage in life and with those around you.  Homeschooling allows your teenager to mature in the areas that are important and will benefit them and their future society.   Call to Action  Resources: https://members.classicalconversations.com/free-learning-center  Books: https://classicalconversationsbooks.com/  Social Media Links  Website: https://classicalconversations.com/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/classicalconversations  Instagram: Look up classical conversations according to your state.  Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClassicalConv  What is Next!  Thank you for supporting this show by listening and sharing with friends! If you like this podcast please rate and write a review of how this show has impacted or helped you!   Great ratings will accelerate the show's visibility to the nation so others can learn more about homeschool and find quality curriculum and the potentially join the homeschool community thus change the face of education forever!!   Who would have thought that we could change the education world with a click and a share!  Also if you would like to hear more about any specific educational topic please email me at realedtalk@gmail.com I would love to support your families educational needs in all areas!!   Bex Buzzie  The Homeschool Advantage Podcast    

Building a great business for a greater purpose with Buck Jacobs. In this episode of Winning Through Culture, Tim Flanagan is joined by Buck Jacobs, founder of C12 Group, LLC. Tim and Buck provide Winning Through Culture listeners with an honest and in-depth look at what it takes to truly align your business culture with… The post Sharing the Message By Living the Message with C12 Founder, Buck Jacobs appeared first on Winning Through Culture.

Entrevista com Pierre Peresin da C12 Group e apresentador do programa Vida e Negócio Siga o nosso podcast no seu aplicativo de streaming para receber as nossas atualizações. Todos nossos links estão aqui: https://linktr.ee/empreendendonoreino

Let me introduce you to Darryl Lyons. His mother had him when she was 16 and he grew up in a trailer park. He is now the founder and CEO of a successful financial services firm in San Antonio Texas. Today we talk about his inspiring journey to success and what he's learned along the way. We cover, faith, family, finances, the enneagram and how to have the right mindset as we face a potential recession. Darryl is a happily married father of 4 who is committed to continuous self improvement. Enjoy the conversation! If you're searching for the right coach for you, schedule a call with Michael by emailing him here: Michael@mcgreevyleadership.com DARRYL'S PERSONAL BIO Darryl Lyons is one of PAX Financial's three founders and current CEO. His commitment to ongoing professional development is exemplified by his membership in relevant professional groups, such as the National Federation of Independent Business Owners (NFIB), C12 Group, Dave Ramsey Investment Advisory Council, and Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management Advisory Council. Before PAX, Darryl was on track for a future on Wall Street, but his love for Texas and dreams of a more rewarding career led him to create PAX Financial instead. Influenced both by an upbringing without privileges and close association with associates whose wealth failed to make them happier, Darryl's mission is both to aid clients in growing their wealth and guide clients toward aligning their wealth with their values and goals. In his time outside of PAX, Darryl has lobbied in DC for small business reform, chaired a board that redeveloped part of San Antonio, published books and articles, and co-founded a non-profit in Moldova. His faith and church memberships are integral to his personal and professional development. He carves out time to join church committees, including financial committees and international ministry committees, while also facilitating a Bible study that helps men be better husbands and fathers. Darryl's ambition is to create a legacy within people whose lives have been bettered via contact with him. Darryl's Forbes Articles: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/people/darryllyons1/?sh=3f9d4cad3c3a Stay connected to us daily on Instagram @thebusinessoflivin To contact Michael directly, send an email to michael@thebusinessoflivin.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-mcgreevy92/message

Does your organization have strong and deep leadership talent? Well today, we talk about how to develop leaders with character based on an environment of feedback and accountability. As you grow your organization, how are you investing in the people who will carry out the mission that God has given you? Today we will talk about investing in leaders who are committed to following Jesus in their businesses. The principles of leadership development and Christian values apply whether you are leading in a Christian ministry or a marketplace business. In both contexts, we are called to steward the people we lead and fulfill the vision God has given us.   I'm delighted to welcome Mike Sharrow, President, and CEO of The C12 Group. Mike has had a fruitful career in a variety of settings, including leadership in health care, consulting, and nonprofits before focusing on growing a local C12 practice in Texas, and then taking on the leadership of The C12 Group.   Find full show notes here: https://bit.ly/s7e15mikesharrow Share the love. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate it on Apple Podcasts and write a brief review. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-flourishing-culture-podcast/id1060724960?mt=2   By doing so, you will help spread our podcast to more listeners, and thereby help more Christian workplaces learn to build flourishing cultures. Follow our Host, Al Lopus, on Twitter https://twitter.com/allopus  Follow our Host, Al Lopus, on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/allopus/Email our host at info@bcwinstitute.org 

Your host, Eric Dunavant, with Joe Petersen of C12 Group. C12 helps CEOs and executives calibrate the entirety of their businesses through its signature 5-Point Alignment Matrix: continually evaluating and aligning growth strategies, financial stewardship, cultural development, and operations. To learn more about Joe's work, visit https://www.joinc12.com/ (https://www.joinc12.com/) If you'd like to be a guest on Redefining Success: The Kingdom Builders Spotlight, click https://go.ericldunavant.com/podcast-guest (HERE)

“The most important business process is identifying Who is not your client!” This is what our today's guest, Darryl has to say.In this episode of Raising The Bar Podcast, Allison talks with Darryl Lyons. He is the founder and CEO of PAX Financial Group, LLC, Author, Forbes council member.Darryl Lyons is one of PAX Financial's three founders and current CEO. His commitment to ongoing professional development is exemplified by his membership in relevant professional groups, such as the National Federation of Independent Business Owners (NFIB), C12 Group, Dave Ramsey Investment Advisory Council, and Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management Advisory Council.Before PAX, Darryl was on track for a future on Wall Street, but his love for Texas and dreams of a more rewarding career led him to create PAX Financial instead. Influenced both by an upbringing without privileges and close association with associates whose wealth failed to make them happier, Darryl's mission is both to aid clients in growing their wealth and guide clients toward aligning their wealth with their values and goals.In his time outside of PAX, Darryl has lobbied in DC for small business reform, chaired a board that redeveloped part of San Antonio, published books and articles, and co-founded a non-profit in Moldova. His faith and church memberships are integral to both his personal and professional development. He carves out time to join church committees, including financial committees and international ministry committees, while also facilitating a Bible study that helps men to be better husbands and fathers.Darryl's ambition is to create a legacy that exists within people whose lives have been bettered via contact with him.Are you ready to Raise the Bar?Make sure to take away the notes!Conversation Highlights:[00:58] How does Darryl Lyons identify new customers?● The most important process of business is identifying Who is not your client![03:33] What are the challenges in financial services?[06:27] Definition of Retirement is different for everyone.[07:44] What type of financial process does Darryl provide?● What are people's priorities?[11:45] Darryl's "Family with Special Needs children" policy?[14:30] The Best Financial Advice…[15:30] Anxiety and stress are huge factors at the workplace![16:55] Darryl is a James Clear fan![20:44] The tool you need to build an employee engagement strategy that works.[21:15] What are the books written by Darryl Lyons?[22:54] Darryl's experience as a Forbes Council Member.[24:35] Takeaway from Today's EpisodeMemorable Quotes:“Business is mutually profitable.""Anxiety is the key if you are dealing with society day by day.""Acknowledging yourself is a great key to dealing with anxiety."Special Reminder:Thanks for checking out the show. Be sure to subscribe and leave a review.If you have an idea or topic for the show, or maybe you want to be on the show, visit us at https://raisingthebar.live.Reach out to Darryl Lyons:● LinkedIn● https://paxfinancialgroup.comResources:PAX Financial Group, LLC● LinkedIn● Facebook● TwitterDarryl's Podcast: Retire in Texas:● Apple Podcast● Google Podcast● SpotifyYouTube CharitableVideo: PAX 2021 Giving ChallengeBooks:● 18 to 80: A Simple and Practical Guide to Money and Retirement for All Ages● The Grand Money Chasm● Small Business Big PressureDarryl's Latest Articles:● ForbesTools:● TinyPollConnect with Allison:YouTube: AltiqeLinkedIn: Allison De PaoliWebsite: https://altiqe.comPlease Email her at clientcare@altiqe.comAvailable on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and other major podcasting platforms.

“The most important business process is identifying Who is not your client!” This is what our today's guest, Darryl has to say. In this episode of Raising The Bar Podcast, Allison talks with Darryl Lyons. He is the founder and CEO of PAX Financial Group, LLC, Author, Forbes council member. Darryl Lyons is one of PAX Financial's three founders and current CEO. His commitment to ongoing professional development is exemplified by his membership in relevant professional groups, such as the National Federation of Independent Business Owners (NFIB), C12 Group, Dave Ramsey Investment Advisory Council, and Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management Advisory Council. Before PAX, Darryl was on track for a future on Wall Street, but his love for Texas and dreams of a more rewarding career led him to create PAX Financial instead. Influenced both by an upbringing without privileges and close association with associates whose wealth failed to make them happier, Darryl's mission is both to aid clients in growing their wealth and guide clients toward aligning their wealth with their values and goals. In his time outside of PAX, Darryl has lobbied in DC for small business reform, chaired a board that redeveloped part of San Antonio, published books and articles, and co-founded a non-profit in Moldova. His faith and church memberships are integral to both his personal and professional development. He carves out time to join church committees, including financial committees and international ministry committees, while also facilitating a Bible study that helps men to be better husbands and fathers. Darryl's ambition is to create a legacy that exists within people whose lives have been bettered via contact with him. Are you ready to Raise the Bar? Make sure to take away the notes! Conversation Highlights: [00:58] How does Darryl Lyons identify new customers? ●    The most important process of business is identifying Who is not your client! [03:33] What are the challenges in financial services? [06:27] Definition of Retirement is different for everyone. [07:44] What type of financial process does Darryl provide? ●    What are people's priorities? [11:45] Darryl's "Family with Special Needs children" policy? [14:30] The Best Financial Advice… [15:30] Anxiety and stress are huge factors at the workplace! [16:55] Darryl is a James Clear fan! [20:44] The tool you need to build an employee engagement strategy that works. [21:15] What are the books written by Darryl Lyons? [22:54] Darryl's experience as a Forbes Council Member. [24:35] Takeaway from Today's Episode Memorable Quotes: “Business is mutually profitable." "Anxiety is the key if you are dealing with society day by day." "Acknowledging yourself is a great key to dealing with anxiety." Special Reminder: Thanks for checking out the show. Be sure to subscribe and leave a review. If you have an idea or topic for the show, or maybe you want to be on the show, visit us at https://raisingthebar.live/ (https://raisingthebar.live). Reach out to Darryl Lyons: ●    https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrylwlyons (LinkedIn) ●    https://paxfinancialgroup.com/ (https://paxfinancialgroup.com) Resources: PAX Financial Group, LLC ●     https://www.linkedin.com/company/27090846/ (LinkedIn) ●     https://www.facebook.com/paxfinancialgroup/ (Facebook) ●     https://twitter.com/paxfinancialgrp (Twitter) Darryl's Podcast: Retire in Texas: ●    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/retire-in-texas/id1587396816 (Apple Podcast) ●    https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9yZXRpcmVpbnRleGFzLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz (Google Podcast) ●    https://open.spotify.com/show/63xQoVZBYgdRhQ9Ztvp8iQ?si=sUImG59rRwGAcZt_lKasgg&dl_branch=1 (Spotify) YouTube Charitable Video:...

In this episode, Robert Bortins interviews Mike Sharrow, president and CEO of the C12 Group. C12 is a national platform where thousands of Christian CEOs and business owners learn and pursue building “great businesses for a greater purpose” together. In this conversation, Robert and Mike discuss #BaaM (Business as a Ministry) and what it means to be a Christian in business.

Plain talk about how to lead a better Christian life and how to lead your organization better. That is what you will hear and don't want to miss in this episode of True North Business. My guest is Buck Jacobs who started the C-12 business leadership groups and he has a lot of great advice for our listeners. About our guest: Buck Jacobs is a 40+ year veteran of the marketplace ministry movement, starting as a practitioner in 1973. He served as Board Director and Vice-President of Sales of the S.H. Mack Company, a founding member of The Fellowship of Companies for Christ International (FCCI).    During his ten-year association with the Mack Company, he led a ten-fold increase in sales and was instrumental in the global development of a successful Christ-centered business, while learning and applying many of the practical and fruitful methods of an integrated, Christ-centered life of ministry in the marketplace . Prior to founding The C12 Business Forums, LLC in 1992 Buck served as the National Training Director for FCCI and Area-Coordinator for the State of Florida .  Buck is the Founder and remains a member of the board of The C12 Group, LLC, America's leading supplier of CEO roundtable services to Christian CEOs and Owners. He has written several books; including A Light Shines Bright in Babylon – A Handbook for Christian Business Owners, A Strategic Plan for Ministry, I, Radical - The Story of a Radical God's Work through an Ordinary Man, The Parable of The Janitor and the CEO – The Road less Traveled - 7 Key Steps to a Successful Christian Life, and The Most Important Hour Buck's earlier experiences include: * Managing Director (CEO) of Sta-Power Italia, Spa., a Rome, Italy, based supplier of automotive aftermarket chemicals. * CEO of The Executive Development Institute, with responsibility for 20 district offices, 50 sales trainers and 8,000 direct sales people. * President and Director of R.G. Haskins/N.A. Strand Corp., a manufacturer of specialty machine tools. Buck currently lives in Demorest, Georgia, 85 miles northeast of Atlanta. He is happily married to Bonnie, has three lovely daughters, five “way above average” grandsons, and one very beautiful granddaughter. About the host: Following a successful career as CEO, Bobby sold his business to a publicly-traded company.  In what he calls his "second half of life", Bobby seeks to pour Biblically-based principles into growth-minded business leaders.   Through Values-Driven Leadership, Bobby serves as an Executive Coach and Training Consultant for organizations.  He shares many of his principles and practices through a weekly blog, the True North Business podcast, and through three books he has authored: Principled Profits: Outward Success Is an Inside Job, True North Business: A Leader's Guide to Extraordinary Growth and Impact, and The Freedom Paradox: Is Unbridled Freedom Dividing America? Find out more at BobbyAlbert.com

We have an AWESOME guest today! Mike Sharrow is the CEO of C12 Group, which helps Christian business leaders increase their impact through ministry in the busienss. He talks with Chris and Will about his journey to C12 and how he strives to transforms companies every day in his role. Recommended Resources: • Every Good Endeavor by Timothy Keller • A Light Shines Bright in Babylon by Buck Jacobs • God Owns my Business by Stanley Tam • The Business Card by Dr. Steve O. Steff Learn more about C12 here: JoinC12.com Listen via Android devices: https://bit.ly/eternal-roi-google Listen via Apple devices: https://bit.ly/eternal-roi Learn more about His Way at Work at www.HWAW.com

On this episode, Chris Patton shares why, in their approach to philanthropic giving away of company profits toward charitable causes, company leaders ought to first address the needs among their own employees before looking outward toward meeting the needs of the broader community and world. He also shares practical strategies for implementing this approach.     Chris Patton is the Global CEO of His Way At Work, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming company cultures and implementing Christian principles in the workplace. He is also the co-host of the EternalROI Podcast, a Pronk Studios and His Way At Work joint-production that shares real stories of transformation and impact from leaders who have made their workplace the forefront of their ministry. Formerly, Chris was President/CEO and third-generation owner/partner of his family's automobile business in LaGrange, GA. He also authored the blog - ChristianFaithAtWork.com in which Chris used his experience using the business as a vehicle for ministry to teach readers of his blog how to run their business from an eternal perspective. This experience has led to multiple speaking engagements at various events and conferences in partnership with the C12 Group, Corporate Chaplains of America, RightNow Media@work, t-factor and others. He has also been published in other blogs and newsletters as well as TwoTen, a national Christian business magazine. Chris and his wife Kim have three adult children and live in Spartanburg, SC. www.HWAW.com   Christianity in Business is the show that helps Christian business leaders to integrate biblical values into business. | Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Nonprofit | Church | Author | Startups | Marketplace | Ministry | Business as Mission | Faith and Work | Faith | Success | Leadership | www.ChristianityInBusiness.com 

On this episode, Chris Patton shares why, in their approach to philanthropic giving away of company profits toward charitable causes, company leaders ought to first address the needs among their own employees before looking outward toward meeting the needs of the broader community and world. He also shares practical strategies for implementing this approach.     Chris Patton is the Global CEO of His Way At Work, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming company cultures and implementing Christian principles in the workplace. He is also the co-host of the EternalROI Podcast, a Pronk Studios and His Way At Work joint-production that shares real stories of transformation and impact from leaders who have made their workplace the forefront of their ministry. Formerly, Chris was President/CEO and third-generation owner/partner of his family's automobile business in LaGrange, GA. He also authored the blog – ChristianFaithAtWork.com in which Chris used his experience using the business as a vehicle for ministry to teach readers of his blog how to run their business from an eternal perspective. This experience has led to multiple speaking engagements at various events and conferences in partnership with the C12 Group, Corporate Chaplains of America, RightNow Media@work, t-factor and others. He has also been published in other blogs and newsletters as well as TwoTen, a national Christian business magazine. Chris and his wife Kim have three adult children and live in Spartanburg, SC. www.HWAW.com   Christianity in Business is the show that helps Christian business leaders to integrate biblical values into business. | Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Nonprofit | Church | Author | Startups | Marketplace | Ministry | Business as Mission | Faith and Work | Faith | Success | Leadership | www.ChristianityInBusiness.com 

Monday, August 30, 2021 Today on Point of View Kerby welcomes Mike Sharrow from C12 Group to tell us more about their organization and the impact they have had on Christian Business Leadership. And Kerby brings us updates from the weekend's top stories.

Finding readily available candidates for employment has been most difficult for over a year now and only appears to be getting more challenging.  Perhaps you should consider hiring 'second chance' felons.  We are honored to have market reentry expert Jermey Miller Alabama Field Director for Prison Fellowship Ministries join us to discuss understanding the pros and cons of hiring 'second chance' candidates and how to access them for employment.  This week 10AM Monday Podcast call is a prep call for the 2021 Second Chance Jefferson County Hiring Fair scheduled for Sept 14th Thank you Russell Haden of C12 Group for representing the voice of employers.  We were also delighted to have Andy Blake and Crystal Parker of WorkFaith Birmingham for joining us as well. Visit with us live each week Monday 10AMclick ULECx.com/conferencecall  205-582-7082or view our archive record of all our calls here.Disclaimer:  All opinion expressed on this podcast including the team and guests are solely their opinions.  Host and guest may maintain positions in the companies and securities discussed.  This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as specific investment advice for any individual or organization. 

An organization's values effectively developed and communicated can have a dramatic impact on the effectiveness of your people and organization. Listen in today as Mike Sharrow of C12 talks about the importance of their culture and organizational culture overall. There's a one-of-a-kind association for Christian leaders that can help you make better decisions, avoid costly mistakes, and create a solid plan for business growth. The chief executive of this organization is with me today, and over the next few minutes, I believe his message could take your culture to the next level.      The person I'm talking about is a leader I've come to know and admire. He's Mike Sharrow, President, and CEO of C12 Group. Mike, welcome to the Flourishing Culture Podcast.  Find full show notes here https://bit.ly/mikesharrowc12 Share the love. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate it on Apple Podcasts and write a brief review. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-flourishing-culture-podcast/id1060724960?mt=2  By doing so, you will help spread our podcast to more listeners, and thereby help more Christian workplaces learn to build flourishing cultures. Follow our Host, Al Lopus, on Twitter https://twitter.com/allopus Follow our Host, Al Lopus, on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/allopus/ Email our host at info@bcwinstitute.org 

In this episode David Childs, David Lillard, and Mike Sharrow pick up where they left off last week and continue unpacking lessons in leadership, the difference between purpose success vs. operational success, and more.The C12 Group is the largest network of Christian CEOs and executives working together to increase company performance and integrate faith and business. In short, C12 helps business owners and leaders build great businesses for a greater purpose. To learn more about C12 visit: https://www.c12group.com/Learn more about Spartan Planning Group and Spartan Branding Co.

Welcome to Season 2 of the Spartan Pro Show!Our Season 2 opener is a two-part episode with the CEO of The C12 Group, Mike Sharrow, unpacking lessons in leadership, the difference between purpose success vs. operational success, and more. The C12 Group is the largest network of Christian CEOs and executives working together to increase company performance and integrate faith and business. In short, C12 helps business owners and leaders build great businesses for a greater purpose. To learn more about C12 visit: https://www.c12group.com/ Learn more about Spartan Planning Group and Spartan Branding Co.

In this episode, Dan chats to Mike Sharrow CEO of The C12 Group. He shares testimony on how God prepared theC12 Group for the pandemic, lessons from his leadership journey, and some amazing personal testimony of what God has taught him about himself, and the mission that He has called him, and us on. About Our Guest: Mike Sharrow, serves as the President & CEO for The C12 Group as well as serving on the Board of Directors. The C12 Group is the largest network of Christian CEOs and executives working together to increase company performance and integrate faith and business. Mike joined C12 as a member in 2010 while serving as an executive pastor for a large church in Texas and owner of a healthcare strategy consulting group. Prior to that he had served in a variety of leadership roles in both operations and sales corporately for the Walgreen Company, financial services as well as strategic development work with Health by Design. In 2011 he exited his commitments to join the local C12 practice in San Antonio as an associate chair serving CEOs across that market. In 2013 he and a partner acquired the greater Central Texas region and stewarded it as it grew to a team of 8 full-time chairmen serving nearly 150 leaders.  Mike is passionate about collaboration, strategic planning, Gospel initiatives and BHAG endeavors. Read more about Mike here: www.wonderfuleaders.com/2021/02/05/episode-11-with-guest-mike-sharrow-ceo-c12-group

Meet Mike Sharrow, the CEO of The C12 Group, the largest network of Christian CEOs and executives working together to increase company performance and integrate faith and business. With over 115 chairs operating 330+ groups in 36 states as well as Malaysia, Brazil & Singapore, C12 represents more than 2,650 members who are impacting millions of people through their missional marketplace arenas. Mike’s journey touches deeply human levels, from disability to a life changing healing, and the impact it all made to his outlook on life and success. Also, we can’t quite get him to cry, but we sure did try! If you enjoy our podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping us get great content to great people! Contact us for professional services at JohnOberg.comFind our resources at DailyJo.comInterested in sponsoring the podcast? Email us! Follow John Oberg at:Twitter: twitter.com/johnpobergInstagram: instagram.com/johnpobergFacebook: facebook.com/johnobergcompanies Thanks for listening!

I'm so excited to celebrate with you today! Listen, I'm doing something different today. I actually went to many of you and said, “What should I do for my hundredth episode?” And many of you said, just do a Q&A and answer 100 questions. So many of you actually submitted these questions on Instagram. I'm so excited! I was not able to do all of the questions—believe it or not, I got well over a hundred questions! But I'm really excited just to have fun, and to have a conversation for you guys to get to know me on a different level. A lot of these are personal, a lot of them are lighthearted, a lot of them are fun and hopefully some of them you'll find helpful to you and your life. If you have been a listener for any amount of time, I want to encourage you to please go leave a review on iTunes Podcasts. It helps me so much when you do that. And thank you truly from the bottom of my heart for being a listener! We're going to have fun today (believe me, you want to listen to the end!). I brought in a few helpers, and I hope you enjoy it. And again, thank you so much for listening to Work and Play with Nancy Ray. For the full show notes, head to nancyray.com/podcast/100.     Resources from this episode: Leave a Review for the Work & Play Podcast on iTunes The Marco Polo app Lemon & lime squeezer Baby Wise Positive Parenting Solutions Kenra hairspray C12 Group round tables Amway Slugs and Bugs (also on Spotify!) The Jesus Storybook Bible Real Simple Magazine The Magnolia Journal Christian Healthcare Ministries A Woman’s Heart, God’s Dwelling Place by Beth Moore Revelation study by She Reads Truth Cantina 1511 guacamole recipe Argon oil of Morocco shampoo Sally Clarkson Matt Chandler Artifact Uprising (family photo books) Milly’s Birth Story Lyndon’s Birth Story Beaufort’s Birth Story Episode 047 - Book | Seasons of God with Dr. Richard Blackaby 168 Hours, by Laura Vanderkam Restoring the Foundations ministry Episode 059 - Growing Faith in Your Littles How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie Free Download: Craft Your Morning Routine Magnatiles Sacred Marriage, by Gary Thomas The Power of a Praying Wife, by Stormie Omartian The Power of a Praying Husband, by Stormie Omartian Episode 056 - Meal Planning Made Fun with Kate from Naptime Kitchen Podcast: Relatable by Allie Beth Stuckey Episode 048 - An Update to our Dave Ramsey Journey Episode 004 - Seasons of Business Parenting with Love and Logic, by Foster Cline & Jim Fay Episode 099 - Book | Parenting with Love and Logic Anonymous, by Alicia Britt Chole Episode 006 - Book | Anonymous Goodberry’s Frozen Custard A Goofy Movie   Affiliate links have been used in this post! I do receive a commission when you choose to purchase through these links, and that helps me keep this podcast up and running—I truly appreciate when you choose to use them!

No episódio de hoje conversamos com Sérgio Damiani da C12 Brasil (https://c12brasil.com.br)Conheça um pouco mais sobre o C12 Group: Fundado em 1992 por Buck Jacobs em Tampa, Flórida, Estados Unidos, o C12 Group cresceu de três grupos locais para se tornar a maior rede de CEOs, Empresários e Executivos cristãos nos Estados Unidos. O C12 é uma liderança no movimento de Deus “no” e “através” do mercado. No Brasil, o C12 Group atende empresas com mais de 10 funcionários e faturamento anual superior a R$ 2,5 milhões.O C12 não é simplesmente uma mesa redonda de CEOs, um grupo de networking, um estudo bíblico de negócios ou um fórum com palestrantes convidados. É um ambiente íntimo e confidencial em que profissionais com interesses semelhantes compartilham ideias, atuam em áreas de seus negócios que precisam de melhorias, responsabilizam-se mutuamente e incentivam uns aos outros a realizar negócios de uma maneira que honre a Deus.Siga o nosso podcast no seu aplicativo de streaming para receber as nossas atualizações.Todos nossos links estão aqui: https://linktr.ee/empreendendonoreino

Perhaps you think Christian business groups might be a little bit strange. Mike Sharrow thought the same thing before he joined one, and now he sees running a business as a Christian in a whole new way! Mike from the C12 Group is here to answer the question ‘how do you honor God in the way you build your business?’ He brings up some essential thought-provoking questions and provides insight on how to approach them as Christian business owners, including: How the workplace is a ministry How you don’t have to choose between success and honoring God How to handle disputes between Christian businesses The trick of imagining Jesus is doing an audit on your business How to break from the norm when making business decisions that go against the grain Whether you’re a Christian business owner or you’re a little curious about what this looks like woven into a business, this one’s for you! Listen in and move one step closer to reflecting Him not just on Sundays or in your personal life, but in ALL areas of your life! Learn more about Mike and the C12 Group at https://www.c12group.com/

Chris Wise is the local managing chair of the C12 Group — a business peer advisory group made up of Christian CEOs and Business owners who want a bigger, better future and want to integrate their faith in the process. Chris will share tips on how to overcome your fears in life, the importance of a peer-to-peer support system, and how to get the most out of your team as a leader. You will not want to miss this enlightening conversation.

Lori Chambers of HOPE International and Russell Haden of C12 Group of Central Alabama contribute to a conversation to help gain a clear understanding of the definition of Business As Mission and review the five B.A.M events coming up in October. Other helpful video resources include:Mats Tunehag - Business as Mission - Lausanne Global Leadership Forum2020 B.A.M Kickoff BHM with Charles ‘Chuck’ Welden III, Principal, Welden Field

In this episode of Insights for Leading, Jeremy Couch talks with Kevin Respress, Central Florida Chair of the C12 Group, a national organization that equips Christian CEOs and owners to build great businesses for a greater purpose. Kevin tells his story of how God called him away from his career to start a new path with C12, where he works directly with CEOs and business owners to help them grow their businesses with a Kingdom mindset. In addition to discussing how to use your business as a platform for ministry, Kevin also talks about a very difficult and low point during this transition, and he explains how he was able to persevere through the trials and trust that he was following what God had called him to do. You will be inspired, encouraged, and challenged through this conversation! For more information about C12 Central Florida, visit www.c12centralflorida.com

Introduction Listen in to hear an excellent discussion of how businesses owners and leaders can build better businesses for greater purpose. I'm joined buy Mike Sharrow, CEO of the C12 group, a network set up to serve Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives. This is an excellent episode for anyone interested in leading companies or families with deeper Christian values. About Mike and C12 C12 is a leader in the movement of God in and through the marketplace. Located in major metro areas across the United States, The C12 Group serves leaders to incorporate business best practices with the foundation of Biblical principles and core values. Mike has served in a variety of leadership and executive roles spanning Fortune 50 corporate settings, startups, non-profit and the local church. Mike grew up in Alaska, and married an Iowa farmers daughter Jacqui in 2002 and they have 2 girls, Elayna and Sophia In This Episode A discussion about the secular-sacred divide, and what to do when you feel you have no time left to serve God. How businesses may need to adapt to a disrupted economy in 2020, including how to start “skating towards where the puck is going to be” for customers with changing patterns in a COVID world. How Mike and the C12 group helps CEOs and business owners run companies with Christian values. On Family Mike and I have a great discussion about how fathers in particular shape kids' view of who God is. He talks a little bit about an aloof God, good, but not so interested in the day to day. What does it mean to steward a family well, including scheduling and flexibility to that schedule. We also talk about how you can't steward something well if you don't know what the owner wants...and you can't know what the owner wants unless you take time to know the owner! Why the work life balance may be a myth, a trap of how we set up words. Mike talks about how to tell when your work has become less about providing and more about chasing an idol of success. For business employers and Employees How businesses can thrive when lived with deeper purpose and value, including attracting talent that wants purpose, regardless of their faith persuasion. Practical guidance around being out of work, including when to move on from an old job that isn't returning. We go on to talk about how to pivot to gain new skills or even look at old skills in a new way to help find work in a competitive market. We also encourage business owners or middle managers who may be considering hiring, how they can look at their business as a place of hope and opportunity, looking for places to responsibly grow. Resources C12 Website – www.c12group.com For looking at the hiring process as a ministry Contenting for Talent – Free E-book on the C-12 Website Interviewing and Hiring – Free e-book

Sunday Special 02 - Physicians CAN be a witness for God in their career. Dr. Jason Mizell has a lot of valuable insights into how to do just that. As a medical school professor, he has worked tirelessly to serve the students and residents at the University of Arkansas Medical School. He sees it as part of his mission to ensure that he is setting a Godly example for others to follow.In this episode, Dr. Mizell shares how he navigates the difficult path of being a faithful witness and staying within the bounds of university policies. His students and peers have honored him as a top medical educator, and he has used that platform for God's glory.His tips on how to share your faith in your career will encourage you. This episode is a lot of fun, but there's also a lot of really valuable content that you can take with you to grow your own witness at work.Free Resource: The Body of Christ - A 14-day devotional series for healthcare professionalsListen to Dr. Mizell's other episode: How I Teach My Kids and My Students to Be Masters of Personal FinanceFeatured community: The C12 Group

Mike Sharrow is the President/CEO of The C12 Group nationally based in San Antonio. Mike has been on To His Glory Ministries (#133) before talking about the response to #COVID19, but this time we get to meet the man. Brad Cornell gets Mike to share his personal testimony, and a unique story about his missional Kingdom investment in a Honduran Tortillaria that the local cartel was not a fan of. Support the show.

So often, the church looks at business people as those who will pray and pay for the ministry. In this episode of the Ephesiology Podcast, we talk business with Mike Sharrow, president and CEO of C12 Group. You’ll no doubt be encouraged to learn about how business people are engaging their employees with the gospelContinue reading Ep 54: Movements and Business →

Michelle Oates: A promise tomorrow is worth a lot less than trying today. I am Michelle Oates, and I'm a Tri Cities influencer. Paul Casey: The love of comfort is the enemy of greatness. Okay, you can choose one or the other. You can't choose greatness and comfort. You have to choose one or the other. Speaker 3: Raising the water level of leadership and the Tri Cities of Eastern Washington, it's The Tri Cities Influencer Podcast. Welcome to the TCI Podcast, where local leadership and self leadership expert, Paul Casey, interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs and nonprofit executives to hear how they lead themselves and their teams, so we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services, coaching and equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey: Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Lance Kenmore. He is owner of the Kenmore Team. And I'm going to let him tell you his fun fact that he even asked his wife and assistant about. Lance Kenmore: Yeah. So that was a great question that you said, something quirky about me. And I don't know if it's all the years of going in different people's houses or what, but I do not like lingering food smells in the office. I mean, if someone goes to Bruchi's or something, or Burger King, leaves some fries in the office, I will take the garbage out myself to get rid of it. And so the office is always laughing at me, and whenever we hire somebody new, they always tell them, "Watch yourself with the food you put in the garbage," and so- Paul Casey: That's your onboarding thing to remember. Lance Kenmore: Yeah. So I'm slightly OCD about that. And there was talk that it might be more than slightly. Paul Casey: Well, thanks. That's one of the best ones yet. Lance Kenmore: Okay, well, good. It smells great in your studio, so I'm not concerned about it. Paul Casey: No distractions. Lance Kenmore: Yes. Paul Casey: We'll dive in after checking with our Tri City Influencer Sponsor. The C12 Group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings, during which 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues Biblically. Additionally, members receive a 90 minute personal coaching session each month. Information is available from Tom Walther at 715-459-9611 or online at c12easternwa.com. Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri Cities. Well, welcome, Lance. I have heard so much about you, and it's great to meet you here today. And glad you could be on the podcast. Lance Kenmore: Yeah. Absolutely. I'm excited to be here. I'm not used to being on this side of the question asking, so hopefully I can stammer through it. Paul Casey: That's right. You've got your own show, right? Lance Kenmore: Yeah. I do a weekly radio show, and we have some guests on occasionally, so it's kind of fun to be nervous again. I'm used to doing this every week, and the last day or two, my wife is like, "You're actually prepared and you seem nervous." So thanks for putting me in an uncomfortable position. Paul Casey: We're stretching you. Lance Kenmore: Absolutely. Paul Casey: Yes. Well, so our Tri City Influencers can get to know you, take us through your past positions that led up to what you're doing now. Lance Kenmore: Yeah. So before real estate, I mean, I'm a local Tri City guy, so born at Lourdes. I don't even think you can be born there anymore, but I was. And grew up on a farm north of Pasco, and then ended up going up through the school system, Richland School District, and graduated Richland High. And so past positions, I guess growing up, I always ... I was in farming and ag, but I ran a lawn care business in high school, and I just happened to live across the street from the owners of what used to be the Prudential Real Estate franchise here in town, Jeff and Paul Presby. And so growing up, I would mow the lawns of the move outs and the vacant houses, and kind of got to know real estate from that front. And off to college, and to make extra money during college, I was a Nordstrom's shoe salesman. And so I think that's where I started to really learn sales, great organization, lots of training. I love how they handle customers and customer service, so got to know the business through them. Lance Kenmore: And then got back from college, worked on the family farming business for a couple years. And then just knowing that broker and seeing how he built his business through real estate, he just kind of took me under his wing and trained me up in the business. He said ... I can remember the day when I had gotten back from college. I was still mowing lawns on nights and weekends between farming, for some extra money. And he walked out in the parking lot one day and he said, "Didn't you get a college degree?" I said, "Yeah, I did." And he said, "When you finish mowing the lawn, come into that office, and we need to have a talk." And so he was just like, "I'm going to teach you how to sell real estate. I think you're going to be a lot happier." So yeah, I had a really good mentor early. And that's kind of what let me into the real estate path. Paul Casey: So is the Nordstrom's mystique a real deal? Lance Kenmore: You know, it really is, although my wife claims that, that in four years made me extremely high maintenance. And so because I mean, you do get into their culture. And you get deeply embedded in their culture and what they stand for. And it is the same, I mean, you can in the right instances ... The old stories are that you could return anything there, and there's folklore that a guy returned a set of tires. Paul Casey: They don't even sell tires. Lance Kenmore: Yeah. But that's really the case, is that all of their training preached early on, employee autonomy and the ability to let the employees make their own decisions based upon what was right for the company. And so yeah, it's really true. But like I said, we go to a mall or something, and I still shop there to this day. And my wife says I am worse than she is because of that four years. But it was great, it taught me a lot about how we run our customer service. Paul Casey: Wow. That's so cool. So in your work, what are you really good at? What are your talents? What are your strengths? And how do you use those to help those around you be successful? Lance Kenmore: I think the biggest thing is, and being in real estate and negotiating deals for people, is I'm really good at playing devil's advocate. I can look at a situation and see what the other side is thinking. I want to know what they're thinking more than I'm thinking. And so I'm good at looking at those situations and saying, "What are they trying to accomplish? What are they expecting us to do? When should they do it? And how are we going to respond to it?" So I really like to analyze the other side's position and then go to work for my clients to how we can have a mutually acceptable outcome and accomplish our goals, and help them get through. But doing it through the lens of: What's the other side thinking? Paul Casey: That's probably one of the best negotiation principles that a person could have. Right? I could see how that would be great for staff, be great for customer service, even in your own family. Lance Kenmore: Yeah. Absolutely. I try to apply this to my kids. I don't always get it right, but that's one of the things that in fact to the point where sometimes people will be slightly annoyed by it because they'll be like, "I'm trying to figure out what you're thinking. I don't want to tell you what I'm thinking." But yeah, that's a big for me is seeing how we can make the other side and our side come to mutually acceptable terms. And maybe that's just the real estate contract in me. But I like to figure out how we can get a win for both parties. Paul Casey: Yeah, yeah. So on the flip side, what's one of your biggest liabilities? And how do you mitigate that weakness so it doesn't limit your influence? Lance Kenmore: Oh, man. I think that I really like big picture planning, and I know what we want to do. And sometimes I assume that other parties are going to work just like I do. So I'll set something up or put a plan in motion, and then maybe not have a great accountability followup plan, to where I think it's going to be done in two weeks, and so two weeks come, and then I assume it did get done. And I don't double check on that. And so I have to set up systems of accountability because I tend to forget that part. And so a reminder to double check. Who's responsible for double checking? Those details can bite you because once I start, I just assume that it's going to be done. And I know that's not always the case, and then people get busy. And sometimes I'll give them too many tasks, so they couldn't accomplish the first one, and it's really my fault. But having that system of accountability, knowing what the check in is, that's how we've had to fix that liability. Paul Casey: How important is accountability just as a business owner yourself, and just in life, success principle of accountability? Lance Kenmore: So I'm a huge, huge proponent of accountability. I think it is one of the most important parts. And so I still do weekly coaching. I started it in my business, I think we're going on 12 years ago. And I never stopped, and so I have a weekly accountability coaching call. And they expect, my coach expects certain things to be done, and so that, my deadline is Wednesday morning at 8:30. That's my call with my coach. And sometimes Tuesday, the night before, is really, really productive. And it's crazy that after 12 years that I would still find that productive. But it's amazing, just having that call on Wednesday morning, I know that there's certain things that have to be done. So I think it's probably one of the biggest indicators of our success. Paul Casey: As a coach myself, I find out many of my clients getting things done that day before, or that night before, but I say, "It's okay. You got it done." And just having to report here without your tail between your legs going into it is worth it. Lance Kenmore: Yeah, totally. And I coach people also and coach other sales people and coach our team, and even that being the case, that's usually something people are surprised by, that I still have a coach myself. And I'm not just doing it, I believe in that, I believe in that process big time. Paul Casey: Michael Jordan had a coach. LeBron James has a coach. Right? Lance Kenmore: Absolutely. 100%. Paul Casey: All high performers have coaches. Lance Kenmore: Yes, they do. Paul Casey: That's a little plug there. So in your opinion, what's the most difficult part of business leadership, leading teams? And why would you say that? Lance Kenmore: Well, I think the difficult part is being careful, and maybe this is just a personal thing to how I am, but being careful not to take on everyone's problems as your own. I'm great with accepting the fate of the organization and the results that come with that. But I think at times, you can have compassion and understanding, but you can't always solve all the problems or the situations. And I tend to take that really personally, so I think you have to separate and get comfortable with the fact that you've done the best you can, and now the team has to make certain decisions themselves to thrive. And sometimes that's going to work perfectly, and other times it's not. And just really monitoring your own positivity when those failures happen, that they're not always your own. Paul Casey: Yeah. It's sort of the difference between sympathy and empathy. Right? Sympathy, you're taking on the emotions of others. And now you're in the pit with them. Lance Kenmore: Absolutely. Yeah. And you have to be careful not to do that because sometimes, as a good friend once told me, because I was struggling with this concept, and I said to them, we met, I think it was on a Friday. And we met just for a recap on the week. And I said ... He said to me, "How was your week?" And I said, "Well, it was terrible. All I heard about was everyone's problems." And he goes, "Well, congratulations." And I said, "Well, I don't know what that means. Congratulations." He said, "That's how it's supposed to work." He's like, "You should only be dealing with the biggest issues in your company, and that means all the other parts are working correctly." And it was a big mind shift, mindset shift for me because I said, "Okay. So I can deal with the problems, but not take them on myself." And once I made that adjustment, it got a lot better. Paul Casey: Yeah, I think the word compassion means to suffer with. Lance Kenmore: Yes, exactly. Paul Casey: But we all have to stay on our sides of the street. One therapist locally says, "It's the sides of the street principle." This is on your side. You're responsible for it over there. This is my side of the street. I'm only responsible up to this level. When I start crossing over ... I think she said, "When I'm weeding in somebody else's lawn when my house is on fire, that's a problem." Lance Kenmore: That's a problem. Yes, 100%. And I didn't get that early on when I was younger and starting out in that role. And so it took a while to get there. Paul Casey: Good lesson. Well, your people don't know how much you know until they know how much you care, as the old adage goes. So how do you show people, your people, whether that's a team, whether that's your clients, that you value them as people? Lance Kenmore: I think it's just about slowing down and taking time to talk to people. So I personally, I have a hard time doing that. I can be task driven. I do personality testing, and they call it a driver. And so there's tasks that I just want to get done. So for me personally, sometimes I have to come in a couple times a week, one to two hours early, when the phones aren't ringing, no one else is there, and get my tasks out of the way, so that when everyone else gets to the office, I can take some time to just slow down and talk to them. I mean, someone's on our team or in our organization because I saw something great in them, and they do a great job. And I want to know what's going on in their life and what's important to them. That is communication and talking to people. Lance Kenmore: And so a younger version of myself messed that up. I would just blow by, not say hi, limit interaction with coworkers because I was task oriented. And that worked great in the beginning of my career for a while, but it was a horrible concept for running a team. And so I think slowing down and talking to people is just, it seems so simple. I wish there was a better answer or magic pill. But that 10 minute conversation about what happened over the weekend and what their kids are doing just is gold. Those are the type of people I want to be around and hear about. Paul Casey: I love how you've come up with a system because you are a driver, you want to be who you are. So you're coming in early, you're going to take care of that stuff first because it's all about your to do list, getting it done, action oriented. I know what the driver's like. Right? Lance Kenmore: Yes, absolutely. Paul Casey: So then you've got the peace of mind to go out and be fully available without thinking about I got this to do list I still have to do, which people can pick that up from you. Lance Kenmore: Yeah. If you're not in the moment talking and listening, you're going to mess that up. Paul Casey: Just walking through the hallways and leaning on doorframes, as they say. One manager said there's three questions he asks. How are you? And then adds the word really because how are you is just like hello in American. What are you working on? And that's the accountability piece with the leaders. And then: How can I help? Because leaders always need that how can I help mentality. And that's just a great check in. Lance Kenmore: Yeah. Absolutely. And we do this thing. I took it off of a radio station. I think it was Ryan Seacrest, I think, on his show, does this thing called tell me something good, and so where people just call in on the radio and say what was good in their life. So we make sure we start our weekly staff meetings and team meetings with tell me something good. And so you've got 28 people going around telling them something good. And from that one little piece of information, we always pick up something about their life that they thought was good, and then it's amazing the conversations after the meetings that happen about that. So tell me something good is an important thing to be doing. Paul Casey: Love that principle, and 28 people, just to take the time to do that. That's an investment in relationship building on your team. Lance Kenmore: Yeah. I mean, it's a portion of our meeting. But I would argue that it could actually be the most important part of that team meeting every week. Paul Casey: Yes. Well, before we head into our next question of some of Lance's life hacks, let's check in with our sponsors.  If you could trade one day each month for targeted application of Biblical business practices, purposeful accountability, and Godly pure counsel, would you consider it a wise investment? The C12 Group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings, where 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues Biblically. Information is available from Tom Walther at 715-459-9611 or online at c12easternwa.com.   So, Lance, what are a few of your life hacks that help you be successful on a daily basis? Lance Kenmore: There's a number of books I've read over the years, some that come to mind like Eat That Frog. Paul Casey: Love Eat That Frog. Lance Kenmore: Or The Power of Focus, Jack Canfield. There's some good things, but the strategy that comes out of that, or what it's morphed into for me, is what I call the big three for the day. So you have to start each day with a big three. And the big three is that no matter what gets thrown at you, no matter what happens, these three things are going to get done today. And so for me, that just is a nonnegotiable, that once it goes on that list, if it's late, or emergencies have popped up, before we go home and end the day, I have to double check that big three and make sure. Did I get it done? And once it's a nonnegotiable, it's funny, I find that a lot of times, those things get done in the first ... When you set it up that way, they get done in the first hour of your day. Paul Casey: The rest is gravy then. Lance Kenmore: The rest is gravy then, and you can handle what life throws at you. But without that, you're just reacting. I think having a big three, you're being proactive to what you want to get done. Paul Casey: I totally concur with that. That is the number one time management principle when I teach it. And I love Eat That Frog. And for listeners that don't know what that means, it was a book by Brian Tracy. And if you have to eat a raw frog today, wouldn't it be better to eat that frog early in the morning and get it over with because it's disgusting, than to dread it all day and think about it? Yes, it would be better to get it. So what's the biggest, hairiest task? Your big three, the big rocks for the day, get those banged out. And it's amazing how much it just puts you in this productivity snowball in a good way to getting all these other little things done too. Lance Kenmore: Yeah, you get it knocked out, and yeah, and then you are just rolling right along. That's a big life hack for us. And then recently, I've been into a whole system called habit stacking. And so that is taking your existing habits and routines and finding a way to put a new habit on top of it. So if you're a runner or a hiker and you want to read 30 books this year, well, then you go to Audible. So you're listening to a book while you're running. You're listening to a book while you're hiking. Your significant other and you want to spend more time together, but you also want to work out, so you're working out and spending time, or hiking together. So finding habit stacks that you can put in place is essentially doubling up your time, so that's another one that we use a lot. Paul Casey: Love that one. If you want to start flossing, you're already brushing, just tack it on. Lance Kenmore: Yes. Paul Casey: Tack it on. Lance Kenmore: That's exactly right. Paul Casey: Did you get that from The Power of Habit? Have you read that book? Lance Kenmore: Yeah. Paul Casey: There's some good stuff in that book. Lance Kenmore: Yeah, there's some good stuff. That was the basis for it. That was the first one I had read with a lot about that. And then a newer one recently that is literally called Habit Stacking. Paul Casey: Nice. Well, as a business owner, you have to make important decisions. And what process do you think through before making that important decision? Lance Kenmore: So I'm really fortunate that I work with my wife in our companies and the other businesses that we own, and so I have a sounding board for those ideas. And so we're able to talk to each other about what we think. And how does the decision we're going to make affect others around us? And so that's where we generally start with that. And then her and I, we always laugh because we teach Junior Achievement also. And in Junior Achievement, in the second grade levels, they teach this thing called a decision tree. And it's the old draw a line down the center of your paper, and it's pros on one side and cons on the other. Paul Casey: Second grade. Lance Kenmore: And she and I laugh because we'll make massive real estate decisions based upon the decision tree. And so when you write it out and you start to look at pros and cons, and one side of the paper starts to fill up, it's amazing how it can simplify that decision. So the really important ones is having somebody to poke holes in your theory, play devil's advocate with you. So bouncing that off either a business partner or a mentor is huge, and then taking the time to write out the pros and cons in a decision tree style is a huge help for us. Paul Casey: Yeah. It sounds so basic, but it is so true. And defining the problem even before the decision tree, if you can put it in one sentence, just to make sure we're trying to solve the right problem here, and then you do the pros and cons. And at the end, these are the decisions and why, because you're going to have to defend the why probably to somebody, someone on your team, or even that sounding board person. Lance Kenmore: Absolutely. Paul Casey: You want to be able to defend your results. But I love how you said a mentor, you've got to have a coach, a mentor, a mastermind group, your spouse. Lance Kenmore: Yeah. And that's a big thing is that you mentioned that mastermind group, and that's huge for us. And I'm part of a group that basically acts as a board of directors for our company. It's not as formalized as a national company with a board of directors. But we meet once a month with six other business owners in our local area that are all part of different industries, whether that be the gasoline business, the car business, all the way to insurance, real estate, we're all part of a different industry. And when we have a big decision like that, we present that to the board of directors, that group, and we talk through that. So getting that feedback and a different perspective helps us feel good about being on the right path. Paul Casey: Isolated people do not make the best decisions. Lance Kenmore: Absolutely. Paul Casey: So it's good to have that group. Lance Kenmore: Absolutely. Paul Casey: Well, who influences you, Lance? Who do you surround yourself with, either that's from afar or live, to keep growing yourself? Lance Kenmore: We go to about three times a year, we get out of the Tri Cities. We go to another state in general, and we hit a big educational conference or a learning conference. And sometimes it's business related, real estate. Sometimes it's about health. And sometimes it's even about other business industries that are not necessarily real estate. So sometimes we'll pick an industry that's opposite and maybe technology and somewhere like Austin, whether we go to South by Southwest and see what's going on down there. Or we go to Tony Robbins who is a big coach and influencer. So we pick three a year, get out of town, and just spend some time with people that are trying to get better and learn new concepts. Lance Kenmore: And then we also have a really good group of similar real estate owners and team leads around the country in different markets. And so we like to spend time at each other's offices. So we'll go to somebody else's business, see how they run things, and then they'll come back to Tri Cities for couple days and spend time at our business. So those are the big ones. I mean, I think early on, I read a lot of business books. I'm big into brand building, so Richard Branson with Virgin, the Virgin Airlines brand. And so had read a lot of his books early on, all the way back to real estate influences like Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad. So in that realm, those were some very big impactful books on us early on. Lance Kenmore: And then locally, I'm super, super fortunate Tri Cities has a ton of talent. So there is a turnaround CEO in town. His name's Chris Britton. He's a great guy. And so he's been a big mentor to our business the last six years, and so we spend a lot of time with him and being coached by him. And since he was a turnaround CEO, he would go into companies, fix them, clean them up. I'm hoping he prevents us from ever getting to that part, so he makes a great mentor. Plus, when there's problems, he knows how to deal with them. Paul Casey: That's cool. Do you take all 28 people to those conferences? Or do you go by yourself? Lance Kenmore: We don't. That's just myself. We do encourage our team members to go, and a lot of times, at least once a year if they can. So a lot of our team members, our paid employees, we'll send to, I think the last one was in South Carolina. Or they'll go to San Diego. They usually don't complain about those nice trips. But we like them to also see what other companies are doing, see what other people in your position are doing. And they always come back with a new idea for us to implement. Paul Casey: Absolutely. When people go together to conferences too, they can play off each other, remember different things, come back with this passion to share with the rest of the team. Lance Kenmore: And I wouldn't have gotten ... I mean, we've gotten to do some cool things. I mean, through that network and going to those conferences is how we ended up getting hooked up with Barbara Corcoran from the Shark Tank. And then she just plugs into a whole other network. So we met a guy in radio that we were doing radio, and so we liked radio. And then we met a guy in TV, and then that guy ends up inviting her to a conference. And then the next thing you know, a bunch of us agents are banding together, and she's starting to film commercials for us. And so yeah, I never thought that we would get to that level even 10 years ago. Paul Casey: Very cool. I've seen those commercials. Lance Kenmore: Well, I'm glad you have. It was ironic because a friend of ours in town, when Karen joined me in the business, in real estate, gave Barbara Corcoran's book to my wife. And that was the first real estate book she ever read. So then 10 years later, to be filming with her was really just kind of unbelievably full circle. But I don't think it would've happened if we wouldn't have read that book. And so I just don't think it would've been the same. Paul Casey: When you've lived your life, Lance, and you think back on your influence, how do you want to be remembered? Lance Kenmore: First and foremost, a father and a husband. I mean, I've got two amazing kids, and we spend a lot of time together. We have great relationships and they are pursuing their passions and following their dreams. And so I definitely want to be remembered as supporting and enabling that. And then as a husband, the same way. I'm super, super fortunate that Karen and I work very well together, so we get to spend an amazing amount of time together building something together, which is not normal. It's my normal, but it really is fantastic because, like we say, we get to spend all day with our best friend, and then build something together. Lance Kenmore: So that's huge for me, and then I always say I want to coach and mentor my team and their families to their best life possible. So the team members and friends that surround us with, I want to have been a part of making their life as best as possible. And then beyond that, we get to community and the communities we live in. And I want to be a positive contributing member to our community, especially Tri Cities. It's given us a ton of ... It's given us an amazing life, and so I want to contribute back to that community. Paul Casey: Love the Tri. Lance Kenmore: Love the Tri. Thank you, Mike Denslow. Paul Casey: Finally, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence? Lance Kenmore: I think there's a lot to be said for pioneers, and they are a special breed, I will give it to them. But in general, I think when people are starting out and leaders are starting out, find someone that you love what they're doing, and that's what you want to be like. And sometimes that can be wrapped up in two or three people and sometimes 10. But in general, someone has done what you want to do, and they've done it better than you can. That's my feeling, and so search that person out. Find out what network they're in. Find out what clubs they're in. What contributed to their success? And then do everything you can to put yourself in those positions or as close to that as possible. Lance Kenmore: And I think a lot of times, people find there's a lot of people out there that want to give back and that have had success. And agents will call me all the time, and I've never had a call where I've told somebody, "No, I won't talk to you," or, "No, I won't tell you that." It's a matter of helping someone else get to that level. And once people are at what leaders consider a high level, you know how important it is to have more leaders and new leaders do the same things. So I would just say getting yourself into the environment that you want to, where you've seen the success and that you want to have is absolutely huge. Lance Kenmore: And then just read more. One of the best ways to get close to that access is to read about it. And that's what starts, plants the seed, starts the thought, so read as much as you possibly can. Chemically, I'm not a scientist. I'm sure you've had those guests on the show. Something changes in your brain when you're reading that and changes your mindset. So if you can't be physically in the same room and talking to that person, read about it, and I think it's the next best thing. Paul Casey: Fantastic advice. So Lance, how can our listeners best connect with you? Lance Kenmore: Probably the best way is kenmoreteam.com is our website. There's a contact form there. We get contacts all the time through that, whether it be job inquiries or home inquiries and real estate. But that's a great way to just hit the button, contact us and shoot me a message. And we would be glad to help with any of your questions. Paul Casey: Well, thanks again for all you do to make the Tri Cities a great place, and keep leading well. Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend. It's another podcast. Michael Hyatt has one called Lead to Win. And this podcast is filled with great leadership information. They're all relevant topics, every one I listen to, either for your personal growth and self leadership, or leading a team. Again, Michael Hyatt, Lead to Win Podcast. Paul Casey: Again, this is Paul Casey, and I want to thank my guest, Lance Kenmore, for being here today on the Tri Cities Influencer Podcast. And we also want to thank our Tri City Influencer sponsors and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible so we can collaborate to help inspire leaders in our community. Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence, it's Lester Pearson. He says, "Failures are made only by those who fail to dare, not by those who dare to fail." Until next time, KGF, keep growing forward. Speaker 3: Thank you to our listeners for tuning into today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org, for a consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Speaker 3: Paul would also like to help you restore sanity to your crazy schedule and get your priorities done every day by offering you his free Control My Calendar checklist. Go to www.takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool. Or open a text message to 72000 and type the word growing. Paul Casey: The Tri Cities Influencer Podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.

In this panel, Ellis is joined by several CEO's who have been leading and building businesses for decades. There is well over 100+ years of experience represented. Guests include: Vinnie Fisher, CEO of Fully AccountableJohn Ruhlin, CEO of The Ruhlin Group and author of "Giftology"Jeff Heck, CEO of Monday Night BrewingMike Sharrow, CEO of the C12 GroupNoah Elias, CEO of Noah Studios IncPam Jordan, Profit First ProfessionalJoey Gilkey, CEO of Tribe Outbound You can purchase the full recordings of the KC Summit at kcsummit2020.com

Brandon: "The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers." Ralph Nader. I am Brandon Anderson and I'm a Tri-Cities influencer. Speaker 5: So to be a go-to guy or a go-to girl, you must push through your fear of failure. Introduction: Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington, it's the Tri-Cities Influencer podcast. Welcome to the TCI podcast, where local leadership and self-leadership expert, Paul Casey, interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit executives, to hear how they lead themselves and their teams so we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Introduction: Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services, coaching and equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey: Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Shawn Sant. He is the Franklin County Prosecutor. And when I asked Shawn for something quirky or funny about himself, he had a fun little story that I'm going to let him tell. Shawn Sant: All right, well you asked about a story and I was just thinking of something recently just because the nicer weather coming out and it's bike riding time and I've always enjoyed riding the bike. And on this particular year, this was just a couple of years back, I got a new bike, new pedals, new bike clips, so still kind of getting used to the idea that I'm attached to the bike in a different way, and going for one of my favorite rides along the river on the Pasco side, it was time to take a break. I think I had to grab my phone out or something like that. So, rather than unclip and everything else, there was a nice little road sign along the path so I figured, "Oh this is great. I'll just grab onto that and lean against it." Shawn Sant: Still hooked in with my pedals and then lo and behold, I'm getting ready to go, I went to kind of push away but pushed a little too much and because I hadn't had forward momentum yet, I kind of tipped right on over and I was looking around to see if anybody saw this embarrassing moment, to see if I was going to be on a YouTube channel or whatnot. But anyway, that was my introduction to bike clips. So I was glad, at least, that I fell on the grass side so it wasn't too bad. Other than damaging my pride, I guess, of thinking I was an avid cyclist, so I guess anybody that saw found out otherwise. But maybe others had a worse- Paul Casey: That's awesome. That's awesome. Shawn Sant: So, I'll take the fall in the grass and learn that way. Paul Casey: That's right. That's right. I like bicycling too, but it's very recreational and I haven't taken the plunge with the clips yet. Shawn Sant: Yeah, it was a new experience for me, so. Paul Casey: Well, we'll dive in after checking in with our Tri-Cities Influencer sponsor. Paul Casey: The C12 Group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings, during which 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues biblically. Additionally, members receive a 90-minute personal coaching session each month. Information is available from Tom Walther at (715) 459-9611 or online at C12Easternwa.com. Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Paul Casey: Well, welcome Shawn. I was privileged to meet you, I think it was at a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce event, but I've seen you in the community of many networking things and with some of my other attorney friends and just great to finally get to spend some time with you today. Shawn Sant: Yeah, glad, thanks for the invite. Paul Casey: So our Tri-Cities Influencers can get to know you, take us through some of your past positions and what led you up to what you're doing now? Shawn Sant: Well, I guess going back, even back in high school, I guess, one has an experience with the law of maybe driving a little too fast, as most a young teenage drivers do. So I guess I'd always been kind of having an interest in law enforcement. My grandfather was a retired police officer from Richland back in '69. He was actually a part of the original Richland police force when they transitioned from the Hanford site into an incorporated city in '59, and so I guess it's kind of been in the blood of having that interest, seeing his badges on the wall and things like that from his days as a Richland officer. So, I guess it started with me going for a ride-along with one of the Richland canine officers. And that really kind of got me hooked on what the profession was all about. Shawn Sant: I've always been a social kind of individual. Loved coming in contact with different people, and obviously in law enforcement it's a little different of the types of contacts we would have with people. But that was always something that I liked. I liked the job where every day was different. And so that kind of just caught my interest and I pursued the Reserve Academy at the recommendation of a couple of the officers that I rode with as a ride-along, and that was kind of it. Shawn Sant: You know, in my Reserve Academy class back in '92 I remember several of our participants, they've gone on to long careers and many are still in law enforcement today as full-time law enforcement officers. So that was kind of my start in that interest. It allowed me time to do that part-time as I went through school, working at UPS to get me through at CBC. Shawn Sant: I don't know why they call it a two-year degree because it seemed like I probably spent four or five years working at it between two different jobs. And of course I was trying to put in as much hours as I could. So there was times when I was putting in 40 hours a week with the officers writing on their shifts and getting my hours so I could eventually be qualified to be out on my own. Because once you have so many hours, you kind of progress from a third- to second- and first-class officer. At least that's how they did it at the time. And then once you had had enough hours, your training officer felt you were capable of going out on your own, you could basically do all the things that regular officers would do. Shawn Sant: And so that was a great start for me. That caught an interest and eventually I decided to pursue full-time law enforcement about three-and-a-half years later, hadn't quite finished up my degree yet and got married in '95 and so now I'm just starting a job as a new police officer out in Prosser now and did that for about two-and-a-half years and just decided that I always had that interest in law. I've always enjoyed the courtroom. I've gone to court a couple of times as a law enforcement officer to testify, and I always thought, you know what, I'd like to be the person in the room and being the one kind of directing the show, so to speak. And so that was kind of my thought and I was looking at opportunities of Do I go off to get a four-year degree somewhere. Shawn Sant: I always had been an admirer of many of my colleagues that had served in the military and I thought, you know what, I'm not too old, definitely not the younger of the guys that would go in right out of high school. So I actually got into the Air Force just before my 28th birthday and that was the cutoff. You'd have to get kind of special permission if you get older than that. So, of course, that was a new challenge for me. Now, I'm kind of referred to as Pop's among my young airman that I was with and as a former police officer. So that was kind of going backwards, contrary, I guess, to a lot of other people's job or career progression. Usually they get two or four years in military service out of the way when they're younger. So here I am almost 28 and joining. Shawn Sant: And so that was a great opportunity for me. We really enjoyed it, the family enjoyed it. We had one child at the time, got an opportunity to be deployed overseas a few different places, and I was able to finish up my degree during that time and looked at the possibility of going either to the JAG or something I had a passion for, which was going back to a prosecutor's office. So that worked out. Shawn Sant: So after the military, returned back to Moscow, Idaho, straight out of the military and began law school there in 2001 and that took me through for three years. And then we came back to Pasco and started as a deputy prosecutor in the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office. And so I got to now be in that position of handling all those cases that I had done previously out in the field of being the officer arresting folks for DUI or domestic violence or other felony crimes, and now I got to do that in district court and juvenile court as a young deputy prosecutor. Shawn Sant: So, anyway, I enjoyed that and I was looking for, you know, even in our office today, we don't have a lot of transition, which I think is a good benefit. People enjoy the work that they do for us in the office. And there wasn't a lot of movement and I knew that I needed to gain some experience handling more challenging cases. So I ended up leaving the Prosecutor's Office after a couple of years and went into private practice, and that gave me a great opportunity to be on kind of the other side of things. And I never thought, many of my law enforcement friends that are like, "What, are you crazy? You're a defense attorney now? What are you doing?" Shawn Sant: And it's like, well if you figure it out, it's like we all have an important role. We have an important role to ensure justice. And whether you're on the defense side or the prosecution side, we each have that important responsibility. And that's something I've really enjoyed. And sometimes it's hard to explain to people because they think that you're kind of aligned somehow with the representation of your client. And as anybody knows, if you're representing a client through the divorce process, of course you've got to zealously represent your client's position. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to agree with them philosophically or otherwise, but you have a duty or responsibility to serve them and make sure that they feel that you're giving them 100% to their cause within, of course, the ethical rules and in everything else. Shawn Sant: So to me it was a great opportunity. I was glad I had that opportunity to be on the other side, to be on the defense side. It has its own different challenges, but I enjoyed it. I thought, "Hey this is something I enjoy." I've always kind of taken a passion of meeting people and sometimes you're meeting people that have made a mistake and obviously they violated the law, but in that moment, you're able to kind of sit down and be almost like a counselor. And that's why oftentimes lawyers are referred to as counselors. Shawn Sant: And so I really enjoyed that part of it and that gave me experience representing people that are accused of homicide all the way down to low level DUI cases that I took. And so that just kind of gave me a good well-rounded experience. And you know, I always had wanted to be the prosecutor, to be the elected prosecutor, and I thought, you know what, I know it's kind of early in my law career, but you know what, I'm going to throw my name in, I think I've had a well-rounded experience up to this point. I had been on the law enforcement side, I've been on the defense side, I was a prior DPA and yeah, certainly never would claim that you know everything because the joy about the job is that you constantly get to learn something new. Shawn Sant: And so I decided to run for the elected prosecutor position in 2010 and I thought, "Hey, even if I don't make it, I'm letting people know that this is where my passion is." And at some point I would want to run again, even if I didn't make it in 2010. I was fortunate and blessed to have made it in 2010 and so I took office in 2011 and have been doing that since that time. Shawn Sant: So yeah, it's kind of been a ride with as far as the different experiences and opportunities. As a prosecutor you handle not just the criminal, those are usually the matters that catch up with the media and kind of what most people will follow, but we're also doing a lot of things behind the scenes. We're navigating employment issues, civil claims against the County. We're trying to defend and represent the County on various civil matters as well. We have the risk manager that's in my office and so I work closely with her and trying to navigate and limit risk to the County, which ultimately will protect the taxpayers both with security but also protect their financial interests as well. Shawn Sant: So that's been kind of a joy of continuing to serve in that capacity. So yeah, it's, it's been a great opportunity and I've enjoyed every kind of, I think everything that I've done over my life, from experiences in high school through being a reserve officer, they all kind of built up and given me a unique perspective on society. And I think that's an important part as a role as a prosecutor is being able to kind of understand the big picture. Paul Casey: Yeah. What a fascinating journey and I'm sure along the way you've been able to use your talents, your strengths. I'm a very big strengths-based leadership, kind of coach myself. What would you say are your key strengths that you've used all along the way and how do you use those to help those around you be successful? Shawn Sant: I think one of the things that I really appreciate with the way we do in our office is many times people might think, "Oh, you're the lead prosecutor, so you're really directing." Now certainly I am involved in all of our big cases, but I can't do that alone. I rely on a good team and I think what has worked best for us is empowering the deputies of my office to kind of have ownership of the course of a case. And so if they're working a case, for good or bad, I want them to have that experience along the way as well because that makes us all better attorneys. When you get a fall on the sword, so to speak, if like, you took it in a direction that maybe didn't play out, well, that's kind of a learning lesson. Shawn Sant: So my job of course is to make sure, one, we're doing everything legally and ethically in line and kind of creating a culture of trying to look at kind of a holistic approach for, what are the best ways we could protect our community? What are some of the best ways we could resolve cases? Because we have limited resources, we continue to grow, our population continues to grow, which means our crime rate is dropping because we have more law abiding citizens moving into our community. Right? Shawn Sant: But at the same time when you have more people, that just means necessarily you're going to have more cases. And so the office is busy and so we've had to kind of adopt a different kind of a strategy. And so we've looked at a program that my predecessor started, the Felony Diversion Program, and we kind of took it to a new level of trying to put a priority for when first time felony offenders as an adult when they come through, if it's a non-violent offense, non-sex offense, we're looking to really question what's the reason why this case should not go to that Felony Diversion Program? Shawn Sant: And I wanted to do a study to kind of evaluate is this an effective program? And so we pulled statistics from 2011 to 2017 to see how effective this program is. And what we found is that 84% of those individuals completing the program, they remained crime-free. So to me, I thought that was a great statistic. As I think what it does is it just like, I try to empower my individual deputies that are handling a case to have that ownership. If you put that kind of ownership on defendants, yeah, they're an adult, they're 18, but we all know, I mean I was 18 when I was still a senior in high school, and I know for certain I was not an adult by the means that you would think of as a mature individual, right? Paul Casey: Brain's not fully developed yet. Shawn Sant: Absolutely. And so I recognize that, there's been a lot of studies, I know a lot of the defense started doing that, but even prosecutors recognize that individuals, especially males probably that are 18 to 25, the males still lead the criminal majority, those committing crimes are males age 15 to 24, so that's still a very large age bracket. You've still got kids and you have kids transitioning to adulthood. Shawn Sant: So what we want to do is we want to be able to catch those individuals that may not have had an opportunity through the juvenile court system that is focused on rehabilitation or counseling and give those individuals an opportunity. If they got a first time felony offense, let's say someone did something stupid, went to Walmart thought it was a good idea to walk out with a big screen TV because it was super bowl weekend and they thought they could get away with it, but they didn't. And so now we got to figure out, well, let's see, what can we do? If we charge them with a felony, maybe they lose their job, maybe if they have a young family, now the person that's working is no longer able to provide for the family. And so what are the kind of the consequential impacts that really harms us as a society? Shawn Sant: So we tried to look at that and figure out that, you know what, that Felony Diversion Program can really fill a void that I think we have in the criminal justice system. So it gives the accountability, that ownership, back on the individual because at that point, if they are entered into the program, they have to pay back restitution in a shortened timeframe. In the traditional model, if someone steals something like $2,000, $3,000, they might only pay $25, $50 a month, if that, depending on the circumstances afterwards. Shawn Sant: But if they want to get the benefit of having this felony charge dropped through our district court in the Felony Diversion Program, they have to fully pay back the victim for restitution. So it's a good win for victims. They're getting their value in a much quicker manner, especially if we're talking about property crimes. It also puts the onus back on the individual, the one that found themselves in the predicament that they are. Because let's face it, it's not easy going through the court system. They're going to have to take time off from work. They're going to have to sacrifice time away from the kids. They're going to have to do a community service hours. They're going to have to give back to the community with their time. And I think that's essential and hopefully it reinforces the message that, "Hey, you screwed this up and only you can have ownership if you want to see this case go away." Shawn Sant: So I think that's been very successful with that 84% number. We continue to see individuals go through that program and so that's something that everybody in our office now has kind of from that culture mindset of, well, can we adjust our workloads, can we take resources out of the superior court and resolve these cases in our Felony Diversion Program. That saves the taxpayer money as well because it's a cheaper process. Still takes this same lawyering time, but it's a cheaper process rather than going through the trial process through superior court. Paul Casey: Yeah. It's so creative. What a creative program to get at the heart of the issue and realize the volume is bigger of people, the community impact taking in all the views of who's affected by these crimes, but keeping the ownership on the person who made the bad choice, and that's good. Shawn Sant: Yeah. We hope they learn that lesson and hopefully that first offense is the last offense as well. Paul Casey: Yeah, they're getting a second chance, which is really awesome and it's cool that many have learned their lesson as a result of that and go crime-free. I love how you also said about how you empower your deputies and you're the upfront guy, but all this work is getting done behind you making you look good, so to speak, up front and to really, you know, you must have a lot of trust in your team. Shawn Sant: And that's one of the things, and I guess that's kind of the challenge for me is because I really like to meet with my deputies. You know, I'll walk down the hall and I'll drop in because each of them has their own unique workload or cases that they're working. And I like just kind of brainstorming, you know, "Hey, how's it going on this case? Do we need to look at something different as we prepare", where we know we have a trial coming up, it's like, "Okay, let's now talk." And it's not just me, it'll be my criminal chief, we'll be doing the same thing. Or sometimes we have a meeting where I'm calling everybody, "Hey, conference room, we need to discuss a brand new case and kind of brainstorm because we have some time sensitive issues." Shawn Sant: So I really like that part and I really like making sure everybody feels that they're contributing, because really they are, it's something that they feel like they're doing, it's actually an active and interactive process. And I enjoy that. You know, we're a small office, there's 26 of us in the office, and you know, just working together like that, it really builds good relationships. And I think that's one of the things that, even when I was there as a deputy, we didn't have a lot of people leaving. I think they enjoy that kind of work. Yes, you could make more money on the side in the civil world. But I think it's the commitment to public service that every individual, including our staff members, that they have a little bit of that pride of making a difference in the community that we live in. And I think that's why it's a great place to work. Paul Casey: Yeah. The purpose is that's their big "why" for coming to work every day. And it's the ultimate in serving your community is awesome. And also, they say the key to engagement is connecting to that big purpose and feeling like you're contributing. And you've got both of those things working with your staff. Paul Casey: Well, hey, before we dive in and find out what some of Shawn's life hacks are to make him a success, let's check in with our Tri-Cities Influencer sponsor. Paul Casey: If you could trade one day each month for targeted application of biblical business practices, purposeful accountability and Godly pure counsel, would you consider it a wise investment? The C12 Group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings where 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues. Biblically information is available from Tom Walther at (715) 459-9611 or online at C12Easternwa.com. Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Paul Casey: So Shawn, what are some of a few of your life hacks that you do on a day-to-day basis to keep you successful? Shawn Sant: Yeah, that's a tough one, because when I think of life hacks, I think of hack on a computer, you know, what's the hack on a computer and how does that relate to a hack in life? But no, I think really what the driving force behind that is, how can we be successful in the workplace, especially in the work environment that we are in? We're dealing with some very stressful and kind of dire situations, especially when you get into crimes involving children. That's extremely stressful on our people. And one of the things that I got to say was a great, you know, just kind of the culture that we have in the office. Shawn Sant: I've always invited people to propose ideas and one of our ideas that was proposed by a staff member, she's our crime victim witness coordinator and she got involved with using the Go Team Therapy dogs. And so that was a great opportunity for me a few years back to kind of become acquainted with that and we eventually were able to get approval to have them be associated essentially with our office where they will come in when we have young children that have been victims of crimes and these dogs are great. They just bring relaxation to a person, especially young people. But honestly, sometimes when they come into the office it's good for the attorneys because they kind of get to relax a little bit as well. It's kind of therapy for my employees. Paul Casey: You've got to post that on social media, the attorney's petting the dogs, that would be awesome. Shawn Sant: I'll tell you that because some of the attorneys have actually said, "Hey, can we have these dogs come into the office?" You know, because they're going through some stressful cases and you know, it does bring a joy and you know what, if it could bring joy to us and kind of release our stress, think about the stresses that are on our young victims especially. So we found some great success. Shawn Sant: There are people that didn't really want to talk about what a tragedy had happened to them as they have to share and almost relive that trauma again as we're preparing for trial. But they've been able to do that with the assistance of a therapy dog. The Go Team dogs are great, they're very calm. I've never seen the variety of different dogs that just had their own personalities, just like we as people have different personalities, but each one of them just is able to bring in some relaxation and comfort to these victims. Shawn Sant: And so again, I think about a life hack, I'm like, you know what, that was a great opportunity because someone proposed that in the office and we wanted to make sure that we made sure we ran through with our risk management and made sure that we're not doing anything to jeopardize the health and safety of our people or the people that would be coming to visit our office. And we got through approval with that. So we're grateful that the commissioners approved them being able to be a part of that program within our office. And it's just been a great opportunity. And to me, I think that's been really a great life hack because, frankly, I can't think of a better way to relieve stress than having the dogs visit the work day. Shawn Sant: You know, during the work day, it's kind of hard because you're going through cases. But as soon as you hear the leash or the collar kind of rattle, you know, everybody likes to get up from their work and come greet the dogs. Paul Casey: So they had the recent, I went to the National Speakers Association Conference last year and they had a pet, the local adoption agency came and brought these dogs that we could just take a pet break. And it was awesome in the middle of a long day of listening to seminars to pet the dogs. I really loved that. That's very cool. Paul Casey: So who influences you? How do you keep growing yourself outside the courtroom? Who do you surround yourself with, whether that's afar, through books or videos or mentors, who influences you? Shawn Sant: You know, I think a lot of people. I mean I like to interact with a lot of different groups. I'm a member of the local Kiwanis Club in Pasco, I am a member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Pasco Chamber of Commerce, Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce. You know, going to these different functions, you get to interact with a lot of professionals. People I look up to and I think, you know, I can't put a finger on any one of our local leaders, but I really think and believe that all of us, whether you're a kind of an elected leader or in a prominent position in your work life, I really think it's just the everyday interactions with all of us together. I think everybody has something to offer and I think that gives me a positive outlook every day that I go to my a job. Shawn Sant: You could really think that it could be a very depressing work dealing with some of the things. But I think when you look at it of looking around and seeing young families raising kids and thinking about, hey, what are the challenges that they're going through now compared to when we were raising our young family in the 90s, and you know, our kids didn't grow up with a cell phone in their hand and knowing how to play games on a phone under the age of one years old. You know, they learned that later, but it's just a very different environment. So I think one of the things I've enjoyed doing is I love our local libraries. The Mid-Columbia Library has a great app on there for listening to books. And sometimes I find myself where if I don't have the time to have a book, a physical book in front of me, I could be able to, if I'm traveling for work or other things, I can listen to an audio book. And there's some great audio books out there. Shawn Sant: I like listening to some of the historic stories. I typically like more accounts on the nonfiction side, the history that maybe I didn't know enough about. One of my favorite books was from Adam Makos, A Higher Call, about World War II pilots, a German pilot that encountered a downed B-17 aircraft and just was wondering how can that plane fly because the way it was damaged, it shouldn't fly. And of course, you know, as a private pilot myself, I was interested in anything revolving around aviation. Shawn Sant: But that book just kind of inspired me because what it really showed us is that you think about how horrific World War II was, it talks about the reality that hey, these Germans were fighting for what they believed in or for their country. The Americans were trying to fight to liberate Europe and fighting for their cause. But deep down we were all the same. We all had families, people sacrificed and lost loved ones on both sides. And I think that book just kind of brought that reality of how we could look at life better today of realizing that hey, despite the political differences we may have, can't we all just get along and sit down and discuss like we used to. Shawn Sant: It seems the opportunities where people used to go and have coffee or breakfast at their favorite breakfast spot and being able to sit down and even they could believe different perspectives on politics or whatever, they could talk issues out. And I think those are the circumstances I enjoy. I like meeting with people on different perspectives because I find I walk away from that learning something new or recognizing, you know, I haven't thought about that before but that's really important to consider, thank you. Shawn Sant: Because I think all of that helps build up what my resources are now as in my job it's like, okay, I have that perspective now I realize this is not just a cut and dry, this is one side. Because I've learned from being on both sides of a case representing defendants as well as being on the prosecution side, there's always two sides. Let's make sure that we hear both sides out and maybe we can resolve things by meeting somewhere in that Venn diagram. You know, that little spot in the middle where each side has to give something up, but still walk away with the best interest of all parties. And I always believe in trying to look for that win-win. Paul Casey: Yeah, seeking to understand before being understood. I love this concept of respectful dialogue, for sure. Paul Casey: Well finally, Shawn, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone that wants to keep growing and gaining more influence? Shawn Sant: I guess just looking at what I think has worked well with our office or from my observations, because that's one of the things I really enjoy. You know, not just interacting with people but kind of observing what are successful businesses doing that really empower people. And I think it's really giving that ownership or giving that responsibility. So, regardless of what kind of position someone does, recognizing that hey, you're part of this team. I mean if you're running a big office building, let's say if it's Amazon in Seattle, you know from the person that's cleaning the building, they're a part of making that organization successful. Shawn Sant: And I think looking at our office too, we don't really have, yes we all have our different responsibilities, but we really are all dependent on each other to really succeed. And I think we have that great relationship and I think that's something always to remember is no matter what position you are in the company, if you're not able to empower people from, I guess your more entry level positions, because I've always looked at it as, if people get opportunities to go to another job, if I could say, "Hey, I hope that I've given them some opportunities or experiences while they were here with us for a short time that it allowed them to succeed elsewhere", to me, I think that's great. Shawn Sant: It's kind of like I think being a teacher. I think teaching has got to be one of the most rewarding professions for that reason because they are doing something to share their knowledge, share their wisdom, and teach and inspire kids, and then they get to see those kids many years later doing whatever. Paul Casey: And to be part of the journey, right? Shawn Sant: Yes, they were part of that. I think as long as we can make sure that regardless of what profession you're in, if you could just make sure that you treat everybody as an equal opportunity to succeed, regardless of that position in the company, I think that'll make that person successful. Paul Casey: Yes. So Tri-Cities influencers add value at whatever stage of the journey you interact with people so that they can be better and you've left just a little imprint on their life. So Shawn, how can our listeners best connect with you? Shawn Sant: Well, I'm on Facebook. That seems to be a great way to connect or LinkedIn, the two primary, it seems like for a business folks, always at my office, I'm pretty transparent. I have my contact information there. If people want to reach out or have a question on a case or kind of an idea that they have for criminal justice reform. I've always been open and I've always met, even with people that have been upset with me at times, but we've been able to walk away in the end and realize I think have an appreciation for each other's viewpoints at the end of the day and that's something that I think, again, is a part of the successful part of being a successful leader is being able to hear those that don't necessarily agree with you and see what you can learn from that. Paul Casey: Well, thanks again for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a great place and keep leading well. Shawn Sant: Thank you very much. Paul Casey: Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend, and it's my Leader Launcher Program. Leader Launcher is for young professionals and emerging leaders here in the Tri-Cities who really are motivated to take their leadership to the next level. You may not have that leadership position yet or maybe it's a mid-level manager position, but you want to go to that next level. It's a two-hour seminar on leadership once a month and then two weeks later there's a mastermind group with people from other industries to get together and find out how to apply that teaching to your day-to-day job. Paul Casey: Also, you set some goals and keep each other accountable and we're forming a little community here in the Tri-Cities, so you go to leader-launcher.com, leader-launcher.com. We'd love to have you as part of the tribe, and again, we meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays. Paul Casey: Again, this is Paul Casey. I want to thank my guest, Shawn Sant from the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office for being here today on the Tri-Cities Influencer podcast. We also want to thank our TCI sponsors and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible so that we can collaborate and help inspire leaders in our community. Paul Casey: Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence. It's Ralph Marston and he says, "Excellence is not a skill, it's an attitude." Paul Casey: Until next time, KGF, Keep Growing Forward. Introduction: Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams, so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. Introduction: If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org, for consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Introduction: Paul would also like to help you restore sanity to your crazy schedule and get your priorities done every day by offering you his free Control My Calendar Checklist. Go to www.takebackmycalender.com for that productivity tool, or open a text message to 72000 and type the word "growing". Speaker 6: Tri-Cities Influencer podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.  

Richa Sigdel: The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken. I'm Richa Sigdel and I am a Tri-City Influencer. Paul Casey: One definition of multitasking is messing up two things at once. I love that definition. Speaker 3: Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington, it's Tri-City Influencer Podcast. Welcome to the TCI podcast, where local leadership and self-leadership expert talk Paul Casey interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs and nonprofit executives to hear how they lead themselves and their teams so we can all benefit from their wisdom and... Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services, coaching and equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey: Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Will Wang. He is the president of HFG and it's a financial company that I've been using for many years. My financial planner is Bob Lagonegro. Hi, Bob. Paul Casey: Hey, so I asked Will what is a funny story that he could share and I usually like to retell it, but it's so funny that I think he should tell it. Will, tell us the story. Will Wang: Yeah, thanks for having me, Paul. The story I shared and I think it's kind of quirky because I don't think anyone else in the world typically does this is that I keep all my suit jackets in my office. And I have all my ties laid out and they sit on a cupboard that pretty much opens up and everybody can see it. I wear the same pair of pants and white shirt every morning. It makes it easy to pick what to wear and I just switch out a blazer when I get into work. Well, what's kind of happened over time is people have started raiding my wardrobe at work and I see some of my coworkers wearing my ties and my jackets, and so it's become a communal wardrobe at this point in time. But I would say that's probably the weirdest thing about me is I share clothes with my coworkers. Paul Casey: That's an awesome story. Well, we'll dive into this interview after checking in with our Tri-City Influencer sponsors. Paul Casey: The C12 Group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings during which 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues biblically. Additionally, members receive a 90-minute personal coaching session each month. Information is available from Tom Walther at (715) 459-9611 or online at c12easternwa.com. Paul Casey: Thank you for your supportive leadership development in the Tri-cities. Well, welcome, Will, we're trying to think about when I was privileged to meet you and it was maybe seven or eight years ago, I was doing an event. It was called The Edge, and Preston House and I were doing that. We combined pizza with professional development and the topic of the day was sales and marketing. And you were there, I think your wife might've been there too because- Will Wang: Yep, she was. Paul Casey: ... It was with Mustang Signs. And so it's been great to watch you over the years as you have become a Tri-City Influencer. Will Wang: Yeah. Well, getting there, getting there. I think it's impressive to see how you've grown, Paul, during that time. Because I think when we first saw you, that was when you first started the speaking circuit. Paul Casey: It's true. Will Wang: And look how far you've come. Paul Casey: It's true. I had a day job and I had the dream job, developing off to side. Will Wang: Yeah, that's right. Paul Casey: And then 2015 is when I launched full-time. Will Wang: Yes. Paul Casey: Yes. Thank you. So that our Tri-City Influencers can get to know you, take us through your past positions that led up to what you're doing now. Will Wang: Yeah, it's kind of funny because I don't think most people that reach a pinnacle in their career and become an influencer typically go into it thinking that that's what they'll end up doing. I had a relatively modest background. I mean, I graduated in a corporate finance degree. Thought I'd work for a big firm in a big city and, and just be one of the cogs in the wheel. And I was fortunate enough to meet a mentor here in the Tri-Cities by the name of Ty Haberling that really took me under his wing and gave me an opportunity to see what it would be like to work in a smaller firm and to wear more hats than just one. Will Wang: And so as I kind of came through the ranks, I started off as an associate financial planner. And then after I acquired my certified financial planner designation, became a full-time advisor. But I did feel like there was always this itch of doing something more or different than just being an advisor with one client at a time. I came to realize that what I really enjoyed was entrepreneurial, team building and working with others. And so frankly, watching others succeed was a little bit more rewarding than finding success for myself. And so those were, I guess, the leading paths that that led to being president of the Wolf Management Company. Will Wang: One of the big passions I had growing up was coaching. And so I coach high school basketball right now. And being a financial advisor was coaching, but it was coaching people at an individual, one-on-one level. Running a business was like coaching as a team level. You have team goals. And so I think that probably had a bigger influence on my ability to do what I'm doing today and also the desire to do what I'm doing. Paul Casey: I love that Ty saw something in you and took you under his wing. That story has been replayed many times on this podcast where there was that mentor that just saw something. I mean, I could think of the mentor in my own life when I was a fifth grade teacher. That's what I started out as, and my principal said, "Paul, I want you to be my vice principal." And I just went, "No way." Will Wang: And that changed your life. Paul Casey: It did because I thought, it's these 24 students, which of course was extremely powerful. But if I could have influence over 525 kids- Will Wang: Oh, absolutely. Paul Casey: And that sounds like that was the same journey you are on. You said you wanted something more. And so what else did you get from coaching that you bring right over to being the leader of a business? Will Wang: Yeah, I think when it comes to coaching, and keep in mind, I coach 16, 17-year-old children, so I still call them children because I don't think they behave like anything other than- Paul Casey: Brains haven't fully developed yet. Will Wang: And I coach boys so you know that's the case. I think it's three really important strengths, and I don't know if there are strengths that were developed over time or if there are ones that came naturally, so I haven't identified that yet. But I think one, it's the ability to not dwell on problems. And so being very solution-driven. When you're in a basketball game, you get a split second and a time out to go and make a call, and you have to make it. You don't have time to dwell on what could be or couldn't be. It forces you to make decisions quickly. I think the ability to be solution-driven I guess helps people move on and live in positivity than negativity. Paul Casey: Oh, that's so good. Will Wang: The second one would be clear instructions. It's really difficult to tell 16-year-old kids how to do things if you're not clear. And so it was very straightforward instructions to say I need you to be there, at this time and I want you to do this; and I don't tell him to do anything else. Will Wang: And so that helps in many ways because what I see a lot of businesses struggle with, with leadership, it's they know in their mind what they want, but they don't communicate it well to their team. And then their team find it very frustrating because they'd given it everything they can, but they still can't figure it out. And so that disconnect, I think, often leads to problems for businesses. I think that's been helpful for me in my role. Will Wang: And then the last one would be just the ability to know strengths and weaknesses of each person or at least attempt to find that, and then you put people in the best position to be successful. And so those three things I think are things that have really bode well for me. I don't think I've mastered them, but they're ones that I think suit that job well. Paul Casey: Yeah, so Tri-City influencers, we'll just share it being solution-focused, being forward-focused, not languishing in the past. Now we're going to call this timeout. The past is the past, let's move forward. Then giving those clear instructions, being articulate, casting vision so that everybody picks up what your laying down. Those are really excellent. Will Wang: So important. Paul Casey: And then finding the sweet spot for everybody and trying to put them in that sweet spot for as much of their day as possible. That's good stuff. Speaking of that at work, what's your sweet spot? What are your talents? What are your strengths? How do you use those in your president role to keep those around you successful? Will Wang: Yeah. I think what I'm starting to notice, I've been doing this role for about a handful of years... In the past, it used to be focused on, What do I need to do to get the day done and what do I need to do to be successful? The shift has really been away from What do I need to do, to What does the team need to do to reach their goals? Will Wang: And so I've tried to be really simple, simplistic in my approach. I just have, at least with my senior management team, a very simple spreadsheet that tracks all of our major projects, and then we prioritize them. And we review them every month to say, Are we making leeway on these projects? Are we progressing? And all of them have due dates. I guess if anything I've changed, it's trying not to chomp off everything at one time, but just being really basic and simplistic. Will Wang: And I think the team has appreciated that because it clarifies to them what their priorities are. And most people struggle with that because there are so many things for them to do. And so that was one strength I think that has really translated in this role every day. That happens once a month, and outside of that I try to focus on the projects that I'm responsible for so that when we have those meetings I have something of value to add to the table. I'm leading by example, and those are the things that I think are important each day for a leader. Paul Casey: Those are so good because that will work for everybody. If you're a solo entrepreneur by yourself at home, or a president of a company or you're a middle manager and you've got a department in charge of, is to figure out what those major projects are, prioritize them, which is hard because it looks overwhelming when you look at everything at once, put the due dates beside them, put the people's names beside them because- Will Wang: Oh, absolutely. Who they're assigned too, yeah. Paul Casey: If everybody's in charge, nobody's in charge, right? Will Wang: You nailed it. Paul Casey: And then have that monthly check in to say, "Well, how are we tracking on this?" And then you as the leader trying to model the way by saying, "I've got to take care of my stuff." Will Wang: Yeah. And it doesn't matter if you're in a finance business or you're in construction or signs or you're in the medical field, I think all of us have projects that are either working on the business or in the business, and they need to get done, and I think prioritizing those are a big deal. Most of us don't really even get around to the projects that are working on the business. Paul Casey: Yeah. Will Wang: And that's unfortunate. Paul Casey: And you mentioned in the business and on the business, just for our listeners that may not be familiar with that terminology, what does that mean to you? Will Wang: Yeah, so working on the business to me would be things that grow the business forward. Things that allow you as either executive management or an owner to remove responsibilities off your plate. At the end of the day, you look at what you're trying to accomplish, and these big picture things help you get closer to those goals. Will Wang: In the business, it's things to keep the building open and keep, keep the doors open, keep the lights on, pay rent. That means taking care of your customers. If you own a sign company, it's making signs. That would be working in the business. If you're in sales, making sales. That would be in the business. Will Wang: But working on the business would be maybe working on the systems and processes to make your team more efficient in the sales. Very different problems. Some are a little easier to do. Others require a little bit more strategic planning, brainstorming and things like that. Paul Casey: Where do you see a lot of business leaders... Which one do they forsake quicker? Which one do they not give enough attention, from what your observation is? In or on? Will Wang: Yeah. Well, and I can speak from experience because we own a couple of businesses and I think we've made these mistakes. But when you first are involved in a business, I mean, you'll look at a carpenter for example. They become a great carpenter and their client base grows. They start hiring new people. Well, they didn't change their skill set. Their skill set was to build. And so naturally that's where they go to when they're unsure of what to do. Paul Casey: The technician role. Will Wang: The technician role. And so I would say people typically forsake the on the business side because that's not what you started in the business to do. Now, publicly traded companies can get away with it. They go out of their way to find a professional executive manager. Small businesses, you can't do that. You can't pay rent, you can't pay utilities if someone's there telling everyone else what to do, but you have no one to tell that to. I think that's the biggest pitfall. And the ones that are successful can shift from technician to management or on the business, as you say, over time. Paul Casey: That's good stuff. Will Wang: So hard to do though. Paul Casey: It is. Will Wang: So hard. Paul Casey: On the flip side, what are one of your biggest liabilities? How do you mitigate that weakness so it doesn't limit your influence? Will Wang: If you ask my team, they'd say there's a lot. I probably couldn't narrow- Paul Casey: You get to pick one. Will Wang: I get to pick one. We'll focus on one. I would say, I mean, what's become evident to me, the biggest weakness is just the lack of patience, and the reason I highlight that one is because it does trickle down to a lot of other weaknesses that might come about but lack of patience. And so that often means letting investments come to fruition. That could be a downside to being lack of patience. Will Wang: Being a good listener. When you're not patient, you tend to listen to respond, but only- Paul Casey: Yeah, about 15 words and then you're done. Will Wang: You're done. The minds gone. I'm already thinking about ways I can tell them why they're wrong, and that has not bode well in this role. And so I think lack of patience definitely has been the biggest learning experience for me. Paul Casey: Yes, we can all work on our listening. Somebody said the best ratio is 80% listening, 20% talking. If you're flipped on that, it may be a good thing to work on for today. Will Wang: That would be being kind to me right now if you said the flip on that. But sure, yeah, I would agree. Paul Casey: Well, in your opinion, Will, what's the most difficult part of team or business leadership? Will Wang: Well, certainly, I think there are numerous. But if I had to pick one, and I think similar to the patience thing, it trickles from this is the ability to forget your own agenda and your self-interest. I think when they talk about being in these positions... And I can't remember who said it right now. I'm trying to remember whether it was Charlie Munger, and most people don't know who Charlie is. Paul Casey: I've heard of that name. Will Wang: Charlie- Paul Casey: John Maxwell talks about him. Will Wang: Yeah, John Maxwell talks about him. That's Warren Buffet's right-hand man, and they've been part of Berkshire Hathaway for at least three or four decades. He talks about leadership as a position of service. And that if you're not willing to give up that position because you're not the right fit for it, then you're really not fit to hold that post. Will Wang: And so I think forgetting yourself is the hardest thing because it's human nature to look out for self-interest. I mean, we're survivalist. I mean, you think about why all of these animals and species have been extinct and human beings have survived because we're survivalist by nature. And to tell someone, listen, you're going to have to put your own interest aside for others, it's very difficult. And so that's what I think is the most difficult part. Will Wang: Now, if you do that well, everything else takes care of itself because you'll make decisions in other's people's best interest. People want to follow you. You will be scalable, you'll be efficient. And so those things are, I think, all trickled down from being selfless. Paul Casey: And that's good because it is moving from that technician to the leadership mentality and there is a big difference. I heard it said that, "Are people are there to get the work done or is it work is there to get the people done?" I can't remember who quoted that, but a leader thinks that second line, Work is there to get the people done. It's people development, facilitating their growth, removing obstacles that are in their path so that they can get their stuff done. Paul Casey: I also love the quote, "Your people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." How do you show your people at HFG, both your team and the clients there, that you value them as people? Will Wang: Yeah, and that's a really tough question just from the standpoint that I think different people feel valued by different languages or different things. I'm sure people have read The Five Love Languages and everybody receives them a little differently. But I'll maybe give something to the audience that I think has allowed us to have one-on-one connection. And that's what we call... We've instituted over the last couple of years, an employee development meeting. And that meeting is once a month or once a quarter. However way you want to do it. You probably don't want to go a year because that's a long time. Will Wang: But that meeting is set aside to let the employee tell you what they think you could do to help them. It's not a performance feedback mechanism. And so this EDM or employee development meeting, you give them a chance to talk, you give them a chance to tell them what they enjoy about their job, what they wish the company could do better. And I think that's the beginning phase of listening, which always makes people feel valued. Will Wang: The second one, I think, and this one is a little bit more difficult because, one, it could be systemized. This one's a little bit harder. The ability to be able to read people and understand that they want one-on-one time and they want something, they need something from you or they want to be thought of. And so we'll have employees that they might have had a tough week, and so you'll leave them something small on their desk that says, "Hey, thinking of you. Appreciate what you did last week. Here's a $10 coffee gift card." Those small things are, I think it's more to do with less than $10 that you gave them, but the fact that you thought about them and you recognized them. Paul Casey: That's right. That's right. Will Wang: That one's hard though because it requires you to be really observant, and most of us are not. We're so focused on ourselves. And if you're selfless enough to recognize how important your team is, I think those opportunities will become more evident to you as you go. Paul Casey: That's so good. You brought the up book, The Five Love Languages, which is a classic, and I think it was written in the late 90s, but it's still relevant today. And then the author Chapman, he came up for the business version of that, since you can't do physical touch in the work place where there will be a little HR violation. Will Wang: That's right. Paul Casey: But he came up a book called The Five Languages of Appreciation at Work, which would be another book to recommend. Because sometimes, yeah, like you said, people need that face time. Other people, they don't... Like "Boss, just stay in your office. But once in a while, give me that thoughtful gift or that word of appreciation, that kudos email. That's all I need from you to say that I'm doing a good job." Paul Casey: But I love that employee development, meaning that EDM, which is sort of that check-in to make people feel heard. And also it could actually be used to cast vision, again. Will Wang: Yes, absolutely. Paul Casey: And to re-up their passion at work. Will Wang: And one thing we notice that doesn't add too much value is, obviously, financial, monetary bonuses. I mean, every company thinks... Parents do it with their children. I don't spend enough time with them so I'm going to throw gifts at them. I'm going to throw money at them. And those are all momentary. I mean, we've seen those. Those make someone happy for a month and then after that they long for some other connection. And so, obviously, businesses give bonuses when they do well, but we've had to deep seek for more of an emotional connection than just an annual bonus. Paul Casey: That's so good, so good. Will Wang: Yeah. Paul Casey: Well before we head into our next question on some life hacks that Will uses to be successful, a shout out to our sponsors. Paul Casey: If you could trade one day each month for targeted application of biblical business practices, purposeful accountability and godly pure counsel, would you consider it a wise investment? The C12 Group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings where 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues biblically. Information is available from Tom Walther at (715) 459-9611 or online at c12easternwa.com. Paul Casey: Will, what are a few of your life hacks that help you to be successful on a daily basis? Will Wang: Yeah. I was trying to think about this and I saw a YouTube video of all these hacks and I'm like, "Wow, they're so intelligent. How do they take that paperclip and turn it into this juicer or something." Paul Casey: MacGyver. Will Wang: Sadly, I don't have anything that miraculous, but I did feel like one of the reasons that I've been successful in this position is that I treat my home life the same way I treat my professional schedule. And what I mean by that is at the beginning of every day, regardless if it's Monday or Saturday, I have it planned out from the minute I wake up to the minute I'm in bed, and they're all slotted. And because I'm very focused on not wasting time, there are almost something scheduled by the hour, even on a weekend. I don't know if that's a hack, but it's a mindset I think I've had to allow me to be productive, not just Monday through Friday but Saturday through Sunday. Will Wang: And sometimes those productivity has nothing to do with work. It's productive with the kids- Paul Casey: Rest. Will Wang: With rest. I might say, eight to ten is coffee, breakfast and, and reading time. And then 10 to 12, I'm going to the gym; and then 12 to two, that's kid time. I'm not scheduling every minute with kids, but that time is set aside for the kids. And so that allows me to structure the day so I get all those things done. Try not to look back at the end of the day and say, "Wow, I only accomplished one of the six things I wanted to do." Paul Casey: Boy, you're a man after my own heart. That's focused blocks of time. One author calls it FBOTS, focused blocks of time. Will Wang: That's a good way to put it. Paul Casey: That's how I live my life, too, with these blocks. I've been appearing on some national podcasts and talking time management with a lot of them. And I've gotten a question a couple of times now like, "Wow, that seems a little oppressive having so many time blocks." But I like how you said the block is there to put your priority in. I've got date night with my wife. Or I went out to Target with my daughter last night because she's a teenager and so that's a cool date with a teenage girl. But it's unstructured within the block, so it still feels like this isn't a checkoff on your list. Will Wang: No, absolutely not. I think it's not a checkoff. In fact, it's the opposite. It's that it's so important and it deserves a time on your calendar. You should not miss it. And for those out there that are married, date night with your wife is one of those. Paul Casey: When's your next one, Tri-City Influencers? That's right. Paul Casey: Well, decision making and leadership is huge too, so what process do you use to think through a decision before making it, just generically? Will Wang: Yeah, I think we always... I mean, and this has been something that I think has been learned over time just from wasting so much time on things that maybe didn't have a significant impact, but it's always coming back to your goals. What are you trying to accomplish? Any decision we make, and I try to do it even with personal life, it's a little harder sometimes, is we look back at all these projects and priorities and we say, "Okay, we've talked about this subject for quite some time. What are we trying to accomplish?" And it's almost like every single time someone asks that question in the meeting room, it just becomes so obvious. And so these problem-solving things, it's just reminding yourself, why did we get into this discussion in the first place? And when you focus on that goal, I think a lot of the solutions or options weed themselves out. Paul Casey: Yeah. It's like the big why. We got to get back to the why. Will Wang: Yeah, the why. Paul Casey: I used to be on a staff with a guy, who when he would start the meeting he always goes, "So what's the purpose of this meeting?" He would say that every single time. We started rolling our eyes after a while because we knew the question was coming. But it was so good because it made us do, what you said, what are we trying to accomplish? Will Wang: It centers everybody. Paul Casey: Yeah. Instead of a languishing again. And we've all been in those meetings that it's just a spiral. They just keep saying the same thing over. Nobody's changing anybody's mind. Will Wang: No. Paul Casey: But this brings you back to center, and then it becomes obvious. Will Wang: And I think it ties very closely and I think it's become more important as the business has gotten bigger. Paul Casey: I bet. Will Wang: When we were running Mustang Signs and we had a sign shop, and it was me and my wife and my mother-in-law, it was no problem. I mean, there were no goals and objective because the only one person made the decision. No problem. Will Wang: As your business grows, and at HFG today we've got about 24. At Community First Bank, we're at 110. It takes a lot of collaboration and buy-in. The goal allows people to buy in. And so the alternative to that is you don't listen to your people, and I don't think anyone wants to do that. As your company grows, I think that's been a really useful tool. Paul Casey: Yep. Who influences you, Will? Who do you surround yourself with to keep growing yourself, whether those are live people or people from afar, maybe through podcasts or books or other mentors? Will Wang: Yeah. Well, on the book thing, I haven't been a big reader. I know you are, and that's funny. Every time I name a book, you're like, "I remember that one." And I'm sure if we reversed roles, I would say, "Wow, we've already maxed out my list." But I'm trying to be, and so I'm starting to listen to audible and I'm getting these books online, and I can just listen to them on a drive and things like that. I'm trying to be a better reader. Will Wang: But my biggest influences, I think, are names that a lot of people know. I think Warren Buffet has been a huge influence on me primarily because of my industry, obviously. But his mindset, him and Charlie both, I think they both deserve credit on business as a whole. How do you value a business? How to invest? How do you value people, employees and develop? I really do value the two of them. And they both in their 90s. It's amazing that they're still as fresh as they are. Those two have been big influences. Will Wang: I think Simon Sinek has been a huge benefit for me. I've only, relatively new, come across him, but he's three books have been phenomenal. The most recent one, The Infinite Game, for business owners, I'm sure you've read it, is phenomenal. His first book was What's Your Why. Paul Casey: It Starts with Why. Yes. Will Wang: It Starts with Why. Paul Casey: It's a classic now. Will Wang: That was one of the big aha moments for me was when I read that book, and then now The Infinite Game has been a big one. Those two from afar, I think have been quiet mentors or heroes. Will Wang: And then my wife, and I would say my mentor Ty Haberling, those are the two I would say are the closest primarily because I see them operate every day. They don't take shortcuts, they work their tail off, they put other people first and they have a vision. And I think those are the things that I think all leaders have. I think those are the ones that probably impact me the most. Will Wang: And there are so many out there. Yourself, watching you grow as you've come along. You mentioned Preston House, who was a big part of Papa John's, what he's done and grown. There's a lot of them, but those are my favorite ones for sure. Paul Casey: Yeah, it's really critical, Tri-City Influencers, to have that personal board of directors, whoever that is. Some can be afar, some could be close. I invited a new person on my personal board. I just did it very informally. I said, "Hey, every time we get together you give me great ideas and give me great feedback. I've actually implemented some of them and they're working. I would like an hour of your time every month." Paul Casey: And he said, "Hey, if you'll do the same for me, it's a deal." And so I just got this joy in my heart yesterday to think that I'm going to get to spend 12 hours with this guy this year and he's going to help my business grow. Will Wang: I think going on this subject, I think all successful people need to have two types of people in their life. And one, I think they need a coach. You've got somebody that you reach out to that you said, "Hey listen, I want you to be honest with me on how I can be better." That's one of them. And I think that's really critical. Anyone that's out there that says, "Hey look, I don't want to pay for a coach." It's totally worth your while. Go do it. They're going to change your life. Will Wang: The second one is, I think they need someone in their life that's a business partner, that isn't afraid to tell it to them straight. And for me, I've got a business partner, his name's Drew Westermeyer. He's got all the opposite skillsets I have. He's my Charlie to Warren. Paul Casey: That's cool. Will Wang: I'm not Warren Buffet. I'm not saying I'm Warren. But those two have been tied together for many years, and I intend on Drew being with me for many years. And he tells me all the time, "You're not doing that right." And I respect him enough sometimes to listen the fourth time he says it. But you need someone there- Paul Casey: You do. Will Wang: ... that isn't afraid to tell you, "You're wrong," when you're being wrong. And I think those are the two people you should have. Paul Casey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Will, when you've lived your life and you think back on your influence, how do you want to be remembered? Will Wang: Yeah, I think we're talking about legacies here, aren't we? Paul Casey: Yes sir. Will Wang: Wow, that's pretty deep. And my wife will say, "Will, loves talking about legacies." But I haven't thought about mine. I've always known I've wanted it, and we do a lot of legacy planning with a lot of business owners. You've probably put an estate plan together. And one of the things we sit down and we ask people is, "What do you want to be remembered for because this is going to be part of it?" Will Wang: And so I think for one, I think it's being selfless. I do a lot of hirings and firings today in the business and in the position I'm in, nothing puts me off more than someone that obviously has selfish tendencies. And it doesn't matter how talented you are, if you have those tendencies, and all of us have some, but if those override your willingness to share and to be with others, you shouldn't work with us. I mean, you're not going to fit with us. Will Wang: And so that would be one, is people looked at me and said, "Look, he was the ultimate, selfless leader," at least to humanly possible. And not to get religious here, but obviously the biggest example I think was our Savior. I mean, he's the best example. Whether you're Christian or not, that story of what Christ represents, that's the pinnacle of selflessness. And I think that's what I would want people to think I represented as best I could. Will Wang: And then the second one would be, "He worked hard." I mean, "He wasn't the most talented. He wasn't the tallest... " I play basketball. I'm five foot three, so you got to have a little grit in you. That they said, "He might not have been the best, but he worked hard. He built something from the ground up and he was willing to sweat it out." Those are the two I'd say, if I could be remembered for anything, those would be it. Paul Casey: All right. Well, start etching that tombstone right now. Will Wang: I'm a long ways away from that. I think anyone that knows me would say I'm far, far away. Paul Casey: Well, finally, Will, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence? Will Wang: Yeah. Wow, that's a really good question. My only advice, I think, would be remember what got you to that position and to always remember who you are and your roots. As you grow in life and you're thrown more money, thrown more responsibilities, you get titles, people shower you with praise, that it's easy for that to get to your head. And I think the most important thing is to be grounded. Because the minute you're not, I think people stop following you. I mean, they stop following you on a journey. They start, I guess, following you because you've given them a paycheck and I don't think that's the right way to lead or run a business. I would say remember what got you there. Will Wang: And then I would remember that everything takes time. And I think leadership, you expect results right away all the time. And I think that people are impatient. I mean, most leaders are impatient. That's how they got to leadership is they drove so hard. But you got to remember that sometimes, what is working today may not have been planted that year. It may have been planted three or four years ago. Paul Casey: Yeah, the seed was back there. Will Wang: Yeah. Warren Buffet talked about of someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted seeds five years ago or 10 years ago, and I think that's so true. And so remember that so that you're not judging your success or your business success by a profit and loss statement, by how profitable you are. Because you might've been profitable this year, but it was work you did three years ago. You did nothing this year to further that cause. Likewise, you could have added down year, but you did so many great projects that are going to pay off in the future. I would say that's my advice is remember that everything takes time, and not everything that sits on a profit and loss statement is that what it seems? Paul Casey: Well, Will, how can our listeners best connect with you? Will Wang: Yeah. If they want to get in touch with me, they can reach out to me via email, will@hfgtrust.com if they ever need anything. I'm active with the Chamber and with HBA and those kinds of things, and so I'm aware of those things that are going on. I coach 16, 17-year-old kids. If there's anyone out there that has entrepreneurial dreams or would like to learn more about what it's like to lead a business, I'm all ears. Paul Casey: Thanks, Will. Appreciate all do to make the Tri-Cities a great place, and keep leading well. Will Wang: Thanks for having me, Paul. Paul Casey: Let me wrap up our podcast today with one of my leadership resources to recommend, and that's, I've started a group called Leader Launcher here in the Tri-Cities. It is for young professionals and emerging leaders to get leadership development skills. There is rapid, retiring of baby boomers and millennials coming in behind and there's just not enough spots, the research says, of trained, young professionals coming into the workplace to take all of those leadership positions. Paul Casey: I have created this program called Leader Launcher. You get one monthly leadership development seminar for a couple of hours on a leadership development skill; and then there's a mastermind group in between where you can process what you've learned, make an action plan, and go back to work and put that into place. If you'd like to either put forward an employee for that or you'd like to join yourself, go to leader-launcher.com. Paul Casey: Again, this is Paul Casey and I want to thank my guest Will from HFG for being here today on the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast, and we also want to thank our TCI sponsors and invite you to support them. We appreciate you both making this possible so that we can collaborate to help inspire leaders in our community. Paul Casey: Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence and it is a quote from Jack Welch. He said, "Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision and relentless drive it to completion." Until next time, KGF, keep growing forward. Speaker 3: Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams, so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. Speaker 3: If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org for a consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Speaker 3: Paul would also like to help you restore sanity to your crazy schedule and get your priorities done every day by offering you is free Control My Calendar checklist. Go to www.takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool or open a text message to 72000 and type the word GROWING. Paul Casey: The Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.  

Mike Sharrow drops into the studio for an interview recorded before the pandemic to enlighten us about an imaginative new business initiative called The C12 Group that links faith and entrepreneurship.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brad Cornell speaks with San Antonio's Top CEO's as they share the hope we have in Christ in the middle of COVID-19. Featured guests - MIke Sharrow CEO of The C12 Group, Ken Harrison CEO of Waterstone and Promise Keepers, Karen Kingston of Quirk And Company, and Kenny Fuller President of Joeris General Contractors. Support the show.

On this episode, Mike Sharrow shares how Christian business owners are responding to the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis, including positive stories of what God is doing through His people in the marketplace. Mike is the President and CEO of C12 Group, the nation's largest network of Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives. Before joining C12, Mike owned a healthcare strategy consulting group and served as an executive pastor for a church in Texas. I don't know of anyone who has a better sense of how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting Christian-led companies than Mike, so I want to make sure our Theology of Business Podcast listeners get to hear this. I'd also recommend going to https://www.c12group.com/blog/ to watch to Mike's weekly COVID-19 executive briefings being shared by C12. (Note: This important episode recently aired on our sister podcast, Houston Baptist University's Christianity in Business Podcast. Click here to subscribe:  www.ChristianityinBusiness.com/podcast)   I hope you'll find this interview encouraging as you hear some of the positive stories coming out of this global crisis. Questions explored in this episode: How are Christian-led companies being impacted by COVID-19? What are some of the positive stories emerging from this crisis? How should Christian business leaders respond to this crisis? How are things going to be different for companies and what opportunities will emerge as a result of COVID-19? Theology of Business is the show that helps marketplace Christians to partner with God in business to make disciples of companies, industries, and communities. If you want to learn more about how to do business for the glory of God and shape culture through discipling the business world, this show is for you. | Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Nonprofit | Church | Author | Startups | Marketplace | Ministry | Business as Mission | Faith and Work | Faith | Success | Leadership | www.TheologyofBusiness.com

On this episode, Mike Sharrow shares how Christian business owners are responding to the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis, including positive stories of what God is doing through His people in the marketplace. Mike is the President and CEO of C12 Group, the nation's largest network of Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives. Before joining C12, Mike owned a healthcare strategy consulting group and served as an executive pastor for a church in Texas. I don't know of anyone who has a better sense of how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting Christian-led companies than Mike, so I want to make sure our Theology of Business Podcast listeners get to hear this. I'd also recommend going to https://www.c12group.com/blog/ to watch to Mike's weekly COVID-19 executive briefings being shared by C12. (Note: This important episode recently aired on our sister podcast, Houston Baptist University's Christianity in Business Podcast. Click here to subscribe:  www.ChristianityinBusiness.com/podcast)   I hope you'll find this interview encouraging as you hear some of the positive stories coming out of this global crisis. Questions explored in this episode: How are Christian-led companies being impacted by COVID-19? What are some of the positive stories emerging from this crisis? How should Christian business leaders respond to this crisis? How are things going to be different for companies and what opportunities will emerge as a result of COVID-19? Theology of Business is the show that helps marketplace Christians to partner with God in business to make disciples of companies, industries, and communities. If you want to learn more about how to do business for the glory of God and shape culture through discipling the business world, this show is for you. | Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Nonprofit | Church | Author | Startups | Marketplace | Ministry | Business as Mission | Faith and Work | Faith | Success | Leadership | www.TheologyofBusiness.com

On this episode, Mike Sharrow shares how Christian business owners are responding to the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis, including positive stories of what God is doing through His people in the marketplace. Mike is the President and CEO of C12 Group, the nation’s largest network of Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives. Before joining C12, Mike owned a healthcare strategy consulting group and served as an executive pastor for a church in Texas. I don’t know of anyone who has a better sense of how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting Christian-led companies than Mike, so I want to make sure our Theology of Business Podcast listeners get to hear this. I’d also recommend going to https://www.c12group.com/blog/ to watch to Mike’s weekly COVID-19 executive briefings being shared by C12. (Note: This important episode recently aired on our sister podcast, Houston Baptist University’s Christianity in Business Podcast. Click here to subscribe:  www.ChristianityinBusiness.com/podcast)   I hope you’ll find this interview encouraging as you hear some of the positive stories coming out of this global crisis. Questions explored in this episode: How are Christian-led companies being impacted by COVID-19? What are some of the positive stories emerging from this crisis? How should Christian business leaders respond to this crisis? How are things going to be different for companies and what opportunities will emerge as a result of COVID-19? Theology of Business is the show that helps marketplace Christians to partner with God in business to make disciples of companies, industries, and communities. If you want to learn more about how to do business for the glory of God and shape culture through discipling the business world, this show is for you. | Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Nonprofit | Church | Author | Startups | Marketplace | Ministry | Business as Mission | Faith and Work | Faith | Success | Leadership | www.TheologyofBusiness.com

On this episode, we're joined by Mike Sharrow. Mike is the President and CEO of C12 Group, the nation's largest network of Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives. Before joining C12, Mike owned a healthcare strategy consulting group and served as an executive pastor for a church in Texas. Questions explored in this episode: How are Christian-led companies being impacted by COVID-19? What are some of the positive stories emerging from this crisis? How should Christian business leaders respond to this crisis? How are things going to be different for companies and what opportunities will emerge as a result of COVID-19? Christianity in Business is the show that helps Christian business leaders to integrate biblical values into business. | Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Nonprofit | Church | Author | Startups | Marketplace | Ministry | Business as Mission | Faith and Work | Faith | Success | Leadership | www.ChristianityInBusiness.com

Scott Hinz is Chief Operating Officer of HINZJJ LLC, a 45 unit Jimmy John’s franchisee based in Kansas City owned by his wife Sandra and son Matthew. He has also been an active partner with two brothers in Hinz Trucking Inc, a nationwide long haul flatbed trucking company with 110 power units, for over 30 years. Scott is primarily responsible for all store operations at HINZJJ and the sales and dispatch departments at Hinz Trucking. A native of Plymouth, Nebraska Scott and his wife have been happily married for over 35 years and look forward to many more. They attend Christ Church of the Valley in Peoria, AZ and Westside Family Church in Lenexa, KS. Through being an active C12 Group member, Scott continues to learn how HINZJJ and Hinz Trucking can serve a greater purpose by ministering to and growing the faith of their team members. C12 has had a very positive impact on his life. Through C12, Scott has become passionate about sharing the love of Christ with everyone God places in his path and his desire is to see all come to Christ so that they too may enjoy life to the fullest as God intended.

On this episode, we’re joined by Mike Sharrow. Mike is the President and CEO of C12 Group, the nation’s largest network of Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives. Before joining C12, Mike owned a healthcare strategy consulting group and served as an executive pastor for a church in Texas. Questions explored in this episode: How are Christian-led companies being impacted by COVID-19? What are some of the positive stories emerging from this crisis? How should Christian business leaders respond to this crisis? How are things going to be different for companies and what opportunities will emerge as a result of COVID-19? Christianity in Business is the show that helps Christian business leaders to integrate biblical values into business. | Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Nonprofit | Church | Author | Startups | Marketplace | Ministry | Business as Mission | Faith and Work | Faith | Success | Leadership | www.ChristianityInBusiness.com

Cynthia Marquez: "Sometimes to begin a new story, you have to let the old one go." Author unknown. I am Cynthia Marquez and I am a Tri-City influencer. Paul Casey: But really this is the core philosophy of what I teach in time management, and that is manage your time around your values and vision. This is your foundation for everything else in time management. Speaker 3: Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington, it's The Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. Welcome to the TCI Podcast, where local leadership and self leadership expert Paul Casey interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs and nonprofit executives, to hear how they lead themselves and their teams so we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services, coaching and equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey: Hey, thanks for joining me for today's episode. It's going to be a bonus episode. I'm going to do a little teaching today on work-life balance and hopefully it'll be beneficial to you if you struggle with having a hard time drawing that healthy line between your work and personal life. So we'll dive in after checking in with our Tri-City Influencer sponsors. Speaker 4: The C12 Group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings during which 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues biblically. Additionally, members receive a 90-minute personal coaching session each month. Information is available from Tom Walther at 715-459-9611 or online at c12easternwa.com. Paul Casey: Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Nathan Margalit is a rabbi and Jewish scholar. In a recent blog he said, "Humans are unique. We can choose to ignore rhythm. We can and do keep our factories running day and night. We try to fool hens into laying more eggs by keeping the lights on 24 hours at a time. With every new pad, pod and phone, we push ourselves into 24/7 connectedness. We have created a culture that is built on the metaphor of a machine impervious to any rhythm other than the drone of production. In the name of progress, convenience and even freedom, but most of all profits, we have lost the music of life." Paul Casey: It's sort of a sad reflection that oftentimes we just keep pushing, pushing, pushing and we don't take the time to rest. We don't take the time for those other priorities in our life that we really need. So, instead of achieving balance in your life, which I sort of believe doesn't really exist. I mean, work-life balance is sort of this thing that if you really went after it, you probably would achieve it for five minutes and then you'd be out of balance again. I like the phrase work-life rhythm a lot better, or now one that's more in vogue is work-life integration. Paul Casey: So you can think to yourself, when do you feel like you are ever in a good rhythm? Can you just reflect on that for a moment? When do you feel like you're in a good rhythm? What's going on in your life? Maybe what's not going on in your life during that time? That would be a good place to connect with as we go into this podcast episode. Paul Casey: I went to a seminar years ago by a guy named Wayne Cordeiro and he was discussing a terrible time in his life where he was completely burned out. If you've ever been burned out before, you know it's a rotten time where you just barely can get out of bed, you have trouble with even remembering what your favorite color is. I mean, it's just sort of a dead time. He actually checked himself into a monastery and had to put away all of his technology, he couldn't check his cell phone or his laptop and it almost drove him insane. He said he only snuck out one night from the monastery, but it was a real healing time for him after this burnout time. And he said work-life balance is not a thing. That's where I've sort of gotten this from. Paul Casey: And so I have actually developed a tool for time management, my framework for time management as a result of this seminar by Wayne Cordeiro, because he drew a picture of a teeter totter, if you remember that playground implement, which now is probably considered illegal. It seems like all the things we grew up with on the playground are now considered unsafe, but the teeter totter, the classic thing where you put one person and one on the other side and you go up and down. Paul Casey: If you put work on one side and you put balance on the other side of that teeter totter and you're really working for that balance, you're probably not going to get to it or just for a little bit, you might get to it. But he said instead of thinking work and life and trying to balance those two instead, think of just the fulcrum part. Fulcrum is like that triangle that separates the two sides of the teeter totter. If you decide to shift the fulcrum left or right towards work or towards life, instead of thinking about balancing it, it's going to be a lot more fluid in your life. So sometimes based on the urgency or importance of what's going on in the arena, on your life, you have to move that fulcrum fluidly to direct your energy appropriately. Sometimes when you have to spend more time in your life area because you've had a parent who might have to go into assisted living or maybe your child has the flu and because of that you've got to spend more time at home dealing with the personal issues. Paul Casey: Other times you have to spend more time in the work area of your life. You've got a deadline for a key client or that your ramped up season of the year and you've got to work some overtime. Now, you just push that fulcrum left or right and that's going to help you more with that work-life rhythm, that work-life integration instead of balance. Now, if you spend too much time of course on that one area of your life for too long, then of course you know what's going to happen. It's going to dry up the other area of your life. That's going to get empty and decay would set in. If your spouse is forgotten for too long and a rift becomes evident, you're not putting enough time there, or maybe you're not putting enough time in at work, you're not following up with your customers and they start to slip away as a consequence. Paul Casey: Basically, you can't stay in overdrive mode for too long or you will burn out. So what is one of the main practical solutions to achieve work-life balance or work-life rhythm? I think one where I'd like to talk about today is the word boundaries. Boundaries allow you to move the fulcrum where you determine what needs to be moved right now, to have a hard stop at the end of a quality and a productive workday so that you can be fully present at home. So that you can give 100% at work knowing that your tank and your family's tank, your energy tank has been filled up at home. To be able to embrace this time block or this season of life that you're in without longing for the other time block or the other season of life. I want to give you some tips today on how to set up boundaries so you can move the fulcrum intentionally. Paul Casey: The first one is to figure out what's most important to you. Figure out what's most important to you. So you've got to reconnect with who you are and who you're not of course. What you have to offer and what you really want. That's the key coaching question, is, what do you want? So that you're crystal clear and you can live that out day after day. I recommend you do a personal retreat to get to solitude and reflection in order to really wrestle with this. You're like, "Well, I know who I am." Yeah, but really do you? Have you lost touch with that over time? Have you changed over time and it's like, "Now I've got to get back to grounded-ness. Who am I really? What do I really stand for?" What you could do is this time of solitude, whether it's a couple hours or a half day, or maybe go off to the mountains or the beach so you've got a whole day or two to think about this, is you can try to come up with a personal mission statement. Paul Casey: I have a personal mission statement and it's to add value to people through equipping, encouraging words, servant leader actions and a contagious passion to honor God with my life. So I've said that enough times that it's memorized and I use it as a filter for my life and how I came up with that mission statement. It's sort of a combination of some exercises that I went through. Can't remember if they were with a coach or just, I did these on my own, sort of self-life coaching here. It's a combination of the values and by the way, I can send a sheet of values to you if you'd like to go through some of these exercises, just email me at growingforward@paulcasey.org and I'd be happy to send you that value sheet. Paul Casey: What you do is you go through this whole activity where you narrow it down to the things that are totally you and then you get down to the top 10 and then you get down to the top five that you'd practically die for those. I mean, they are so important to you and everybody around you would know it from watching your life that those five things, it could be family, it could be your faith, it could be growth, it could be happiness or trust. Some people have written in other words on the chart like accountability, love and affection. These are your DNA and you must live in congruence with those values in order to be successful in life. So that's a worthwhile exercise even if you're not doing a personal mission statement. A second exercise you could do is some type of strengths assessment. Paul Casey: I recommend StrengthsFinder, which I think is now called CliftonStrengths and you can either buy the book StrengthsFinder 2.0 and there's a link in the book, a code that you put in online to take the online assessment or you can just go to the CliftonStrengths website and you can take the 20 minute strengths assessment. I think it costs about 20 bucks and it's worth doing that because it's going to spit out your top five strengths and you're just going to go, "Whoa, that's like someone's reading my mail." I mean they're usually totally you because there's 34 of them and it's not just like four. There's 34 and when they narrow it down to your top five, it usually hits right on. You don't have to spend the money on that. You could just simply think about as you go through your day. Paul Casey: Marcus Buckingham, who's sort of the father of the strengths' movement, he uses the acronym sign SIGN. S is success, what do you feel effective at most of the time? And other people around you validate that they're saying, "You're so good at that." You've probably been told that for many, many years and that would meet the first criteria of a strength. The I stands for instinct. There's just something inside of you that naturally leans toward it and you look forward to it. So, I might be good at math, so I might say I'm pretty good at math, but I don't like math. So that's not something I actually look forward to. So in this criterion it would be ruled out. So, success, then instinct is the I, G is growth. Growth means time speeds by while you're doing it. Like you're doing it for a while and you start getting engrossed in and you get in that state called flow and you look up two hours later and like, Oh my goodness, the day just slipped away from me cause I like it so much. Paul Casey: And then the N in sign is needs. That means you're tired when you're done with it but you're not drained. For instance, when I do speaking or coaching, I'm tired at the end of the day because I've given it all that I have, but I'm not drained because I love doing this. I feel like I'm put on this planet to fulfill that role. And hopefully you do too with your job. So really be mindful of what you love doing and since Buckingham, as a Brit, he says what you loathe doing. So, the things that make you feel strong throughout the day, the things that make you feel weak or drained or bored, you can just track these things. Just have a piece of paper by your desk and then you'll have a list after a couple of weeks of writing these specific things down and I encourage you to tell that, debrief that with somebody else. Paul Casey: The third thing that would go into your personal mission statement would be your vision for your life and it can be the ultimate vision for your life or it could be just like the one year vision out, like how do you want to be different than one year from now? It could be your big dream that you've always had and it just, you try to shake it off but it still sticks to you and it's like you find yourself talking about it when you're out for coffee with friends or when somebody says, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" You just keep uttering the same dream. It's something you're really passionate about and a passion actually as part of the root word of passion is you would suffer for it. So, maybe there's a degree that you would suffer for that cause if you were to pursue it. Paul Casey: So you've got, in order to put a mission statement together, you've got values, your strengths and your vision for your life. Another thing to think about when you're in solitude, maybe on a personal retreat, is the amount of margin you have to have to function optimally. We don't want you to burn out, right? That's what this whole work-life rhythm is about. And so we have to have enough margin or cushion of time in our life to keep our energy level up. So, margin is a concept that was developed by a guy named Richard Swenson. He was a doctor and he defines margin as your load minus your limits. So all the things that are on your plate versus the amount of energy and time that you have. And some of us have actually more load than limits. And so we can actually be a negative margin and that's when we really get irritated and we get close to burnout. We can have like zero sum margin where they're equal. But hopefully we have enough margin where there's some cushion time to absorb the unexpected in our life. Paul Casey: Part of boundaries is acknowledging that you have limited time, that you have limited energy and you have to determine how accessible you want to and how you actually can be. So we have to say yes, we have to say no on a daily basis to all the things that are clamoring for our time. Choose carefully who not if you will disappoint on an average day. I'll say that again. Choose carefully who, not if, you will disappoint on a given day because you're always going to disappoint someone when you're saying no, but oftentimes that no is worth it because of the other priorities you're going to be able to give time to. Paul Casey: One more thing you could do on that personal retreat is to really get clear with your priorities. Stephen Covey calls those your big rocks, those big things that you put in your schedule first. Not just what you are conditioned to do, not just what's urgent and yelling at you to do, but those things that are so core to you, so important to you and they're often not urgent, but you know that if you don't give them attention, it's going to bite you later. And you know if you do do those things, you're going to move the needle on those relationships or on those projects. So you're sort of setting what normal is for you because when you're on the verge of burnout, you've lost touch with what that is. Hey, before we head into more teaching on work-life balance, let's shout out to our sponsors. Speaker 4: If you could trade one day each month for targeted application of biblical business practices, purposeful accountability and godly pure counsel, would you consider it a wise investment? The C12 group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings where 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues biblically. Information is available from Tom Walther at 715-459-9611 or online at c12easternwa.com. Paul Casey: A second tip for you in work-life balance is to watch your gauges. Watch your gauges, so, your dashboard of your car has gauges or an airplane has gauges. Gauges are really important to see if we are in trouble, if anything is running a little bit hot or needs attention. Henry Cloud and John Townsend said in their boundaries book, "God wants us to take care of ourselves so that we can help others without moving into crisis ourselves." One speaker says, "Take care of your body like you're on a space shuttle headed on a long journey." Paul Casey: So, a gauge is something that runs a little bit hot, that's not you. Like you think when you do this thing you say, "Boy, that's not even me. Why did I do that?" It's things that get triggered in your life. Like for me, a trigger for me if I'm on the edge of burnout is when I start losing creativity. I've got ideas all the time. As an entrepreneur, I just love creating, coming up with new ideas and if I slowly, slowly go dark in my brain, have no ideas, I'm thinking, Uh-oh, something's wrong. That's a gauge for me when I don't have any ideas. That means, wow, I must be fried. Or another one of my triggers is balls getting dropped. Like someone's in a coffee shop and they texted me and go like, "Hey, so Paul, are you coming? I thought we were meeting over there at Barracuda's." I'm like, "Oh no. I didn't even get that into my calendar cause I was running so fast." So that tells me that I'm on the edge of burnout. Paul Casey: Maybe for you, you have consistently high energy and all of a sudden you're in this consistently low energy weather pattern in your life. Maybe you typically are a peaceful person and now you seem to be freaking out and having panic attacks or just anxiety way more often than you used to. That could be a signal that your gauge is running hot. Maybe you're typically a peaceful person and you can roll with the punches, but you've gotten angry and irritable more often than usual. Like, how quick is your trigger versus how much grace that you give or how much laughs that you share with people? Stress is informational. So when you're experiencing these things, it's your body and your spirit telling you that, Whoa, you've got to check those gauges. Paul Casey: You've got to get back and move that fulcrum over into the life side and pour back into yourself. So think about what is your gauge. You want to be able to be response-able, sort of like that word responsible, but put a hyphen between a response and able. We need to be able to respond to things without freaking out or without just going into the tank and going dark. So if you're redlining, redlining's a term that my trainer taught me many years ago, that's when I can barely breathe. For the next exercise she said, "You're redlining, go get some air outside." So if you're red lining in life, get back into a self care program, move that fulcrum urgently over to the life side or you will burn out and then you'll be no good for anyone because then you're just going to bleed all over everybody. And that's not going to help, especially if you're in leadership because leaders, they just don't have that privilege to be able to come into work and wreck everybody else's day. Paul Casey: Prolonged stress can become chronic unless steps are taken to eliminate the source or effectively manage that stress. Let me give you two more points. The third one is to filter each request for your time and every interaction through the boundary lens. Filter each request for your time and interaction through the boundary lens. Paul Casey: In other words, if you're strong and you're feeling strong in your life, you can offer it, but if you're depleted, you don't because then it might put you over the edge and like I said, then you'll bleed all over everybody. So you think about like is this a strong place that I can say yes to it, but if I'm feeling like I haven't taken care of myself for a while, then I would say no. One way you can do that is to truly say that you will think about it. So somebody says, 'Hey, Hey Paul, can you do this for me?' And everything inside me wants to yell out "Yes!" because I'm an opportunity person and I like to say yes to things, but I have to teach myself to insert the pause. Paul Casey: So there's stimulus instead of response. You go stimulus, you insert the pause and then you respond with, "Hey, can I think about that for a while?" Or maybe you ask a little bit more about their commitment level before I say yes and if safe, you know somebody might go like, "Well why? Why do you have to think about that?" Then you're going to say, "Because I need to run that through my filter. I need to see if I have enough margin." Most decisions are not urgent so if that person won't allow me to think about, then it's definitely a no. And I've had people call like, "Oh, hey okay. Well then you just think about it for a while." Paul Casey: So separate yourself a bit. Buy yourself some space and during this break,  stop, look and listen. Here's the three parts of stop, look and listen. So stop and think, do I want to do this or am I trying to please somebody else? Because pleasers, we struggle with that. What will I receive from my participation in this? Am I going to get, is this going to build my confidence level if I do that? If I agree to do this, will it continue to be rewarding or do I think over time it's going to become oppressive and then I'm going to start getting resentful? So the stop part is to stop and think. Paul Casey: The look part is to look at your commitments, all the other things that are on your plate and count the cost for this commitment. This one that's staring you in the face right now. Ask for clarification, like what really is the time commitment to this? Ask for more information so you can answer these other questions. So you stop and think, look at your commitments and count the cost and the listen part is to listen to your feelings. So oftentimes we're running so fast that we skip this step and if you're not a big feelings person, you're like, yeah, you sort of laugh this one off. But do you find yourself hesitating or hedging when you're thinking about saying yes to this? That could be your body saying like, Nope, don't go there. Paul Casey: Do you feel cornered or trapped into making a decision? That's probably another thing that you need to say no to. Do I feel a tightness somewhere in my body because often stress, there's biofeedback in your body that you feel a tightness in your shoulders or that sick feeling in your stomach or do you feel at your temples? That's probably a sign to say no. Do you feel a nervous reaction? Like you start tapping your pencil or you got your legs crossed and it's just going a mile a minute? That could be a warning signal that's coming from inside you that says you might need to rethink this decision. Paul Casey: Remember that you must take full responsibility for the choice once you make it. So you can't play the blame game once you say yes, because as it's been said, blame is to be lame. Put a hyphen between the B and the L. so to blame is to b-lame and nobody wants to be lame and there's a shortage of people who own their own issues, you've probably noticed that. So the quote for you to remember on this one is "Don't let your mouth overload your back." In other words, by saying yes too much, don't let it overload your capacity that you have available to you. So once you've done that, then you can make the decision without regrets. See, you've run it through all these filters that you have and then you can say yes or no. Mahatma Gandhi says, "A no uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a yes merely uttered to please or what is worse just to avoid trouble." Paul Casey: One more step. The fourth step of achieving work-life balance or rhythm is to have accountability partners who keep you true to yourself and your stated work-life balance. Have accountability partners. We need to draw on a power higher than ourselves to maintain good boundaries because if we just try to have that willpower, it's usually going to become won't power after a while. So we really need accountability partners. Have them ask you specific questions, where are you are the weakest and sometimes we want to avoid those questions because it's like, Oh, I don't want to answer that, but usually that's a really great question for us to rebuild that resolve to have boundaries. Check in regularly with that person or those people, rejoice together when you succeed and fail forward when you screw up. In other words, we're going to fail but we're going to fail in the right direction by saying, 'All right, I screwed up this time but I am not going to say yes to that next time." Paul Casey: So, good points here. Remembering to figure out what's most important to you, to watch your gauges, to filter each request through the boundary lens, and to have accountability partners who keep you true to yourself. What do you get as a result of this? Hey, there's some really good work-life payoffs and benefits. One is you're going to live with joy and not anxiety and who doesn't want more joy? Second is being good stewards of your time and your money. Third is working with excellence, not sideways energy. Fourth is to experience true community with people you care about and you're not just giving them the leftovers. Paul Casey: And fifth is you get to model this work-life balance for your children, for your friends and for your followers. Whether that's on social media or people that are following you at work and I'd be happy to email you these slides or my speaker notes, if you want to reach out to me at growingforward@paulcasey.org. But, I really hope that you will, we'll wrestle this down because, work-life rhythm is huge. Don't try to achieve balance, really try to move that fulcrum back or forth into seasons where it makes the most sense. Paul Casey: Let me wrap up our podcast today with a resource I'd like to offer you. And it is a goal setting tool. It's a pad of paper that has got 25 sheets and on the front it has you setting one very important goal for yourself and really making that both smart goal and a hard goal, which it says what those mean on there. You could even sketch the goal out on that front page. On the back page of each sheet is a storyboard tool, which breaks that big goal into six small steps. And you can put a deadline by that. You could put the resources needed by each one and it's amazing how by doing that storyboard, you're not going to get stuck along the way because you're going to know what the next step is and it's going to be in a bite size for you to tackle it and get more goals done this year than you ever had before. Paul Casey: So that goal setting tool is on my website, paulcasey.org or again, you can reach out to me through email. Again, this is Paul Casey and I have been happy to share with you about work-life rhythm today and we want to thank our TCI sponsors and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible so we can collaborate to help inspire leaders in our community. Finally, one more tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence and it is a quote by Dorothea Brande and she says, "Envisioning the end is enough to put the means in motion." Until next time, KGF, keep growing forward. Speaker 3: Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org for consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Paul would also like to help you restore sanity to your crazy schedule and get your priorities done every day by offering you his free control my calendar checklist. Go to www.takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool or open a text message to seven two zero zero zero and type the word growing. Speaker 4: The Tri-Cities influencer podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.

Brandon Anderson: "The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers." Ralph Nader. I am Brandon Anderson and I'm a Tri-Cities influencer. Paul Casey: You use I-messages, not you-messages, but a you-message again puts us on the defensive and someone that's already aggressive, oh boy, that's just like bringing gasoline to the fire. It's going to make it a whole lot worse. Speaker 3: Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington, it's the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. Welcome to the TCI Podcast, where local leadership and self-leadership expert Paul Casey interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs and non-profit executives, to hear how they lead themselves and their teams, so we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services, coaching and equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey: Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Cameron Derrick. He is the general manager of KNDU/KNDO in the Tri-Cities and Yakima. And a fun fact about Cameron, he said he traveled around the country before this job, training show horses. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Well, we'll dive in after checking in with our Tri-City Influencer sponsors. Speaker 5: The C12 Group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings, during which 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues biblically. Additionally, members receive a 90 minute personal coaching session each month. Information is available from Tom Walther at (715) 459-9611 or online at c12easternwa.com. Paul Casey: Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Well, welcome Cameron. I was privileged to meet you, boy, it was probably about four years ago, I think. I was with the West Richland Chamber doing business development very part-time in my first year of being an entrepreneur. I needed a part time job and that fit in line with that, where I got to meet lots of businesses in town and I delivered a little gift I think, to you from the chamber and that's when we got to meet. Cameron Derrick: That's right. Yeah, exactly. Paul Casey: Well, tell us a little bit about you, so our Tri-City Influencers can get to know you. Maybe some of your past positions, maybe the horses and what sort of led up to you becoming a general manager? Cameron Derrick: Well, that's a good question. Well, born in Spokane, raised in Sandpoint, Idaho. My family grew up on a farm, my family had horses and like I said, we trained horses for a long time and what got me in the position I'm in now, is I love advertising. We would show horses back when I was a young man, we showed horses against some really big stables like Kohler Stables and Levi Strauss had a stable and some big time people who had horses. And I remember, advertising does make you bigger than you are, it helps promote yourself and so, that's how I got into advertising and that's how I kind of led my segue into... Cameron Derrick: I was in the radio for years, started in my first position and worked in radio and advertising and then I worked in LA, worked in Portland at KUPL big flagship station there, a big country station. And then I moved to Spokane, took a position in Spokane, KXLY Radio Group and the director of sales in radio and they had television. So I got inundated with TV and that's how it kind of led into TV. Then I was in the UG market for two years and then I moved back to the Tri-Cities. These folks called and said, "Hey, you want to get back up to Washington?" And I do, I like it here and I love it. In fact, the weather's perfect in the Tri-Cities. Paul Casey: Oh, yeah. Cameron Derrick: Much nicer than Spokane and I hope Spokane doesn't get mad at me for saying it, this is a local podcast, so. Paul Casey: Well, Cameron, was there an aha moment along that journey that made you say, "I love this, this is going to be the career for me?" Cameron Derrick: Well, I tell you what it is. I think, it's of course being an advertising and like I said, I was in radio for years and I was always amazed by the power of local television. How many people watch television and especially in smaller markets, I mean, it's much higher viewerships in smaller, as opposed to bigger cities. Smaller towns with less to do, people watch, they consume more television and I was always amazed that you put something on television, people saw it and they did it and they bought it or they went and tried it. And I just love the power of local television. Paul Casey: That's really cool. So in your work, what are you very good at? What do you think are the talent strengths that you bring to the table every day? And how do you use those to help your team then be successful? Cameron Derrick: Great question. I'll tell you what it is. I am an eternal optimist and the glass is always half full and I really am. I really look at life that way, I generally look at life, that basically we can do this and not that we can't and that's one thing I bring to the table, every day at work. I mean, I come to work and I mean, we have a monumental task or big budgets to hit and ratings to get to achieve and how do we do this stuff? We just start, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So basically, I'm a real positive person and I think I instill that with my staff and then the people around me, I mean, I think they pick up on the positivity that I bring to the table and if they don't, they're not around me very long. I'm just teasing, but I really like team players. I like people that really are, that we-can attitude, we-can-do attitude. Paul Casey: How does optimism help the staff then, the team around you? Cameron Derrick: That's a great question. You know what it is? It's like there again, I have a staff of news director, I have producers, I have sales staff and how do we get this stuff done? What do I do? How do I do this? And basically, how do we become the number one station in town? Or how do we become the number one building station in town? Well, we set up a game plan and if something doesn't work, we'll try something different, but the point is we think we can do it and I think that we can win the game. If you go into a game, I use a lot of sports analogies at my work and I say the same thing, if you don't think you're going to win, you're never going to win. If you don't think you're going to beat New England Patriots, you're never going to beat them. Paul Casey: Will somebody please beat them? Cameron Derrick: Exactly. Paul Casey: Sorry. No, that is really good. I mean, I'd want to follow you into battle. I mean, because I want to follow an optimistic leader. We've already been around negative Ned's and Nellie's and it just sucks the life out of you. Cameron Derrick: It does. Paul Casey: You've probably been in workplace situations where you've been around people who just are negative? Cameron Derrick: Yep. I've had managers who are negative. I've had people that have worked for me and people... It brings a bad vibe in the whole building and honestly, I just like the same thing, no excuses but just get results and that's what happens. If something doesn't work, we'll change it up to see what works next time. Yep. Paul Casey: Yep. Somebody said, excuses are the loser in you talking. Bam, there we go. Cameron Derrick: That's true, yep. Paul Casey: So on the flip side, Cameron, what's one of your biggest liabilities? How do you mitigate that weakness so it doesn't limit your influence as a leader? Cameron Derrick: Honestly time, this is my biggest challenge at my job. I don't have enough time for everybody and I wish I had more, but I really have to stop and have to kind of... I delegate a lot as far as my, I mean, I've learned to do that and I probably needed to learn to do more as everyone probably does. But I really have to prioritize my time and unfortunately I can't see everybody at every minute of the day and some things I'm going to have to put off to tomorrow. If there's a fire here, I got to put out this fire. I mean, I'm in two different markets, I'm in Tri-Cities and Yakima and I wish I could be in both all the time. Paul Casey: How do you do that? Cameron Derrick: I work five days a week and I usually spend two days a week in the Tri and... Excuse me, two days a week in Yakima and three days a week in the Tri-Cities and I split my time back and forth. Paul Casey: So if you had more time, where would you direct it? Cameron Derrick: Probably in training of staff members, really as far as just knowledge of the business and sharing my knowledge that I've learned in the past 20 some years. Those are young people and I think with, as we know, we work with a lot of younger folks, they're not raised the way I was raised, because the way I was raised, they say the second place is the first loser. And that's necessarily how I was raised back in the 80s and 70s, and today it's more of a community, it's more of a team and so I think that's something I would love to instill in more. Paul Casey: Speaking of that. So anybody in sales, there might be a lot of listeners that are, well I guess we're all in sales at some level, right? Cameron Derrick: Yeah, exactly. Paul Casey: No matter what business we're in- Cameron Derrick: We're all selling something. Paul Casey: Yeah. What are your best tips for sales? Cameron Derrick: Well, I think the best tip for salespeople is, think about the benefits that you can help somebody out. If you're selling a product, it's not about sales, it's about helping the client achieve something. And our saying at the station, our business is growing your business and that's what we kind of believe in at the station and I hope I instill that in my staff. I mean, it's on all of our outgoing mail and it's something that I believe in, because if you're successful, we're successful and I think as a sales person, if you can get that across, they are talking to people. How can I help this person? He has a need and I think I have a product that can fill the need and think like that, as opposed to just starting to sell something, because honestly, all good salespeople can sell anything. The challenge is selling it a second time. Paul Casey: Oh that's a good line. So in your opinion, what is the most difficult part of being a team leader, being a business leader? Why would you say, other than not having enough time, what would you say is one of your biggest challenges? Cameron Derrick: The biggest challenge I have is basically, like I said, always goes back to the time. But another challenge I have, is finding good people, because there's so many different ways, there's so many different avenues than there used to be in the business, in advertising and sorts of things. But finding good folks is a full-time job. Paul Casey: Why is it so hard nowadays? I hear that all the time. Cameron Derrick: It just seems to be, it just seems that people I think, I don't know. I mean, I'll knock on the table here. I've found some really good folks, I've replaced some good folks who've left, but it just seems that people are... I think, especially in the sales position, sales is just not sending an email, sales is running out and seeing people. Paul Casey: Yes. Cameron Derrick: And that's something that's probably hard for people to do. Some they just send a text or send an email, that's not really sales and it's not really touching the client and getting to know the client, look in the client's eyes. I'm a communication major, graduated from Portland State University, that's my Portland State plug. Anyways, so communication is not what's said, it's what's perceived as a communication. Talking to people and you can't see that through an email and a text and I think what happens, you've got a younger generation. That's how they're raised, with text and an email through Instagram and stuff and I think that's why it's a little tougher to find sales people that just are true sales people, because like you said, we're all selling something. Paul Casey: Yeah and I've heard it said that, even if you're an introvert, you can step up your game. If you're a typically a letter person then send an email, if you're typically an email person, send a text, if you're a text person, make a phone call, if you're a phone call person, go live and of course, live is the best, like you're saying for a salesperson. But we can all decide to level up to one of those, which is going to get you better results. Cameron Derrick: Yep, exactly and challenge yourself. That's the biggest thing, is you know what you're good at. I mean, you know what you're good at, try to be good at something you're not good at. Paul Casey: Yeah. So as an employer, you're looking for that in a salesperson. What else are you looking for when you're hiring? Cameron Derrick: There's different departments, of course, news folks, but let's go back to the sales. I mean, I wasn't outgoing, that someone that cared, that could be empathy toward clients, empathy toward people and driven. They are competitive, because good sales folks are competitive. I think all great people are competitive, none of us like to lose, but I think that's some of the skills that we're looking for. But just, we're people, folks that can go out and talk to people and just, they don't mind that. They just likely don't like to visit with folks and find out what they have going on. Paul Casey: Now one of a Patrick Lencioni's new book books is called The Ideal Team Player and it mentions two of the three that you just said, that it's someone who's hungry, humble and smart. Hungry mean that driven person, they come to work like, "Roar, I'm going to meet my goals today. I'm going to please as many customers as I can." Humble, so that they're not arrogant jerks, because no one wants to deal with that and smart meaning people-smart, which is what you're saying about having that emotional intelligence to have empathy towards the client. So it sounds right on. Paul Casey: Well your people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. You might have heard that quote before. How do you show your people, whether that's your team or it's clients in the community, that you value them as people? Cameron Derrick: I'll tell you what it is. The one thing I get, I came up through advertising and sales and one thing I get from my sales folks especially, is I've been in their shoes, I've sat at their desk, I understand what they're going through, because sales is an up and down. Sales is like sports, you win some, you're going to lose some... That's great, it's another sports analogy. Great teams, they come back from a loss, it doesn't affect their life or their career. I always tell people that tomorrow's a new day, it's five o'clock, eight o'clock tomorrow is a new day. So forget what happened today, start fresh tomorrow, wipe your slate clean and go. Cameron Derrick: So I think that's one thing I bring the table, I've done their job and I think as far as the news folks, what's kind of helped me out there, is I am an absolute news junkie. I love news and being in charge of the station, station manager in charge of the news. I have a wonderful news director, Janet Gray, who does an outstanding job. I have a great staff, but I think what it is, is what I bring to those guys, I love news and I'm a news junkie. So I go to different markets, I travel a little bit with my job, I watch other news, like all great ideas are stolen. It's called R and D, rip off and duplicate it. Cameron Derrick: So I think that's what I bring them, I love news and I respect and then I think, is I have great managers that I have worked for were very respectful and that's one thing I try to be with my employees. I'm very respectful and I think they know I care about them, because I do, I care about them. As I learned a long time ago, it's very expensive finding good people, you have to train them- Paul Casey: Oh yeah. Turnover costs are brutal. Cameron Derrick: It's brutal and plus energy cost just takes a lot out of you.  I let them know, "Hey, your job's tough and I understand, my door's always open. What can I do to maybe help them?" Because I tell them, "You're successful, I'm successful." Paul Casey: So good retention strategies you just heard Tri-City Influencers, so you can hear Cameron exuding passion, because everybody wants to follow a passionate leader, not a, I'm a bored kind of a leader. Respecting your people, treating them with true respect and also picking them up when they fall down and saying, "Hey, tomorrow's another day. Let's sleep that off." I think Colin Powell said, "Everything looks better in the morning." When you've had a failure today, you're going to fail forward and you're going to win some and lose some. So those are good retention strategies. Well, before we head to our next question, on some ways that Cameron's successful, a shout out to our sponsors. Speaker 5: If you could trade one day each month for targeted application of biblical business practices, purposeful accountability and godly pure counsel, would you consider it a wise investment? The C12 Group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings where 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues biblically. Information is available from Tom Walther at (715) 459-9611 or online at c12easternwa.com. Paul Casey: So Cameron, what are a few of your life hacks that over the years have helped you be successful on a daily basis? Cameron Derrick: Well, the number one thing is I delegate always. I find good people, hire good people and I delegate jobs and I don't micromanage them. I always try to say, "I need you to do this. You can do this." I can't do everything, there's no way I can do everything. So I really delegate, that's something that I've learned to do and hire good people, because good people make you make you look good and make you a better manager. Paul Casey: So what are some principles of delegation that you've learned to do it well, because there's always dumping, and delegation is not dumping, right? So what are some things that you've learned about delegation? Cameron Derrick: Well, I mean, try to find the person that has a strength in that field. I mean, if it's a news problem or if it's like our dot two or we have an SWX sports and I delegate a lot of stuff to our producers, I'm like, "Hey, can you call this person?" Or, "Ted, set up the show." And stuff that I just can't do it all. I find people that are really good in that position to help me out. Although they want me to be there, I can't be two places at once and so I've learned that, it's something that I've learned and just, that's something that you just have to do as a manager, you can't do it all. There's no way, there's 50 employees and I just can't be everywhere all the time. Paul Casey: Yeah. Success through delegation. Another good tip I heard on delegation, was delegate vision, not just the task. In other words, give them the backstory, give them what the overall end game looks like, not just this little task. So that when you're not around, they can make a decision almost as if they were you. Cameron Derrick: Well, that's a great point. I was at one of my SWX producers, we want to talk to people, we would do a lot of sports productions. I think we did last year, we did 114 live sporting events on SWX or dot two. A basketball, you name it, we covered it, football, soccer. Anyways, but we were talking to some promoter, the person who's head of this sports thing. I said, "Hey, can you run out and talk to me?" He goes, "Cameron, I know I can, because I've heard you talk. I've heard you say it 300 times." But it's nice that you are able just to hand it off, "Hey, can you do this?" And they can do that kind of stuff, because you've worked with them and they understand your philosophy and stuff, how to do things. Paul Casey: They're thinking, what would Cameron do? Cameron Derrick: Well, I hope they're better than Cameron. Paul Casey: Well, that's a good point too, right? You need to hire up. Cameron Derrick: Yeah, that's exactly it. Paul Casey: There are many insecure leaders that hire low, because they want to seem like the most important person in the building. Cameron Derrick: Exactly. Paul Casey: Well, leaders have to make a lot of important decisions and when you're at the top, you have to make important decisions and leaders are known by the decisions they make, it's been said. So what process do you think through, when you have to make, everybody's looking at you like, "What are we going to do, Cameron?" Cameron Derrick: Well honestly, we have to have a clear vision, like any sort of a team, that you have to have a clear vision. What the goal is, what their goals are and each person has a goal. The news people have their goals, to have a good news story is great ratings, our sales folks have goals, individual goals on digital properties and the SWX and then the KNDU/KNDO on the broadcast side. And I think, that just clear goals and just a vision as far as how do we get there and show them. We've shown them ways in the past, how we've done this and like you said, if they have a better idea, I'm all for it, please let me know what we can do better. I mean, I'm all ears, but like I said, it's like winning a football game. The scoreboard tells at the end of the day. Paul Casey: Yes, so a visible scoreboard is important for everybody. Cameron Derrick: Exactly. Paul Casey: Their job to know what they're shooting for. Cameron Derrick: Exactly. Paul Casey: It's been said, if you don't have a scoreboard, we're just kicking a ball and then we're just going to pick up and leave, right? But the scoreboard is that thing that makes it purposeful. Cameron Derrick: Yeah. And it might be a little cliche, but not everybody gets a trophy. I mean, that's something as you know, not everybody wins all the time. Paul Casey: So is there an overarching vision at the station as well? Or are you talking smaller visions for each department? Cameron Derrick: The vision, we are a locally owned station. Our owners live in Spokane and we're locally owned, locally focused and so what it is, we're here to help the clients, we're here to help the community. We're like broadcast used to be in 1950, I mean, because we're not corporately owned. There's not a lot of corporate mandates and so I tell people, I meet with advertisers, I meet with people like that all the time. We do a lot of things locally that other people can't do, because we don't have big mandates, I have to do whatever the mandate is. What makes best for the community and I think that's something that makes us a little kind of stand out and that's in all aspect of it, as far as news, sales. What's the best for the viewer and what's best for the advertiser. Paul Casey: Well Cameron, who influences you? Who do you surround yourself with so you can keep growing? I heard you say you go visit other news places, because you're a news junkie on that, maybe you read or you look at blogs or listen to other podcasts. Who influences you? Cameron Derrick: Well, who has influenced me a lot, good managers that I've had in the past. I still have a lot of people in the media business I know, I call and ask them questions, I still communicate with them. I read a lot, I read a lot of trade magazines, I like trade articles. I'm always trying to better myself. I'm not perfect, but I want to be there someday. I don't think I'll ever achieve it, but that's something that I work at all the time. But I'll tell you what, you know what? I was talking to the owner and my president of our company and I was talking about a place I used to work at years ago. I won't mention the name, but I learned from bad managers as much as I've learned from good measures. Paul Casey: Sure. Cameron Derrick: And I remember things that I've learned on what to do and what I would do in different situations and I learned, like I said, I've learned a lot from some managers that I didn't think was the best managers. But I learned, I watched them do things and I'm a very observant person, so I take a lot of notes. I am a note freak, I take a lot of notes and talk. So that's kind of how I try to better myself. Paul Casey: And I talk a lot about Leadership Tri-Cities on this podcast, because it was a part of my formation as a leader and what we say to the class is, you're going to see a lot of leaders in these 12 months in this program and you're going to learn about what to do and you're going to learn about what not to do, after listening to some of our community leaders. So it is a good point, that we can learn from everybody. Cameron Derrick: Everybody. Just be observant, I try to find it at the stations and even in life I try to find people, their skill sets and what they're good at, because we're not all good at everything. I mean, sometimes turning a computer on is some of my challenges, but I know how to do it, but I'm just saying, but that you find people that are strengths. Paul Casey: That's that delegation again. Cameron Derrick: That's exactly it. Paul Casey: Of surrounding yourself with qualified people and weaknesses you don't have, but then also filling in those gaps with learning. You said you read trade magazines. Cameron Derrick: All the time, yeah. Paul Casey: I know for my industry, I've got Speaker Magazine for speakers, I've got Choice Magazine for coaches, so I'm always trying to learn and grow to fill in all those gaps that I don't have. Cameron Derrick: Yep, exactly. Paul Casey: Well, when you've lived your life and you think back on your influence, it's a legacy question for you. How do you want to be remembered? What's going to be on your tombstone? I remember that pizza commercial- Cameron Derrick: Our business is growing your business. Paul Casey: That's a tagline. Cameron Derrick: You know what, I want people to remember... I mean, I may have been in this business for what... I want people to say I'm fair, I'm firm but I'm fair and I listen. I don't make a lot of rash decisions, I try to be, I listen to both sides. I learned a long time ago as a manager when I first got promoted, when someone comes in your office and tells you something, don't just run with that. You got to- Paul Casey: There's two sides, yes. Cameron Derrick: There's always two sides, because it's my nature to just trust people and I learned as a manager, not that you shouldn't trust people, but you got to... There again, what one person's perception was, the other person, they didn't perceive that. So I think that's something I want to be fair and just be fair minded and just want to win. I love winning and winning is in ratings, winnings in revenue. I like to be able to be successful and I pride myself that we've had some, knock on wood, we had some good years and I look forward to having some more good years and I just like to win. I think there's lots of different ways of winning, but I take small wins with big wins too. That's important too, especially to keep the team motivated, have those small short term wins. Paul Casey: Exactly, it's very important. Well finally, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence? Cameron Derrick: Well I mean, the first thing you do, we don't know everything and we just don't know it all and just the point is, we want to know it all, but we just don't. And I think the things is with young people coming up to the industries, surround yourself with good folks and ask a lot of questions. My dad used to say, "God gave you two ears and one mouth and there's a reason why." Ask a lot of questions and then just listen a lot and sometimes you can just learn. I think that's something that I pride myself, I ask good questions, I think, and I listen and I love listening to folks and listen to them talk as far as what, how they've done in their career. It might not always, what I'm going to do it the same way, but basically I can learn from what they've done. Sometimes you can learn from their mistakes too. Paul Casey: So lead with your ears Tri-City Influencers and lead by asking questions and being curious. Maybe no question really is a stupid question. Cameron Derrick: No. Paul Casey: Because if you just don't know it, you're going to be hampered until you get that answer. Cameron Derrick: Exactly. Paul Casey: Well, how can our listeners best connect with you if they wanted to follow up? Cameron Derrick: Well, I'm at KNDUTV or KNDO Television here in the Tri-City, Kennewick and in Yakima and it's Cameron. Want to give my email? Paul Casey: Yeah, sure. Cameron Derrick: Cameron.derrick@KNDU.com, it's C-A-M-E-R-O-N.D-E-R-R-I-C-K@K-N-D-U.com. Paul Casey: Well, thanks again for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a great place and keep leading well. Cameron Derrick: No, thank you. Paul Casey: Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend and it's my new book. We talked a little about vision a few minutes ago and my new book just was released and it's called Leading with Super-Vision and it's a book about being able to craft a compelling vision to cast that to your team and also to carry that over the long haul, which becomes really the hard part. So Leading with Super-Vision, you can go to my website, paulcasey.org to pick that up or contact me at growingforward@paulcasey.org. Paul Casey: Again, this is Paul Casey and I want to thank my guest, Cameron Derrick from KNDU/KNDO for being here today on the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. We want to thank our TCI sponsors and invite you to support them. We appreciate you both making this possible so we can collaborate and help inspire leaders in our community. Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the roads and helping you to make a difference in your circle of influence. Quote from Aristotle, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence therefore is not an act, but a habit." Until next time, KGF keep growing forward. Speaker 3: Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams. So that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org for consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Speaker 3: Paul would also like to help you restore sanity to your crazy schedule and get your priorities done every day, by offering you his free control my calendar checklist. Go to www.takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool or open a text message to 72000 and type the word growing. Paul Casey: Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.  

Tara: Teamwork makes the dream work. John C. Maxwell, I'm Tara Jaraysi Kenning, and I'm a Tri-Cities Influencer. Paul Casey: When we live a little bit off, we actually reduce our chance of longevity in our job. We're closer to burnout when we do that and we just live an unfulfilled life. Speaker 7: Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington, it's the Tri-Cities Influencer podcast. Welcome to the TCI podcast. Where local leadership and self leadership expert Paul Casey interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit executives to hear how they lead themselves and their teams so we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services, coaching and equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey: Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Kat Lawrence. Kat is an organizational consultant and a good friend of mine. And a fun fact about her, she says she gives voices to her cats. Kat: Both of them. Paul Casey: Both of them, two cats. I sort of do that too, so we can laugh at our quirkiness together, you know? Well, before we dive in, let's check in with our Tri-City Influencer sponsors. Neal Taylor: Hello. My name is Neal Taylor. I am the managing attorney for Gravis Law's commercial transactions team. The CT team helps business owners, investors, and entrepreneurs accelerate and protect their business value. Today we're talking about employment law and alcohol and cannabis licensing. Josh Bam and Derek Johnson are both here with me now to describe those practice areas. Take it Derek. Derek Johnson: Thanks Neal. I'm Derek Johnson, partner at Gravis Law. We find that many employers in Washington State simply don't have handbooks, employee policies, or any other written materials to protect themselves and their employees. Without having these types of policies in place, an employer can run into trouble by firing employees, even if the employee isn't properly performing or are causing issues at work. Even if an employer fires someone for performance issues, for example, but fails to take the proper steps, they may run into trouble by inadvertently exposing themselves to a wrongful termination suit. We build strong, predictable, and protective employee policies to protect our client's business. Josh Bam: That's true, thanks Derek. And having employment policies in place when you're dealing with cannabis or alcohol licensing is especially important. We know that clean employment policies, clean corporate structure, and having an attorney that can work with the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board is critically important to protecting your business through licensing. The attorneys at Gravis Law have this experience. Visit us today, www.gravislaw.com. Paul Casey: thank you for your supportive leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Well, welcome Kat, I was privileged to meet you probably just a handful of years ago… Kat: Yeah. Paul Casey: ... Feels like it's been a longer. I was coaching a client in your building and she said you got to get to know the girl next door in the other office, Kathleen Lawrence. And I'm like, "Sure, I'd love to meet her." I made an appointment with you and we hit it off right away. Kat: We did. We did. Paul Casey: And so I got to hear all of your adventures and leadership development and I thought, "This is a kindred spirit." Kat: Yeah. Paul Casey: So I'm glad I get to interview you today. So that our Tri-City Influencers can get to know you. Take us through your past positions that led up to what you're doing now. Kat: Well, it's kind of a checkered past, a little bit. I started out law. I actually started out to become a police officer. Paul Casey: Did you? Kat: Yeah. And I found out that what I loved about it was the law, and I could just absorb statutes and cases and loved it. And so then went into law. I soon discovered that the learning and the application are two different things, and became frustrated fairly early and thought, "This is probably not for me." And so I then went into business, became an entrepreneur. Did a few startup companies and then did some syndications and securities of low-income housing projects. Did that for a couple of years until they changed the tax act. Then went on to do more startup companies, mostly escrow mortgage companies, construction company and a couple of others. And then came back to law in my forties thinking, "I think I'm ready to really settle down and not have the stress of a startup and all of that." Kat: I found out the second time around that it's not for me- Paul Casey: Had to be convinced of that twice. Kat: Twice--had to go through that twice. I think I was 47 when I went back to university, and did my graduate work in psychology because that had been a passion forever. And I became a marriage and family therapist when I was 50. Then in that work, during the process of that work, I also did a lot of mediation work, guardian ad litem negotiations and divorces, things like that. And someone asked me if I would work out or negotiate a successful conclusion to a company where the owners were fighting. So we set it up for negotiation and during the negotiation I stopped it because I didn't think that was the answer. I thought the communication was the primary problem, which it turned out to be they never did sell the company. They're very successful owners of that company now. Paul Casey: Yay. Kat: So I kind of looked at all of that decided maybe this is really what I'm supposed to do and I love it. So I consult with organizations and companies and management teams that are not working well. Paul Casey: So was that your aha moment, was that the experience that you just shared? Kat: It was the aha moment for what I currently do- Paul Casey: Yeah. Kat: ... To decide to go back to school, and psych was another aha moment. My husband is also an attorney, and I watched him argue in front of the appellate court, which very few attorneys in practice ever get to do, and he was absolutely brilliant at it. And the attorneys behind me kind of took a gasp when they heard him and said, "Who's that? Who's that?" And I was so proud of him in that moment and is appreciative of his brilliance and his passion. And I realized that what I wanted to do was something I was that passionate about- Paul Casey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Kat: ... And what I'm doing now is it? Paul Casey: Yeah. So if you had to pinpoint your strengths, your talents, that... Boy, all that variety of jobs. You said checkered past, that's makes it sound like it was like the black market. But it just means like, you did a ton of things. You have a ton of experience. What's been those strengths or talents you can brag on yourself for a minute here that you have used to help make others successful through that? Kat: I think creativity. One, I'm very creative. So creativity, empathy. I think that's a huge, huge, huge part of being a leader anywhere in any capacity. Listening, that's another strength. Listening with from the standpoint of curiosity, what I call listening from curiosity. Which is being curious to really listen and hear what the other one has to say rather than listening to the first 11 words of what someone says while I'm preparing my response. Paul Casey: That's right. Brain chatter- Kat: Yeah. Paul Casey: ... And then the empathy kicks in after that. Right? Kat: Yes. Paul Casey: Because you're in a position because you've really heard them to now identify with what they're saying. Kat: Yes. Paul Casey: How does someone develop more empathy? Kat: One, I would say develop listening because if... And listen from curiosity, it's really that curious part that for me was just innate. I think I came out of the womb curious about everything in the whole world and I still am. So for some people I think curiosity is easier for them for others. Paul Casey: Sure. Kat: But to come from a place of curiosity. So that when as I'm learning about you or learning about someone, I'm very curious, "How do you work? How do you think about that?" Paul Casey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Kat: What process brought you to that conclusion? So being curious and within that we all find the places where we identify with each other, where we resonate, and empathy is also one of those things where I caution people. Being empathetic means that I can identify with your experience, but I'm not going to go wading into it with you because then we're both lost. I have no hope of being able to be there to support you if I'm in it with you. Paul Casey: And that's sympathy right? Kat: Yes. Paul Casey: Not empathy? Kat: That's right. Paul Casey: So on the flip side, what's one of your biggest liabilities, and how do you mitigate that weakness so it doesn't limit your influence? Kat: One of my biggest liabilities I think is going to be one of my lifelong liabilities, and I'm still working on how to mitigate it. And that... Overcommitment, I have a tendency- Paul Casey: I don't understand what you're saying. Kat: Yeah, yeah. It's a tough one. And I deal with it daily, and sometimes I think I've really got it this time and I've got things pretty well managed. And then I wake up one morning and it seems like, "Oh my gosh! How did everything get so out of control? And I thought I was so under control." I think there's a life aspect to it. And then I still am struggling with how much is enough? When do I stop? Paul Casey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). In that moment where an opportunity is staring you in the face, what is going through your head that you cave and say yes that yet one more time when the other angel on your shoulder is saying say no? Kat: Exactly. Here's the thing that always gets me, it sounds like fun, "Sounds like fun. Yeah. I can do that." Paul Casey: Creative side coming out. Kat: Exactly. That's it. Here's a place where I think I can really contribute something. Here's a place where I can really serve in some capacity, and it sounds like fun. And that one gets me every time, the one sitting on the other shoulder needs to have a louder voice. Stop! Paul Casey: Yeah. You see, I use these interviews as personal therapy- Kat: No! Paul Casey: ... So I was hoping you'd give me some kind of solution to that. What are the consequences of over commitment for those listeners that also struggle with this? Kat: My primary is that I can't do everything that I've committed to do. So now, it's I can't do everything I've committed to do or I end up kind of falling off the face of the planet where I'm out of contact with people because I just can't catch up enough and I don't have answers and I don't know what to say and I'm not going to stop and think about it in the moment because I've got so much to do. Which is a lack of empathy actually, because I know how I feel when that happens- Paul Casey: Yeah. Kat: ... When someone else drops off the face of the planet. I worry about them. Are they okay? Did I do or say something that was offensive at some point, and they don't know how to face me with it? There's all these kind of fantasy thoughts that go through my head about the possibilities of what could be going on. So I know I don't like that feeling- Paul Casey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Kat: ... And that's actually where I try and go to change it. Where I decide, today I'm going to change this and get back on the wagon to a more manageable life. Paul Casey: Yes. Our constant quest. There was a guy named Bob Goff, that he said he quit something every Thursday. That guy must have a million commitments to be able to quit something 52 Thursdays a year. But that's like a relentless paring down of his life and I just thought, "Okay, maybe I'll quit something annually to get back to the right... Right sizing my life. So let's talk leadership, in your opinion, what's the most difficult part of being a business leader or being a team leader and why? Kat: I think the most difficult part for me is dealing with other people's fear. So whether it's other people on my team, clients, whoever it is. In that because I deal so much in leadership and leadership from core values and I know how that can transform fear into courage. And it seems like I've practiced it now long enough, so it's a fairly simple step process for me, but it's not for everybody. And that's the toughest part because I will sit down with someone, I understand what your fears are. Do you want your fears running you or do you want to be ready in life? How do you want that to go? Because as long as you're in fear, fear is running the show. Kat: Once I work with someone and they have their aha moment, I expect that they're going to be putting it into practice immediately because who wants to be in fear? Paul Casey: Right! Kat: Yeah. And it doesn't always work that way. Paul Casey: Because fear is powerful. Kat: It's very powerful. So there is where I have to really work at patience and understanding all of us. We are just where we are in the moment. We can't be better than we are in the moment, while we're struggling through something. We can work toward being better and get better. But in that moment to be able to get him empathy, and to be able to stand with that person and accept that person is exactly where they are, and that's where it is. Paul Casey: So you went right to fear. Fear seems like an undiscussable topic outside of the therapist's office. Right? So how do leaders or those that want to have more influence here in the Tri-Cities still talk about topic without feeling like a failure or too vulnerable. What would you say? Kat: Fear is interesting from the standpoint that for the most part, it's not real. Whatever it is, the fear isn't real. It's the threat of the potential of it, or the possibility of it. But what happens when we're in fear is that we're living as if it's happening now, when it's not. I use the example frequently with people of a five-year-old waking up from a nightmare, and you see their faces and their lips are purple and they're shaking and they're scared about the monster under the bed. But is there a monster under the bed? And the answer to that is no, but they believe it. And that is true even with adults, whatever the fear is that's in front of you, that's a belief about something 99% of the time that is not real. Paul Casey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Kat: So the first thing is... And I talk about fear a lot because the program that I develop, leadership from core values, it's a lot about dealing with fear and how to get out of it, which is going to your own core values and finding your courage in the process of that, usually through your integrity. Paul Casey: So find your courage through your core values? Kat: Yeah. Paul Casey: That's one of the best ways to blast away fear. Kat: It is. If I am scared of something. My fear... I realize where I experience fear the most is when I believe I've made a mistake that could hurt someone else. And in that there's a lot of stuff that I'm dealing with, guilt or worried about other people, whatever it is. In the moment what I do is go, "What are my values? What values do I have that are acting here?" So there's the value that I care about other people and I'm compassionate, I'm empathetic. Those are all values. So I start counting those up. And then if that's the case, how do I use those values in my integrity? So how do I do the right thing from those core values? And when I find that, then it's beginning. There's your courage. That's the spot of courage to be able to... Courage is through your heart. It's not through your head. Paul Casey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Kat: So in that moment, to be able to face whatever that fear is but not just look at it, to be able to walk through it. Courage is an action. It's more than a thought. It's more than a realization. It's courageous action. So to be able to walk through. Paul Casey: I could see how that would play out. So if you're in a leadership position, you've got a direct report who's behaving below the line and every part of you is saying, "I don't want to confront that person, I don't want that. I fear the backlash. I fear that person's not going to like me. I fear, I may not say the right thing because I don't have enough tools in my tool belt." But if you have a core value of integrity or a core value of how we treat one another on this team, it would give you that courage to say, "I'm going to push through that fear and do the right thing in that moment."- Kat: Right. Paul Casey: ... Which is confront them and that's going to then raise the level up for everybody. Kat: It really does, including that person. That's an opportunity. When somebody is performing below the line and I confront them about it. And again there's caring and compassion and all of those things that are there, but it needs to be addressed. And the earlier, and the quicker, the better before it becomes a mountain when it's small. Because then it's much easier to move on when you address them early. But in that moment when I'm doing that, it's an opportunity for them as well as me. I've thought that also when I fired somebody, Paul Casey: Is a rough day. Kat: ... It's a rough day and it's an opportunity for everybody. Paul Casey: It is. And I remember that acrostic for FEAR:  fear is false evidence appearing real. Kat: Yep. Paul Casey: So that's a good one. Kat: That's one of my tools in my tool box. Paul Casey: So people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. I think that's a John Maxwell ism. What would you say to leaders, to show their people that they're valued as a person, or whether they have clients or customers or staff? What would you say? Kat: I check in with them regularly. So I think if you're in an office where you have employees, then it's simply just checking it. If it's nothing more than good morning, it doesn't need to be a long one. You don't have to ask all about their weekend when you've got a full calendar, but to walk by and smile and say good morning, or get to see you in a day. If it's someone that is on my team that has a project that I know is a big responsibility, then I'll check in periodically with them. I won't ask if I can take over the project, I won't ask them, how are you doing with this aspect of whatever that project is, that's theirs to handle- Paul Casey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Kat: ... And I'm going to let them do it- Paul Casey: You don't want to be a micromanager. Kat: Yep. Empower them to do it. At the same time, I will remind them because again, as a leader, you're also in... Anybody that thinks that as a leader you're not in service has a mistaken- Paul Casey: I agree. Kat: ... Idea of leadership because that's part of it. So usually it will be a check in something like, "How's it going? Is there anything I can do to help?" Paul Casey: Yep. I think that good morning thing, well it sounds so trite is that the research has shown that if a manager does that and just goes through all the hallways and says, "Good morning everybody." It puts a positive input into everyone's psyche for the whole day- Kat: It does. Paul Casey: ... And it's like, "Wow, just little thing is a boost in the morning for everyone." Kat: It does. I was thinking about when I had my therapy clinic, and people would come in and they'd be getting ready for the people that they were going to see for the day. And that can always be kind of a really heavy moment where you're going through charts, and how you're going to deal with issues that people are having and all of the things at work. And I would walk in the office, it'd be this really heavy quiet in there, and it was like, "Good morning. How are you doing today?" Get some energy going. Paul Casey: Well, Hey!, Before we head into our next question of Kat about her life hacks that help her be successful, a shout out to our sponsors. Paul Casey: Are you running your business or is your business running you? With the challenges I'm facing in business, Where can I go for biblical business help? The C12 Group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings, during which 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues biblically. Information is available from Tom Walther at (715) 459-9611 or online at c12easternwa.com. Paul Casey: So Kat, what are a few of your life hacks that help you be successful on a daily basis? Kat: I think work... The things that can organize me. So anything that can help me stay organized. I'm big on calendars, lists, apps on phones. I love my phone. So I have apps for lists and I have apps for all kinds of things to kind of work on the organizational pieces of it. I had thought of some ones earlier, I can't think of any other ones in the moment. Paul Casey: No worries, no worries. Before you make an important decision, what process do you think through? Kat: I actually do one of two depending on what's happening. So the one is kind of what we talked about before, where I look at where are my core values? What are my core values are at play here? Paul Casey: Use it as a filter? Kat: Right. As a filter. As guiding for direction. As a foundation. Can use it for all of that and then filter all of that through my integrity. And usually within that, I know what the right thing to do is. The other one that I use is the Rotary Four-Way Test. Is it the truth? Is it fair? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? And is it beneficial to all? Paul Casey: It's a good test. Kat: It is a good test. Paul Casey: So who influences you? Who do you surround yourself with to keep growing yourself? One of those people that are alive or afar? Kat: Maya Angelou has been a great influence. I just respect and love her so much in her work and thoughts and appreciation. Again, I have kind of an eclectic list. George Patton is a big hero of mine, and I love reading some of the stuff that he's written, quite an armchair philosopher. Aristotle would be another one. So those are from afar near, my Rotarians and my Rotary friends that I have, are huge support to me in my life, and just a great joy to have that. That support and that team. And people like you, Paul. Paul Casey: Hey! Kat: You are definitely one of those people. Paul Casey: Thank you. When you've lived your life and you think back on your influence at the end of your journey, how do you want to be remembered? Kat: As someone who cared. Someone who people felt like they were important in my presence. They felt valued in my presence. I think I couldn't ask for anything better than that. Paul Casey: That is pretty cool. So finally, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence? Kat: Create support, create a team. Have good friends... Get a mentor. Have good friends and mentors that you can bounce things off of. Volunteer, developing leaders volunteer. When you think about all the organizations that we have and that they all have a shortage of volunteers and people who will take a leadership role in whatever capacity. It's a wonderful way for leaders to expand, and try out some of their newer leadership skills or grow new leadership skills. It's also a good opportunity to have mentoring. So you can kind of get it on both sides. Paul Casey: You can put in a plug because I know you're on a few boards. So what are the organizations that you are on, working on your leadership at? Kat: Rotary International, so rotary definitely. I'm a past president... Just past president of Pasco-Kennewick Rotary. Three Rivers Foundation, which is an endowment fund that gives money out. Similar to what the United Way does. The difference is with Three Rivers Foundation, it all stays here in Tri-Cities, 100% of it. And again the staffing, it's a mostly volunteer organization. The largest percentage of money that I've ever heard with any organization actually, goes out to the people who need it. Elijah Homes is an organization that deals with people who need a leg up for housing, and there's some wraparound services within Elijah Homes. They do an excellent job in that, it's not just that they don't provide a place for you to live without you growing and being accountable even from the very, very start. Paul Casey: I understand. Kat: So that one's really good. I like them. And Columbia Industries, so it's probably one of the oldest in this area. Actually in this area, that's the one I've been on the board the longest. So, to help develop mentally disabled people to grow in their own lives. Paul Casey: Awesome opportunities. So how can our listeners best connect with you? Kat: Let's see, my website, which is kathleenlawrence.com, and my email is kat@kathleenlawrence.com and my phone number is on my website and whatnot. And I'm a big texter, it's probably the fastest way to get hold of me. Paul Casey: Awesome. Awesome. Well, thanks again for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a great place and keep leading well. Let me wrap up our podcast today with a resource to recommend. It's actually for those of us who need more hobbies in our life. So I found a website that's called, notsoboringlife.com/list-of-hobbies. It's the longest list of hobbies that I've ever seen. Especially in the winter time, I needed a new hobby, so I went through this huge list and maybe you do too. Now you need to relax more in your life and find some avocation from your vocation. So, notsoboringlife.com/list-of-hobbies. Maybe that's one that's going to be great for you. Paul Casey: Again, this is Paul Casey and I want to thank my guest Kat Lawrence for being here today on the Tri-Cities Influencer podcast. We want to thank our TCI sponsors and invite you to support them. We appreciate you both making this possible so that we can collaborate to help inspire leaders in our community. Finally one more leadership tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence. It's Josh Heinz and he says, dare to dream, but even more importantly, dare to put action behind those dreams. Until next time, KGF. Keep growing forward. Speaker 7: Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams, so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org. For a consultation that could help you move past your current challenges, and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Paul would also like to help you restore sanity to your crazy schedule and get your priorities done every day by offering you his free Control My Calendar Checklist, go to www.takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool, or open a text message to 72000, and type the word, growing. Tara: Tri-Cities influencer podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.  

Chris Wise has built his success in sales, leading companies, and now advising those who lead as the Owner/Managing Board Chair of The C12 Group in Northeastern Wisconsin. Chris brings to the table an interpretive grid of business acumen and common... --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/whatnottodo/support

In this week's Aligned for Talent Podcast, Chris Laney interviews Doug Poll, a Chair of the C12 Group of Southwest Florida. C12 is an international leadership development and peer mentoring organization helping CEOs and leaders becoming better leaders from a faith-based perspective. In this podcast, we're discussing leadership.

Other Topics we discuss:Why 89% of CEO's and founders are struggling in their marriage and how God can transform thatMike's three important pillars of focus for every CEOThe reoccurring struggles Mike sees in every CEO and how we can confront them.Why Mike believes we are in one of the best times in history to use the vehicle of business to advance God's Kingdom!If you are a real estate investor or real estate focused entrepreneur, the time is NOW for you to join the #1 mastermind community of like minded individuals. We are already every month on a virtual roundtable discussion to help one another grow deeper with God and go further in our businesses. Our in person event is also coming up in April and we would love to see you there. Apply now at www.kingdomcapitalists.coGuest Bio:Mike Sharrow Bio November 2018 Mike serves as the President & CEO for the C12 Group as well as serving on the Board of Directors. Mike joined C12 as a member in 2010 while serving as an executive pastor for a large church in Texas and owner of a healthcare strategy consulting group.Prior to that, he had served in a variety of leadership roles in both operations and sales corporately for the Walgreen Company, and financial services as well as strategic development work with Health by Design. In 2011, he exited his commitments to join the local C12 practice in San Antonio as an associate chair serving CEOs across that market. In 2013, he and a partner acquired the greater Central Texas region and stewarded it as it grew to a team of 8 full-time chairmen serving nearly 150 leaders.Mike is passionate about collaboration, strategic planning, Gospel initiatives and BHAG endeavors. Prior to his role with the C12 Group, Mike worked in a variety of industry settings including Walgreens Health Initiatives, TQ Strategies, Health by Design and Grace Point Church, yielding a blend of Fortune 50, SMB and non-profit leadership experiences. It was in 2004 that God first revealed to Mike the “sacred versus secular” divide he had been operating under and began to draw him into the adventure of living one life in Christ with work as worship, business as ministry and all of life as mission.Mike grew up in Alaska and met his wife Jacqui while in college at Trinity International (TIU) in Chicago where they married in 2002. They have two daughters, Elayna and Sophia. Mike graduated from TIU with a degree in marketing, did graduate work at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in theology, Loyola Graduate School of Business in project management, and is an ordained pastor.Mike is passionate about discipleship, Gospel-driven collaborations, foster care, and integrated missional strategies. He believes the C12 Group represents a breathtaking platform to see leaders, families, businesses, communities and eventually nations flourish through ongoing transformation in Christ. Mike’s mother faced the pressure and possibility of an abortion while pregnant with him, so he is an advocate for what God can do through any situation or crisis! Learn more at C12group.com 

Brandon A.:                        People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Simon Sinek. Brandon A.:                        I am Brandon Anderson and I'm a Tri-Cities influencer. Paul Casey:                         Remember, you're either owning your behavior or excusing your behavior. You can't do both. So it's always the mature thing to do, to own it. Announcer:                        Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington, it's the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. Welcome to the TCI Podcast, where local leadership and self-leadership expert, Paul Casey, interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit executives, to hear how they lead themselves and their teams, so we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services, coaching and equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey:                         Thanks for joining me for today's episode with C.A. Hurst. C.A. is a youth advocate and a professed professional dot connector. So, we can't go any further, C.A., with you without you explaining that. C.A. Hurst:                           Okay well, hey first, thank you, Paul. I'm really happy to be here. And yeah, professional dot connector. What does that mean? What on earth am I talking about? What it means is, I see connections between resources and needs and also see connections between people and other people. And years ago, I started kind of developing this, not consciously, but it just kind of happened. And what I've learned over time is that, especially in our world today where we're all connected so much, that's really a cool skill to have. Paul Casey:                         It is, it is. Well, we'll dive in after checking with our Tri-City Influencer's sponsors. Neal Taylor:                        Hello, my name is Neal Taylor. I am the managing attorney for Gravis Law's commercial transactions team. The CT team helps business owners, investors, and entrepreneurs accelerate and protect their business value. Today, we're talking about employment law and alcohol and cannabis licensing. Josh Bam and Derek Johnson are both here with me now to describe those practice areas. Take it, Derek. Derek Johnson:                 Thanks, Neal. I'm Derek Johnson, partner at Gravis Law. We find that many employers in Washington State simply don't have handbooks, employee policies, or any other written materials to protect themselves and their employees. Without having these types of policies in place, an employer can run into trouble by firing employees, even if the employee isn't properly performing or are causing issues at work. Even if an employer fires someone for performance issues, for example, but fails to take the proper steps, they may run into trouble by inadvertently exposing themselves to a wrongful termination suit. We build strong, predictable, and protective employee policies to protect our clients' business. Josh Bam:                            That's true. Thanks, Derek. And having employment policies in place when you're dealing with cannabis or alcohol licensing is especially important. We know that clean employment policies, clean corporate structure, and having an attorney that can work with the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board is critically important to protecting your business through licensing. The attorneys at Gravis Law have this experience. Visit us today at www.GravisLaw.com. Paul Casey:                         Thank you for your supportive leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Well, welcome again, C.A. I was privileged to meet you, we just figured it out, it was over 10 years ago at a young professionals networking event and neither of us were young at the young professionals event, which I think was pretty funny. C.A. Hurst:                           I think we were the two oldest guys there. Paul Casey:                         I think we were. And what was cool, even though they probably looked at us strange was that we both wanted to give back. And we were there to be, if anybody wanted any kind of mentoring or, we're just both learners too. So whoever was teaching whatever, we wanted to be in the room. So, that was a pretty cool connection. And to stay connected throughout the years via social media and books that we've read has been really a joy. So that our Tri-City influencers can get to know you, take us through your past positions that sort of led up to what you're doing now. C.A. Hurst:                           Oh, man. Okay. Well, I'll try to keep this short because I got like 40 years worth of stuff. Paul Casey:                         Sure, sure. Yeah. C.A. Hurst:                           So, in 1970... Paul Casey:                         I was born in a hospital. C.A. Hurst:                           Okay, so, in 1970, in July of that year, this is like the year, the summer before December, after I graduated from high school, before I started college, I had a massive born-again experience. There was a little church in, well, actually Washington, called Bethesda Christian Center. That was part of the Jesus people movement. They're just young people coming in. And they really didn't know what to do with us because we were just responding to their openness to loving us, right? Anyway, so I had this massive born-again experience in the summer of 1970. And then I spent my first year of college at Central Washington State College at that time, now a university. So that fall, I had dived into reading the Bible because I'd never read it before. And so I was hungry, hungry, hungry. I'd taken a study break. I was in one of the little parks near the dorms there at Ellensburg, sitting under a tree. C.A. Hurst:                           I'm not sure I could find the same tree, but I know I remember this because I was reading in Ephesians about, "And God gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers." I hit pastors and teachers and I got this little thing in my heart that said, "Yeah, that's you." I said, "Oh yeah, really? I don't think so." So I responded to that, though that's where that started. And finished out my year at Central. C.A. Hurst:                           Then the next year, I was doing Bible college stuff in Wenatchee. And I eventually, then when I graduated from there, as you and I were talking a little earlier, I ended up on staff at Faith Assembly here in the Tri-Cities, way back when, in the '70s when they were in the building that now houses the Hungry Generation Church. So, cool stuff there. But through a number of events, just life events, I ended up needing to reinvent myself. My ex-wife and I had ended up in Montana. We started a church there. Then we separated in 1990. And that began kind of an interesting roller coaster for me of reinventing myself and reinventing myself again and again and again in truth, figuring out how to take all the skills that I had learned as a youth pastor and a pastor and a founding pastor, taking those skills and interpreting them for the secular world, which is a huge challenge. C.A. Hurst:                           Eventually, I ended up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The highlights there is I was the program director for Residential Treatment Center, horribly damaged young people. Really cool experience because I was able... we as a team of, my guys and gals that work with me, we were really able to touch some of those lives and help them. And then I spent eight-and-a-half years as a counselor at the Albuquerque Job Corps Center. We had a capacity for over 400 students, 8 counselors on staff, so everybody had at least 50 students on our caseload at all times. Paul Casey:                         Wow. C.A. Hurst:                           If somebody got sick or was out for a while, at one point in time, we were down four of us. So we all had a hundred kids on our caseloads every day, all day, every day. And we got really good at what we did. I spent a year and a half as the counseling manager. The job of a counselor at the Job Corps Center is to actually protect a student from the bureaucracy. That's a government program. But then a counseling manager then, once you bump up, now you're protecting both the kids and the counselors. So I kind of rubbed everybody, I rubbed the upper management, the wrong way for too long. Paul Casey:                         You contrarian, you. C.A. Hurst:                           So, anyway, I need to brief this up. At this point in time, the last time I counted, I reinvented myself either in a small way or a large way about 37 times. Paul Casey:                         Wow. C.A. Hurst:                           But out of all of that, what I've learned to do is morph and to figure out how to function in our world today. So, it's been a weird ride but it's bearing good fruit. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. Yeah. That reinvention is so critical. Some people go their whole lives without reinvention and you've done it 37 times. I did it for my first time following a divorce as well, over 13 years ago. And it sort of hits you in the face and you're just like, "Okay, I can stay down and wallow in this tragedy or I can reinvent myself." Every time you pick yourself back up and reinvent yourself, I tried, I did thirteen, no, it was 11 things. And it wasn't magic. 11, right? I don't know why, it's not even a round number. Paul Casey:                         But listeners, if you ever want those 11 things of how to recover from a traumatic experience in your life, I'd be happy to send those to you. But looking back, it's like I needed all of those habits, those new habits in my life. That's when I started playing golf. That's when I got more male friends. It was just like, there's just so many different things that happen on the other side of that. So, in your life, what do you feel like you're very good at, like what are your talents, your strengths, and how do you use those on a day-to-day basis to be successful and help others be successful? C.A. Hurst:                           Okay. So, when people ask me what I do, what I really do, my life calling, is working with young people. That's where I've been for the past, going on 50 years. I am so proud of that. On next year, 2020, that it will be 50 years since I actually started counseling with people and doing that kind of thing. And my specialty area has been young people. When I was working at Faith Assembly, we ended up doing a lot of outreach to young people here on the Tri-Cities, and of all different walks of life but especially the kids that nobody wants, and nobody wanted then and they still don't want them. I do. I do. I didn't have a clue what to do with them when I started, because I was like 20-something. And I would spend a lot of time praying about, "Hey, God, so what do we do with this guy?" And I don't have a clue. C.A. Hurst:                           And the answer was always the same, just love him. Or if it was a gal, just love her. Just accept them the way they are. So, that's the biggie for me. That's the undercurrent of everything that I do. That's what I do. So, that gives me context for everything else that I've studied over the past 40 years. See, you already know that I'm a huge reader. Paul Casey:                         Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. C.A. Hurst:                           Right? And one of the coolest things that's happened in our world in the past 10, 15 years is that, because of social media, because of all of the high-tech communication stuff we've had, the people who write and people who are thought leaders have a much easier time sharing what it is that they know. So, I've still got that young person perspective, but because of my age and because I've had to reinvent myself 37 times and because I have been desperately scrambling for answers, I've read. Just read and read and read and read and read and read and read, and without trying to be proselytizing anybody, done a lot of praying like, "Hey, God, what's next? Where do I, where, where, where? And so, what I've learned is the most important person to learn how to lead is me. Paul Casey:                         Yep. C.A. Hurst:                           That I've had to learn how to lead myself from, "Okay, here's where I am. This is not working, so I need to do something else. Where do I go from here? Where do I go from here? Where do I go from here?" And honestly, that to me is probably the very most important thing that any adult could possibly learn in our world today. In fact, as a parent, I would encourage people to begin shifting our thinking and teaching their children that same kind of a thing. Just learning how to be self-reliant, learning how to be entrepreneurial, even if you're going to work for somebody else, still consider yourself an entrepreneur- Paul Casey:                         If anything, could be an intrepreneur, right? C.A. Hurst:                           An intrepreneur, whatever you want to call it. But really developing you, and your own unique abilities. So, I would say one of my unique abilities is communicating. I've always loved to write, and I've done more writing in the last, oh, five, no, six, seven, eight, eight years, about eight years with Facebook. Nobody's going to tell you you can't. You might get a couple of shots across the bow for what you write, but you can go ahead and write. So, I've been really having a lot of fun with that. Paul Casey:                         Yeah, you have. So, I'm hearing you're a lover, a learner, and a writer. C.A. Hurst:                           There we go. Thank you. That works. Paul Casey:                         Core value of love, core value of just constant personal and professional improvement. And then, the writing or adding value to others. So on the flip side, what would you consider one of your biggest liabilities? And how do you mitigate that so it doesn't limit your influence? C.A. Hurst:                           My greatest is, I've learned this in this last six months, that my greatest liability is, even though I've been a very strong advocate for others my entire adult life, I haven't done a very good job of advocating for myself. So, I've been learning a lot about that over the past six months. And I've also, oh, asking for help. Paul Casey:                         Asking for help. C.A. Hurst:                           Asking for help. Do you know who Brene Brown is? Paul Casey:                         Oh, yeah. C.A. Hurst:                           Okay. So, have you read Daring Greatly? Paul Casey:                         Yes and Dare to Lead, her newest one too. C.A. Hurst:                           Okay, yeah, we're reading Dare to Lead right now. So, Daring Greatly, I read that, oh, about eight months ago. And now here I am, I ended up, recently I'd had a little toe of my left foot amputated. It was in June of this year, and I needed help. I needed help from people that I've known for years and I've needed help from our community. And it's embarrassing to ask for help, especially as guys, it's embarrassing to ask for help because we're trained not to. Then yeah, "We want you to be in touch with your feminine side," Brene Brown. "We want you to be in touch with your feminine side." Go ahead, try that out. I dare you. Let's see what happens. Oh yeah, now you're really going to get beat up anyway. So that's what I've really learned over the past several months. I've just not been good at asking for help when I've needed it. Paul Casey:                         And yet it's a strength, not a weakness at its core, right? Because we're robbing other people of the blessing of what they've been wired to do, which could be to help us at this moment to get us unstuck or to that next opportunity. So when we go, no, I'm going to pull myself up with my bootstraps and be self-sufficient, we actually rob others of the opportunity to give. C.A. Hurst:                           Yeah, there's that balance of being self-sufficient and then knowing when to ask for help. Paul Casey:                         Yes. C.A. Hurst:                           Not codependent. Nobody is truly independent. Paul Casey:                         Right. C.A. Hurst:                           What we need to be, interdependent. Paul Casey:                         Interdependent, I love that word. I love that word. Totally believe that and that's a core value for sure. And what I love is that as an amputee... Amputay? C.A. Hurst:                           Amputee. Paul Casey:                         Yes. You have not made that a liability in your life. You said you surrounded yourself with a community of others who have gone through that, that only you guys can really understand. C.A. Hurst:                           Yeah, yep. Paul Casey:                         You're not letting that hold you back. I mean, it holds you back physically. You probably do way more if you could but you're not letting that hold you back from your influence. C.A. Hurst:                           You're right. And one of the biggest lessons I've learned, I've always known that the value of being quiet, I've learned that way back when, when I was going to Bible college, that kind of thing. Just one of those things that they taught us, sit down and shut up, sit down- Paul Casey:                         Seen and not heard. C.A. Hurst:                           And listen. God's trying to speak to you but you're so busy running around and you're making so much noise, you can't hear what he's saying because oh, when he speaks, it's with that little still small voice. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. Yes. C.A. Hurst:                           So this last, actually, it's the last several years, I've ended up spending a lot more time being ultra-quiet than I ever wanted to, on the one hand. On the other hand, that has been yielding the coolest stuff I've ever learned in my entire life, that you know that. And also, the biggie has been, I got you. I got, I got you. You're okay. I got you. Because, so, I got my leg amputated, my right leg amputated below the knee when I was 59 years old. You get kind of attached to a leg after 59 years. Paul Casey:                         I would think so, yes. C.A. Hurst:                           Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, all of a sudden, it's not there and you are in another universe. There's just no way to describe it. It's like, where am I? Who am I? Honest to God is, who am I? I woke up from the surgery and it was gone. I don't even know who I am anymore. Paul Casey:                         It cuts your identity. C.A. Hurst:                           Yeah, it does. It just... So I've ended up spending a lot more time being a lot more quiet than what I thought I should be. It's like, I need to be doing this and I need to be doing that. I need to be... And that's been part of what God has been speaking to me. It's like, no, no, I got you. Just shut up. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. C.A. Hurst:                           Just chill out, dude. You know? I got you. It's okay. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. That reassurance is amazing. Also, I think the breakthrough has really happened in solitude. And because where we surround ourselves with our distractions and our noise and we get in the car and my last car, the radio just popped on automatically. It's just like we're just surrounded by so much noise and we can't be creative. We can't have those breakthroughs of what's next. C.A. Hurst:                           Yeah, we do need to get quiet. In fact, one of the greatest concerns I've had over the past couple of years, and then actually over the past several months, is that with social media, everybody has a voice, which is really, really cool. However, extroverts being extroverted, I liken it to be in a band. I'm a bassist. My job is to be in the background. Okay, I'm not a lead guitarist. The lead guitarist's job is to be in the foreground or the vocalists or whatever, right? Oh, I liken it to the lead guitarist because the extroverts are lead guitarists, or vocalists, so they're always encouraging everybody to be a lead guitar. So it's like, "No, no, no, no, no. No, no, we just need one." Paul Casey:                         You wouldn't have a band. C.A. Hurst:                           We love you to pieces. And we love what, we love those riffs but we only need one of you. So we've thought, "Well, you're talking about all the noise. That's what I'm hearing out here on social media land is just that overwhelming, you got to be on 24-7, 365. You've got to hustle and grind 24-7, 365. It's totally unsustainable. I get it. I get it, I get it. Especially if you're in your 20s or 30s, you need to be out there hustling and you need to figure out what that's all about, and you need to be staying up late at night, reading, reading, reading, reading, reading- Paul Casey:                         Did you say reading? C.A. Hurst:                           Studying, digging, doing all of that stuff. But then as you get a little bit older, then you need to take all this stuff that you've been studying and you need to begin to mold something that's more sustainable, that you can teach to other people, that you can look to other people and say, "Listen, here's what happens when you do all of this study and all this reading." What you're doing is, you're growing roots. And you want to grow a strong, complex, sustainable root system so that when the storms of life come along, not if, but when, because it is going to happen, that then rather than that or that rather than breaking, you're going to bend and sway and you're actually going to become stronger through those storms. C.A. Hurst:                           But you have to take time to grow that root system. And that's what you do in your late teens, early 20s and to your 30s. But then you need to be able to start kind of mellowing out a little bit. And let me use Eric Clapton. Okay. So, if you listen to Eric Clapton playing with Cream, way back when, well, in the '60s, right? And you listened to him in the '90s, whatever. He just matured. And so he still plays brilliantly, but it's got a different flavor to it. It's like a fine wine. Paul Casey:                         There you go. C.A. Hurst:                           Mellows. Paul Casey:                         Yes. C.A. Hurst:                           That the taste mellows and that's what you want. Paul Casey:                         So you've got the root system metaphor. You've got the wine metaphor, Eric Clapton metaphor. Woo. C.A. Hurst:                           I got them all, man. I've been doing this a long time. Paul Casey:                         You came at it three different ways. Well, hey, before we head into our next question on a few of C.A.'s life hacks, let's shout out to our sponsors. Paul Casey:                         The C12 Group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings, during which 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues biblically. Additionally, members receive a 90-minute personal coaching session each month. Information is available from Tom Walther at (715) 459-9611 or online at C12EasternWa.com. Paul Casey:                         So, C.A., what are a few of your life hacks that help you be successful on a daily basis? C.A. Hurst:                           One of my buddies, online, is a guy by the name of Tim Sanders, who was Yahoo's chief solutions officer way back when, when they were the thing, right? He wrote a book called Love Is The Killer App, and a bestseller, and I got acquainted with Tim through Dan Pink, who's another best-selling author. And I connected with him. He wrote a book several years ago called, Today We Are Rich. So, number one life hack, feed your mind good stuff. He has an entire chapter. He opens with intros, it's a couple, three chapters of just kind of background stuff. Then his first main chapter is that feed your mind good stuff. And that life hack right there, that has literally saved my life over and over and over and over and over again. That's it. I mean it's so, it's not complicated. C.A. Hurst:                           We live in what's called a knowledge society. So, everybody is a professional whether they want to be or not. Everybody. It's like, guys, this is where we're at. So, if you pay attention to what you allow in your heart, your mind, your soul, your spirit, then you're going, whatever comes along, you're going to be able to fight back. You're going to be able to push back. Let me talk a little bit about being an amputee. Depression. You ain't lived until you're missing part of your body. You can't get away from it. You can't, you're depressed, and you can't get away from it. And you can either give up or you can get up, one or the other. What enables you to get up is what you've been feeding into your heart, your soul, your mind, your spirit. C.A. Hurst:                           So that's my number one life hack is that. Feed your mind good stuff. And then honestly, everything else just kind of flows out of that. I think in numbers. A number two life hack would be, stay connected with other people. Figure out how to keep those connections happening because we need each other. Even those times when we are just all grumped out and we want to be by ourselves. That's okay for a while. But then you got to get back in there and you need to reconnect with other people and let them, as you were saying earlier, let them give back into you. Paul Casey:                         Sure, sure. Yeah, I love that crucible moment that they give up or get up. The key thing that tips you to the getting up is feeding yourself that positive input every single day. C.A. Hurst:                           Well, yeah. Here's what's cool. I've been doing that for years now. Years and years and years and years, right? So, it runs on autopilot. Sometimes you have, when you started, when you start a good habit, you have to fight for it. Paul Casey:                         Yep. C.A. Hurst:                           Okay. But once you get it established, after whatever length of time it takes, it takes on a life of its own. Paul Casey:                         It does. It does. Yeah, there's four habits that I do every day. I get eight hours of sleep every day. These are all my wellness habits. I read the Bible every day. I read professionally every day, like you're saying, and I exercise every day. And I don't have to think about any of those four because they become so ingrained in my life that I'll feel like, if I go too long without that, something's missing. Right? C.A. Hurst:                           Yeah. Yeah, and you... Paul Casey:                         That's like, I crave it. Yeah, I crave it so much because it's... But a new habit coming into your life, whether that's flossing or something else that you know is good for you, it does take work. And it's the 21 days, there's not a real thing. Sometimes it takes a long time to do that. So before you make an important decision, C.A., what process do you think through in your life so that you make more good calls than bad calls? C.A. Hurst:                           The reason I'm being all quiet and kind of thinking is that the last several years had been so crazy, and that I've had a lot of decisions made for me. It's super, I don't, I'm not going to say scary because it's not scary, it's terrifying. But in a more normal setting, the stuff that I am, essentially, like the feed your mind good stuff. I'm always thinking about, what's the best thing to do that's going to benefit the most people, the most beneficially? Paul Casey:                         Yeah, yeah. C.A. Hurst:                           That's the way that I'm made. And then I begin to work out from that. It's like, "Okay, what do I need to do? What's my..." And I think of it as kind of mental or emotional reading and I go way out and say, "Okay, this is where we could go with this. Okay, now let's come all the way back in. And let's figure out-" Paul Casey:                         What's that next step to get there, yeah. C.A. Hurst:                           What's the very first tiny little step that I can take right now? Right now in order to get that process happening, because once we make that first tiny little step, then we begin to... Then we see the next tiny little step. Until we make that step, we can't see the next step. Paul Casey:                         That's right. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "You can't see the whole staircase." C.A. Hurst:                           Exactly. Paul Casey:                         You just can only see that next step. C.A. Hurst:                           Exactly. Yeah. Well, and a young guy named Richie Norton, I was on the launch team for his book, The Power of Starting Something Stupid. His brother-in-law, Gavin passed away at the age of 21. A year or so later, he and his wife Natalie had a baby that they named Gavin after her brother. He caught whooping cough. They're living in Hawaii. He got whooping cough and he died at the age of 76 days. Paul Casey:                         Oh. C.A. Hurst:                           So, and what Richie has incorporated into his life is what he calls Gavin's law, that you live to start and start to live. And he said, "I can get anything done at 76 days." That's what he does. He gives himself, he'll create a project that takes 76 days. To live to start, start to live. Paul Casey:                         What a great motto. C.A. Hurst:                           Yeah. What's cool about Richie is that he lives it and he has been living it. And it works. Paul Casey:                         To take something traumatic and turn that into a mantra. C.A. Hurst:                           Yeah. Paul Casey:                         Or these 76-day chunks of life. Because sometimes, we underestimate how much we can get done in 76 days. C.A. Hurst:                           Yeah. Paul Casey:                         We overestimate how much we can get done in one day. C.A. Hurst:                           Yeah. Paul Casey:                         But in 76 days, you can make a lot of difference. C.A. Hurst:                           Oh yeah. You can, especially if you shift your mindset to that. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So when you've lived your life, C.A., and you think back on your influence, how do you want to be remembered? It's a legacy question. C.A. Hurst:                           Simple, a simple thing. "He made a difference." Paul Casey:                         "He made a difference." Love to see that on my tombstone too. C.A. Hurst:                           Yeah. Paul Casey:                         They used to have those Tombstone Pizza commercials. "What do you want on your tombstone?" I think that's actually a pretty profound slogan. C.A. Hurst:                           He made a difference. Paul Casey:                         He made a difference. Well, finally, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence? C.A. Hurst:                           Read. Paul Casey:                         I sort of knew you were going to say that. C.A. Hurst:                           Well yeah, it's like at this point, because... My buddy, I call him my buddy, Lou is. Actually Lou Wen, Louie Wen, Ph.D., psychologist, whom I met at the Albuquerque Job Corps Center when I was on staff there. And he worked with one of my students one day. It was about six weeks after I'd been there. And he absolutely changed this young woman's life in 30 minutes, helped her see what was going on, and she wept cathartic tears. Walked out of my office, a changed young woman. So I looked at him, as soon as she closed the door, I looked at him and said, "Okay, what is it that you know that I don't know?" What he said was, "I have a book I want you to read." And his book called Warm Logic. C.A. Hurst:                           And then Lou and I are still close friends, but he was the center mental health consultant for the Albuquerque Job Corps Center. He was there, he'd be there usually two or three days a week. And every time he saw me, the very first thing he'd ask me is, "What are you reading?" What are you reading? And again, because of the world we live in today, that is, honestly, that is the very most important habit to develop as a leader. Another one of my author buddies, again, Tim Sanders, "Readers make the best leaders." Paul Casey:                         Amen. C.A. Hurst:                           You can go through history. Everybody that's been a great leader has been a reader. If you want to lead, there are certain things you have to do. Paul Casey:                         And that's one of them. C.A. Hurst:                           Reading is number one, not number two, I mean, seriously. That's number one. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. So, I'm just going to ask you this on the fly here. Would you be willing to write up your book list for our listeners that I could post on our Facebook page sometime? C.A. Hurst:                           Sure. Paul Casey:                         Now, that would be phenomenal. Because we can go a whole nuther half hour on just the books that we would recommend leaders to read. C.A. Hurst:                           Oh, yeah. Easily. Paul Casey:                         But how can our listeners best connect with you, C.A.? C.A. Hurst:                           They can, honestly, the best way to connect with me is on Facebook. I've used that. That's my primary social media platform. It works for me. I try to stay away from the ultra controversial stuff. And it's just a capital C, capital A squished together, no periods, because Facebook won't let me use them. And then H-U-R-S-T. If people know who I am, my picture is my profile picture. So, I'm pretty recognizable. That's the simplest way. Paul Casey:                         Okay. Very cool. C.A. Hurst:                           Or they can text me. (509) 420-3515. Paul Casey:                         Awesome. Well, thanks again for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a great place. C.A. Hurst:                           Well, thank you, sir. Paul Casey:                         Keep leading well. Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend. It's QuoteInvestigator.com, QuoteInvestigator.com. And if you want to look for a cool mantra for your life, it's called Just For Today. And a gentleman wrote a, it's almost a little poem and there's about 10 to 12 lines of Just For Today. "I will try to live through this day only." And it talks about generosity and reaching out to others and putting yourself in that mental right state for the rest of the day. So, I found it through QuoteInvestigator.com and maybe that will be inspirational for you today. Again, this is Paul Casey and I want to thank my guest, C.A. Hurst, the dot connector, for being here today on the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. We want to thank our TCI sponsors and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible so we can collaborate to help inspire leaders in our community. Paul Casey:                         Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence. It's Theodore Roosevelt. He says, "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." Until next time, KGF, keep growing forward. Announcer:                        Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams, so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. If you'd like more help for Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org, for a consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team. Paul would also like to help you restore sanity to your crazy schedule and get your priorities done everyday by offering you his free Control My Calendar checklist. Go to www.takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool. Or open a text message to 72000 and type the word, growing. Paul Casey:                         The Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.  

Todd graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a B.S. in Marketing and immediately joined Gulf Winds International in 1996. Beginning as a fork-lift operator, he has served within or led every department within the company, leading to his current position of President. Todd is primarily responsible for working with key stakeholders to establish and maintain a culture that reflects the mission, values and overall strategic "world class" vision for the organization. Through being an active C12 Group member, Todd continues to learn how Gulf Winds International is here to serve a greater purpose and holds strongly to the biblical servant leadership model that empowers team members to grow personally, professionally and spiritually. He is passionate about how the gospel of Christ can restore hope in local and global communities. In 2017, this led Todd to found More Than The Move Foundation which exists to aid life-changing non-profits such as International Cooperating Ministries, Steiger International and Ground Wire via corporate generosity, corporate volunteerism and corporate advocacy.

We got an in-depth look at two ministries working hard for the Kingdom and discipling Christ-followers to be ready to live out their faith in their work as we brought in Ray Strickland with CoPassion and Bob Shallow with the C12 Group to detail the impact of their faith and work ministries.

We got an in-depth look at two ministries working hard for the Kingdom and discipling Christ-followers to be ready to live out their faith in their work as we brought in Ray Strickland with CoPassion and Bob Shallow with the C12 Group to detail the impact of their faith and work ministries. The post CoPassion And C12 appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.

We've talked a lot recently on the BreakPoint Podcast about religious freedom—how do we live out our faith in the public square in a society increasingly hostile to Christianity? This is an especially acute question for Christian business owners—especially with the growing support for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity laws. Today on the BreakPoint Podcast, John Stonestreet talks with Michael Sharrow, President and CEO of the C12 Group, the nation's largest network of Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives.   Resources Attend Wilberforce Weekend 2020! C12 Group How Financial Levers Are Being Used to Undermine Religious Freedoms A Special Colson Center Webinar Making the Term ‘Sex' Subjective Threatens American Businesses Mike Sharrow, National Review, September 11, 2019

Are you looking for practical insights to improve the health of your workplace culture? Today's guest will give you some inspirational leadership tips for doing just that.  Today, we're going to look at Inspirational Leadership, which is the sixth of the eight drivers that can take the health of your workplace culture to the next level. My guest, today, knows a lot about Inspirational Leadership. His character, leadership, intelligence and convictions are going to give you some fresh, new insights for how to improve and strengthen your own workplace culture. With that, I want to welcome in one of the most popular guests on the podcast, Mike Sharrow, President and CEO of C12 Group, the nation's largest network of Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives, based in San Antonio Texas. Mike, I'm so glad you can join us. Welcome to the Flourishing Culture Podcast. Find full show notes here https://www.bcwinstitute.org/s4-e28-mike-harrow/

Join the Conversation: UnicitySA.org •Officer Doug Greene has been a member of the San Antonio Police Department for nine years. He has served as a public information officer for the past four years in the department’s Media Services Unit. In 2017, SAPD presented Officer Greene with the Officer of the Year Award. Prior to joining the department, Officer Greene worked in the TV production industry for ten years. Officer Greene has an associate’s degree in Radio, TV, and Film, and a BA in Communications-Media. •Jennie Lord is the founder and CEO of Chosen Care. Chosen supports adoptive and foster families and children with mentoring, parenting education, coaching, and more. •Christina St. John is a School Social Worker working with students and families that have been identified as refugees, asylum seekers or recent immigrants. Home visits, skills groups, emotional regulation groups and mentor-ship are just a few of the services I have the honor to provide throughout the school day as well as share with the families in their homes. FAMILY AND CITY TRANSFORMATION PANEL •Cory Albracht is a consultant to several area charitable foundations and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Saint Susie Charitable Foundation and the Semmes Foundation, INC. Mr. Albracht attended the University of Texas in Austin and is a former executive pastor and non-profit executive. He held positions with two nationally recognized family strengthening organizations prior to moving to the San Antonio area. Mr. Albracht and his wife Julie have twin daughters and live in Fair Oaks Ranch. •Carl Caton (see bio under the Collaboration Panel) •Ryan Gernand is the Executive Pastor at Grace Community Church. Formerly, he served as the Family and Marriage Pastor at Grace, overseeing kids, students, and marriage. •Robert Vogel has 30 years' experience leading teams and organizations of 1,000+ people. He is the Managing Chairman of the C12 Group for South-Central Texas. The C12 Group is the nation’s largest network of Christian CEO peer advisory groups. Robert started his career with HEB Grocery and after 17 years he started a supply chain organization before transitioning into the non-profit arena with San Antonio Family Endeavors. He joined the C12 Group in 2012 and his personal mission statement is "Through Christ, I make a positive difference in the lives of those around me and the lives of those I have yet to meet, or may never meet."

We had the chance to chat – courtesy of Ross Harrop with the C12 Group in Tampa Bay – with the newly-branded CEO of New Life Solutions, Charles DiMarco,  and we learned about the leadership transition process, and how Charles plans on using his experience to bring New Life to the next level. The post The New at New Life appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.

We had the chance to chat – courtesy of Ross Harrop with the C12 Group in Tampa Bay – with the newly-branded CEO of New Life Solutions, Charles DiMarco,  and we learned about the leadership transition process, and how Charles plans on using his experience to bring New Life to the next level.

On today’s show we will be talking to Greg Atchison, Chair of the C12 Group of Greater St. Louis. During this episode you’ll hear:  Greg explains what C-12 is and how he became involved with it What differentiates C-12 from the many similar secular organizations that offer help to & support for business owners and entrepreneurs The C-12 Peer Advisory Group and its primary participation vehicle for C-12 members The types of ongoing support and resources provided to members outside of the peer advisory group setting How all of Greg’s past experience and education have prepared him for his current role with C-12 “Creating Crazy Customer Loyalty” and exactly what it means Steps listeners can take to create crazy customer loyalty Greg’s message to business owners and entrepreneurs striving to build and sustain successful businesses Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of LionsGate Advisors. The topics discussed, and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. LionsGate Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. RESOURCES: Chair for the C12 Group of Greater St. Louis, an executive roundtable exclusively for Christian business owners and their leadership teams. Greg came to the C12 with a breadth of experiences that includes co-leading a P&L responsible for a $50+ million business employing 350 people, leading a R&D team charged with developing next generation training technologies, and overseeing more than 350+ technicians supporting a wide variety of military aircraft. His most recent efforts have been in the area of leadership development and executive coaching, where he was involved with the development of Boeing's emerging leaders, senior managers and executives from around the globe. Greg has a Ph.D in Organization and Management with a specialization in leadership, he has served as an adjunct professor with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and he holds a Professional Certified Coach credential from the International Coach Federation.

On this episode, Mike Sharrow shares lessons learned from C12's community of Christ-centered CEOs about the benefits of Bible-based business counsel and discipleship-oriented accountability.    Mike is the President and CEO of C12 Group, the nation's largest network of Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives. Before joining C12, Mike owned a healthcare strategy consulting group and served as an executive pastor for a church in Texas. Theology of Business is the show that helps marketplace Christians to partner with God in business to make disciples of companies, industries, and communities. If you want to learn more about how to do business for the glory of God and shape culture through discipling the business world, this show is for you. | Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Nonprofit | Church | Author | Startups | Marketplace | Ministry | Business as Mission | Faith and Work | Faith | Success | Leadership | www.TheologyofBusiness.com  

On this episode, Mike Sharrow shares lessons learned from C12's community of Christ-centered CEOs about the benefits of Bible-based business counsel and discipleship-oriented accountability.    Mike is the President and CEO of C12 Group, the nation's largest network of Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives. Before joining C12, Mike owned a healthcare strategy consulting group and served as an executive pastor for a church in Texas. Theology of Business is the show that helps marketplace Christians to partner with God in business to make disciples of companies, industries, and communities. If you want to learn more about how to do business for the glory of God and shape culture through discipling the business world, this show is for you. | Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Nonprofit | Church | Author | Startups | Marketplace | Ministry | Business as Mission | Faith and Work | Faith | Success | Leadership | www.TheologyofBusiness.com  

On this episode, Mike Sharrow shares lessons learned from C12’s community of Christ-centered CEOs about the benefits of Bible-based business counsel and discipleship-oriented accountability.    Mike is the President and CEO of C12 Group, the nation’s largest network of Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives. Before joining C12, Mike owned a healthcare strategy consulting group and served as an executive pastor for a church in Texas. Theology of Business is the show that helps marketplace Christians to partner with God in business to make disciples of companies, industries, and communities. If you want to learn more about how to do business for the glory of God and shape culture through discipling the business world, this show is for you. | Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Nonprofit | Church | Author | Startups | Marketplace | Ministry | Business as Mission | Faith and Work | Faith | Success | Leadership | www.TheologyofBusiness.com  

Mike serves as the President & CEO for The C12 Group as well as serving on the Board of Directors. Mike originally joined The C12 Group as a member in 2010 when he owned a healthcare management consulting practice and was serving as a pastor at Grace Point Church (San Antonio, TX). In 2011 he joined the local franchise as a full-time associate chairman serving dozens of CEOs across the local market. In 2013 he and a partner acquired the greater Central Texas franchise and grew it to a team of 8 full-time chairmen serving over 130 local leaders. In 2016 Mike was selected to be the 3rd steward for The C12 Group’s global vision. Prior to his role with The C12 Group Mike worked in a variety of industry settings including Walgreens Health Initiatives, Gliemi & Company, TQ Strategies, Health by Design and Grace Point Church, yielding a blend of Fortune 50, SMB and non-profit leadership experiences. It was in 2004 that God first revealed to Mike the “sacred versus secular” divide he had been operating under and began to draw him into the adventure of living one life in Christ with work as worship, business as ministry and all of life as mission. Mike grew up in Alaska and met his wife (Jacqui) while in college at Trinity International University (TIU) in Chicago where they married in 2002. They have 2 daughters, Elayna and Sophia. Mike graduated from TIU with a degree in marketing, did graduate work at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in theology, Loyola Graduate School of Business in project management, and is an ordained pastor. Mike is passionate about discipleship, Gospel-driven collaborations, foster care, and integrated missional strategies. He believes The C12 Group represents a breathtaking platform to see leaders, families, businesses, communities and eventually nations flourish through ongoing transformation in Christ.

Today on the show, how business victories can actually further the message of God’s Kingdom. Tony Tennaro is here with us today to share personal business processes and stories of success as Chair of C12 Group. He’ll let us in on how these victories have inspired other employees, their families, and customers for the cause of Christ. Learn how to incorporate a work-life balance while keeping Christ at the forefront of it all. Tony is thrilled to share ways to work on your business and how to work on your ministry in a business that belongs to God. As a result, you’ll see an improved marriage, better family engagement, and enhanced professional relationships.

We capped off a great week with a stop in Roseville, Minnesota to chat with their local C12 Group and they did not disappoint.  Dave Fergus was our guest and he introduced us to a slew of area members who shared how the Gospel is impacting their workplaces – so cool! The post C12 in the Tundra appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.

We capped off a great week with a stop in Roseville, Minnesota to chat with their local C12 Group and they did not disappoint.  Dave Fergus was our guest and he introduced us to a slew of area members who shared how the Gospel is impacting their workplaces – so cool!

We got an in-depth look at two ministries working hard for the Kingdom and discipling Christ-followers to be ready to live out their faith in their work as we brought in Ray Strickland with CoPassion and Bob Shallow with the C12 Group to detail the impact of their faith and work ministries. The post CoPassion & C12 appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.

We got an in-depth look at two ministries working hard for the Kingdom and discipling Christ-followers to be ready to live out their faith in their work as we brought in Ray Strickland with CoPassion and Bob Shallow with the C12 Group to detail the impact of their faith and work ministries.

Our mission is to equip and inspire Christian leaders to build a flourishing workplace. While a majority of our listeners are working in churches and Christian non-profits, a healthy segment are Christians who either own a business, or who are involved in a Christian-owned business. Mike Sharrow is the President and CEO of C12 Group, the largest network of Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives. Mike has an extensive background in large companies, start-ups and the local church. He knows how a healthy, flourishing culture equates to organizational effectiveness. What he has to share with us is going to benefit you in more ways than one. Find full shownotes here http://blog.bcwinstitute.org/s3-e27-mike-sharrow-c12-group

It was local C12 Group leader, Ross Harrop, in the hot seat this afternoon for his monthly highlighting of an area business doing Kingdom Works, and today Ross brought on the folks from Digital South to talk how the Lord has moved them – and their company.  Give this podcast a listen to hear how … Continue reading "The Story of Digital South"

It was local C12 Group leader, Ross Harrop, in the hot seat this afternoon for his monthly highlighting of an area business doing Kingdom Works, and today Ross brought on the folks from Digital South to talk how the Lord has moved them – and their company.  Give this podcast a listen to hear how … Continue reading The Story of Digital South The post The Story of Digital South appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.

Per usual, the first Friday of the month brings Ross Harrop with the C12 Group behind the mic to guest host and highlight a local business doing great, Kingdom Works.  And today, Ross brought on John Bryan with Bryan Financial Services to share how John is changing the World by working4Him.

Per usual, the first Friday of the month brings Ross Harrop with the C12 Group behind the mic to guest host and highlight a local business doing great, Kingdom Works.  And today, Ross brought on John Bryan with Bryan Financial Services to share how John is changing the World by working4Him. The post C12's Ministry in the Marketplace appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.

We got an insider's look at how the C12 Group is changing the lives of its members when two wives of these members joined Jim and Martha to talk about the impact the ministry's personal impact- good stuff!  Then, author Christa Hernandez stopped by to share about her new upcoming book; and Mark Kober closed … Continue reading "A Peak Behind the Curtain"

We got an insider's look at how the C12 Group is changing the lives of its members when two wives of these members joined Jim and Martha to talk about the impact the ministry's personal impact- good stuff!  Then, author Christa Hernandez stopped by to share about her new upcoming book; and Mark Kober closed … Continue reading A Peak Behind the Curtain The post A Peak Behind the Curtain appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.

It was guest-host Friday as the C12 Group's area chair got behind the mic to highlight a business doing Kingdom Works.  Today, Ross brought on the Kramer's to spotlight their creative digital agency, Pneuma 33.  Learn all about this amazing couple and hear God's movement in every facet of their life.  Such an inspiration!

It was guest-host Friday as the C12 Group's area chair got behind the mic to highlight a business doing Kingdom Works.  Today, Ross brought on the Kramer's to spotlight their creative digital agency, Pneuma 33.  Learn all about this amazing couple and hear God's movement in every facet of their life.  Such an inspiration! The post Ross Harrop Introduces Pneuma 33 appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.

While many of our podcast listeners are with church, parachurch and other Christian organizations, a healthy segment are Christian business owners or involved in Christian-owned businesses. If that's where you are, you're really going to enjoy today's guest.  Mike Sharrow is the new President and CEO of C12. The C12 Group is the largest network of Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives. By joining a local C12 Peer Advisory Group, thousands of business leaders across North America are improving their companies. They're strengthening their marriages, their family relationships, and they're pursuing true success in the eyes of God. Mike has an extensive background in large companies, start-ups and the local church. He knows how a healthy, flourishing culture equates to organizational effectiveness. What he has to share is going to benefit you. Find the full shownotes here  http://blog.bcwinstitute.org/s3e4-mike-sharrow-c12

It was Ross Harrop and Jim on August's first Friday as the duo brought in C12 member, Simon Lee, to talk about the impact C12 has had on his businesses and management style; and, in turn, the type of impact his organizations are having on his community.  C12 is making a difference.  Hear how in … Continue reading A C12 Group Testimony The post A C12 Group Testimony appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.

It was Ross Harrop and Jim on August's first Friday as the duo brought in C12 member, Simon Lee, to talk about the impact C12 has had on his businesses and management style; and, in turn, the type of impact his organizations are having on his community.  C12 is making a difference.  Hear how in … Continue reading "A C12 Group Testimony"

Danielle Cheung/Bank of America Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 46 […] The post Danielle Cheung with Bank of America, Emily Truax & Rich Aaron with Chateau Elan, and Laure Hoffman with The C12 Group appeared first on Business RadioX ®.

Ross Harrop from The C12 Group took is turn behind the mic for his monthly spotlight, “Ministry in the Marketplace”, and today he highlighted the amazing works of New Life Solutions with his buddy, Sol Pitchon.  Great stuff from these two great men.  Check it out! The post The Ross and Sol Show appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.

We had the pleasure of highlighting two area C12 ministries from outside our home base operation here in sunny Florida as we talked with C12 Group chair members from Rhode Island AND Texas – with each bringing on a local member from their area to talk how C12 is making an impact in their respective … Continue reading The Ministry of C12 The post The Ministry of C12 appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.

Gary Masching of C12 Group, a network of Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives by Lawyers For Jesus

As he does on the first Friday of every month, Ross Harrop from the C12 Group took the reins and sat in the hot seat to highlight a local business doing Kingdom Works.  Today, the local C12 chairman highlighted Chuck Wasson with Wasson Bay Insurance and how Jesus has impacted Chuck's  life and how his faith … Continue reading C12's Kingdom Corner The post C12's Kingdom Corner appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.

Rich Glomski - C12 Group Tarrant Chairman - 05/07/16 by C12Group Faith & Business

C12 Group's Mike Sharrow interviews Joel Gunn, Chairman with C12.

The tables get turned on today's program as Jim invites friends of the show Ross Harrop of The C12 Group and Robert Smith with St John's Hearing Institute to sit in the host chair to lob questions at both Jim and Martha for 60 minutes in a wide-ranging conversation about religion and calling, workplace ministry, … Continue reading Jim Gets Interviewed The post Jim Gets Interviewed appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.

Ross Harrop, local C12 Chairman, joins Jim to detail the organizations origins and their current goals, how the group can transform your workplace, and why C12's mission is so imperative to the Christ-centered business and business owner. The post The Origins of The C12 Group appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.