1
0,00:00,000 --> 0,01:35,000
Welcome back to another episode of Never Been Promoted. We are here to unleash your entrepreneur. I'm here to you know, I'm on a mission. I'm on a mission to create and help. At least, I wanna help 1000000 entrepreneurs in the next year. In 2024 into early 2025, in the next 12 months, I wanna help 1,000,000 entrepreneurs get better in entrepreneurship. And we're doing this just through some one on ones we're doing in the podcast with other entrepreneurs where you can do some micro mentoring. You can learn from them and you should be taking full advantage of this in your life of learning small things from lots of people who are on their journey. And they may not be any more successful than you but they've got their own experiences. You can get something from that. So I'm hoping today you can do that as well. If this is your first time here, thank you. I hope it's the first of many. And if you've been here before, I do this fun. I hope it's not too hokey. But I give away dad points. Anybody who's a dad or a child at some point who's got a word of these know don't know where to spend them. But if you could figure out where to spend them, well, do I got something for you? How about that? I wanna just say before we get going that we recently pressed 100,000 subscribers. I got the plaque in today. I'm gonna show it because this is kind of fun. It's kind of a big day. So thank you to everybody who was subscribed. I I think at this point in the show, we're up to almost 650,000, as of this morning. So I thank everyone from there. But I wanna meet our guest, his name is Bill Lennan. He is a founder and CEO of 40 Percent Better. I'm not sure why it's not 50, but we're gonna learn why. I feel like he was maybe just being lazy when he named it. He's like, it's not quite 50.
2
0,01:35,000 --> 0,01:48,000
Bill, thank you for coming. Of course. Thank you. Thank you. I like your intro. It's like you have a sense of humor, obviously. And to me, that's actually really important, so this is very cool. Thank you. I'm sitting over here just giggling.
3
0,01:48,000 --> 0,02:31,000
I appreciate that. And and normally, I've I've met a lot of our guests prior. You and I are just honestly, this is our first interaction together. So I'm in a very interested in what you're doing because you do some mind modeling and and some ideas and and I'm a big believers, you know, I'm in my later forties. That was hard to say out loud. I'm enjoying the last years of my forties. Right? But anyway, and as as I've I've progressed, I realize how poor my mindset was in my twenties thirties. Like, if I knew as much as I knew in my twenties now, oh, man, I'd be smart. That's not true. It's the opposite. And I and I and so do do me do the audience a favor and and meet you. Just give me your back story. What like, how did you get to the the 40% better?
4
0,02:31,000 --> 0,05:15,000
I wish I had a really, really short story, but I'll try to keep you I got coffee. Go ahead. Good. Awesome. So I've been running software teams here in Silicon Valley for 25 years, and the thing that's been interesting is that they kept doing things people said was impossible. 40 Percent Better, the name happened to answer your question because one of my teams, the day that I started, the CTO that was onboarding me says, by the way, I'm giving you the worst team in the company. They've been together for almost 10 years. Good luck. And with that resounding, speech, I said, great. Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. 6 months later, he dragged me into his office and said, what are you doing with your team? And I said, I what what do you mean? And he said, your team is now the most productive team in the company. Their coding throughput has gone up 40% in the last 6 months. We've never been able to do that with them. How did you do it? And I at that point in time, I said, well, I just take really good care of my teams. I don't know how to explain what I'm doing, and because I didn't have the language back then. And I really wanna be able to scratch that itch because I had other people that were asking me, like, how are your teams doing that? 5 years ago, I met my now partner who wanted to interview me because she wanted to know what I was doing. And I said, well, I don't know how to explain it. She said, don't worry about it. I'm gonna ask you a bunch of questions. And I said, okay. Cool. I I can answer questions. 20 minutes later, she said, I know exactly what you're doing. And I said, great. Tell me. And and she said, well, what you're doing and by the way, my partner is a mental health clinician. She's She's an occupational therapist by training, specializing in mental health, and she works in clinical programs for people that are really struggling badly. She said, you're using for performance a set of skills and mental models that we normally teach people to get them out of the depths of depression and anxiety and self harm and substance abuse, and somehow you've decided that you're gonna use those for performance, which I've never heard of before. And I said, that's amazing, tell me more because I really wanna understand, like, how to explain to other people what it is I'm doing. And so she said, okay. No problem. I'll do that. And so she taught me the the stack of men to to recognize the stack of mental models that I use, number 1, and also the skills that I have, that anybody can do this. Like, anybody can do exactly what I'm doing. It's just most people don't have the mental models and the associated skills to make it happen. So that's how 40 Percent Better came about.
5
0,05:15,000 --> 0,05:38,000
It's incredible. So you you, you stumbled onto it. And then and so okay. So tell tell me about so I I totally get it. And, you made a transition to your own business. You have a great URL too. It's like 4zeropb.com, like a 4letterirl.com. But and I'm like, you know, we wanna get to how much that probably cost. That or you're an early adopter. But,
6
0,05:38,000 --> 0,05:54,000
no. No. Actually so true story. I I bought 40% better.com, and then I was like, you know, I'd really I tried hashtagging 40 p b on LinkedIn, and I'm like, I'd really like to have that domain. And I went to look for it, and it was available.
7
0,05:54,000 --> 0,05:59,000
Yep. I mean, that's how it works sometimes. Right? I I bought never been promoted for $9.
8
0,05:59,000 --> 0,06:01,000
Yeah. I think yeah.
9
0,06:01,000 --> 0,07:02,000
And it's like and sometimes you just, like, no one you're like, really? I was the first and, like, it's a weird feeling when you're, you know, you're instantly relevant. All that was like, no one actually ever thought of that one. I'm like, alright. I own the gay store dot com too, just so you know. I I did. I bought it. It was available. I I and I was like, I'm gonna sell this to somebody at some point. I don't know. Yeah. I also bought my kids' first names and, wife's name first name, which is which is good too. So, anyway, you're new. Very smart. One was more expensive than the other. I'll leave it at that. Looking out for my children. You know? Alright. So 40 p b, 40% better. And and and actually, I think 40pb.com's better because I think it's it's easier to use. And do I type the percent and then people are putting and then they just give up. So I I think you made a great call from a marketing standpoint. Thank you. What are you so tell me about this a little bit. So when you're building this, tell me about the switch from and this is this is where like a lot of entrepreneurs get stuck It's how do they go from full time employment over? Like, tell me tell me about that motion when you did that, decided it, and when you were fully dependent on it, maybe.
10
0,07:02,000 --> 0,08:04,000
So this the so 40pb is actually my 3rd business in a row. I was working for for a company getting a paycheck. Actually, it was it was I was contracting at Google, and I had this idea for a social media company. And so I decided I was gonna do 2 things at the same time. Launched them both. You know, I was doing the the Google thing in the day and the social media company at night, and I ran that until I got burned out. And then I switched to another idea that I had, for a short amount of time, which was an educational play, helping people get into software careers, which was actually the catalyst for me learning about what it was that I was doing. And we actually launched HAART, h a e r t, which is a preventative mental wellness program for young adults and teens.
11
0,08:04,000 --> 0,08:08,000
And it's When you say it that way, it sounds like you're gonna prevent mental wellness.
12
0,08:08,000 --> 0,08:30,000
Yeah. I know. Well, prevent We're gonna keep you from thinking right. Exactly. We're gonna keep so good at it. We're gonna keep you from thinking wrong is really what I should say. Sorry about that. I was like, did you say anything that prevent me from having mental illness? Who signs up for that exact oh, that's marriage. Oh, is that what it is? Okay. Okay. Not. I was I'm being honey, don't listen to that part. Yeah. I was just joking.
13
0,08:30,000 --> 0,08:33,000
Don't yell at me. Put the knife away, honey.
14
0,08:33,000 --> 0,08:42,000
Anyway, just kidding. You know, you should, when you edit this, have a, like, a shadow in the back with someone with a knife when you say that. That would be hilarious.
15
0,08:42,000 --> 0,09:01,000
I used to do this bit where I would just yell off camera, like, woman, bring bring me my bring me my food. Like, you're like, I don't care if you're busy. Anyway, I'm watching the game. Like, I sorry. This has nothing to do with what we're talking about, but this is how life goes in time. Yeah. Anyway, so I had this kind of string of things I was working on is is is the bottom line.
16
0,09:01,000 --> 0,09:08,000
And the original transition was just I I don't like working at big companies.
17
0,09:08,000 --> 0,09:09,000
Mhmm.
18
0,09:09,000 --> 0,09:37,000
Most of my career has been at start ups or or earlier stage, you know, smaller businesses, and I like that because it gives me a lot of diversity of things to do on a daily basis. You know? And I and I I appreciate that. What the time I spent at Google, I was very, very niched, and and, that's boring for me.
19
0,09:37,000 --> 0,09:48,000
Yeah. I know. I get it. I mean and you get lost. Do you ever have the feeling that you you could do more, give more, and you just didn't fulfill that in Google? Yeah.
20
0,09:48,000 --> 0,10:29,000
Yeah. And and, you know, they're a huge company. They got tons of people. I totally get it. They're trying to manage a bunch of heads, and the best way to do it is put everybody in a little tiny box. Yep. And Exactly. And I I came from an environment where they didn't want you to be in a tiny box. You know? They wanted you to see if you could run 5 boxes. And so being in the in the one just, it it was really and I get that for some people, that's exactly what they want. They really want that that one narrow, very, very safe kind of environment. I I'm I'm a little more,
21
0,10:29,000 --> 0,11:28,000
I enjoy the risk of having 5 boxes to manage. Yeah. And there's that that's the entrepreneurial ADD that I consistently see about every one of the people I interview there. It's a beautiful thing, and it drives the spouses and partners in the world who don't have it nuts. But it's perfect sense. And if you can manage it to down to maybe 3 boxes that all work together, then you're really humming and singing. Yeah, there's always the 1 or 2 in the fringes you just don't tell anyone about because you wanna hear the grief about it. But, you know what I'm talking about. Who knows what it is for you? There's something you're already cooking for 10 years now, but you're like, yeah, it's taking up bandwidth my brain, but it's the thing. Yep. But but the entrepreneur, right, tying to 40% better rate of mental wellness and and be better. Like, I know you focus on niche on, I think, technology and some other pieces, but it seems like this is pretty applicable against anybody. Anybody really. Like, just is a better way to think. But why why maybe maybe answer me that is why why do you focus on technology? Is it is it marketing? Is it just where you know? Or is it just who buys
22
0,11:28,000 --> 0,13:26,000
or something else? So so there's a few things. So to answer the first question, my the inputs that actually got me here, are military supply chain, that's my dad ran military supply chains. He talked about the value of teams and how to run teams effectively when I was growing up. I worked in a really high end restaurant when I was in college, and they were incredibly well run about your roles and responsibilities and how to get ahead in the company and how to help other people. They they they were some of the best leadership training I think I ever had was in that in that restaurant, especially for mental models. And then the the second start up that I worked at, the CEO, he gave me a few mental models that were incredibly powerful, and a lot of rope to to go experiment with. Right? Yeah. And and so for me, I see as you said, this stuff's applicable anywhere. You know, I've seen it in these in these particular context where I've been directly involved, but also, you know, 3rd secondhand, I've heard of, like, Patagonia, which apparently has a really great culture for people to work I heard that as well. Produce really, really well. They're one of they're they're consistently, over and over again, considered one of the best companies to work for, and they and people that get in there tend to be there for quite a quite a long a long run. So, yeah, it'll work anywhere. Software is just the so the easy starting point for me. You You know, they say you gotta pick a place to start when you're launching a business. Amazon started off with books, and that was all they did. Right? So for us, it's because I know the software world really well, that's what makes it easy to say, oh, here. I'm gonna I just want this to be my first beat, Ted.
23
0,13:26,000 --> 0,14:08,000
Yeah. Well and I think that's a good point from I was taking a note there to come back with. So so the the that's a really good point to explore. So you're in your third one. The first question that I wanted to is what have you learned between the first to now? And you said some very specific that I'd love you to come back around maybe and this is one of them is it's somewhere to start, and don't try to sell to everybody. At the same time, you gotta sell to somebody. So don't get too narrow. Sure. And if no one's buying, you're in the wrong spot or you're in the wrong price or wrong value. But you gotta go niche, and and and I'll explain my piece on that, sir. But what have you learned from 1 it sounds like that was one of the learnings, but, like, what was Right. What have you learned from from 1 to to the first one to now? And what's the time period too, if you don't mind?
24
0,14:08,000 --> 0,15:03,000
The first one was 10 years ago, I think, 9 years ago. Yeah. So one of the things that that I learned that applies to me is that it has to be something that's big enough that I can't, I can't see the end game plan on day 1. Like, the first one that I did the first start up that I did, it was a a social media agency. The way that I set it up on day 1 and all the process and everything we were doing was pretty much exactly the same stuff when I decided I was tired of it and I needed to transition out. In the flip to that is with 40 p b, I have no idea what the end's gonna look like.
25
0,15:03,000 --> 0,15:09,000
And and so Why do you think that is? What why why what was the what do we what if you look at that, what's the why is that?
26
0,15:09,000 --> 0,15:30,000
So so the big vision is that at some point in time, everybody has access to our curriculum, and it's the de facto leadership training everywhere. Right? And I don't know how to get there right now. You know, it's I've got a mission, but how to actually tactically get there, I don't know how to do it.
27
0,15:30,000 --> 0,15:32,000
Would you say that you're stuck?
28
0,15:32,000 --> 0,16:16,000
Yeah. I don't I don't think it's stuck. I think it's just it's the natural progression of moving down an evolutionary path for something that hasn't been done before. And I can look at existing models and I can look at how other kinds of businesses have grown, and at the same time, they're not exactly the same. So, like, the best model that I've got right now that I'm like, okay, maybe that's the thing to do is a train to train to train to train model where I'll be training and certifying other people to use the process that I'm have created.
29
0,16:16,000 --> 0,16:39,000
I gotcha. And, how I guess, how are you how are you navigating? So so if I was looking at you know, I was asking of this question of you're looking at time 0 now. What are you doing outside of just your own day to day, you know, just getting stuff done? What are you doing to prepare for that discovery? Am I mentoring books? Are you, like, you what are you doing, like, to kind of prepare for the future? So I read a lot,
30
0,16:39,000 --> 0,17:53,000
and I always have. I'm I'm kind of voracious about that. I I do a lot of different, like, where can I get knowledge from? You know, my curiosity is pretty pretty wide. And so anything that looks like it's a possibility of being a better educational model, I'm I'm I'm I'm curious about. Right? Yeah. And I and I also recognize, you know, that oftentimes things start off being very, very manual. Every startup I've ever worked at started off being very, very manual. And over time, we figured out how to standardize and automate processes. And and and things that had been high human load become low human load. And so I know that'll happen. I've been down that path before, and I know that as time goes on, I'll pattern recognize and go, oh, wait a minute. This thing that I've been doing manually, here's how to automate it and make it really easy. And then that'll free up time, and then I'll I'll be moving on and then something else, I'll have the exact same kind of a thing. And it'll just keep progressing like that.
31
0,17:53,000 --> 0,18:40,000
Well, from a from a newer entrepreneur or somebody who's just kinda in the journey, I I know we started manual, and my background's intelligent automation AI systems. So I'm like, I wanna automate as much as I can. Not the parts that count like your networking or the people we have interactions. I don't think outside of maybe email, once you've warmed up that person's email, like meaning, like not send them a bunch of spam, but I've met with you and I have your email one way or the other, but you're like, I don't even care. I've met with a guy or I've seen his post or whatever. Like, there's a better way to do that. Right. Right. After that, automation makes sense. But from the other things, give the advice to somebody who's just kind of there. Like, it's like, I think you're saying it's okay to be manual. Just document it and then find ways to automate the parts that need to be later. You don't have to build a full automation suite from day 1 because likely you're gonna have to go rebuild the automation process anyway as you discover it. Yeah. And it's
32
0,18:40,000 --> 0,19:47,000
the one thing that I've learned is that as we get better, as the technology gets better, stuff's gonna have to be like, nothing's gonna stay the same. You're always gonna be, oh, wait a minute. I can do this better. That's just the nature of the of every process. And so one of the mental models that I use is that I'm doing the best that I can right now with what I have available. And as time goes on and I learn new skills, then I'm gonna say, oh, wait a minute. Here's a way to make this thing work better. In the engineering world, we talk about technical debt in software. Right. And everybody starts off with some kind of technical debt. You can't avoid it. But oftentimes, you don't see that debt until later on, and then you look back and you go, oh, wait a minute. That was not the best decision in the world. However, at that point in time, there's only a decision I had available because I didn't know all the other stuff that I learned later on. So now how do I how do I reengineer, rearchitect, rebuild whatever it happens to be? And I've I've done enough of those over the course of my career that just it's kinda normal. I'm you know, you you just inflect
33
0,19:47,000 --> 0,20:55,000
But, also, like, in that specific example, which you also know is I have to go raise money a year out from now because we have to get off the architecture on, which means we have to rebuild the system. Yeah. And and and it's because you don't build for scale, day 1, day 1. You build for proof points value. People like it. And I guess my point is in your business, you're going to do the same. Maybe your services business out there or maybe whatever it is, build it initially just to prove that what you have is someone wants it. They'll pay for it. And then back into maybe reinventing that service or how you deliver it to be more efficient so you're more profitable and you can do more of it. Because if you do it on the front, even even if it's a known thing, you may not be able to sell it as well as where you came from. So if you're if you're like, oh, I'm an automate just like I did my other company, they already have a brand. They already have these other things. And then you're still chasing the tail of someone else who does it better. So you'll see, you know, it's just I would say, just get going. Don't don't Right. Right. Yeah. In the beginning. Let me ask you. So I I was kidding. Like I say, like, you know, I try to help companies get unstuck. Is there anywhere you're really struggling right now as you're looking forward? You're like, man, I am just struggling with with what? What what is what is the biggest piece that you're really having a tough time with?
34
0,20:55,000 --> 0,22:53,000
So I don't have a sales background. Not really. And I'm and I'm learning and and it's weird because, you know, 3 companies in and, you know, the first company, like, I don't I I don't feel as comfortable in the sales chair as I do other places. Right? And I and I I know intuitively that, a, I've sold stuff and but I don't have a consistent, repeatable process for how the sales work that I can go, oh, yeah. I've done this now a 1000 cycles. Like, so many other things that I've done a lot of cycles on, and I'm like, oh, this is I I know this works. So to solve that problem, I'm I'm working on my knowledge debt and and getting people to coach me on how to structure this and move forward in the process. But I'd say that's the biggest thing because, you know, from the from the product perspective, I just finished my 3rd beta cohort and got great feedback and am pretty comfortable that that's the product I'm gonna deliver. Right? Especially because the the the feedback was largely and this is all people who've been in leadership roles for a while. Right? I I didn't have anybody who was brand new. This is all these people that are really experienced because I wanted the better feedback. And what's interesting was they the the thing I keep kept hearing was, oh, wait a minute. That's why that initiative failed. Oh, that's what I didn't understand. That's why I couldn't get my team to do that. And as I was hearing out with I was like, okay. I'm I'm good.
35
0,22:53,000 --> 0,23:00,000
You know, you've said you went through 3 3, beta, cohorts. Does that make you a master beta?
36
0,23:00,000 --> 0,23:02,000
Yeah. Exactly.
37
0,23:02,000 --> 0,23:44,000
Okay. I just wanted to throw it out there for anybody who saw the movie with, I think it was Richard Pryor in the eighties. There was a character named Master Bates. Nice. Yeah. You you you're in the Gen X zone. I gotta throw that stuff out there. Okay? I mean, like, you know fine. Yep. It's all good. I had to do it. I just was like, I gotta say it. I gotta say it. I I can't hold back. How you do so so you have a stock problem. You have a sales problem. You you don't know how to do the what are you gonna do about it? Like, let's say and I think this is, this is where a lot of people get stuck. And I'll think taking your own mental kind of maps and ideas that you're doing. Right. How are you applying your world to get unstuck? And were and are you identifying those excuses and saying, no. No. I'm just making an excuse. Like, what are you doing about it?
38
0,23:44,000 --> 0,24:11,000
So one of the one of the fundamentals is that I believe that anybody can learn anything if they understand, first of all, the mental models behind it and then the skills and they practice the skills. Right? Now you might not become the best in the world, but you can become very competent. Given some coaching, you could learn how to swim butterfly really well. Probably not as good as Michael Phelps, but still you get to be pretty good.
39
0,24:11,000 --> 0,24:19,000
Actually, definitely not as good as Michael Phelps for sure. K. Well It's not even gonna be possible. Let's just take that one off the table.
40
0,24:19,000 --> 0,25:12,000
But but so for me, what I'm doing is I'm looking okay. What are the mental models that of great salespeople that I don't have? What are the skills they have? What are the assumptions? What are the processes they use? And I'm trying to learn those as fast as possible right now to to to to get rid of this knowledge debt. Mhmm. There's a guy named Alex Harmosi who who, he's a really good speaker. Yeah. And he talks about the the the most expensive thing that we have in our lives is this knowledge debt that's in between us and where we wanna be. And so I'm, like, okay. Great. I I totally get that. And so I'm hiring coaches to teach me what it is that I'm missing and what are the processes and the mental models
41
0,25:12,000 --> 0,26:57,000
of of how to move forward. Yeah. It's a great idea. And, it's often, you know, the the knowledge debt that you described. There's sometimes also there's a a self reflection debt that gets you there and and recognizing you don't know everything. And Right. It is your fault. And I and I did I've sent a I did some just short videos on this idea that your success or failure, it's all on you. And I and people are like, oh, but what if I live in a different country? What if it's this or that? True. Some people are gonna have a harder start to get to where they're going to be. But if you don't do anything about it, you're going to be someone's going to do about it to you. Right. And it's like some some people will never win that situation, even if they did everything right. But the truth is, I think if most people own their own part, recognize what it is, you know, and you're like, oh, I don't have money. Well, then you know what? Do you watch Netflix? Stop doing that. Stop paying for that subscription and go work in a restaurant or do anything to go pick up the extra 2, $300 that'll help you go do whatever you need to do. And it's just how bad do you want to do the thing you wanna go do? I don't know how to go do anything else. There's a lot. Do you have a phone? YouTube? It's free. And so my point is, like, you can cover debt if you just get out of your way and stop making you know, freaking excuses. And Right. I catch myself sometimes doing this. Sometimes I'm like, and I'm out of time. I'm like, well, where am I burning my time that's less valuable? Right? It's not in podcast. I'll tell you that. That's that's protected. But, there are times I'm like, alright. You know what? Wiping my computer, removing all games from my computer because that little 30 minutes, I'll pop on and kill zombies on Call of Duty, which is fun. I love it. It's a nice mental checkout. It it's 30 minutes. I should be shooting new content and do another thing. So, anyway Yeah. Let me let me get off my pedestal. Drop the mic.
42
0,26:57,000 --> 0,27:00,000
Mic drop. We're good.
43
0,27:00,000 --> 0,27:12,000
I always I like to ask this question to kind of 1st and foremost, you know, you know, don't run away if you're listening right now. He's gonna tell you how to get ahold of him. We already know it's at 4zeropb.com. But who do you want to get a hold of you?
44
0,27:12,000 --> 0,28:26,000
So there's 2 big avatars that that I think about. Right? One of them is and to me, this is the easy one, is somebody who's running a software team or they're a director of software teams, and they know that there's better performance available from the teams and they can't figure out how to unlock it. Right? Which is frequently I see. I just I just talked to a guy who's an who's an exec couple days ago, and I asked him about, you know, what was going on, what were his struggles, and literally that's what he said was it's takes too long to get stuff delivered. And that's the most common complaint people have about software teams. Right? Yep. When you when you have the the self awareness that that's what's going on, number 1, and you have the courage to say it out loud, number 2, awesome. Right? The second thing is somebody in HR who's like a chief people officer or they aspire to that role, Yep. And they know that their their employee engagement and their team performance isn't up to the level that it could be.
45
0,28:26,000 --> 0,28:46,000
Also, that's who I wanna talk with. So a new character on our channel I'm gonna introduce right now is Tammy from HR. Let's go and talk to Tammy about it. Tammy. Oh, that's awesome. This is this is improv completely. It was not planned. I literally just added this character today to our things. This is Tammy from HR. Just for this conversation. Oh my god. I did. I I shot my first one today in the shorts.
46
0,28:46,000 --> 0,28:51,000
Nice. Yeah. I'm Timmy
47
0,28:51,000 --> 0,29:42,000
from HR. Yes. So what's your problem with my team? Yeah. Right. If you could, go ahead. You do expect Oh, that's awesome. Tammy had a bad hair day, but that's for those who are listening, I actually put a wig on and some glasses, and you can see those in some point of view shorts I'll do online. Tammy Tammy put me on a pip today. That was the, amp Oh, that's what it was. Oh. Yeah. That's where you do this stuff, and then you, you get fired anyway at the end of it no matter what you do. So it's great. Sorry. I do random stuff, and it it keeps it more fun. It alright. So here's one thing I didn't hear, though. You have the person who can admit I'm not getting things delivered on time. Yeah. What size company is that? Because sometimes that that you can say that, but if you don't have budget to come get it fixed, you're not Sure. Sure. Sure. So so what size company needs to get ahold of you?
48
0,29:42,000 --> 0,29:46,000
I I would say 250 and above in terms of people.
49
0,29:46,000 --> 0,29:51,000
You have 200 So a bigger company, like, we're talking, like, series a at minimum kind of idea?
50
0,29:51,000 --> 0,29:55,000
Series a, are they been around for a while? Yeah. Yeah.
51
0,29:55,000 --> 0,30:05,000
Yeah. And why why do you need the volume? Because because the process on a smaller team doesn't it has impact, but it doesn't have the effect, if you will, across? Or what's the
52
0,30:05,000 --> 0,30:36,000
If somebody so the the reason is what I really wanna do is is get everybody or the people at the company that are gonna make the impact. So the people that I wanna train are, number 1, the team leads, not the executives. I wanna do the team leads and anybody on the team who aspires to a leadership position. If you're if you're an individual contributor and you never want a leadership role and that's completely not your thing, you wanna be in IC forever, then great.
53
0,30:36,000 --> 0,30:45,000
Don't worry about this training. I always wanted to be an IC leader, so that's the way I went. Yeah. So It was great. It's the best way to go.
54
0,30:45,000 --> 0,32:02,000
So 20 to 30 people at the company is is really the size of the of the of the cohort that I wanna work with. Right? Because I've had lots of different corporate training, and it seems like that's the sweet spot where, number 1, if the company is really big, you can do multiple of those in a row. Right? We get the 1st cohort of 20 to 30 at 10 o'clock in the morning, and then we, at 11:30, we do another cohort, and we split the company up into multiple cohorts. And if they're smaller company, they've probably got the budget to handle it, right, even if there's only there's only one group running through. But that gets us the depth in the company so that inside the company, there's a built in support system. Yeah. People can can, support each other and go, hey. Wait a minute. You know, the thing you just said a minute a minute ago, Thomas, that's actually one of the mental models we're trying to avoid. Right? Because remember, there's this other mental model that actually allows us to be successful versus the one that you just voiced. Let's and having that accountability inside the team
55
0,32:02,000 --> 0,32:27,000
means you get better support moving forward. Yep. And I would definitely cross my arms and sat back and not listen to a word you said after that if you called me out. Did you hear him? You can go yourself. I'm not doing anything you say now. You made me feel bad. Right. Okay. Alright. I always ask this question around the 30 minute mark here. I I already try to. Sometimes I remember. I have a really good memory. It's short. But, what's one question I should ask you that I did not today?
56
0,32:27,000 --> 0,32:31,000
Oh, what's the fundamental principle that drives this whole thing?
57
0,32:31,000 --> 0,32:42,000
What's the fundamental principle that drives this whole thing? That's a great question, Tom. Thank you for asking it for me to ask you. I I doubt it. We wouldn't have gotten there. Yeah.
58
0,32:42,000 --> 0,33:40,000
Teamwork people. Leadership is actually quite easy if you have, number 1, a set of mental models, and number 2, a set of skills. You have to have both. Otherwise, you can't do the job. And an example of that is the water and swimming. Right? If you have a mental model that the water is fun, exciting, and a great place to be, that's beautiful, as long as you know how to swim. And you have to have the swimming ability to be to survive if you're gonna be going and using the water as a playground. You could also have met them all if the water's terrifying. And and in that case, you miss out on all the adventure available on 75% of planet Earth. And so the the thing that I see is I'll meet people who have good mental models for leadership, but they don't understand that their skills you need to back it up.
59
0,33:40,000 --> 0,34:53,000
Yeah. Well and and I think I think to take that metaphor maybe a step further, you know, if the pool is where your employees swim and you you say, hey. Get in, but you've added no water, no one can swim. And in that water, you've put a bunch of sharks. People are like, I'm not moving. I'm not getting in there. Like, you're getting in there and you just you're scared all the time. You might get eaten up. Not. Yeah. Or you put a bunch of mines everywhere and you're like, I'm not moving anywhere because everywhere I go, I run into something explode. Yep. And the last might be like, well, everyone out here is, you know, they're going to you know, it's the Highlander method. There's only can be only 1. Like, I'm not getting anywhere else because they're gonna murder me. You got to either create the environment that's fun to be in. There's right amount of water. There's nothing in danger. There's lifeguards in place. If you don't create that environment yourself, you've got no chance of having anyone enjoying that pool. Exactly. Exactly. And I think that's that's the way to think. And and you said there's 2 skills. 1 of those skills has to be the wanting and the desire to do something about it. Mhmm. Yeah. If you don't, like, if you're being told so I guess if someone comes and tells the technology leader that, hey, you're gonna do that, and they're like, I'm being told to do this, and I'm only doing it for my job. How do how do you handle that individual or that team?
60
0,34:53,000 --> 0,35:48,000
So that's a conversation about intrinsic motivation. Like, how's your team doing? How would you like it to work better? What keeps you up at night? If we could flip that around so you could sleep really well, and that you didn't feel like you were burnt out, like, you went to the other end of the perspective where you were like, works fun. It's easy. I'm having a great time. Every now and then, yeah, you know, there's something a little bit stressful, but the rest of it is is awesome and fun because that's what's available. It's just that people don't know how to get there. Yeah. It's like, you know, if you don't know how to swim and go underwater and play in the swimming pool or in the ocean or wherever, then you're restricted from that whole context, and and you can't get into it.
61
0,35:48,000 --> 0,36:44,000
I love it. Any other questions I should have asked you today? Because you came up with a great one. God. Don't you like that when a podcast guest puts all the pressure on you to drive the conversation? Yeah. So the reason I asked that is because some and I don't mean to do it. If something comes to mind because you know your space so well. Right? And I think I think entrepreneurs, anybody listening, it's okay sometimes to ask somebody, what do you think? And and I am certainly not. And I don't mean this in self deprecating, false way. I am certainly not the smartest person in the room. I'm sometimes the wittiest, most cleverest and the best one at wrecking meetings. Hands down, I can do all that. But actually doing so, I sometimes just want to ask questions of what else should we know maybe? Like, you know, what's what's our takeaway that, you know, if you're like extrapolated out, like, I'm not in the software, I've already checked out at this point. What's some of what's anybody could take away from what you're doing?
62
0,36:44,000 --> 0,37:19,000
So a number of years ago, I learned this habit that when when I bump into something and I'm struggling, I'm struggling emotionally, that if I take a step back and look at it, the the the curiosity and inquiry is always and the framing of it is this thing is easy for somebody, Like, no matter what it is. Right? This is easy for somebody. For somebody, this is really, really fun, and I'm struggling.
63
0,37:19,000 --> 0,37:27,000
What is it Well, so there's 3 different things there. It's easy for somebody, and for somebody else, it's actually fun. I'm struggling, and I hate it.
64
0,37:27,000 --> 0,38:20,000
Yeah. Or maybe I'm just struggling, and I don't hate it, but I'm really, really struggling, and I can't figure out how do I get to one of the other positions. Right? Optimally, I get to the place where it's fun, but at least how do I get to where it's easy? And what does it look like to baby step my way through to get to there? Right? Mhmm. I I used to have horrible social anxiety, and, was super shy into my mid thirties. Right? And a friend of mine and and I like, this is one of those, like, I recognize, like, I was really emotionally uncomfortable that I had social anxiety. Right? So it's it's kind of a double whammy. And a a friend of mine helped me break it down to just starting conversations and gave me a 2 minute recipe to start talking to strangers in a super safe environment.
65
0,38:20,000 --> 0,38:30,000
Yeah. You have to come to the dude in the bus stop and start doing that, but you might you might be, like, at a at a work event. What's the technique, Kelsey? Let's hear it. So,
66
0,38:30,000 --> 0,38:50,000
walk into Starbucks because people there are paid to be nice to you. They'll almost never be snappy. Order a drink, anything. And then once you get it, say, thanks, and how's your day going? And whatever they say, say, hope the rest of their day goes well. Thank you, and leave.
67
0,38:50,000 --> 0,39:01,000
Yeah. Because it doesn't matter what they said. Like, they said my mom died this morning and some other work to You said my mom died this morning. My life. I hope the rest of your day goes awesome. Yeah. Hope the rest of the day goes goes well. It goes awesome.
68
0,39:01,000 --> 0,39:51,000
And then leave and congratulate yourself for doing one rep. And it took me 2 weeks of doing it every day to to go, oh my god. This is super easy. What's next? And I've taught this to probably a 100 people by now. I like that. Yeah. Who who had social anxiety, and the starting point was, okay, what's the thing and it seems, like, really common for people who the starting the conversation's the hard part. And once they can move past that, like, I've I've taught this to people who I'm like, okay, try this for a week, let me know what happens. At the end of the week, they come back and they go, okay, I'm not talking to strangers because I know too many people now. I have so many people. I'm an extrovert now. Exactly. Right. They're like, my calendar's full. I didn't get talking to strangers.
69
0,39:51,000 --> 0,41:29,000
I'm saying you save me. You know, I will tell you how you can piss off a Starbucks person. Say, I want a large coffee and an Egg McMuffin because they have both of those things there. They just call it a venti and whatever they call their little egg McMuffin. And they look at you with such angry douchebaggery eyes. And, like, I tried the app, and it didn't have an Egg McMuffin or a large coffee. So I'm just here to help get you. And they're like, name. And I'm like, that's what you guys hear. Then you give them something crazy like, El Conquistador. You gotta go with some kind of accent different than you were doing, and they have to say it. El conquistador, which means the conqueror. Your coffee and egg McMuffin thingy, whatever they call it, is ready. Your venti. That's That's how you piss that's how if you wanna get them to be all snappy, give them the McDonald's treatment. Make them feel like they work at McDonald's, and they get pissed. It's great. I'll use that as the, the next level up for how do you handle customer service and irate people on the other side. I I do that, and then the other person that he gets to me is like, I'll be like, how's your day going? I really appreciate you here at Starbucks for my Venti Coffee and Nate. Phil, I don't know what they call their Egg McMuffin. It's still an Egg McMuffin. Yeah. So I listen. This is how we're gonna conclude the podcast too is on humor. We started it with humor. We're gonna yeah. By the way, their Egg McMuffins are delicious. Coffee's terrible. But anyway, that's Starbucks. They got my kids hooked. They love going the sugar, like, nothing like a $5 coffee that, you know, my whole bag of coffee at home cost $5. I'm like, really? Come on. Bill, thank you so much for shopping on here with me today. I've I've learned quite a bit, and and I and I think as a introvert, you've done great.
70
0,41:29,000 --> 0,41:36,000
Oh, thank you. Yeah. It's it's kinda funny. Like, I tell people I'm, you know, I'm a recovering introvert and they're like, really?
71
0,41:36,000 --> 0,42:29,000
Like, like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, ironically, as much as I, you know, myself is on talking with people every day, if I get in social situations, especially since COVID and actually because of COVID, I, I almost like I went to my first conference not like a year or 2 ago, and I was like 2 years ago, I was like after COVID, I was like, I had to go kind of sit in a corner and just get ready for that. I wasn't I wasn't ready. And even now, I almost, like, don't try to say anything because I feel like I talk all day. And I'm like, it's interesting because I I somehow become an introvert in person a little bit. It's weird. I'm serious. It's because you're on my profile. Right? You're like My wife's like, what's wrong with you? I'm like, I don't know. Something something changed. Alright. Bill, thank you. Once again, 4zerobp.com is how they get a hold of you. And and I'm I'm gonna assume there's a bunch of buttons on there that says to go do something. That's the call to action. Go take one of those. Yeah. Hit the hit the contact button. Let's talk.
72
0,42:29,000 --> 0,42:40,000
I'm happy to talk to anybody about anything related to this, and if I if I think I can help you, great. And if not, then that's fine too. I don't you know, either way yeah. You gotta see a cool website otherwise.
73
0,42:40,000 --> 0:42:42,000
And and for anybody who's, made it to this point in the show, thank you so much for listening. If this was your first time, I do hope you come back. Today was a fun show. It's silly. Did some crazy little fun things. But, and if you've been here before and you've made it here again, you rock for the both of you. And until we meet again, I really wanna thank you, for watching and listening to the never been promoted channel and podcast. And until we get to see each other again or hear it, get out there and go out and unleash your entrepreneur. Thanks for listening.