Leadership Lessons from a Life of Challenge and Change

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Joshua Kornitsky: Welcome back to High Velocity Radio. My name is Joshua Kornitsky. I am a professional EOS implementer and your host here today, and I’ve got an incredible guest here with me in the studio. My guest is Kim Harrington. Kim’s a leadership professional and CEO and founder of H10 Enterprises. His perspective on leadership is shaped by the environments where accountability matters and the decisions carry real consequences. Kim brings a practical, people centered approach to developing leaders at every level, and his work emphasizes clarity, clarity, pardon me service, and personal ownership. Welcome, Kim. It’s truly a joy to have you here, and I can’t wait to learn more about how you help people.

Kim Harrington: Yeah, man. Listen, thanks for having me, I appreciate it. The weather that we’re dealing with right now is a little suspect. However, we’re in the South. We’re in Atlanta, so just wait.

Joshua Kornitsky: Just wait.

Kim Harrington: Time. Wait. Three days will change anyway.

Joshua Kornitsky: Would you slide the mic just a little bit closer to you just to make sure we we get your voice? Thank you. So, um, let’s begin at the beginning. Tell tell us a little bit about yourself and what brought you to the place where you’re able to make this type of an impact.

Kim Harrington: Wow, I love that question. So up until 2005, I would not have shared this information with anyone.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And so, um, I was I was actually born to a heroin addicted mother.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And a career criminal father.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: So by the time I was born, my father had already spent half his life in prison.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow.

Kim Harrington: And because of that, I was raised in five foster homes and three group homes in New York City. And so I believe that all of us as leaders, we bring a unique perspective based on our belief window that we’re looking through. A guy named Hyrum Smith would talk about the belief window, and it’s basically how you’ve gone through your life.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And so those formative years dealing with abandonment, neglect, people being mean to you, not supporting you has been a true driver in my life. And obviously, there were people periodically that made a significant difference, teachers and mentors that did pour into me that I do appreciate and remember those vivid moments in time.

Joshua Kornitsky: And it must. But it had to have been a hard way to grow up.

Kim Harrington: Oh, 100%, 100%. But you know, when you’re when you’re in the blender and it’s on and you’re moving around, right? You don’t notice it as much until you get out of the blender.

Joshua Kornitsky: Fair enough.

Kim Harrington: Yeah.

Joshua Kornitsky: You don’t know how hard it is because you have nothing to compare it to. It’s your life.

Kim Harrington: There you go. It’s your life. Uh, and so I went in the Marine Corps when I was 17. Uh, so, uh, this was 1978.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And so that’s only three years removed from the end of the Vietnam War.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yep.

Kim Harrington: And so there weren’t long lines at the recruiting stations?

Joshua Kornitsky: No, I imagine not.

Kim Harrington: There you go. In fact, it was the reverse of that, where people, you know, our military was treated much different back then, much different in shameful ways. Uh, because, uh, any anybody that’s in the military or served in the military after January of 1973, post conscription, did it on a voluntary basis. So it wasn’t mandatory that people served and there was no draft.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And so you think about the sacrifice of those men and women that served in the military post conscription.

Joshua Kornitsky: All the way to now.

Kim Harrington: All the way till now, and their families, because the families are involved in this as well. So the I would just say the the best decision Joshua ever made in my entire life was enlisting in the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Corps took me from a life of no direction to a life of absolute direction. It taught me how to be a man, how to stand tall, be proud, honor, integrity, loyalty, all those things. And to more than that, it took me from a place of being by myself. Feeling like I was on an island to being part of something bigger than myself. Being part of a team with the ultimate goal of accomplishing the mission regardless of race, creed, color didn’t matter about anything other than the mission.

Joshua Kornitsky: So I want to ask you about that. And first, of course, thank you for your service. But the part of that that’s a mystery to those of us who have never been in the military. Right. They use your words. They made you into a man. They taught you the discipline. They taught you how to make sure that the mission gets completed. And and I presume that in a post-military career, the mission still is, whatever the current focus is. So how does that happen? Because it can’t. You know, most of us, I’m sorry to say, have our particularly our view of the military, but specifically the Marines. You know, there’s a handful of movies that tell us how Marines are made. Um, and while I’m sure there may be some elements of truth. Uh, because after all, Arlie Emery was a marine drill sergeant, and he got that job as he was the advisor to the actor. And the actor was so bad he got the job. 100% Full Metal Jacket. Yeah, good for him. He made a career out of it. You know, most of us probably have a pretty convoluted understanding of what that looks like. So can you help somebody from the outside of that universe understand what, at a high level that transition looks like? How do you even find that path?

Kim Harrington: Yeah. So it’s that’s a fantastic question, by the way, and I’ll share with you why I think that’s a fantastic question. So I never had the intention of going in the military. It just it kind of happened. Uh, I was walking out of a McDonald’s on Jamaica Avenue in Queens.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: Uh, the the f train was passing by above. And if you’ve ever been under an elevated train before, it is significant. It rattles your body. You can’t hear anything. And at that same time, I was passing by a glass door and there was a gold seal on it, said Armed Forces of the United States of America.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And something simply just drew me to that door, and I opened it, and I went in there. I eventually made it through the Army recruiter, the Navy recruiter, the Air Force recruiter, and ended up in the doorway of the Marine Corps recruiter. And his words to me were, come on in, young man. It’s okay. And then he put that video in. It says, are you up for the challenge? Are you up to being a marine? And it really showed and displayed something that was completely foreign to me.

Joshua Kornitsky: I can only imagine completely foreign.

Kim Harrington: The only, I would say the only consistent team type of event or organization was Little League baseball.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: Little league play little league baseball.

Joshua Kornitsky: Little gap between Little League and the Marine Corps. I’m guessing.

Kim Harrington: 100%. 100%. But, um, I did I did take that step. I said, I am up for it. And then there’s a there’s a lot of stories that go along with this. But I was 17, I wasn’t 18.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you couldn’t actually join?

Kim Harrington: I couldn’t actually join. He said back then, I don’t know if they still do it or not, but he said, you have to have a parent sign for you. And I said, no problem. And I’m thinking my foster parent, right. And he said, no, you need a biological parent. And I said, well, that’s not going to happen.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And he said, what’s her name? And I said, Beverly Wheeler. He said, give me some time. And so this is 1978. We didn’t have any technology whatsoever. I mean, if you wanted to study something, you had to go to a library, right? And so no cell phones. Within one week, the phone rang at the house. He said, I found I found her, she said she’ll sign for you. So now, of course, now she’s signed for me. Now I’m on the bus going to boot camp, and I have no clue about anything that you just asked me about. What’s the difference between that transition from civilian life to military life?

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and even all joking aside, all the common references I just cited don’t yet exist.

Kim Harrington: There you go.

Joshua Kornitsky: You know, the Marines stormed the beach at Iwo Jima. There you go. Beyond that, you know, unless you had a military family, you probably didn’t know anything.

Kim Harrington: Nothing. And so the in the Marine Corps is so different and so unique. There is a reason for everything. There are 13 stars on every button. 13 original colonies.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: There are seven belt loops on every single pair of Marine Corps trousers. The seven seas. And so there’s a reason for the way your pants hit your shoe has to be at a certain angle. On every single Marine Corps uniform, there is attention to detail that is off the charts. The ribbons that you wear have to be an eighth of an inch above the top of your pocket. Okay, this is made up stuff. That stuff is made up because they want you to pay attention to detail. Because when they give you a coordinate, if it’s 75 degrees, they want it to be 75 degrees, not 74 and not 76. Right. Because you have to be accurate. And so in the in boot camp, I was a complete follower as you think about this, as a 17 year old, I’m not 25 and there were some older people there, but I’m 17 and I don’t even know who I am at this point. And so I’m a complete follower. You follow instructions, you follow directions, and you make the best of your situation. And there were a lot of people that obviously wanted to give up while they were in there. But the drill instructors, although they were, um, like Full Metal Jacket, right? They were there to help support you and build you up after they break you down and to create those, those fighting machines basically is what we are is a marine, right? And so I would say the the main thing about the military is specifically the Marine Corps, is that it gives you so much courage, so much you have so much pride in yourself and your your fellow Marines that you will go through the fire for them without hesitation.

Joshua Kornitsky: So it’s it’s not just confidence, it’s bonding. It’s it’s and and does that translate to today? If you meet someone who was a marine you still have that connection.

Kim Harrington: So Joshua, listen, there’s this once again unique thing about the Marine Corps. If you find out someone is a marine, it’s like you’ve known each other your entire life. And my wife served in the army, so it does not happen with any other branch of the military, but with the Marine Corps. You find someone, find out someone’s a marine. The first thing you’re going to say is Semper fi, devil dog. So Semper Fi means always faithful, and Devil Dog is just kind of a nickname for Marines. Okay, there’s Devil Dog, there’s Leatherneck, there’s Jarhead.

Joshua Kornitsky: But typically I’ve heard them all. There you go.

Kim Harrington: And but when she when you I. This could be a marine from, uh, I could talk to a marine from the Korean War.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And I served this. There was no conflicts in the world when I served. There was Grenada, and there was the, uh, the hostage crisis in Iran. That’s it. So. But I can talk to someone from the Korean War. I could talk to someone from Iraq or Iran. And immediately there’s a brotherhood or a sisterhood between Marines. Okay. That is. That is unlike any other branch in the world.

Joshua Kornitsky: So let’s go back. You’re 17, maybe 18 now, right? Uh, first of all, how long were you in active duty?

Kim Harrington: Six years.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay. So you were there. You were there till you were the literal definition of a man, 100%. Um, you get through boot camp, what happens? You’re. When? When you graduate.

Kim Harrington: So. So in all the military branches, you take an Asvab test. It’s an aptitude test before you get in there. Based on your scores, you are going to probably get placement in a certain military occupational specialty based on your scores. My scores were low, so I was a I was an infantryman. Every single marine is an infantryman. I don’t care if you’re a four star general or a buck private. You all go into it. You’re a rifleman. So my MOS, upon graduating from boot camp was a machine gunner.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: So the life expectancy for a machine gunner?

Joshua Kornitsky: Probably not great. No.

Kim Harrington: So when you hit the beach and you’re a machine gunner, your life expectancy is seven seconds or less. The only person that they target before that is the radioman, where they have a life expectancy of two seconds. So you you you graduate from boot camp, then you go to your, your infantry training school. My specialty was a machine gun. So I learned how to shoot an M60 machine gun. I don’t believe they have those anymore. But you learn how to do every single thing possible with the nomenclature of a machine gun, how to break it down, how to put it together blindfolded, how to do it with one hand, your off hand, and how to do it with the other hand. Uh, how to understand how to shoot the weapon. And when you’re a machine gunner, you’re in a weapons platoon. When you’re a weapons platoon, you have teams. So when you’re the machine gunner, you have other people. You have an ammo bearer.

Joshua Kornitsky: That are supporting the role.

Kim Harrington: You’re supporting my.

Joshua Kornitsky: Role. Gotcha.

Kim Harrington: And so if the machine gun weighs 29 pounds, 29 pounds is nothing. If you’re going a mile but 29 pounds, going 25 miles is super heavy. Now imagine being an ammo bearer, and you have to carry those cans of ammunition, which weighs a whole lot more than 29 pounds. So there’s it’s just a team effort. There’s there’s other things with the machine gun that takes a team effort. If once you shoot a certain amount of rounds out of an M60 machine gun, The barrel is literally on fire, so it has to cool down. But you have your team member with an asbestos glove. They’ll take it off so they don’t get burned, and they’ll put another barrel on.

Joshua Kornitsky: While.

Kim Harrington: You’re rotating. You’re going, you’re not stopping because you know, my barrel is off. I got to take a break. You know, everything is related to combat. And so the one thing that I, I would say that’s super different in the military than the civilian world is called the civilian world, is that camaraderie and teamwork. There is it is unmatched in especially the Marine Corps. It is unmatched, unrivaled. And I don’t believe I’m not. You never say never. Never say always. I don’t believe it can be replicated in a civilian world.

Joshua Kornitsky: It, uh, rather than argue because no one can know for sure. To your to your point, um, I understand exactly what you mean by that because for for Literally comparison’s sake. The expression tends to be, you know, having gone through combat together. Right. That’s that’s the common nomenclature for explaining a bonding situation. Trial by fire. Well, that fire is probably not a fire pit. Right. So. So it’s become our standard. So. So you emerged from this life and what happened to you?

Kim Harrington: So, uh, so once you reach a certain reach a certain point in the Marine Corps, um, there’s once again, like, just much, much like any company out here, when people change companies or change roles, right? There are things that happen in the military that will either keep you in there or kind of say, hey, maybe it’s time to look somewhere else.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And so my, my changing point was that, uh, I wanted to be a drill instructor.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you’re looking for the easy way out? Yeah.

Kim Harrington: But I, I right. I was the model marine.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, it’s a desire to. To help. Really? I mean, all, all stereotype of that role aside, that role, as you yourself said, is a supporting role to make better Marines. Yes, yes. That’s a pretty, pretty good aspiration.

Kim Harrington: Oh my God. And your drill instructors are you’ll remember for the rest of your life, first of all. But they are the most squared away knowledgeable people on the planet to you when you’re going through that, they are your mother or your father. They’re looking out for your health, your well-being. They are guiding you through the process all the way from the very beginning until the very end. And you know, they have your best interests at heart. And it is super hard. They have an Fu file where they they mess with you for no reason whatsoever just to see how you respond. Do you elevate or do you crumble? Right. One of the one of the building soldiers.

Joshua Kornitsky: You kind of need to know that.

Kim Harrington: Absolutely. One of the the things that, uh, that bothered me the most was something as, as innocuous as them saying two sheets and a blanket get online. And all that meant was you’re going to strip down your rack, you’re going to hold two sheets and a blanket with your pillowcase in your mouth. Everybody’s online and they say, you’ve got two minutes to make your racks move. That’s not a lot of time. And you’re talking about making your rack with a six inch fold and all the other things. Box corners is always going to be someone slow, always. And they’re going to say, oh, I see we’re not finished. And they would do this for hours. Not I’m not talking about 20 minutes, but for a couple of hours you would have to get to. And you know, by the time you’re done, you’re looking at that slow person like, hey, man. And they want you to do that. They’re encouraging you to be a unit and you’re going to be only as good as the weakest link, and you have to lift them up. And that’s what it’s all about.

Joshua Kornitsky: So how did you. Well, so you. So when you made the decision, uh, did you become a drill sergeant?

Kim Harrington: I did not.

Joshua Kornitsky: You did not.

Kim Harrington: So, uh, they said that I had to spend more time in my primary mos. So my first couple of years, I was on barracks duty in Yokosuka, Japan. Okay. So if you talk to any marine, they’re going to say barracks duty is pretty cake. It’s. You’re an MP basically somewhere. And I was an MP on a Navy base. There were 60 Marines on a basically as the command of the seventh fleet. Okay. The Navy, 60 Marines on a base full of sailors. And so, uh, it is it is easy duty, but it is hard duty because you’re a military policeman and you’re dealing with the adverse conditions of everybody. Right. Uh, and so I did that for two years. Then I was a machine gunner for a year, and then I put in for the drill field, and they said I had only spent a one year as a machine gunner, Enter. So I need to spend more time there. So basically what happened was I just got a new MOS and I worked at a military prison for three years.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: Now I can share with you this that the whole thing about not judging a book by its cover is 100% true. Because you really see people that have been fully adjudicated after they did their crime, and now they’re serving their sentence, their consequences. And if I were just to look at somebody, I couldn’t say what they did or what they didn’t do. Sure. And there were people in there with some horrific, horrific crimes that they committed. And I would have never guessed in a million years that they would have done that because of their demeanor, their disposition, the way they communicated. And you find out what they did and you’re like, oh my goodness.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And so that that helped me a great deal.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s a huge lesson.

Kim Harrington: Oh, my. Listen, Joshua, that helped me a great deal because once I got out the Marine Corps, I was a California Highway Patrol officer.

Joshua Kornitsky: That was that’s you’re jumping to the next phase of the story. But that’s where we’re headed. Yes. So now, you know, and it’s it’s funny, you mentioned, uh, I, I’m involved with a leadership committee in Bartow County, and I know, uh, Chief Jody Matthews, the chief of the Euharlee Police Department, and as part of the the, um, committee that I was on, we got to see the police simulation that they use. Yes. Uh, one of many. And one of the scenes that that the officers go through is just this helpless woman who just needs your help because somebody took her whatever. And it’s a very interesting thing as an outsider to observe, because as soon as you turn, she kills you.

Kim Harrington: Of course.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um, but to all normal, uh, eyes, this was a person in need and a person asking you for help. Right. So now I understand exactly why that would tie in, where you learn not to judge that book by its cover. So? So now you’re in California and you’re a highway patrolman?

Kim Harrington: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: Where do we go from here?

Kim Harrington: Well, so you, um, when you’re in a military, first of all, it’s almost a natural transition to go in some type of law enforcement. Law enforcement? Sure. It just is.

Joshua Kornitsky: Especially because you’re disciplined.

Kim Harrington: And plus, if you have, like, I was an MP for two years and I worked in a prison for three years. So it’s almost natural. And so I applied at three different departments, uh, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, LAPD and the California Highway Patrol. And I got accepted at all three.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, wow.

Kim Harrington: Uh, but then I had a conversation with someone, and they said, hey, man, do you want to be chasing someone down in an alley when you’re such and such age? I’m like, oh, I don’t know about that. So I felt that the California Highway Patrol would be best suited for me and my skill set.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and based on the timing, chips should have been very popular.

Kim Harrington: It was very popular. I was a chocolate chip. And so but the the training also those three departments have robust, fantastic training. Most departments if you, if you really, um, did a survey, um, uh, Woodstock PD or anybody else like that, they don’t have a robust academy that they may attend. A lot of times. They may go through community college and take some courses, and then they’ll have some type of, uh, academy training, but it’s not extensive. So the California Highway Patrol training is a live in, 21 week program.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow. So you got to go to a different boot camp.

Kim Harrington: Got to go to a different boot camp, and the attrition rate 50%.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow.

Kim Harrington: Which is super high there. There are very a lot of challenges there that a lot of people don’t know about. But the first thing is that, uh, the attrition rate was 50%. We started with 140 cadets and we graduated 70. You? You have an opportunity. There’s tests all the time. You’re basically cramming in. I would say two years worth of an education into those six months. Five and a half months. So there’s a lot of exams. After you get the education and so you have an opportunity to take a test. If you fail it and you do not pass it on the retake, you’re gone. The minimum score to pass it is 70.

Joshua Kornitsky: If you take it high standard.

Kim Harrington: High.

Joshua Kornitsky: Standard but high. The outcome is the best of the best.

Kim Harrington: Absolutely, absolutely. And the other part of that is you can fail two exams. Retake them, pass them. You’re still good. If you fail a third one, you’re gone.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And so there’s a very high standard. There’s a there’s daily PT physical.

Joshua Kornitsky: That must have did it appeal to you. Because it sounds like coming from where you were coming from, you were used to maintaining a standard.

Kim Harrington: Yes. However, there’s always wake up calls in life. Sure. And that very first exam I took, I got a 71. And I did see other people fail the exam. And I saw other people fail the exam and not pass the retake. And they were gone. And I’m thinking to myself, I can’t be gone. This is everything I have right now. I’ve put everything in here so I cannot fail at this. And so it was a wake up call, which was a great wake up call.

Joshua Kornitsky: Better early than late.

Kim Harrington: Better early than late.

Joshua Kornitsky: So obviously, you must have made it through the Academy.

Kim Harrington: I did.

Joshua Kornitsky: And how long did you stay with the California Highway Patrol?

Kim Harrington: 16 years.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, wow.

Kim Harrington: So. And I retired from an injury, so I was. I would have still stayed there. And so. So 16 years of the academies in West Sacramento, in California. Then you have your first duty station, and you have a choice. There’s a list and you put in for it. And then based on everything that’s involved there. You’ll then basically go where they send you, right? And so my first duty station was Santa Cruz, California. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Santa Cruz.

Joshua Kornitsky: I’m not.

Kim Harrington: That’s why I’m so Santa Cruz is a beautiful area of California. It is 90 miles south of San Francisco on the coast.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, okay.

Kim Harrington: It is about 35 miles north of Monterey, California. And it’s probably 35 miles over the hill from San Jose, California. So this is a very this is an affluent area. It’s a beautiful area. But I was young, so 23 years old as a California Highway Patrol officer, which was was a benefit. But it was also kind of a drawback because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Still, you’re young, you don’t know that you’re 23 and you’re doing a job. You’re enforcing the laws of the state of California. You are you’re part of an allied community, which means that we are supporting the sheriff’s department, the police departments, other governmental agencies. They’re supporting us. This is a Santa Cruz County is the second smallest county in California.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you must have been bored.

Kim Harrington: Uh, no, I wasn’t bored. But the the this not the activity of a city like San Francisco or Los Angeles or San Diego, but there’s always activity. Everywhere you go. People say, well, there can’t be a possibly be a bad. There’s a bad area everywhere that you go, even here in Woodstock.

Joshua Kornitsky: There are bad people that make the area. Absolutely.

Kim Harrington: And there’s alcohol everywhere.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’ll.

Kim Harrington: Do it. You think about, you think about people being under the influence and making decisions that they would not normally make if they were sober, right?

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, Lord knows no one ever makes a bad decision. Certainly not when alcohol is in the picture.

Kim Harrington: That’s right.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um, so 16 years. And were you injured in the line of duty, or is that something you will talk about?

Kim Harrington: Okay, I’m an open book. So, Um, I had been injured several times on the job, but the last incident that did me in was a collision.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And most people in the highway patrol, you’re exposed to extreme speeds with cars. Just. I mean, if you really think about it from a fundamental point of view, let’s say that someone is going 80 miles an hour and they just zoom by me. How fast do I have to go to catch up to them to initiate an enforcement stop?

Joshua Kornitsky: Right. There’s an acceleration curve where you’ve got to be going about 110 to get there.

Kim Harrington: That’s exactly right. The the roads that we travel on are not racetracks, which means they’re not designed like a racetrack. I mean, if there’s not going to be a pebble on a racetrack, they’re going to make sure everything’s removed from the racetrack because it’s so safe. There are roads in our country that the I call it the Superelevation is going the wrong way. If I’m trying to make a turn to the left and it’s leaning that way, That’s not good, right? But there are roads designed like that for whatever reason, or that’s the end result.

Joshua Kornitsky: Drainage or whatever.

Kim Harrington: Exactly. Right. And so it’s you have to be super familiar with your environment if you are in that role. And so there’s a California, they call it the land of the pursuits. Uh, and 16 years, I would say on average, I would be in ten pursuits a year, a year.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s crazy.

Kim Harrington: It’s absolutely crazy. There’s some people that will go their whole career without being in one pursuit in different departments.

Joshua Kornitsky: And you had 150 of them, at least.

Kim Harrington: And there are times where you are the passenger in the car during a pursuit, or you’re the driver, and once again, you are relying on the other person to do everything possible to achieve the goals. I’m relying on the person driving the car that they’ve gone through, the same training that I’ve gone through, and they’re going to be diligent, following all the rules that we follow to make sure we stay safe, I stay safe. Right.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s crazy. So obviously there was an accident of some sort.

Kim Harrington: There was an accident, and it was. It is just weird how people, um, the news, how they present information. So this was a we were back in another officer up. He was on a traffic stop. The vehicle came back as stolen. There were two people in the vehicle. They were making furtive movements. They were moving around. He called for some backup. So we’re flying there to back him up. The other officer said, hey, make sure you turn nighttime, so make sure you turn your lights off so you don’t silhouette me to the people in front.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And so we turn the lights off. But once you turn your lights off, your depth perception is off. We ended up. Long story short, my partner ended up running into the back of the other patrol car. Uh, and it was a devastating collision. My knees broke up the dashboard. Everything was just. There was a helicopter overhead. It was smoke up in the air. Wow. And the only memory I had up to that point was the other officer running by, and I saw highway patrol in the back of the other car and then collision. And then you’re like, come back to your senses. Uh, so the press said that a drunk driver had run into the back of a highway patrol car on the freeway, and I was like, that’s interesting. I was there, and I don’t remember that, but. Right. But so that that was the the last one it did me and I was I think I was 40 years old at the time. And my wife said, hey, how much longer are you going to do this? Because it’s not just about me like this getting in a car. It’s me putting on 20 pounds of equipment, me wearing a duty belt that has handcuffs in the back, and now I’m not sitting in a seat the same way I would if I didn’t have anything on. Right. So there’s a lot of factors involved with your safety and how are you going? I mean, am I going to run after somebody at this point where, you know, I had knee surgery and then my back was messed up? How safe can I be?

Joshua Kornitsky: Right. And never mind protecting and serving the people of the community. It’s just your ability at that point to function as a normal human being.

Kim Harrington: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: So what did you decide to do? You’re now you’ve you’ve been a marine. You’ve been a highway patrolman. You decided it was time to put your feet up. No.

Kim Harrington: Um, so the cool thing about California, and specifically the state is if you get injured on the job, they have something called 4800 time. And so 4800 time basically is you have a year to obtain vocational training for the next, whatever the next is.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s amazing.

Kim Harrington: It is amazing. Not only that, during that year you’re getting full pay tax free.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s got to be life changing.

Kim Harrington: Life changing. And so the first thing I did was I took a couple months off. And then I had a friend that worked at a gym, and he was he was just working at the gym. He was doing his thing. Very nice guy. He was even a bodybuilder at one point in time. Then all of a sudden, one day things switched for him and he went from working at the gym to driving an $80,000 car and wearing $800 suits.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And I said, dude, what happened? He said, I got my real estate license. And so he was a real estate agent, and he started to become successful. And he had been doing it back then. I just didn’t know it. And I’m the first thought was, if that guy can do it, I can do it. Right. So I got my real estate license. I used that time to get into real estate. And there are certain, um, organizations, certain industries, that there are companies that are really good at onboarding, really good at training. And so back then it was Coldwell Banker this Keller Williams. Now there’s companies that really invest in their people with training, which everybody should do. By the way.

Joshua Kornitsky: I agree.

Kim Harrington: As.

Joshua Kornitsky: A The leadership team trainer. I agree.

Kim Harrington: Yes. Uh, so I did that for a year in California, and then, um, our family dynamics, we needed to move out of California because one of my my kids needed a change of environment.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: Uh, so we we got on a computer. There was nothing keeping us in California. So we looked at, uh, areas with great schools and parent friendly. So there were two locations, believe it or not, after all that intense searching, two places came up. One was a location just north of Orlando.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: The other one was right here in Georgia in East Cobb. And so we said, well, Florida’s probably a little bit like California, so we’re going to pick Georgia. I didn’t know one person here. And I went from 100% commission job to 100% commission job.

Joshua Kornitsky: And roughly what year was this?

Kim Harrington: This was two months before September 11th.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, okay.

Kim Harrington: And so if you and I didn’t think much of it. Then we had sold our house. We had some proceeds. Not a lot. We had two vehicles, kids, a couple of dogs, and we caravan across the country to go to Georgia. And obviously, my wife and I already found a place here. But that’s a risk.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yes.

Kim Harrington: I didn’t I didn’t view it that way then. But years later, when I my best friend in the world, he talked to me about it, he said, man, I really admired you for that. And I’m like, what are you talking about? And then he really explained it to me that.

Joshua Kornitsky: It was just your next step in your.

Kim Harrington: It was just my next step.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you’re here now? You’re real estate agent? Yes. And I assume you have some measure of success.

Kim Harrington: Yes. However.

Joshua Kornitsky: Man, there always seems to be a however.

Kim Harrington: There’s always a however. So this is you think about 2001. Uh, and so this was the time of the.com era.

Joshua Kornitsky: I remember it well.

Kim Harrington: There you go. And then so now we have this thing called the.com bubble. And that bubble was bursting the entire time I was there during real estate and the it finally burst. If you were a real estate agent, life was not good for you. If you were a lender. Life was fantastic for some reason and it seems to be that way sometimes. But um, so the bubble finally burst. Uh, don’t spend your money before you have it.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yep.

Kim Harrington: Uh, however, my my wife made plans. We started putting things on credit cards, and I had two deals. Not close, so I was. I was in a bind because of that, um, extra debt that I wasn’t counting on. Uh, and at the same time, I was being recruited to work at a financial services firm, a company called home Bank here in the southeast, which was a phenomenal company. Uh, it is probably one of the top three companies I’ve ever worked for in my entire life.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s great.

Kim Harrington: Fantastic culture, great people. We were on fortune magazine’s best 100 companies to work for all four years. I was there in 2007 when we closed our doors. We were ranked 14th on fortune magazine’s best 100 Companies to Work For.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow.

Kim Harrington: The only reason why we weren’t higher was because we didn’t have on site daycare and the CEO of the company, which is an amazing man, Pat flood, he said. If we can definitely have on site childcare here, but we can’t have it in Tennessee, we can’t have it in Florida, and we can’t have it in North Carolina. So if they can’t have it, then we’re just not going to have it as a company.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right. Okay. So again, you’ve now reinvented yourself for the fourth time. Yes. Uh, and that doesn’t count the little ones in between. That’s right. Right. So now, uh, you said they closed doors. What did you do next?

Kim Harrington: Well, it was a wake up call, too. And the reason why it was a wake up call was, uh, I was I was drinking the Kool-Aid. I literally thought I was going to retire there. I did, absolutely. I was.

Joshua Kornitsky: Until the rug got pulled out and it was great.

Kim Harrington: I was 46 years old at that time and I said, well, this is it. I mean, everything’s fantastic. I can be myself, I can flourish, I can advance, I can do great things here and help people at the same time. Because if you’re a lender, it’s all about helping people. It’s all about helping people. And the other thing about that is that you’re not offering anything tangible. They can’t touch it. They can’t feel it. It’s not like you’re selling a house, right? And so there’s a trust factor, and they really have to believe in you that you’re going to deliver on everything that you’re promising. And so the wake up call was this, um, I had just taken over a territory in Tampa, Florida, relocated my family down there, and I had been down there maybe six months, and everything was going fantastic, I thought. And then on August 7th of 2007, they said, hey, we’re closing our doors on August 10th.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow.

Kim Harrington: So, three days notice. No one asked me, and I’m being dramatic. But no one asked me what I thought about it, right? And obviously it’s business, right? I get it, I understand. But I felt like I got slighted. I felt like they were, um. I felt like I was that kid again in New York City, that I was being marginalized.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and obviously they were seeing the writing on the wall because come 2008, the bottom dropped out.

Kim Harrington: Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: So what are you doing at that point?

Kim Harrington: Yes. And this is where.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you’re still in Tampa?

Kim Harrington: Still in Tampa. And this is where life really changed for me. And I would say in a positive way, too. And I’ve had a lot of things happen along the years that that have been great. I’ve had some obviously challenges like everybody else.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure.

Kim Harrington: But this one thing said, hey, well, I got a family, I got to do what I got to do, and I wasn’t going to get a job with another mortgage company because everybody was suffering.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right?

Kim Harrington: And so I ended up doing basically freelance contract work for training and development companies.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And so this is where H10 enterprises was founded in 2008. But I would work for training and development companies. And I would um, I would call on large companies, midsize companies, small companies, get them excited about having me come in and do an assessment on their sales or service teams to see if we can increase costs. Uh, I mean, excuse me, increase profit or decrease costs.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And get people on the same sheet of music to make sure that everybody’s productive and successful in the company. And the sweet spot were call centers. I would say 90% of these were call centers. And so if I was able to to get on site, I had secured the business 75% of the time.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow.

Kim Harrington: 75% of the time.

Joshua Kornitsky: It’s a hell of a closing.

Kim Harrington: It is a hell of a closing rate. But the fact of the matter is, and I’m not trying to be crass or anything, but most people do not know how to sell as a professional.

Joshua Kornitsky: I would absolutely agree with that statement. Yes, it’s true. And people have uh, and I see this quite often. People are embarrassed to ask for money for their goods or services. Yes. And I grew up in the car business. I don’t have that affliction. There you go. Uh, but I completely agree with you. Now, I have to ask at this point, because now you’re interacting with various organizations and different teams. Does your military experience come into play here? Is there?

Kim Harrington: Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: Is there anything in your background that helps you make an impact in this space?

Kim Harrington: Yes. So in the Marine Corps, first of all, the Marine Corps is a breeding ground for leaders.

Joshua Kornitsky: I believe that.

Kim Harrington: There are 14 leadership traits inherent to every single United States Marine, whether you are a buck private or a four star general. 1414 everyone knows him. And so there’s a judgment justice, decisiveness, integrity, dependability, tact, initiative, enthusiasm, bearing the way you carry yourself, unselfishness, courage, knowledge, loyalty and endurance.

Joshua Kornitsky: There’s got to be an acronym in there.

Kim Harrington: Jj did tie buckle.

Joshua Kornitsky: Is that how you remember it?

Kim Harrington: That’s how you remember it.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay. And so I mean, those are all incredibly admirable traits.

Kim Harrington: And they’re portable. Obviously they’re useful in the military, but they’re also useful not only in your professional civilian life, but in your personal life. 100% in your personal life. And so the reason why the the leadership traits are there in the Marine Corps is because it’s next man up. If you really think about, um, combat situations, part of combat is that someone is probably not going to go home with you. Right. And if it’s a let’s say it’s a lieutenant, uh, the next person up, if the lieutenant’s gone, is probably going to be a sergeant.

Joshua Kornitsky: And they have to know what the standard is to step into.

Kim Harrington: Absolutely. There’s no on the job training to be a leader in a marine.

Joshua Kornitsky: A combat.

Kim Harrington: A combat situation is next man up. You’re going to get on the radio. You’re going to do whatever it is because you’re next man up. And so the the portable skills of the 14 leadership traits are, uh, just it’s who I am as a human being, first of all. And so the way I communicate on the phone, the way I secure business, the way I travel, the way I pack my bag, the way I show up at a job site, I’m going to be super squared away. I’m going to be very, very, uh, mindful of the way I communicate with the receptionist, the person keeping the place clean. Uh, all these people are super important to me in an authentic way, not in a hey, I better say hi to this person. No, I mean it honestly that this person is an integral part of that company. If I walked in that company and there was trash everywhere, what would be my impression of the company? Trash. Trash. If I walk in there and I can’t understand what the receptionist is saying.

Joshua Kornitsky: At the very least, frustration.

Kim Harrington: It’s going to frustration. And so there’s there’s a there’s a reason for, um, everyone’s role. And if everyone in a company appreciates everyone’s participation as being part of the company, they flourish. It’s when it’s when people have a superiority complex that there are challenges. And it could be leadership. It could be the, um, the top salespeople. It could literally be anybody. It could be the person if they have a cafeteria serving the food and they think it’s their kitchen and their food and you’re going to do it and but they’re impacting other people. Uh, so I would want everybody to be mindful of that. But so when I show up to a job site, I’m there to learn. So of course you conduct effective discovery leading up to it. But even when you’re there, I want to be a fly on the wall. I’m going to ask questions. I’m going to meet with leadership and say, I’m here. Where do you want me to go?

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: I’m going to introduce myself to the person. I’m saying I’m invisible. I’m not going to ask you any questions. I’m just going to sit here if that’s okay. And that’s really the the gist of it is that I’m obtaining information. I’m getting data so I can put it in a proposal and I might say, hey, listen, you guys are doing everything great. And and that’s it. More likely than not, I’m going to say, hey, there’s areas where there’s an opportunity for improvement.

Joshua Kornitsky: And that’s it. And I think that’s an important distinction. Right. It’s not that they’re doing something wrong, it’s that there’s always an area where there’s opportunity for improvement. Always. Yes. No matter how well run an organization is, there’s always a spot. In fact, you know, we we tell our clients that that our goal is Lose 100% achievement in in all of the strengths and all the categories. But we accept that 80% is reality because 100%, even if you achieve it, is not sustainable over the long haul for anybody or anything. And I think that’s a really important distinction. So in the work you’re doing now, obviously you’re still helping companies 100%. What. Well where does I’ll get the acronym wrong? I’m just going to.

Kim Harrington: Jj did tie buckle.

Joshua Kornitsky: Where where where does this fit today.

Kim Harrington: Well I would say that there are two that that jump out at me. And the one that really jumps out at me is dependability. Because, you know, you think about being credible. You have to be being credible means that I understand you. I understand you as a CEO. I understand you as an EVP of sales. I understand you, uh, your operational, uh, view of everyone in the company. And I understand your competition. I understand these things may have factors outside factors on your business, whether it’s current events or something else. Sure. So I understand. So I have to be credible with the information that I have that I’m going to share with them. Sales is sales by the way. And whether I’m selling a pen or I’m selling a mortgage, sales is sales. However, um, there are different, um, strategies, there are different processes in place, and the goal is to make them as effective as possible. Uh, part of being dependable is being on time. Uh, you know, we have this right here. I want to be at least ten minutes early. Right? I don’t want to show up at the time because that’s not on time.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right? Early is on time.

Kim Harrington: Early is on time.

Joshua Kornitsky: Vince Lombardi.

Kim Harrington: Vince Lombardi and just, uh, you know, having manners, uh, understanding that, um, my goal right now, my company, my goal is to help everyone reach their full potential.

Joshua Kornitsky: What are the types of organizations that you primarily work with?

Kim Harrington: So it doesn’t matter. I’ve worked with Hewlett Packard. I’ve worked with companies like Carlton Bates, which is out of little Rock, Arkansas, which they sell little widgets that I don’t know how they make money off of. I’ve worked with a company called Corbis. Corbis is a comparable to Getty Images. Okay, so they sell obviously sell images and things like that. So it really doesn’t matter the type of company, it matters the function of what I’m going to be there for. So I do I do keynote speeches, I do motivational speeches, but I also do the back end stuff where there’s a I have a two day workshop on communication skills, you know, so it’s really about, um, being becoming an effective communicator, right? Learning how to have a process of even structuring what you’re going to say If, for example, even me coming in here today, I have a general idea of what we’re going to talk about. So of course I’m going to prepare before I come in here. I’m not just going to come in here, and then you start it and wing it, and you start talking to me, asking me questions about NASA. And I’m like, I got nothing on that, right? So there’s always preparation if I sales is a beautiful, um, industry to be in a beautiful role to have, you can take care of your family if you’re doing it the right way. And what I mean by the right way is, uh, being in other centered person rather than a self-centered person. It’s not about what I’m going to get out of it. It’s is I’m going to ask you discovery questions. I’m going to identify an area where you have a need, and then I’m going to offer something if I have it that aligns with that need to help you. If if I don’t have something, my goal isn’t to say, well, we can’t work together. My goal is to say, well, listen, let me make a couple of phone calls. I have some somebody else that may be able to help you. Would you like an introduction?

Joshua Kornitsky: And and ultimately, you’re still leading with helping first. Right. And and do you, um, work with individuals one on one or are you primarily team based with the organizations?

Kim Harrington: Well, so I do work with people one on one. And typically it’s for a limited time only. I usually work with companies and it doesn’t matter if they’re small, mid-size or large. But I like the companies because I can put a roadmap out for. And I don’t want to, you know, you do it individually. You’re going to charge people a lot more money than.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, but you’ve got such a unique background and unique experiences that I imagine the type of guidance that you probably provide one on one. And it’s funny because I had this conversation earlier today. Um, confidence is a funny thing. Yes. And the. The best speaker in front of a crowd of a thousand is likely sweating through their clothes underneath their jacket. Right. Right. Whereas some other people can step onto that stage and talk to 10,000 people and and not shed a drop of sweat.

Kim Harrington: That’s right.

Joshua Kornitsky: But they neither one of them can share that outside of the group of advisers that they have. And I see that as a place where you probably, without asking names, can provide that type of confidential guidance because nobody wants to be known as the CEO or the VP without confidence.

Kim Harrington: That’s right.

Joshua Kornitsky: And it’s unfortunately going back to the book and its cover. That’s an example where we judge entirely harshly. If we think that a great leader lacks a core skill, we will immediately the company’s value will drop, people will lose confidence in it, and it’s nothing more than somebody stumbling through a bad speech.

Kim Harrington: Right. No, no. Yeah. So I have worked with people one on one. It’s I guess let me put it to you this way. My bulk of my business comes from organizations, and I do a one off, one on ones. But what I found, found doing that is that my target audience isn’t as robust as it is because you’re you’re still marketing. You’re doing all the things to generate business. So it’s I guess it’s a little bit easier to get business from larger organizations than it is one on one.

Joshua Kornitsky: 100%. But but what I have found is often in that group there’s someone that your story resonates with. And we we took a long trip. Thank you for sharing so much of your life to get here. But ultimately, this is what I wanted to talk about with you, was to better understand who you help and how you help. But I think the journey we took to get here. Tells everybody why you help. Yeah. And and why talking to you and getting guidance and, um, assistance from H10 enterprises is a worthwhile investment of time and resources because you have an incredible story backing you up. That’s all you. Yeah. Um, what is your favorite type of organization or organizational role to work within? Is it sales? Is it? You seem to have an affinity for it.

Kim Harrington: I do. So, um, so first of all, my my favorite audience are leaders. Okay. Um, and it doesn’t matter what industry. It doesn’t. They don’t even have to be in sales. Sure. But what I found with leaders is, and I’m sure you’ll agree, is that typically when they have a one on one or a power meeting with someone, it’s not structured. It’s especially if it’s sales. They say, hey, you know, your numbers are low. I’ve noticed this for the last couple of meetings we had. You’re going to need to bring your numbers up. So let’s work on that. And we’re going to meet again in next week or two weeks. And then that person will leave the room scratching their head saying, hey man, you’re my manager, help me. So, um, what I love doing with with leaders to say, hey, listen, let’s just peel the onion back. We need to get to know our people. We need to know whether there are independent thinkers. We need to know if their detractors. We need to know if they’re they’re strivers or achievers. And I’m going to allocate my time accordingly. The challenge with most leaders is they spend the bulk of their time with detractors. They spend the bulk of their time with people that are a rub.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And, you know, you know, we try to fix people. And if we have that fixing mode in our head like, hey, you know, I’m going to fix this guy, I’m going to make sure, well, I’m.

Joshua Kornitsky: 80% of your time is fixing the the moderate performer. That’s right. While the top performers are floundering because they get no support.

Kim Harrington: Not only that, they’re not feeling the love. And so there’s an opportunity for them to leave and go somewhere else. And so if you if you think about someone that has a high will level, but their skill is low. To me that’s where you spend the bulk of your time. Because I can teach you what you don’t know. I can’t teach you to care.

Joshua Kornitsky: No, and that’s actually a point that I find myself making more and more. Um, we cannot, in a business context, make someone give a crap. Either they’re wired for it or they’re not. To your point, capacity can be taught to some degree, but if you don’t get it and you don’t want it, there’s not really a magic pill that’s going to fix that.

Kim Harrington: No.

Joshua Kornitsky: And it’s time for everybody’s benefit for for you to find another place to be.

Kim Harrington: That’s that fork in the road conversation. Yeah. You know, and so I love working with leaders to get them to understand that their, their entire existence is to remove barriers to the success of their people, to lift them. Basically, look at yourself as an inverted organizational chart. You’re on the bottom, and you’re holding the weight of the organization on your shoulders. And your job is to help everybody get to where they need to get. And if they can do that, they’re going to really think about it as opposed to, well, I need to increase revenue, I need to decrease costs, I need to do this and doggone it, you better do it or that’s the challenge, right? And you think about EOS and putting those operating systems in place, helping organization function and a like a Swiss watch. Yeah.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well it goes back to, to a joke that’s so old. The first time I saw it was on a fax machine that the beatings will continue until morale improves. There you go. Right. If all you have to do is yell at him to get him to be productive, you might be thinking about it the wrong way. That’s right. If that’s your only solution, um. And it seems to me, Kim, that you have found a way to harness all of the raw material that went into forging you.

Kim Harrington: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: And, and and have really beat that into a pretty sharp sword.

Kim Harrington: Oh, yeah.

Joshua Kornitsky: And it sounds like you love what you do.

Kim Harrington: I love what I do, and it’s really it really boils down to a process. It part of the process is. And it’s not brain surgery. Right. This is everything that we do is always going to be about people. Ai is fantastic. I use AI, it’s fantastic.

Joshua Kornitsky: Collaborative tool.

Kim Harrington: There you go. Uh, however, it’s always going to be about the people. And so I need to know how to communicate with people. Part of me knowing how to communicate with people is identifying their personality type. Are you super task oriented or your relational? I’m going to adapt and adjust my communication style to best suit you. If I’m trying to help you, I’m not going to treat everybody the same and be neutral. That’s just not how the world works. And it doesn’t mean that I’m going to become the other person, but.

Joshua Kornitsky: No, but you learn from them.

Kim Harrington: Of.

Joshua Kornitsky: Course, right?

Kim Harrington: If you. If I’m talking to someone that’s super task oriented, I’m not going to talk about little Jimmy at the soccer tournament, right? I’m not going to talk about the weather. It’s I’m really going to talk about the data, the details, because they care about results over relationships. Yeah. If I’m talking to Jim Carrey and all I’m talking about is data.

Joshua Kornitsky: He doesn’t care.

Kim Harrington: No. He’s like, man, don’t I get a kiss first? Yeah. And so I want to make sure I know who I’m talking to. And as long as I know that, then I can adapt my communication style to to benefit them. I can ask amazing discovery questions. Open ended, clarifying, checking questions to make sure I’m getting all the information I need in order to present my information. The very best light, because a company can have a special and they can do all this other stuff and say, if you sign up with us now, we’re going to. Well, I don’t need that. Why are you trying to sell me something I don’t need? And and think about it this way from a customer’s point of view. If I just say the word salesperson to people, just that word alone, right? Typically they’re going to lean towards a negative.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yep.

Kim Harrington: And they’re leaning towards a negative because of personal experiences. They’re leaning to. Have you ever seen a salesperson in a television show or a movie depicted in a positive light?

Joshua Kornitsky: Not without some considerable thought. Can I give you anything other than a no.

Kim Harrington: That’s right. And so then you have the the news media, you know, live at five. We have this pill, doctor, live at five. We’ve got this mechanic shop and they’re always talking about what someone’s doing wrong as opposed to what they’re doing right. And the gift of sales is that your your your your job, your role is to identify a need and fill the need with what you have. If you don’t have it, then you find somebody that that can fill it and that’s it.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right. So I want to ask one more question that occurred to me from what you just shared. Yes. And I don’t I want to ask it in an open way so that I’m not leading you to an answer.

Kim Harrington: Okay.

Joshua Kornitsky: Is it okay for a leader not to know what to do?

Kim Harrington: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: Why?

Kim Harrington: Because you have other resources. I’m not going to as a leader. I’m not going to know everything. But let me put it to you this way. Just everyone, whoever’s listening to this, think about when you started a new role at a company and you went to your first meeting and they were using acronyms, uh, they were saying.

Joshua Kornitsky: The bane of modern existence.

Kim Harrington: That’s right. And they were using acronyms. They were talking about all this other stuff and everything literally sounded French to you other than, hey, Kim, how you doing? Right. And so that is the beginning. However, over time, you’re going to get all that knowledge. And people are hired into leadership roles in companies that they have no clue about how the company runs or operates, but they’re hired because they’re a great sales leader. They’re hired because they’re a decent human being that can make a difference in an organization. The rest of the stuff, the X’s and O’s, they can learn. And so the other part of that is you have to rely on other people. If if I’m on an operations side, I’m going to make sure I have the tools for the other people to be successful. I don’t need to know how to sell anything. I just need to know how you sell it.

Joshua Kornitsky: Provide the keys to the success. Easier than trying to be all things to all people.

Kim Harrington: That’s right. I mean, think about how many leaders or people that own companies that, um, that they don’t have any social skills, but their company is super successful?

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure.

Kim Harrington: Well, because they have people in place that can do those things that they have a deficiency at.

Joshua Kornitsky: I think it was Bill gates who said that he always hires lazy people because they find the fastest way to get things done. And and mind you, his version of lazy people and other version of lazy people. Probably a pretty big gap. Big gap. Uh, but the concepts the same is you hire the right person, they’ll find the right way to get it done. That’s right. Kim, what’s the best way for people to get Ahold of you?

Kim Harrington: So, uh, best way to get in touch with me. Go to my website, Kim Harrington.

Joshua Kornitsky: Com, and we will share those links, please.

Kim Harrington: Kim Harrington. Com or you can, um, email me at info at H10 enterprises. Com.

Joshua Kornitsky: Fantastic.

Kim Harrington: My telephone number. My telephone number is (813) 830-3545. I know a lot of spam calls from that come from that area code, but it is my number, so I will make sure someone answers that phone.

Joshua Kornitsky: Fantastic. I can’t thank you enough. The time flew by and it was a great conversation and you’re fantastic teller of your story, but just stories in general. Uh, and I think that’s what resonates most with people.

Kim Harrington: Yeah, well thank you.

Joshua Kornitsky: Thank you so much for your time.

Kim Harrington: I appreciate you, Joshua.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, it’s my pleasure. So my guest today again has been Kim Harrington. He’s a leadership professional and he’s the CEO and founder of H10 enterprises. And I think as everybody heard, his perspective on leadership really is about accountability and that real consequences come from the decisions that are made. Um, we will share all of his links. I appreciate your time. I appreciate your insight. Um, my name is Joshua Kornitsky. I am a professional EOS implementer, and this has been a really amazing, uh, version and and episode of High Velocity Radio. Thank you so much, Kim. We’ll see you guys next time.