What Anyone Can Do: Leo & Randy On New Groups (Season 2020, Episode 3)

Welcome to the What Anyone Can Do podcast with Leo Battari and me, Randy Cantrell. This show picks up where our previous show, You're the Peer, left off, highlighting the simple truth that who you surround yourself with matters, and that if we enlist the support of others, give back to those who give to us, and pay it forward for the next generation, we can do anything. Author and keynote speaker Leo Battari and I talk with a diverse group of thought leaders who will share stories and insights that will help you succeed in business and in life.

How?

By doing the things anyone can do, but most of us never will.

Welcome back to another episode of What Anyone Can Do, the podcast. He is the author of the book What Anyone Can Do. You should buy it if you haven't yet. He's also the co-author of The Power of Peers. He is Leo Bottari. My name is Randy Cantrell. And, um, yeah, we've got the two teams established, the two, two last teams standing in the NFL. And unfortunately neither of us have a team in the hunt, but We do not.

That's why I wore the hat of the only team from New England still playing. Well, of course Celtics are still playing as well. I could have worn either one, but Bruins today. And, you know, and both having good seasons, you know, so we'll kind of see how that rolls. But so who do you like in the Super Bowl? Let's start there.

Man, sentimentally, I'm rooting for Andy Reid. I'm pulling for Kansas City. But I think it'll be a tall order. I mean, that coaching staff and that talent in San Francisco is really, really strong. So I don't know. It should be a good game though. You?

I'm right there with you. I'll be rooting for Kansas City. Kansas City doesn't get to the Super Bowl much, but when they do, they do win, right? I mean, I remember— I mean, how sad is this? But I really do. I remember the Vikings-Kansas City game back, you know, you get Bud Grant coaching you, Joe Kapp is the quarterback who just got annihilated in that game basically. He was, that was a lot of, that was rough. But the, yeah, with the Purple People Eaters and the whole deal there.

Oh yeah, they were great.

But Hank Stram, and their coaching staff and that whole thing they had going on at a time when the— of course, it was back then, it was still the AFL, and they were still really trying to prove themselves. And of course, the Jets had done that, kind of broke through winning Super Bowl III. But now all of a sudden, here you go to Super Bowl IV. And pretty remarkable when you think about it, what they were able to do. And that was a huge upset, you know, back then. So I'm sure they regard themselves even— I'm not sure what the spread is in this game. I would imagine that San Francisco is favored. I don't, I haven't seen it.

I haven't seen it.

But if they're not, but assuming San Francisco is favored, it will, there's still, I mean, the Vikings were really like favored in that game last time. So I don't think they're going to be too much.

I'd be shocked if it's any kind of a big, any kind of a big spread. And of course we have the Texas connection with that quarterback in Kansas City, Mahomes, you know, played out at at Tech. And, uh, you know, I don't know, they're, they're both fun to watch in their own way. So I mean, it certainly seems to me that the last two teams are, are the best teams.

I think they are. Oh yeah, no question. For a while I was feeling like San Francisco kind of dipped a little bit, you know, during the season there. I was wondering if they had peaked too early, but now obviously they're playing super well. And, um, I think at the end of the day, it'll be interesting to see if we get— like, think about last year, right? 13-3 Super Bowl with two teams that were supposed to be high-powered offenses. This year, I hope that actually happens. I'd love to see a lot of points. It would be a really great and exciting game to see both of those offenses click in their full splendor and then see where that goes. And I think that's anybody's game if that happens. I think if it does become a low-scoring, more defensive struggle, I think Kansas City is in trouble, you know.

But, well, you've got second generation, you know, you got Shanahan, you know, whose dad was old school, and by all accounts he's kind of a young guy who's still coaching very old-school way. And then you've got the true old-school guy in Andy Reid, who, you know, and being here in Dallas, you would think, well, all of that time spent in Philly, I mean, nobody in Dallas is gonna root for him, but We do have the Hunt family here, owners of the Chiefs, and so there is, you know, there's a lot of Texas connections to Kansas City and that whole thing.

So it is funny that way when you think about teams, right? So it reminds me, because of course I have my Bruins hat on, of course they lost to the Penguins, you know, recent— last Sunday I think it was, which was, you know, a bummer at Pittsburgh. But the Celtics annihilated the Lakers. I mean, just killed them, you know, within the past week. And it's pretty cool because when you talk about those allegiances, it reminds me one of my favorite moments in all of sports as far as crowd reaction was— this is going back a ways, however— but so in 1983, when the Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers were playing, it was at the Garden, And they were playing for to go basically to the NBA Finals. And it was evident in the last few minutes of the game that, you know, Philadelphia had the better team that year and Philadelphia was going to go to the Finals. And Boston hates Philadelphia, hates Philadelphia, but they hate the Lakers more, right? So at the end of the game, it's got to be like a last minute of the game, the crowd at Boston Garden breaks out into a chant. Beat LA, beat LA. It was like, all right, we're not going, we get it, but you better go do your thing because the last thing we want is the Lakers winning another NBA championship. And so it was very, very cool. Must have been surreal to be, you know, Andrew Toney or Julius Erving or any one of those guys sitting there basically being cheered at the Boston Garden at the end of a game that you won that just kept the Celtics out of the NBA Finals, right? I mean, bizarre. But it is funny how I think most teams anywhere— I mean, think about when Mariano Rivera retires and he plays his last game at Fenway Park. You know, I mean, there's obviously standing ovation. There's all of that stuff that happens when, you know, the rivalries are big. But there's the respect level for players who they know are just really great at what they do and doing their thing for their team, they're well respected. And Andy Reid, I'm sure in Dallas, yeah, they competed against him for a while, but all it does is make them respect him more.

Well, they're people that, you know, you would root for them if they wore the colors that you root for.

Yeah, right.

I mean, here we are with Green Bay's ex-coach. Now coaching the Cowboys, and the town couldn't be happier. I mean, the town, everybody was like, oh, it's going to be Urban Meyer, it's going to be Urban Meyer. And here comes McCarthy out of nowhere. But I mean, after about 20 seconds of people getting their head wrapped around it, okay, let's look at this guy's record. And they're like, yeah, we like this guy. We like this guy a lot. Didn't like him at Green Bay, but we love him now that he's, he's on our team.

You know what's interesting about this conversation, and obviously where we'll go this morning a bit, is to talk about It's kind of interesting to talk about these great teams. And one of them is going to win a championship this year. And then next year they're going to go into training camp. And, you know, oftentimes they think about, oh, they're going to defend their Super Bowl. And it's like, well, they're not defending anything. That season's over. That's done. It's all new now. You know, and there's oftentimes many new players. And there's a whole new vibe that has to be in a whole new, team basically that has to be built from the ground up. You know, there isn't anything about resting on what happened last year or kind of recapturing last year's dynamic. You've got to create your own brand new one. So I think whether you are a team that has been at it for a while, and this could be at a company where you've got a new initiative going on, you've got something which may represent for you kind of the start of a new season when it comes to the new year or whatever that looks like, to be thinking about how do we And going really back to the basics, right, of Bruce Tuckman, of forming, storming, norming, performing, and not skipping that all-important forming stage where you have to have those conversations. You've got to look one another in the eye and make those promises to each other about what your commitment really is. You know, what is this all about? What's your commitment to our purpose, our goal? What is our commitment to one another? How are we going to work together? How are we going to make all this possible and accomplish something that's bigger than us? And I was really reminded of this when I was in Edmonton this past week working with a brand new Tech Canada group in Edmonton. Wonderful group of people. It was their very first meeting. And although the workshop that I do for high-performing groups was developed initially as an assessment exercise, right? Where you'd go in and we'd use the 5 factors for high-performing groups as a framework. And then we'd say, all right, on a scale of 1 to 10, you know, let— and first of all, we'll define 10, what they believe to be ideal. And then they look at, okay, we just painted that picture. Now where are we? And then we talk about how do you bridge those gaps against each of the 5 factors. Well, in this case, you have a brand new group, and now all of a sudden there is no history here. All there is is what do we want to be when we grow up? What value do we want to get from this experience? And what promises do we want to make to one another about how to make that possible? And it is so refreshing when you get a brand new group who is absolutely all in and willing to have the hard conversations around what do we care about? What are our priorities? What are the things that, you know, so often we get together with new groups and teams and these are conversations we don't want to have because it's like, Oh, well, this is all understood. Like, we got this. You know, you, you know, when we talk about being committed to the team, you know what that means, right? And of course there's 10 different versions of what that means around there because you never talk about it. And it's why, um, as you know, the second stage of Tuckman's forming, storming, norming, performing is storming. And, and, and there's way more storming of that. I mean, the storming part is actually a necessary part, but there's also way more of it that occurs because people spend so little time on having the initial conversations they need to have. And, you know, it also made me think about the group you'll be starting very soon and the challenge you're going to have in terms of— and not really challenge, I think it's an opportunity where you get to sit down with those folks. And although they're convening for a reason and they understand why they're there, there's also kind of the next level of now, how are we going to make this work? How are we going to make this possible?

Yeah. And it's the conversations that I, that I'm, I'm having with prospective people. And you and I've had this conversation offline, you know, about the critical nature of this, this forming and getting the right people in the room. Excuse me. And, And I don't profess, I don't profess to have that, to have that down by any stretch of the imagination. I just, I know what I'm, I know what I'm looking for. And so for me, it begins with, with my expectation and my vision for what I want it to be and how valuable I want it to be for these people, uh, 8 in my case. And this is a virtual online group. So it does have a different it is different than being in person. And I get that there is going to be something to that, that ramp up of people getting to know one another, as opposed to people who are meeting together and pretty much are in the same market area. They're not competitors, but in my case, they could be spread all over the country. I just don't want to deal with time zones that are international.

Right.

But, but then the formation of it My approach is, rightly or wrongly, is listening very critically and paying attention to personalities. I don't, for instance, want somebody who just— they're just looking for another group that they can hold forth with, or somebody that's going to hug the wall and you're just going to have to— you just got to work like crazy to pull them out. Over time, the conversations that I have with prospective members kind of bears that out. But I don't know, talk to us about just the person— I mean, the formation of it and the personalities. I mean, take this tech group without divulging any confidentiality, of course, but how different were the expectations coming into this room with a brand new group?

I don't know. I wouldn't suggest that once we started to have the conversation there were real differences. I do think though that when you articulate what your values, priorities, and then the behaviors that are going to be required to actually exhibit those values, right? It's one thing to say, oh, we have these values. It's another thing to try to identify in terms of what does that look like, you know? And again, the more that you crawl inside that conversation and the more specific you get about it, the more it challenges people to think about, well, huh, what would that mean for me? And what do I expect of myself? Because one thing you realize, I think, is any great group or team, it begins with you. It begins with the commitment you're making and the understanding that I'm here for a reason and I've got to make my contribution and do it at the highest level possible because people are depending on me to do that. Um, so I think that that, uh, becomes an essential piece of it, but it's also the group, you know, agreeing on what these values and priorities and norms are. And what, what's helpful about it is it not only gets them looking at one another and creating a very clear set of expectations about what being part of this group looks like, but I think what it really does, you know, for you as the leader of the group and for them, is it also sets expectations for when you may add people to the group, which you will, you know, somewhere along the line. Now you have a really clear understanding of You know, that if you want to be part of this group and you want to enjoy the privilege of, you know, being brought into the fold here, you've got to chin the bar in the following ways, right? And I think it gives clarity around that for everyone. And I think the more that, um, A, to have the conversation at the beginning, but then also figure out ways to not just make that conversation a one-and-done event, but make it part of how you live it. You know, overall, when we do the assessment for groups that have been around for a while, right? So in other words, again, they define what having the right people in the room is, safe and confidential environment, their valuable interaction, or their productivity as a group, their accountability to one another, their— what the leader, you know, contributes to the group. You know, we have conversations all around those things and they define what's ideal, but then they'll think, all right, well, we think in terms of having the right people in the room, we're about an 8, but we can get to 10. Here's what 10 might look like. And so it's a basic gap analysis, right? But I think when you go through that, and there are a lot of groups, for example, that either at the end of every meeting or at least quarterly, they will be at the end of the meeting and say, okay, let's, let's pull these 5 factors out. How are we doing on the right people part? We're getting better, we're getting worse, we're about the same? Same with thing with safe and confidential environment, same thing with the valuable interaction productivity as you go down the list. And that at least keeps that conversation ongoing and doesn't make it something that where people say, oh, we got that. Yeah, we had that conversation like 8 months ago. We got that. And it's like, well, you got that until you don't. Basically, could you stop talking about it? And you get complacent about things and you just, you know, human nature is such where if you don't keep it really ever present in that way, you're never going to maintain it at a level. And think about this in terms of our relationships. Think about marriages. Think about all of that, how important it is, you know, oh, she knows, she knows that I love her. You know, really, you know, It's like, well, what are you doing on a daily basis to make sure that the person in your life is feeling that? And vice versa.

With so many of these groups, would I be incorrect to assume that it's not infrequent that you encounter groups that may not have wrestled with these things before? Not in a real strategic kind of a way.

Yeah, they'll address it in a very surface way, but they don't crawl inside it. So one example would be, yeah, let's list the values that are really important to us. And they go list a lot of these, you know, cool, good-sounding values like, you know, trust and integrity and blah, blah, blah. And they get on and all that and they go, all right, that was good, you know, and then they go off and do their thing. And so not only Do they lack meaning in the moment? But they definitely don't have any legs going forward because no one really understands, well, what does that look or feel like? You know, I mean, trust is a classic one, you know, uh, or, or people's feeling, you know, it kind of plays out in a group where trust is about how safe do I feel to put myself out there? You know, cause we know that when, when you're bringing forward something that's a real challenge in your life or in your business, it takes a great deal of both courage to put yourself out there, but real generosity, you know, realizing that other people will benefit from this if you, you know, put it out there. But, you know, for some people, let's face it, they have the ability to do that right away. I mean, I, I've watched on many occasions someone who goes into this environment, it could be their very first meeting, not necessarily a new group, but a new group for them, but they immediately recognize, whoa, this is different than anything I got going on in my life. I can actually just I can just put it all out there and I don't have to worry about making an impression and being my best face forward and everything all the time. And I've seen people reveal things right out of the gate that just blow your hair back. Right. And so people will be sitting, obviously very respectful, very empathetic and all that, but you know, what's going on in the back of their mind is like, whoa, I thought I had like stuff going on. It's like this person, I don't even know if we can do it. Like they need like a super group. Right? I mean, it is kind of what's going through your head. But the reality is that, um, you know, for that person, when they realize an environment is safe, when they recognize that there's a level of empathy there because of what you share in terms of the common reason that you're in the room, that it's an incredibly powerful setting. And to take advantage of that, um, you know, it was so extraordinary. Yet for others, it's just not their nature. They're just, more private people, and it's a real struggle, you know, for them. They'll tell you, I think the environment's completely safe. Whether I'm going to use it or not, that's a little bit on me, and I've got to figure out in my— for my own self, and for others to help that person, is how do you get over that hump where you can be vulnerable in a way that isn't natural? And but again, these are the kinds of things where If you have the conversation up front that vulnerability and being able to speak openly is a really important value to the group, then it becomes easier to have a conversation with someone several months down the road when you really feel like they're not sharing anything. They're not really opening it up at all. They're, they're contributing, you know, in other ways, but they're not bringing themselves to the table in a way that we think helps them get value, or it doesn't necessarily bring value to others. And it becomes easier at least to have that conversation and invite that, and not in a way that accuses them of anything, but basically says, we miss your contribution. We miss the input that we know you can be delivering to all of us. And hopefully what people will start to see over time, there are two things. One, seeing other people in the group be able to share, and not only is there no penalty for it, but they really see the value that that person and everyone else, you know, gets for it. And, you know, obviously that becomes huge. The other aspect of it is, is that it's not just modeling sharing behaviors, but modeling the listening behaviors, right? Because I think if you get someone in the room pouring their heart out about something going on in the life of the business, you get people checking their cell phone or looking out the window. I mean, that's not— that wouldn't represent safety to me, you know, in that way. That feels like pretty rough. So So I think once people recognize what their role is in that regard, again, these are conversations that you have. And when you have them in the opening meeting and opening meetings, and you remind people about what those behaviors need to be very specifically, then people have real guidance about— because oftentimes people, they're not really trying to be rude. They're not trying to. You never really talked about it specifically. So next thing you know, they're doing something that everyone's complaining about. You're like, whoa, all right, tell me where I'm off here. And then they will tell you. And then it's like, okay, fine. But again, I think this forming stage of things, what I went through with this brand new group and what I do is basically go through the reforming stage, if you will. Anytime I go into a group with an assessment and we go and we have those conversations and there's even some storming that's involved in that. Um, but then when people feel like, all right, we've got to a place where we feel as if we've agreed on our norms, now we can go about and figure out how we perform. How do we continue to perfect that and get better and better over time?

The interesting thing to me is the value that I believe, because I know what I'm planning to do, and I'm planning to have you involved right out of the gate, just like you did for them. Because as much as we can focus on a great end or a great down the road, man, alive, when it comes to human interaction and groups and teams, I mean, the start, man, the start can matter big time. And you think of the advantage. I think of the advantage of this group. It'll be curious to see what that group looks like 6 months, 12 months down the road versus a group that really, that just, they didn't know. They're no fault of their own. They just didn't know. They went about things like most of us do, because part of what I'm engaged with, engaged in is the conversation with people. Who just have been hopeful that something like this could just organically emerge, that they could just find themselves surrounded by people who might serve them in various ways. And yet when they all come to the conclusion that the formation of that is not likely going to be organic, right? Number one, they don't necessarily even know what they need. Because birds of a feather do flock together and all that. And so the very diversity that they may need to avoid blind spots, they're not even looking for. So that's just one illustration. But then if a group does get started to systematically or strategically try to get off on the right foot, I mean, it seems to me that in so many cases, through no fault of their own, we just don't know. We don't know what we don't know. We just assume that it's— this should just be— we should like each other, we should get along, we should support one another.

But what that means to everyone is so different. You know, one of the things that— times where I became really acquainted with this in a real way, and it was a real transition for me at the time, was so when I as a student at Seton Hall in the graduate program, and we did a lot of group projects And everybody hated group projects. And the reason they hated group projects is because you, you now had to give up some control over a lot, right? Because you weren't responsible for every single thing and you weren't, you know, which, which by the way, over time people recognize is a good thing, not necessarily a bad thing, right? But, um, but things had to be worked out like, all right, who's responsible for what? Who's going to do what section? How are we going to do this? Who's going to proof it? How do we get it into final form? When there's a disagreement about how we're going to do something. How does conflict get resolved? Is it majority vote? Is it what— whatever it happens to be, right? I mean, there's all this stuff that has to get— what if somebody— what if we have a meeting, like a Zoom meeting like this, where we were all supposed to get together and somebody doesn't show up and doesn't tell anyone that they weren't going to show up to begin with? Like, what does that look like? Or if there's a piece of the project that was due by a certain day and time so that everyone could read it and work with it and kind of go forward and that person doesn't submit their assignment. Like, what's the consequence for that? Or what— I mean, these are all things that unless you work them out in advance in any kind of detail, then people are going to be like, yeah, I know you said it was Friday, but, you know, I have a different relationship with time than you do. And, you know, I figured Sunday was fine. You know, they're not bad people. They just, you know, it's just different. And so, you know, I think you just got to be specific about that. And this is where definitely had, you know, some experiences with our learning team situation back then where we got it right sometimes where we weren't specific enough. And we realized the next team we were on, this is what we did. And we actually used to create a charter that was in writing that everyone signed off on and that they— we all kind of created together. And it was really our document that we could go back to that we all kind of agreed upon. And, but again, going back to the group in Edmonton, incredible group of people. I mean, just really, and really committed to each other, which is what was really nice. I mean, they weren't just there. They certainly had some personal goals and things that they wanted to get better at. And they realized that the group could help them do that, but they were genuinely also really wanting to be there to contribute to others as well and to make a difference in their lives. And that is a pretty powerful, pretty winning combination, I think.

Any noticeable differences going into that meeting or at the initial outset versus at the end of your session? I'm just curious. There might not have been, but—

I think just really, I think it just opens your eyes, right? It's just that there's awareness levels about a couple things. One, how important it was that we had real conversations about the specific behaviors, right? But also, and I think what was really enlightening and helpful for them, is they were like, wow, I joined this group because I hope to do X, and now I realize there's all of this incredible stuff that's possible, you know, that if we all bring our A-games to every single meeting and that we commit to one another, you know, when we need to outside the meeting to support, you know, each other in other ways, we're going to do some extraordinary things. You know, I tell them a story about a particular member of a CEO group, and this was a number of years ago, who, you know, basically received one question from a fellow member who was really paying attention. And the answer to that question effectively changed the trajectory of that person's life and their company's life in a major way. And, you know, I'll tell that story and people are just like blown away by that whole thing. And then I remind them that there's no reason that isn't possible all the time, you know, but it's really about Am I prepared? You know, am I going to be at that meeting? And when I'm there, am I going to have a level of engagement where I'm paying attention enough to do the little things really well and do and ask those questions when they come up? And, you know, because oftentimes what ends up happening is, you know, in these particular groups, you've got people who are in entirely different industries, right? So you get someone in banking and someone in small manufacturing, and you've got someone else in the service industry of some sort, and they're all over the place. The good part about that is that somebody in manufacturing is asking the person, you know, at the service company a question that that person stopped asking themselves a long time ago because they get so steeped in their own vertical, right? And so what seems like a silly question, where it seems like a question that is like, uninformed at a certain level is usually the brilliant question that, that comes up. And, you know, it gets someone rethinking, like, yeah, maybe we don't have to do that the way everybody else in our industry already does it. And you learn that there is something else that's done, you know, in another industry sector that's commonplace in their business, unheard of in yours, but you're thinking, huh, that could, that could really work for us. You know, that could be, that could be killer. And it's part of the benefit of, you know, on one hand you, you want all this forming part to be how do we come together and shared values and behaviors and all these other things. But it's also a really important time to get to know one another really well in terms of, because everyone is so diverse and their experiences are so different, But the deeper I get into that and the more I understand what those experiences and knowledge areas are, the more I'm able to tap into those things. So I mentioned to you that next week I'm actually going to an area around Toronto where I'll be working with a company where— and I think that this team has been together for a while, so it's going to be really interesting. But oftentimes you have team members who they don't even really understand. They think they know their team members and what they do, and they really don't a lot of times. And yet they're supposed to work together and depend on each other and all of that. So it's going to be really interesting to kind of quickly kind of assess what that looks like and get a sense of, A, do they have a shared view of the world, if you will, but also how well do they really understand the value that each person in that room has and are they tapping into it to the extent that they can be?

Yeah, that loss of naivete can be killer. I mean, I remember being a young man and kind of being thrown into an industry or a segment of an industry that I had zero knowledge. And so I asked every stupid question that could be asked. And wasn't embarrassed by it. But out of that came, you know, not only came my learning, but came my team's learning of some things that they just, they just assumed, well, it's this way because just because it's been this way. Talk to us about, so the forming, the forming of a team, you know, the, the ideal versus, versus the real practical obstacles and hurdles and how we might be able to overcome those at any level of, you know, whether it's the right people in the room or whether it's getting the people in the room to kind of be cohesive like what you did with this tech group.

Yeah, I think what the framework of the 5 factors helps with is it allows you to categorize the conversation a little bit, right? Because to your point, you don't know what you don't know sometimes. So what the framework allows for is to be able to say, all right, the right people in the room, what does that mean? For us? Like, what does have, you know, safe and confidential environment, what does that, what does that look like? You know, so that you don't miss talking about a whole category of stuff. It's really, really important. So now within each of those 5 factors, there's a, there's a lot of deep conversations to be had there, and I think when it's facilitated by someone who kind of understands the dynamics of that, it can help the group have those conversations around those topics. So that's where I think that's helpful. I think left to own devices, you, you know, you can be left with thinking like whatever pops into your head at the moment about what you think might be important, but then you can, you can have a lot of big misses there, you know. So I would just say that for whatever group, whether they're working with me and the framework I have, or they work within some type of framework that allows for all the conversations to happen that need to happen, are supposed to happen. You know, I think that that's what's, what's really, really important. And so, like I said, looking forward to— the Edmonton experience was great. I'll be back in Canada, of course, next week, so really excited about the opportunity there. And then, you know, after that, after my two hits in Canada, I go and work with a group in Boca Raton, Florida, just to, you know, get a little weather break. Yeah. But actually, it wasn't even that cold in Edmonton. The week before, it was like 40 below. I mean, people were like saying it was the coldest it's been in decades there, which is saying something for Edmonton, right? Yeah, but you missed it. But actually, it was pretty nice. It was probably like in the high 20s, you know, so I was walking around and—

Unwrap balmie.

It was, it was good. No big deal.

But, um, well, the good thing is you're working, you're working on a new book. So for those people in our audience that are interested in, in greater detail of these 5 factors, um, something to look forward to.

Yeah. And, um, basically, um, you know, so I'm looking at Yeah. So, there's a working title that I'm probably not quite prepared to share yet. But it is, it is going to be a lot of fun. And I'm really looking forward to, you know, I'm working on it every day right now and having some fun with it. So, maybe next time we'll talk a little bit more about what that is and how that's kind of shaping up. In the meantime, before we run though, I need a prediction for you. Where is Tom Brady going to be playing football next year?

Man, you're the New England guy, you know. I mean, you said some things before we hit record that, you know, I'll leave it, I'll leave it, I'll leave it to you to speculate. I mean, I don't know. I can certainly see the motivation to want to try to do this without the head coach. They have been such a brilliant tandem. But of course, being the guy in Dallas and here with the Cowboys, and everybody here thinks back to the Jimmy Johnson-Jerry Jones thing, and it's like Really? I mean, if you guys would have stayed together just a little bit longer, y'all could have really cemented your place in NFL history. But egos got in the way, and you and I both know that's— it's life.

Yeah, and it's a bit of a three-headed kind of thing here between Kraft, Belichick, and Brady. But, you know, I would think that there's some speculation, for example, that if Brady stayed in New England, that Belichick wouldn't. I don't know how I feel about that one way or another. I think there's a case to be made that if Brady's going to stay, you're going to pay him a lot of money and you're not going to put people around him again, right? As we talk about, who you surround yourself with matters. You don't have anyone who can get open or catch the football, that's going to be another, you know, rough— that's not exactly a recipe for returning to the Super Bowl.

And he kind of saw what that was like this season.

Oh, we saw it. Yeah. So And you know, there's some speculation about the Chargers. I don't know that I see that. In my mind, I think if you're Brady and you want to play another year, and it's not going to be for the team that you've always played for, and I think it would be great if he went out a New England Patriot. That would certainly be, you know, what I'd like to see and put a supporting cast around him that would be good ideally. I think if not though, I think there are some folks that are speculating about the Titans, which I think makes a lot of sense. I think next year they would love to have a quarterback who's really been there, you know, done that. Vrabel is the head coach, played with Brady. They got the whole system, they have the relationship, they have the rapport, and it would be Brady's opportunity to go play for a team that actually has a chance of winning a Super Bowl. Bowl versus going to the Chargers and going in and really being able to do it and do it without Belichick, which I think it would be some bit of motivation there as well. Yeah, I do too.

I can see it.

Yeah, so we'll see what happens.

But anyway, yeah, well, let me hawk Pure Innovation. So what Leo is fixing to go do in Toronto, he can do for you. And your company. And peer innovation is about helping people with groups and teams inside companies, outside companies. It really is just about leveraging this who you surround yourself with matters notion. And it's, it's going to be a big year, I know, in your work, Lord willing, and in my work of trying to facilitate some, some groups. And this one charter group, details for that can be found at thepeeradvantage.com. Check out Leo's work at L-E-O-B-O-T-T-A-R-Y. That's leobattari.com. You can find all about services and keynote. And I know that you're, you're doing considerably more, more speaking as time moves forward and keynotes. And one of the things that I want to hawk before we bail out is conferences. And this time of year, we are being blitzed with the conferences that are being planned for the year 2020. And if you are involved in a conference, there's, there's just no better message than somebody who can hit the stage and tell people how to get the most out of a conference, no matter what your conference is about. And it's right in Leo's wheelhouse to tell people how they can leverage, you know, it's these hallway conversations and things that so many times we miss when we spend all this money and all this time to go fly to someplace and and hole up for 2 or 3 days in a hotel and we come away not having a whole lot. Yeah.

When you look oftentimes, you know, a few months later and ask yourself what you remember from that conference and what you did with it, it's usually not, not great. And I think, yeah, your, your point, and thanks for bringing that up because it's the idea is exactly that no matter what the conference is about, you're all there for the same reason, presumably. So what I try to do is tap into how you can get get the most out of that, both in terms of, you know, I feel like the richest resource for you are the other people at that conference. And once you're able to leverage one another and learn how to do that in a way that embeds the learning and gives you ultimately the courage to act on what you learned, it's pretty cool. So yeah, so I'd very much love to do that. In fact, you know, as you know, I did one at the end of last year that was around the auto theft industry. All right, so just to let you know that whatever topic is out there, you know, and that was a bunch of folks from law enforcement and the insurance business, and wonderful group of people and just a lot of fun. But, you know, again, there's so much information and so much stuff and so many people to meet and see and all that. It's like, how do you, you know, really maximize, you know, again, the investment of time and money that you put into that to, to make it valuable for you. So I think for them to have just one session where it was about 45 minutes or so, where we just dug deep into how to leverage the whole rest of the experience you're going to have here, and it was kind of early on, I think it really set a tone for them, and people really appreciated it. They They appreciated something too that was kind of a non-vertical, you know, into their whole area. Just something a little different, got them thinking. But I do think it set the tone for how they approached the rest of the event, which if you're an event organizer, what do you want more? You want people leaving that event feeling like, wow, that was an experience that I got a lot out of. So either I'll go next year or I'll convince 10 other people to go next year or whatever that is. It's more than just about the quality of the speakers and the quality of the content. It has to be about the overall experience where people get the kind of learning and actionable takeaways that are going to make a difference in their lives.

So you can find out more by going to peerinnovation. This all takes you to Leo's website, peerinnovation.co.

That's P-E-E-R-N-O-V-A-T-I-O-N.

Will take you to all of Leo's services and stuff. Good conversation. I'm going to say go Chiefs.

Go Chiefs it is. All right. We're all in. Bye.

To learn more about our show and what we do, to submit questions to us, and to subscribe to What Anyone Can Do Podcast, please visit our website, whatanyonecando.com. What Anyone Can Do Podcast is hosted by Leo Battari and me, Randy Cantrell. Music provided by Kevin MacLeod is Vibe Ace. Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 license. Thanks for watching or listening. We hope you'll share the podcast.