Dec 4, 2020
Welcome to the Thinking BigPodcast. Today we have probably the most organized guest I haveever had on the show, Jess Dual.
Jess is the managing partner ofRed Direction, providing executive business consulting andproducing the BOLD Business Podcast. She brings over 20 years ofadvising, consulting, and facilitation experience in operationalexcellence and growth management focusing on where values and goalsintersect. Both practical and unexpected, her views tune into tothe uniqueness of the organizations she works with. Companiesworking closely with Jess learn to ask the right questions andthink effectively on their feet. Jess specializes in working withcompanies at critical points in
Today we are thinking big on howtaking a present retreat equals to business performance.
From Chaos to Control 3 Step Framework to Change YourRelationship with Meetings ... and Your Team
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Episode Transcription
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
retreat, sticky notes, people, books, business, podcast,important, thinking, ideas, week, present, leadership, meeting,big, growth, awareness, priorities
00:49
I really want to welcome you Jess to the thinking big podcast, Ifollowed your work. I've seen the stuff that you've done. I've seenyour podcast, listen to your podcasts, all great stuff. Tell thethinking big podcast listeners a little bit about you.
01:29
I don't even know where to start with that question, Shawn. It'sso funny. I mean, there are so many different pieces, right? Myvery first job was as a Girl Scout selling Girl Scout cookies toraise money so that I could send myself to camp, right helped myfamily be able to send me away to go sailing or horseback riding,or just day camps where we did archery and hiked and learned how tocook and things like that all the way up to the time when I decidedI was going to be a scientist. That was after I was going to be anun. And after I was going to be a fighter pilot, but I haven'tgotten yet to like truck driver. And I want to be a cross countrytruck driver Sunday gardener. beekeeper, right. And then ingeneral, these days, I build businesses. So somewhere in there havebeen all of these experiences that have something that haspropelled me forward that curiosity that I bring to the world. Andso right now it's building businesses, and in fact, it has been forover 20 years. And I think I found the place being a cheerleaderand a support and
02:33
an outside set of eyes, a trusted advisor for companies that arereally looking to navigate a difficult situation for your postacquisition. And even just how do we do? How do we use what we havethat much more than we already are? And it's interesting that youbring up, you know, stuff that you did very early on as anentrepreneur. It's funny talking with entrepreneurs.
03:01
That is a telling sign when almost every entrepreneur when theywere young, did something to make money to do it. It doesn't startwhen you get older, I think you it's
03:15
it starts at very young age. I mean, you you you become anentrepreneur very, very young. Right, I and by the way I knew earlyon sales was right. But helping other people make sales and beingpart of something bigger, right? All the things we got as a troopof all the Girl Scout selling cookies was always more interestingto me than anything I got on my own, which was still really good.Don't get me wrong. And that's I think you're right about that,Shawn. And those traits that come out at those early ages are theones that do seem to stay with you and maybe can be found andwhatever we're doing today. I remember, I must have been in, Idon't know, third or fourth grade and I would I used to makecinnamon toothpicks. So I would dip cinnamon in or I dip toothpicksand cinnamon let them soak get really hot at something like 10cents apiece. Yeah, that's
04:06
brilliant. I was hustling toothpicks at third grade. So you werean inventor and an entrepreneur. Yeah. And here's the thing. Ithink that's where all of our genius comes in when you have anidea. And you mix that with a little bit of creativity. I thinkthat's where all the cheese comes from. So I said, Well, peoplelike cinnamon. People like toothpicks. I'm gonna combine the twoand I'm gonna make cinnamon toothpicks. I had in third grade. Imade a fortune in third grade doing that.
04:36
Well, no, that's brilliant. I actually may pass that on to myson who's nine these days. And he he calls himself an inventor. Hedoesn't really he likes to sell things, but he really thinksthey're really valuable and we're still working on the you have tohave something that is valuable enough for somebody to part withtheir money for Yes. Um
04:56
so his cardboard arcade machines are awesome.
05:00
To him, but nobody wants to pay $1 to play them.
05:05
Why not? I know, right? That's what I'm like, well, you'll haveto keep working on that that's a problem. You can you can chew onthat one for a little while. It's all good. And and I think thatthat's an important thing to consider, too, because we are at atime where we believe and we're told, and it's reinforced that wehave this internal value.
05:26
Sometimes it's really hard to bring that to the surface, though,isn't it to find out? Well, what is that sweet spot of service ofproduction of the result of the exchange of money for what we arebringing to the table? Whatever our role is, right? Yeah. And Ithink that's, and I think now, now, more than ever, I think that'shugely important. How much is the current situation affecting, likewhat you do? as an industry as as you know, this has made such hugechanges?
05:53
Yeah, well, so the work that I do really is it's that resiliencypiece, that resiliency mapping, that, that that stuff that seemsvery inefficient in the day to day, but it's like a fire drill,when you know what the fire drill is supposed to be like. And ifthat bell ever got pulled, or you heard that sound, you knew whatto do you know, who you were looking for, you knew where to go, youknew who you were expecting there, and there was some order in it.And I think that this time has really shown us Do we have thosethose equivalent of the fire drills within our companies.
06:30
And if we don't, we're feeling it more than if we do. Andwhether even if they're dusty, even if we haven't practiced them inyears, or thought about them, and they their documents, living in adrawer, collecting dust, the fact that the exercise was gonethrough is really a key piece in what I'm seeing, not only in myorganization, but also in the companies that we serve of, Well,okay, so you have to build as you go versus because you've thoughtabout it, it's actually a little bit easier, because you have someyou have a starting point with which to respond from, versus reactall the way through, right. And in some of your stuff that I'velooked at, you know, you talk about a present retreat, what what isa present retreat? What exactly are you talking about? When youwhen you talk about that? Can I can I be real with you? That thatis like a name that I settled on? Because I couldn't think ofanything better. I'm a horrible namer of things. However, this onehas, and this one, no, I have a lot of different meanings, which isone of the keys, it's not always straightforward. And so I'm like,Okay, let me just honor that. The present retreat for me was a timeI got to take a timeout for myself and really do some strategy. Andthe more that I did this, the more I thought about, well, what arethe things that might happen right now? And do what have we thoughtabout them? What are the things that I need to do as a leader whatis in in what's out? Am I discerning correctly, based off of thetrends I see and the actual results of what's happening? And thenthe third piece, this concept of a retreat,
08:05
really is being able to, to unplug from things to have space.Right. And, and so that's kind of like the spa day. But it's alsoif you think about it in the relation in relationship to war, aretreat was not failure, a retreat was a place to pause, take stockof everything that there is, and decide how to go forward with whatwe have, right. So that in return to the present retreat is in themoment.
08:28
Taking that pause, what do we have? And how do we move forward?I think and I think that is such a huge problem in general, notonly with leaders, but I think with with everybody, especiallywith, you know, all the social media, all the things that we'rebeing bombarded with, we don't take time anymore to reflect. And tomake for me, if I internalize that, it's, I need to take time tosit back and reflect on both my wins and my losses on a dailybasis. Because if I don't, if I don't sit back, and I don'tactually think about what I've done for that day, my wins mylosses, I'm not going to learn anything. Um, and, and to me, it's,I look back over the last six months, and it's harder and harder,even though I've been at home. Most the time. I, you know, I'vedone you know, obviously, you know, social distancing. I actuallyseem like I have less time for myself. For these retreats. I spentless time I actually stopped, right. I mean, depending on thesituation in your household. I know in our household. I've alreadymentioned my nine year old, we were assistant teachers, between theadults in the house to him. And I have to say that that right. Istopped my present retreats during that time and it was only fourweeks. I do them once a week. It was only four weeks, but Irealized I had not only had gone backwards. I actually when I wasplugging back into them. I was like oh I can't do this. I have toplug back in. I actually had
10:00
To ramp back up and really figure it out. And so this issomething that I recognize and realize that anybody that works withme, we figure out what what it is some people are disciplinedenough and can can take a whole day week, that's an important thingto consider. And I think that that is ultimately my goal. I'm I'mnot at a place where I will commit to that I will commit to half aday for four hours a week, I am in this closed space. And that iswhat I challenge all of the clients and the companies that I'mworking with, to do, how do we get up to that four hours in a rowthat's uninterrupted and protected time? Yeah. Because think aboutall the distractions I don't know about you, Shawn, I am incrediblyfatigued decisions. If people would just tell me what to do fromhere on out, I would gladly follow directions I am exhausted fromall of the decisions to be made. Yeah. And the present retreatactually can help with that some. But when we have so much extrapressure on all these other areas, we really do like to your point,we have to take that self time. Yeah. And Maverick, one of mymentors, john Maxwell, he actually takes a week, at the end ofevery year, an entire week, and goes through all his journals, allhis every one of his planners, his daily planners, his weeklyplanners, and literally, and I've done it, and boy, it's it's hard,hard work to do that. But it's, you know, for an entire week goingover. So the same thing you know, you're talking about on a dailybasis on a weekly basis. He actually does it on an annual basis aswell. And it is telling you it is so important to do those it isabsolutely That's impressive. I do things semi annually. I dothings twice a year, but I don't it's not a week. Or it might be aday and it might be two days, but it's never been a week and nowand definitely not all at once. Ooh, I think I have a new bar,Shawn.
12:00
I've just taken that and raised it up a little bit. Yes, youdid. And that's what it's all about. Right? That the discipline andthe willingness and the commitment to understand where is theopportunity? And what is what are the skills? We actually have tohave to move toward that? Yeah. Now, what do you think are some ofthe most important reasons that we sit back and reflect on why dothese retreats? I mean, what are what are some of the, you know,what are three of the biggest things you get? And when you teachyour your clients and stuff, you know, what, what's the purposethat they that they do these? Why is it so, so important?
12:35
So there are three soft skills, and there are three outcomes.The three soft skills that are developed in this is the ability todiscern, right? What filters do I need? And can I trust in in? CanI run information through with confidence? The second isruthlessness. I love this word. I love this word. Because we arenot ruthless enough in business, we have to know if something isout. Well, let's let it be out. And let's not be worried about thefact that we'll if we don't say yes, we won't have the buy in fromour team. Or we might stifle the creativity of our team. If we needto say no, we can actually then be and clearly say no, we canactually, we're actually better at saying well, this is where we'regoing. And here's the guide with which to work within. And thenthose people with ideas are going to come back with better ideasthat move things forward, because they have guidance. And they'vebeen shown a path that everybody gets to move toward together. Andthe third is then the skill of prioritization, which sounds easy.But after everything has been filtered with that discernment, andafter it's been ruthlessly allowed through, then that concept ofprioritization is, can I keep it front and center until it's done,and focus on the priority, not time priorities, the priority, untiluntil it's done. And so Scott, soft skill development is reallyimportant, because that's what we're modeling to our teams, Shawn.And when our teams are able to pick up some of these skills, Iknow, you know, john Maxwell talks, your mentor, he's somebody thatI am, have read some of his books as well. And he talks about thisa lot. We lead by example. And so the soft skills that we embraceare the ones that we are modeling, which means we're teaching whichmeans we're stating what is what is okay and what is not okay inour behaviors and the way that work is done.
14:27
And then, you know, we're talking about some outcomes of this,really, the outcomes of a present retreat happen to be that we canreduce the whole amount of overwhelm. So when something crazyhappens, like a pandemic, or when something crazy happens, like weget called out of town unexpectedly, or we have to we have a familysituation, or our neighbors really need us, or what we can reallydo is recognize that we're we're more likely to be in sync becausewe practice them
15:00
Because we take the time to reflect, as you said at thebeginning, and then the second thing they are, is that, youknow,
15:09
we're never we can actually shift away from putting out fires toproactively responding. Oh, I know what I want to do here. Oh,yeah. Oh, you know what you want to do here? Great. Tell me. Yep,that fits within, off we go. Off you go. And then the thing, youknow, the third thing there is, it's much, it's much easier to findthat moment, or the signs that lead to the fact that a growth planhas been outgrown and requires change, right? And now on your, onyour stuff, or on your retreats. Do you? How do you do a specificthing? I mean, is it a specific way that you do them? Is it youknow, random, I mean, how do you how do you do your? Yeah, mine,they're pretty structured. And I didn't, okay, so when I discoveredthis, and I'm not the first person to discover CEO time orreflection time and or my present retreat time, okay. By far I'mnot, this was my journey. It started out, oh, I've got four hours.Right. I caught up on my emails, the first time in years, I hadlike five emails in my inbox. Every drawer in my desk was clean.every area of my office was dusted. My my little bin that I have toput all my recycled papers in when I'm done was empty all the time.And then it got to the point where I was like, hmm, cool, I feelcaught up, there's nothing else to do I get to, I get to learnwhat's next. So I had to be busy for a while until there wasnothing to be busy with. And then came the time where I was like,oh, gosh, this spaciousness allows all kinds of ideas to show up.And so I've actually implemented a whole bunch of other systemsthat come from that, that helped me in my workflow. And I will tellyou, all of the clients that I have taken through this go throughthe same thing, they even if it's just an hour at a time, andthey're working up from that, the first several sessions are Oh,let me let me catch up. Oh, I have a voicemail. Oh, I have thatreport. Oh, I have that idea. And see the thing of a presentretreat isn't to catch up. It's actually to do the thinking thatdeep work Cal Newport would say that the deep work
17:17
and and understand what can we do to ensure we can find whereare we in sync? Where are we out of sync? Right? Right. And I thinkthat that's a huge piece of it right there just being able to sitin the time. Well, I can tell you, you would have your workabsolutely out for you. Because I think right now I've got 20,000emails
17:40
in my inbox,
17:42
I've got sh*t. See, I said it. sh*t. I've got it everywhere. Letme tell you, you would have your work absolutely cut out.
17:53
Oh, I have sticky notes. Every see mine and mine are piles andideas of sticky notes on they're stuck to everything around myaround the office there in books. I actually was preparing for thispodcast. And I was like, I know we may talk about books. Andbecause I know you like to talk about books and reference books.And so I and I brought I brought nine ideas for books grouped inthrees, just because I was like, Well, what if so I have stickynotes and books across strewn across my desk right now that I'mlike, maybe I should leave them out. See I have I haven't even madeit a sticky note yet. I'm still drawing on my desk.
18:30
I love sticky notes. And the colors end up meaning somethingeven though I don't know what they are at first. All that goodstuff, my anxiety levels going up just listening to colors, stickynotes. See, okay, by the way, I just like color because it made itseem less scary. And it turned out I actually was using the colorsto mean something. And so for me, there's a system, but there's noway I could describe that system or ask anybody else because ifsomebody tried to teach me the system that I inherently have, Iwould be like, you know, what would happen if you went to the storefor the blue sticky that you have to have for something and theywere out of blue? See that? Right?
19:10
That doesn't see that doesn't bother me. I'll just insertanother color and we'll just know
19:15
that
19:17
I just that's way over. That's way over my paygrade Are you aperfectionist?
19:24
Yes. And yes, I can see why you would then have to have theexact same color.
19:32
We dry girl we digress we
19:35
so on getting back to you know the retreat. One of the thingsthat I you know, I don't have a specific, I guess I have a specificway that I do kind of my thinking and stuff but to me when I dothese reflections, I do these retreats.
19:50
To me, that's when I get most of my creative ideas. things cometo me from a creative standpoint of things I should do. Now theproblem is I don't know
20:00
Normally, I have sticky notes with me. So I forget, five minutesafter I think, but I have some amazing ideas. So now I need you toteach me the sticky note. So I can take those amazing ideas andactually put them on a.
20:13
I was people could see this. Okay, so here's how I this isactually how I work because I don't know. But if you're nottactile, it wouldn't work, Shawn. So what I do is I have a, I havetwo boxes that I set on my desk because I put everything if I'maround, and I'm out, I always have sticky notes with me. It'srandom little teeny, tiny pieces of paper. And so I'll put thingson them. I have, and this is what I actually do my present retreat,I have the reports that I pull that I'm looking at, I have theissues at hand, I have a dynamic SWOT for what's going on in thebusiness at any point in time. And I call it dynamic because we useit that way. And then I have these two boxes, I have the now andnear box of sticky notes. And I have the future, which is sixmonths to a year in the future. And by the way, that's actuallydrawn on with a sticky note.
21:02
The future
21:04
do you notice? I did I cut the sticky note sticky part to labelmy boxes? Oh my god. See? Now remember, when I let's go back just afew minutes. I said I have 20,000 emails in my inbox. Yeah. If Iwent to sticky notes, I would have sticky notes wallpapereverywhere. They would be just as disorganized as
21:25
as my email so well. And here's the thing, the only thing thatgoes in those boxes are my ideas, or initiatives or conceptsbecause I haven't discerned them yet. I haven't been ruthless aboutdo they fit with where our current goals are? And does it alignwith our long term mission. And I don't know if they fit ourpriorities. But they're things I don't want to forget. So they havethey have a place to go. Because I don't want to take into my mind.But I also know I don't want to forget them. And so what you sawtoday is a Friday, I do my president retreats on Monday. And sothey'll get weeded out because I'll go through the the near and nowon I touch every week and stuff is coming out of there. If and ifthere's things that I can actually get done, then it goes intoother systems and some stuff like that. But it's the time I have toreflect on all of the ideas that I was able to capture goes inthere. And you know, I mean, and so for me, it actually helpedbecause I quit feeling like I was forgetting things. I quit feelinglike I was missing opportunities be and I quit feeling like I don'thave time to really assess them. Because I made time. And in thattime I can recognize and spend spend thoughtfulness does it work,does it fit? And if not, was it really for me? Or was it forsomebody else that I can be in service to right? See what did thegenius thing about what I do is I forget what I forget. So then Ijust don't? I don't even remember? I don't know. You know, can youteach me that?
22:55
It's been years in the making years, years of training? Oh,well, if you ever figured out the first step, help me out because Icould save a few trees.
23:07
Now I was on your website. And one of the things that you know,again, I'm I love john Maxwell, I love leadership stuff. And you,you have a thing called dimensional leadership. I'll explain someof that, because I think that is a great, a great system. It's agreat skills. It's, I really liked how you put the dimensionalleadership up there.
23:27
Okay, so dimensional leadership starts with being able to sayyes and no, as as a leader. So this present retreat is almost likea prerequisite. Is it in? Or is it out? And being able to betotally clear about that? And not feeling guilty? When the answerhas to be No, okay? Because that's awareness of self. And that'sawareness of the responsibility and accountability that we've takenin whatever our role is, and how we're showing up, whether that'sat work, whether that's at home, whether that's in our community,wherever. So then you take that and once you are so solid inyourself, you can now actually really see and hear and seek tounderstand the people around you. But if we're unsure, and we'reunclear, there's no we're we're working through a fog. So if I wasunclear, Shawn, and I'm trying to listen to you, I have a much lesschance of fully understanding and making the connection and gettingthe true information I need to be able to do whatever I need to dointentionally in our interaction. So removing that fog is key. Sothat's where the present retreat is a big part of it. And so it'slike putting your so that first part is put your own mask on beforeyou help anybody else. When you fly in a plane. That's what theytell you. And if you don't have a shirt, you can't give your ownshirt away. You have to have your own shirt to be able to moveforward and create something to be able to help somebody else getthe shirt that they need. And so that is something that I thinkthat's really hard.
25:00
hard to remember, as a leader, because there's a lot of there'sa lot of judgment that comes both self and other. And so when we'retalking about dimensional leadership, there's huge levels ofawareness. And so that first one is, are we solid in ourself? Andthen what habits do we have? And what habits do those around ushave? And can we use them for good? And if we can't use them forgood, then we start thinking about how do we have to change them.But really, the ultimate piece of dimensional leadership is, everysingle time you add a person to the thought process, you'reincreasing awareness and increasing leadership, yourself, first,your business second, or your your responsibility to the businesssecond, then the people that you work with side by side, the peopleyou report to the people who report to you this any otherstakeholders, every single time you do that you're adding thislayer of awareness that when each one has clarity around it, and isbuilt from a place of very clear intent. There is so muchinformation that can be harnessed, there is so much opportunitythat can be leveraged. And I find it comes with practice. That'swhat it is. It's practice. Yeah. And what do you think's thebiggest? Like when you're out working with clients, you're outworking with people? What do you think is the biggest issue rightnow, with leadership? People in leadership, I mean, I see people,the biggest problem that I see with working with people is, someonewill get put in a leadership position, because they're a good atwhatever it is that they're whatever, if they're an engineer,they're a good engineer. So now that makes you a good people personthat makes you a good leader. And that's to me, I see that I seethat more in corporate America than in anything that you getpromoted, just because you're good at what you do. But what what doyou see as some of the biggest problems with leadership on thepeople that you're working with? What came up first for me, wasthat we're all too tired.
27:04
And the reason we're tired especially now is we're havingdecision fatigue, are we doing what's right for ourselves? Iseverybody that we're in touch with from the decisions that we'remaking going to be impacted by that? How do I then amplify that outto the people who report to me to the company that I'm supportingto the community that uses the product and all of those differentthings. So there's, there's a tiredness. And that's, that's part ofit. I think another one, though,
27:36
is it comes back to awareness. And it's this, you were talkingabout promoting, for promoting because of performance, and notnecessarily having all of the skills to do what needs to be done atthat next level up. And I would say delegate versus dump is a bigone. People talk about delegating, but really what they're doing isthey're getting the things they don't like off their plate. Andthis happens in corporate America. And this happens in smallbusiness. This also happens in relationships. Oh my god. Yes. Don'ttell my husband, my wife. Yeah, my wife.
28:11
I want to hear this story. Oh, I tend to dump
28:20
do see I we are both dumping grounds. And in fact, we've learnedto we've learned who does what so we just stay at it, we get wehave our own lanes. So there is no delegation and there is nodumping in our, in our marriage, there's Get out of my lane, orHey, that's actually yours, it goes in your lane. See, I actuallybackup the dump truck to her lane and just
28:42
dump it all. Oh, Shawn. Oh, that's hilarious. Well, you know it,right. You know it. And I know, see, for me, I when I was firststarting out, I dumped numbers, I forgot the governance part ofbusiness. And I was like, whatever things can happen, things arehappening. It's all good. I was able to do more when I actuallylooked at it, right, it was being done, but I wasn't, I wasn'tinvesting time or energy into it. And I think that's the differencein delegation is that we're, we must invest the time to know thepurpose for the role, how it aligns to our how aligns to the workthat we're trying to do. And having somebody that likes to do thatwork. And then actually being able to receive the work that hasbeen completed to hear and be able to ask questions comes back todimensional leadership, right? We can't know it all. So who are wegoing to put our attention and effort into so that they can puttheir attention and effort into creating what we need so we can useit effectively? Right? Yeah. And, you know, you talked about on thedoing your retreats on Monday, do you by chance, I mean, what isyour thought process on like doing weekly, or daily journals ordaily
30:00
You know, the day planners type thing? Yeah, I personally, Ihave to have a day time I noticed when I don't do like a, if Idon't plan out my day, before the day starts, I end up not doinganything. I have to I have to have that list. I've got to it's kindof like doing the retreat. It's like every day, I've got to sitdown, it's okay. To I'm doing this at 3am doing this, because Idon't I just get consumed by the crap of the day, you know, thebuyers? Ah, here. Yeah, um, I am not a fan. my calendar is probablymy best friend and my worst enemy. I'm pretty me personally. And soyes, part of a president retreat is actually looking at theweekend. What are the priorities for the week? What are thepriorities for the rest of the quarter? What are the priorities forthe rest of the year. And so then gets to look at what's going oneach day. I refuse to do more than three big things in one day.Because there's a lot of little stuff I want to have to also haveto fit in shows up that needs to be taken care of, sometimes thingsthat I want to do. And so I limit myself to three priorities orinitiatives I call I think in a day, I don't know I'm going back tothe Stephen Covey, Boulder theory, I only have three boulders in aday. And that's going to be my biggest heaviest work that requiresthe most creativity that requires the most critical thinking thatrequires the most presence. And those are going to be the thingsthat must get done and everything else is a bonus.
31:36
And one of the now one of the things I did want to bring upbecause I think it's such a great thing. But I want to talk aboutyour podcast a little bit as well. And it is the bold businesspodcast that does a great, great, great podcast and I'm tellingyou, you've been you've been busy on that you do you have a lot ofa lot of content out there a lot of great content out there as faras leadership and there's so much stuff out on that pocket. How isa doing a podcast? How's that been for for you? How's it
32:06
it turned into one of my boulders, Shawn, and just and then Ihad to discern it. Okay, so this was a backwards thing. Usuallyhere it's in or it's out right? And you're ruthless that way. I wasruthless about figuring out how do you make it part of what we dohere at redirection because it is my absolute hands down favoritething to do with being guests on podcasts like yours, your end, allthe shows that I've listened to, and the information that you'resharing is fantastic. And I come away with an at least one idea ofsome for something that I'm working on, in the near future or theday of as I'm listening. So that's fantastic. And you know, there'ssomething to be said about just having conversation. So the way Istarted was I'm like, I kept talking to all these really coolpeople and getting really inspired. And they're telling me aboutthese business problems that they've been grappling with. And I waslike, I'm learning from this and inspired by it. Other people willbe too, so I started recording them and sharing them in there camethe podcast. Yeah, that's fantastic. It's a it's a great podcast.And I love the way that you have it on your homepage, by the way.That is Thank you, that is fantastic. I you I put the podcast atthe bottom of your, your homepage. And for all the listeners, youknow, we're going to there's gonna be links to your to yourpodcasts, there's gonna be links to your to your website, which isred direction.com. And the one of the things that you had on therewas you had the the three step framework that will change both yourrelationships with meetings and with your team. What, what is thatthat is? And that's something that all the listeners can go anddownload and get this concept. All right, this concept for thethree step framework to change your relationship with meetings isthat none of us have enough time. So I'm I'm saying, Wow, wouldn'tit be awesome if and I challenge you to take four hours a week in arow uninterrupted to have a president retreat, because it willchange your business, because of all the things that will come upthe way that you interface it will be uniquely your own to yourworkflow and style and companies initiatives.
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But you need more time. And that's why I created this, thislittle book. And it's little it's short. It's only like 10 pageslong, I think. And the purpose of it is to talk about what is agood meeting. How do you have a great meeting? And do you reallyneed the meetings that you've got happening? No. I know. Do youknow? Okay, so here I did this, right? I believe in walking thewalk. So I come up with this thing. And I'm like, this is great.And I'm like, but I don't think I do it. So I put myself throughthe process. And I got rid of 25% of my meetings right off the bat.I 25% more time in my week by following my own advice. That'sgenius.
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Sounds like oh my gosh, this works. And I will tell you, theteam that works with me. They were like, oh, you're a little moreaccessible. Oh, you're responding to us a little faster. Oh,
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This is so great. Yes, yes. And yes. So I mean, for years I wasa, when people asked what I did for a living, I'd say, Well, I'm aprofessional meeting goer.
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Oh, I know. And between the two, it's, you know, it was kind ofup in the air. But yeah, it's a. So yeah, this, this framework, Ithink is fantastic. And how to be on time, right? We, we haveunwritten agreements, Shawn, and like your inboxes, crazy, yourprofessional meeting goer I've had both of those things happen tome, and they still happen to me. And so these are the types ofthings they're tools that we just get to rely on the informationthat you're sharing what you know, what the john Maxwell coachingprograms do, what redirection is bringing to the table, all ofthese things are incredibly important to realize that you don'thave to master them, we just have to know when we need them. Right.And I think that that's, I think that in itself is a science and anart. And there's mastery just in that. Yeah. And I've got all thelisteners, everyone who listens to this, that there's absolute goldnuggets in what's being said, and go get that download, I'm tellingyou, if you get one out of any of this podcast, but if you get onething that's going to help you save time, that's going to help yoube better at what you do, it's gonna be better, it's gonna make youa better leader.
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How long does it take to go through that?
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I was gonna, let's see. Now, it'll take you about 15 minutes orso to read and digest. And it'll if you actually do what'ssuggested, it will, it will seem like it's adding time because yougo into you have to analyze each meeting and go into each meetingwith an intention. Right, like, so for our, our connection today,Shawn, I knew it was going to be a meeting that I didn't want tomiss I wanted to be prepared for and I wanted to show up and have agreat conversation with you. So I spent time going through what didwe you know, what did I want to talk about making sure all theinformation was set? And how could I not only show up and shareinformation? How do I show up and really support your work and whatyou were doing right? And that was my intention. And it took ittook time at the beginning. But you know what, I feel so good aboutour conversation so far. I'm never gonna, I'm gonna get done andgo, Oh, I wish I could have said 25 more things at the same pointin time. I'm glad it's Wow, I wish I had never said that.
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That's what this that's what this handout is really you know,this ebook. And this process is all about, because I don't want toI don't want to make people late for their next meetings, I want tobe conscious and aware about value their time. Because when we lettime slip, it just eats up like you said, if we don't have thingson our calendar,
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the day goes away. And we're like, What just happened? We did alot of stuff. But what actually just happened today. And thisallows us to be much more intentional about it. And you mentionedthat you had some books pulled out what are what are three of yourfavorite books of all time. Okay, so I have I have books aboutgrowth. I have books about business, and I have books aboutdecision making and strategy. Which group would you like? No, letme ask you this. What color sticky note is on each one of those?Oh, you know what? They're all the same color. They're all they'reall like this teal blue? It's my Don't forget this sticky note.What is your favorite on growth? My favorite on growth? Okay, so Idid bring three, I'm going to share this. My absolute positivefavorite growth is children's book called giraffes can't dance.I've never heard of that book. And it's written by geils, Andreaand guy, Parker Reese. And it is the best book about coming back towhat we were talking about with dimensional leadership. How do weshow up as ourselves? How do we listen to what we actually have tobring to the table and then do it? Yeah. And everyone listening,I'm gonna put there's gonna be in the show notes. There's gonna belinks to all these books. So that I think that's important thatwhen any book is shared, that there's a link to people to be ableto go find it. Yeah. Oh, good. I'm glad you're gonna do that,because I was gonna offer to send you links if it was helpful,because these are great ones. Um, and I don't even remember wherewe found this. But when I found it at a bookstore when my son wastiny, tiny, and when he grew out of it, it became it got added tomy business library here in the office.
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That's a book that grows with you. Yeah, that's right. That'sright. Do you wanna hear the other two? Sure. Absolutely. Thesecond one is called a question of values by Hunter Lewis. Great.This is something that helps us with our discernment, which helpsus with our ruthlessness and it helps us with the prioritizationbecause what we believe in
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really drives,
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really drives. And something that I talk about too is what youprioritize is what you value. And so it's really important to knowwhat you value because if what you're prioritizing isn't what youvalue, there's a leak. And that leak is going to be draining andit's going to become heavy and hard, and we're not gonna be able todo what we need to do. Right. Right. And here's the third one. Thiswas written by Diane Collins, it's called, do you quantumthink?
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Wow. Of the three Look at this. Of the three you can tell I Thisone is like within hands reach. It has water spilled on it, there'sa coffee stain or two on the inside.
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This one was back when I had star sticky notes for a while. Haveyou ever seen those giant sticky notes? Oh, yes. I'm so glad Idon't have them because they don't fit into anything.
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Your wall? they're grateful.
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Oh, I don't I don't want anything on my wall. That would be alittle overwhelming to me.
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This and so quantum thing. Um, they, they're they're basicallyjust saying all the time. Can you look at this from a differentperspective? Can you look at this from a different perspective. Sothe reason the reason it's so well loved is because it's somethingthat when I need when I need to look at something a different way.And I feel stuck in the moment, or especially during my presentretreats, outcomes, this book, and I will just open it to a pageand I will start reading. And then I'll be like, Okay, good. Thatwas what I needed. And I can look at this. And it doesn't matterwhat page of the book it is, I can look at whatever I'm stuck on ina different way. And it'll help me move forward. So those are mythree growth books. That's fantastic. And I know about one of thoseI don't know about the the first one or the last one. So I'm gonna,that's those are two books that I'm definitely going to check out.But just I absolutely want to thank you for being on the podcastyou you've added so much value to my listener tonight. So I reallydo appreciate your time and all of your knowledge. I absolutelylove it when when people have a passion for something. And you hearit all the time with people go go an inch wide and a mile deep. Andpeople who just dive into what they're passionate about and do whatthey love. It's just it to me, I get so much out of doing a podcastwith like you it's like I get to talk to so many amazing peoplethat are so dedicated and what they do in such a great niche thatthat fits them. Perfect. So thank you, thank you so much. And and Iknow that the listeners are going to get tremendous amount of valuefrom what you shared with us today. So thank you very much. I'm soglad to have been here today with you, Sean. Thank you. Well, Iwant to thank just for being on the podcast today. And be sure togo to the show notes and go. I'm gonna have links to the books thatwe talked about. There's links to her podcast, the bold businesspodcast, and make sure you go to a read. Make sure you go to herwebsite red direction, calm. And again. It was absolutelyfantastic. Having just on the podcast today
