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022: Jeanne Bliss: I wasn’t getting any traction

Jeanne Bliss Show Notes

Jeanne couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t getting any traction. Once, Jeanne had someone do something very important in the trajectory of her personal and professional life. After that she began to do something different that caused people to want to do what Jeanne needed them to do. Listen to Jeanne’s story and what she learned that can help you get over the hump.

Jeanne Marie Theresa Lombardo Bliss grew up in Des Plaines Illinois. As the third of seven children, she learned early on that she’d better grab some food to eat as the platter was set down on the table, or there wouldn’t be much food left after her four brothers dove into the meal.

Her dad Vince Lombardo (yes, no joke) owned a Buster Brown Shoe Store, not far from the very first McDonald’s in downtown Des Plaines. At the shoe store, each of the Lombardo children would take their turn dressing up every summer in the Chicago heat and humidity as Buster Brown, blonde page boy wig and all.  It was a much needed and early lesson in humility.

The far greater lesson was watching her dad “shoe” multiple generations of children.  He often times put the very first pair of shoes on kids feet. He knew the families, and the kids and the kids’ kids. Because he was a small town merchant he couldn’t even leave the store for lunch, and so he’d make sausage and pepper in the back room for his lunch on a hot plate.

Not only did he “shoe” all those families, he fed many of them too. He became a part of the story of peoples’ lives. So much so, that when he retired, a line of people three blocks long stood to say good-bye.

And that is the story that Jeanne has carried her my heart throughout all of her work, and the journey of her life.

Her grandmas were kind of like that too. She has a hard time remembering either one of them sitting at a table while the family was eating a meal. They were always hovering, behind chairs…plopping more food on their already full plates, saying “Mangier!” “Mangier!”

The food festival didn’t end there either. Nobody was able to leave either of their houses without a bag of groceries. They’d go into the cupboards and scoop up whatever they had and package it up into a bag from Dominics, the local Chicago grocery.

So what Jeanne’s really carried with her throughout her life from all of this is two things: leave people with a memory and nourish them. Whether it’s their heart or their souls…always leave them with your version of a bag of groceries.

Tweetable Quotes and Mentions

Listen and @jeannebliss will help you get over the hump on @FastLeaderShow Click to Tweet

“How do you create a wonderful next version of life?”-Jeanne Bliss Click to Tweet

“Balance the living part of life with the working part of life.” -Jeanne Bliss Click to Tweet

“How can I keep on living but save the best for last?” -Jeanne Bliss Click to Tweet

“What’s another thing I can do for the world?” -Jeanne Bliss Click to Tweet

“Earn the right to grow by improving people’s lives.” -Jeanne Bliss Click to Tweet

“Choose it and deliver it.”-Jeanne Bliss Click to Tweet

“People all need a safe place to be who they are.” -Jeanne Bliss Click to Tweet

“The more you advance in your life the more humble you should become.” -Jeanne Bliss Click to Tweet

“Why are you in business and how are you going to improve lives?” -Jeanne Bliss Click to Tweet

Hump to Get Over

Jeanne couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t getting any traction. Once, Jeanne had someone puller her aside and told her that she did not do the work she was taking credit for. For Jeanne, this was something that totally change the trajectory of her career and life. After that she began to put others in the spotlight more. Listen to Jeanne’s story and what she learned that can help you move onward and upward faster.

Advice for others

Don’t forget that your feet are made of clay. The more you advance in your life the more humble you should become and the more you should be open to learning. Be willing to change and put you defense mechanism on the shelf.

Holding her back from being an even better leader

Brain moving too fast.

Best Leadership Advice Received

Write like you talk.

Secret to Success

Passion and persistence and not stopping…ever.

Best Resources in business or Life

Going back to my roots and who I am and how I grew up.

Recommended Reading

Would You Do That to Your Mother?: The Make Mom Proud Standard for How to Treat Your Customers

The Velveteen Rabbit

Connecting with Jeanne

Website: www.CustomerBliss.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeannebliss

Gift from Jeanne

First Chapter of Chief Customer Officer 2.0: How to Build Your Customer-driven Growth Engine

Show Transcript: 

Click to access edited transcript

022: Jeanne Bliss: I wasn’t getting any traction

 

Intro: Welcome to the Fast Leader Podcast, where we explore convenient yet effective shortcuts that will help you get ahead and move forward faster by becoming a better leader. And now here’s your host, customer and employee engagement expert and certified emotional intelligence practitioner, Jim Rembach.

Jim Rembach:   Thanks Kimberly. Okay, Fast Leader legion, I am excited today because you’re going to get two guests. One, being that you get to meet the guest that I have today, and the other being is that you get a download to a brand-new book. 

 

Jeanne Marie Theresa Lombardo Bliss, grew up in Des Plaines, Illinois. As the third of seven children she learned early on that she better grab some food to eat as the platter was set down on the table or there wouldn’t be much food left after her four brothers delve in on the meal. Her dad Vince Lombardo own a Buster Brown shoe store not far from the very first McDonald’s in downtown Des Plaines. At the shoe store, each of the Lombardo children would take their turn dressing up every summer in the Chicago heat and humidity as Buster Brown—blonde, pageboy wig and all, it was a very much needed an early lesson in humility. 

 

The far greater lesson was watching her dad shoe multiple generations of children; he oftentimes put the very first pair shoes on kid’s feet. He knew the families, the kids, and the kids, kids. Because he was a small town merchant he couldn’t even leave the store for lunch and so he makes sausage and peppers in the back room for lunch on a hot plate. Not only did he shoe all of those families, he fed many of them too. He became a part of the story of people’s lives, so much so, that when he retired a line of people three blocks long stood to say goodbye and that is the story that Jeanne has carried in her heart throughout all of her work and her journey of her life. 

 

Her grandma’s work kind of that way too. She has a hard time remembering either of them sitting down at the table while the family was eating a meal they were always hovering behind chairs popping more food on already full plates saying, “Mangier! “Mangier!” The food festival  didn’t stop there either nobody was able to leave either of their houses without a bag of groceries they go into the cupboard and scoop up whatever they had and package it and throw it into a Dominick’s bag.

 

So what Jeanne’s really carried with her throughout her life from all of this is two things: Leave people with the memory and nourish them, whether it’s their heart of their souls always leave them with your version of a bag of groceries. Jeanne Marie Therese Lombardo Bliss, are you ready to help us get over the hump?

 

Jeanne Bliss:       I am ready.  [Laugh] 

 

Jim Rembach:    Alright this is exciting. I’ve given our Fast Leader legion a good intro about you because you are so passionate and I think that story and that bios just really revealing about. But, what is your current passion so that we can get you better?

 

Jeanne Bliss:   That’s a great question and thanks for telling that story about my dad, my grandma’s being Italian, you can’t leave it far behind from who you are. What I’m really trying to figure out in this point in my life is I’m 56, so, how do you create a wonderful next version of life? I been working and doing a body slam at work for 56 years and I love it. But I also love my husband and I want to see more of him. I want to have a balance in my life somehow, so that’s really what I’m trying to do, is balance the living part of life with the working part of life and figure out as I move to that next stage of my life, how can I keep living but save the best for last and have that joyous last part of my career. For me, I’ve done this great customer experience that I want to figure out what’s the ‘give ‘em back’ part of my life. 

 

Jim Rembach: That’s interesting, Jean, you talked about the give back phase and I myself has been part of the Customer Experience Professional Association and you’ve given back a lot through that association. What else is on your horizon?

 

Jeanne Bliss:  Well, I love that and it’s been fantastic, Bris Hampton and I, it was a labor of love for this association. For me, I want to figure out what’s another thing that I can do for the world—homeless, girls. The skip back that we have is about creating memories and helping people in their lives, in fact, that’s really my big mantra is, “Earn the right to grow by improving people’s lives.” So, I want to say this was the money-making version of give back what’s now the more charitable versions of give back as I ride into the sunset. It’s not tomorrow but 7 or 8 or 10 years from now, what I going to do to take this skip bag and give back to the greater good. 

 

Jim Rembach: I appreciate all that you’ve done and all that you really set up to do. You’re a great role model not just for women but for everyone, and I appreciate that. 

 

Jeanne Bliss: That’s nice. Thank you.

 

Jim Rembach: You’re welcome. There is no doubt that somebody with your energy has to find passion in certain places to continue to fuel the fires. I remember hearing about Michael Phelps when he was and is Olympic prime, having to eat like 12,000 or 20,000 calories a day just to keep up with that. We’d like to focus on quotes at the Fast Leadership show, because they do just that. Sometimes they just pick us up mentally so that physically we can keep going. Is there a quote or two that stands out for you as something that just does that?

 

Jeanne Bliss: One of the things that I realize is that you have a choice. You can choose happiness, you can choose to deliver a memory, and you can choose what kind of memory you’re going to deliver. And that is something that I keep in my mind all the time, choose it and deliver it. 

 

Jim Rembach:   I love that action-based aspect of that, [Laugh] because oftentimes we don’t have that action piece where we get the energy but don’t know where to release it, and that’s the key point, get it, release it and just continue to fuel that fire, so to speak. Now, I know though, that with having a high-energy type of personality, is that oftentimes we have hump to get over that bring us down, but those are learning moments, so is there a time where you had a hump to get over that shaped you? Can you take us back to that moment?

 

Jeanne Bliss: Yes. I have had a lot of humps. In fact, one of the things I talked about professionally is that this work is like pushing the rock up the hill and it’s fallen on my head a lot of times. I’m only 5’0 tall and it’s really about figuring out, for me, how to check your ego at the door. The works that we do has to be less about putting yourself in the spotlight more about earning the right to continue to do this great work by putting others in the spotlight. And that was something I had to learn when I was in my 20’s and my 30’s still doing this work with this great roles. I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting as much traction and it was because I was putting myself in the center versus putting others in the center and making the work about enabling people. And I found that when I finally flip that everything really change but that was a hard learned lesson. 

 

Jim Rembach:     Can you remember when that defining moment happened?

 

Jeanne Bliss: It was probably when I was about 28, I was at Atlanta and it was a long, long time ago, and we had brought a lot of people together and somebody pulled me aside after a meeting and said, “We did the work and you’re talking about it as if you did the work.” And I said, “You know, I’ve facilitated the work” they said “No, yes, you got us together but we did the work. If it wasn’t for us…” And pham , it was like this really amazing moment that I realize that that’s what the glorious, you got to be Tom Sawyer, you need to get people to want to paint the fence but then you have to give them the recognition for painting the fence. And once I figured that out it changed a lot of things for me. It changed a lot of things in my trajectory, in my career, as well as personally, really trying to figure out how to—you listen to people and they talk about themselves. Somebody will tell you about time in their life, and they’re unhappy or sad or friends are going through divorce or whatever, and instead of empathizing with the person they will tell a story about themselves. If you’re in the middle of this terrible situation, you want to be listened to and be empathized with your life, you don’t want to hear about the narrative of somebody else’s lives at that point.  So, that I think is the lesson. 

 

Jim Rembach:    There’s times where people have the opportunity to step up and speak and say those types of things that that person said to you but they don’t do that and I think they’re doing it less and less. As time has gone you talk about that thing many years ago, I don’t think there’s many people step up anymore. But that person in the way that they approached you, how they do it so that it did give you the opportunity to reflect and say, “Ah, I have an epiphany here?

Jeanne Bliss: Land’s End was a really safe place, I grew up there. I got there when I was 24 and I left when I was 34 and we had senior leaders who are mentors and you never felt like when they were talking to you that your job was at risk, and that was important it was more about, “Look I want to make you better, I want to help you.” But you’re right, you don’t see that anymore. That’s why this school thing we have at CXPA with the mentorship and all of that is important because people all need a safe place. One of the things that I taught, my husband and I talked about this is that we’re each other’s island. I’m your island and you’re my island. This is the safe place where you can be who you are and not worry about any other noise in the world. And I think that in business we all need to figure out one island at least where we can have a safe place and somebody can be really honest with us and tell us like it is. I’m a bull in a China shop, I’m Italian, I’ve got a big mouth, I’ve got a big personality, I never mean it but my bark is bigger than my bite and I have always appreciated and there’s many other times, certainly I didn’t change my ways from the one time—I mean I had to keep on renegotiating my life—but I’ve always found people who will settle me down and give me the straight talk. But I think you’ve got to tell people you want it. 

Jim Rembach:  So, if you were to say from all that you’ve learned—and we’re going to talk some other things in a moment as fast as where you’re going—what is a good piece of advice that you would give to our listeners?

Jeanne Bliss: I think, don’t forget that your feeder made of clay. We get so full over in our head and whatever. The more you advance in your life the more humble you should become. The more open you should be to learning and for me, the more recognizing my foibles and things that I need to work on, and I think it’s just being open to that recognizing and being open to people telling you, ‘what’s up?” Telling you how or what you’ve said impacts them. And being willing to change and don’t take it personally, take it constructively. Put that defense mechanism on the shelf as much as you can. 

Jim Rembach:  So, you talked about going through and focusing in on something new to be able to give back but when you start talking what you’re focusing your energies and current passions, what are they now?

Jeanne Bliss: I want to help companies grow by improving customer’s life. I want to help leaders recognize that the whole reason that they have a business is to improve customer’s life. It’s not to get a service score, it’s not to get more sales, it’s yes you want to grow but I want to teach people how to grow. The way they grown that’s grounded and improving customers and employees lives. And this notion of earning the right to growth, that is really where I find when I work with leaders and CCO’s and whoever it is, that’s the switch that needs to be flipped. Why are you in this business? How are you going to improve the life? This week was a milestone in my campaign and crusade for helping companies turn their work around because I’m honored to release my third book this week called, “Chief Customer Officer 2.0 How to Build Your Customer-driven Growth Engine.” 

Jim Rembach:  That’s fantastic. And I think you’re going to give a gift to our listeners? Is that correct?

Jeanne Bliss: I am. My bag of groceries to everybody is the first chapter of the book and as well, when they go on to my website, my new website’s going to come up in a couple of week. It’s going to have customer center recipe cards that they can download, leadership messages that they can use regularly to start driving the action. 

 

Jim Rembach:  That’s awesome. Okay, Fast Leader legion, what we’re going to do is we’re going to make a link to that first chapter for you on our show notes page and you’ll be able to find that at fastleader.net/Jean Bliss. Jean we all wish you the very best.  Okay, now it’s time for us to move on to the rapid part of our show and that’s the—Hump Day Hoedown. 

Okay, Jean, the Hump Day Hoedown is the part of our show where you give us good insights fast. So, I’m going to ask you several questions and your job is to give us robust yet rapid responses that are going to help us move onward and upward faster. Jean Marie Teresa Lombardo Bliss, are you ready to hoedown?

Jeanne Bliss:  I am. 

Jim Rembach:  Okay, what do you think is holding you back from being an even better leader today.

Jeanne Bliss: Brain moving too fast. 

Jim Rembach:   Definitely need to catch up sometime. What is the best leadership advice you have ever received?

Jeanne Bliss: Write like you talk. 

Jim Rembach: What is one of your secrets that you believe contributes to your success?

Jeanne Bliss: Passion and persistence and not stopping ever. 

Jim Rembach: What do you feel is one your best resources that helps you lead in business or life?

Jeanne Bliss: Going back to my roots and who I am and how I grew up.

Jim Rembach:   Now, I know this one’s going to be a little tough for you because I know people who are writers are also well read leaders but is there a book or two that you would recommend to our listeners?

Jeanne Bliss: “The Velveteen Rabbit”, one of my favorite books on the planet. It’s just sound silly but it’s about being real and being human. 

Jim Rembach:    Alright, we’re also going to make a link to that on our show notes page at fastleader.net/Jean Bliss. Okay, Jean, this is my last Hump Day Hoedown question: Imagine you woke up tomorrow morning and you were 25 years old again and you are supposed to begin a new job as a manager of a team of people that is underperforming and disengaged but you retain all the wisdom and skill that you currently have your task is to turn the team around so you get up you get ready and head out to work, what you do now?

 

Jeanne Bliss: First of all, I want to meet each of them individually and talk about their life. Understand who they are? What are important to them? Why they took the job? And then I’d really sit down with them and ask what’s getting in the way of their ability to deliver and support customer and start to work that way. And then solve some of the thing for them but make sure that I’m continuously going back to them in their lives and serving and supporting them and coach and mentor them and give them a safe place where they can really feel that they can grow and be nurtured. 

Jim Rembach:   Jean, it was an honor to spend time with you today. Can you please share with the Fast Leader listeners how they can connect with you?

Jeanne Bliss: I’m so lucky I’m married the guy named Bliss, so you can find me at www.customerbliss.com 

Jim Rembach: Jeanne Marie Teresa Lombardo Bliss, thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom, the Fast Leader legion honors you and thanks you for helping us get over the hump. Woot Woot!

Thank you for joining me on the Fast Leader show today. For recaps, links from every show, especial offers and access to download and subscribe, if you haven’t already, head on over the fastleader.net so we can help you move onward and upward faster. 

 

END OF AUDIO 

 

 

021: Peter Haid: Career can pull you too far

Peter Haid Show Notes

Peter was out of balance. He entered a situation that required an entirely different level of teamwork. Luckily he realized that he needed to shift his attention and put some things on pause to focus on what matters. Listen to Peter tell his story as he shares much more about how to be bold, make a change and to go first.

Peter Haid, husband, and father of two wild toddler boys… was raised in beautiful Colorado and still resides there today.  As a kid, Peter could be found anywhere from the varsity golf team to building a potato launcher with friends in the garage. Shaped by his older brother’s pull towards adventure and his sister’s pure heart for scholastics, Peter landed somewhere in the middle.  He inherited his mother’s passion for helping others and his father’s business skills.

Peter joined the corporate world at the age of 18 and finished two degrees at CU Denver taking night classes. He has launched several startups but is most proud of the innovative, volunteer-boosting, platform nurtured out of his entrepreneurial MBA; CitizenPoints.org a 501C3 non-profit.  His professional experience includes over sixteen years in business operations and customer experience management.  His current focus is 50% family and 50% lasered in on Customer Experience strategy and executive coaching.  He is honored to be considered a CX Expert by the CXPA and drive momentum into the human side of business.

Peter has a personal mission and a message.  His mission is “to gratefully be a loving husband, serve noble causes with integrity, and never lose a spirit of adventure in this rehearsal life”. His message is for millennials looking to fast track their leadership… “Pull your head out of your apps”.

Tweetable Quotes and Mentions

Listen and @peterhaid will help you get over the hump on @FastLeaderShow Click to Tweet

“Career can actually pull you too far in one direction.” -Peter Haid Click to Tweet

“Leaders go first.” -Peter Haid Click to Tweet

“By definition, a leader is in front.”-Peter Haid Click to Tweet

“Going first with a smile is leading in a lot of places.” -Peter Haid Click to Tweet

“Smiling and positivity is so critical.”-Peter Haid Click to Tweet

“Why do you work so hard…what’s that all about?” -Peter Haid Click to Tweet

“Give before you take.” -Peter Haid Click to Tweet

“I need to give them a voice before I ever ask for a voice for myself.” -Peter Haid Click to Tweet

“There is an artificial sense of relationship that is being created by our devices.” -Peter Haid Click to Tweet

“Knowing how to be human in a one-on-one real interactive way is key.” -Peter Haid Click to Tweet

“There is nothing that can replace the one-on-one human interaction.”-Peter Haid Click to Tweet

“I’m very concerned about our next generation of leaders.” -Peter Haid Click to Tweet

“Humans need one-on-one interaction.” -Peter Haid Click to Tweet

“Never take away another man’s dignity.” -Peter Haid Click to Tweet

“Proverbs is a book that is just full of nuggets of wisdom.” -Peter Haid Click to Tweet

Hump to Get Over

Peter found himself out of balance and needing to make some changes. He realized he was in a situation that required an entirely different level of teamwork. He came to realize that he needed to shift his focus and attention towards the things that matter the most. Peter shares his story and much more. Listen in so he can help you get over the hump and move onward and upward faster.

Advice for others

Millennials, get your head out of your apps and have more one-on-one human interaction. And your career can only get so high if you’re only focused on your practiced and ignoring the importance of relationships.

Holding him back from being an even better leader

Day-to-day endurance.

Best Leadership Advice Received

Never take away another man’s dignity.

Secret to Success

Staying positive. Being intentional about staying positive.

Best Resources in business or Life

A book in the bible called Proverbs. It’s full of nuggets of wisdom.

Recommended Reading

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

Contacting to Peter

Email: peter [at] trifectacx.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/peterhaid

More Resources

54 Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Competencies List: Emotional Intelligence has proven to be the right kind of intelligence to have if you want to move onward and upward faster. Get your free list today.

Show Transcript:

Click to access edited transcript

021: Peter Haid: Career can pull you too far

 

Intro: Welcome to the Fast Leader Podcast, where we explore convenient yet effective shortcuts that will help you get ahead and move forward faster by becoming a better leader. And now here’s your host, customer and employee engagement expert and certified emotional intelligence practitioner, Jim Rembach.

Jim Rembach:    Thanks, Kimberly. Okay Fast Leader legion, I’m just really excited I’ve got to share with you the person who I have on the show with me today. Peter Haid is someone who I really just met recently but who has made a big impression on me for his demeanor, for his intelligence, for his focus on others and I’m glad to have him on the show today and I know you will so make sure you go to iTunes, download and subscribe, and rate and review our show so that more people can get to meet Peter.

 

As a kid, Peter could be found anywhere from the varsity, golf team, to building a potato launcher with his friends in the garage. Shaped by his older brother’s pulled towards adventure and his sisters pure heart for scholastics, Peter landed somewhere in the middle. He inherited his mother’s passion for helping others and his father’s business skills. Peter joined the corporate world as a data analyst at the age of 18 and then finished his degree at the University of Colorado, Denver taking night classes.

 

He’s launched several startups but he is most proud of the innovative volunteer-boosting platform nurtured out of his entrepreneurial MBA, CitizensPoints.org, which is a 501C3 nonprofit. His current focus is 50% family and 50% laser focused in on the customer experience strategy and executive coaching. He is honored to be considered a CX expert by the CXPA and drive momentum into the human side of business.

 

Peter has a personal mission and a message. His mission is to gratefully be a loving husband serving noble causes with integrity and never lose a spirit of adventure in this rehearsal life. His message for millennial’s looking to fast-track their leadership is “Pull your head out of your apps.” He currently resides in Broomfield, Colorado with his wife Rochelle and his sons Hudson and Hillis. Peter, I’ve given the Fast Leader legion a little bit about you, but can you share with us what your current passion is so that we can get to know you better?

 

Peter Haid:   Thank you, Jim. It’s a pleasure to be here with you today, and thanks for everything you do with this show. I enjoyed listening to it and I enjoy what this is all about. Yeah, my current passion is, honestly, it’s simply my family, first and foremost, and then customer experience is really what I’ve landed on, something I really enjoy and I think this is the space for me. I don’t think there’s any other career track that’s going to pull me away at this point. 

 

Jim Rembach:    I can say that from the opportunity that we have had together to respond to people’s questions as a member benefit for the Customers Experience Professionals Association, I’ve been very impressed by the responses that you’ve giving to some of these folks who are in need and some additional coaching and support. Now, I also know that you’ve been going through a little bit of a transition because you talked about being partly focused on family partly focused on customer experience but that balance that kind of a shift for you, how did you know that you needed to make some adjustments in order of write the ‘percentages’ so to speak. 

 

Peter Haid:   One of the best experience’s that ever happened to me, making some changes and some shifts. What happened is earlier this year, I was in a very good role, got a good company and I was on a great path in my career and I was slowly starting to notice that things at home were starting to slip away from having any sense of leadership in that realm. And to be a leader at home is actually a lot more challenging and it takes a lot of more attention than what you can do at work. There’s books about work, there’s formulas that work, the dynamic at home is different and I think, as I heard some of your other interviews, there are chapters in life and I iterate chapter in my life which required a whole different level of teamwork on the home front with two toddlers and different dynamics of schedules and I am so blessed to have a family that loves me and that I can care for but at the same time it required a new shift in my attention. And so, I put some of the other things on pause and I think that this is some of the ways that you learn the hard way about how career can pull you a little too far in one direction. 

 

Jim Rembach:   That’s a great point. One of the things that as we go through the different guest that we have on this show, is kind of what you just said, that we all learn life lessons. What we do hope for at the show is that others get the opportunity to listen to all the experiences from all of our guests and be able to make those adjustments a little bit sooner so that they didn’t have to go through so much pain. Because while failure is really the best way that we learn, the intensity of the failure if it turn down just a little bit would make our lives a heck of a lot easier. So, hopefully  people will get the opportunity to do just that, know if there percentages are getting out of whack much like you realize that they’ll make a step towards a different direction prior to that, so thanks for sharing.

 

Now, I know that when we do have the times were we feel overloaded or we’re just kind of down and need to get picked up, a lot of times we look for inspiration and leadership quotes, and they’re really important to us at the show, and really they are on social media. When you look at what people share on social media, I think the percentage of quotes that are shared to give people—that inspiration is massive. So, is there one that sticks out for you that picks you up and helps you move in that right direction? 

 

Peter Haid:    They’re so many good quotes that I refer to. The one that tends to move me most often is not something I can pen down to a single person who said it, but the one thing I say to myself and I’ve seen it other places is simply: “Leaders go first.” It’s so simple and yet it’s often something that we forget to remember. Whether you think you’re a leader or you want to be a leader, by definition a leader is in front, how do you translate that to real life? If you’re a husband, I think you’re going first to apologize, be an example of leadership, if you knew—iron something out, if you’re a friend maybe you’re the one that goes first to say something that your other friends are too scared to say. 

 

And if you’re a boss, maybe you go first by having an opinion and a vision and bringing other people into the fold with that. And if you’re an individual contributor maybe you go first by finding valuable work that you can do for your boss before he hears she has to come find and give that to you. There’s all kinds of ways in life that this comes true. The human side of everything going first to the smile is in fact leading in a lot of places, people don’t do that enough. And I think this is a critical time in our culture where smiling and positivity is so critical.

So, I think leaders go first and I think that that’s something I can lean on daily.

 

Jim Rembach:   I think that’s incredible. For me, that concept of going first and just the depth of it, it’s something I’ve eve use with my kids.  When they’re being nasty, I’m like, “Do you want people to be nasty to you?” and of course their response is, “No” and so then I say, “Well, then you have to show love if you want love,” and you know what, you got to go first. You’ve got to be the one that shows it first if you expect or wanted back in return. Don’t wait for it to be bestowed upon you, that’s just not the way things work.

 

Now, we talked a little bit, a moment ago, about some of the shifts that you had to make because of having that imbalance and that may be the hump that you would like to talk about, but we all have them. Again, here at the show we learn from others when they share those humps and our epiphanies that we come to, but is there a hump for you that kind of has redefined you and sent you in a much better direction than your heading? Can you share that with us please? 

 

Peter Haid:   I think the one that I’ve just sort of come on near the side of is a good example of—I had to make a choice. It was not that somebody was pushing me to make a choice. I had to make a choice because I could tell that my current path wasn’t sustainable for many people in my life including myself. And you’d come back to, “Why do you work so hard?” “What is that about?” Some people work hard because they have a passion for what they do. Some people work hard because they’re really into what they can do with the outcomes of that work, for resource reasons. And for me, I have such a love for what I do that it can become a big draw for me and almost to the point that other things fall by the wayside. I think having the attention and some good people in my life that can speak into my life and say, Hey—now’s a good time for you to see some of this other aspects and to make a move and to be bold about that and not be ashamed of having to do it. So, that’s a hump that I’ve certainly been through. I think, it’s been really good I’m more of a business-related one as well, if you’d like to hear.

 

So, one of the challenges I was in and I was facing, I’m training up an organization to do customer experience correctly. I was helping an engineer culture think about soft skills in a call center environment. This is a common problem in customer experience and one of the things that I saw was that there’s an opportunity to go around the country and train, we had four or five different call centers that were maybe 600 people in total, really large initiative that I was taking on and the hump was, how to I get everybody to listen to me? That’s always the challenge. 

 

And so, one of the things I did with this project, and I think this is something that carries into all the work I’ve done and for how I manage every situation is, give before you take. And when I went in to these different call centers to do training on soft skills for customer experience, before I ever took anybody in the classroom I would, first, when they are sitting at their desk during their job trying to manage all the systems that they’re navigating and basically giving them a voice and giving them credibility for how challenging it is to be customer centric in some of the dynamics they’re dealing with. So, then—one funny story, a woman put me on the phone, she was training me to do her job, she put me on the phone to take real calls and so not only did I totally fumble and mess up a lot of calls coming in I had a whole new appreciation for her job, and for how challenging it is to work across the silos and the company. And so, that was a real-life, sort of a shift moment for me, I need to give to these people and I need to earn trust in giving them a voice before I ever ask for credibility and a voice for myself. 

 

Jim Rembach:    That’s another good point because a lot of times especially in our task-strapped environment we often want to just do something that we should always refrain from doing and that is: “Let’s get do it.” People start the meeting, “Okay, let’s get do it”. No, that is not what you want to do. You want to do what you just said, you want to make sure that people have the opportunity to engage themselves and you create that environment, so that’s a great story and thanks for sharing it. Now, if you were to say cross that story and maybe even the one that you shared prior, is there a piece of advice that you feel our Fast Leader legion just really needs to hear? What would it be? 

 

Peter Haid:    Well, I have a piece of advice for millennial’s, to your opening and also something more broad. The first piece of advice is, millennials head out of your apps. Why is that so important? There is an artificial sense of relationship that is being created by our devices. What I mean by that is—I’ll give you very specific examples. If you talk to a millennial and you asked him about how they felt when someone defriended them on Facebook or if they found out that somebody was saying something on these social channels about them, that’s a channel that is creating real hardship and it’s something that some of the other generations know that is artificial. What I mean by that is, if you want to develop leadership skills knowing how to be human in a one-one real interactive way is very key. And in order to do so, you’ve got to remember that what you’re seeing on devices is artificial, it is not the true sense of what it means to be human. It’s a created interaction that is only as good as a few characters on the screen. There is nothing that you can replace for the one-on-one human interaction, like what you and I are doing right now.

 

So, I just see a lot of millennial’s in the work environment and in personal environment that I’m very concerned about. Our next generation of leaders and how we can work towards remembering that humans need one-on-one interaction and not an artificial one, I just don’t want us to lose sense of that. The other thing I would mention, just more broadly to everybody is that, there’s two things that you can really rely on in your career that will take you higher and higher. If you think of your career like an airplane, you have an engine on the right and engine on the left, and the engine on your right is largely the skills and niche that you learn when you went to college or your practice area. A lot of times we start our career and we start that engine going and we can get to maybe a thousand feet or 2000 feet with that, but the engine on the left fires up a little bit later, and that’s the relationship side.  

 

You can only get so high in your career or in your leadership levels if you’re only focused on your practice area and not relationships. And so the secondary message, and this is something I’ve learned probably a little bit late, but it’s so important to do networking to have strong relationships, there’s only good that can come of it and it all starts with giving before you take and that’s how you build those relationships. And so, I just that remembering that we have these two sides to our airplane and those that want to go faster in their career, you need to balance that out and try to focus on the relationships side especially those that are in the younger end of their career.

 

Jim Rembach:     That’s a great point. And what you’re talking about has been studied as far as career development and what they have found is that, what you’re referring to is the technical skill will elevate you to a certain point and then it has to shift over to your emotional intelligence. And the emotional intelligence is what was going to take you further on and maybe even, kind of, right the ship so to speak because the technical skill if that’s what you’re over relying on is that one engine it’s going to start taking you off path. 

 

Typically if you start looking at the blocks of years in our life and our career that happens about mid-forties for most people. And that’s whey they hit that altitude ceiling, so to speak, as far as being able to take it to the next level. And you have to be able to make that shift and turn on the emotional intelligence and have that start being your extra boost to take that technical skill on forward. So, that have been a great point and everybody that’s something that we just have to be more aware of is that emotional intelligence is what takes you to a higher altitude and the sooner you get to building those particular skills the more successful you’re going to be in a longer flight that you’re going to have. Thanks. 

 

Now, I know that with the shift that you’re making, you talked about some of the work a moment ago prior to when we started the show of some of the things that you’re working on,  but what right now is part of your work that’s giving you that excitement?

 

Peter Haid: I love that I am in right now. I’m in control of my future. I have a lot of great relationships and what excites me is I become somewhat of a connector of people. Generally my path right now when I work it’s on customer experience strategy and coaching and helping companies either start out reboot what they have for customer experience, what they think is customer experience, and it starts at the executive layer.

 

When I’m when working with these companies I love to bring in connections that are really helpful. What’s so good about that style is that if you do that without any expectation of anything in return it’s only a matter of time before, again that engine of your relationships, can carry you even further. And it just my passion, what I love to do, is hear about a need and think about who do I know that can help out with this need, cause I certainly can’t, and I go and I find the right person, I like to plug people together. And so, when I’m not doing customers experience and I’m not spending time with my family, I definitely love networking and I think my passion is connecting people and helping them find solutions together. 

 

Jim Rembach:   I definitely thank you for connecting the Fast Leader legion to you. We appreciate that and we wish you the very best. Alright, now it’s time to move on to the rapid part of our show and that’s the—Hump Day Hoedown. Okay, Peter the Hump Day Hoedown is the part of our show where you give us good insights fast. So, I’m going to ask you several questions and your job is to give us a robust and rapid responses that are going to help us move onward and upward faster.  Peter Haid, are you ready to hoedown? 

 

Peter Haid: I’m ready. Let’s do it. 

 

Jim Rembach:   What do you think is holding you back from being an even better leader today?

 

Peter Haid:   Hold me back would be, probably just day-to-day endurance. It’s one of those things where there’s only so many hours in a day and I wish I had a little bit more time to focus on everything I want to do.

 

Jim Rembach:    What is the best leadership advice you have ever received?

 

Peter Haid:    My father said something to me that really stuck with me once. And I’m not sure if it’s leadership advice as much as just life advice. He told me once: “Never ever take away another man’s dignity.” Whether you’re in a business situation or personal situation I find that advice usually leads me to the high road on challenging situations.

 

Jim Rembach:    What is one of your secrets that you believe contributes to your success?

 

Peter Haid:    I think one of the secrets is staying positive. I think it’s intentional to stay positive, think about how you can make progress on a daily basis. I’m kind of a list maker and I tend to rank my list and then I get through as much as I can but I do the hardest thing first. So, that’s one of the habits that has really helped me and I do those things in the morning when my brain is most fresh. 

 

Jim Rembach:    What do you feel is one of your best resources that helps you lead in business or life?

 

Peter Haid:    I think the best resource for both life and business is a book in the Bible called Proverbs. Proverbs is a book that is just full of nuggets of wisdom. Whether or not you’re a spiritual or religious person there is so much goodness you can bring out Proverbs and just elevate a lot of different aspects of your life. 

 

Jim Rembach:    What would be one book that you would recommend to our listeners?

 

Peter Haid:    The best book I can recommend to anybody that’s looking at the growing faster in leadership and learning how to deal with challenges is the “Hard thing about Hard Things” by Ben Horowitz. It’s a book Ben’s challenges in life and it talks about being a CEO and a leader and it looks at all the challenging situations. His personal life was affected in some ways. I think it’s a really healthy book on bringing real pure advice, it’s something is not filtered in fact there’s all kinds of good examples of how he had a really hard time, there’s no easy answers it’s basically what it lands on. There’s no easy answers and you have to find the path that will help the most people or get your business moving without doing too much damage, and he had a very hard time with that, and so I recommend it. 

 

Jim Rembach:    Thanks for sharing that with us. Okay Fast Leader listeners, you can find links to that and other bonus material from our show by going to fastleader.net/Peter Haid. Okay, Peter this is my last Hump Day Hoedown question: Imagine you woke up tomorrow morning and you were 25 years old again and you were supposed to begin a new job as a manager of a team that is underperforming and disengaged but you have retained all the wisdom and skill that you currently have your task is to turn the team around. You get up, you get ready, you head out to work, what do you do now? 

 

Peter Haid:    The team that is under performing an unengaged is likely needs to be heard. They likely need someone to care and to listen and to—whether or not you can make all the changes that they need, they’re going to need some type of validation. The first step would be, either one-on-one or as a group I would be very intentional about making sure they are heard and making sure that I’m absorbing what challenges they have. I would also sprinkle a lot of positivity and I would do that through giving them nuggets of how they may be able to shape their day or shape their environment to huddle a lot healthier, positive vibes. I think that the first two steps is to help them be validated and help them find something positive that they can all agree on and [inaudible 24:41] 

 

Jim Rembach:   So, you’re going to build that good foundation first before you take a step, sound good. Peter is was an honor to spend time with you today. Can you please share with the Fast Leader listeners how they can connect with you? 

 

Peter Haid:    Sure thing. I have my own consultancy its TrifectaCX, so you can reach me at peter@trifectacx.com and you can also hit me up on Twitter@PeterHaid. And I enoy talking to you Jim, it has been fantastic. 

 

Jim Rembach:    Peter, thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom the Fast Leader legion honors you and thanks you for helping us get over the hump. Woot! Woot! 

 

Thank you for joining me on the Fast Leader show today. For recaps, links from every show, special offers and access to download and subscribe, if you haven’t already, head on over the fastleader.net so we can help you move onward and upward faster.

 

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