The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes

This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.

Go to www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader

Episode #632: Nick Huber is an entrepreneur who owns stakes in 11 companies, including a real estate private equity firm and several agencies. His portfolio of companies employs over 325 people living all over the world. Nick lives with his wife and 3 children in Athens, Georgia. He’s the author of the book, The Sweaty Startup: How to get rich doing boring things.

Notes:

• Sales is the foundation of Every Business. From Nick’s mentor, Dan Cohen: “If you don’t like sales, I suggest you give up now and go get a regular job. You’re wasting your time.”
• “Life as an entrepreneur is sales.” To succeed in this world, you must have the cooperation of other people.
• The attributes of winners:
  • Abundance mindset
  • A sense of urgency
  • Not afraid to stand up and call you out. The story of his VP of Finance, Kevin. He called Nick out on deals he tried to make while Kevin was on vacation.
  • Make good decisions
  • Aren't afraid to get their hands dirty and do the work
• The Four Fundamental Truths of Life
  • 1. You can’t do it alone.
  • 2. You can’t make people do anything.
  • 3. Everyone in this world is selfish.
  • 4. It isn’t about you.
• So how do we use these four fundamental truths of life to get what we want? Sales. We sell ourselves and our ideas. We convince other people that their lives will be better if they trust us, work for us, buy from us, and more.
• Networking. Don’t go to events telling others to help you. Become someone worth knowing.
  • Do something of value that makes others want to come to you…
  • The story about the guy wrangling carts on a cold night at the Walmart in Ithaca, New York
• Nick credits a lot of his success to his parents, Tim and Susan, for raising him around a dinner table of positivity and curiosity. They made him feel as if he could accomplish anything and taught him to see the world through a lens of opportunity.
• Change your mind: Nick has a note taped to his mirror in the bathroom that says, “Change your mind on something today.”
• The most valuable trait of an entrepreneur: A sense of urgency. Most people walk slow, think slow, move slow, and make decisions slow. They lollygag around life. No energy. No excitement.
• Do uncomfortable things. Make the calls. Start a lawn care business if you're a kid.
• Decision making - You have to practice it. It’s a muscle
• Decathlon at Cornell - Brutally hard. 10 events. You never do your best in all of them. You take L’s. Have to respond and go to the next event. Struggle with grace.
• Ego - Need to balance belief with humility.
• There are two types of people in the world. Those who are humble. And those that are about to be humbled.
• “You’re interviewing for your next job every single day.”
• Hiring is like hunting. Always looking.
• Life/Career Advice: "Don’t be a doctor or a lawyer. What game are you playing? What does winning look like? Most people aren’t thoughtful enough about that."

The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes

This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.

www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader

Bert Bean is the CEO of Insight Global. Insight Global is a 4.3-billion-dollar, industry-leading talent and technical services firm based in Atlanta, GA. Bert started with Insight Global in 2005 as a Recruiter and has since worked his way up within the company, exemplifying Insight Global’s “promote from within” culture. Sam Kaufman is the Chief Revenue Officer of Insight Global. Sam began his career as an entry-level recruiter in 2004, and he has earned many promotions throughout his career. I initially started working with Sam as his executive coach in March 2020, and then mid-2021, we formalized a bigger partnership with Insight Global, becoming the presenting sponsor of The Learning Leader Show, and we broadened my role working with leaders throughout the company. It’s been so much fun.

Notes

• Insight Global is a $4.3B business. Insight Global grew 9.2% last year, while the industry declined 9%.
  • How is Insight Global winning while all other staffing firms are losing?
    • A lot of companies will succumb to the idea that it's just gonna be a bad year, but our people are like, no, we'll just figure it out. We'll pivot. We'll move industries. We'll change accounts, we'll change our focus. We'll sell different services. And that's really what we've done.
    • “Many in our industry are losing hope. That’s not us. This is where we thrive.”
    • "Our people's ability to show up, keep going, um, do new things, evolve, is really, I think it's second to none. And that's been a huge part of our story."
• The whole world is soft. We love leaders like Laura Downey. She’s so driven, so hardcore. A beast. She’s in Canada. She just reaches right out to me like we’re old friends. If I could get a bunch of Laura Downey’s, it’s game over.
• Obsession: A through-point for the entire conversation was obsession. Being obsessed with caring for people. Being obsessed with doing hard things like running 20 miles to work. Being obsessed with how prepared you are for a big meeting. Being obsessed with your standards. Holding yourself accountable to them and others. The leaders who sustain excellence over time are obsessed with their craft.
• Potential over experience - “If you want to build a culture of commitment and care, you have to choose potential over experience.”
• Things to look for when promoting a leader:
  • Hard decision making
  • Strategic bets
  • Simplifying complex problems
•  “The most important skill as a CEO is getting to the truth. It's really hard because it's really scary. Normal humans find every excuse not to deal with harsh truths.” ­-- Ben Horowitz
• The baseball on Bert's desk from the Atlanta Braves is an example of what not to do.
• The overall brand of Sam Kaufman = CARE
• Hiring in India - One of our folks that's doing the interviews asks this individual if, if they want a bottle of water, gives 'em a bottle of water, and this person says, wow, of all the places I've been to interview, nobody's offered me a single drink of water or treated me like a human being.
• Bert:  I grew up in a small town in Alabama and was a very average kind of kid. But my mom was always like, you can do anything you want. Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't. You can be you, you can be the fastest runner in the world if you want.
• Sam: I get in here at 5:30 every day because I have a couple thousand people that started where I started, and I am obsessed with the idea that they should have the best career ever.
• Bert: I think a lot of people don't ever get a chance to suffer on their own terms. Yeah. You know, like to, to enter the pain cave on their own terms. And that's a really cool thing to, to step into that and to figure out, all right, do you have the stuff or do you not? You know? And I think all of us deep down are afraid to answer that question.
  • I just gotta know if I can do it. I have to know that. I like that challenge. I put in the work, I put in the training. And then when you do it, you're like, I knew I had that in me, and it just is so reassuring to me.
• Bert: I love a sense of accomplishment. I love a sense of accomplishment. Uh, I love that I can do something hard. I've always, you know, I lived in Yellowstone National Park for a summer in college, so I fell in love with the American West and I loved seeing mountains and being like, why can't I just stand on that?
• Sam: The last couple years, I've spent a few hours kind of every morning working what I need to be talking about and what does my voice sound like? And through the course of a couple years of working on it now, I gotta run a call with a couple thousand people this afternoon, and it's like, oh, I'll just go do that next because I'm, I'm ready for that.
• Sam: I'm a person they can count on when they need them. And that's what sales really is. And that's what sales will teach you. And so for, you know, for my organization, if I want my people to see that, I want them to learn that.
• Bert's Tattoo – Be The Light

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes

This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver. www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader

Bio: As an owner of IMPACT, Marcus Sheridan has established one of the country's most successful digital sales and marketing agencies. He is the author of the international best-seller They Ask, You Answer… His new book is called Endless Customers: A Proven System to Build Trust, Drive Sales, and Become the Market Leader.

Notes:

• The 4 Pillars of a Known and Trusted Brand:
  • Say what others won’t say
  • Show what others won’t show
  • Sell how others won’t sell
  • Be More Human than others are willing to be
• 75% of all buyers prefer a seller-free sales experience. Create great self-service tools to help your buyers make buying decisions.
• The buyer's journey - They want to know what it will cost. So, tell them.
• Have a client story for every objection. Collect them. Tell those stories.
• The story of Steve Sheinkopf and Yale Appliance… ($37m to over $100m).
  • “That means obsessing over their questions, fears, worries, and concerns. Answer every single question honestly and transparently, right there on your website, for everyone to see.”
• “Tackle topics your competitors are afraid to touch. Break the unwritten rules of your industry. When you focus solely on empowering your buyers with the information and experience they crave, something incredible will happen: You’ll earn their trust. And when you earn their trust, you earn their business. Do this consistently, and you’ll capture the market’s attention, transform your company, and see numbers you never imagined.”
• The 5 Components of Endless Customers:
  • The Right Content
  • The Right Website
  • The Right Sales Activity
  • The Rich Technology
  • The Right Culture of Performance
• Path Finders - Help others come up with solutions. Your favorite mentor didn't tell you the answers, they helped you figure it out on your own (by asking you questions).
• The #1 thing that will dictate your income is your ability to communicate. As Morgan Housel would say, “Best story wins.” It is worth it to work on this skill. The excuse that you don’t have enough time is lame and not true. Focus on becoming a better writer and speaker. It’s too important not to.
  • Piece of feedback most often given - Say that, but in half the words. Be concise.
• Be willing to say what others won’t. And the idea of going direct. Go Direct – Viral essay written by LuLu Cheng Meservey. Going direct means crafting and telling your own story, without being dependent on intermediaries.
• Marcus called me by my name (both Hawk and Ryan) a lot during our conversation. It felt natural and flowed well. It worked. This is taught in sales training and can feel manipulative if not done well. Listen to how Marcus used my name enough to make me feel special, but not too much that it felt like a sales tactic to get me to like him.
• Book title = "I want. I wish." I want Atomic Habits. I wish I had "Endless Customers."

The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk.

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes.

This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver. Go to www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader

• At 27, Anne-Laure had her dream job at Google. She quit. "Are you sure?" "No."
  • She was focusing on a narrow vision of success.
• Anne-Laure was most curious about the brain, neuroscience, and why we think the way we do. She went back to school to learn more.
• Writing - First, to clarify thinking. Works as a forcing function for that. You need to create your own version of it. You do that by writing. The generation effect. You remember it better that way. Next, it created a magnet of people to her.
• The meaning behind the name "Ness" is "The state of being."
• Goal setting - What are the traps of linear goals? We think we know what we want. We assume we'll always want the same thing. The arrival fallacy. Think we'll be so happy when we get it, but usually we aren't. Instead focus on the process, the daily behaviors. And run continual experiments. Through those experiments, you’ll probably figure out what you want to accomplish. Or you might even stumble into it.
  • Practical goals - Was it useful? Focus on the process. There is nuance. How do you hold others accountable? It's more than just the number. Do the work to understand the nuance, the details behind the number. Too many managers are lazy.
• Collaborate with uncertainty. Understand why you're scared of it. Comes from a long time ago. That's no longer a thing. You don't just want your team to survive. You want them to thrive. Don't cling to the first obvious conclusion. Do more work.
• What about vision for a CEO? Instead of focusing on being #1 in the marketplace, focus on your approach. Your values, your mission. Focus on your company's daily behaviors more than beating someone else. Be curious and ambitious. 
• Escape the tyranny of purpose. People are obsessed with finding theirs. People have more than one purpose. It changes over time. You can reinvent yourself. It can make people miserable if they haven't found it.
• I suggested that hers is what she has on Ness Labs website: "To help people become the scientist of their own lives." She said that it is for her work.
• Procrastination - Instead of getting rid of it, reframe it. Say hello, you're here again; what are you telling me? A tool for it: Triple check - Head, Heart, Hand.
• Her grandmother Oma was the final person she thanked in her acknowledgement. Moved from Algeria to France. Didn't speak the language.
• Her parents always encouraged her that she could do anything. Show up. Do it. Try.
• How do you keep going after the honeymoon of a new project or idea? Keep iterating and trying new things. Have others help you. Sergey Brin got tired of the ad business at Google, so he had someone else run it and he created a lab inside of Google for new ideas.
• Don’t let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity. It’s your place in the world; it’s your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live.—Mae Jemison, American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut