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Nigel Zelcer With Jabian Consulting

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Business Is Good
Business Is Good
Nigel Zelcer With Jabian Consulting
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Broadcasting live from the business radio studios in Atlanta Georgia. It's time for Atlanta business radio spotlighting the city's best businesses and the people who lead them.

Meet Cantor here with stone Payton another episode of Atlanta business radio and stuff I'm excited about.

We'll good morning sir. I am too. This going to be a lot of fun. Get a studio full on it. To have. Great conversations. But first up on Atlanta business radio this morning it is my distinct pleasure to introduce co founder and managing partner with J.B. consulting and he's really here I like always I want to get caught up on what people are doing in their consulting practice when that's their case. What he's really here to talk a little bit about Conscious Capitalism. So please join me. In welcoming Nigel. Zeltserman. Good morning sir.

Well good morning and thank you for having me.

Well Nigel before we get into Conscious Capitalism why don't you tell us a little bit about J.B. And how are you folks. Yes sir we're a local management consulting firm with offices in Atlanta Dallas and Charlotte

And we help mid-market and Fortune 500 companies with people process technology and strategy issues and and work through them with them.

And your involvement with conscious capitalism how did that come about.

So Conscious Capitalism probably officially started six or seven years ago when I was at the 5000 conference. I was listening to a speaker and that Speaker was a private equity person. But everything they said about the culture of the company sounded like our company and I spoke to him later on and he said Well basically you're conscious caplets company. So Fishley six or seven years ago. But in reality being conscious couple in the beginning at the time.

Now what is conscious capitalism for those who are familiar with the term.

Yeah. At 30000 feet the concept of capitalism it's the greatest movement for helping humanity. But if we get to do it in a conscious way then we actually get to make the world a better place. And so at 30000 feet that's four major principles. We look at Puppis stakeholders ship leadership and coacher. Now I believe that capitalism in some respects has the needs of some PR help and it gets a bad name out there

For a lot of people. And I think that at the heart of the conscious capitalist movement. Is getting back to the core of what capitalism is about to me at least it's about serving and helping the community as well as your stakeholders in your business.

Correct. Yeah exactly. I mean if you think about all stakeholders you know most people when they're running a company. As for the value of their shareholders. Right. And we look at the value of all stakeholders. Let me just put it in context. We have a local consulting firm. Most firms management consulting firms they get on the road. So Sunday night they say goodbye to their families. They come back on on Friday. You lose a lot of time and taxis hotels. If you're a local firm. You get to have a lot more time on your hand and if you think about the stakeholders we have them more than just shareholders right so. Our employees. We have a concept of everyone having a personal platform what are you famous for. If you have a lot of time on your hand now you're not traveling and taxes and so forth. You can become famous. In your local community. By other stakeholders or clients. Most people go traveling. They go see their client they've never met their client before they leave on a Thursday night and never have to see that again. And for us. We look at growing our clients and making it more than just our job and we see them in the supermarket. We see them in the sports fields. They really are friends you know. And another stakeholder maybe two other quick stakeholders. What would be the community and we have our own 501 c3. It's all about if people become famous in their community they can help grow their community. I think the final stakeholder I like there's many more but the phenols like I really like is family you know to be a mother a father a husband and wife a partner your kids. When we do a family event someone comes up to me afterwards. Maybe a shot and goes. Wow it's really good to have mom. As a soccer coach now are really good to have dad as a baseball coach. You know that you're adding value to those stakeholders. Now where do you where do you think kind of

The misconceptions about capitalism came about. You know you watch every Hollywood movie. The villain is some business owner that's exploiting the environment or are greedy and just trying to amass zillion dollars. I mean we have the privilege of interviewing business people everyday and here. And that's just not my experience with business people business people typically are. Risking a lot. In the hopes. Of making it somehow whatever means. Whatever that means to them. They are. You know trying to serve as many people as possible. Hoping that something is going to come back to them. I don't see that greed but that seems to be the narrative in traditional media and in the film. REEVES Yeah I think when you look at publicly held companies in publicly held companies have to report quarterly

And have to put quality to shareholder wants to hear it and that's where the bad side of capitalism is. I don't think there is a long term view even though those companies might. Be doing well. At the end of the day they're being driven to every quarter by value no matter what. Provide an actual value to that showed up no matter what it takes. That side of it is a greedy side of how people look at it. And then that's kind of trickling down to

The vast majority businesses aren't publicly held companies right.

But you get to see that on the news. I don't hear about the small companies on the news right.

They're just taking all the oxygen and the people right.

Yeah exactly. It's what's making the press and what's making the headlines but in reality there are many small medium and don't get me wrong publicly held companies. Look at Tom's a whole foods. He's a great Conscious Capitalist companies. The news headlines have a tendency not just to share that information.

And that's where this Conscious Capitalism movement kind of grew up and it's now expanding through chapters around the country and around the globe right.

Yeah. There's about 40 plus chapters in the United States that are trying to hit about 40 different countries. The movement's been around for almost 10 years one form or another. But Conscious Capitalism international this year really took a stand to say if we're going to be a movement we don't get a lot more people involved. We've got more chapters in both. So yes it's spreading like wildfire now and now it's trying this grass roots. Roots movement to. Put chapters around the planet and to kind of evangelize. The movement. Correct. Yes this is that's the whole purpose of the chapters to have them on the ground. We've just launched the Atlanta chapter. And that's our way of getting back into the Atlantic community to to tell others and teach others what is this movement all about. And then for you as a company it seems like a logical. HAND. IN glove fit. To get involved with this. Yeah like I described before this whole concept of being a local model having all the extra time on your hands you now have the opportunity to really try to grow your community. Grow your clients grow your employees and in turn don't get me wrong. That helps Jabeen growth. And that's what the movement is all about. And that's I think

One of the main points is that these aren't separate things. They can be. You know kind of join together it's not wholesome to try to

Make profit. It's definitely part of the movement right. Part of the movement is to drive a business to make profit but do it in a conscious way. Yeah capitalism helps people rise. Out of the ashes right. And that's really important

Now for firms that are wanting to get involved in the Atlanta chapter or are you for sponsors.

One of the sponsors of the chapter yeah we're a founding member here in Atlanta. We're also founding member of our Dallas office. And. The best way to look about it is there's a website Atlanta Conscious Capitalism Datto and go out there sign up when news so there's not a ton of events but we'll be having events here in April. The Just a quick shout out. The hope for Global Forum has also got the CEO of conscious capitalism coming at the end of April. And so there's a variety of ways. But yet go to the website sign up. You'll be on the mailing list and then it gets know about the events.

Now when you decided to raise your hand and say I want to get involved that I wouldn't be part of this. Were you surprised at how many people. Kind of also raised their hand and are interested in this.

I'm optimistic so I'm not surprised. I was excited. We ran our very first event. We didn't really tell many people about it was like friends and family and right. And I think we had over 120 people at our very first event at superjet. And we blew it out. And so yeah. There's clearly a movement and the need and the desire that people want to jump on

Right. Everybody I tell about it. They're like. Either they weren't aware or they know you know the whole foods guy right. They may or may not have read the book. But they. Just. The like you mentioned kind of the core point it just resonates with so many people. And especially the small and midsize person that it just

That's how they live their life and run their business anyway is actually a waking up every morning enjoying what you're doing and having a purpose driven business. It makes it so much so much more enjoyable. Yeah right. So I've been telling everyone about it as well including family friends people inside our eco system

And I really resonate with the message I love your and you talk about it and you only talk about it and the gentleman that came in like last week and sat down and we just chatted about it. Everybody was just singing my song. And. I don't feel like I have the language for it when I'm trying to describe it you know I have little bits and pieces so I'm wondering if. One of the great advantages of getting together with other like minded people is you. You learn how to describe how you feel because I clearly feel the same way but I don't have the language yet is that is that accurate. No that's one. Benefit of

Yelling out what you got. I certainly think so because these are principles they're not being dictated of how every business runs at their friend is about hanging out. You get to learn more about the principles and how they apply to your business. Now you can shape your business around those

Principles. How often is this crowd get together.

Well we just kicked off had about we've had three meetings last year. Yeah I think the goal is to have one meeting every quarter. And they'll be education. So people can learn as you describe. And also having guest speakers who are running businesses in that environment

And then are there any baby steps companies can take to kind of get involved with a group like I would guess. Read the book.

Yeah you know that's the first thing I would tell people read read the conscious capitalism book it's written by John Mackey from Whole Foods CEO of Whole Foods and Raj Sedov Sisodia who is a professor out of Babson to read the book is another book that Raj also wrote called Firms of Endearment. So if you really want to see how. Major. U.S.. Companies and international public and private have just exceeded. S&P 500 and all the different numbers. That's a really good book to read. They show up at an event get to ask questions. Everyone likes to share their information and you can learn a lot.

And then the events are going to start happening here in Atlanta. But the group is based out of Dallas. I think they have events also throughout the year. Yes so

Conscious Capitalism and national is actually based out of San Francisco. There are two major conferences that people could join. One is happening in spring. It's actually going to be in Dallas this year end of April beginning of May. So Grätz Conscious Capitalism. Dot org. And then the CEO conference which I attend every single year is in October in Austin.

And business really works is getting involved as well. So there will likely be in the future.

Margarita Mondays I got all kinds of very conscious so now I've somebody went to get a hold of you to learn more about and what's the best way to do that. Just shoot me an email. Nigel Seltzer at Jabeen dot com or send me info at info at Jabeen dot com

And have the website for the conference with him.

Yeah. So it's Atlanta. DOT. Conscious Capitalism. So before we wrap

Can we talk a little bit about J.B. and Keres because this is this is not unrelated at all. It's it's a manifestation of this mindset of this value system right 100 percent. So

We saw our own fiber one C3 very early on it's called Jabeen Kaz. It's an employee led board. His whole mission is to give back to the local community. From a perspective of volunteerism leadership and financial support. So from a leadership perspective 60 percent of our employees now hold leadership positions on boards in their local community. Why is that becoming famous and they give him back. I'm from a financial support. We matched dollar for dollar. Everything that an employee wants to contribute to an employee led board and then we run well have 20 or 30 different donations and events throughout the entire year that everyone gets involved in.

Man what a great way to run a consulting firm and I bet it's turned around and fired from a few. So it speaks from experience one more time Kordan or someone wants to reach out to have a conversation with you. Learn more about the Conscious Capitalism movement. What is the best way.

Yeah I would say that probably the easiest one to follow from an email perspective. Info at Jacobean dot com and that come straight through to me and I'm happy to share any information people want. Conscious Capitalism or sign up at Atlanta dot Conscious Capitalism dot org and I look forward to meeting you at an event.

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Alexander McCobin With Conscious Capitalism

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Business Is Good
Business Is Good
Alexander McCobin With Conscious Capitalism
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Broadcasting live from a business radio studios in Atlanta Georgia. It's time for Sego exclusive brought to you by Kanowna enterprises.

Good morning and welcome. The CEO This is where we get emerging trends from CEOs and their most trusted advisers. I'm your host so unique Coke.

So remember at the end of 2017 I shared with you my big aha. Like as I was summarizing the year for you. I walked you through a bunch of different interviews that I had done where I was like you know I'm hearing this thing that CEOs you guys keep talking about about how you're using your businesses as a platform to do great things like Dana Spinola at Fat Greek and gas south and Chris Karmiel with booster Thon Sunrun and all these different CEOs amongst you who are using your businesses to create great things in the world and make the world a better place to use that cliche. Well I learned at the end of last year as I said in that recap show that there's a word for that. It's called conscious capitalism and then they're just being a word for it. They're people like they're really real people were working on this thing called conscious capitalism. And what I'm learning is called The Heroic Spirit of Business. So I went out. I've been busy. I went to work. And on today's show with that long introduction on today's show I actually have the CEO of Qantas capitalism on my show Alexander McCord. I am so happy to have him here and Alexander welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

So it feels like this is the journey for this exclusive over the course of three years right. So seeing this thing that so many of you were listening are so familiar with it how passionate you are about the things that you're doing and how you're using your businesses to to do great things.

So I don't want to kind of co-opt and talk about conscious capitalism in a way that's like not what it is. So for our listeners our CEOs were listening. Alexander What is contest capitalism. Why do you think that this is such an important emerging trend and what does it do for the business owners that are have this ethos of trying to use their business to elevate humanity.

So the simple idea of conscious capitalism is that it is a way of thinking about business and capitalism that emphasizes the human nature of these endeavors and similar to what you just said that this has been the evolution or the progress of the show. This is kind of the evolution and progress of business itself in a way where in the 20th century the emphasis was on the idea of making a profit checking in checking out this being separate from your regular life. And nowadays it's about emphasizing and understanding how business really is a way for us to express our humanity and its real nature by helping other people out making people's lives better and using this as a tool in order to elevate everything that we're doing.

And when I've mentioned the idea of conscious capitalism some people have said oh yes that's like corporate social responsibility or. That's like philanthropy or that's like my community service project. How would you distinguish conscious capitalism and what it is from some of those other really great things that businesses do. But I don't really I don't think it's conscious capitalism but as I said I'm learning this language myself.

So you're right and there is nothing wrong with philanthropy or community services or great things CSR was a good step in the right direction but it's different from conscious capitalism and you can think of conscious capitalism as a step further beyond those efforts because it's not about adding something onto what a corporation normally does. It's not about what a business does with the money after it's made that money. It's about how the business and the people in it make money in the first place. And what the business is about. What are its products services the ways that it operates. So we actually want businesses to get to a point where they don't think they need to ultimately give something back after they finish their normal workday in order to make up for the wrongs of the productive process. We want them to create so much value for everyone that they touch to have this higher purpose beyond just maximizing net income that they think they have already created tremendous value for people that they're proud of everything that they've already done instead of business people feeling ashamed for being in business really saying I am proud. I'm willing to speak out and say I'm a business person and hear all the great things that I've done because of that.

For listeners are CEOs who are listening. My understanding is that Conscious Capitalism has four pillars. Hopefully I can get them right. There's purpose. There is conscious leadership. There is conscious culture and then there are stakeholder engagement that I get those right. That's right. OK so let's break those down and walk the who are listening to the show who may never have heard of this or read John Mackey and right. But what are those four things.

So these are all ways of thinking about how a business should operate. That I should say don't encompass everything a business needs to do of course you need to have a revenue model the right operations strategic plan things like that. But these are all principles to guide the operations of a business in order to fully lean into a truly conscious operation. The first tenet has a higher purpose which means thinking beyond just maximizing profit to the underlying value that the business is creating for society. So it's not that profit isn't important it's incredibly important but that's not a reason that a business exists in the same way that as human beings we need red blood cells to survive red blood cells are great. That doesn't mean we live to create red blood cells. Businesses need profit to survive and to fulfill their higher purpose but they shouldn't treat it as an end in itself.

I know I thrive on examples and people love stories so I would love for you to give us an example of what higher purpose looks like in real life when it's done well and then without naming names. Maybe one that it's not gone so well.

Well for the ones that have not drawn so well we don't need to call it any particular examples but I think we can all imagine companies that have these broad mission statements that say they want to do good in the world without actually being specific about it and without actually living out those principles whatsoever. And that was a trend really in the 90s and early 2000s that we're trying to rectify this point. We want businesses to really own what their purposes and use that purpose to inform every decision they make and every action they undertake. So for example Southwest Airlines purpose is to liberate the skies it wants to make flying accessible to everyone and that informs all of its judgments going forward so that it's able to lower costs help people get from point A to point B as quickly as possible and have fun in the process.

And for me Southwest is a good example of being true to their purpose but okay.

God forgive me. I don't like flying Southwest because I like what my assigned seat.

So it doesn't necessarily have a higher purpose doesn't necessarily mean that like you're perfect or gray it just means that you're true to what you say that you're going to do.

Absolutely. And you're going to see conches capitals companies differ from one another in pretty significant ways so there's another business in or what are called Greyston Bakery. They create brownies not the healthiest product in the world but they create brownies to hire people in their area and to give them second chances so in order to lean into that they've created what they call an open hiring process where they don't have interviews they don't do background checks all you all they do to hire people is go down a list of individuals who have said that they want to work for Greyston and they bring them on give them a second chance no matter what their background is and that's what they're dedicated to creating those kinds of opportunities and that drives everything they do as a company. So then there's conscious leadership so conscious leadership is about understanding how leaders need to not only have analytic and emotional intelligence which is getting a lot more attention nowadays. But even beyond that lean into systemic intelligence applying emotional intelligence to not just one on one interactions but interactions with 10 people 100 people a thousand people on the. How does that come there and even spiritual intelligence leaders need to embody the values of a company and model how people should act within that organization.

And so let's do the go well not go Al example again.

There are plenty of examples out there I think where leaders are really just checking and checking out themselves. They want to make a paycheck and go home rather than really represent what the organization is about. And I think there are more and more positive examples out there of leaders that really are trying to represent what companies should be. So a good example would be John Mackey of Whole Foods who is dedicated to the success of the organization and really living out its principles of a healthy lifestyle creating opportunities for people. Transparency and things like that. He sold tofu hopes its Yeah.

Ok. I just want to make sure I say he's now the CEO both within him. But yeah I get his even though is a division of Amazon. He works for him blockheaded.

Ok so then we got conscious culture conscious culture is recognizing that no matter how end up your strategic plan is no matter what your revenue model is like. And all of the explicit ways that you say people are supposed to make decisions. There are a lot of implicit understanding for how people interact with one another. A lot of values that really drive the ways that people make decisions and encouraging companies to really reflect on not just what they're doing but the way they get it done and how people are treating one another within that organization so that you can create a culture where people can bring their whole selves into work and really take advantage of all of their knowledge and and wholeness to bear on the organization and culture is one of the things that we talk about a lot on CLX of as listeners now pretty much the second half of the show has evolved to being almost entirely about culture.

What differentiates what she would call a conscious culture from just a really good culture like you know people nurture their culture. And they're very effective. But what is it that makes a culture conscious versus not conscious.

So at one level I think that you can have a really good culture without being very intentional about it. It just sprung up on its own but. A conscious culture. First off should be conscious intentional. You should have a sense of what you want the culture to be like in actively work to bring that about but are related to that. That is a dynamic structure so that the people within the company are able to influence what that culture is like and provide the right feedback to drive the organization forward.

And we've had plenty of examples in conversations of where when culture works on culture doesn't work so we'll save that time for data for talking about stakeholder engagement.

What does that mean. So stakeholders were a company are really any person or group that the company is touching whether that is your shareholders your investors your employees your customers your vendors your community. And oftentimes in business we think that these different groups are at odds with one another that if you're going to benefit your employees you must be taking money away from your investors or you're going to help your vendors out. You're taking something away from your employees stakeholder engagement is about moving past that finite mindset that fixed pie concept to the idea that we can actually create win win win solutions where you benefit your shareholders by benefiting your clients and your employees at the same time. It's a very different mindset than what we typically go into business with. But it's one that can create much greater long term value for everyone involved.

Yeah. I would observe that at least in the conversations that I've had with with the CEOs on my show a lot of them think very much. It's a big part of the reason why they're so successful. They think about their customers and they think about their employees.

I don't necessarily know that they take a conscious approach to some of those bigger broader kind of all the stakeholders all at once. So what does a holistic plan for stakeholder engagement look like that really does consider every single constituency that touches the business. But what does how does someone do that. That sounds overwhelming I think for a lot of the CEOs maybe listening.

It can be especially if you want to go really end up here. The great starting point is just to develop a stakeholder map. Sit down with either your executive team or yourself and give yourself that whether it's 30 minutes or 4 hours to just ask Who are all the different people that we touch as a company and get as granular with it as you want or group different people together according to how you really understand them and start to ask yourself what do they really need. What are their core interests. How do we impact them and what are the ways that we may typically think that they conflict with each other but might actually be able to support one another and develop strategies based around those win win win solutions instead of the trade offs between them.

And so give us an example of Dunwell not Saddam.

So there's a company in our network called Studio Movie Grill based out of Studio Movie Grill. That's right. OK great movie movie theater that also has restaurants and just a great culture within there's studios and what they did at one point in order to support the community was actually provide free tickets for community groups to go and watch movies on I believe Tuesday nights because it was not a night they were really selling of tickets they wanted to support local groups and they thought it was great they're giving back. But the CEO Brian Schultz started to hear rumblings from staff that they weren't very appreciative because they weren't making much money on those nights. It just wasn't very productive for them and it took a little while but eventually he started to realize that he could actually provide more value for his employees if he also in buys the sale of food and drinks along with those free tickets. So that going to make more off of those sales of food and beverages at the same time by incentivizing people to purchase there. And it's really just thinking about those creative intersections that we might not recognize a first glance when considering difficult situations.

So those are the tenants of comps Conscious Capitalism. One question that may be coming opposite this sounds really great. Now so we're kind of good to everybody. You have that culture and a conscious leader. You know I have a higher purpose. But but but I'm in business to make money. And like all of this is really great what's the underlying thesis or how does this intersect with the day to day business operations. Why does that matter for somebody who may be a little bit more cynical and hard just like you know I'm I'm running a profitable business this is all great. Why should I care.

So this matters just as much for the people who want to make as much money as possible as those people who are just dedicated to doing the right thing. You could have either justification for running a business in a conscious capitalist way because this does make more money in the long run. One of conscious capitalism founders Raj Sisodia a professor at Babson College wrote a book about a decade ago called firms of endearment where he actually studied companies that are run on conscious principles and compared their performance to both the S&P 500 and even those same companies that were tracked in Jim Collins book Good to Great to see how they perform and discovered that conscious capitalist companies outperform the market by several fold actually it's creating more profitable companies by taking into consideration a more nuanced perspective of how people bring themselves into the business and how they're able to actually be more productive serve people in a better way. So for someone who says I just want to make as much money as possible this is actually a really good strategy for doing that. So even if you're profitable right now at a certain level would you like to make more money. This is the way to go about doing that and it's better for everyone it treats people the right way. This is just how business should be run.

So one of the things that I know comes up thank you. It's one of the things that I know comes up as we have this conversation has a lot of people say but I'm already pretty conscious. You know like I have I'm like that leader I really am like you know I try hard. I go to church you know in Atlanta.

So what is this laughing cracking up. Is it the court or they are laughing. Or you know I treat my pretty people pretty good. I'm a good leader. I have we have a good culture. How do you answer like that concern you know. Like pretty good. You know I'm a good business person. Really I am.

And I believe that to be honest I think there are a lot of people who are practicing Conscious Capitalism who don't call it that and who may have never heard of this term before. It's like exercise and diet though no matter how much you've done it already. There's always more free to do and there's always a way for you to make sure you're committed to it. So at one level it's about you having a terminology to understand what you've been doing for a while and deepening your understanding of that going forward. But let's say that you as a CEO are already a conscious leader you have these down rates. How difficult is it to introduce these concepts to other people in your business if specially if you're trying to grow. What kind of support do you have to make sure that your executive team and your employees understand these principles too and that you're aligned with one another on how you implement them. That's where her conscious capitalism as an organization can come in and actually provide assistance or provide a community to work through challenges because that's another component here even if you've got it down there are going to be hard times. There are going to be moments where you feel really stressed and find it difficult to live out your principles or you're just facing a challenging situation. And we have a community of people who have been through those kinds of situations before and other business leaders who want to help you out and getting through that.

So listeners were talking to Alexander Corbin CEO of Qantas capitalism today. Really excited following this thread of conversation that we've been having over the past few months on CEO exclusive.

I want to turn the conversation now Alexander to contest capitalism beat organization and I would love for you to explain to listeners and then also for me as somebody who's curious and very interested in and engaged in this conversation where you're working what is your organization and where does it sit in the broader movement for conscious business because I know that there are other organizations that are working on this like there are as you said there's a slight movement in business now towards this conscious way of thinking conscious way of doing business because it makes so much more money. It's not just a B. Being business people being good at actually makes more money. So there's this movement in this direction and your organization sits inside of that ecosystem.

If you wouldn't mind describing what you do and the ecosystem and where you sit and how you fit so we talked before about how our first tenant as a higher purpose Conscious Capitalism links higher purpose is to elevate humanity through business and the way we do that is by supporting businesses and business leaders in their understanding and practice of conscious capitalism which really comes down to three services. The first is providing the community I was just talking about of like minded business leaders. So you convene and you get people who think this way together. Exactly so they know they're not alone. Whether you go to business school or you read Mede media articles or listen to pundits a lot of time they're talking about what's the stock price how much profit as a company making they're not talking about these tenants like Conscious Capitalism. So knowing that there are other business people out there who are actually running their businesses on a day to day basis this way is really important so people know they're actually supported. They're not crazy. The second thing that we do is provide learning and development opportunities both for individual business leaders and their teams and companies whether that site visits to companies like raced and bakery which were doing in June or workshops that we can run for businesses or case studies we want to make sure that they have the opportunity to learn more about each of these four tenants and integrate them into their businesses operations. And the third thing we do then is really help communicate the story of individual businesses that are doing good in the world and how business can be this tremendous force for good. We as business people really haven't done a great job all the time of actually sharing that story widely especially putting the human face on business and we want to help do that.

So that's Conscious Capitalism and which is a nonprofit yes. All right. And then there's the bigger ecosystem of karma conscious business and Qantas business. The Qantas business movement so where where what is the Qantas business movement and where do you sit inside and outside of it.

There are a lot of organisations working in the space like you said. Whether it's individual businesses you know you mentioned before that this is just more profitable. The letter from Larry thank the CEO of BlackRock few months ago really highlights how this really is becoming commonplace in business and is the future of businesses. There are other nonprofits out there like inclusive capitalism that we partner with and great companies like the lab which runs the corporations and so on. Where conscious capitalism that's and I think really is in that space of supporting individual business leaders and helping develop their understanding their community their stories that we want to get out there so we don't certify businesses for doing certain things we don't have checklists or anything like that. Yeah it really is about helping the understanding of individuals around Conscious Capitalism and their particular practice and where we in the end the adoption of contest capitalism.

There's a part of me that's maybe a little bit afraid or concerned that this is a passing trend and that this is you know a fad and people get all excited about it and then it'll die off. Where do you think we are in the adoption of if there is such a thing that adoption of Qantas capitalism. And what do you think or hope that the future will be.

So if we think about it like a technological adoption curve where you have the early adopters then the early mainstream than the mainstream I think we're somewhere in the early mainstream right now about enter the mainstream. A decade ago you talked about conscious capitalism with business leaders. There was a good chance you get laughed Pete or at least get a sceptical eye. No one took this very seriously except for a handful of vigils. Nowadays you have major investors like Larry think you've got companies at all levels talking about conscious capitalism and we're seeing interest in what we're doing and the broader purpose driven business movement Conscious Capitalist movement increasing significantly because so many people see this as a trend that's not a passing fad but it's going to be around for a long time. I think that's due to a few reasons. One is that more businesses understand that there is actually a deeper reason for their existence. Entrepreneurs have understood this for a long time few people start businesses just to make a lot of money. They do it because they see some challenge in the world they want to overcome or there's something that I'm just passionate about they want to bring to people's lives and they develop a revenue model around it and more people in business are starting to understand that another reason why is that whether you're talking about the millennial or Gen Z generations coming up.

This is just what they expect business to be like they expect of their employers they expected from the companies that they purchase things from. And I don't we're seeing that trend continuing rather than that changing as they get older. So this is here to stay and more companies I think are starting to become interested and conscious capitalism and purpose driven business because they know they either need to get on board or they're not going to survive over the next few decades. And what do you hope for the future. Like what are your your hopes. My hope is that every business every business leader starts running on conscious principles and that they do it as soon as possible to a certain extent. I do think this is what the future is going to look like. It's just a question of when. And we're here to help bring that about a lot more quickly. But it is also a question of just how deeply people are going to lean into these principles and we want to support them in their understanding of practice as much as we can.

So for those CEOs listening we're like wow I am so excited.

Unlike me like oh my God there's a word and there's people who are doing this.

How can people find out more like what's the roadmap. What do we. What do they do. Like ok want more like give me more. What's the what's the more that people can get if they're excited about this.

The easy first step is to go to our website W WW dot Conscious Capitalism dot org. From there you'll be able to learn about events that we have coming up like our annual conference in Dallas Texas from April 30th to May 2nd going to be the largest gathering of conchs couples in the world as well as resources that we have available local chapters handbooks worst case studies and able to reach out to us to see if there is something more specific. We're able to do tailored for their business and their stage in this journey.

Yet you have 42 chapters I think all over the world 15 countries. Very good exciting.

And then you read the book et cetera in Atlanta. For those of you listening Atlanta there is an event that's coming up with John Mackey who was the gentleman who wrote the book right it's happening on April 11th. So you know it's going to be at the Center for Ethics at Emory. And so Alexander you mentioned the Web site. You know we talked about the event and Dallas and the event in Atlanta. Anything else you want to share before we let our Arsenios get back to work.

There's just so much potential for every business to elevate humanity no matter what you're doing. There is a way for it to make people's lives better. That I think most business people intuitively understand we want to help them really understand that at a deeper level and help them live it out in a in a much greater ways so we'd love to hear from everyone who's listening to the show and help them do that.

Wonderful listeners you know you've been listening to a CEO exclusive. I'm your host so Coke. I hope you have a prosperous productive and very profitable week.

Thanks. This show is brought to you by donor enterprises where strategy is your access to money and performance. Learn more at the enterprises dot com.

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Holly Payton With IBM Corporate Service Corps

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Holly Payton With IBM Corporate Service Corps
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Broadcasting live from the business radio studios in Atlanta Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta business radio spotlighting the city’s best businesses and the people who lead them.

All right. Next up on Atlanta business radio this morning it is my distinct pleasure to introduce executive consultant with a little company some of you may have heard of called IBM. Please join me in welcoming to the show. Holly. Pate Good morning. Hello. It is good to have you in the studio. What did you learn that last segment

Well I took a lot of notes. And I definitely need to get the book traction so that I can get more information.

Well you’re here today to talk about IBM corporate service corps. Can you tell us a little bit about them. Sure.

Ibm has a program called corporate service corps. They started it. In 2008 about 10 years old. And what this program is. Is. They select. People. 12 to 15 consultants from around the world. Who come together and are sent to an emerging part of the world. To work on projects. All Pro Bono. For 30 days

And then how is it decided what part of the world and what projects work.

That’s very interesting. IBM partners with. Other NGOs that. Work locally in different parts of the world in India in China and in Morocco in. Parts you know countries in South America etc.. And. Typically. The NGO. That. Partner NGO. Is. Meeting with different. Government agencies or small businesses or other NGOs. To determine the best fit for the people who are available. And. Something that can be done in 30 days. The objective is to have it completed so it’s not just. Oh we’re going to help

And then we leave and they still have needs. This is to accomplish some

Concrete objective yes some finite piece of work. We we partnered for the trip that I went on. We partnered with Pike Sarag global. Based out of Washington but they have local people in Bonn. And then what was the project you were. You were accomplishments. So there were 13 of us. From eight different countries. And they’re all IBM. And they’re all IBM. And it’s. As you can imagine there’s over 400000 employees in IBM be to be selected. Is a very big deal a friend of mine said you know it’s easier to get into Harvard than it is to be selected for CSC. So you absolutely have to go. We went to Mumbai for 30 days and we worked on four different projects. There were. Three. People per project. One product had four. People. The project. And they were all in the education industry. It was the first time that CSC had ever chosen one industry to have everybody work on. And at the end we said to IBM. You really need to do this again because it was so wonderful for us. To have a view. Of all the things that everybody else was learning in their. Projects. That you came away with a broader richer understanding of the education industry in India. So. My project my project was working with a high Valya Education Foundation. It was started about 10 years ago. And it was dedicated to bringing. Leadership. Skills. To the schools. Here was something that was I thought was very good.

The school administrators or school actual the teachers the boots on the ground. Right. It’s

It is for the administrators but it’s also for the teachers as well. So here’s the thing. That. Was the gap that created this need. In India. If you want to be a teacher you can go to college. If you want to be a headmaster or a principal or a government official in education. There’s no there’s no training there’s no higher education. So. You’re a really good teacher. You get. Named the principal of the school. It’s like taking a really good manager at a plant. And saying OK. You’re going to be the plant manager and you’re going to run everything. As a school headmaster. You. It’s like running a small business you have a budget. You have to grow. Those are different skills. Absolutely you have to treat teamwork. You have to focus on curriculum. You have to fill out all the forms that the government want etc.. So. This organization. Was dedicated to bringing leadership. Skills and those kinds of programs to schools. And. They’re very successful. The way they do it is they leverage what’s called Gandi fellows. This is a Gandi fellowship program. It’s two years. It’s young people that are fresh out of college. And they sign up to be a Gandi fellow and what you do is you. Visit one school everyday. So five schools a week. So you. Shepherd five schools over two years. They have a proven track record with their program. Of improving student learning outcomes by 18 percent. But it does scale right. As you can imagine. It’s it’s one to one and it doesn’t scale

So. So they’re not Leaming on technology or in person physically yet going around India which is a

Kind of a large it’s a large thing. They have programs at the district level which of course you can have a broader impact. Because. You

Would impact all the schools in the district. But still. Gandi fellows one on one. So the project that they engaged IBM was to. Come in and make recommendations on how they could stand up. A virtual field support center. So that. Headmaster said they. Are. They open their mind to the fact that we want to leverage technology correct.

So they’re thinking of Dondi slash Watson. Watson with me yet but. This would be. Where. Teachers headmasters. Parents. District officials. And the Gandi fellahs themselves how to place the call

To get an answer rather than a teacher has a question. Now I have to wait a week from the guy to come back and that maybe not a week it could be longer.

Exactly exactly. So we came in. And we was the standard

Consulting approach. You you we interviewed over 50 people. When you say people who were the people so we were they the fellows were they the teachers were they are all of them all of them. We interviewed groups of Gandi fellows. We visited schools we met with headmasters we met with teachers and parents and where were you asking them

Like what are you asking the fellow. Are you asking them. How can we scale this. Are you just kind of getting a feel for what they’re doing all day working. We asked them

We asked them what’s working and what’s not. We asked them the success that they have what are their challenges. We asked them. If you had a virtual. Support Center. What are the types of services that they could offer that would help you. What are the. Questions you might have that. They would need to answer. So we ask that. The gamut. And we did the same with. With the government officials. To us each of the constituents who are using this. Yes. What are your priorities what are your challenges parents. And the kids. We didn’t ask the children. We did visit with some parents of course all this was through interpreters. We did. We did visit with with some of the parents and. And asked them similar questions as well. So then

How much of your time you’re on the clock here.

Yes oh my gosh the stress. So. We gather the data

You document your findings and we did that for about the first week and a half to two weeks. We documented it we gathered all our data. We documented our findings. We synthesize we. Aggregated what we heard into themes. And then you start building what your recommendations are. So in the third week we started to have playbacks with the clients and with executives within. So you were trying to show you how to get something to the point where you can test it. To some degree right. We implement or know. We were. For our project we were not able to do that some of the other teams were able to. To build a piece of technology. But that wasn’t the case for the project that we were on. We left them with. Recommendations. On. The services that this virtual field support center would offer. The technology that they would need to implement. We visited they have a field support center but it’s not doing this work right now and so we analyzed their technology and their servers and so on. So the technology that they would need to implement. Gave them architectural diagrams and etc.. And. The skills that the people would need to have in order to do this type of work. We gave them recommendations on the processes. And process improvement and. They didn’t ask for this but we gave them recommendations on. Branding. And. Awareness. So we left them. With an outline and all the detail we could. We could muster put and. Put into the documents as well as tools that we used a cost benefit analysis spreadsheet that we built for them and so on. So now you leave

Now is someone following up holding them accountable. Or is that like well

Our work is done. I have my real job to worry about. They are on their own. And. I do keep I do keep in touch with them. Our team was made for this project. We had mysel. Holly talk a Morah from Washington D.C.. And Yang Yang from China. So our team was Holly Holly Yang and Constellation and the three of us keep in touch with the client and. Are very very excited about. The progress that they’re making. So they are making progress. Yes they are making progress. They’ve. Today’s the end of January so they should have closed on the decision of the software package that they would be implementing. They have already started delivering some of the training that we recommended. They are visiting different support. Centers of different companies and we were able to arrange for a visit to an IBM. Support. Center in Pune just outside of Mumbai. I think they’re actually going to go visit another one just outside of Delhi. So I touch base with we all the three of us touch base with them about every. Two to three weeks and they know that they can certainly schedule meetings and so on. So now at the end of the day

For yourself to have gone through this experience what has it done. Maybe the altered the way you think about things and how fast you can execute something in

It. It was an amazing experience. I have to say. I have never felt so alive. For 30 days. And the reason I say that is because you were in I’d never been to war. So you were in a new place. New modes of transportation. New Food. New people new hotel new clients. Everything. So you’re you’re on high alert sensors were on high alert. And. That was such a magnificent experience and a wonderful feeling that when you come back. You want to pursue new things it’s very rejuvenated and you want to pursue new things. So that you continue to feel that way. What about the impact did you feel that in that short period of time you made impact that was maybe

Larger than you anticipated. You know. I was very impressed with. The impact that all of the four teams

Could have. I didn’t have any expectations. Because I didn’t really know. What. We were going to be able to do today. You are charged with trying to help. Yes. You know you were charged with trying to help. And and you knew that would help. But the idea that. Today. This organization has been able. To reach. About. 12 to 15 hundred school. And that if they implemented this there’s no hard statistics on exactly how many public schools there are in India. But I know it’s over 7 million. And. They say that if they were able to implement this and. And. Have. A virtual support center where people could get those questions. Then. They’ll reach the the way you would be able to impact so many more schools than just

Fifteen hundred. Right. I mean you’re going from thousands to. Millions. Yes. And so that’s a tremendous impact in a short period of time to at least you know

Knock over that first domino. Yes absolutely. Yes. It was a wonderful

Wonderful film. Now what about now you go back to the real world here. And you see your work. And you’re trying to impact people. And then maybe. I mean you tell me if the scope of your work here

Is that impactful. Some days yes and some days now. I can remember sitting. At a. At a. At the table. On that last day and we were debriefing. The 30 days with the lead from like Sarah global. And I. Sat there. And I looked around the table and I said I wonder if the CSC team at the end. Thinks

Wow I’ve got to get something more interesting to do when I go back home because you felt so bad for IBM when we sent the handful that they don’t want to scale this. And so and yes I think we all felt as though wow I want to make sure that. I am. Continuing to do interesting work as well as have a big impact and so many people. When they come back. They keep the same job they do the same thing but they find other avenues. To support

Other public programs perhaps within their own right hometown. And so. Now how appreciative were the people that you were working with in India

When you left. Were they sad to see you go. Yes

Very but. But here’s the thing. I figured. Silly me. I figured that. Any

Company group may be thrilled to have a set of sounds coming to coming to read you know how to do this work pro bono. But. They the companies and

This was not unique to the organization I worked with. This was I found out later this is pretty universal. In the beginning. The companies. Are. Oh it’s only 30 day. What can they do folks and all been negative about this. We’re the positive things we’re we’re so complex we’re so you’ll never understand that they’ll never understand. It’s a lot of resistance. The other piece they viewed it as. Volunteer ism. And their track record with using volunteers at a cultural thing. I don’t think so. I don’t think so. There’s a difference between the. Bee energy and effort often from volunteerism. Than from. You know it a job right where you pay someone to accomplish something. And all the IBM or. This was an engagement like any other. You were trained you were you were under the gun. Exactly. This is my client. So. So. All of the clients were a little bit. Tentative about it.

We’ll give this a try and maybe they didn’t have some scar tissue maybe other people trying to help. You know with more superficial so. In the end. To a

Client. Every single one of those four clients were. So. Blown away by the point that changed. Yes

Something changed. And then at the end there’s hugs and tears.

Absolutely. Oh I feel you know at that the final ceremony each client’s stood up and talked and I feel as though a member of my family is going away.

Yeah. That’s awesome. Yes. If you don’t get that every day. No. So now. Is this something bad for you. You mentioned that maybe now you’re going to look for other opportunities to kind of recreate that feeling. Is there anything that maybe companies out there that are IBM like can do. You know that they can learn from this that they can implement a program like this you have any suggestion for them.

Well it’s interesting. I think when IBM started this 10 years ago there weren’t many programs like this right now. I do think that many large companies whether it’s 30 days in a spot or whether they pick local people they might configure it differently. But. But a lot of. Big companies have something similar. The. Bow for IBM. To do this and I share this so that as companies think about it they might. Feel the same way. IBM has always said this program has a triple benefit. The. First benefit is. Obviously for the companies that are. Are getting the effort. Of the people. IBM has come. The second benefit is. The leadership. Skills. That are developed. In the team that goes right because. There is no leader in a CSC team. And when you form a small team Holly Holly Yang Yang. There is no leader there. You guys have to work together to figure it out and leverage all your skills.

So it’s not a playbook you’re making it up as you go along. And then. The third benefit. Is. That. IBM gets its name out in places that

Might Not Recognize what IBM is. Well I’ll say there’s a fourth benefit in that interview comes back to your own community. With the skills and experiences and impacts their families and the lives around them

By having gone through this. Yes

Absolutely. You’re absolutely right. So. For you

This is something that you’re going to keep track of these people for a while.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Part of your family. And then

Is there a way for organizations that are out there in the world to reach out to IBM to to kind of get on the list of areas that they’ll pay attention to and maybe help.

How does that work. The easiest way to find out more about the corporate service corps is to go to IBM dot com. And search. Corporate service for you. There is a longer you are out which I will share. But like I said the easiest way go to IBM dot com and search. Corporate service corps. But if you go to IBM dot com. Slash IBM. Slash. Responsibility

Slash corporate service corps. You will find all the IP right there me right there you’ll find all the information that you might want. Or just ask WATSON. WATSON What’s corporate service. Now I understand that you also kept a journal and of course you did the IBM

Way. You did a blog you. You kept track of what you were doing while you were there. Real time. Is that something you’re going to keep up with or make available to your circle or maybe even. Anyone else who wants to really learn about your journey.

I didn’t share the blog widely. I shared it with family and friends because I wanted to have the chance to. Speak from the heart which. Isn’t always

Socially acceptable.

Ok so not for public consumption public but it would but it was good for you for you and those around you. That was more of the

Part of the as they encouraged every person to create a personal blog as well as have a team blog. And it was wonderful. And I actually read. All of my blog posts last night preparing for today just to. Remember the feeling that went behind the words. And what a magnificent experience it really was.

Yeah. Why would Lee I think beneath all the benefits are important I think number four is as big as any. I think that is fantastic. Thanks so much for coming and. Sharing your story. And I have to believe people who hear this story. Are going to be inspired whether it’s through this specific kind of path. They’re going to be inspired to revisit their own personal commitment. To serving in this fashion. And maybe they don’t trek all over the world. You know maybe they had five miles down the street and try to help somebody out there. So

Thank you for that. Thank you.

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Len Romano With Christian City

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Just My Segment
Len Romano With Christian City
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Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it's time for Atlanta Business Radio, spotlighting the city's best businesses and the people who lead them.

: All right. Next up on Atlanta Business Radio, we have with us President and CEO with Christian City. Please join me in welcoming to the show, Len Romano. Good morning, sir.

: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

: Well, Len, can you talk a little bit about Christian City? How are you serving folks?

: Yeah, you know, Christian City is probably Atlanta's best kept secret. What it is, it's streets of gold and the tree of life, really. No, just joking. It's not what-

: Wow.

: There we go.

: Christian City is actually a 500-acre campus about 12 minutes south of the airport where we have a thousand senior citizens living there in either independent living, skilled nursing, assisted living. And then, we have homes for children at our Children's Village. And these children are victims of abuse, abandonment, and neglect. So, we house kids who need a place to be and need a family to live with.

: And then, we also have a program that goes throughout the metro area. It's called Safe Place. And Safe Place is a program where we take runaways off the streets 24/7. And, as you know, Atlanta is a big hub for-

: Human trafficking.

: … human trafficking.

: Right, yeah.

: So, we're there to intervene, get them off the street, bring them to our Children's Village, and then figure out what we need to do with them. And then, we're getting ready to start a foster care and adoption agency in the metro area. So, although, we're located, you know, 12 minutes south of the airport, we serve the entire metro area at Christian City.

: Now, I've always been fascinated by the concept of pairing the seniors with the young people. And my father's in an assisted living in Florida. And when you go there, they're just so hungry for interaction. And you have groups of people, especially young people, that are hungry for that adult interaction. How come no one's thought of pairing them together?

: There are examples around the country of that, but it is really important because these kids, in particular, need adult role models. And that's what they get at the Children's Village. They have full-time house parents that become their parents while they're there. And, really, it's less about, you know, the housing and taking kids off the street. It's more about generational poverty and breaking that chain.

: Right.

: And for our senior adults, it's more about isolation, and despair, and getting them out of that. We've got ladies and men there in their 90s who are active, busy, and having fun, and living abundantly as independent living residents on campus. And they love it. So, it's about breaking the chain of generational poverty, providing quality, affordable, and subsidized housing, which is an issue also in Metro Atlanta.

: Now, could you talk about your background a little bit? How did you get to the point where you are today?

: Yeah, it was a very odd way to get here. You know, I had worked for … I was a YMCA career professional for 34 years in DC, Hartford, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Denver, Boston, and Omaha, and always a turnaround expert. And I have an MBA from one of those Boston schools. And then, later in life, I got my master's of divinity.

: And when we were going to graduation week, we attended all these seminars. And the seminar leader said, "Hey, what are you all going to do with these degrees when you go back?" And when it came to my turn, I said, "Well, I'm going to be one of those folks that when a church implodes on itself, and they need someone to help get that church back, that's what I'll do."

: So, I come back to Omaha. And two weeks later, I get a call from an executive search firm here in Atlanta about this place called Christian City. I said, "You know, I'm not ready for that. You know, I'm still, you know, at the height of my career with the YMCA. And it's just not the right time." And they kept calling me, and kept calling me, and something inside said, "Take a look at it."

: So, I came here, you know, not expecting to move forward with it. And once I saw what we're doing on campus, it just said, "You know, it's the right time in my life to do something different and something that's more faith-based."

: So, then, what was the thing that kind of sold you on that?

: You know, the atmosphere on campus that there's a loving environment. And you don't have to be a Christian to be there, and you don't have to be Christian to work there, but what's understood is that when you are there, there's this feeling that you just can't describe it, but it's a loving feeling that everybody has. The staff have it. The people who live there have it. The volunteers have it. And it's just kind of an amazing place. And I had never experienced anything like that.

: Even through all your years in the YMCA?

: Yeah. And, you know, the YMCA does great work around the country and in cities everywhere, but this is just … There was just something special. And maybe there was something that either led me there or maybe it was just pure insanity, but we did it. My wife and I moved here and-

: Because that was a shift in terms of responsibility. You had never done anything to this scope before, right?

: Well, actually, I had. My scopes have always been bigger. You know, I've had nonprofits that were in the area of $60 million in revenues, you know, 18 locations, and pride of different states. This was way different because it's a smaller scope, a smaller focus because the Y does a lot of different things.

: Right.

: So, really, you know, you have a chance, as a CEO, to touch the people that you're serving; whereas, when you're in a bigger organization with, you know, a hundred thousand members and-

: Right. How does it work in the early days? You know, you're the hotshot, the new guy. You got all this pedigree background, and you swooped in down here, you know, in Middle Georgia, and how do-

: And you're going to fix it.

: Yeah. You know, there's a new sheriff in town, but I'm under the impression maybe that's not the tone you took, and maybe … I don't know. Maybe it is. But I'm fascinated by turnaround experts. I'm fascinated by when you bring in the high-caliber talent like that, how you conduct yourself to get the most out of things and set the proper foundation.

: Yeah, you've got to build trust first because whenever you come into an entity, a new entity, there's always, you know, a feeling of, "What is this person going to do?" But, you know, we needed to get into some new directions. I mean, we rebranded. And that took, at least, eight to nine months. And once you rebrand, we found out, there were over 300 little tactics that needed to be modified when you were a brand.

: Yeah.

: It was about building an infrastructure, process and procedures, a new culture, putting the right people in the right places. You know, it's really … It's a big project when you come into a new entity, especially one where the CEO who was there previously did a great job, but he was there for 27 years.

: So, whenever you have … whenever you replace a CEO that's been there for a very long time, you know, there's always some things that, you know, need to move in a new direction. I don't use the word "change." It's always new direction because when you talk about change-

: There's a pro tip right there.

: Yeah.

: Change is scary.

: Nobody wants to change.

: Talk about new direction because change is scary. People don't like the concept change. It really … Change really isn't change. It's a new direction, right? I mean, that's what the essence of change is. You're moving in a new direction. So, I forbid the staff to talk about change.

: Now, can you share a little bit about your leadership style or maybe some of the leaders that influenced you?

: Yeah. You know, I actually have a website, a personal website, LeadershipWithLenRomano.com. And on that website, I've got eight leadership concepts that work that I've used throughout my career. And, by the way, Christian City's website is ChristianCity.org. But, really, it's about, you know, just coming in. And I look at a not-for-profit entity as no different with for-profit entity. Actually, let me ask you, what do you think the difference is between a not-for-profit entity and a for-profit entity?

: Tax status is the only thing that comes to mind.

: Okay, that's one thing. Anything else? There's one big thing that's a big difference. Wow.

: More volunteers?

: Oh my goodness. You guys went to business school. Didn't you go to business school?

: Yeah, license to lose money.

: Yeah, right.

: Well, we're lucky on you.

: All right. That's what I would say, we're going to get license to lose money.

: No, no, no. So, the only difference besides the tax status — and in some cases, there is no difference in tax status when you look at sales tax — but it's who benefits from the entity, from the enterprise. Do stockholders, or owners, or shareholders benefit? That's your for-profit entity. In a not-for-profit entity, personal people don't benefit from any retained earnings, if you have them. Who benefits is the community.

: And that doesn't mean a for-profit entity can't be there to do good in society. So, that's not the difference because for-profit entities can be there to do good for society. But the essential difference is who benefits from any possible retained earnings. That's the difference with a for-profit.

: And it is a bit of a misnomer because, strictly speaking from an accounting standpoint, they can and should be making a profit or surplus-

: Yeah.

: … whatever word you want to put on it. There's no reason that they … I mean, part of your job is to ensure that they, in fact, do run that right.

: Because you have to reinvest in your infrastructure. You've got to fund depreciation. You have to fund staff development. You have to deal with increases in, you know, the external environment costs. So, yeah, you have to generate a profit if you're a not-for-profit entity. Otherwise, you know, you're relying on contributed support all the time. So, in our case-

: We need him to run the government.

: Yeah, really.

: I don't know about that, but-

: We need some more.

: We need somebody to run it though. Oops. But, you know, I forgot what I was going to say.

: You're sharing things about leadership.

: Yeah. But, you know, I use the analogy of football when you look at leadership because in football, it's really a fascinating game if you watch football. Don't just watch where the ball goes. Watch what happens on the front line or the offensive and the defensive line.

: Those people on the line have to win their one-on-one battles, right? If they don't win their one-on-one battles, the quarterback doesn't have time to throw, the running back doesn't have the lane to run through, and vice versa, you know, if the defense, you know, lets the quarterback through or the running back through. So, everyone's got to win their one-on-one battles.

: I looked at football and organization life as the same way. Every staff person, every person on the line has to win their one-on-one battles. Otherwise, you know, you're not going to be as effective as you possibly can be.

: Now, how do you execute that in business though? How does that translate to the receptionists winning their battle, you know, the person that is changing the sheets in the room? How does that play out in a complex business manner because in football, there's only a handful of positions?

: Well, right. Yeah, you've got 11 people on each side. So, what you do is you walk around, and you observe, and you watch, and you train, and you hire for raw talent, and you hire for attitude because if it's something you can train, hire for talent, and attitude, and raw talent, but it's about being there.

: You know, when I when I first started in my career, you know, my first job at a YMCA when I was in college was at the front desk. And I learned everything there was about working with the public, working at a front desk. So, you get this intuitive knowledge.

: It's like the quarterback in the pocket that feels the rush, doesn't see the rush but feels it, and throws a ball at the right time. That's what you need to develop in your staff. Not only, you know, your top staff but also your line staff that they have that intuitive feel for their job. But, you know, you have to measure. You have to inspect what you expect, right. So, if you don't have that in place, then, you know, yeah, you're going to have problems.

: Now, how do you … From a culture standpoint, how do you kind of create a culture where the individual is empowered to do the right thing whether it's in the manual or not, and to take risks where they may fail?

: Well, you should allow people to take calculated risks, number one. And, again, it comes down to trust. You know, you want to put the right people in the right places, and you have to give them the resources to do their job. So, you can't expect somebody who hasn't been properly prepared or trained to do the position, right? So, you have to put the right people in the right places. You got to give them the right tools to work with.

: And then, it comes down to process and procedure. If you have … If you create process that it doesn't matter who's doing it, it happens the same way every time, that's how you get quality and consistency.

: Right. But when you have a process that works in a lot of businesses where there's not a lot of human beings involved, but in your world, you're dealing with human beings constantly.

: That's right.

: So, processes sound good on paper, but, then, you have each individual that may have their own kind of challenges and their own idiosyncrasies.

: It still comes down to, "Can the person do the job?" And what I tell people, and this is … I want to use the Patriots as an example on this.

: A bad example. Wow.

: Well, some of it depends, but you will hear Belichick, the coach of the Patriots, say, "Do your job." And I'll give you an insight that happened recently. Last year, when the Patriots were going to the AFC championship game, my son who lives in Boston was at a Dunkin Donuts, and Robert Kraft was there behind him. This is the morning of the AFC Championship Game, and here is Robert Kraft, right, you know, owner of the Patriots coming in. And he bought my son and some of his friends the food. And my son asked him a question. He said, "Tell me what what kind of business advice you can give me." He said, "Surround yourself with the right people. Period."

: And I think, you know, when you when you look at the human element, you've got to put the right people in place. And if you don't have the right people, you unfortunately have to get them out. And I know that sounds harsh, but it's best for them. It's best for the organization. And it is about the people. So, you've got to hire right the first time. Nine times out of ten when a staff member doesn't work, it's because the organization made a mistake in the hiring process. It's not the staff member.

: So, you have to get that right.

: The first time.

: Now, we've had somebody in here from Chick-fil-A. And then, this is one of the biggest learnings I've had here. We asked him, "How do you hire so well?" And they said, "The person has that naturally smile. If they don't naturally smile-"

: They don't try to train that. They have to have that mindset. They don't … Yeah.

: Right.

: So, naturally smile like a smiley person, they're almost there.

: That's right.

: So that helps in getting it right. You don't have to be exactly right, but if you know that core quality, then you're almost there. So, is that the same thing you're saying here?

: In the people business, if you don't have happy people, just don't hire him. I mean, they have to be happy people, you know. And here's the thing-

: Isn't the Burger King?

: Well, if you get other fast food restaurants, you can find that pretty quickly.

: Plenty of unhappy people, yeah.

: So, here's the thing, when you interview somebody, what you see, how they dress, how they speak is the best they'll ever be. So, if they're grumpy, they're going to be grumpier. If they say darn, they're going to say something worse. If they're disheveled, that's the best they're going to be. They're going to be worse than that. So, really, it's all about, you know, putting the right people in the right places, but the right kind of mindset, the right attitude.

: So, that hire slow, fire fast.

: Yes, outplace. I call that outplace. Just like this.

: Changing direction and outplace.

: Sometimes, I'll-

: Are you writing all that down?

: No, seriously. So, when someone is a longtime staff member, and they're not the right person to be there, you do need to work with them to outplace them. Hire an outplacement group to work with them because nine times out of ten, it was our fault or was the predecessor's fault for putting them there. So, don't just take them off the knees.

: Don't take it out on them, right.

: Yeah. You spend the money to outplace them, and they'll be better for it.

: Free up their future, too mainly.

Dude, do you remember the old Redskin leader that was a good leader?

: Which is?

George Allen.

: George Allen, yes.

He always had hired best athlete. And he got a guy called … Remember Herb Mul-Key from the University of None?

: Yes, yes.

He didn't go to a university, so his university was always University of None. George Allen's nickname … His guys had so much fun, but his nickname was Ice Cream.

: Yeah, right.

Yeah. But he worked them hard. You've got these old guys to perform.

: Right. That's a philosophy though. You ascribe to that to hire more veteran that people have done a lot or is it better for you to hire kind of the unformed and help them kind of-

: Yeah, go with raw talent, I'm telling you, unless you're in a highly specified environment where you need that. But other than that, you want people to grow. And as they grow and develop, the organizations is going to grow as well.

: And that goes back to your earlier point of have good processes. So, if you invest in good processes and you have a good profile of what a good employee looks like, then you're almost there.

: That's right. I always start with a blank piece of paper on the org structure. What should the org structure be? Whenever I come in a new environment, it's not, you know, "This is the org structure, and that's what it's going to be," but what should it be. And I always start with a blank sheet of paper, and take a look at what outcomes we need to produce. What does that mean for the positions you need to have? Then, what kind of people in those positions?

: All right, I've got to ask because … And here's the foundation for this question. Len Romano is just a really cool name for a speaker, consultant, guru, author. Do you also have this, I don't know, this practice, this consulting practice? Do you do speaking and all that or?

: I want to do that, eventually. But right now, I've got-.

: Eventually?

: You have a day job.

: I have a day job at Christian City to make sure we're doing the right things.

: Have you written a book?

: No, I haven't.

: But there's a book in you.

: There could be.

: No question.

: Well, there's blog about eight principles. You already have that.

: Yeah, you already have it.

: You already have the structure.

: Come in here and talk. We'll have Katie record it. We'll transcribe it. We'll throw it outside. Boom, we're there.

: That sounds good.

: No, but it's certainly a marketable name, right?

: Absolutely.

: And he does it a little bit of a pedigree, it sounds like. Yeah.

: So, now, how can we help you? What can we do to serve Christian City? What do you need more of?

: Our biggest thing is to be known in Atlanta and in the north side because we're not. And we're we're making good strides in that way. Coming up on the 28th of April, we're having our first ever fundraising event outside of the south side at the Porsche Experience Center. It's already sold out, but-

: Cool.

: But the idea is to raise money to support our Children's Village Program. And it takes about three million a year just to run Children's Village. And we're adding the foster care and adoption program in the metro area. And that's another 250,000. So, we have to be raising more than 3 million a year. And that's our goal is to get more known in the north side and in Atlanta, so that people will just know what we do and how they might be able to help.

: Good stuff. And if somebody went to learn more, the website again.

: It is ChristianCity.org is our website.

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Elyse Archer With Southwestern Consulting

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Elyse Archer With Southwestern Consulting
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Broadcasting live from the business radio studios in Atlanta Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta business radio spotlighting the city’s best businesses and the people who lead them.

We can’t tour here with stone Pateman our producer Katie Gelli mother upset of Atlanta business radio and stone this will be a fun one.

Hey this is going to be a lot of fun. First up in Atlanta business radio this morning. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast. Professional sales coach with South-Western consulting. Ms. Elise. Archer

Good morning. Good morning thanks for having me guys.

Well Elise can you talk a little bit about being a professional sales coach. How’s that work.

I certainly can.

I think most people when I say that think that I’m unemployed is that church consultant and employee that translates to unemployed. But no we actually have.

So the company that I work with is actually the oldest Sales Trading Company in the United States. They’ve been around for 160 years now since before the lightbulb kind of crazy that we’re selling light bulbs probably.

Yes somebody needed one.

But so basically what it means is my colleagues and I we partner with business owners sales professionals to help them achieve their goals in life. So that’s what I’m really passionate about is just helping people break belief barriers about what’s possible for them. And for some people it’s they want to make more money. For some people it’s they want to make more money and have more time back in their day. For some it’s they want to get really confident and closing and kind of overcome that fear. And anxiety that a lot of people feel around selling and closing and so we help with all of that.

So now do you find that people. Anybody can be taught the sellers is something like I’m a born salesman or I don’t. So

Yeah I love that question. I think so many people think well you have to be born that way and they kind of envision a natural born salesperson is kind of the cheesy slick used car salesman type of buy. But actually I find that anybody if they have the right mindset. Can be an amazing sales professional selling whatever they need to sell and I think actually we are all in sales. At the end of the day right whether you’re leading a business and you have to sell your ideas to your employees whether you are a true quote unquote sales professional. Maybe you’re an H.R. and you have to sell your ideas to the rest of the train. But I think we’re big believers in something called servent selling which basically means that sales has nothing to do with you. It simply has to do with helping other people get what they want. And I think if we can have that mindset and then learn the right techniques like riding a bike the first time you did it you probably sucked at it. The second time you probably weren’t that great either. But the more that you try and learn the right techniques the more it just becomes second nature. So we’re really big leaders and helping people have that right mindset the servant selling mindset and then applying the right tools. To use to help serve more people. And when you have that

Mindset about serving and helping you’re not really trying to sell you’re just trying to see if it’s the right fit at that point right.

Exactly yeah. So we have a quote that it’s hard to be nervous when your heart is on service

And so like. Right. That’s right.

This is my drive in this morning I heard it’s your mind your own biscuits life will be gravy.

I think I like yours better. I’m going to steal it right away. Now like you mentioned. More and more people are having to sell

And their world like we run into a lot of attorneys and CPA people who maybe historically they were job was just to be lawyers and CPA people and do accounting. But now they are charged with kind of having a book a business as well. So there. Even if it’s an existing client and they have to kind of penetrate that organization and get work around it. Everybody is wearing a sales hat. Nowadays you find that.

Absolutely yeah. And I think a lot of people resist it and they’re like No I’m just going to talk to the people I already know are good to just do this. Yeah and having like that fixed mindset if you’re familiar with Carol Dweck the fixed versus versus growth mindset people who have a growth mindset and are open to the idea that even if historically this has not been something I’ve felt like I was good at. I can learn anything if I apply myself to it. Those are the people who tend to excel and exceed in life and I think sales is no different. In that we just have to be open to the idea that. We could do it

If we wanted to. And when you are really serving people. Don’t you want to help more people. Right. Like if you really believe you’re. Doing. Kind of good work and important work don’t you want. To do more and more for more people.

Yes exactly. And I think having that mindset is so key and so critical to being successful in sales is just realizing it has nothing to do with you and when you can just remove yourself from that outcome and say hey a yes is great. No it’s fine. The only thing that. Doesn’t serve anybody is maybe it’s like my job and that quote we consider closing just helping somebody get from point A. Which is where they are right now. To point B which is where they want to be faster. That is our only job in selling and sometimes that’s going to mean they should partner with you. Sometimes that’s going to mean they should partner with your competitor. Sometimes it’s going when they should do nothing. And that’s OK. But it’s just our job to help guide them safely

To that right decision for them. Now how did you find South-Western helping. How did that come about.

Yes. So I think like all good stories it starts with a story deep seated and personal insecurity so in a household of very. Accomplished academic. Sessional. So my mom and dad were both very academically accomplished. My sister really smart too. So I grew up feeling very secure that I wasn’t good enough. Like a lot of us can probably relate to. And it wasn’t until I discovered sails around the age of 16 I think I found some super shady but I found some Craigslist for selling vitamins so I wasn’t chilled in the process which was good but I started my first sales role and I found that I was actually this was something where I was and a team of like 10 people doing this and it was actually very easy for me to do it and do very well and so I found something that I was actually really good at. And that started this kind of passion and excitement for wow I found something where I can. Eat the best and so. I went into like I went to college for journalism. But I went immediately out and went right back into sales.

And I went into advertising sales at the time and. Sure enough. In my sales career after college I continued to be at the top of the ranks of the group and did really well. But I’ll tell you. It was all about me. And it was all about trying to prove myself to other people so that my early 20s I made a lot of money. I had like the nice house the nice car everything that I thought I needed for validation. But. I’ll tell you. Like on the inside. I was super empty and I was. Hurting and had a lot of just negative people in my life. At the time I was like I don’t know why these people are in my life but really they were just a reflection of me and who I was at the time and so about six years in. To that. That point in my life I had just kind of like one of those. Hit. Rock bottom moments where you look up and you like what am I doing. And you’re like you know I’m not even 30 not even 30.

Yeah I was I was an overachiever I hit rock bottom early but for wife there yeah exactly. Exactly.

But it was funny because around that time I started listening to podcasts and I never really listened before but I didn’t like being alone with my thoughts. And so. I would always try to fill the space with just something to distract me. And I came across this podcast by a guy named Rory Vaden and in the podcast he actually talked about. This concept of servent selling and I was like huh. I’d never realized that sales maybe wasn’t about me proving myself for feeling good about myself maybe it’s just about helping other people. And I started just really like. Eating up everything he had to say and following him online and reading his books and in the period of a year I radically transformed my life and not only by doing what he said Did I grow my income 48 percent and I think I got more time back in my day but it was like. Who I was as a person. I finally came back to who I really can grow with. How are you. Exactly exactly. Yeah and so. That was such an amazing experience for me that about a year and a half after that I actually left my corporate job to join Rory and his team at South-Western Consulting Group to try to help other sales professionals have some of those same. Life changes and lightbulb moment. Rorys the co-founder of South-Western consulting and somebody who I get to work with now and

It was your mentor here in Atlanta as well he’s in Nashville.

So we’re based out of Nashville. I just moved to Atlanta about nine months ago so kind of new to the area from North Carolina. But we all work remotely

So and then. But you’re. Part of Southwestern. The consultancies here. You’re running the Atlanta portion of a model that works. Are you an independent person.

Yeah. So we have a couple of coaches here in the Atlanta area all of which are amazing. We’re all independent so we can kind of work wherever we want which is cool we have coaches in Estonia we have coaches in South America Lithuania all over the place it’s neat UK.

So you have a specialty in industry you work with bike are you are or you’re a CPA person or you’re the manufacturing person.

Yeah. So I worked with a really broad range of sales professionals but I’ve kind of. Stumbled into the financial wholesale world which is very random very specific very specific.

I did nothing about it. They called me and said Can you help. I don’t know what you do but I could figure it out.

But so I’ve ended up doing a lot of work with either wholesalers or with financial advisers and I find with a lot of them like they really want to serve their clients and they’re typically very good at what they do from a money management side. But. They’re really oftentimes scared to market themselves or they don’t know how to talk about what they’re doing and they just kind of like the sales that. We talked about for anybody can learn to do this. But a lot of those are. Just sales strategies and tips and techniques. They’re not comfortable with that. So it’s about helping them. Serve more people and get in front of more potential clients. I want to I want to hear more about this whole fear thing but what is it you think that is causing them to be. Fearful or are they. Worried

Maybe too much about what other people think or what’s at the core of this.

Yeah well I think it’s something that holds all of us back if we let it. Right. I mean it’s it’s self-preservation it’s built and I think fear could be a healthy mechanism to alert you if you’re about to be run over by a car or a bus can be very good that gets you. But unfortunately our brain has a hard time differentiating between that type of fear versus the fear of. Picking up the phone and am I going to be rejected. Right. And like. Even in this moment like when we do something that’s outside of our comfort zone like if I think about myself in this moment I’m going to feel fear I’m going to feel nervous because I’m about myself. It’s all self-preservation. But if we can get out of that headspace and think instead about. Somebody else like. Solving somebody else’s problems or what somebody else is struggling with. Then. Try it you’ll realize that you actually can’t physically feel fear and be thinking about helping somebody else. It’s really interesting so I don’t think it’s that fear ever goes away. I think it’s built into who we are but I think it’s. How do you learn to manage it. And can you use it for something good right to motivate you. But do keep you safe. But also. How do you let it not control you and that’s what a lot of our clients need help with and I’m really passionate about helping people overcome that. Now when you’re working with a new client and they are maybe in. A state of in their own head and they feel a lot of fear and maybe their

Their motivations are pure but maybe their technique is not as polished as it would be after talking with you for a while. How do you move them through this process like how do you help them kind of. Align. Their objectives really with kind of. Have a Say the words. Yeah well I think

The first thing is a lot of people have never really thought about what they want. And so people will find themselves in a sales role or sales leadership role but. It’s been maybe since the past year or since five years or 10 years since they really stopped and thought about like what are my objectives here like if I could have anything I wanted. What would that actually look like. And so I love just had I call it visionary like. Thinking with clients about. I truly believe we create our own reality like we create our own outcomes in life and if you can have anything that you wanted in your life what would that look like. And then oftentimes they’ll. They’ll say something like well I could never have that or I’d be too afraid to do that. And so. I find that a really healthy exercise to do with clients is to just walk them through logically. What that fear looks like because so many times we feel fear about something like You may feel fear about picking up the phone. But then you never think beyond it. To realize what would actually happen like what’s the worst case scenario that would happen here. And so we stop ourselves because we feel this fear but we don’t logically think through what it actually means and so we might do an exercise. Where we say OK so if you pick up the phone what’s the worst thing that could happen. And they’ll say oh the person will yell at me. You’ll say. Oh ok well. What’s the worst thing that can happen then. And the like well I’ll. Feel bad and I’ll be scared. It’s like OK what’s the worst that could happen then.

I don’t know. I’ll go run out of the office which I’ve never heard before. Three questions and they’re out right that hour. But it’s just realizing that the really the worst that will happen is

You’re exactly the same as you were before.

You didn’t have that client before. You still don’t have a.

No they don’t just find this fascinating because I’ll tell you as you’re probably beginning to experience Lee is really good at this. He’s good at drawing people out and. Giving them the platform to share their story and talk about what they do and

How they serve people. But I think one of the big reasons is because when you put those headphones on you’re invested. In Elise. You’re not. You don’t you’re not in your own head about you. And I know like sometimes with our client host. I think they run into the same thing she’s describing don’t you they’re worried about how they’re going to sound or how they’re going to. Tell me there’s really strong parallels in our work in this.

Now do you find that because you you have your own podcast right.

Yeah I do actually yeah. We had one previously that I stepped off of recently looking into sales and then we just launched a new one for our company. The younger wiser leader podcast’s which launched last week it just started.

So do you find that skill as an interviewer is similar to that of a coach and that you are putting the spotlight on the other person and trying to help them.

Yes absolutely and I will tell you when I first started interviewing people I would sweat bullets.

So there was that part of it was because my cohost A.J. is amazing at what she does and it’s like I got to bring it.

But again it was. I was thinking about myself and I wasn’t thinking about the person on the other end. That’s such an important life skill in general that helps us navigate life really well if we can learn to just have empathy and think about what the other person is going through. And what they’re thinking we realize. Nobody’s really thinking about us at all.

They’re all thinking about themselves don’t worry about what other people think about them. Now when you’re working with somebody and you’re helping them kind of develop their personal brand then helping them kind of stand out in the crowd because a lot of your clients are potential clients are kind of in semi commodity industries where there’s a lot of them. Out there and they’re all trying to find their

Place in the world. How do you help them kind of. Do that

Pioneer. Graham. Yeah I think it’s so fun and one of the things that I think is really helpful is just to tap into. What at your core. Do you feel like you were called to do and maybe share an example will help. I had a coaching client named Deseret. And she runs a company out in Washington called Hearts and pearls. And they do headbands for women and girls and they’re just really cool. Unique looking headbands. And she had this personal story that was. Really deep that was attached to it but she’d always been afraid to share it. And so the inspiration for the company came because she was a. Very young mom. She got pregnant when she wasn’t married and she’s a Christian and for her she kind of went through this whole like. Debate of do I abort the baby or not. Like she really she got actually up to. A day before the abortion was scheduled and she was going to do it. And she was at her parents house and she was taking a walk. Just by her parents house and. She ran into an older couple who was walking by her. And they said. They just felt compelled for some reason to share their story. And they told her their story of how they had aborted their child. When they were very young and it was their mission in life now to try to help moms who were going through that. To just. Make the right decision for them but. Choose not to you if possible and so it was just like this. Wow. And. To me it’s like God moment right. And. She decided. To cancel the abortion appointment the next day. And she had her baby. Partly. And just as kind of like a side. Something to do.

Well Hartley was growing up she started making her these cool little headbands and she’d be out and about with Hartly and people would. Stop her and you like like you. That’s amazing. She started getting so much feedback and interest from people that. She was like maybe I’m on to something here. And so she started this online business selling these headbands that she creates and they’re beautiful. And she had never really shared her story about rising above. Pain. And challenges. In order to triumph and so one of the things we started talking about early on in her coaching was just like her personal story and how interwoven that was with her business and what she did. And what she ended up deciding to do was every quarter. Feature a charity. That supports women who are in just tough situations who want help rising above. Their challenges. And she’s now built that into her brand and her business model where every hire she supports them. Yeah and it’s like it’s so in ruins with who she is and what she believes. But I think sometimes. We just need somebody else to realize that. Our story is actually really interesting. I think all of us have an amazing story that we can weave into why we do what we do. A lot of times we don’t think it’s compelling or we don’t think it’s interesting but it always is because it’s the human narrative right. We can all relate to those types of things. And I think it goes to the importance of coaching where. At. Times in your life you do need that kind of third party to say hey you’re you’re good you’re doing the right thing or hey maybe you should do less of this and more this

And you need that kind of independent voice in your head to get out of your own head.

Yes I am such a big believer in coaching and so I’m a big believer that if I’m going to ask people to pay for coaching I better pay for it myself. So I actually as we record this I just got back from a daylong immersion with my personal coach on Saturday where in a day we busted through and I’m going to keep her in business forever.

It’s like how many issues were in the period of a day she worked through some personal challenges I’ve been having for 17 years. It’s like I feel free from stuff that has been

A challenge for me for 17 years. And we did that in a day.

Why and it was because you can get so much done so fast. And as I understand it and I’m not a professional coach but hung around some in my time. A really good coach doesn’t have to have all the answers or even a lot of the answers right. My I have been a coaching client. And what I found was this we did a marvelous job. Just getting to come and talk stuff out with her. Crystalize. Things solidified my thinking clarified my thinking. Has that been your experience.

Yeah absolutely.

It’s not like she gave me the answer and said well you need to go do this.

Yeah I think so much of it you’re exactly right like so much of it is just actually taking the time to talk. And there is a book about coaching that I read a while back just kind of funny like if you’re feeling insecure as a coach do you think that if somebody went and they talked to a. Light post. Like on the side of the road

Every day for 20 minutes just talked about their problems. Do you think they would make progress and figure some stuff out. It’s like. Yeah they probably would. So if you can be just a little better than that your clients are still going to make progress there. I like to think that we are better than we.

But I think it’s really it’s two things. It’s accountability. So when you’re working with a coach you’re usually you’re paying them right. So all of a sudden when we commit money to something our level of commitment goes way up. And then it’s just finally getting some attention to the things that you’ve probably been. Like pushing under the rug or not addressing that or actually holding you back.

All right now it’s time for some coaching maybe for the sales people out there listening. How about some kind of nitty gritty tactics and tips that can help the salesperson make quota or blow out their quota. This low out there when you guys are asking for a lot.

All right let’s see what I can do. The foundation mindset nowadays. Not mechanics. There are things there’s language and all that. I assume you probably have some influence on and can share some of this. Specialized knowledge and expertise but

It’s all hollow without the foundation of the mind set is that I would totally agree with that.

So yes if I were putting myself inside because country what GoDaddy radio disclose the tips and tricks tips and tricks some basic things like you mentioned LinkedIn earlier.

Yes. OK. How do you laggards like say videos new and LinkedIn. How do you leverage video make. So I love video on LinkedIn and I will say if you are a sales professional and you are not producing your own videos and posting them on LinkedIn you are missing out on a huge opportunity right now because LinkedIn native video uploaded directly to LinkedIn right now is getting the types of views that. You used to get if you did it on Facebook a couple of years back before they changed. The algorithm and made it much difficult much more difficult to get exposure so

Linked in video. If you take a video and posted on LinkedIn I do them every day and it gets everyday everyday.

Yeah but you’re just like what are you talking about everyday.

That’s a good question. So one of the things that I think is really helpful for all sales professionals to do is to build their personal brand. And the first thing you need to do is make a brain dump list of what are all the different things that I could talk about related to what I said. And so oftentimes it will be fake cues you’ll think about the things that you’re hearing from your clients all the time the challenges they’re facing right now. I don’t think most people need to do every day. Again

I kind of go all out with self-esteem and OCD first to be a coach. So I think if you did one once a week once every two weeks that’s still better than nothing but

I just keep a running list of what are all the different challenges periodically and just to kind of brain dump.

I’m going to write down hundreds of ideas.

That way you’re not in the morning go ahead. I to do my thing a clock and now I’m scrambling for my idea. You’ve already figured out what your next 10 ideas are.

Exactly. I’ve got a running list and then I batch filming them so I’ll film like five a week on Friday or Saturday morning and just knock them out short like few minutes two minutes or less. Have a call to action at the end don’t make it sales though. But have a that goes up well with callbacks. And I would say like hey guys if you enjoyed this content then please visit me online at my Web site. ELISE ARCHER SWC dot com you can actually sign up for a free video course there are a couple of tips for producers and they know better than that. But yeah. So it’s a call to action. What do you want them to do. Drive them

To what you want them to action. Yeah. And then the batching of it is for your time. That’s another trap for sales people as they don’t manage their time well they get distracted by shiny objects. Yes exactly.

And it could be we have a term we call creative avoidance where it’s like you know sales at the end of the day that thing that is going to make you money is talking to people right. However

I want to give this tip to do videos with a disclaimer that you cannot just do videos.

Otherwise you’ll have going to sit back and wait for the phone. That does not work that way. Yeah that does not work that way so you have to do these in conjunction with you to actually get on the phone and call people and so like

Do all your marketing work outside of business hours. Right. And then during business hours. Pick up the phone and harvest the fruits of your labor. One thing I’ve found with those is I get a fair number of inbound. Requests every day from my ideal. Client who’s a V.P. of sales or sales manager and it’s just like I saw your video and then when you call them like I already know you which in sales is exactly what we want. Actually it makes it so much easier and it’s just a much warmer more fun connection. But you have to do both. So now in sales you

The best kind of I guess inbound would be a referral of some kind. Is there a way to cultivate referrals so you find that it’s effective.

Yeah absolutely. Other than do good work.

That’s a pretty good deal to do good work. Yeah exactly. Yeah I think there’s a million ways to cultivate

Great referrals and that’s something we teach our clients like 15 different ways to get referrals. I think just the first thing is 15 ways.

Did you just say wow there’s probably more than that but there’s I mean there’s a time and the first is do good work. I think another thing that’s important is be a referral giver

As well as receiver so I have a goal every week for not only how many referrals I receive but also how many I give. So if anybody wants a referral to someone they’d call me after the show cause I need to get out referrals.

And I love doing that. But then outside of that again I think LinkedIn is a great tool to use for your clients who are currently. Using you if you have not made we call it a linked and hit list like basically going through their connections. And searching for people who have the title of the type of person that you want to reach out to you and just

Running it by them actually did this yesterday with a client where she had booked a colleague of mine and I are speaking about a couple of months back and we did the event and then I had a call with her yesterday it was like Hey Michelle I wanted to connect with you because I noticed on LinkedIn you’re connected to some people who think I might be able to help and serve. I wanted to get your feedback. Here’s this list. Is there anybody on here who I should definitely reach out to. Is there anybody who I’ll regret for the rest of my life that I’ve reached out to. And then it just getting that warm introduction. She was like yeah there’s three people on here who I can introduce you to. Now I think one other mistake that a lot of sales people make with that is they have someone say y’all introduce you. And then they’re like. Great. Perfect thank you so much. And they leave it in the hands of the other person to do that. And it’s not that the other person doesn’t want to help you. It’s just that they’re busy and they’re probably going to let it. Slip through the cracks and so one of the best things you can do is have a pre typed introduction that somebody could copy and paste. Make it easy make it low key. But just. Like when she said that I was like perfect Michelle I appreciate it. I know that you’re busy. Would it make your life easier if I just sent you something that you could copy and paste and you can change it if you like. You can throw it out and write a new one or you can just use it. Just like. Yes. That is the only reason why I don’t make introductions for people is because I just feel like it takes too much time to figure out what to say. Right. So right if you were in sales or a business owner right now when you’ve not done this write your own. Short sweet pretest intro that people can use. To introduce you and you’ll get a lot more referrals.

That’s the million dollar tip right there. I’m so glad that you asked.

I might know what I’m doing. I think what you’re doing and maybe I am a little too focused on me right now but the other thing I was thinking earlier this been great for me by the way some of the video stuff

Were clearly not video people.

Me and you are a lot of these if they’ve seen our picture right now. Know that right.

But we did our dating site to get the but I just wondered couldn’t we like just get on the roof because we do know some things about leveraging a platform like this to grow your own business. Could we get on knock out two or three. Audios every week. Riff. And then

Could we make a video with maybe we’ll put a picture here. Couldn’t you do me a video but you could have just like your just released the. I mean as a practical matter you guys should be on video.

I don’t think there’s any reason why you should not be on video.

I’m just saying. I mean if that sounds like an endorsement. That’s right. Lisa Archer says get Yeah. You know what I mean.

The idea of just riffing is my word for it. I mean. Together you know we’ve made enough mistakes or we know some stuff we just. So yeah this would be helpful to me.

Now before we let you go how can we help you. So. Take your ideal prospect is out there listening that would be a good fit for you.

Yeah well I appreciate that. Like I said before I do a lot of work in the financial world. So if there’s a financial adviser or a financial wholesaler who wants help for their team or their clients. I love connecting with their team as well not just individual like you can come into an organization and really

Serve the whole organization not just Bob.

Yeah we’ll hope to get that. Do you ever get that directive come on. I need you to fix Bob.

Yeah. You know I think one of the cool things that we do is we actually offer complimentary trainings for sales teams just as a way of

Kind of getting the word out and giving them a feel for what it’s like to work with. Yeah exactly. So they can get a taste of it. So if you’re a sales manager who’s listening to this in the Atlanta area and how you came. Three or more three or more or more Yeah exactly we’ll come in and do a complimentary training and the worst cases your whole team is motivated and leaves with some new ideas. In addition I’m starting a mastermind for women in sales this year which I’m really excited about and passionate about it particularly for women who want to use a portion of their profits for charitable good to make an impact. If there’s a woman listening that resonates with them. We’d love to connect them as well and that that

Is online so that can be anywhere that can be any right. Now you’re working the Atlanta area specifically that’s why you’re here. Your clients are all over my clients.

Actually it’s funny most of my clients are not in Atlanta but now that we’re in Atlanta I’m looking to connect with more of are you. This is where you are go anywhere. Right. But. Definitely I mean it’s certainly it’s easy if somebody is local but I travel wherever I never. So

Yeah anywhere. And then if somebody wanted to learn more about Southwestern consulting or your own personal practice that’s with you it will be absolutely so they can go to my website it’s Elise Archer SWC dot com E-L Y. E R C H R. Estival you see dot com

And you can get that free training course there the Secret Service or you can also connect with me there. But would love to connect with anybody who we can serve. And then South-Western can hoping

That some of us are confirming that Kate is yep absolutely and so you can learn a lot more there as well.

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Atlanta’s Most Trusted Advisors Featuring Attorney Heather Wright

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Atlanta's Most Trusted Advisors Featuring Attorney Heather Wright
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Atlanta’s Most Trusted Advisors

 

Heather Wright / The Wright Attorneys

Atlanta's Most Trusted Advisors: Attorney Heather WrightAttorney, Heather Wright is the founder and owner of The Wright Firm, LLC, a general civil law practice. Heather’s practice includes: corporate representation and consulting, commercial litigation, family law, and alternative dispute resolution.

In the community, Ms. Wright is a Past President of the Buckhead Business Association, an active member of the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers, PROWIN, the National Association of Women Business Owners, and the Buckhead Business Foundation.

Ms. Wright donates her time to the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, acting as a Guardian Ad Litem in disputed family law matters. She often speaks before attorneys and business leaders on the topics of business law, ethics, communication skills, and litigation tactics, including acting as a Score Atlanta Instructor for the Small Business Administration.

Ms. Wright studies and teaches American Freestyle Karate and Self Defense at Atlanta Kick, an Atlanta-based Karate School, where she earned her First Degree Black Belt in May of 2011.

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