160. Always Adding Value

Foreign Kenny Chapman here, your host of leadership in a nutshell, cracking the code of the driven mind. More importantly, opening up your mental freedom, helping you find some calm in the chaos. There's so much going on. There's this, this like a picture like the Tasmanian Devil of like just crazy stuff going on and spinning around the world all the time. We're looking here once a week. Just decompress a moment and let's find some space. Let's find a way to just find some sanity for ourselves. Guess what? The world is not going to give it to us. We have to ask for it and we have to create the space and we have to take ownership of our own mental freedom in order to do that today. Episode 160 always adding value. That's what I want to talk about today. We, as leaders, we have the opportunity to create pluses and minuses in the human communication scorecard. And so, you know, I've always, I always thought that was interesting in the grading in school. I got an A plus, I got an A or I got an A minus. Like, you know, what does that mean? Well, I shouldn't say. As I say that, let's be clear. If we're talking about me, I got a C, a C plus, a C minus. And so. But you know, I think about the grading system and there's always these different ways that we want to break stuff up and what I want to do in the interest of clarity. I'm a simplifier by mindset. I like to take things that feel complex and the world might see as complex and chunk them down. I was working with one of my, one of my high level leadership, authentic leadership clients this morning at the time I'm recording this and we were taking and unpacking some current challenges that he's having as a CEO of a fairly large organization, about a $75 million business and really diving into what felt very complex. And believe it or not, we ended up talking about his eight year old self in today's session. And it's like, well, how do you get there? Because we take something that looks very complex, sometimes insurmountable, sometimes very challenging. Last week we talked about having courage, guts and persistence, right? That's what it takes. But the brain complicates things sometimes in order to work for the ego. So if I think things are challenging or they appear to be very difficult, then my ego loves that because then when it solves a problem, it's like, oh hey, look at what Kenny did. Oh my God, it's the Most amazing thing ever. Really was it or did I just simplify things down and make it make sense? And that's the key that I want you to think about. So today I'm going to keep it super simple. And, and when we look at there's two sides of the coin when it comes to your human interaction. You as a leader, when you communicate with your team, you're either adding or subtracting. So I want you to, you know, I like we don't have to. Which you know, I never took out or I never took calculus. I did algebra and I may at one time been exposed to algebra too. But I don't remember it and I don't know anything about algebra. I don't remember any of that. Now I'm thinking did geometry come before algebra? Maybe. I don't know. But all I know is what a square, what a what a square is what a triangle is there. So there I've got geometry. What I do know is pluses and minuses. I know balance sheets, I know profit and loss statements and that's what I need to know. I'll let accountants handle the rest from there. But I know how to read an income statement and more importantly I know how to take an income statement and add value to what it's telling me in order to drive behavior and change the results so it looks different in the future. That's what we do at blue collar. It's what all of our coaches do with their clients. And today I want you to just really think about am I adding value or am I subtracting? And I'm not talking about value of the business, I'm not talking about the, you know, the balance sheet just came to mind. Cause I was talking about math and that's the main time I use math now is on my monthly financial income statement reviews, you know, and so I, but I think about adding value from the human perspective, from confidence with my team, from the, the, the believability in the vision. Right. I want to add value to their own story in their own head. And so when you, when you think about as a leader, if you, if you realize and really sit seat situation comfortably, let me say in that seat of leadership and realize that I'm either adding value here or I'm subtracting value here and realizing and remembering that a lot of communication is quiet non verbal. What you don't do or say as a leader is sometimes equally if not more important than what you do, do or say as a leader. So remember that what you don't do sometimes is as important. And I would say a lot of times even it's more important sometimes if you don't correct that person that knows they made a mistake or they didn't follow protocol or they didn't get the result that they were after, whatever that is, sometimes by not saying something, but there's a know between the two in a relationship or there's a knowing in the building or an understanding, sometimes you don't have to say anything. And that is speaking. And that adds value, that can add a level of trust. So there's a big, you know, a big line here between micromanaging and macromanaging and really being able to take and elevate, you know, the game for people and realizing, you know, there's different styles of leadership and, you know, all those different types of things. Heck, I spoke about that last week at the blue collar acceleration event of, you know, six different styles of leadership and holding up a mirror and where do you see you? And I won't get into all those today, but I want you to realize that different people do different things in different ways. And sometimes different people do the same thing in different ways and get radically different results. Right. So how are you adding value? I was recently I attended an event that they were talking about Elon Musk. And you know, everybody loves to hate Elon Musk. And whether you're a fan or not, really, I don't care. I admire vision and Elon has a huge vision. And this individual that was talking about him was saying, you know, yeah, we just take whatever Elon says is coming down, you know, in the future and back it off a few years. And he's usually fairly, fairly accurate. You know, he throws it out there that it's going to happen sooner than it does, but, you know, it happens. And I don't work for him and you probably don't work for him or you wouldn't be listening to this podcast. And if you've got his email, forward this and let him listen to it and then he can tweet about me or whatever. But the reality is the individual that was talking about him knows many people that work for him in many of his companies and a very high level individual that was talking about it and he said the thing is he's tough as a leader, he's really tough to work for. But people show up by the droves to follow him because they want that vision so much, they want to be around that so much. So what does that mean? It means he adds value it means that he knows who he is. He knows he's quirky. I love the. He was on Saturday Night Live. God, a couple years ago, maybe now, as fast as time goes, but he was on Saturday Night Live, and he came out and did the opening monologue, and. And he was just quirky as hell, like, right? I mean, the dude is. Is very quirky. And. And during the joke of the. As it was rolling out, he's like, well, you didn't think I was going to do something normal, did you? And it just, like, took the air out of the room. It's like, oh, yeah, of course not. This dude's nuts. And he's nuts in a good way, hopefully, most of the time. But he's nuts in a way of changing the world, and he's nuts, and he can't change the world. The vision that he has and the way that he adds value to people's lives can change the world. And I'm not here to debate anything that he does. I'm not condoning or not condoning it. What I am condoning is his vision and his ability to align people. And, you know, and, yeah, that can. Can that be done in wrong ways, negative ways? 100%. Hitler did it. Hitler was a master when it comes to leadership. He was able to align people. He was able to get people to buy into a bigger vision. It was a very destructive way. And, you know, and all those different types of things. I'm going to make an educated guess, my friend. If you're listening to Leadership in a Nutshell, and Kenny Chapman here today, this is not you. You don't have that toxicity in your genes. And so we're talking about using it for the greater good of humanity and the greater good of your company and the greater good of your team and the greater good of your team's families. And that's where we want to show up. So. Adding value. There's five things I want you to kind of think about today and jot down. When it comes to adding value, how can I add value? And I think about every interaction. If I'm going to take an Uber, how can I make their day a little bit better? When I order at a restaurant, how can I be the best client that they had that day, their best customer that they had? If I'm going over to, you know, get a coffee, what. How. How can I elevate that when I'm at my barber, when I, you know, whatever it is, if I'm with my team, if I'm with Cl, Science. How do I elevate the energy and ultimately add value rather than subtracting? And you know, when you've had people pouring into you, you know, when you have that, that energy field that just feels great. It's just like, my God, I love being around that individual. I had it with Les Brown. When I was traveling with Les and I was on the stage with Les, it was like, man, this is amazing. He had great energy. So people want more of that. It's an attractor. And so here's what I want you to remember. You can't give that unless you have it yourself, unless you're pouring into yourself. And most people burn out and end up maybe having multiple careers that aren't in the, you know, in the authentic space for them because they keep on trying to create it and it's like, ah, give, give, give. When I was in the, like not aligned in my industries or in the different things that I've done throughout my career that didn't make sense and weren't my authentic self, it was freaking exhausting. And now I, I put in long days on build days, on content days of inter, on event days, different things. I put in really long hours. But I'm charged by it because I'm, I'm in my authentic abundance. Now by the way, law number one in blue collar success laws, I mean authentic abundance, that's what it's about, baby. So, so today, five things. Always adding value. Number one, taking. Take initiative. Write that down. Take initiative. Like, you know, when, when you, we, we oftentimes. Well, I wonder if this team member is going to start this conversation that needs to be had. It might be the put it in air quotes. It's a difficult conversation. Take initiative. You're the one that needs to lead it and lead with enthusiasm and be open minded. So first and foremost, take initiative. If you're going to look to always add value, be proactive, look for your spots, look for your, your areas. Gretzky said it best about hockey. You know, you don't skate where the puck's at. You skate to where the puck's going to be. That's what you do in leadership. You don't think about what's going on right now or the exact situation you're looking to. Take initiative to find it, number one. Number two, listen. I'm going to let that land, right? So listen and then let me have some, some silence, right? You know, when, when you listen to people, you're able to really understand where they're coming from and then you have the ability to prioritize their needs as a leader. Because one of the, one of the biggest aha moments I like, as I've continued to elevate my consciousness, heighten my awareness, awaken my soul more and more, I'm able to see things differently than I ever have. And it was a really big aha for me when I realized that most people, what they say they want is not what they really want. And it wrecked me as a coach because people come to me and tell me what they want and so I help them go get what they want. And then when they're not, generally not when they finally get it, but when they start seeing it as a reality, if it's not what they really want now, they'll kick, push back. It's not this, it's that, blah, blah, whatever it is, right? And so you start realizing, so, and that's where you can kind of boil down really. Everything thing anybody wants is for a feeling. And so when you listen to people, you get the opportunity to read between the lines, if you will. I'm not saying don't listen to what they're saying, what they're saying matters, but you can then translate and understand and ask follow up questions and do a little bit better there. So one, take initiative. Two, listen, three, plan ahead. So when you're always adding value, you're thinking about like, okay, how does this impact my team? How does this impact the market? How will this impact my relationships? How will this impact my family? You're looking and you're planning ahead. Number four, communicate clearly. So we talk about listening and then the other side of that is okay, when it's time to communicate, be articulate, you know, make sure that you're clear in your communication. One of the, you know, I went through a public speaking training years ago with a great trainer. He was a comedy guy, actually, he was a stand up comedian that turned keynote speaker. And he built this thing I'm trying to remember the name of was something story theater. So he taught you how to tell a story and bring it to life. And so I was in this speaker training many years ago and his name was Doug Stephenson and he taught me how to work, to say the most that you can with the least amount of words. And I, I try to reinforce things so many times I'll make a point here and then I'll say it a few different times, a few different ways to try to land it for you in different ways. But my points I try to make concise and when I write books it's interesting because I'll write and then my editors will just like, chunk, chunk, chunk. I write, okay, I've got a 40,000, you know, 40,000 word book ready to go or whatever. And then they go through and remove all the unnecessary words like now, brother, you got about 30,000 word. But you know, it might not be that drastic, but communicate clearly, right? You're always adding value when you communicate clearly. No ifs, ands or buts about it. And number five, provide feedback. So when I, when I'm listening, when I'm communicating, when I'm, I'm aware and I'm planning ahead and I, I'm taking initiative, you know, you, you just want to make sure that you're giving feedback. And all of this starts with yourself, okay? Initiative, listen, plan, communicate and provide feedback. And feedback is, you know, it's not just, hey, you missed this. You don't do that. Well, you know, if you attend one of my, one of my online sessions at some point sometime, most of the time I start with something positive. Let's get the ball rolling with something good. Maybe you need to start pointing out something to somebody that they're really good at, that they, they're doing really well. Now be mindful of the poop sandwich, right? We don't want to, hey, you were really good at this and you really suck at this. And, but, you know, you're not so bad. And like, we're not talking about a poop sandwich there. We're talking about, hey, you know, you've got some really good things going. You got some areas of opportunity. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about where you're really good. Let's talk about areas. You know, this is coaching 101, but I want you to just really think about it because when you're telling people the truth, all progress begins with telling the truth. Don't forget that. But when we really lean in and we start going, I want to add value to this interaction. Speak truth, be yourself. How can you do it the most? You can pour into yourself. You can elevate your self care. You can be authentic in your own skin. Love yourself, love life, love the interaction, love the business, love your team. Allow them the space to be themselves. Oh my God, it gets great. Really good, really fast, really fun, really awesome. That's what it's all about, my friend. Thank you so much for being here. Kick this episode to somebody that could use it until we talk. Make it a better than fantastic week and I'll see you next week. Thanks for being here. Cheers.