Episode 285: Hiring a Coach & Therapist (w/ Yonah Budd and Brett Boake of Score Promotions)

Brett and Yona, thank you so much for making the time to do this today.

Great to be here.

Our pleasure.

Brett, why did you think, as I mentioned in the intro, this is a fascinating foray into helping employees and helping colleagues and helping teammates. Why did you think it was important to bring on a performance coach and therapist for your team? And I think we get why a performance coach would be important.

Right.

We're all in sale. This is a very sales driven business. But the performance coach and. And therapists, that's fascinating. Why did you think that was important?

Well, Bobby, we've had significant growth here at score, so we're 60 plus employees and team members now. And that's happened rapidly in the last couple years actually since you and I were together for the first time. And you know, after the pandemic, we really could see that we wanted to be there more than just a coach or just a manager for our, our team. And I first got to meet Yona and had some great sessions, just himself and him and I, just one on one talking about a day in the life. And it just made sense that why can't we share this with every single employee and have someone that's not management, not just their team lead or teammate that they can lean on and talk about anything, whether it's something to do with your family, your spouse, your dog, or a teammate.

Yona, how would you describe your role? I mentioned your bio in the intro. Why do we need both a performance coach and a therapist?

Well, I think need is maybe a strong word. I think every company needs a people mechanic. I think the best way to look at it is if you're running a. You know, I've said this many times, so I apologize if you've heard it before. But, you know, if you have a. If you're running a company that's manufacturing stuff and you got a ton of equipment, chances are you're going to have a mechanic on staff or at least on call, readily available, in and out a lot, keeping everything moving, properly greased, shiny, ready to rumble. Right. Same too. If you're running a people organization, you need to have a people mechanic. So in terms of having a coach, a performance coach, I think every organization needs to have someone in their organization that can provide the opportunity to give people a boost, help drive them forward, give them goals to be set and give them, give them pat on the back when they reach them, maybe a bit of a kick in the bum when they don't. I think that's an important part of corporate structure. The Advent of being able to add a therapy role, which is what I'm able to offer to score in other clients, is that in today's day and age, and probably forever, a lot of what people bring to work and ends up being an issue at work really has nothing to do with work. So if you're employed, you're in the HR department, there's a very fine line between what you can talk about. It's difficult to have a discussion about, hey look, you look like you're a little stress late. Everything okay at home? You can't really ask that as a manager, but as a coach and a therapist, you can ask the question a coach isn't equipped to deal with. No, I'm having a real difficult time. My husband's leaving me and, you know, my life is upside down. I don't know what to do next. I got three kids. A coach isn't equipped necessarily to deal with that. A therapist is. And, and today, since the pandemic for sure, people are now recognizing that there's a connection between how they feel at home and how they feel at work. And I think someone who's capable of doing both things on both sides of the line, so to speak, kind of hits it out of the park.

Is this yona, a growing trend where you're seeing, you know, this is something unique to our post pandemic culture that requires the breakdown of the professional and personal?

Yeah, I mean, for me, it's always been the case. I've always, you know, with the year, you know, the 20 odd years I've been doing this kind of coaching work. It's always been a mixture of, you know, performance related, job related, success related stuff. And, you know, what's keeping you up at night if you don't mix and match. For me, it's kind of hard not to make it all work, to make the whole person, the whole machine function properly. So I think today, especially since COVID people are recognizing that they're not as resilient as they thought they were once. Test. Now that everyone's been tested. Right. So we're all pushed to the brink. How well did you do? So now you can look back and reflect on, on where your resiliency is and perhaps where your weaknesses are. And there's more and more opportunities now to help, you know, help the whole person in terms of inside and out and at work and at home. So, you know, most companies have, most corporations have a program where you can reach out to an online social worker or therapist or drug counselor, whatever you Need. Most people are kind not ready to do that. The folks at SCORE over time reach out to me more because I'm there more. And they hear little successes around the water cooler, so to speak. Hey, you know, I spoke to Yona the other day, man, the guy was amazing or whatever they have to say. Hopefully that's what they're saying. And that then breeds trust and it grows from there. So the ability for Brett and the owner, Tommy, Tommy Greenberg, the guys that, you know, run the operation, they recognize that if they're at work nine, ten hours a day in our industry, in the promo industry, it's not a 9 to 5 job, as you know, it's important that there's someone there on the ready. At 11:30, they have a terrible phone call with their brother about something about an ill mother. God forbid. Right. Who do they go to? Well, most times they would have to leave and then they would go home. They'd be all stressed in the car on the way. So it's better for safer and better for the employee to have a place they can go kind of down the hall.

Yeah.

Brett, this is a practice that is usually employed by much larger companies. I mean, the fact that SCORE did this is kudos to you and the team for doing this and Yona for investing in SCORE yourself. How did you introduce this to the team? Was this a hard share? Was it? Was there? Did you have some ground rules for privacy? I'm looking for some practical tips on other folks that want to consider something as well.

Absolutely. So at first it was Tom and I that really worked with Yono and we were doing again one on one sessions with them, learning about Yona, learning what we could really extract from Yona and take advice from and guidance. And when we introduced it to the team, we had a all call because we were still hybrid at that point in time. So we got everyone on and introduced Yona. Yona came and did a little intro on himself and then Tom and I both spoke about what we've learned so far and what we've accomplished with Yona and what he's helped us overcome and be a part of. I sure I shared a story with my team of just coaching that Yona and I were just. He was just helping me on how to deal with people and, and bounce ideas off him that I didn't want to bounce off Tom or, or really go to the owner and say, hey, Tom, like I really want to look at this or I'm having an issue here with this, with this department or individual. So when we introduced him, it was very easy and, and it was just, hey, hey, this is Yona. He's our coach. He's going to be here for you whenever you need to. If you want to use Yona and reach out to him and utilize his talents, then do that. If you don't, that's fine too. But he's here when you need him. And people were mixed, I think at the beginning, if you agree, Yona, where they were, they were, you know what, I'm going to reach out to him right away. And some were like, I don't need that. But you know what? Come to today, I don't think there's a person on our team that has not had time with Yona. And Yona hit right on the money. When he said it earlier, he's here in the office, he walks around. And when you, when Jonas in the building, you know Jonas in the building because he comes with energy. He's like, how are you? He knows little, little pieces about everyone. And the nice thing, when him and I speak, we. I don't divulge personal information with the. About the team, but I'll say he, you know what, be really nice if you could just go over and say hi to this person today. And he's like, got it. And he knows I don't have to queue him up. He just knows. And then all of a sudden I see them go and have that conversation. And the other thing I like to say is Yona doesn't have to do it 9 to 5. So there's people here that, as you know, in our industry or any sales organization, they just go, it's customer facing. It's just, you know, they're ideating, they're selling, they're putting out fires where Jonas says, Hey, 5:30, let's have a coffee over, over Zoom here at 5:30, what, 11:00 clock at night? Because you're on the west coast, I've got you for 15 minutes. And let's talk about that and let's, let's recap it next week and really see if this is working for you. And we're seeing a such a big difference in the culture and just in people's demeanor when they're coming to work and they're working with their teammates. And as a manager, Yona can be that separation for us where someone's not going to just come. The department lead is not just going to come to me or someone on a team is not going to come to me. They can go right to Yona. And I can deflect that and say, hey, I think you really should have that conversation with Yona. And then they'll divulge that information. So privacy is number one. If they want to reach out to, you know, I don't have to know about that. I just see that Yona spoke to someone on a Wednesday and he was active for an hour on Wednesday afternoon. That's all I need to know. And then Yona can speak to this, but he'll go to that individual and say, would you like me to share this with Brett?

I love that, how you're. You're carefully mapping out the confidences in that sense.

Yeah. So I think that Brett led to a good thing. If I can jump in here for a second, Bobby, I think it's very important that you understand that I am one layer separated. So I don't impact their. I don't impact their employment, I don't impact their compensation. I don't impact their bonus schemes. I don't impact any of that kind of stuff. May impact, you know, things related to their job that might help them feel better, be better, do better, and that we do that in cooperation with management, of course. But, you know, Brett now has me once a week, I meet all the teams. Like I meet them in a team setting, almost sales managerish, sort of, but we talk more about team stuff. Maybe stuff they wouldn't share with their lead. They don't want to share with Brett. With Brett, because it sounds like they're nitpicking. No one wants to nitpick at work. I'm a great guy to nitpick with because it's that nitpicking stuff.

Right.

Isn't going to make you look bad. And it's that little stuff that eats away at you. Right. So it's the stupid little thing like, you know, my chair's been broken for a week and no one's replaced it. Like, not big in the scheme of things. But everyone thinks you're complaining too much if you complain about your chair. Well, complain to me and I'll say, listen, are you okay with me talking to management and getting you a new chair? So they' a new chair. Right. So it's simple things or sometimes very difficult things. Sometimes it's a dynamic between a lead and, you know, someone under them or someone that works on their team or between two teammates. Sometimes it's Brett rubbing them the wrong way unknowingly.

Right.

They happen to hear something nasty from somebody in their family, and Brett comes in and jokingly says, Something that happens to feel similar. They think he knows he doesn't. Oh, Brett's on get. So we're able to cut that off right away. Okay, right in here. Let's talk about this together. So I think in a team setting, it works well. I think individually, it works well. And I think people recognize that there's a safe place to go to bitch and complain. And we all need a place to bitch and complain.

What I love about that too. Brett, this is surely giving you some more latitude to focus on the most important things to driving sales. And I know any leader gets caught up, they want to build a great culture. They want to do all these things, but they can get a little sidetracked from a lot of these other things that Yona just talked about. But Yona's dealing with both the small and the big things, and we'll get to that in a minute. But has that liberated you somewhat, Brett, and able to drive different priorities for the business?

More than you can imagine, Bobby. It's allowed me to really focus on the large picture, which is building. Which is building our distributorship up to the next level and beyond. So it's allowing me to stay focused. And there's two parts of that number is I personally meet with Yona twice a week, regimented. So one is off site, and when we go off site, we go to Starbucks, and him and I meet in the morning, and. And that's more for, like, what's on your mind? Are you, you know, as. As. Same as you, Bobby. We travel a lot. Right. We'll be in Texas in a couple weeks, and then here and there. And I'm away from the family, and I have a very young family with the five boys. And. And, you know, first thing we'll say is, okay, what are you doing here before you travel? Are you doing this, this and this to make sure your family said, okay, now focus on the business. And then I can come to. And I can bounce all that off him. And then the second part of it, which is on a Friday morning, that's more strategic. So now I use Yona more as a coach, business coach for that. So Wednesday is more. More Brett therapy personal. And Fridays is okay. So let's talk about this team. I met with this team, and here's a couple things they really want your attention with, and then it allows me to be focused, and I can absorb that information. I can come up with a strategic plan, and then I can execute that plan with that team right then and there.

Yeah.

Afterwards. And I don't have to hear it, absorb it from them and kind of get all that mush. I could just get the actual finite details and move on. So it's, it's incredible having them with us.

I imagine, you know, Yona, in some business cultures, distrust is a big part of the element. There are folks that just don't trust the institution, if you will. And how you said this was at first received slowly, but then gradually. And there's sounds like a real shift in participation and response after you've gained the trust of folks and after you sort of demonstrated how it would work.

Yeah, I think trust comes, you know, proof is in the pudding, as they say. You know, there are situations throughout the time that I've been with Score and the team there where I managed, along with Brett and ownership, to help people change situations within their employment that made their life a little simpler, a little easier. It might be as simple as an employee coming to me saying, listen, I think I've got ADD or adhd and I've just recently diagnosed. I realize it's been affecting some of my follow up work. The kid's a killer that I'm talking about in terms of sales. But issues with follow up. And so now we recognize that there's an actual, you know, chemical, psychological, psychosocial reason why he's got that going on. And we're able to then bring. I'm able to then help him bring that to Brett in a way that isn't risky, right? No. No fear for their job. So, you know, he's the same person's got friends in the office and I'm sure they shared that conversation. So other situations where one employee was having a difficult time with another one bring the two of them into, into a group setting. We do a lot of, a lot of couples therapy in the office, making sure that everyone's getting along nicely. So that really puts an end to difficult situations for people. And they know about it, they hear about it. You know, this one and this one, we're having a brawl in the office, verbal brawl in the office, so to speak. And everybody kind of open hears it because we're a big, happy, open family there. And then, you know, then a day later, everyone's settled down and they're going for lunch and they're going out for a smoke together, whatever they're doing. And so the work that we're doing as a team, the work that I'm able to facilitate, certainly my involvement, Brett's openness, Tommy's openness to the kind of work that I have to do. And their. Their involvement in being on site or not, sometimes they're not. It doesn't make sense. So we move on to something else. I think that creates the trust, the delivery, the actual trying, you know, the cultural differences. Since I've been there, we, as a group, the management group, we decided to come up with something called score values. People recognize that we now drive ourselves by these score values. They weren't there before I got there. I'm not saying that I'm the one that invented them, but people see that, oh, since Jonah's been here, we're doing more of this and less of that and more of this. So as the culture changes and as the hires get better and the hires get more synergistic with the people that are already there, people just get more comfortable with us as a team. And I think that's. That's where the safety comes from, is when they see it's a team. It's not just about Yona. It's about the team environment that we leave behind.

Right.

And I'm sorry to be so pedantic about this, but we have many entrepreneurs who are like, this is amazing. I think I would like to do something like this for my team. How does this work in terms of scheduling and kind of, if were an employee, Brett, would I have regular visits with Yona? Is that something we can schedule? Is it episodic? How do you handle that?

Well, it's on a case by case basis. Every individual has the opportunity to use yona almost 24 7. So there's obviously limits to what Yona wants to do because he also has other clients in personal life as well. But, no, we're open to anything. So if you need Yona for half an hour and it has to be between 11 and 11:30am as long as you don't have a. You know, they're all. All big people here, so if they. They know what their day's like, but they'll schedule with you on either a day before or it could be you. And I think there's been cases where, hey, you and I want to speak this afternoon. I've got something going on. I got a big decision I need to make.

Right.

It might be a personal decision, could be a financial decision, and it could be. It's even been a decision because this one employee, he told me afterwards, he said, you know, this was very difficult. We had a compensation conversation, and you know how those go, especially for employees that want to come to you and say, hey, I need. I Need some extra money, especially during these times or I deserve it. But they, they asked Yona, they said, hey, can we, can we just go over how I should approach Brett with this conversation? And, and he walked them through. And you know what? It was, it was well received when, when he came to see me, I was very impressed at how it was put together and we worked through it very easily where I think it wouldn't have been so easy for, you know, here's what I've been doing, here's where I'm going, here's my focus for the next six months. And this is what I'm thinking I deserve and need so things like that work out. But going back to your schedule again, we have people that are on west coast time and people that are down in the U.S. well, Yona works around that, so we give them that opportunity during the work hours and afterwards.

Yeah, I think that's critical to Brett's point, I think to Bobby, to your question, people, you know, the folks that I work with, one of the conditions I have with the employer in working with the team is that if they need to reach me during paid working hours, they need to have the time to do so. They can't be. And if there's a boardroom available or I have people that do it from the, from the parking lot, from their car, if it's, if it's virtual or in person, we go for a walk or sit outside. So wherever we can create a safe place. But the employer has to be open to this being done during work hours. Which, to your point, in terms of entrepreneurs, I work with a lot of self made real estate, insurance broke, you know, stockbroker type guys and folks, you know, it's. You always manage to find time to, you know, to do what it is you need to do. And if you need to feel better, you just find time to hang out with me.

Yeah, right. And Brett, this is 100% vested by the company or is this a shared expense with employees? Or is this something scored at 100%?

There's 100% on score.

I love it. Yona, let's talk a little bit about crisis care, because at one point I realized as a CEO of a small business, around 30 people. This is just my anecdotal experience. I realized one time when I looked up and realized 30% of our workforce is going through some kind of life changing event, like someone was getting married, someone had just lost a loved one. It was incredible. And then I realized after a while, you could almost account for that. 30% any given time of the year. It was a shocking realization to me because that means a third of our team sort of weighted by some major life transition. What's been your experience working with business and with employees? How have you seen these personal experiences impact an employee's work? And sort of a second part is I think the workplace has become a safer place for us to bring our life into. Post Covid do you.

So to answer the first question, I think it's clear to me that there's very little separation. You know, one of the things we talk about in a, in a stay interview with an employee is what do you think about one of the questions? What do you think about on the way to work in the morning?

Yeah.

Another question is what do you think about on the way home from work in the morning? And you know, for many people, coming to work is their salvation is their freedom from what they're going back to at the end of the day, whether. No judgment. Right. So I think for many people, their collegial relationships, for many those are their most social relationships. Especially if you're a killer out there and you're, you're grinding and working hard and traveling and coming and going, it's tough to call. Cultivate strong ongoing relationships. So your peer relationships, your collegial relationships, I think are significant. A lot of people find comfort in coming to the office because there's usually someone there that they're close enough to that they can talk to. The advantage to having someone that has my skill set in the workplace is yes, you can come and talk to me and event and cry and say, jump, do what you got to do. But at the end of the day, you're going to walk away with some things therapeutic based science based skill sets and strategies that you can use, as opposed to my sister's opinion was because she had a boyfriend's brother whose dog died and this is how he responded. Still very valuable. But I think I'd be a little uncomfortable if people were providing lay strategies for people who are actually in crisis. And let's face it, as great a manager as anybody might be, unless they're trained in the stuff that I'm trained in and have the experience that I have, they're in a great manager, a great cfo, even CEO, they don't have the skill set to deal with people in crisis. So it's important to recognize we have a crisis. This isn't an HR thing. They need help now. And I would say 30, 40, probably 45% of people that walk into the office. If they come to the office these days, walk in with some weight from home. And I think those that work from home, frankly, are having a heavier, harder time taking the heavy load off of them when they're in that environment. They no longer have that safe place to go to that lunch break with their buddies, that coffee or Tim's on the way home with their friends. So for many people, it's created a less safe work environment for them staying home than coming to the office. And for others, it just creates an opportunity for them to get away. Whether it's your children or just the household chores, sometimes it's nice to get away and have something fresh and be treated like an adult and talk to adults. And I think that's what work provides for many people.

Yeah. Brett, what have you heard from teammates and colleagues about this since you implemented it?

Well, it's not just what I've heard, what I've seen.

Yeah.

You know, what I've experienced in the demeanor and the culture and just the up. Uplifting of spirits within the office. So we all know Covid, everybody was at home. You know, Bobby, we were all trying to support each other and, and, you know, trying to run her business when everybody was so spread out. And now that we're all coming back, it's not like the culture is always 100% happy and rah rah.

Right.

So to speak. So, you know, with. With Yona coming on board and being a very integral part of our team, it allows people to have that sounding board or that just that. That third party almost away from again, myself and Tommy and maybe their. Their department lead. It just allows them to open up and get some really good advice, but also just. Just relieve a lot of pressure because like Jonas said, there's. We all have something at home or, or something within our lives, our personal life that is affecting our decisions maybe throughout the day. And, and then again for myself and Tommy, it allows us to really focus on the growth of the business, and we're seeing that. So, you know, to properly answer your question, we're seeing growth here at Score and, And that's attributed. And Yona's a part of that growth. It's not just the sales that's growing. It. It's. It's. Yona is growing the culture here. And, you know, he's going to be here for a long time to come.

Yeah. The ASI state of the industry report just came out, and one of the interesting findings was that coming out of 2022 last year, people reported higher Levels of stress. Perhaps that was the adjustment coming out of COVID For whatever reason they reported, distributors reported higher levels of stress than before. So the timing on this is incredible because I think a lot of us reentered the workforce and went, I don't know who I am or what I'm anymore, or even how to go to work anymore. Another thing that's posed an interesting challenge. Yona Axios recently reported a major shortage in mental health care professionals, citing more than 160 million people live in areas lacking enough mental health professionals to fit the need. Are we seeing a new form of responsibility shouldered by companies, even smaller companies who offer this type of care? Are you seeing more in corporate investments in this type of care?

Yeah, not nearly enough, but sure. I think that companies recognize. Let's go backwards a little bit. If you deconstruct what it takes to run a company, part of it is the attraction and retention of good staff.

Right.

I think that people are waking up because they can't find nor keep the kind of people they need to run their business. You know, whether you're a restaurant operator and you can only operate from now from 1 till 9 instead of 11 till 9 because you can't get staff for the morning or you know, you're a, a manufacturing company or you're in promotions like we are and we can't get it. Like we can't seem to get enough people to do the job that we have to do here or the right kind of people to do the job that we need to do. So I think recognizing that in order to do that, we need to be much more open to the whole human, not just their resume. And I think a whole human approach to hiring, retention and promotion is a big part of it. So what I mean by that is that if you recognize when hiring someone that what you're. If you propose to them that not only are we here to help you learn more skills and do this, but if you're having an off date, there's someone here you can talk to, by the way, doesn't cost you anything. You don't have to set up an appointment. So the problem with companies that have programs is that it's great that they pay for stuff, but who's helping them get that six or eight or nine week appointment early enough that it makes a difference. Because I don't know about you, but if I got something on my mind six weeks from now, I'm not in a good place if I'm carrying it around right.

You know, we often think of therapy only in terms of crisis care versus performance, which I think this has been a big part, Brett, of what you were really driving at. And, and by the way, kudos that you, you. You spent enough time with Yona to begin with to know yourself and probably because you needed it yourself to understand how to. You vetted this whole process. But this has to be Yona for you. A very rewarding experience helping employees perform at their best. I mean, do you have some. Since we have your expertise here, do we have. You have some tips on how we can bring our best selves to work? Do you see common struggles today that many employees are facing?

Sure. I want to just jump on something though, before you answer that in terms of the rewarding part. You know, we had recently we had our all company outing and we give away awards and Brett was voted and got a really beautiful award and stood up and I was sitting in the table next to where he was standing up and. And I was crying and I'm crying just thinking about it. I mean, just watching this young man with five children take on an organization of, you know, 30 out of 60 people. We are now to growth. You know, we got 45 killers. I mean in a positive way, Dynamic, strong, independent, opinionated, you know, self empowered, big job. And to watch him grow into this role of a more. A more. I won't say polished because he's a very polished young man, but a more. A more skilled, caring manager in terms of setting himself back from the numbers and the performance that he's also judged by, by the way, to make sure that we're making time for the real person. And as a result of that, we're growing. So for. For him to see that, listen, the guy's a hockey player, an ex hockey player. He's an ex hockey. He's a hockey coach. He thinks like that. So to see him understand the emotional part of what it takes to grow a business, not just more sales calls, more phone calls, more pro, you know, more, more kits out there, more decks and so on, that brings me a tremendous feeling of joy and satisfaction as much as much as seeing all the younger people and then those that are, that are new to the organization grow skills for people, strategies for people. I think you need to. We all need to recognize two things. Number one, we're going to work. So if we're talking to people who are in the workplace, we're going to work. This is not our home life. It's not our family life, not our children, not our mothers, not our spouses. Not our best friends, not our cousins, toxic aunts and uncles, none of that. We're going to work. So I tell people all the time, I love what I do. I think I'm really great at it. But I go to work because I need to make a paycheck. I would go to work and collect a paycheck even if I didn't need the paycheck. Because the paycheck for me is the A I never got in high school or the stars I wanted in kindergarten, right? So obviously the. The more I make, the better I feel I'm doing in terms of success that way. So there needs to be a remuneration factor in why people go to work. I go to work because I need to pay my bills, but I want to love what I do, right? So there's a very fine line between going to work and loving what you do and going to work to make the paycheck. What's important that people have to understand is there needs to be a really good filter between the emotional sharing and the emotional risk we're prepared to take at work versus the emotional risk we take in our private lives. Meaning that if you take a little less emotion to work, make it a little more practical and a little more functional, then the hurt that we sometimes feel and the stress and the guilt that we sometimes feel and the anger that we sometimes feel less of, that would be prevalent in our workday if it didn't matter to us so much emotionally. So recognizing that there's a difference between our emotional gratification and our financial gratification. Work is to make a living and to do a good job and obviously to feel successful. But it's not where you need to find the value structure that makes you your best self. You just need to be a good colleague, a good working, you know, a good employee. You need to be a good boss if that's the position you're in. But it doesn't define who you are as a person. And I think that's what the biggest thing that people have difficult time with. The next three things are. You got to eat properly, you got to sleep properly, you got to get some exercise every day, meaning I don't care how busy you are, how much money you got on the table right now on that deal, get up off your rear end, go take the sandwich that you brought from home, or go outside and go order something, go sit in your car, go sit on a bench, go take a walk, get away from your desk for 30 minutes every day at lunchtime, reset Yourself, go slow. Get a chance to catch your breath one more time. And the third thing is, on your way home, make sure that when you close the door in the office, sometimes I tell people, wear a different hat. If you wear a hat, wear a hat on the way into the office. Wear a different hat on the way out of the office. You need to turn it off when the door closes behind you, which then helps with the eating, sleeping, and working out. Yeah, yeah.

Brett, can you speak a little more how this has helped you as well as do you have sort of an anecdotal story, Obviously, without divulging particulars or compromising anyone's privacy, how has this helped both you and a colleague?

Absolutely. So myself, first thing Yona asked me was, I have a long commute. I have an hour and 25 minute commute in home. So Yona said, what do you do on the way in and what do you do on the way home? So I told him. He said, no, no, no, no. On the way home, you shut that car door. He goes, what music are you into? I said, I love every music. I love Metallica. I love of, you know, Neil Diamond. He says, great. He says, you're playing that till you get home. Call your wife, tell your lover you'll be home in hour 20 and play music and just decompress. And before I met Yona, I had six calls. So I made sure I updated this. And then I told the person, don't talk to me at 2, talk to me at 5:15, because I'll be in the car for an hour and a half. And then I took all that home. And then when I got home, I still had that baggage. So that has immensely helped me in my mental state. And I think I'm a better general manager for this company than I was before. And just little pieces like that or. Bobby, when you and I are doing the podcast, it's funny because when I do live radio, you want to listen to me. And he said. He said, show me the chair you're sitting on. Show me your position. He could tell everything about me, and he helped me that way. So as a public speaker, from time to time, he's. He's again, just helped polish me a little bit better than I was before. Now, going to an employee, there was a. There's a certain key member of our team, and that person and I, we get. We were both very defensive sometimes, and we get talking and it was just. It turned into a defense. You said, he said, she said, you said those type of things. And it wasn't working with us. And, but we, we were both so passionate and had a lot of respect for each other, but we just could not communicate the way we should, especially me being a leader. So Yona came in and he worked with this individual and then he came and worked with me and then brought us together. And now our relationship, which has made productivity go up, it made that person's team, who's in charge of a team, that team is better for it. And Yona said, okay, I'm going to keep working with you and I'm going to keep working with you. So I see great results all around. And if it's just a one on one, which I don't know about, there's a lot of communication that goes on with Yona that we don't know about. We just know there's communication and we don't ask. And again, it's allowed our team to say, do you want me to share this with management? Do you want me to approach Brett? Do you want me to be there with you and Brett? And again, it doesn't have to be. It's not that there's a conflict, but it just be just a communicational piece that that person just doesn't understand how to bring forward.

You know, Bobby, in, you know, in our business, you're, you know, the business that you service and the business that we're talking about. A lot of alpha personalities, right? Sure. A lot of winners, a lot of champions. And the difficulty in managing, you know, making a team out of a whole bunch of champions is that, is that being able to. The ability to smooth out those edges. And I think what, what most companies don't have is a receptive management. And I think what we've cultivated and created at Score is very receptive management. Both Tommy and Brett are very open to ideas and changes and concepts and things that make it a better workplace in some cases, more efficient for others in other cases. I think that's a big part of people that are listening out there. I think the big part of good management is being receptive to the words and the comments that you're hearing from your staff and show them some modest change, if not major change. So if it's just a matter of moving a few pictures around or redoing the showroom or bringing everybody in a new desk set, or, you know, everybody gets something that changes. It's new, that's fresh, so that it appears that they're listening, that they're being heard. These are the kinds of things that I Think de stress a workplace. And you know, I didn't avoid answering your questions about examples. I just not prepared to answer it.

No, no, that's fine. Actually, what I. What I really love and, and I should have expected this, but I didn't quite expect how practical and tactical a lot of the skill sets that you're giving both Brett and his team to walk away with so they can go be better and perform better. How would you. Yona, how would you answer any detractors that sort of are hearing this? They're sort of compelled, but they're also somewhat. I. I can't cross that line. It feels like I'm crossing a line in terms of a. A business and bringing on some of. There may be liability. I'm sure the objections are many and Brett probably went through some of these objections when he first started thinking about it. Yona, how would you respond to businesses who are reluctant to offer something like this?

I would ask them if they have any interest in growing and being more profitable. And if their answer is yes, then I would tell them it behooves them not to listen. If it's not to me, then to someone who does what I do as soon as possible. Because without that, over the next decade, if you don't have this kind of stuff in place, you're not going to retain great talent.

Talent.

You're not going to cultivate and grow great talent. You're going to have people that work out of fear and stress and guilt, and that doesn't generate great profits for anybody, both emotionally and financially.

Yeah. Brett, how would you answer that?

Pretty well. Exactly what you want to said. I mean, for us, it's again, it's an attraction. So when we interview and when we're speaking to people, that's one of the first things that we say is that we have a. We have a therapist and a coach and he's combined into one and he does great immaculate things for our team and he can help you as well. So it allows people to really. You have that. And Bobby, you know, in some of our mutual friends in peer groups, you know, I've mentioned this a lot of different. In a lot of different conversations, and it's making a lot of people think. And I know people are asking questions. So I really encourage everyone in the SKU community and beyond that, you know, know, reach out to myself. Reach out. I can get Jonas contact for you and talk to him and just, just hear him out. Because, I mean, yes, the skeptics were there in the beginning. What we need this we're going to allow someone to come in and, and then what if you know someone says you're going to find out information on me? Well that's not happening here. It's, it's again it's, it's, you know, it's a client or sorry, it's a patient privilege with, with doctor patient privilege and Yona is not going to divulge any information that the person's not comfortable giving.

As we wrap up here, a few last questions for you on some more helps tips, practices. You're both coaches in your own way. You're both coaches. So this past weekend I was listening to a few back to back interviews with a wonderful Canadian, John Vervecki, a professor at University of Toronto and he has this series called Awakening from the Meaning Crisis. It's an incredible series but he was talking about an ecology of practices, things that keep him well maintained if you will. Going back to your machine analogy and, and Yonah, just like your decompression tactic with Brett when he's going home from work, since you're both coaches, you know the practice of well being. You have personal practices yourself. Maybe it's meditation, maybe it's like your practice going home. Brett, what do you do to maintain mental physical health? Yona? And then we're going to go to Brett. Are there a few tax tips you can give?

So I live and die by mindfulness. That's everything in my life is driven by as much in the moment thinking as possible. I'm exceptionally well scheduled. If it's not on my schedule, it doesn't happen. If I don't see anything for a particular period of time it means it's downtime for me. I can do whatever I want. I practice a ton of self care in terms of reconditioning myself on the daily basis. I go out of my way to eat three meals a day at a minimum, properly, regularly, as close to the same time as possible, get a good, good, good amount of sleep, laugh as much as possible. In my, in my life is find as much joy, a little bit of exercise. I'm kind of restricted but I do basic yoga, simple yoga and exceptionally connected to my family. I have three children, I have a couple of grandchildren. I got a wife I'm in love with. I got a 97 year old father. That's amazing. I got a brother I'm close to. So all of those things on a daily basis for me keep me, keep me together.

Yeah. Brad, how about you?

For me it's, it's the strict Regiment of my work life balance. And I know everybody says that, and it's easy out to say work life

balance, but Yona knows how much you struggle with that. That's why you still happen.

I do. I do. So when I get home and that hour 20 people say, how do you drive an hour 20 to work? I said, because it's the best hour and 20 I have in the day to separate the two. So I go home and I focus on my wife and my kids. We've moved. Move closer to. To the lake. So it allows me to. To get out and enjoy that with my wife and have downtime there and work on my golf game when I can once in a while, a couple times a week. But. But when it comes to scheduling is making sure that I don't skip out on Yona and he will call me out on it. Where were you? What's going on? Why are you canceling? If he sees a cancellation and it might just be to move an hour or so, he's on me right away like, hey, we need to get this half an hour in. And. And it's. It's. I need that because it keeps me focused and it keeps me like that drive just. Just there for me to be able to work with this incredible team.

Yeah.

You know, sometimes being accountable to somebody, Bobby, sometimes accountability is usually a great motivator if you trust and respect the person that you're being accountable to. So maybe, maybe I offer a little accountability when I work with people that makes it a little. A little easier or maybe not as easy to duck out of.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love that. There's a CEO in our business that runs about a 40, 50 million dollar distributorship. And he just showed me recently a personal spreadsheet he has where the most important relationships. Because he's a spreadsheet guy. So the most important relationships are in his life are in a column. And he has these little. He created his own gaming system for. Am I investing every day in the right things from. From everything that you just mentioned. Y. I thought it was fantastic. I mean, we all have to do those kinds of things to make them important.

Important never get you through the night, brother. Yeah, whatever. It does.

Last question for both of you. And the community loves this question. I do too. What book, podcast, video, or movie has made the most impact on you recently? The way you're thinking or reframed your thinking. Yona will go with you and we'll end with you.

Brett.

Oh, so I don't spend time. I have add, so I Don't do a lot of reading. It's difficult for me, so. And when I do read, it's usually short, short things. I'm a Kabbalist, so I spend a lot of time rooted in the Old Testament and Kabbalah. So the spiritual part for me is a big part of what I connect to. A big Tony Robbins fan, I like listening to his stuff. Old Frazier, I do radio, so Old Frazier episodes are great. And honestly, I listen to Recovery podcast. You know, in my, in my therapy world, I deal with mental health and addiction, so I listen to a lot of young people in recovery through, on various platforms. Know anyone in particular? And I find that very uplifting, very energizing and very motivating.

That's great.

That's great.

Brad, how are you?

Well, summer for me. So summer is very different. I kind of switch from, from doing podcasts and in that. And I don't do a lot of reading. I. I'll have to say that I admit that. But right now I'm focused on two of my peer groups. So there's some people that, you know, Bobby, in the SKU community that I'm very close with and I take twice a week, 30 minutes, so one hour a week. And I'm talking to them and I'm asking them sometimes the most outrageous questions like, would you actually do this? Could we implement this in our distributorship or would you do this client facing? And I'm just getting it all out there and soaking up their knowledge. And I do that again twice a week. And then in the, in coming into the fall, I'll get into a good book. Haven't picked it yet, but usually by about the first week of September, I'll

have it five, five kids and running, very busy, growing, fast growing business. Brad, I'm sure you have very little time, but the fact that both of you have this really rich community that you lean into, it's a great lesson for me. So thank you both for taking the time to share the story, to share what you're doing, to be honest about the behind the scenes and everything. We appreciate you joining us.

Pleasure, Bobby. Great. Thanks for having me.

You bet.