Reading Between the Lines with Dave Rothacker
In the virtual Lemonade Stand, Crystal and Emily are joined by Dave Rothacker from Go Time Success Group! They discuss the importance of reading and listening, navigating career development and mentorship, and the power of continuous learning.
0:04 - Career Pathways and Leadership Development
10:15 - Transforming Small Businesses With Practical Insights
14:06 - Leadership, Learning, and Growth Strategy
22:39 - Navigating Emotional Intelligence and Leadership
34:35 - Leadership and Intuition
40:37 - Learning in Business
If you’d like to learn more about Dave and Go Time Success Group, head over to their website to get in touch with the team!
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We’ll see you next time, Lemon Heads!
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Speaker 1: 0:04
Oh, what's up Lemonheads? Welcome back to another episode of From the Yellow Chair. I'm Emily and I'm Crystal, and this week we are talking with an expert and a lifelong learner and how we're going to talk about opportunities and career pathways in the trades industry, and we've got one of the best here with us.
Speaker 2: 0:26
Absolutely you guys. I'm addicted to anything he puts out on social media. I'm always trying to go. My audio book section of my phone is constantly full of all of these great opportunities and things I know I need to listen to. So settle in and let's have a great show today. Talk about all of these cool things that we're going to share, about how we can apply and learn from some great other industry leaders. So let's sip some lemonade. Let's do it.
Speaker 1: 0:58
All right. So in the virtual lemonade stand today we have got Dave Rothacker. He is an independent executive director in the John Maxwell organization, a leadership guide at Goat Leadership guide. Is that correct? I'm sorry, yep, let me just say that whole thing. Today, in the virtual lemonade stand, we've got Dave Rothacker with us. He is an independent executive director in the John Maxwell organization, a leadership guide at the GoTime Success Group, and the co-author of it's GoTime, a book chronicling the transformation of Ben Stark and Chris Hunter from single truck businesses to successful owners of multi-million dollar profitable operations. So, dave, welcome to the show. I know it's a lot, it's a lot organizations. So, dave, welcome to the show. I know it's a lot, it's a lot. How are you doing, dave?
Speaker 2: 1:49
good, good thanks for having me on well, I have to say you know anybody that's known me for very long like I am a huge service nation alliance person, adore the organization and I actually got to know you, uh, for a long time now, and Ben Stark and Chris Hunter, so what a genius book to be put out. And then you just sent Emily and I signed copies which we have sitting right here at our desk.
Speaker 3: 2:14
Yes, oh, cool, cool yeah.
Speaker 2: 2:18
So we're really excited to have you. We thought we could tell us a little bit about your journey in the leadership development, maybe like how you got associated with the John Maxwell organization and then even on into the Go Time Success Group with that little rock star, a bunch of people that you're with there.
Speaker 3: 2:35
OK, well, I'll start. In high school 1971, guidance counselor said to me you know, what do you want to do in college? You know I said well, I want to be an accountant. He goes, well, you need to be a systems analyst. We're going to enroll you in a two year VOTEC program in high school called accounting and computing. This is in 1971. I said I wanted to work with computers, and so you know, I go into that class. Well, there is no computers, it's a broken down IBM machine, the kind that used to use cards. We never even touched it. Those two years, though, were really invaluable to me. It was accounting, bookkeeping and business etiquette, and I this by the second year. I had been elected president of that class, so that was my first experience in in leadership.
Speaker 3: 3:32
Fast forward 10 years. I worked in a grocery business. Large chain kind of grocery business really wasn't for me. A friend was working at a HVAC contractor Say hey, why don't you come work here? I was going back to school at that time. The college I had taken up to that point was all business related, and actually, prior to that I did, and this is kind of a segue into looking back. I see it now, but back then I didn't understand where it would lead. But I got hooked into the kind of things you see me out there on social media with the books, with the leadership kind of angle, on Tom Peters and Bob Waterman's book In Search of Excellence and that was, and still is today, the probably seminal business book of all time, and that that was in like 1982.
Speaker 3: 4:29
Fast forward a couple of years. I, I, I start with uh in the uh HVAC contracting business, um, I drive a truck for for a year and after that I'm in management and then for for 25 years I did every single management position in the industry, I mean for a contractor, except chief financial officer. That's the only title I never really had and accounting was my background. So that was kind of weird. But it really wasn't my passion. So that was a good move. I didn't really need to go in that direction. But I got involved about 10, 15 years into it and I was getting really stagnant and I needed more than what the owner of the company could provide. So I threw myself into the industry. I joined ACCA. I ended up being a president of the ACCA chapter in Cleveland. I ended up being a president of the ACA chapter in Cleveland, got involved with that, got involved with ASHRAE RSES, I mean anything I could get my hands on. I was really, you know, trying to absorb, learn everything I could.
Speaker 3: 5:45
Matt, michelle, in about 2001, came to me at an ACA event, or we were both at an ACA event and we were just discussing this the proverbial paper napkin thing and it was the service round table. He goes what do you think of this? Well, because I was very progressive with business and everything, I thought, oh, I knew it was going to take off. There was no doubt that it was going to take off. So he invited me into the community, you know, before it even launched. And I wrote back then in like 2000, end of 2000,. No, 2002 business book reviews and articles for them. That was before the rabbit hole.
Speaker 3: 6:15
Then, in 2009 is when I started writing the rabbit hole 2010, I got involved with service or, around that time, got involved with Service Nation Alliance and I was a mentor and still am a mentor today to two different groups within Service Nation. Through Service Nation, I got to meet Ben Stark and Chris Hunter. They were also mentors and we came to you know, we were associated. They I have them on my calls. We talk occasionally, but then in 2018, they had both reached a lot of success at that point and they said we want to give back to the industry. And this is where they they wanted to write the book Go Time, but they they weren't writers. And I'm a writer, that that's. I've been doing that since about 1996. And we just dove in and started writing the book Go Time. That is what evolved into the Go Time success group through the writing of that book, so that's, and then through also through Chris Hunter, the Go Time Success Group, through the writing of that book, so that's. And then through also through Chris Hunter.
Speaker 3: 7:29
Chris Hunter was involved in the John Maxwell organization. He goes Dave, why don't you pursue certification? And so I did, and so that's how I got into the John Maxwell organization. I had been reading Maxwell's books for 25 years, so I was very familiar with it, but I had never reading Maxwell's books for 25 years. So I was very familiar with it, but I had never, you know, pursued the certification. So I did that and that's that's how I ended up being the executive, independent executive director within that organization. There's a lot, there's a whole lot more. I'm like. I'm like with the accelerator down, trying to try to cut.
Speaker 2: 8:03
I'm like with the accelerator down trying to trying to cut.
Speaker 2: 8:05
Yeah Well, you know a couple of things. So you know it takes a lot of dedication to become a John Maxwell any of the graduation you know a graduate of that program Do you not feel like it opened your eyes to a whole different way of presenting and talking? And and just it to me. Even the books that I read of his always opened my eyes a little bit deeper into thoughts and I'm like man, this guy is a genius. He is unbelievably talented at bringing out the best in people when it comes to um, public speaking, sharing and really getting that emotional tie in. So I know you have to feel the same way, probably.
Speaker 3: 8:48
Yeah, I did and I do, but a little different, slightly. A little bit different because my studies in leadership were were more on the academic side and so not necessarily the kind of the gurus out there doing it. But what I come to find out after being involved with Maxwell and even reading I mean, I've read almost all his books is that he incorporates a lot of what you read from the academics in his work. So that was a real tie-in for me. That's what really connected and gelled me with Maxwell. Now, the human factors and the stuff you're talking about, crystal, absolutely, I mean you know he is truly a genius, I agree.
Speaker 2: 9:33
Yeah, yeah, so go ahead, Emily Go ahead.
Speaker 1: 9:37
Well, I was going to say I love that about John Maxwell and even just hearing you, you said like you're on very much the high points of this timeline and all these things that you've accomplished and stuff. And I think even just seeing or hearing you say since 2009, you've been riding the weekly rabbit hole, like that's dedication and commitment. But I think you're a testament to that as, as you develop and flex that muscle and really work it like, it probably comes easier and easier to you. But I'm sure you hit slow times and stuff. But, like as every business owner has their own ups and downs, different challenges at different times, you might get this one thing worked out, but now you're struggling with something else in the business. So, um, in your book you know it's go time you focus on the transformation of small businesses in the trades. Um, what do you think were some of your like specific insights, along with Chris and Ben, that you guys would have a a fresh perspective or great insight on how readers could help transform their business?
Speaker 3: 10:36
Okay, yeah, good, yeah, good, great question. Actually, here's what attracted me to Ben and Chris and really why I agreed to do this, in addition to the values that we share and the beliefs that we share was their approach to business. And they were the kind of people that were students Ben, he kind of a student of the E-Myth philosophy, jim Rohn, zig Ziglar, chris total, ron Smith student and they would read and they would listen and then they would apply. You guys have probably heard Chris Hunter talk about take action, take massive action. It's go time. I mean you know he's wired for that. Massive action, it's go time. I mean you know he's wired for that.
Speaker 3: 11:30
Well, that I knew that that's what contractors need to do. I have been around so many contractors that go to the typical webinar and don't look back, don't even hardly think about it again, let alone try to apply it. Well, ben and Chris were the kind of people who listened carefully, applied it, applied it very diligently and kind of you know kind of ABC as to whatever they were learning. Once they got on firm ground, then they started modifying it, started, you know, adapting, you know what they were learning to their own needs and applying that as well. So that to me is is the. You know, there is no silver bullet, there is no secret sauce, but if there was one thing that is mandatory when you're out there trying to be a student of the game and learn and apply, it's doing exactly that Learn and apply.
Speaker 2: 12:25
The application, I think, is the hardest part, right? So I say this all the time we get this paralysis by analysis, Like we take all these things in. You know, we go to these shows and we read these books and we listen to podcasts, you know, and we watch YouTube shows, but the actual application of what you're learning through these trainings is where you have to walk away with a few nuggets. Like, in my opinion, it's really hard to take a whole, a whole entire, someone's whole entire playbook and implement every single piece all at once. And so I think, if you have enough discipline to pull pieces out and go apply those.
Speaker 2: 13:01
When I was, I was just at Toolbox Live with Service Titan in Washington, washington DC, and at the end Angie Snow got up there and said you know, one of the things I encourage you is, right now, write down two things that you can go back and do. And so I've started doing that after I listened to podcasts, because you can ask Emily, like I'm a podcast warrior, like I'm like, oh my gosh, emily, I heard this great podcast, we should do this, and she's like okay, you know she listens to me, but I always try to say, okay, what are a few things that I can actually take from this podcast and implement now, soon, sooner, you know, at some point, because if not, I'm really educating myself but not making any moves.
Speaker 1: 13:41
Or if you're kind of on the opposite. You're like these are all fantastic ideas, like you kind of get the stars in your eyes like we're going to make all this happen, and sometimes if you bite off too much, then you can chew like you just end up choking and not doing any of it, you know. So like narrowing it down to two so that you actually can get those implemented is so much better than trying to implement 10 and in reality, not getting any of them done 10 and in reality, not getting any of them done.
Speaker 3: 14:06
Yeah, and if you were to, you know I use I use I use Ben and Chris as examples for a lot of this and if you were to, I think we do talk about it in the book. But if you look at at what Chris, how he approached this and how he started, he started with like three KPIs and I I can't remember exactly what they were. I know that. I know the one was average service ticket and there was two other ones, but that's what he focused on and then he, you know, moved to the next thing. So it wasn't, he didn't just take like Ron Smith's book and and try to go apply the whole thing. He took it in bites, bites, small bites.
Speaker 2: 14:43
Yeah, absolutely, and and I, you know I love I always like I share this too with my team.
Speaker 2: 14:51
I want to know before other people know, so I'm always trying to like, okay, this is what we can, this is what we can deploy and this is what I've learned, and this is what I've learned, and some of that is just really so important to actually applying that knowledge to growing the business, and so it's also key to making some changes in your business. So I mean, emily and I are going through this right now. You know let me see this a young company still, we're still trying to get our feet underneath us on the backend side of things and just understanding you know how to run people and vendors and clients and all of those things, and so maybe I thought you might could share a little bit of how you successfully, you know, applied some new knowledge and new knowledge and things like that that have really helped your businesses grow. I know you really come from the industry, so you know what do you think about some examples of that from your past?
Speaker 2: 15:42
Or maybe you're here right now, dave, some examples of that from your past. Or maybe you're here right now, dave.
Speaker 3: 15:46
Okay, so, so. So here's the thing. Um, I think best practices and golden nuggets are golden. I really do. I believe that a contractor starting out should build their company on on the ABCs of those sort of things. But and that here's the kicker and it.
Speaker 3: 16:12
You know, simon Sinek had it right with the title of his book Start With why. I believe that the leader of the organization needs to have. I believe he needs to have a why and or like slash, purpose. But that's not really easy for everyone and, by the way, I can give the audience here a cheat sheet for that which I agonized for 25 years and I really wish I would have heard this early on. But I do believe that the leader of the organization needs to have the basics of leadership, because that's what you build the foundation on. So start with why. You know you want to hire people that believe what you believe. You want to hire people who share your values. You get those people on board and then they help you grow, you know, grow your business and the whole. The cheat sheet to the purpose.
Speaker 3: 17:19
Richard Leiter, who I just totally respect as a purpose guru. He said if you can't figure out your purpose, use the default purpose to give and to grow. That's it, to give and to grow. And I went back over my own purpose at that time and I and I saw, wow, that's, that's what I've been doing all along, you know. But I didn't, you know, I had articulated in my own, my own words. So if you have trouble, trouble figuring out your purpose, you use to give and to grow until you can articulate your own. But that's what I am such a strong believer in getting that leadership component down as your foundation. And then you know, then you'll have people on board that can help you apply the golden nuggets and you know the takeaways.
Speaker 1: 18:17
Sometimes I think people can mistake leadership for maybe just age or experience sometimes, but sometimes I think that can be a false sense. I think you have great leaders who are very young and can really motivate and influence and move people, versus someone who's just been around the block for a lot longer. But what are some ways that you know? So you've been in the industry for a very long time and you've seen a whole lot of things. But I think you would agree that, like you're still diving in to still be learning today from books, from podcasts and other resources why do you think that's important? And like how you have to be constantly reinvesting yourself to learn these new things, to develop that leadership mindset.
Speaker 3: 19:02
Okay, I'll take it. I'll take this one right out of John Maxwell's book the Law of the Lid. The leader is the lid on the organization. If you're working for an organization that has stagnated, you know you have to look right to the leader. And what is the leader of that organization doing? The more the leader raises their lid, the more that they pursue their own growth and development, the more they bring people up and the more the organization grows. And so you know I am so passionate about learning and, a little bit to what Crystal said, I want to know things before everyone else knows. I get ticked at myself, for if I hear something out there that I didn't put on Facebook first, you know about certain things, you know it's like because I put a lot of time into it, but you know that's, that's, that's really you know, kind of how I think about that.
Speaker 1: 20:08
But you have to actively like kind of make yourself do that so that you can, because it doesn't just naturally happen. You just naturally absorb all these leadership. It's a very intentional learned studying, habit and practice.
Speaker 3: 20:22
Yeah, so. So John Maxwell has a book out called Intentional Living and it doesn't even it isn't even promoted as a leadership book, but in my opinion it is the. It is the first book I would ever recommend to a leader Intentional living because it teaches you how to be intentional. And when we talk about, we talk about learning, you know, in leadership, you know, and that sort of thing. I was, I would Number one. I am curious, I am, I am passionately curious and I think I think you need to look at that. You really need to have that, that trait with people. You've got to be curious. And what I'm curious about I have a slight degree of curiosity in mechanical things and I looked and this is why I got along so well in mid management with contractors was because I viewed installers and service technicians as artists. I mean, I truly did. I know what good work looks like and I appreciated it. So that really got me along the way there. But the I just lost my train of thought.
Speaker 2: 21:40
That happens to us all the time.
Speaker 3: 21:42
Yeah.
Speaker 1: 21:43
What were we just talking?
Speaker 3: 21:44
about.
Speaker 1: 21:45
The installers. They're like works of art. They're good yeah.
Speaker 3: 21:51
So that was part of it. You know, just being able to you know appreciate what they're doing, to you know appreciate what they're doing. But the other part of that is to be able to learn to help bring the business along, bring the people along, and it's the human factor that really drives me and motivates me and that's where my really really where my passion of curiosity is directed how humans behave and that. That that translates over into marketing and branding as well. But you know, leadership I saw your eyes light up there, Crystal but leadership, you know, that's that's really why I'm passionate about it.
Speaker 2: 22:39
Well, you know, I can get on my soapbox here for a minute about a couple of things, and these are just like things that are literally happening in real time to to for with, to live and see, and things like that. One of the things that Emily and I've really been trying to dive into is like emotional intelligence and emotional stability in a sense, and so it's not a knock at people that struggle with their emotions, it's really not. It's how can we literally facilitate guidance and encouragement to people when they're not emotionally able to withstand any sort of turbulence in their everyday life. I mean, they tend to shut down, they tend to, and so I'm like man as a leader, just literally like if I were to look out across the room. I've got three that are emotionally unstable, two that are professionally unstable, two or three that their families are unstable and financially unstable, and you look around and before you know it, you're like everybody's unstable, you know. And so, leading through that, I think it's only going to get a little harder.
Speaker 2: 23:42
One of my clients shared with me Renee Lucas from LCS. She shared with me the other day that her sister's a teacher and her sister said Renee, if you think the workforce, the young workforce now is hard. It's only getting worse. She's like I sit with these junior high kids that can't read or write. The parents are making excuses for them and you know there's no sense of consequences, there's no accountability, they can't cope with anything. And she said it's only going to get worse.
Speaker 2: 24:09
And I'm like man. As leaders we really better saddle up to battling through it, because we can't just stomp our feet Right. It's no longer a world of because I said so right Used to, I would have never spoken, asked for something Like our team will innocently ask for things and it's not meant to be disrespectful or rude that I would have never asked for. Right, growing up as a child born in 1981, I would have never asked for like. My work ethic is different, not that I work harder than anyone else, but what I think good hard work is is drastically different than what people are coming up with today. And so I think these leadership books now we really have to dive in and figure out how to make them applicable to the emotional and mental warfare that I feel like we have going on for people right now the emotional and mental warfare that I feel like we have going on for people right now?
Speaker 3: 25:08
Oh, absolutely, and you guys know the woman I'm about to mention here, but I think she is an incredible resource when it comes to that. Brene Brown, oh yeah, Incredible. But even further back, Daniel Goleman is kind of the godfather of emotional intelligence. Some of his early books are just a little bit could be a little science-y kind of thing. So there's a book that Ben Stark recommends all the time, and I've actually read it as well. It's called Emotional Intelligence 2.0.
Speaker 2: 25:37
Yeah.
Speaker 3: 25:38
I don't believe that's on my my list of uh of top 10 books, but when when we talk about the subject of emotional intelligence, that's a good one because you can.
Speaker 1: 25:47
You can read it in bite-sized chunks and it's not too sciencey but that is incredibly important yeah, I mean as much as we want people to compartmentalize and like to some capacity.
Speaker 1: 26:01
They may or may not be able to do that, but if things are bad at home, if they're going through something with their close relationships or financially or like with their kids and stuff can't help it, but it bleeds into work and it affects the work and it affects the quality of their work and stuff. And so, yeah, I'm definitely I just wrote that down so I can dive into that emotional intelligence because as leaders we have to be perceptive to what is our team struggling with and how can we help them with that. It's probably it might be different than what our own struggles are, but like we have to be aware and perceptive enough to realize that and then figure out how can we help them, and not to coddle them or to fight all their battles, but to help teach them so that they have their own emotional intelligence and growth and strength to kind of get through these things.
Speaker 2: 26:50
And to also still run your business. Like how do you accommodate all of these needs that people have and be good, kind leaders, but also like operate a profitable and efficient business? Like those are challenges that. So then you combine it with people that are marketers, so people that are empaths, that are driven on emotion and creativity and time to breathe and be inspired, and then you're like trying to do all these things and you're like, man, this is definitely, it's definitely you have your work cut out for you. So I think the next thing that that kind of leads us into is like Well, Crystal, one second.
Speaker 3: 27:29
I can't let this go because it's so critically important here. And you know, one way to do what you just spoke about is through your managers. Through your managers, here's the most critical and the most important tool that a manager can possibly have, and a friend of mine calls it the daily five minutes. She was an ex-executive in the Hawaiian hospitality industry. She wrote a book called Managing with Aloha. Managing with Aloha and, oh my gosh, you talk about emotional intelligence. Her name is Rosa, Say. She had it going over the top.
Speaker 3: 28:13
Well, Rosa and I became really really good friends close in age. We believed a lot of the same beliefs and one of those beliefs was in the Gallup Corporation. Now this goes back to the late 1990s and there was one book out written then that we and I met her in 2004. And her and I really kind of coalesced on this one book. Now that book is outdated and I'm not even going to bring it up right now. But so, anyhow, I don't want to overburden listeners with all my book recommendations here you could write a book on the book recommendations.
Speaker 3: 28:53
Yeah, yeah, but the most important thing out of that book, and then something Rosa did on her own, she created the Daily 5 Minutes and that was where managers touch base five minutes a day with their reports. Now, in the heating and air conditioning business and I was in it back those days I was a manager it was almost impossible to do People out in the field. That was before cell phones or before usable cell phones. You know they're not the ones you carry around in a suitcase. So I, the way I look at it, it's the weekly check in and Gallup talks about this, and if you're a manager, you need you need two or three books, you need two or three books.
Speaker 3: 29:42
And the number one most important book for every single manager alive is called it's the Manager. It's the Manager is the update to the book I talked about in the 1990s and that's why I wasn't even going to bring that book up. But it's the Manager is sort of what that evolved to the book Culture Shock is. It's the Manager post-COVID, post-covid, and so everything on it's the Manager still pertains and it really, if you go back and you know when I did go back and read that book that was published in 2019, before COVID. It all still applies, but what the CEO and the chief science officer of Gallup wrote both books and and it's the manager still ties, it's still relevant.
Speaker 3: 30:27
There's not one thing in that book that's not relevant. And they have one chapter. It's called Coaching Conversations and the weekly check in is explained in there. Now, what they, what they lack in that book is that human factor, and that's what Rosa created with her daily five minutes, and so to me, that is the most important. And Emily said how can we be perceptive enough to our employees? Well, that's how you do it. You learn so much about your organization, but you can't start out being like kind of being. You know Goomba, lovey-dovey, you know touchy-feely with your people. You have to build trust first.
Speaker 3: 31:10
So, you have to start off more on a you know kind of. If there's not trust in the organization, you definitely have to build it. A lot of organizations have it and you can just keep on doing it. Every manager should know their employees' significant other and their kids' names. Hey, how did Susie do in softball over the weekend? Kind of thing.
Speaker 2: 31:38
Yes, their pets, I mean anything that we can identify that's important to them. And, dave, you know like I've screamed, culture, one of the things that Emily and I have always prioritized like sometimes to a fault, both financially and emotionally, because Trey's, like y'all, do the most. But we also understand that the importance of making your team know how appreciated they are, and little fun things that we can afford to do here and there. But you know, we invest in a conference for our entire team and half of our team is remote. We bring them in, we bring in coaches, we bring in people to help them learn things. And and then also team building, because that's when we get to know each other, is when we can, like, really care.
Speaker 2: 32:19
Like, hey, I noticed that you were off a couple of days, is everything OK? Oh, my daughter's sick. Oh my gosh, what's her name. Like you, just walk all the way through those things and hopefully, at the end of the day, what it does is build the relationship to where they're not just running. If something goes wrong, they tend to rely on you for guidance and support. It doesn't always work out Like. One thing that I've had to realize is, no matter how hard we try. Sometimes good employees don't stay with good employers. It just is what it is sometimes, you know, but and that's hard after you're like man, I tried really hard, you know, to keep these people. But you're right, I think you just had that Aloha reference on your social media a couple of mornings ago.
Speaker 3: 32:58
Oh yeah, I probably did. I mean, she had such an impact on my life and I like to think that I had one on hers as well. She's way, way more accomplished than I am. She's a business coach, you know. Slash author type Managing the wall hot, definitely a book to check out.
Speaker 2: 33:14
Oh, awesome, yeah, yeah, awesome, man. Well, I know that that kind of leads into this other step, because Emily and I, like we've shared on here like a lot of what our struggles may be at this particular time, may be like the visionary pieces, the forward thinking pieces. So how do you really strike a balance between having a vision for your business and then executing those day to day tasks? Day-to-day task.
Speaker 3: 33:37
I like to think that Ben and Chris and more Ben, because he was doing it he's been doing it for 25 years has the answer to that and that is the annual success planning. Because you revisit your vision. In the annual success planning you revisit your mission, values, purpose, you know that sort of thing. But then you don't just do it and put it away. You hit on components of your annual success plan at every manager's meeting, so you continuously have your vision there and you got to do it in bite sized chunks. You can't, you can't just devour an elephant in, you know, in like one bite kind of thing I don't know if I got that right, but anyhow, you know you have to.
Speaker 3: 34:22
So each, you know each manager you know a leader's job is to help them provide resources, support, emotional support, but they're the ones out there uh, you know, executing type of thing. Now, now that that said so, there's another book um, who not how, who not how, and I don't even know if that was on my my top 10 list either, but here's the. You guys will be able to relate to this and people from our industry should relate to this a lot through the book Traction. Traction talks about a visionary person and either an integrator or an implementer.
Speaker 3: 35:00
I can't remember which one it was, but that second one is the getter done person. The getter done person. So you have, you know, the visionary the vision. Most visionaries are not getter done person. So you have, you know, the visionary the vision. Most visionaries are not get her done type of people. So you have to have both and and that's another way that something crawling around your background there it's not that she didn't know that it was going to uh show like that oh, no worries, no worries, that's fine, it's so weird.
Speaker 2: 35:32
I tried to like protect it, but it doesn't matter no, no, it's all good.
Speaker 3: 35:36
It's all good, but um so so you know the annual success, success plan implemented through through meetings, every single manager meeting, you've got to touch some little bit on your annual success plan and then, at the top of the organization, you know you got to have the visionary and you got to have the get-or-done type of person. It's just so rare that one person can do them both and I have firsthand knowledge of that. I always describe myself as a strategist trapped in a tactician's body because I was a manager. But really I think in big picture, I think strategy. I don't normally think operations, but because I did it for so long, I really understand it and I could see one gentleman that I did work for. He had more of the visionary kind of approach and I could see how we did work well together. So you got to have that really.
Speaker 1: 36:40
Well, and you got to understand where people's strengths and weaknesses are and let them do that. And so you know, if you are the visionary and you've got a team member that is the implementer or the make it happen type thing, you got to let them go and like let them do their thing and sometimes it's not going to always be a hundred percent perfect, but you can't then doubt them and not let them do it the next time because it maybe wasn't a hundred percent right. Or you know you're in this journey together but you've got to let each other stay in their lanes and vice versa. You know so that you can't actually accomplish some things, otherwise it just gets convoluted and you don't actually make progress.
Speaker 3: 37:16
Yeah, you're shooting yourself in your foot. If you do that, you're stopping everything. You're stopping progress, momentum, going forward, everything. By doing that it just points back. You know, jim Collins in the book Good to Great, get the right people on the bus. Get the right people on the bus and then get them in the right seats.
Speaker 2: 37:37
You know and I think like leadership is not and it's not a period, it's a comma Right. Like things still have to continue. Like you don't reach the pinnacle of leadership in my opinion, like you're constantly working on your business, like I mean, sometimes we'll say to ourselves like man, I wish things could just calm down for consecutive three months, you know. And then I'm like maybe we would be bored, but we're always, if we're not dealing with like oh, let's restructure a little bit, or like let's add another service. Like we're constantly trying to learn, guide, adapt, pivot and man, that is true leadership and true partnership is not even really found when times are good.
Speaker 2: 38:15
Listen, when times are good, anybody can get along. It's when times get rough and you're like down in the trenches that you really have to start applying things that you read or you listened to or you've learned through coaching programs or whatever. Because the hard times are when the real leaders emerge. And I try to remind myself of that a lot of times, when I'm like can I not be the leader? Like how can I? I would like to volunteer. You know, in school, like kids always fight. Like who gets to be the line leader and who gets to be the door holder. Like I, will gladly be the door holder.
Speaker 3: 38:46
Yeah, there's a. There's another component, though, crystal, to what you said that can supercharge your career and your ability to lead, going forward. And that is doing everything you just said, plus reflecting, reflecting on it, and I suggest reflecting on it in a journal. Through that you're building your intuition. A journal, through that you're building your intuition, and these aren't the things that are going to just pop out. You're not going to learn something. Go through a crucible, then reflect on it, and then the next day ABC is going to line up. It doesn't work like that, but what you're doing is you're building and strengthening your intuition so that down the road, when a little or something major comes up, you're going to. It's just going to wow, I just thought of something. But no, you didn't just think of it, it was there, you had something triggered out of you and your intuition kicked in.
Speaker 3: 39:47
A classic example is 2001, 9-11. Ben Stark owned a company, went through a lot of grief and strife and it was tough, but he did this. Exactly what I'm talking about. He reflected in a journal, wrote it out when the recession hit in 2008,. He was better prepared Not exactly the same dynamics, but there were little triggers that happened. That it that allowed him to guide his company, and that was all intuition that was harvested so that in 2020, uh, and he still owned a business. Um, when uh, uh, covid hit, uh, he again, he, you know big crucible, but he was prepared. So reflecting on your experiences in a journal is critical.
Speaker 1: 40:37
Well, our pastor, he has a quote and some of those people say experience is the best teacher. He says no, evaluated experience is the best teacher. So kind of exactly what you're saying, like you can't just go through, you've got to evaluate so that you are better prepared for the next time, because there is going to be a next time. It may not be exactly the same, but like you're going to have something.
Speaker 3: 40:56
Yeah, I promise you, emily, that your pastor is influenced by John Maxwell. I promise you oh.
Speaker 1: 41:03
I know he is, and you know, whitman fan and stuff and but you know I can learn leadership things from him by going to a church service and same thing. He actually spoke at our Lumen Seed Conference because leaders, regardless of their religious background or whatever, can still learn from a pastor Like there's all things we can be learning from each other.
Speaker 3: 41:21
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and I heard feedback through the grapevine about that gentleman speaking. A lot of positive feedback.
Speaker 1: 41:30
Oh, yeah, at your event.
Speaker 3: 41:32
Yeah, I'm like an undercover spy when it comes to how did it go. I want to know all about it. You know, so I, I hear things.
Speaker 2: 41:40
Absolutely. Yeah, we try really hard to bring in good content because Emily and I go to enough conferences Like we've learned, like what we really can take and apply things from. And sometimes I'll be honest, like sometimes I'm interested in technical, sometimes I want leadership, sometimes I want personal development and I tend to lean in hard into marketing. But a lot of times I've found great books, like, like you were mentioning earlier, the Intentional Living isn't necessarily a leadership book, but there's so many ways that you can apply those things and so all right. So, dave, in your experience, like what are some of the biggest challenges you think that are facing businesses in the trades industry today?
Speaker 3: 42:23
Okay, well, the, the, the, the elephant in the room is labor shortage and I think, I think that out, out, out, shadows everything, everything. As far as the, the, the challenge in our industry, and I like to look at it, it's not a labor issue or not a labor shortage, it's a leadership shortage. And if you guys are familiar or not, but there's this company, inxas, uh, mick williams and son, right, I don't know them oh, um yeah, generation started by a sailor.
Speaker 1: 42:58
Um uh, irvin senior right um maybe I have heard something about them okay anyhow.
Speaker 3: 43:05
Anyhow, you know I and I've been told through multiple people that work there you know that's a kind of company that people want to come work, to work for. So as a leader of a company, you have to create the aura, the culture that people want to come work there. Chris Hunter at Hunter Heating and Air in Ardmore, oklahoma, didn't have your typical problem he had everyone has issues didn't have your typical problems of finding people because of the culture that they created and the leadership that he offered. And if we simply look at leadership is influence and that's exactly what it is. It isn't any more, isn't any less. The leader is, you know, in Chris's example he wanted to make his better women, better men, better husbands, better wives, better daughters, sisters, brothers you know that sort of thing daughters, sisters, brothers, you know that sort of thing and so it was not so much a company as it was a vehicle for developing and enhancing human well-being.
Speaker 3: 44:18
If you stop and think about it I know Mick Williams is doing that as well and maybe just a little bit different. You know kind of terminology. But that's what you need to create. That's half of it, or a good portion of it. The other half is you have to have a way to take a civilian off the street, make them a CSR kind of a type of apprentice, a maintenance tech or a service or install apprentice. You absolutely have to have the way to do that. You absolutely have to have the way to do that.
Speaker 3: 44:53
If you don't, then then you're going to have issues because you have to. Uh, we just don't have the pool of people in our out there, uh in the in the labor force to draw on. So you got to create our own. You have to create our own. And that's exactly what Chris did too. He, he had a lot of employees that were not out of the industry but took that human factor, tied it to leadership, added the component of training, bringing them along. And the next thing, you know he, you know he just did not have the same battles for labor that that everyone else had. So not so much a labor shortage as it is a leadership shortage.
Speaker 1: 45:33
Yeah, that's a fantastic point. And you know, when people leave companies, they don't leave company, they leave the manager, and so when you can kind of flip the script on that and, you know, create an environment where people want to come to work, where they're excited to come to work, where they feel valued, they've got a great attitude. Like you can teach them the skill. When you have the right processes and training, you can teach them anything. But yeah, you got to foster and cultivate those good people who are may or may not be inside the industry and a lot of times outside, and you can tap into a whole new pool, as you're mentioning.
Speaker 3: 46:04
Exactly. And here's where Ben Star, chris Hunter, you know where they sort of got their kind of kick to help them build their businesses. They had the technical side all that down. They had a lot of the tactical stuff of running a business down, but they invested in leadership training. Ben did it through the E-Myth. Ben is a certified E-Myth instructor. Chris did it through John Maxwell. You have to pursue leadership training. I don't care really, you know, I do care because there is some crappy stuff out there, but you got to find stuff that's recommended by credible people and invest in it. And I think that's where, uh, you know, you know you have both you, you, you know you have that, uh, some of that tactical stuff about running a company. But you've got to have leadership, you know, and you got to train. How many, how many leaders of companies or how many owners of companies uh just came out of a truck kind of, got to where they got and never had any kind of leadership training. Well, I promise you they're hitting a lid somewhere, you know. For sure.
Speaker 2: 47:16
For sure, absolutely All right. Well, dave, I know we're almost to the end of our recording time, and so I really appreciate you sharing the insights and the importance of reading and listening and applying that knowledge to grow your business.
Speaker 1: 47:37
And so, emily, yeah, we've really appreciated you. Dave, you know I had a conversation with you about a year ago. You were testing out some things and you really gave me a challenge, you know, because you're asking, well, what are you reading, what are you listening to? And I was, like, you know, kind of a lot of non-conventional things at the moment. You're like you know what for you to really be growing, you really need to have like a tangible book so that you are like actually reading, not just listening to in the background or things like that, and that was something that I really took to heart.
Speaker 1: 47:56
It's like I've been reading a lot more, because I've not forgotten you telling me that, and so I just want to say thank you for being on this episode. You have been a great encouragement and support to Crystal and I. You know, whether whether it's just sharing a social media post or just shooting a quick email like, hey, keep it up. Like you guys are fighting the good fight, you're doing a good job. So thank you for investing in us, and I know all the listeners listening here are getting something from this, and I know they'll all be looking forward to the list of all the books that we're gonna tag here and mention and some of the ones not mentioned, because you're just a wealth of knowledge and tons of resources that you're very freely willing to share with people.
Speaker 2: 48:32
Yeah.
Speaker 3: 48:32
Thank you yeah.
Speaker 2: 48:34
So the moral of today's whole episode is consistent learning through reading, listening and applying that knowledge is really key to growing successful businesses, particularly guys in the trades. By making sure that you continue to embrace a continuous improvement and balancing the vision with execution, Business owners can really overcome challenges, seize opportunities and achieve long term success and fulfillment in their work. So, Dave, where can our listeners, though, like get in contact with you, hear more about your start following, get a copy of your book, all the cool things you have going on?
Speaker 3: 49:10
OK, yeah Well, thank you. Thank you so much, guys. Gotimesuccessgroupcom that's Gotimes' website is where we list our training, and so I focus on one basic training mechanism and that's a mastermind, a leadership mastermind, and right now I'm doing the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell mastermind. It's a 10-week kind of immersion into leadership, and Crystal and Emily, thank you for investing your leaders into that mastermind, but that's how people can really get the full effect of basically what I put into leadership. And then also, along with John Maxwell so look under training and events we have a brand new one starting on Tuesday, so the information and details are in there.
Speaker 3: 50:11
As far as that goes, I would suggest people follow me on Facebook Just Dave Rothaker. Look for my mugshot on Facebook, because I put a lot of time and effort into daily posts that reference books and reference. My areas of focus right now are design, branding, leadership and creativity, and leadership slash purpose, design, creativity, leadership slash purpose and branding, and those are some of the things that I really try to focus on on on Facebook, so that's a good place to get a feel for what I do.
Speaker 1: 50:55
Awesome. Well, thank you, dave, and thank you, lemonheads, for another episode of From the Yellow Chair. If you enjoyed this episode, would you consider giving us a review, giving us a follow on all the social media? So, as always, thank you for sipping some lemonade with us and we'll see you next time. Bye.
