81. Setting Your Company Culture With Clint Best

By definition, culture really is a set of attitudes and behaviors. Your identity really does drive your behavior. It's that stuff below the waterline that people don't see. And that behavior drives your results. And how does it do that? Because it drives your actions and your decisions. All KPIs are impacted by the culture. It's kind of the tide that raises all the boats. Way we connect is through our values. Let's be honest, right? The culture is really what provides that intrinsic motivation that's so important in any kind of a successful venture.

This is Professional Builder Secrets, the number one podcast to help you grow your building company safely and securely, brought to you by the association of Professional Builders. Join us every week as we talk to industry experts and your fellow professional builders on everything you need to know to generate more leads, more sales, and higher margins while improving the building experience for your clients. Hello and welcome to the Professional Builder Secrets Podcast, a podcast by the association of Professional Builders for building company owners, general managers, VPs, and emerging leaders. Here we discuss all things running a professional building company from sales, processes, financials, operations and marketing. We have another exciting episode from the Professional Builder Secrets podcast. Joining us today is Clint, Best executive coach for the association of Professional Builders. And I also want to add, Clint, you've won the award for Coach of the Year two years in a row. Congrats, man, and welcome back.

Oh, thank you, Bosco. It's a pleasure to be here. And thank you for the kind gesture there. It's humbling because we got a pretty good team and the coaches are. We're not competitive in the sense that you might think, but of course, we're always trying to get better and put forth our best efforts. So, hey, it's always nice to be acknowledged, right? That'll work every time.

Well, look, I've had the good fortune of interviewing some of your clients as well. I've had three Canadians, I think, on the show, and they're all rave about working with you as well. So I look forward to many more acknowledgments as this journey continues. But let's start off with something that is very dear to most of us. I would say most Canadians as well. And that's setting a company culture or building a company culture. And I love this topic. One of my mentors wrote a book called Unleash Culture and really changed my path. I came to Canada as an immigrant and he was my boss at the time, and he built this amazing culture of recognition, and I ended up following him over the years and we ended up doing business. So culture is something that's very dear to me. I wrote a script that I ended up performing on a TED Talk as well about finding purpose in life, and it was all about finding the right culture. I know it means a lot to me, but for you, what does company culture look like and why is it so important?

Yeah, no, it's also a topic that's near and dear to me. I mean, I been around in business and in life long enough to know the importance of culture and the idea that, you know, really, by definition, culture really is a set of attitudes and behaviors. Right. And when you really think about attitudes and behaviors, it's what drives behavior, is what drives our results. And when we think of culture in different contexts, for instance, you know, think about an Italian culture versus a French culture. It summons up an image, it summons up feelings, it summons up can sort of picture the behaviors. We've learned it through cinema. We've learned it through many, many ways. The languages are different, the routines and the habits and the thinking, you know, and even the emotion can be different. So it's really a huge topic. But when we boil it down into the business context, it's. We think of it as our. Perhaps as our. Our vision, you know, where are we going, our mission, what are we doing, who we doing for, how we doing it? And our values. Right. Our core values. How do we need to behave in order to reach our goals?

Yeah, it's almost like the fabric of a brand identity or a company identity, really, in so many ways. Right.

So it is. I think identity is a very good word to use, because your identity really does drive your behavior. It's that stuff below the waterline that people don't see. And that behavior drives your results. And how does it do that? Because it drives your actions and your decisions. And I'm sure we'll touch on that as we go.

Yeah, yeah. We always end up going in different directions with our conversations. But listen, let's start off with what are some of the consequences of not creating your own company culture or strong company culture? Where does it impact you negatively or in a way that could harm the company? Yeah.

Well, I think, you know, at the end of the day, people need direction, and if they don't get direction, they're going to create their own direction.

Right.

So the consequences of not sort of creating and defining your own culture, I think the first one is that somebody else will. When we think about the term hidden culture, that's what it is. Right. I mean, there's sort of Oftentimes there's a written culture. Right. And there's a hidden culture. And the reason the hidden culture shows up more is because the written culture is not being sort of energized or kept alive or used effectively or actively so. And typically the hidden culture is not good. Right. Usually the source of a lot of frustration. You know, there's this story, if you'll humor me for a minute, a hound dog sitting on a porch beside a man. And a guy drives up and comes out, and he's walks up to the porch, and the hound dog's just howling, right? Just howling and moaning. As the man approaches the porch, he looks at the man sitting in a rocking chair beside the hound dog and sort of bewildered. And. And he says, you know, what's wrong with your dog? And he says, he's. He's in pain. And the guy says, well, you know, why is he in pain? He says, he's sitting on a nail, right? Hound dogs howling in the background. And the guy says, well, why does he get off? And I look at him, he says, yeah, I suppose it doesn't hurt enough yet.

Right, Right.

So, you know, a lot of people are familiar with that story, but oftentimes, like, there's lots of stuff that's going on in the company that it's painful or it's upsetting or it's distracting or it's, you know, whatever. It's not working very. And a lot of it can be solved by just defining your culture and putting some energy into that.

Yeah. And look, I mean, it's one of those things that you've got to protect it. It's not something that you'll see the impacts right away. It's not a metric. Sometimes it can be a metric. You know, people look to retention, but at the end of the day, you know, sometimes people sit on it and sit on it and let it fester, and all of a sudden it gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and then the problem just, you know, it hits you in a different direction. So, look, I've got a question for you. If for the build there that are new or, you know, have probably not had to build a strong culture for a while, and now they had to because they've had new staff. Where do you start if you don't have a culture, where do you even go? You talked a little bit about an articulated playbook in some ways, but where do you start?

Well, you know, obviously there are books on the subject. Simon Sinek start with why comes to mind. But of course, the first place, I would direct one of our clients, and certainly one of our private mentoring clients, is to the action plan that we have in the system, which breaks it down very nicely and also talks about how it applies to different areas of the business. And as it happens, I'll be updating that one and sort of refreshing it and breathing some new life into it in a couple of months, so look for that. But, you know, I think my best advice is keep it simple at first. Right. And don't complicate it. It's really not that complicated. It's really, you know, start with something simple and then let it evolve.

Yeah, that makes sense. Correct me if I'm wrong. I did see in the post that APB was voted actually one of those top culture accolades that actually won a fun place and a great place to work at, if I'm not mistaken, as well.

Well, I'm not surprised because, of course, I live in that every day. To be honest, it was one of the things that really attracted me to the company, and that's certainly one very effective way it can be used in. In recruiting. But, you know, I keep our seven simple core values posted on the wall here, right by my desk. Right? Yeah. The APB mission Vision Purpose statement. We are committed to improving the residential construction industry for builders and consumers. Again, I've got it on my wall. Right. It's what gets me going in the morning.

Right.

It's what gets me out of bed on those cold winter mornings when I'd rather not.

Well, look, I mean, I think what's admirable at, you know, many seasons in. I see the culture translated with how, you know, the brand is perceived by the builders, by the coaches, by the people that work at apb, by Russ and Sky, how I'm treated as well as a podcast host. You can actually see that consistent. I think that's probably the biggest compliment I can ever give APB is that the culture is consistent across everyone I come across and everyone that has to deal with them. Right. So it's definitely a wonderful feeling. How can you tell if it's working for you from a culture perspective? You know, like, if you've got a building company and you've built a culture, where do you look for. For signs that says, hey, this is really working?

Yeah, great question. And first of all, I'd preface my answer by saying that it takes a while, so you need to be patient, right? It doesn't happen overnight like anything worthwhile. It takes some effort to get it in place. You know, you kind of got to pour a lot of love into it. But some of the telltale signs would be people start stepping up, right. They start taking ownership of things, they start taking initiative, bringing ideas to you. I mean, following them basically. Right. Depending on what they are. And I'm thinking of typically your. Your core values here, but those are all aimed at, you know, achieving your purpose, your purpose for existing as a company. So I think the. One of the really important routine activities that we do with our clients is, you know, obviously setting up an annual strategic plan. Right. And, you know, in that strategic plan, of course, your culture is a big part of that, but it sort of trickles down into what we call your rocks or your important projects or the things that you're working on that are going to move your company forward, are going to make it work better. Right. And I think one of the things that drives those rocks and their progress is obviously your culture.

Right.

People start taking responsibility for that. They're bought in, they want to be part of it, and they look for ways to contribute.

Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Now, is retention a good metric to look at in this day and age? Obviously, the hiring of staff is a big topic, obviously. But what are other metrics and if it is retention, what are some of the other metrics the builders can look at to evaluate their culture?

Yeah, well, retention is probably an obvious one.

Right.

Because of the nature of culture. But I guess in a broad sense, all KPIs are impacted by the culture. It's kind of the tide that raises all the boats, in a sense. But some more specifics might be a simple thing, might be number of redos. Right. Which is certainly a big thing in construction. And, you know, I remember one of my clients had a. A renovator, had a. One of his core values was measure twice and cut once. Yeah, right. We measure twice and cut once. I thought, oh, there's a very practical example that's applicable. You know, productivity per employee. Yeah. I mean, I think it depends on where they're working in the company. Everybody should have KPIs on their job descriptions. And those things are going to. Impacted and affected certainly by the, let's be honest. Right. Culture is really what provides that intrinsic motivation that's so important in any kind of a successful venture.

So who should create the culture? Is it a leader's role? Is it good idea to have it, you know, part of a team role? Is it an HR position? Where does the culture start and how do you keep it alive?

Yeah, I think you have to be Careful with that one.

Right.

You know, a lot of people like to involve their team in defining the culture. And certainly, you know, it's perfectly fine to get some inspiration, some feedback, some uncertainly you'll draw on your experience when you're creating your culture. But, but really this is something that needs to come, I think, from the founders or the owners of a company. Right. Because really they're the ones that have to keep it alive. And really it's that it's oftentimes, you know, emanates from a personal place. Yeah. So I think you, you know, you gotta define it. I would say that's the advice that I would give my clients, you know, and then you want to let it evolve, you know, again, keep it simple. It's not like it's etched in stone. Especially if it's new to you, you're gonna want to add to it, you're gonna want to shape it a little bit, and your team's obviously going to. Going to have some influence on that.

Now, look, I'm a big fan of setting values, personal values, professional values, and I make decisions based on those values. You know, for me this year, it's a lot about the energy around me and the energy that I bring to the table and the energy that I absorb. So I'm very selective about the people and types of energies around me based on that value. So I'm just curious, can that sort of way of thinking be adaptable to looking at culture? What are some of the situations you can think of where, you know, the culture or the value playbook or those written, articulated things come to mind where you can actually apply them?

You mean, what were some specific situations where. Yeah, it might be useful?

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.

Well, for instance, problem solving or decisions that come up. I'm thinking about an example where a client named Gord who came to me and he was. Had this dilemma, you know, that's a good word to use, right? A personal dilemma, you know, where he took a payment for a preliminary design agreement and then the client came back after the fact and asked for his money back, or asked it for it to be included in the contract price. And he sort of came to me and asked, what should I do? And I said, well, why don't you filter it through your. Through your core values, through your culture. Right. I mean, what would if you did that? How. What kind of a decision you would just made? And he did so, and he ended up gave back the deposit and he backed away from the job.

Wow. Right.

I can't Remember exactly what the, the core value was. But he thanked me, he said, man, that just, that just made it simple, right? Simple for me, and I'm sleeping at night and I'm okay, and we'll, we'll be just fine, right? And what could have been a big problem turned out to be a relatively simple decision for them. Another thing, you know, case that I'm thinking of is, I mean, just happened a couple days ago, and I won't use their real name, I'll say in a family situation, a very, very powerful tool to use to break ties and keep people on the same page going. Because common goals can do that, right? So we'll say it's Ken and Barbie, okay? We're having a big disagreement. One's going really, really fast, the other slow. So they needed to get on the same page. They needed to sort of match their pace. And I suggested to them that, hey, it can't be very pleasant to be going through this kind of arm wrestling all the time. You guys need to get on the same page with your vision, right? With where you're going. And so they went away and they thought about that and then it actually came back and thanked me. Did exactly that, right? Got them rowing in the same direction. That's the kind of thing a strong, well articulated vision can do for you. Does that make sense? Did that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, I mean, I think what I'm hearing from you is that you can use it sort of as a guiding compass or a guiding principle when you're making some key decisions. That's the key takeaway there, right? I mean, it goes back to my time in my 20s, when I was a young buck, as they say. And I had a boss that hired me and I said to him, I said, look, you've had 15 other people that applied for this gig and they're very skilled. And he said, yes, but said you can hire on skill and you can hire in character. At the end of the day, this role requires character. And if there's no room for me to work with that, then I can't hire the right person. So, you know, it was an interesting concept at that point, but it resonated with me because sometimes you apply the values to make those tough decisions. And speaking of tough decisions, can culture allow you or help you solve problems or make those hard decisions?

Well, as I said. Right, yeah, absolutely. It's. They underpin all of your decisions. They really are the core of how you're being. So it doesn't seem, you know, oftentimes we don't pause and look for this kind of guidance. Right. So again, it's part of being proactive. Right. Setting these things out, defining your culture and then using them to guide you is very proactive. And then we get into that reactive world and life takes over. So, I mean, just going back to that example I gave earlier about measuring twice and cutting once or, you know, some of our core values, like, we acknowledge the wins. We acknowledge the wins. So for me, when I came into APV and I did something good, let's say I brought on a new client or something like that, and I'd get these emails and little notes coming my way from people I barely just met, and it made me feel special. Right. It made me feel good and I wanted to do it again. Right.

Yeah.

So again, that influenced my decision and again, inspired me intrinsically. And then I started doing it. I made the decision to start acknowledging other people for their wins and pointing out when I saw somebody else doing something. Well. Or. Right. You know, another one of our core values is doing we don't take things personally.

Right.

So again, how is that not going to affect my decisions? Right. I'm going to. When something happens and I get triggered by something somebody says or doesn't say or whatever it is or a situation or a circumstance, I am going to filter my response through those core values. And that's one of the things I'm not going to do, is take it personally. And it's. It's important to have those kinds of reminders, right?

No, absolutely. Absolutely. And, yeah, I guess the other question I had for you is, how do you keep that culture alive or maintain it? You know, I've got some ideas, but I'm just curious, you know, when you think about this holistically, how do builders inspire themselves to do this every day and keep that culture the same?

Well, first of all, you have to model it. Right? You have to model it. So leadership leading by example, you start making it part of the fabric of your business. You obviously include it in your recruitment, you know, process. You include it in your team meeting rhythm. Right. You might point it out ritually. You could have a core value of the month or something like that. Performance reviews. You bring it back into that conversation. Yeah. And I mean, just keep bringing it up. Right. Keep it in front of people and keep using it. And again. Right. It's not really after a while, it's really about that modeling because people will. They'll see that behavior and they'll. And it feels good and they'll want to do it themselves. And it's just natural. I think as humans, we like to mirror the things that are working well for us.

So if you had to break it down, what are some of the main components of setting the culture right? You know, what are the things that you're looking at? You talked a lot about values and a purpose, I guess, or a vision. But what are some of the key components that go into it?

Well, yeah, so I guess when you break down culture itself, I mean, really two things, right? It's your purpose and your core values and your purpose might be split up into your vision and your mission. And again, right. Whatever works for you, it's not as important. You use these as guideposts. And I think that keeps it pretty simple. You know, why do we exist and how do we have to behave in order to achieve that? Right. If that makes sense. So it's not very complicated. But again, you know, I can sort of think of its components, and there's also, you know, something referred to as a bhag, or a big hairy, audacious goal, which was, I think, made famous in the book Built to Last, right. And Good to Great. And in that book, they described this as sort of like a mantra. And again, this comes back to keeping it alive in your company. A mantra that is meaningful and gets everybody going sort of thing. So I'm not sure if I answered your question or if I got off track there, but.

No, you. You got. You got there. You got there. I mean, look, at the end of the day, I think you're right. I think the purpose and values is a strong place to start. You know, I. I also find, you know, the thing that for me today, I think, is you find culture with similar alignment. I think that's what builds strong cultures, is people with similar values, people with similar belief sets. And even if you don't have the same beliefs coming together, you're not always going to agree. But coming together in a respectful way and working together and putting your differences aside, those are all that keep that key component of culture alive. And also as part of that fabric is people. Right. And I think that alignment is key.

Yeah, absolutely. And like, you know, it reminds me of that rapport, right, when you're poor building, it's really about finding some common ground, right? And if you can find some common ground in your culture, well, you can build on that. Right. And it will be more important than your differences. And again, right. When you talk about attracting good people into the company, which is so important these days, and I think this is where it's really underutilized, Bosco, is you use it in your recruitment process. You know, what are you inviting people into? Why would I care? Right. It's much like marketing in that way. Right. And use it in your marketing, so. Absolutely. Because you'll track like attracts like. It's a natural law, and it'll work in business.

Now, on the flip side, what gets in the way of defining your own culture? You know, I mean, for the critics out there that go, yeah, there's a lot more to this than just culture. What do you think gets in the way of defining that culture?

I had a coaching session today with a gentleman named Jason, and Jason is in North Carolina. He was actually the subject of my win story last month. You know, we do a win story every month. He chose his coaches, and in his particular case, he had doubled his revenue last year. So he came to our coaching session today, and he wasn't prepared. He wasn't prepared because he was working on a whole bunch of stuff that he had, but he. He didn't feel prepared. And we were talking about. So we sort of defaulted into a talk about, okay, well, let's see what shows up. Right? So we talked, started talking about culture, right? And he was talking about how he wasn't a visionary or didn't consider himself a visionary. And then we started talking about culture, and he starts talking about his vision for the companies, what he's trying to build. And I'm just sitting there and my jaws dropping, and I go, holy cow, man. I could listen to this all day long. Right? And so, you know, there's a guy who. Or an instance where somebody might be reluctant to see that as an opportunity or something to develop in their company, right? It's not tangible. It's a bit fluffy. You know, I'm not a visionary, so how can I. That's a visionary person thing to do. And, you know, that's sort of how we see ourselves on a show's app. We might not think it's. Sometimes it's kind of like that idea of not stopping for gas because we're too busy. And then you run out of gas on the highway and you wonder what happened, right? So we're too busy putting out fires. We don't have time, right? So it's the typical things. We don't have time. It doesn't seem important. It's not a priority, or I don't think. It's not my kind of thing, or I don't understand it, or it scares me.

Yeah.

So hopefully, you know, after listening to this, that won't be the case. But, I mean, does that make sense? Because. Yeah.

And it also talks about, you know, sometimes the power of doubt. Right. Like, here's a client that doubts that he's a visionary, and then all of a sudden you just ask him these questions and, you know, you sort of identify. Yeah, yeah. It just pours at all his vision. Right. So for me, that's a great example. How does culture work as a strategic differentiator, you know, when it comes to business as well? You know, let's look at this from a customer perspective or an experience. You know, I did an interview with Andy once and he talked. But the building experience is an experience that you're creating for your clients. So I'm assuming culture plays a role there. But in your opinion, how does it work as a strategic differentiator?

Well, absolutely. So, you know, if you're well niched or niche, depending on where you come from, so you start defining, you know, your specialty and pulling together your other marketing messaging, you know, which you typically display on your website and through your marketing assets, I mean, all of that needs to, you know, sort of emulate your culture in a way. Right. And part of that is defining, let's say, for instance, your unique selling proposition or unique value proposition. So let's say the value proposition, right, that's going to appeal to some people and not to others. Right. But you need to define that. You need to put it out there. You can't be everything to everyone. So what you value as a builder will show up in those kinds of choices and then will attract a certain type of customer. And the better you can do that, and the more you can amplify that through your advertising, the more those people you're going to be exposed to and the more of them you're going to attract. So again, it's no different than attracting the right employees. It's all about fit. Right. And the thing about fit is people are. Are looking for a place to fit in. It's natural. It's part of who we are. Right. I mean, and they're also looking for a place to stand out.

Right.

So that's the other side of that coin. So people want to connect, and the way we connect is through our values.

Yeah. And is it etched in stone or does it evolve over time? I'm just curious. I'm in the mind that you've got to sort of have a look at them and reflect on them every year and, you know, see if they're still the same. But does the values and the purpose, can that evolve over time?

It can. It usually doesn't involve that much. It depends where you're starting from. Right. And how clear you are on the concept when you start. And, you know, if you get clearer on it, you realize that, okay, I should, you know, really want meant to do this. Yeah, obviously you would change it. Right. So don't change it just for the sake of changing it. Some people, the kind of creative people out there, like to change things, you know, too much. And then the, you know, the more grounded people like to or anchored people, for instance, would go the other way. But I'm going to say that in my experience, it typically doesn't change too much. But it's okay if it does. Right. Nothing is etched in stone.

Right. Right. Now, what is some of the trends that you're seeing in the building companies around company culture, you know, like with some of your clients, and I've had the great fortune of talking to some of your clients as well, and you know, they all seem to have very strong cultures as well. What are some of the trends that you're seeing or we are going to expect to see in the market in the years to come around culture?

Well, I suppose, you know, different sorts of movements that are happening out there. The green movement sort of comes to mind. Right. Environmentally friendly, those certainly relate to cultures. Diversity in the workplace, you know, sort of comes to mind as well. I mean, can you think of any. When I say when I put those out there?

Yeah, no, I, I think those are really good ones. I think one movement or I wouldn't say movement, but women in leadership is a big one right now too. Right. I mean, and, and especially in the construction industry as well. Like it could have been notion that the industry was more male dominant. But you know, what's really, for me a really refreshing to see is when I do these podcast interviews and the husband and wife family show up as guest or, you know, the wife plays a critical role, whether it's the financials or the accounting. So it's really cool to see the industry have a different outlook. It's been great to see so many different builder stories, but for me, what always puts a smile on my face is when the builder says to me, you know, my wife's going to be joining me on the call and we're going to talk about how we built our business together. That's always a, a cool story. And you know that there's a lot of sacrifice that's put on the table. Table.

It's a great point, Bosco. And again, it brings me back to that idea of strategy, right? Strategy versus tactic. And when these sorts of decisions are in front of you or these sorts of choices are in front of you, it really forces us to say, to ask ourselves, what do I stand for? You know, what's my cause and how does this contribute to my cause and whatever that is. Right. Because it's going to be different for different people. Those are strategic decisions and they are decisions. You know, in our world, we revisit those every year and then reinforce them and keep them alive every quarter especially. Right. Like use them every quarter to drive our results. So. And those things can be contentious these days, right? I mean, you gotta have some courage to put your, you know, sort of fork in the ground and say, you know, yeah, this is what we stand for and not be wishy washy. That's important, right? Because, you know, you're making a decision, as we said, that's going to be a major factor in who and what you're attracting to your business.

I think they call it non negotiables. Right. And I certainly know that the recent events and the global pandemic and the aftermath of it as well, or, you know, some people say we're still in it. It really impacted my belief system and my values professionally, you know, especially about the energy and how I show up and the people in the relationships that I keep. You know, I'd be the first to say no to something that doesn't serve my energy and I'd be the first to embrace it if it's conducive. But, you know, from a culture perspective, how did the global pand impact building culture? Building company culture, Company cultures around the world, because they seem to be some non negotiables that showed up from people going, enough's enough. Yeah.

I mean, I think one of the ways, at least in my opinion, in my experience, from what I saw, is it did exactly what we're talking about. It forced people to take a stand on something and sometimes to make a hard decision. I think there were some, some unfortunate results that took place from that. Without getting into detail. I mean, that's why these things are so important. But they can cause division.

Right?

But they can all also cause people to unite. Right. And rally around things and at the end of the day, spur some robust discussions that make us think. And too often in this world of automation, we have stopped doing that, right?

Yeah.

We don't think enough. So I think, you know, as with anything, there was some good stuff and some bad stuff that happened during that period.

Well, speaking of good stuff, my favorite image of APB is the zoom culture. You know, there's always, at the end of the year, photograph of all of you guys smiling and waving. I should crash those calls sometimes and be a part of that. But, yeah, no, that's definitely inspiring at the end of the year when you guys thank everybody and, you know, you thank you clients and say you're going to take some time off, some much needed time off and sign off for the year, I think that's a pretty cool thing to see, especially in a world where everyone's working from different parts of the world. Right. So it's really cool that you guys take the time to acknowledge those little things.

Well. And the thing that you don't see. Well, thank you for that. I think that's wonderful that you've noticed that. But the thing that you don't see is that just prior to that picture, we go around the horn, as it were, like around the room, the virtual room, I guess you could say, and everybody, we share some personal wins, and that's extremely bonding. Right. For all of us. So it's just a wonderful ritual that we have at the end of our monthly team meetings. Sky and Russ always make sure that we've got a few minutes at the end of the meeting to really share something personal, which is part of our culture.

That's awesome. That's really cool. Well, listen, I could talk to you for days and ages. I think they're gonna have to put a timer on us because we just end up going in in a full circle. But I've got one key question for you. You talked about having the values on the wall, and you talked a little bit about, you know, really practicing and believing in what you work on as well. Out of those values, which is your favorite value that you just love in this company? When you look at the seven values, you know which one's your favorite one? I like the one. I think there's a value about check your facts or research. Correct me if I'm wrong. There's one around checking or validating things. Is that correct?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a couple. It's sort of. We never make assumptions. We ask more questions.

That's the one. I love that one. Yeah.

Which I've fallen victim to a few times. Right. But that's. That's what these are about. Right. It's not about getting knocked down. It's about getting back up. Right. Resiliency. Right. So, you know, it's not about being perfect, it's about being reminded. That's what guide posts are for. My own personal favorite is we don't take things personally.

Right.

Because I'm kind of an outgoing, gregarious person, and too often I will take things personally and it's not necessary and it doesn't help. And so it's a great reminder to me not to do that.

Well, if there's any consolation, I'm a sensitive soul, too, so it's probably why we get along so well, Clint.

That's right. Absolutely.

Well. And for our listeners out there, before we wrap up, you talked a little bit about the fact that you've got some systems in place. Tell us a little bit about how they can access this for our listeners out there. You know, for the apb, what is that key resource that you're refreshing up and working on this year as well?

Every month, so we have a theme and the theme follows some sort of key component of the business, you know, that you want to implement. And so we either refresh an old action plan, a previous one, or in case it's a new topic, then of course, we create a new one. So I believe it's in May we'll be launching the new Creating a Company Culture Action Plan. And I hope to bring some different perspectives to that. But certainly the one that's in place right now is awesome. I've watched it like five times, and every time I watch it, I see what I'm ready for. Right. And those, of course, are for members. Members are in the the members portal on the site.

Awesome. Awesome. Well, I always enjoy our chats and I look forward to many more as well. I want to wish you well. Thank you for being here. And what do you say about doing three Coaches of the Year awards in a row? Is that possible or.

Well, you know, as a leader, I always make my best efforts, so, you know, I'll be putting that out there. But I know the other guys have also made the same claim, so it'll be fun to see where it lands. But wherever it lands, I'm sure it'll land in the right place. So if that's what's me, I'll be happy with that.

Well, thanks for being here, my man. We really appreciate your insights as always.

Thanks, Bosco. Absolute pleasure. Thanks again.

Cheers.

Thank you for listening.

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