5 Lessons on Leadership, Legacy, and Listening from an MGM Exec

Welcome to beyond you'd why Podcast, where we go beyond just talking about your why and actually help you discover and then live your why. You see, we believe that knowing your why, that driving force behind every decision you make and every action you take, is the essential first step to really knowing yourself. It allows you to move forward faster and have a bigger impact. If you're already a fan of the show, then you know that every week we talk about one of the nine whys and then we introduce you to somebody with that why so you can see how their why has played out in their life. This show will be more powerful for you if you've already discovered your why. If you still need to do that, head over to whyinstitute.com and discover your why today. It'll only take you about five minutes. Now let's meet today's guest.

This week we're going to be talking about the why of Make Sense to make sense of the complex and challenging. So if this is your why, then you are driven to solve problems and resolve challenging and complex situations. You have an uncanny ability to take in lots of data and information. You tend to observe situations and circumstances around you and and then sort through them to quickly and easily create solutions that are sensible and easy to implement. You often are viewed as an expert because of your unique ability to find solutions quickly. You also have a gift for articulating solutions and summarizing them clearly in an understandable language. You believe that many people are stuck and if they could just make sense out of their situation, they could develop simple solutions and move forward. And in essence, you help people get unstuck and move forward. And so today I've got a great guest for you. Her name is Stephanie Glanzer. She is the Chief Sales Officer and Senior Vice President for MGM Resorts International. In this role, she's responsible for the company's overall sales strategy and operation comprised of group industry relations, global sales and luxury sales strategies, as well as property operations including event catering, convention services and MGM Resorts events and productions. Through her 26 year tenure at MGM Resorts, Stephanie has held a variety of executive sales positions including Vice President of Sales at Mandalay Bay and Aria Resort and Casino, where she was a member of the pre opening team. Stephanie began her career with MGM Resorts International in 1998 at the Mirage in leisure Sales and went on to move into a variety of management and leadership sales positions at the Mirage and Bellagio as she evolved within the organization. Stephanie earned degrees in Organizational Business as well as Sales and Marketing from Southern Methodist University In Dallas, she sits on the executive boards of Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International and the U.S. travel association and is on the board of the AMC Institute. In her time away from work, she enjoys travel, live music, cooking, and spending time with her family. Stephanie, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you so much for having me and for that lovely introduction.

Yes, that was a mouthful. You have done a lot.

When I listen to it like that, I feel like I have and it feels like time has flown by. So I'm not sure how that happens.

Just to let our audience kind of have a sense of what you do on a regular basis. How many events do you put on.

In a year.

Depending on how you look at it? Because there's many subcategories, but we do just between four and five thousand groups a year. Of course, within those groups, many subgroups and smaller, but on average, 4 to 5,000 a year here in Las Vegas.

And how does that sound to say.

That it's a lot. But you know what, the team does an amazing job and it baffles me every day at what they execute and the experiences that they pull off.

Okay, so four to 5,000 events and how many people in each of these events?

Well, what we consider a group is anything over 10 rooms. And that can be all the way up to a 20,000 person corporate event. Or for trade shows, anywhere from 60 to 80,000 go in and out of our largest convention center, which is Mandalay Bay, which houses some of the largest trade shows in the world.

So, I mean, this is a major operation. And how many different event properties does MGM have?

So here in Las Vegas, we have 13 resorts, really. The, on the one side, everything from Mandalay Bay all the way to Bellagio and then on the other side of the street, MGM grand. So again, 13. All of those with all sizes of meeting spaces and different amenities, and obviously multiple venues, including many arenas and theaters that include the Dolby Theater, Michelob Ultra Grand Garden, Arena T Mobile, which again is home to the Las Vegas Golden Knights. So really a plethora of opportunities, no matter what type of size or profile of a group it is.

So for those that are listening, if they put on an event, any size event, MGM could be a possibility.

Absolutely, yes. And that's the beauty of the company is we have something for everybody within all price points and like I mentioned earlier, within all sizes. So that is how the teams work together to place that business based on customer preference, based on availability, based on the budget of the group and the attendee. We really, again, do have something for Everyone. And as groups grow, whether through organic growth or through merger and acquisition, a lot of our groups stay with us. They just move on to the next biggest convention facility. So if you started at Bellagio and then you have to move to Aria and then you have to move to Mandalay Bay, we have that capability.

That's awesome. And there are. There are MGM properties outside of Vegas, right?

We do. We have properties mostly on the east coast just outside of D.C. and National Harbor, Atlantic City just outside of Boston, Biloxi and Detroit are the properties that all have meeting spaces for groups.

So that is. I wanted us to go through that because I wanted people to get a sense of how much stuff you're dealing with on a daily basis. Because to put on one event that we do once a year seems like an unbelievable amount of work. And to put to do 4 to 5000 of them much larger than ours, seems mindboggling to me. So you have the perfect why for that.

Yes, exactly. And I think I mentioned earlier, sometimes when you go to an event, a convention, a trade show, I think sometimes attendees think that someone snaps a finger and the magic just happens. And what really goes on to execute those, especially at the level of some of these complex and larger events, is really quite amazing. I think I used the example earlier of 20,000 people corporate event to go into our banquet kitchens and watch the preparation for breakfast and lunch being served for 20,000 people. Think about that at a level that is more resort quality food than convention center food. It really amazes me. And they have it down and they are passionate about the experiences that they provide.

Okay, so now we have a sense of what you do. Let's go back through your life and figure out now, how the heck did you get here? How does anybody get to that position? So take us back to, you know, where were you born, where did you grow up? And what were you like growing up?

I grew up in Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, A little tiny fishing village. Rockport, Massachusetts. I think it's still listed as one of the most iconic, most beautiful little coastal towns in the Northeast. I thought everyone grew up with scuba divers in their backyard, getting lobstermen, you know, getting. Getting the daily catch. And I. My mother was a ballet teacher and owned a ballet studio. So at a very young age, started going to her studio, which is where I started dancing. Ballet was a part of my life, not just throughout my childhood, but even into my adolescence, which I honestly think is where a lot of my work ethic comes today. And trust me, it wasn't Always easy. But when you are going into Boston seven days a week and leaving school early and rehearsing on weekends and. And doing 43 nutcrackers, you know, every December, it wasn't again, there were probably times I said to my mom, do I really have to go? I'm missing a party. And I did and went away, actually, to school, to Southern Methodist University, which has a great ballet program. So I was able to take advantage of the ballet program as well as the business school. And unfortunately, I was injured while I was at smu. And that when you take time off from ballet and I had to have knee surgery, I never actually really went back after that and ended up graduating with a business degree. And, you know, ballet is still. I enjoy going to the ballet. It will always be a part of my life, obviously, a different body ago and a different flexibility ago for me. But it's really, I think, a lot of who. I don't want to say why I am the way I am today, but I appreciate what I did and what I had and that. That mentality.

So if we were to go back to your high school and see you walking down the hall, what would we have seen?

A very social individual. And I have to, you know, I went to a public school and I had 43 kids in my graduating.

Class. Very small town that still live there and that I still consider some of my best friends. We were a very close community. When you again, come from a town that is that small, you sort of know everybody and was very social, had a lot of friends. Again, I use the word work, life, integration. To this day, I believe that I really, really, really tried hard to integrate my ballet schedule with my social schedule, no matter what it took. So, you know, I would do homework on the train going into Boston so that I could come home my senior year and go to parties at night and really tried to not necessarily balance, but it was about living both of those worlds as much as I could. My summers were spent in New York, I should say, which was a whole other learning. My parents would up and move in the summers, so got the experience of, you know, throughout being 14, 15 and 16, living in, you know, in the. In the city for a couple weeks. My, My. My special moment was having Barishnikov stand behind me at the bar one day on a Sunday morning class. We used to go to the same teacher. So again, it really. A lot of that melded me into who I am today.

So you have always, it sounds like, had a lot of stuff coming at you. I mean, Constantly.

So. But I. Yes. The answer is yes.

Yeah. I mean, if. If you saw somebody like you, would you have said, wow, they got a lot of stuff going on?

People say that to me often. I don't know how you do it. You know, again, our motto in my. In our household is we do work hard to play hard. And it. People say it often, but I don't know any different. You know, I. We travel, we go out socially, we work a lot, we travel for work, and it's just. It's what our norm is, and it's what I love to do. It doesn't mean that I don't have moments that I just sit on my couch and I read a book or I do what I did this weekend, and I did a digital detox and I went camping in a tent with my husband and son, and it was magical. So I think as long as you have those moments. Yeah, I don't. I don't know any different.

That's awesome. Okay, so graduate high school, off to smu. Tcu.

Smu.

Yeah, smu. And then get injured. Now, how did you get injured?

I was actually. You would think I did it in the dance studio. Unfortunately, I was in a car accident.

It was at a South by Southwest back in the day in Austin. We used to go for the weekend back when I again was at SMU in Dallas and would drive. And it was before they had rhyme or reason to the parking at south by Southwest, which has obviously grown so substantially in the past 30 years. And thankfully, it wasn't a serious. It was serious enough that I shattered my kneecap and had some other stuff and had to have surgery from it. So.

Wow. Okay, so take us through. What was that like for you? When did you realize dancing was done?

You know, I'm a big believer that things happen for a reason, and I got the unique opportunity to actually get a paycheck for, you know, dancing for a ballet company throughout my later years in high school. And while I loved ballet and it was a passion and it gave me a lot of my drive, I always knew I wasn't going to stick with ballet only as a career. Hence the reason I, you know, went to business school at smu. And so I believe that it was just sort of the moment of, okay, it's time to. To stop. I thought that I would continue on and just take classes just to stay in shape. Unfortunately, ballet, out of all the sports and performing arts, is something that is very hard to just do every once in a while. You know, your arabesque isn't exactly the way you want it unless you're doing it seven days a week, like many, like, you know, like you should be doing. And so it was hard for me to just do it every once in a while and not be to the level that I once was or believed I should be. So I stopped. And I haven't been in a ballet studio in years. I mean, you know, I, I work out, I do yoga, I take, you know, I've done pilates, I've, you know, messed around at home. But I truly have not taken a ballet class in 20, 27 years.

And do you miss it or was it just time to take the next step?

Uh, it was time to take the next step. I do get, you know, I hear.

You know, music from the Nutcracker and I'll get a little teary eyed. So I mean, it was a part of me, but I don't. I knew it was time to stop.

And what did your mom and dad think about that?

Completely supported. And that was something, you know, there was the fine line as a parent now it is that fine line between pushing your children to have something that they're passionate about. It doesn't have to be as serious as I had it and it's okay. I try to tell my son now we call him the Renaissance boy where he kind of tries a little bit of everything and he's got, you know, sports and he's got performing arts experience and he's got karate. And it's not that he's giving up, but he's at that young age to try it. And to answer your question, my parents were completely supportive and they knew that I wasn't gonna do it forever. But grateful that I had the experience to do it and to travel and to.

Kind of grow up in that environment of the theater that I did. So very supportive.

Okay, so dance is over, onto business. And then you graduated from SMU with a business degree?

I did, yeah. Sports sales and marketing and organizational Business behavior policy. So sort of that cross between strategy, HR and business.

Okay, so you graduate and then tell us about your first job.

Here. I am MGM Resorts, back when we at the Mirage and I, I moved to Las Vegas, like many, thinking I would be here for one year. I got a job at the Mirage as a sales coordinator. And again, I.

Just literally had this vision. I was looking at graduate schools, you know, both on the west coast as well as going back to Boston, which I thought and still think is the greatest city ever since that's where I'm from and I'm a New Englander, die hard fan.

I got the Mirage right around right before Bellagio had opened. And as a company that's the unique and great thing about MGM Resorts. And at the time it was Mirage Resorts and we were then acquired by mgm. Is that the opportunities of growth? Sort of every four to five years I've been asked to sort of step into a new role. And every time you start thinking is this, you know, I've been doing it for a while, is this what I want to keep doing? So from the Mirage moved over to Bellagio in sales and then moved into a leadership position. And then in 2006 had the unique opportunity to move over to City Center. So before Aria and Vidara were out of the ground and be a part of that pre opening team we which was probably one of the most learning and humbling experiences if you think about the timing of 2007, 8 and 9 when we were trying to build one of the largest privately funded multi use development areas. Got that open in late 2009 and obviously today my office is in Aria and I'm so proud of what that has become from there. In 2013 then moved over to Mandalay Bay where we were about to expand the convention center another 350,000 square feet to become the fifth largest in the country. And that was again another whole new experience. Right from Mirage, Bellagio and Aria to then Mandalay Bay. And then here I AM in late 2019, got the opportunity to have the role that I do today with the company and I've had that ever since. And obviously since that day there's been a lot that's happened in our world and that's been its own learning.

Well, let's talk. Well, first of all, what did your parents think when their beautiful dancer daughter is moving to Vegas?

Yeah, it was hard. To this day my mom is still my morning call on the way to work. You know, I think that a lot of that was actually hard even when I went away to school. I graduated, I was 17 when I graduated and went away to school when I was 17 and be an only child and close to their parents. We always think about what it does to the child of going away, but it's also an impact on the parents right of when their kids go away. So that was unique. And thankfully again Kean kept done a lot of talking, did a lot of visiting back and forth and I think when I moved to Vegas, not there was surprise, but I don't know that they agreed that there would ever Be intention to stay here forever, but, but it has certainly been the best thing for me, you know, both professionally and obviously now that I'm raising a family here. So very supportive.

Yeah. And so okay, you're now.

At MGM and Covid hit.

Yeah. 90 days after.

Before we go to Covid, what were some of the big changes that happened along the way of your story? Because when I think back to Vegas, I've seen it be the family friendly. First it was the, you know, the cheap food and then it was the family friendly place and then it was not so family friendly. And like, what did you see as you went along that journey?

So aside from the things that you're bringing up. My first leader at the Mirage gave me great advice and he said to me, even if you don't have to go down the Strip, and this is a colleague actually that's now still here in town. He said, I love to just drive down Las Vegas Boulevard on my way to work at the Mirage, even if I don't have to, to just watch. Because you, you see so much, right? 7:30 in the morning, 5:30 at night. Granted there's more traffic than there is on the back roads. But I actually took that advice and to your point about driving down that road 27 years ago to driving down it today is very, very different. Of course time changes, things get upgraded, you know, the world evolves. But to your point, from what Las Vegas has become to what it is today, which is not just a place to come and gamble and you know, again to your point about going to a cheap buffet and having, you know, shrimp, it is really now there is no place like it. When you think about the radius of the level of luxury of room, product and offerings and diverse offerings, the culinary world renowned chefs that are here giving dining experiences, the arts, performing arts. And it used to, I used to kind of scratch my head when, when people would say Las Vegas really needs more performing arts. And I would think we've got how many like amazing Cirque du Soleil shows and you know, and, and the Vegas, the showgirls, like that is performing arts. But to again where we have come from, the opening of the Smith center and the, the entertainment, both residency and big names that we get, there is no place like it sports. Now when it, when you think about where we were 10 years ago to really what started as the NHL with the Vegas Knights and obviously now the Raiders and now we've got the, the baseball team and you know, it just keeps expanding. So what we have become is A destination that really has something for everybody at every price point and every experience. And you're minutes from the airport, you've got weather. You know that again, other than some dry heat in the summer. So it is. I'm very proud and passionate about who we are as a community.

Okay, and now let's take the big, you know, Covid hitting. So you're a destination resort, you're a hotel, casinos. And all of a sudden Covid comes and what happened?

And just to start out by prefacing saying, I got this role in December of 2019. And then of course, course, Covid hits in mid to late February, ironically, I was actually going back and forth to Japan, which is where we are currently building a new integrated resort in Osaka. And at the time, I was literally coming back from Japan in mid February when Covid starts happening. And the weight of being leader a sales organization at a time when things are truly shut down, but yet keeping the team, keeping customers, keeping our buildings, and if you truly think about four or five thousand room buildings, we didn't have locks on our doors. We don't shut down in Las Vegas. We didn't have locks on any doors because we don't ever shut down. And when you have 4,000 toilets that can't have water sitting still, there was a lot that had to continuously be done. And gratefully, I will never, ever forget our current CEO, Bill Hornbuckle, calling me. And basically, you know, I was calling and saying, the rules are changing, the policy's changing, this group wants to cancel, this group wants to move. And you know how. And giving me the grace and empowerment to say, steph, you have to take care of our team and our customers and whatever decisions we make to ensure that they are going to be loyal to us. Go. You've got the direction to have that. And that really, not just to me, but to our sales organization to be able to say to a customer, okay, contractually, this is. We're in a space we've never known before. We don't exactly know how to handle this. Right. There wasn't exactly anything written into contracts that really covered this because force majeure at the time was changing by the day. And our, our strategy, I have to say, really did work where many groups that, while we let them out of their cancellations and allowed them to move, are still our best customers to this day. And it helped a lot of that. Those hard moments of you're having to have hard conversations, but having that empowerment. And that's not to say that we gave in to every single thing that a customer wanted. But it also was a time of taking care of people first and realizing we never knew what anyone was going through during that time. I shouldn't complain about it. I probably worked and was grateful to work more hours in March, April and May of that year than as many people didn't have jobs to go to or didn't have people to be around. I would get up at 4 o' clock in the morning and I would work until midnight. And you know, my family was on the couch watching the Star wars trilogy. I have a little bit of regret about that, that I will never get that time back. But I knew it was what had to be done to keep things slowly moving forward that we could come out of this.

What would you say is the biggest decision you had to make?

Oh gosh. I mean there were a lot of decisions.

I'll answer that kind of the story I just told you of me getting the direction to give that empowerment. It was the decision on how much empowerment to just give to the teams to go and you know, again I told you four to five thousand groups, you know, per year. So for 18 months there were groups that may have moved not just one time, but they would move from March to July and then things really we didn't know it was going to happen by July and then July to September, you know, so there was this continuous.

Decision decisions that we would have to make on how to handle groups. And we're not talking, we're talking multimillion dollar contracts and groups. I would say the other decision that was hard was again what everyone was going through personally. That balance of giving people that.

Feeling they had to take care of their families first. You know, some people, whether they had their own health related Covid issues or knew someone who did or had people and family that were out of work or had kids at home, that was a big one. A lot of us, right, had kids that didn't have school to go to. And we as a hospitality company, we were back, a lot of us were back in the hotel and in the office, you know, right away and ensuring that people had that. That knowing that they should take care of themselves first.

Yeah, I can, I mean I can't even imagine that's kind of a scale to have to make a decision that impacts so many different people. How many people does does MGM resorts employees domestically?

Over 55,000 and then yeah, again here in Las Vegas slightly below that. And we continue to expand internationally. As I mentioned, Osaka is in development. Right. Or is Is in. In construction right now.

Wow. So, okay, everything shuts down. You've got to make decisions. Did you, did everybody stay on or. I mean, I don't even know what, what did you actually do? Did everybody stay on with you or.

So very fortunate in the sales organization that yes, we actually did. We couldn't. We. We had customers to respond to more than a normal. We had actually more work to do than normal because it was things like figuring out, you know, the new self health and safety protocols, figuring out new room diagrams of how many people could go in a room, menus, buffets, food, culinary. So there was actually more work than their is in a normal world because we were in this new learning of figuring out what, how everything should be. So from a sales standpoint, again, I was incredibly grateful to the company here. We were shut down, not making any money, losing money, and we were still keeping our sales teams. Unlike, again, many of the, you know, hospitality companies that obviously couldn't do that.

There was a period of time that we didn't need people in our buildings. Right. To operate them. So to really use the time to say, how can we use technology and better ways of doing things when we come out of this? So that was really what we were focused on is how do we become more efficient and provide better customer service as we came out of COVID.

Wow.

So how has Vegas changed since COVID.

Well, Las Vegas was very. Was a destination that was very high for a lot of people the second they could travel, just like many destinations were. Las Vegas did very well coming out of the pandemic. And we've continued, obviously, to see that momentum. I mentioned earlier, it isn't just about the gaming, but about the experiences. And if you think about, you know, I said it, but when you drive down the Strip and you've got Bruno Mars and Katy Perry and a Raiders game going on within a half mile of each other. So people came here to experience things that they couldn't get anyplace else. That demand has continued, obviously, you know, as we look into the future, Las Vegas continues to be a destination. And what I like to say is a value proposition that is like no other city. And trust me, I travel a lot. I know how much I pay for, you know, hotels midweek that have one restaurant and no gym to work out in. And here, you know, you've got buildings that have 21 restaurants, 17 bars, a theater, a spa, a workout facility. And so when you truly think about the value proposition of where we are, how easy we are to get to it continues to be, you know, again, provide those experiences.

Wow. Yeah. And so take us through, take us through a day in the life of Stephanie Glanzer. What is a day like for you?

No day is the same, I can assure you of that. It is a combination of internal. Right. Internal leadership meetings and with my team strategy budgets, then customer facing, visiting customers in our buildings and touching base with them. And then thirdly, industry facing. I am very passionate as an industry where we, that we need to be represented as thought leaders talking about the things that are important to us. So when I'm not traveling, which I do travel quite a bit, I rotate sort of here. Today I'm at Bellagio, I'm not in my office at Aria, but I had, you know, again, I had people that I had to see here. So I do a lot of rotating throughout the day between our resorts and then a lot of traveling.

So get up at what time?

That's it's summer. So I am on the summer schedule and taking complete advantage of it and I'm getting up like at 6 vs 5 all the rest of the year.

I get the advantage that I don't have to get a 12 year old out the door by seven the summer. He has to be out the door by 8, which gets me that extra hour. So I feel like in the summer I get the extra bonus hour of sleep. So six o', clock, go for a walk, work out, enjoy just sitting sometimes get it, trying to get better about that of just sitting and relaxing and then, you know, get, get him out the door, race to get myself ready and then usually online and working by 8, 8:30.

How do you, how do you shut your brain down? Because you've got so I can't even imagine how much you've got going on in your head and all the stuff, I mean, I'm tired just listening to all the things that you do and how do you shut it down and get any rest or do you?

I do and I. The word is intentional. I am work. MGM Resorts offers an incredible sabbatical program for all leaders that start after five years of service. It's both an incentive, it is a retainment, it is an amazing, amazing benefit to get paid time off to do whatever you want to do. And two years ago when I hit 25 years with the company, I took a six week sabbatical and I used it to really think about exactly what you just asked is how do I continue to have the passion, the drive, the.

Quality of happiness in life and still go at the pace that I had been going. And it's not to say that I don't give 110% anymore. I promise I do. And I still put the hours in. But I have learned I'm doing a better job of really integrating. You know what? I don't have to work at 10 o' clock at night like I used to. It's all there at 8 o' clock in the morning. And if I don't get to something, it's not intentional. I hope someone gives some grace to that understanding. I am better on weekends. I am better about not saying yes to every dinner that I get invited to and instead just stopping by just to say thank you. And for travel, it means I don't necessarily have to stay the entire four days. Maybe I can pop in for a day, get what I have to get done and see who I have to do. So to answer your question, it's really about being intentional. I am trying to read more. I'm trying to listen to more podcasts. I am doing a much better job of not having mom guilt and really having one on one time as much one on one time as, you know, our youngest is 12. And as as much as a 12 year old wants to have one on one time with me, which I think he still does, just really being intentional about it.

Do you schedule your days or do you. How do you do it?

Yeah, I'm a, I'm a to a t scheduler. Unfortunately. My amazing I, Patricia, who has been with me for many years, I think gets frustrated with me sometimes because I will jump in and try to change things just to be more efficient instead of letting her do it. And again, she's amazing and knows how, how great she does. But to answer your question, yes, I am all about how can I schedule a day where I've still got, you know, an hour of focus time to really just get stuff caught up. How can I schedule my day where I'm not going Bellagio Ari Amanda Lay, mgm back to Bellagio and really being intentional about, you know, the, the drive time. And I am also intentional. I do something for all team members. They have focus Fridays where from 1 to 5 on a Friday is blocked out. We, we have an unofficial no meeting Friday rule in the company. Obviously not easy to ever do because we're in a 24 hour business. But I have one to five blocked out. Not to go to a happy hour and not to leave the office early unless you have something you have to do. But really to spend the time doing all the things that throughout the week you didn't get done. And I normally would be doing on a Saturday. So maybe it's getting caught up on online training, maybe it's reading an article, maybe it's working on a business plan or a project. So it doesn't always work. But I try to use Friday afternoons to get all that catch up done of something that can't wait till Monday so I don't have to do it over the weekend. Over scheduler. As my husband would tell me, I'm an over scheduler. I have a printed agenda of every trip we go on, every hour, broken down when to sleep on the plane. But if it doesn't go by the agenda, I'm okay with it. I just like to go into something.

With a plan.

And who develops that plan.

Most of the time, me.

Yeah, most of the time me.

When do you do that? So that's, that's kind of what I mean, when we think about what's a day like for Stephanie? I mean, are you last thing that you do at the end of the day is plan the next day or when do you plan tomorrow?

I do. Sunday nights are my look at the week. What can I have? What do I move? Is it, you know, and then each night I look at my next day to make sure that it makes sense. And I can't move anything. But yes, it is. It is me and Patricia that do that on a regular basis. So.

So when you get up in the morning, you've already got the entire day set up. But in what type of increments?

That varies by day, by it. It varies. It really varies. We're. We again, as a company are really trying to make sure that meetings are intentional, you know, have agendas. Let's not just keep a meeting on a schedule just to have a meeting. That's the greatest gift is getting time back in your day that anyone could, you know, loves. And so I. That's even to answer your question, even in the morning sometimes to say, like, we have a meeting held, is there something to talk about? Are we going to walk away with action items and progress, or should we take it off? So that does happen as well.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given or the best piece of advice you've ever given?

I am a big believer in personal brands. I think your personal brand, how you show up a lot like organizations, means, means a lot. And by the way, I've always talked about this in a professional sense, but I'm now having conversations with our kids about the importance of personal brand, how you speak to people, how adults recognize you, how your friends recognize you. And I think, to answer your question, Gary, is it is you. Your personal brand means everything. It doesn't mean you. You have to be. You have to be authentic. You have to be yourself. You have to believe in it. You have to know your superpowers. You have to know what you need to get better at, because that's something I'm harder on myself probably than anyone is and a little overthinking too much in things that I could improve on or what I didn't do well, or, you know, how can I do better next time? But the awareness of all of those things. And then lastly, and I say this often, you never know what someone else is going through. And so many times professionally, people get frustrated or are upset by something that was not meant to be done, intentional. So kind of going back to give people some grace and try to put yourselves in their shoes or make, you know, try to think maybe they really didn't mean to leave me off of an email or not invite me to a meeting or, or when, you know, whatever it. It is, we have to make assumptions that people are not out to. For the unintentional wrongdoing and to give people some grace and give yourself some grace while you're at it.

I love that. Do you, do you talk? You know, I know you do a lot of speaking as well, and do you ever talk about that? What you just told me, the personal brand?

Many times, yeah.

Because I've, you know, you and I have had a couple of conversations before, and a couple things strike me one, how much. How calm you are with all the stuff that has to be going on in the background, and you don't put on four to 5,000 events without a lot of moving parts. And you never seem rushed, you never seem flustered, you never seem like, oh, gosh, I can't, you know, looking at your watch every second. So how you do that is beyond me.

And then the whole concept, you know, I've heard you say that before about the personal brand, and I've used that now a few times with some other people, and it's fascinating to see how they react to that. I'm curious what, how it works for you when you talk about that at your events.

I think, can you hear me? Okay, Just want to make sure. Because you say I stay calm, but yet when technology doesn't work, I'm not calm inside. To answer your question, it is, I believe, that.

One thing that you do. Right. Maybe a couple things that you do as individuals. People make judgments about that. Unfortunately, it's reality, whether it is showing up late to a meeting not once, but twice. Right. View again, that is your brand and a perception that people make of you. So in sales, which is really what I do, you have to make those connections through that first or second meeting. And how is someone going to. What energy are they going to feel when they talk to you? What energy are they going to feel when they see you? Are they going to trust you? Are they going to open up their to you? So especially in sales, why that is so important is really it's people making judgment about do I want to work with this person, do I want to be friends with this person, do I like this person? And again, I relate it back to personally as well. Right. Is that you want to be around people that you trust and get that energy from.

So would you say that you sat down one day and just kind of designed out what your personal brand was going to be or how did that come about?

Great question. I. It's a combination of a few things. I go to a lot of sales training, leadership. Right. Where personal brands were always talked about.

Probably about 14 years ago, I did an internal training on personal branding. To this day, I still have the PowerPoint deck and I look at it and when I was an internal training class, right. Just for our salespeople and through a bunch of research, it sort of said, here are the things that you should be thinking about in your personal brand. Right. I, I gave you some of them earlier. Like, what are your superpowers? What are your things you're working on? How do you. What is your appearance standard? What is your communication level and skill? What are the words that you use? What is the speed that you move? I'm trying to. I, My point is I often look back to that deck on. Okay, like, I agree with 80% of what I taught that day. You know what I mean? Like what I went through that day. So it's just always been something that's important to me. I am incredibly, incredibly humbled and grateful that the past few roles that I've had, I didn't interview for, I didn't, I actually didn't even apply for. And again, I. There's many examples of people like that. And in my, in my.

Opinion, a lot of that gets attributed to how people recognize you are. Can they trust you to get the job done? Can you step into it? It doesn't that you mean that you're Always ready. But it means that you have the, the risk taking to take this step and jump into a role and try to exceed in it.

So for those of you listening that are familiar with the yos we, we only talked about Stephanie's why. So Stephanie's why is to make sense of the complex and challenging. How she does that is by seeking mastery. Right. Seeking depth and breadth and details. But ultimately what she brings is a trusting relationship where other people can count on her. And so Stephanie, when you and I were talking about that, how does that feel to you and how does that, how is that in alignment with your personal brand?

I think it's pretty aligned. Again, we've had this conversation about the multi thoughts going in my brain that my brain moves faster sometimes than people that I'm talking to and I am very aware of it and I sometimes are like okay, but let's just get to. Let me just tell you how it should be or where I'm going to be. And I think to your question on the how is I try to be trusted as a trusted source to a lot of people and have relationships where if someone, you know, wants to talk about a situation, you know, sometimes just be a sounding board of listening, we can all use those sometimes. Sometimes it just makes us feel better. So to ensure that I am open and I do have a lot of those relationships.

Yeah. And you mentioned it a minute ago that you know, everybody's looking to make sure that they why you were able to get the positions you got without having to even apply was a they already know you're incredibly capable but they trust you. Right. And trust was a big deal for why they didn't even have you apply just will you take this job?

And so, and again I, I need to repeat, I'm incredibly humbled by that. But I do believe it goes back to personal brand. And trust me, I am well aware of the opportunities that I continue to work on of that one step ahead or listening not always giving the answer.

I really like the way you talk about personal brand. It's not what I was thinking about before.

Because you talk about personal brand. At least my understanding more about not just what you're wearing and how you can portray yourself, but it's who you really are and how you show up irrespective of the stuff you're wearing. I mean just who you really are.

Exactly. It's why I always say know your superpowers and show them off. Because you know when you get together in a team building and they always say like who wants to do what Again, be aware of what you're good at. You know, and there's many different, you know, are you the connector? Are you the analytical? Should you do the numbers? Are you the presenter? Whatever the example is, be aware of them. Because that is when there is a promotion, a project, a position, a speaking engagement, whatever it is, you want those to be exposed and known.

I love it. Stephanie, thank you so much for taking the time to spend with us today. Go on and on. I could just keep asking you question after question, I can tell, but I know you got another four to 5,000 events to take care of, so it's okay. Thank you for spending the time with us. If there are people that are listening that want to follow you, learn from you, see what you're up to, what's the best way for them to follow you?

Yeah, I am very active on social media and always just like to give LinkedIn. So again, Stephanie Clanzer, one is my LinkedIn and but you can find me on all social media platforms.

Awesome. Thank you so much for being here today.

Thanks, Gary. I really appreciate it.

I really hope you enjoyed today's episode and that through today's guest you heard how important it is to know your why and how impactful it can be in your life and the lives of those around you. Be sure to head over to why institute.com discover your why today. Remember, the more you know about yourself, the more you'll know about others. I'm Dr. Gary Sanchez and I'll see you on the next episode.