https://www.listennotes.com/e/925eeec9669140b49eeef8ef765542c2

I do really believe 100% from every part of me that everyone has the capacity to be able to do the things that they want and not to be held back by the mental baggage that's in our head that we want to push through.

Welcome to the Do the Thing podcast. In each episode, we get down and personal with people who go after the things they want to make all their wildest dreams come true. Join us as we unveil and dissect a formula for what it takes to do the thing. Here is your host, Stacey Lauren.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Do the Thing podcast. This is your host, Stacey Lauren. Well, you guys, I am so excited because I got connected to my next guest through a good friend of mine who has been actually working with him and his company. And ever since I got to meet him, he's really opened my mind up to so many things when it comes to organizations and companies and even more on the community stuff that I've been obsessed with over the last few years. And so it's been really incredible to hear his insights, his perspectives, and what he's doing to help so many people through the work that he's doing. And I cannot wait for you guys to meet him. I can't wait to do this interview so we could talk more about all the things that we've just started to process together. And so I am welcoming Dennis to the show. Hey, Dennis.

Hey, Stacey. Thank you for such kind words. Know that everything I tell you comes from three times the number of mistakes. So it's all bound in experience one way or the other.

Yeah, I love that you started there because so many people, when they make mistakes, they focus then on beating themselves up, right? And so then that sort of like gets you to contract and not actually see the opportunities, but when you're able to view it in the way that you just said, now it's like the acceleration of growth happens so much faster because you're using it as a learning versus like knocking myself down.

Well.

Some people, you know, one of the benefits of growing up in sports, I always say you learn a lot of lessons in sports. And one of them is you're going to get hit, you're going to get knocked down, and that's not the bad thing. The bad thing is if you don't get up. And if you get up nine chances out of 10, you'll learn how to not get knocked down. as quickly the next time. I've wished it were so hard in life, but it is, sadly enough. And a lot of people get knocked down two or three times and then they're just done. And I say, I meet a lot of business people. I mean, a lot, I talk to a lot of business people. That's my life. And I see businesses don't fail, people quit because they're just tired. Business owners get tired, Stacey, and they just, they give up, right? And I wish I had a buck for every person that said, I'm gonna go get a job. Every business owner I talked to that says, I'm gonna go get a job, because they all feel that way. And so what you want to do is just, you know, you tell them, hey, just wait a few days. feeling will go away. And if you need to talk about it, call me. So they all need a friend, just need someone to talk them off the ledge and care for them. And that's basically what we do in life, is just care for them.

So good. And I'd love you to share who you are, who you help, because there's so much in what you're doing right now and who you're helping that is changing generations. from being able to help the leaders that you're helping. And so maybe let's talk a little bit about that too.

Yeah.

So I spent 35 years, Stacey, trying to build a tech business. And I realized from all my experiences and not knowing what I didn't know that it's a lonely world. Stacey, it's a lonely world. Business owners are lonely people. and there's, you know, there's a handful of organizations around that people can go to, and I suggest they do, like a Vistage organization of some type, a mastermind, maybe get in with your friend, get in with somebody you can talk to. Maybe you'll go to a professional group like EO or YPO for the young professionals. Get in a group where you get around other people that are having this. You'll find that they're all having the same challenges you are, and that makes you feel normal. That's the first step. Hey, I'm not the only one having the challenges that I'm having. I'm not the only one that feels like an imposter. And we're all the same. Just how do we make progress? How do we fix the problems that we have? And so business owners, I'm out just Stacey trying to serve the business community. We have worked for businesses that do 300 million a year. I've worked for businesses that do 3 million a year, and it doesn't really matter. The smaller businesses, sometimes the person that owns that business came from a very educated place in business and can run it very well. Sometimes they don't. But you just want to be there to be whatever they need and to help them with whatever they need to build a strong team. and to help them grow their business, help them feel normal to take some of that pressure off of them. So it doesn't matter who I'm talking to, but typically when the people that I have a real heart for right now are young business people who.

Have.

A dream to have a business, a successful business, who may be struggling and they're gonna go through some pressures in life and they might lose their family. They're gonna lose their marriage over it. They're gonna lose their relationship with their brother or sister or aunt or uncle. They're gonna lose their relationship with their friends over their business. And you don't need to do that. You don't need to let it affect everything. They're not gonna be able to go to their children's events. How sad is that?

Right?

And the more they get invested in the business, and one of the principles is the more you invest in something, the more you're going to invest in it. Because it's like gambling. You're just not going to let go. If I just give it a little more, if I just give it a little more, well, in fact, that's not the healthy way to get it done. And so they just keep investing more and more time and more and more money and more and more energy into their business. And then one day they say, I can't do this anymore. I'm out. I'm burnt out. Right? And so if you can, if you can just spend time with them and care for them and talk with them and get them to start talking and build some relationship with them, you can get them through the process.

Right?

And so that's who I'm trying to meet and help so that they don't have to go through all that because it's painful.

I love what you said about, like, wanting to just feel um, and how like we're all kind of like fighting this imposter syndrome, but not realizing it. Um, and I know I went through this when I was the CEO of my staffing company where, I felt like this like unsophisticated CEO cuz I didn't come from like the MBA world, you know, I had just a regular degree and it came from just like sweat equity. And then the growth happened so fast that I like outgrew what I was even, you know, like all of a sudden I'm managing 60 employees and I was like struggling with like, managing the people that they were managing. And it was just this whole thing. And until I joined a CEO group was when these other people in there were basically saying similar things. And I'm like, oh, I actually thought it was only me that, like, felt this way. I didn't know that there were other people that felt that way, too. And I love that you, how you talked about it, because, yeah, it's like, it's like you feel like you're, like, the only one, right? Which is when it's even so much more isolating. And that's with whatever we're doing. Like, right now, we're using this example in business, but. There's people that, you know, like maybe they came out of the military or they came out of whatever, you know, that person came out of. And now all of a sudden, when you see other people have gone through that same experience and that same journey, now you're feeling like connected, you know, and accepted on another level of understanding.

Stacey, have you talked to people transitioning out of the military? Have you talked to a lot of them?

Yeah, that's what I'm starting to do, 'cause that's one of the movements I'm gonna be creating now.

Yeah, there's, they're, that transition is a hard transition because they have all that structure and all the rules. And, you know, I talked to Navy captains coming out of the military, and they'll say, and, and they're trying to find their way over into business, find something they can do for a career. And I tell them the only thing you, you're gonna, you're gonna struggle with is that when you tell a kid to put their iPhone down, they just might walk out of the room because they don't have to put up with you. We're in the Navy, when you tell them to do something, they have to do it now.

Yeah.

Right?

Because everybody's life is on the line if they don't. And they know their role. And then, and sadly, in our business community, we're not that organized or that tight where everybody knows their role and what it, how it affects everybody. So, Can somebody just may get mad at you for something so simple as can you please get off your phone, right? Or can you please have this done today? And they're going to, they're going to get struggle and you're going to fight with their emotions sometimes. And that's, that's hard. And so then they try to make friends. They try to make friends with everybody. I've watched them trying to do this, you know, and I'm like, dude, you're not there, you're not their buddy. and they're only gonna like you until they don't. So be a leader and you know leadership. You've been taught leadership, so you've got to just find a new way to be a leader. And so yeah, transitioning, I really have a heart for those guys because they are just so wide-eyed when they're transitioning out. It's crazy.

Yeah, that's one of the things. So one of the movies we're making, it's called At Liberty and it's, It's showcasing how the power of community and equine therapy actually helps people rediscover themselves after they leave. And the movement is going to actually kind of highlight all the organizations that are helping people rediscover themselves. Because when you go into the military, you're almost stripped of your identity, right? Because you're coming into this really structured space. But then when you get out, at least it's not like visibly known. I think there's organizations that are helping, but there's no like re-identification of, okay, this is who you are now, this is who you get to be. And so, yeah, it's been a whole interesting thing is because, I mean, the suicide rate is so high, but it's because people aren't like, they don't know at least where to look, you know, on how to actually like re-identify a new purpose after you leave.

I love that you're using equine therapy. My grandfather was a horse whisperer.

Oh, wow.

No, he was the real thing. And so I grew up with that and respected it. And his horse, the horse was his best friend. And I was just yesterday watching one of the, I think it was like, 1923 or something and realizing that the horse will die for the person riding the horse will literally go days without water running full speed to save the life of the rider. And what a magnificent thing a horse's heart is. Crazy how how and how they understand us. So horses understand us. They can sense us in a ways that we don't even sense ourselves. It'd be nice if we had their their ability to sense the way each other the way they do.

Yeah, and that's the power of, I'm glad this is coming up because I feel like it's really connected to the work that you do with companies. It's, and I'd love to maybe hear your thoughts on this too. It's the equine therapy. What's nice about this organization that the movie is kind of like showing as an example is when the active duty or the veterans or the first responders are going there, they don't even want to talk yet. Like they're still processing all that PTSD and the trauma and all the stuff that comes from that. But because they're being in that space with other people that have walked that life and kind of know it, you don't have to talk because the horse meets you there, right? And so, if we now transition that to companies, which is the work that you're doing right now, it's like there has to be that space, that almost non-verbal acceptance space, right? When someone's not wanting to speak up in a meeting or they're wanting to sit in the back of the room, and if they're being forced to be a certain way, it actually can get the person to retract more a lot of times. And then you're going the opposite of bringing the person in and meeting them where they are.

Well, you'll see in the session room because you do try to gather support from everybody in the room. You want everybody's feelings. But it's there is all the personalities. You run into all the personalities throughout the session rooms. Some that just sit and say, I don't know. And then some that are like the first to respond.

And.

The thing you almost, you have to get everybody to do is say, wherever everybody is is okay. Everybody has a role in the business. They have a role. Do they adhere to the values of the business? Yes or no? If they do, and they're functioning in their role because they're not the greatest communicator, today may not be a problem. But then I always share, just wait and be patient. Because eventually the person that doesn't want to communicate probably will. They just need time to find their comfort in the conversation. And so over time they'll start to talk more and more and then pretty soon they'll start offering and everybody looks like, oh my goodness, right? That's Jenny and Jenny never talks, but Jenny's the one sitting on the answer. Jenny sometimes has unlocks the answer that everybody else can't find.

Wow. Yeah, it's so true, right? It's so true. So how do you do that with Jenny then? How do you get her to have the space to to share the answer?

Well, you're just gonna first build a safe, trusted place where everybody can communicate and feel heard. And when Jenny sees that everybody else is saying what they wanna say without being criticized, then Jenny will eventually open up and feel comfortable to say something and see if she's criticized as well. Jenny just, maybe she grew up in a family where she was told, you know, how, you remember the old days when children were made to be, seen and not heard. Maybe that was Jenny. Maybe you grew up in one of those old German families like I did. Unfortunately for my grandparents, I didn't get the message. So I was always. I was always cutting up all the time, but not all kids do.

And.

And if the parents are really strict or whatever environment they were in, maybe they were an orphan. maybe they were in somewhere along the line, they did not find themselves comfortable to communicate, right? And they've got to build that comfort again. But they're probably, you know, you'll find a lot of times what I'm finding is the introspective people are the ones of the deepest thinkers. And they are probably sitting there calculating the answer to your problem and you don't even know that it's there. So I tell people like, you know, the answers in the room, you have to, you just have to wait for it. You have to find it. And so.

Wow. So it's so, it's so interesting because when we first got connected, I had no idea the work that you did was so, like, Community focused, you know, with the organizations and giving them a safe space, because in my mind, it's So like tactical with the metrics and reporting and all of that stuff. And again, I had a, like, I just had read the book traction, but I hadn't been in the EOS world. But for anyone listening, let's kind of like, let's kind of like explain the, the, the stuff that you do with the EOS. And then also it's so cool because meeting you inspired one of the panels that I'm having at the, in person event that I'm doing in San Diego, which was just from this conversation and it's, I wrote it down so I could read it. Let's see. Oh, yeah. It's actually breaking the silence, how vulnerability and connection transforms communities and organizations. And I feel like you've just helped seed kind of like what that conversation is. It's how we're getting Jenny to talk so we can unlock the room, right? And being able to make Jenny feel safe so that she's able to open up in that way.

So what we do is we help businesses get more what they want out with three things. And this isn't something I made up, this is common to the whole community shares it this way. Three things we call vision, traction, and healthy vision. We help get the leadership team 100% on the same page. And that's not easy sometimes, but we have processes where we help get everybody on the same page knowing where you are, where you're going and how you're going to get there together. And there's a lot to unpack in that. The second thing we do is.

Something.

We call traction, which is we put the meeting processes around it and the decision making processes around it so that every day they're staying on track with where they're going, so they're going to reach that vision by doing the things necessary to reach the vision. And then healthy was the important part. And this is what I think really resonates with you is that in order for leadership teams to be successful together, they have to learn to be open, honest and transparent. Open, honest, transparent. Vulnerability. Showing vulnerability in a session room is very hard, whether you're the founder or whether you're Jenny, right? Sharing vulnerability is a tough thing and we're not in a society that actually promotes vulnerability because if you share vulnerability then you're gonna get, somebody's gonna take advantage of it, right? And so you have to build a safe working place so that people feel comfortable to be open, honest and transparent. and when you do all that, the magic happens. It's a. And you. We're not doing anything. We're just facilitating the magic. We're facilitating the answer. And the answer box. And they go, they'll walk up at a break and say, I never. I never imagined in all my life that we would be here and understand this. I go, it's. You're. You're doing the work, right? but we don't learn how to do that. We're not even. Society doesn't even teach us that. Nothing teaches us to do that. And so the sad thing is we just hunker down and start working harder and harder till we wear ourselves out. When you do it together and you share it together and you talk, then all of a sudden, you're not vulnerable. I mean, you're vulnerable, but you're not lonely. You're not. You feel. Actually, you feel good. I. I had a friend who learned vulnerability to the extent they were going like, brother, you know, like too much information, right? Because it felt so good to be vulnerable. It felt so good to finally be free from the corporate world. He grew up in a corporate world. And when he found vulnerability, he was almost silly drunk with the feeling of vulnerability. because it feels so good to be open, honest. You know, you understand what I'm saying?

Oh, totally.

Yeah.

It's a great feeling when you can do it.

Yeah.

Yeah. So there's so much in this that I want to explore, but, like, with the leadership, and I think this is important for everyone to know. It's like, how are you doing that with the aligning the leaders and then with the vision and then what happens when there's, like, a conflict? How do you. How do you help kind of, or is that part of what your role is with the OS? Are you actually like helping through that process too?

You have to go through the conflict. Most businesses, if you've read Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, the Lencioni Pyramid walks you up the process. And so the first thing is you have to develop trust. You drop the foundation of trust. And then you have to be able to enter the conflict with each other in that trust. And that's how you make decisions. You discuss in that conflict, conflicts with two competing ideas, and you have to discuss it till you agree, right? You have to come to some kind of conclusion. And you commit to each other. After you discuss it to get through the conflict, you commit to each other. And then you develop accountability to each other to complete that together. and then you get the results. And once you see the results, then you're going, hey, let's do this again.

Right?

The conflict is the point where everybody has to get through every day, and most people don't want to do it. And most businesses you go to, Stacey, they live in conflict and they don't like it and they don't feel good about it, so they stay away from it. So that's why they stay 30, 000 feet out of it. They do everything they can to avoid it. In fact, people sit in meetings and like, I don't want to be here. because I don't want to go through the conflict. I don't need it in my life.

Right?

But it's not healthy. But if you can get it to a point where they trust each other and they know there's a result from it, then they'll work through it. And the more that you do, the better you get. And we call it enter the danger.

Enter the what?

Enter the danger. Oh, just enter the danger. Be comfortable. And it's almost like open, honest, transparent. It's the same place. Businesses go, wow, we've never been here before and we've never been able to solve problems at this level. Yeah, but you've never discussed the problem. Why do you think we continue to discuss the same problem over and over and over and never solve it? Because you can't get through the conflict. Once you get through the conflict, you can commit. And so there's also a structure in a business where we have somebody called an integrator, if you remember from the book. so there are two people that can't agree. And there's just total non-agreement. The judge in this, the, the Senate tie breaker, so to speak, is the integrator who's the president, typically, or the CEO. And they typically say, why don't we do this for now? And then we'll come back and measure it again later. So they're bringing peace and Harmony to the process. And the two people that leave don't get mad at each other because they disagreed. They know that. They have to discuss their feelings. You've got a right to do that.

Do you have a communication framework that helps kind of like set that frame?

We do. So what you're doing in we communicate every, so we have a weekly, quarterly, annual, process. So businesses meet every week for an hour and a half and they go through all the things that necessarily they're going to run through their scorecards. Do we have any issues? They're going to run through their projects. Do we have any issues? Then they're going to drop down and say, hey, did any customers or do you have anything that the customers employees said? We're really just trying to find the issues in our business. We're dropping those into the business. into the bucket, so to speak, the issues bucket. And then we pour the issues bucket out on the table and say, pick three things we're gonna talk about. You know, one, two, three. And we then we say, okay, now we're gonna use what we call IDS. And IDS stands for identify the issue. What's the root cause of the issue, Stacey? What's the root cause? I don't want, let's don't talk about the symptom. Let's get down to the root cause. What is the root? So just tell me, write in one sentence, what's the problem? And just say it like you would say it if you were frustrated. Just tell me the problem. And then let's go around the room and let everybody in the room discuss and ask clarifying questions so that everybody is completely understands what the root and agrees what's the root problem. Okay, now let's go around the room and start talking about the solution. And there's Jenny sitting in the corner. that already knows the answer to the problem. And if you can get Jenny to speak up, Jenny says, well, I know what the problem is. And Jenny says, I think it's this. Why? Because Jenny sees it and senses it like the horse sees it and senses it. She sees it clear through all of the muck. She sees right to the heart of the problem. She says, bang, this is what I think the problem is.

Wow.

Everybody goes, oh, so what's the solution? And we go around and talk about what's the solution? And says, well, if you'd stop doing this and this, it might work. And they. Then that's where you're walking through.

What?

The lencioni pyramid right there. You're walking through trust, you're walking through conflict, you're walking through the commitment to the accountability to the result. So what's. And that's where we align IDS up with the lencioni pyramid and say, okay, we're going to walk that ladder. every time we make a decision and we're going to get results. That's the framework.

Wow. It's so good. So what have you noticed is in common with like the, all the companies that you work with? You mentioned you have a range, right? Where it's like $3 million to, did you say $50 million?

300.

$300 million. Okay, so $3 million. It's a $300 million companies. How many employees are like at the, do you have a minimum number of employees that like the company has?

Yeah, typically. No, you don't. They'll say, we say yes because we just see issues. So typically when a business starts and that's what happened to me. Once I got over 10 employees, I started getting spaghetti. I started needing a business plan. I didn't create a business plan. I tell the story that I won one year in between Christmas and New Year's. We kind of let the group go for the last week of the year because clients take inventory and they weren't doing anything with their systems. And so we said, hey, let's just enjoy the week. And I saw I went to the office and I sat in the office and I was like, I'm going to create a business plan. I'm like, I don't know what to do. I don't even think. I don't even think it's possible. to create an effective business plan. Most people never review their business plan, right? And I'm like, I don't even think it's possible. I think business is a lot of luck and a lot of grit. You work hard and if you get lucky, then you, then you, and like you did, you're all of a sudden 30 people because you found a groove, right? And that's, you go really hard and you find a groove and you start hiring people and you start making money and like, okay, now what do I do? So when you get over 10 people, all of a sudden you got stuff to manage. And somewhere around that seven to ten people, you get people. Look, think of what we have now, Stacy. We have people from every nationality which have cultural differences like crazy. Every age group. We got them from my age group all the way to coming out of college in business. They have all different types of value systems. And then they all come and people are changing jobs now. You know, it's common for people to just keep changing jobs every three, four, five years. They just change jobs because they're tired of the business they're in and they're disappointed in who they're working for. And they want to do something different, right? So they change jobs to keep their sanity. so if you start changing jobs and you've, and you've got three or four or five jobs, you've got three or four or five experiences. So you got different experiences, different value systems, different backgrounds, different ages. All this stuff comes together. And now you've got, when you get seven to 10 people all from different places, if they don't come from the same, if they're not all, if you're not in the Amish community, you got a problem because they're all different. And that's why they start. conflict starts because when you ask what's the problem, they go, they all see it different. Everybody that walks into your business, into the conference room in your business, has a different vision on what your business should be. Every one of them has a different vision related to the way they see your business, the way they grew up, what they would think your business should be. They may even think they understand, many of them think they understand better than the business owner what the business should be. In fact, many of them believe they understand what the business should be better than the owners that does. And so you got to get on one, and if you're not on the same page, the divided will get conquered.

Wow.

Yeah.

You know, it's like when you could get whether, and again, anyone listening, whether it's like an organization, you have a company with employees or it's a community and you are wanting to activate the people that are in your programs or in the spaces that you've created. It's like, how do you actually get people to talk, have the conversations, to speak up with each other so that you are getting all the different layers of people communicating, but then also kind of understanding when conflict does arise, how do you actually now help people through that.

So what we do first is when I share with you the things that we do, we have a process where we teach, we teach three full days, three full session days of just teaching a system. And when you get to the end of that, you've got what we call the foundational tool set. The foundational tool set is a vision traction organizer, which is a two-page business plan, which you review constantly. you've got scorecards, you've got what we call rocks from Stephen Covey, because it's the big things that have to get done in your business, right? And you've got a value system that everybody agrees. When we go into business, one of the things we do, Stacey, is we make sure that everybody is a part of creating the value system so that everybody can agree. It's a hard process sometimes to get everybody. You've got an accountability chart. Now, for the first time, businesses go, wow, I didn't know John worked for Yeah, he's been working for Mike for a year, right? That business owner doesn't know sometimes where his people are working for, who they're working for, or what they're getting done. I thought he was down there in the garage. No, no, he's been in management for a year, right?

No.

And so first time they see, this is what my business needs. This is where we are. These are the roles. We go through a process of role balancing because people. There are people. And you, Stacy, would have been one of them, I think, like, hey, this needs to get done. I'll do it. Next thing you know, they're taking all the stuff that needs to get done because they're the responsible person. Next thing you know, they got 30 things on.

Yeah.

And then. And then they're worn out. And we wonder why we wear them out and they leave. Well, the good person just left because you weren't managing their roles and you weren't load balancing the roles across. business, right? And you do that as a team. So agreement is the power of EOS. So everybody agrees on what needs to get done and everybody does it together and that pyramid works perfectly.

Yeah, so good. Yeah, I think one of my biggest problems is I like playing in that visionary space, you know, of just like kind of my ideas and all the things that come out of my brain like a water hose, you know, and, I still don't have a really easy process to like, and actually this was the problem with my company too. You know, even I had all those employees, I never was able to like fully kind of like have someone be able to like project manage out like all the things.

Here's the thing, Stacey, and this is very common and there's, there's a huge place in this, in the OS for this and it's, Everybody. I was the visionary too. The problem is I was also a programmer and an accountant and I was really good at the stuff. That mixed with my staff riding the roller coaster because I would go away and Google and say, Hey, this is really cool. You guys ought to come see this. And then going down to work. And I walked through the door, had a great big oak door one day for security. I walked through the door and the door shuts hard and everybody in the business could hear you walk through it. And they saw me coming through the parking lot and heard the door shut and I heard every door in my business shut. So I walked into my dearest friend in the business, Bart, who was a senior engineer with same age, who was a... Bart was a ex-drill instructor in the Marines, right? And he was assistant engineer. And so I thought, you know, if anybody I can trust, I'll try. So I go say, Bart, what's going on? He goes, what do you mean? I said, I walked through the door and you guys, like, shut all your doors. He goes, Dennis, you just had the whole weekend to Google. And I know you got a whole bunch of new stuff, and I don't have time for it today. And it was a moment where they held the mirror up and I saw this was Dennis, and I didn't know what to do. And I was taking him on a ride every time I walked through the door. Scared, you know, that was the day I stopped.

And no one knew if they were going to have their jobs. So I mentioned we had 60 internal.

Employees, but they were, they were all avoiding the new ideas every single day. And you, the visionary, all these ideas coming out. And the integrator, there's a role in the business called the integrator. The integrator is the one that likes to be in the minutia, likes to keep things running harmoniously in the business, likes to keep everybody accountable. and doesn't think big. And then there's a place on top of the integrator called the visionary. And the visionary and the integrator have to work well together. And we call that rocket fuel. That's rocket fuel, Stacey. The integrator's keeping everybody peaceful. The visionary is going and doing what they love to do, which is just change the industry.

And those two are rocket fuel. And this is how we call those.

Two function in life. And the visionary, when they are free, are happy.

The integrator, when the visionary is staying.

Out of the game, is happy. And everybody's peaceful.

And everybody's happy. And I tell them, like, I was happy. And everybody's happy. And I remember, I was like, I didn't know it was gonna happen, but here we are. We're doing this together. So anyway, I just remember, are you, I don't remember this from the book. It's been a while that I read it. I remember the integrator role now being like, I was like, oh, I need that. Because at the time I read it, I was like, it changed everything. And do you help with what you do with EOS? Are you helping like, either impact, find that integrator or train integrator or what part of that is that now? I'm asking for me. I'm like, so the last few years.

Have been so uncertain in the ESL. We coach and facilitate. We didn't realize how so we have here was. And so. And then we went, we have resources to help find integrator. I have a list of what the reintegration certainly was. And everybody was the guys who want to be integrators, everybody had just box is very common. Guys come to you and say, I want to be an integrator. You know, would we survive? Have all different back or front? Yeah, everybody's just like certain, right? A smaller company. Now we are going to go, what I'd like to do is I don't want to be economic. I don't want to do what you do. Maybe we may never see it. I want to run. And people are like, run successfully. Are we gonna make it through this?

Right? Yeah.

I mean, what's gonna happen? Are we gonna hit a recession? Do you have at the very, and then a friend of them, at the very least a recession? one of the other is it going to end up? You know, people are just getting nervous. And they're seeing the stock market got like this, you know, like, is there any stability in any of this? Right. And so in those days is where you get together like you, like we agreed in our business. So we, we help do a great business where we can introduce you grow in uncertain business out of just supporting integrators. The greatest businesses over the last 40 years that I have been part of or learn from has developed or the businesses that were able to grow through it. Because everybody else locked up and they kept great integrators. And so they, they stayed on track. They, they didn't take huge risks and they didn't, and then when, and they didn't dump all their, you know, they didn't make great shifts either way. They just stayed the course conservatively and kept growing and growing and growing. And when, when the great times they grew a little faster. And when the uncertain times came, they grew a little slower. But they picked up more market during the uncertain times because everybody else stopped. Businesses stopped selling in uncertain times because many people go, what's the use? Nobody's doing anything. No, call them and make friends in the uncertain times, right? You know that call them when things are down. When the loan market drops, you don't stop calling people and making friends.

Right?

When the mortgage market fell out from underneath us several times, did you just stop? Well, we're right now struggling through some uncertainty. Hey, let's keep going. It's okay. We're all going to do this and we're going to come out the other side much better when it's over.

Yeah, how does someone mentally do that? Like, do you have any advice on that, like specifically?

My is surround yourself with people who believe that. Don't surround yourself with people who are gonna, just like anything else in life, surround yourself with people who you are like-minded with, who will support your vision. Also, and that's why these, I say like the Vistage or the EO or whatever group that you were in. Stacy, what, which one did you say you joined? Yeah.

So I was in the Mastermind with Josh, actually, the one that connected us. But I also was in a CEO group that was formerly Vistage, but it was a different kind of spinoff of it.

So, oh, and I think I know who that is now.

Oh, really? That's funny.

I talked to him and he talked back to me. And so, so I piece things together slowly. Oh, yeah. So you had a Vistage Breakoff group who supported you. Yeah. And they cared about you.

Yeah.

The person that I talked to said, loves you. I think Stacey's great, you know? And so, yeah, Stacey, you surround yourself with people who are pushing forward with you. And the other thing we do, and this is really important, Stacey, we tell people every day you're going to work in your business. Every day you got to go work in your business. But every once in a while, do you know that EOS was created by Gino Wickman? who was turning his family business around. And while he was turning his family business around, which they were successful in doing and sold, Gina would take Friday afternoon off and go to Starbucks in the 90s. And then that was big. That was when Starbucks was big, right? Just taken off. And it was the cool thing to go to Starbucks and sit. And he would, he would take a pad of paper and a pen. and go sit at Starbucks on Friday afternoon from 1 to 4. Every Friday. And he's now trademarked that as his clarity break. He said two things happen. In our case, he created EOS during the con, he EOS. He said, I sat at Starbucks and the tools came to me and I don't know where they came from. I was working on the business and I started remembering, concepts from good to great and Patrick Lencioni and all, and they came out and they, I drew out these tools and I started using these tools and I started helping my friends with these tools. And that's where EOS came from, was in Clarity Breaks. He said, two things happen in Clarity Break. You have the most amazing concepts come to you that would never happen if you're full of all the problems in your business. So you get out of your business, you clear your mind, you allow all that to come to the surface so you can think it through. the second thing that's really important, Stacey, is it restores your confidence in yourself. Clarity breaks restore your confidence in yourself and allow you to remotivate yourself to go back the next day or on his case on Monday, full of these new concepts and ideas and be ready to go. So you got to stop and work on your business. You got to stop and regenerate yourself. and, and rebuild your confidence. Because when you go into a business, what happens? Everybody wants something. They want your energy, they want your emotion, they want your money, they want your confidence, and they take it from you.

Right.

And you got to get out of that and allow it to, to, to restore yourself.

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh. So good. And yesterday I was so proud of myself. I I went kayaking. I was having a hard morning, and I just was like, okay, I'm, I'm, I have this program I've been delivering and I've been doing it live and I'm looking on, I'm working on automating it and it going in a portal. And I launched it yesterday and it was not in the portal. I'm like, oh my gosh, I have to do this again. And I was so frustrated, you know, like, and just annoyed. And I'm like, I'm just going to my kayak. And it was so good. I was like, so proud of myself.

So anyway, that might be Gino's Starbucks is my kayak. most beautiful days of the year to do it. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. It was so nice.

Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah.

I feel like I could talk to you all day long. Like, really, I just, like, absolutely love, like, where you come from. I love the lens that you speak at. I love the heart that you show. Like, every, every conversation we've had, like, I feel like I see, I see where you're, where your heart is, you know? And I love that you're helping leaders and companies like, I go back to finding their voice, like finding their voice within the organization, you know, so that they can then run the business in the way that they're meant to.

Yep. And I enjoy that you actually, your vision is so refreshing because you want to help people find that voice.

Right?

It's trapped. And I think you have a heart for it as well, Stacy, and I appreciate that. I think everybody that I've met around you, Josh, and, and I'm, I was just listening to the other guy this morning. I'll think of it. I'll probably call you with it. As soon as I remember his name, he goes, he goes, oh, you know, Stacy. He goes, Stacy is awesome. she's a treasure. Just realize a lot of people out there think about you that way. And I think everybody probably feels that way about you. So I appreciate what you're doing, helping you. You validate you. You make everybody feel good, too. I mean, Stacy, what I'm saying isn't rocket science. There's 900 of us or close to 900 of us Nationwide that are doing this. We're all saying the same thing. So what I'm saying is not rocket science. and I will tell you humbly that I, every day I get up and say, I didn't build the system. I just have the joy of getting up and teaching it, sharing it, and caring for businesses, caring for businesses using it. Very humble about that. I don't have the smarts to do what Gino did, but I will certainly use the tools he gave us to help one more person not have to go home and tell their wife or their husband that the kids can't go to the private school they want to go to or that they're not going on vacation this summer because they can't afford to.

Right.

Because they're worried. Not probably because they couldn't find the money, Stacy, because they're worried about business. They're worried about things. And so they lock up, and then the family takes the shutdown.

Yeah, it's so good because you're building everything from like the EOS framework, but then you have your own zone of genius that has been activated right through the facilitation. So it's like you're, you're, you've got, I'm imagining like you mentioned all the facilitators that are out there, but everyone has their own unique lens, right? And so I'm sure that adds a whole nother huge kind of component with what you're doing.

Well, and I. I'll tell you something I never told anybody, and I'm telling it on camera, so you probably may want. I don't know whether you all share this with everybody or not, but my grandfather, who was the horse Whisperer, was also a servant to everybody in his world. He mowed the neighbors lawn when they were on vacation. He checked in on the lady next door who was elderly. he and Grandma would take meals to people when they were sick. He was. He. My grandfather, he worked for the railroad for 20 years and retired. He then worked on the milk truck, which I grew up going on the milk runs with him for 20 years and retired. And then he worked 14 years as a janitor for a for a college. Stacey, I, we would take dinner to Grandpa on Friday night. Grandpa had two torn up old recliners that he kept from the building down in the furnace room. And that was his consultation room. And the professors would come down there and sit with Grandpa and get wisdom. that's what I grew up in. And so my heart to serve and help is his heart. And has takes a special soul to be able to walk up to a horse who's freaked out and the horse stops because a horse knows his heart. So that's what I grew up with.

Oh, it's amazing. It's like, sorry, do you have an extra 10 minutes or you, are you, do you have a heart to, okay, cool. Um, I just wanna make sure before I go here. Yeah, it's, and I wonder if you see this in the people you help too. It's like when you, when you're, when you're kind of working at the op, at the level that you're playing at, and then maybe some of the people that you're helping with their businesses. it's that heart-centered mission, right? Which for you has been stemmed from seeing your grandfather, you know, and what he's done, and then different things that you've done in your life that now has like kind of instilled this servant leadership in you, which is now kind of like coming into everyone else.

Yeah, it is. Like I said, everybody has the grown up something, right? It's grown up with somebody and some have had it. Some didn't have the fortune of having it. The wonderful example I had. Some people were told they can't, you know, they don't, they don't want to be heard, right? Some people people didn't validate them. The only difference between the person who does and the person that doesn't is the belief that they can. That's really the only difference between two people. Juan believes they can.

Wow.

And you'll see that sometimes with people who believe they can't, and then they have to survive, and then they realize through survival that they can.

Right.

When you get your business and you started growing your business, you never what? You were imposter. You didn't think, how am I going to grow business? You were in survival for a while, right? Now today you look back and go, how did I do that? Yeah, you. You learned you could. And now you're sharing with others that they can, too.

Right.

Your success from what you did in business, although it was a struggle, just like what I did when I went through business and was a struggle, your success is doing the same thing. you're sharing with people that they have a voice and that they have value. And so the only thing that's different between the one that doesn't and can't, and the one that does or can, is the belief that they can. And so let's help them all believe they can one at a time. You can't do it. I don't think there's. I mean, yeah, we do. We have what's our great. motivational speaker. When you get old, you'll have the same problem. Our great motivational speaker that travels around the Tony Robbins. Tony Robbins.

Yeah.

Yeah. Tony can do it, but there's not many Tony Robinson who stand in a crowd and make people believe they can.

Right.

Not many people that good. Yeah. He found a way, and he struggled to do that, too. Right? Yeah.

Well, so I have it. I have the secret. It's the challenge, the challenge that I do. It's like literally, it's a group, it's the group creating the space for connection. It's the starting point. But then that's something I'm working on and maybe I'll talk to you more about that.

Yeah.

I mean, you need to share it and every chance you can. Yeah. Comes from your heart just like mine does. Yeah.

No, for sure. It's like Creating the space for people to connect. I just happen to have the challenge that does that in 17 days. So yeah, that's my next thing, which I'll talk to you about because I'm curious if when EOS would be right for me. Cause I don't even consider what I'm doing as a business yet, but it will be at some point.

When you get enough people running around tugging on you.

Yeah, no, exactly. So, okay, what would be your number one piece or what is your number one piece of advice for people on doing the thing?

Well.

First, I think the number one thing I tell people is if it's not advice, you're not alone. Everybody else is going through the same thing. and I would say surround yourself with people you can talk with and.

Learn.

From, be motivated by, be encouraged by so that it helps you to keep your energy up.

Right.

When things are, when things are bad, go spend time with good people. and things will be better no matter what you, what they're talking about. Just being in the environment where people care about you will rebuild your, you know, will rebuild your soul.

So good. I love the way you just shared that, too. Well, thank you so much, Dennis. Thank you. I'm so glad. I'm so grateful for Josh for introducing us. I just feel like ever since I met you, like, I've been able to. just see things in a whole nother way. You've like deepened my understanding of certain things and I really appreciate that and I appreciate the time that we've spent together and looking forward to having you speak on that panel that we've got coming up and then who knows what will come from that. But super, just super excited to have you in this world with me and love the impact in the help that you're doing for other people?

Well, I'm glad that Josh introduced us to and he's coming up for a session, so I'm due for a call to him. So I haven't had a chance to talk to him, but I will soon. And I'll remember, I'll remember our other friend here. Actually, I'm looking at his face now. Oh, Jeff Bush.

Oh, Jeff, yes. That's great. Jeff's amazing.

Yeah.

That'S so cool.

Yeah, I ran to his brother, and then he called me one day, and we had a long, old, fun talk for about an hour and a half.

Oh, wow. Yeah, he's amazing. He's so good. He's actually. It's funny you bring him up. So he exited his business. Was it right before mine? It was right around the same time that we exited, and we ended up. We ended up starting like a seller support group. You know, it was just a couple of us, I think four of us after we sold our business because we all had these like identity kind of like things. And what do I do now? I was like so messed up after my exit that I like couldn't, and I was the one organizing the seller support group, but I couldn't even go to the meeting. You know, I was like, I basically was like, I have to cancel. I'm not feeling good. And then Jeff called me and he was like, what's going on? And then I went, you know, because I just needed someone to see me, you know, because it sounds ridiculous to anyone else. They don't understand how you could be upset after you exit your business, but when you're with people that just went through it, they get it. And so anyway, it was funny. He was the one that helped me come to the seller support group that I organized.

Which makes the case for what we just talked about.

Yeah.

What's your one, number one piece of advice? Go find it, Jeff. Yeah.

Oh, that's so good. So good. And please share with people that where they can find out about you and. Yeah, either reach out to you for, uh, your services or even just follow along with your journey.

Oh, how are they getting a hold of us?

Yeah.

Well, I guess they could. My email is dennis.vanbali@eosworldwide.com my phone number and you can call me anytime and if you get in this call and say, hey, I just want to talk to this guy because I got a question, just call me at 858-252- 11-10 858-252-1110 I promise you we can talk. I'll talk with you like I did Jeff. We became best friends in an hour and a half. And I tell people when we get off the phone call, we're now friends forever. And if you need anything, call me back. And I'll probably call you in a month or so just to see how you're doing like Jeff called you, Stacy. see how you're doing with what you're doing because you gotta, you gotta care for people and that takes consistency.

Amazing. Thank you so much. Thanks, Dennis, for everything you do. And I'm so glad that we, yeah, that we're friends and we know each other. So thank you.

Thank you.

All right, you guys. Wow, this was amazing. Thank you so much for joining us. And I can't wait to hear what you think of this episode and just all the things that you got from it. And don't forget, do the thing. Don't wait for opportunity. Create it. And hey, guys, have you checked out my Facebook group yet? Go to dothethingcollaboration.com.

Thanks for listening to the do the thing podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show, but even more, we hope you'll be inspired to do the thing. Do you have a burning question on doing the that you'd like answered? How about an inspiring Do the Thing story of your own that you'd like to share? We'd love to hear all about it. Just leave us a voice message at dothething.callcast.co or email us at hello@dothethingpodcast.com.