The Bender Continues
Everyday bros talking about how life goes!
The Bender Continues
TBC Member Spotlight: Jonathan Strahl
Can failure actually be a stepping stone to success? Join us as we welcome Jonathan Strahl, a close friend and accomplished technology consultant, who shares his transformative journey from political science student to a leader in the tech industry. Jonathan reveals how his initial career aspirations evolved and how his competitive spirit and adaptability were crucial in navigating the dynamic world of technology. His story is a testament to the power of following one's passions and taking calculated risks, offering valuable insights into career development and personal growth.
In our engaging conversation, we delve into the concept of "failing forward" and the pivotal role of embracing mistakes in one's professional journey. Jonathan discusses the four F's—fail fast and fail forward—and the three E's—embrace risk-taking, embrace imperfections, and embrace a growth mindset—as essential principles for fostering a productive work environment. By turning failures into learning opportunities, Jonathan demonstrates how to create a non-judgmental space that enhances team performance and company profitability.
We wrap up with a focus on building meaningful relationships and effective leadership. Drawing on wisdom from Dale Carnegie and John Gordon, we highlight the importance of a positive attitude, consistent effort, and genuine care in achieving excellence. Jonathan shares his experiences and the pivotal role of trust and appreciation in his growth as a leader. This episode is filled with actionable advice and heartfelt stories, promising to inspire anyone looking to elevate their career and personal life.
Hello, today we are bringing to you an episode that is very special. We are bringing one of our own into the episode, where we could explore his mind and understand more about his path to success, specifically in the business world. I've had a personal relationship with this person for a long time now literally almost a decade or right around then and I see him as a brother. Some people think he is my real brother because we look alike, apparently, and we have had many, many experiences together as a group with this individual. He's near and dear to our heart and we've been able to see him go from a college student to an amazing person in the business world who manages and helps people, guide them through their path of success in the business world as a whole. He is an amazing person. He is a great husband and an amazing friend. So welcome, jonathan Straw.
James LaGamma:He's an amazing fur dad. Oh, he's a fur dad.
Kenny Massa:Fur dad, recent fur dad, kind of recent Recent fur dad.
Jonny Strahl:Yeah, Thanks for having me, gents Appreciate it, great introduction. Thanks, kenny Vincent Ferdad. Yeah, thanks for having me. Gents Appreciate it, Great introduction.
Kenny Massa:Thanks, Kenny. I want to get started on just kind of understanding from where you were many years ago coming into college. I think the first time I ever heard of political science was from you, so I had no idea what that was prior to knowing you. And then I had the fortune of seeing you go through that and kind of change your path through college. Really that has now led you into the tech world and we've seen you go through changes. So the one thing that I want to kind of start off with and lay the foundation for our conversation today is what industry are you in, what do you do in the business world and how did you get there? Because I've seen you personally or we've all seen you personally kind of change and shift and maneuver different positions. So can you lay that foundation for us?
Jonny Strahl:Yeah, no, that's a great question. It's always a fun question, right? So I clearly, as you mentioned, I work in the technology consulting space. Essentially, what I do is help technology groups strategize and create ways to navigate in the crazy chaos, technology driven world that we're living in, which is very exciting. So, at the end of the day, helping create customer experience goals, tapping into technology trends that are going to either A save money, make money or mitigate risks, in the short sense, right Was not technical, like to think. I'm sometimes technical, but I'm nowhere close to the experts and the wonderful people I work with on a daily basis. But it's been quite the journey. It's crazy to say it's almost been a decade of working in this industry and you know you're always learning something new every single day and for that you know I'm very appreciative. But also I have the opportunity to work with even more amazing people just in the industry.
Kenny Massa:Awesome. I think that one thing I want to kind of ask on top of that is has your background or your understanding in college and what you studied in college? Has your background or your understanding in college and what you studied in college?
Jonny Strahl:has that helped shape where you are today or the role that you're in? Yeah, so let me give you a little bit of a context or background just to how I even found myself in areas where maybe I flourish or do well, in areas where I've struggled and had to learn. Right, you know it's interesting, right, you always read these books or you articles you can listen online. It's like follow your passion, follow what your interest is in and go, reach for the stars. And for those that are watching this or listening in, like I encourage you to do that, please do that. I think in the day in life we live in, you'd rather try to reach those goals, reach those aspirations, follow your dream, because you never want to finish in life saying I should have, could have, would have. So please follow that. Do whatever makes you happy and passionate, because you can always fall back on it or fall back on a second plan if anything changes. You can always fall back on it or fall back on a second plan if anything changes.
Jonny Strahl:Now context we all met at Stetson, right? We all graduated, we all went to Stetson. More or less Football brought us there. And then there's academics, right, and you mentioned and hinted at it, I was going to go the political science route, really quickly realized that is not the route for me. I wanted to go more into law school. After speaking with professors, colleagues and mentors, our coaches, essentially they were like, hey, just change the degree and obviously do what you're kind of interested in. So I always thought I was going to go to the sports route. I think all of you know our senior year.
Jonny Strahl:I kind of distanced myself. There was a lot of discovery of you know what the heck am I going to do? And you know the trials and tribulations with football. The love was still there but I knew I wasn't going to be the next Tim Tebow, johnny Manziel, whatever it was, at the NFL. So I kind of just wanted to take a risk and I could have taken the safe route and went to, you know your traditional sales and selling tickets for a single A baseball team and those are the a lot of the routes and angles I was pretty much going to approach.
Jonny Strahl:But I was like, hey, I'm young, talked with a lot of individuals, what do you want to do? Well, I landed on three things and how I approached it and it was. I couldn't sit behind a desk and just literally punch numbers or look at data or just do things that weren't necessarily chasing something right. I had to have an environment where there's a competitive spirit, where I can communicate skills and go out there and do things and try to find solutions right. And then the second was like the career development versus growth, which I think skills, and go out there and do things and try to find solutions Right. And then the second was like the career development versus growth, which I think are very different, but I wanted to find an opportunity that could provide that. Especially I'm getting out of college, don't know what I want to do.
Jonny Strahl:And then the last thing was what industries in 10 years? Is there a disruption and it's not going to go anywhere? And I landed on three. It was medical, which didn't want to be part of that, to be honest. Sports wanted to phase out. And then technology. So here we are today what I will say. My background in college at One Way Shape or Form did help influence the way you communicate with individuals, your listening skills, all those great, maybe non-traditional or traditional, whatever you want to call it. Things were definitely helped in advance in college, but from the tech stack and, from what I've learned, I'm extremely thankful because the company I work for and started with they invest a lot of time, energy and effort and you know it's a lot of us don't get a degree, or we do get a degree and we don't land up with that degree and doing what we're doing in future state, which I think that's a pretty much a testimony to all of us on this call.
Kenny Massa:Yeah, very fair to say. You mentioned your organization and we've seen you in different types of leadership roles and other capacities and other organizations that we've all been a part of together, whether that be athletics or extracurricular activities, you've been able to achieve that leadership role. Can you talk about your ascension towards that leadership role and kind of where that's placed you and also the shift that that's taken from a personal perspective from going to kind of just entering a position to now having to worry about others more on a consistent basis?
Jonny Strahl:Yeah, that's a great question and I think and we'll probably talk about this future state but you know, at the time and growing into leadership roles, especially in college, like you know, the effort, the want to be involved and the commitment kind of is half the battle of finding your way in those types of leadership opportunities, right?
Jonny Strahl:So there's always a focus on, hey, I want to be within an organization to maybe grow, right, but what the biggest piece was the development within the career and then shaping you the way you would like to know in order to really lead someone.
Jonny Strahl:So, for me, when I think about leadership and just the career growth piece and having to play both roles where you're expected to produce and expected to obviously lead people and help making sure they're seeing success and they're doing the things that are going to make them win in the long run, you know that's what gets me going, that's what you know makes me come to work, right, I think anybody who has the opportunity to impact others, you find out.
Jonny Strahl:It's always about the people, right, and if those people are around you and you're doing the right practices and addressing things that can only help them elevate in their role, good things will come. Now it's the delegation piece of. How do you delegate X amount of time to being a producer, growing, obviously, being in a sales environment, that's one thing, but then helping those that you're working with or reporting to you for, however you want to call it, they're hitting their quotas and the expectations. It's something that's a thrill, honestly, and it's an opportunity that I've always wanted. So, again, it's an exciting opportunity where I'm at in my career today.
James LaGamma:You know, I remember back in the day when you actually were going through the interview process, and I remember how cutthroat that interview process Shoot I think it was like three or four rounds and it sounded very intriguing, especially as all of us were going through interview processes at the time. This was before even Kenny had aspirations to become an entrepreneur. And you take a leap and you get the job right. Now you're in a whole new environment, right? You talk about growth and development. My question to you is how did you essentially I'm going to use the term fail forward to make sure that you continue that growth and then take those fail forward moments and coach up your team members, whether they're lateral to you or under you, to help them essentially make the same mistakes but then learn from them and grow in their career?
Jonny Strahl:thus, bringing forward a more profitable company and team and all that kind of stuff. Great questions. So I'll say this when you look at what the concept of your question was failing forward, right, I think you look at it this way. It's like how are you emphasizing the learning from the mistakes or setbacks that happen, right, and rather viewing them quote unquote, and I share this with individuals, I share this with the team, I share this with myself. Internally, it's stop looking at so much as failures and then how can you turn those missteps right into growth and just success, future state, into growth and just success, future state.
Jonny Strahl:I feel like probably everyone's heard this before, but I tie it into four F's. It's fail fast and fail forward, right. And then I tie big acronym guy three E's here. It's really living by. Just embrace risk-taking. So when I say embrace risk-taking, it's okay if there's education and an analyzed thought process of taking that risk. I can tell you a leader, someone that's in your role, someone that you've worked with before, whether it be in life or in your career work environment they probably made some similar mistakes and it's how can you actually bounce back and learn from that?
Jonny Strahl:The second is just embrace your imperfections like, give up the obsessive need to be perfect, right Um, and just get out there and do what you think may be right, and again, it's okay to fail. But what are you learning in the moment, right, um. And then, lastly, like this is my biggest, my biggest thing I think I've learned over the years is you just got to embrace a growth mindset, right? And if you truthfully have a growth mindset and cultivate a mindset where, if you have a setback, how am I going to seize that opportunity if it's ever presented to me again? Or what did I do to learn from that presented to me again? Or what did I do to learn from that?
Jonny Strahl:When it comes to the failing forward piece, though, as a whole, and how do you practice it every day and how do you communicate with your team, it's just really kind of going back to the basics. I am never going to be someone that's disappointed, or I'm never going to ask someone to do something that I don't feel comfortable or that I've never done before either, and you know what A lot of those trials and tribulations were because I failed and I learned from it, and it's all coming down to trust, right. So if you can create an environment where, if you're leading someone and they can kind of understand where you're coming from, I think you can have a high performing team from, I think you can have a high performing team Just to kind of cap off the fail forward portion.
James LaGamma:From a management perspective, I'm interested to hear your thought process. When you have a team member that failed and even though they have that growth mindset, they don't know what they did wrong or what's the learning point that they should get from this. How do you go about? I guess not necessarily. Do you directly tell them hey, this is where you messed up, or do you try to get them to realize the problem and kind of figure it out themselves? What's your approach on that?
Jonny Strahl:So this is a very interesting and great question, and here's my leadership style of what I try to do is I try to understand before, even if it gets to that point, hopefully, where I understand how they take feedback, like what is the best way to communicate with that person? Because, I'll tell you this, there's some people that are like yo, just hit them straight. Then there's some individuals where we have this, saying you got to use the sandwich effect, like you give them the good and you give them the middle. It's like, eh, this is what kind of went wrong and how can you improve. And then, hey, end it with like a little bit better news, right? That's the ideal situation where you have a relationship where you understand what they want and how they want to be led or provided feedback.
Jonny Strahl:We love that word feedback, right, I will say this my goal is to never give you the answer, right? I always want to take a consultative approach and understand the thought process behind why the decision was made to do whatever it was. And then it's talking through and it's never a gotcha moment. And I think that's one thing that's very important is you never want to treat it like a hey I gotcha moment and the biggest thing is is ensuring hey, I'm not mad, I'm not upset. What's most important is what are we learning from this? How are we moving forward? And then, obviously, just creating that environment where hopefully there's a success transition from that moment.
Ryan Selimos:I'm going to key in on that word transition that you just used. But before I do that, johnny, just to kind of paint the picture for everyone, would you mind just sharing with us in your current role? How many individuals are you leading? Are you currently overseeing?
Jonny Strahl:Yeah. So it's interesting. We talk about the word transformation right, where I think every company out there is going through this crazy transformation and that's something internally we're going through as well, I think, directly, indirectly. We call it a stretch assignment. You know, I've had the opportunity to lead anywhere from five to seven and then obviously just have an opportunity to be the emphasis or the voice for certain divisions or verticals, which is very exciting, which I'm extremely thankful. But with that there's a lot of learning. So yeah, I would say give or take. You know, roughly the three to five window is what we like to be comfortable at and that's typically what we would consider, but it can sometimes be more.
Ryan Selimos:And your current role. Correct me if I'm wrong here. I could be a little bit off. Like aren't you in charge of the location where you're almost overseeing? I feel like when you told me it was like upwards of 50 or more individuals that you were responsible for in one form or another. Is that accurate with that statement?
Jonny Strahl:So we have field offices, right Right, where you know, depending on how many you know, reps or sales individuals, or on our delivery team, you know that office could consist of anywhere from 20 to 30 people. Okay, it depends on the market, it depends on the area, it depends on the region, and then you know, we're also aligned vertically and divisionally, where what that means in layman's terms is, essentially, how are we supporting groups within a specific industry, from a hey, let's call it media and entertainment, and then add the core application standpoint, um, which that can grow up to, you know, another between talent, delivery, and then also your, you know, your sales, your account managers, et cetera. You know, can, can easily go above 50. So, um, again, there's a lot of transformation, which is exciting because it's, at the end of the day, and you guys can all understand this, it's how can you best support your customer and helping them right and internally. That's what our main goal is and since the pandemic, it's been a constant. You know, don't want to say change, but constant.
Ryan Selimos:Hey, let's rethink the strategy around the best way to support that end client and I ask that because, right, you know, if you're someone, whether you have influence, impact in some form or fashion. You know upwards of 50 or more people, as you've mentioned, maybe not directly but in some form or fashion. You're recently 31 years old. Happy birthday there. But I want to talk about, like you, the biggest thing I think as a young leader in corporate America, the biggest challenge that we face all the times is just tenure and experience. Like you have to go through those trials and tribulations. You have to be enrolled, just a certain amount of time to go through that, and you found a way to kind of break through and speed up that process in a sense. So what's one piece of career advice that's helped transform your perspective and really aid you on that journey as you move through leadership?
Jonny Strahl:Um, love that. Thank you for teeing me up and making me feel so important. I think here I'll say this out loud, and I think it's important to set the the the the understanding here. It's like I struggled a lot, sure, um, there was a lot of questioning whether or not, you know, this was the right opportunity for me, and the reason why is because I found out very early.
Jonny Strahl:It doesn't matter where you came from, it doesn't matter what you put up on the scoreboard, the talent you had. College is college. You're coming in and you're dealing with great people, people that know what they're doing, and you're dealing with an industry and an organization where there's people just as hungry as you, an industry and an organization where there's people just as hungry as you. So your work ethic and your passion and your grit doesn't necessarily mean much, unless you're quote, unquote, obviously. How are you growing? How are you helping customers? What's your impact from a leadership standpoint and also externally with the customer? And a lot of that came because for once, it was like hard work and just grit just didn't matter. I became uncoachable and those are things that, like it was never unlike myself, like I never. I was always coached, we were always coached. We grew up coached right playing sports like you have to be able to be coached to get somewhat good right. Um, and it was because I was just having a rut and got a lot of feedback. Learned a lot, a lot of great mentors, a lot of great people surrounded themselves around me, didn't push me off, invest a lot of time and energy and I learned right, came coachable, focused on the things that great people were doing, learned where my gaps were. So I think the one to answer your question as a whole from a career advice that transformed my perspective. So a mentor, and this is a book that probably many people have read. You probably read it. Someone on this meeting read it how to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, right, I think the main quote and what I'm trying to remember is you can essentially make more friends if you become interested in them, versus trying to go out there and make people become interested in you, and I tie this into.
Jonny Strahl:You need to be maniacal about building meaningful relationships, and when I say meaningful relationships, that could be externally or internally, that could be career driven, that could be personal driven, and a meaningful relationship is not so much getting caught up in the numbers and the targets and what you're trying to hit from a milestone or goal for yourself, but it's genuinely understanding and connecting with people both personally and professionally, and the business and the outcomes and the deliverables will come with that. Building meaningful connections with people internally has changed my life. I would not be where I am today, I would not be half the person I am today, I would not be the husband, the future father I want to be right. I would not be the friend I am today if it wasn't for building and really trusting those relationships out there.
Kenny Massa:Good way to put it. I think that with understanding people and continuing to understand yourself and evolving through just life's course and continuing to advance your career, I think that you experience things and you start to understand how to perform particular activities. One thing that I'm really big on is creating habits right, Especially in an environment where habits are difficult to create right. People want to get away from habits a lot of the times, but there's habits that can be created that are good, and there's techniques that are good and strong and powerful. And there's techniques that are good and strong and powerful. Now we always hear of the word like work smarter, not harder. What is one way that or one habit that?
Jonny Strahl:you swear by that really lives by that term, like work smarter that you feel is really crucial to the workforce, or just work in general that can advance someone's career. Yeah, that's an awesome question and I think working smarter is something I struggled with early on, right, and you kind of hit it. Right. It's like work harder, you work hard, things should come with it, but that's not necessarily the case. You know there's so many hours in the day, right, you've got 24 hours, eight hours. You're quote unquote sleeping. You're at the gym, driving this and that two, three hours all together You're working. You're spending time with family, friends, your dog, your children, whatever.
Jonny Strahl:Speaker 1 one thing that I've I've found very valuable and this is maybe not the best example, but it's an example that's relevant. That's coming to mind I talked to someone about this a few weeks ago is being naturally curious with, like, continuous learning. So when I say that, like, you can literally be naturally curious about anything, right. However, if you're naturally curious about something in your industry, it's only going to come more natural to want to look or research or dive into a little bit more future state. Or at the end of the day, or when you pick up a book. Is it something relevant that is dedicated to learning or enhancing the ability for you to show up to a customer better? Is it understanding the evolving industry trends that are happening every single day? And that's something where it's like okay if I could spend an hour almost doing something I actually enjoy and like, but it's actually helping me further my understanding and development within what I do for an occupation like it's a no brainer. So if you can actually find something and really focus in that area, in that aspect, it's only going to benefit you and it quote unquote doesn't necessarily make it feel like you're working Right.
Jonny Strahl:We can go on YouTube. You know I have zero idea how to develop Right. But if I go on YouTube and understand, hey, how does this framework work, how, what is an API? What does this do? How? How does that impact X, y and Z? But it's doing it from a standpoint of like you're just naturally curious about it and then you're able to kind of speak the lingo. It only makes you sound more of like a business professional. So staying up to date with the latest trends, methodologies, you know it's just be smart about it, right, and that's something I try to dedicate at least an hour a day. Um, and if it's during business hours and it's relevant, who's to say that's not work? Cause it really is Sure.
Kenny Massa:I agree.
James LaGamma:You know, um, I've got, I've gotten to like as a, as a, as a former roommate of yours, I got to kind of see you, uh, grow and and and kind of go through this journey firsthand, in in in some ways, um and it it was, it was, it was fun to watch. I have to be honest, I know how much nerves you had in the beginning, where you're like, oh shit, what the hell is all this crap? What am I getting myself into? And then you were having your troubles, as you talked about before. But then I also saw you change, as you mentioned. You wouldn't be the friend that you are today. You wouldn't be the husband that you are today.
James LaGamma:I've seen the growth that's come with what work's actually brought into your life, definitely a different person than who you were when we were in college. I mean, still the fun, same old Johnny, but there's a little bit more to Jonathan, as Ryan would like to say, that meets the eye. Jonathan, as Ryan would like to say, that meets the eye. And from an outside, looking in, I'd say I've seen you hit multiple successes. I've seen you move throughout your company, changing to different areas and different I think you use the term verticals. I don't know if that's the right industry term here, but I kind of want to understand. Even with contests, these are metrics that you have to kind of formulate. Well, I've achieved success, but in the grand scheme of things, what does success actually mean to you, as you've gone through this journey in the workforce and with your company, and how you've developed over time?
Jonny Strahl:and with your company and how you've developed over time. Yeah, I think you would ask me this question maybe five years ago. It was about hitting sales quota, achieving goals very specific, right X amount of money, this that, reaching milestones, which are all very important, right. But over time you understand really the purpose and the why changes and I think someone who's really invested in growth not only myself, but also in others like you, start to realize, like, what matters most, and I think it's the direct impact on you know what success means to you, and I always tie it back to the people, um and I say that in a professional sense, but it's also in a personal standpoint you know success. You know it's a journey, right, like it's not a destination. I feel like sometimes people have this persona like you're going to get to the destination and it's done right now, like it's always a journey.
James LaGamma:The bender continues. Yeah, exactly, if you will, and Sorry for ruining your train of thought.
Jonny Strahl:No, it's good. I mean the bender continues for sure, hey, I mean the bender continues for sure, hey. And it always goes back to me, like it's going back to the meaningful relationships piece and you know, positively having a legacy. And you know you talk about continuous growth, self-development myself. How can I be better in all facets of life which will get into future state, which I know we're very excited Overall impact and just the fulfillment piece, like you know, business-wise, hey, I want to be able to help a client achieve what it is that they're looking to do and if they can do that, love it. That makes me extremely happy.
Jonny Strahl:Empower colleagues, help them get to their full potential, help you all be better, have an impact in a positive manner for each of us, right, and at the end of the day, like you know, when, when of life comes to an end, it's like you can do and say all the things you want, but it's always about what people say about you and I think that's what's most important. And I would like to think that, when it's all said and done, like John was his authentic self. He was transparent, also came with empathy, but at the end of the day, you could count on him, whether it be for advice, whether it be for help, whether just for being a good individual that's trying to help you out, and I think, if you're doing the right things, part of this journey that'll come. But yeah, it's, and it's always going to change, right? You know kids, your husband, you want to be great at those. I think sometimes work comes third right, but that's what I look at and how I define success to this date, right now it's.
James LaGamma:It's nice that you've evolved from what probably most people out of college start off with and it's monetarily driven right. Of course. I you have the goals you want to reach, those successes and and uh, you know, now it's. You're basically investing in the people and yourself yeah I just it's fantastic see and it's just been awesome to watch from the outside looking in.
Ryan Selimos:Johnny appreciate that well, john, you stole my second question, which was a book or resource that's transformed you, because you kind of hit on that already. So I'm going to go off the path a little bit here, something you actually said to me within the last week because it stuck with me a little bit. You made a comment that you demand excellence from your team, and I think that's a very fair comment to say and I think the proof is in the pudding from what we've talked about thus far. My question for you is we're in an environment, we're in a culture where I feel like that's not as easy said to be done, basically because we all want to demand excellence but it's hard to communicate that Right.
Ryan Selimos:So how do you kind of navigate the environment we're in, you know, socially, from a work standpoint, where you want to be cut and dry and, hey, black and white, demand excellence, like we are going to be above the standard, but at the same time you can't be as direct, and I know you mentioned, you know sometimes it's down to the individual, but I do think that there's some contradictory there. It's contradicting where, on the one hand, you know we're going to expect the best, and even more so, but on the other hand, you can't always be that direct in communication of it. So how have you navigated those waters? Because, as a fellow people leader, I've struggled with that myself and I think that's why you know when you made that comment last week. It's just resonated with me a little bit, so I'd love for you to be able to maybe share it with us and anyone else listening.
Jonny Strahl:Okay, I would say this so funny enough. I think I'm sure you guys all have read the book. It's a pretty fairly easy read and that's why I like the book. The Energy Bus by John Gordon right, there's so many sales books out there. There's so many leadership books out there, right, there's so many sales books out there. There's so many leadership books out there, like self-development. There's just so much out there, right.
Jonny Strahl:I'm really looking at the bookshelf and it's like start with, why never split the difference, like how to win friends and influence people what that book did? It's very simple, essentially, you're the driver, right, you're either in or you're out in a way, and there's a lot of variables and a lot of factors that you can control. And when I talk about the demand for excellence, I try to make it so simple and the three things I look at is attitude, effort and care. And if you have the right attitude, the right amount of effort and you actually care, you'll probably be pretty good at what you do and you can control all those right. It's that simple Attitude.
Jonny Strahl:I've struggled with this. Sometimes you're having a bad day, ryan, I'm sure, like you know. Sometimes you're having a bad day, ryan, I'm sure, like you mentioned, as you lead somebody, you can't show that out, you can't. You can't freaking, you can't mob, you can't kind of let that attitude or the things that are going down in your world lean on others or impact others. You can control your attitude. Care I think you truthfully have to care about what you're doing and if you care, I mean it's pretty important, right. And then just the effort piece, I mean give the effort, effort to want to understand and want to learn and want to be great, good things will come. So if you put it that way attitude, effort and care, that's the way I lead, that's my mentality and it's three simple things that you three on this call could all control.
Ryan Selimos:I appreciate that because, yeah, I think it's when you hear that right, without the explanation, you know, you maybe you tie it to metrics, maybe you tie it to, you can tie it to so many different things, but when, as you just broke it down so simply, for us it's all it's, it's all on, it's all on that individual that you're talking to. And, like you said, I believe, yeah, if you care, if you thoroughly care about something, you probably are going to put forth the most amount of effort possible because you care, and then it ties into I'm already blanking on the third thing Can you remind me Attitude, effort, effort, the attitude, and yeah, I mean it all ties and it's all within your control. At the end of the day, you look, you just have one person to look in the mirror for those three specific topics.
Jonny Strahl:So, again, listen, it's, it's important to understand.
Jonny Strahl:Everybody's going through things, right, sure, but you talked about you said, metric right, you have the right care to hit that metric. Yeah, if the attitude is appropriate to what that metric looks like and do you care enough, right, and it's not even so much about hitting a metric, it's like what's the reason behind the metric, which I think, as a leader, it's important to validate and to appropriately help your team understand what that metric is there for, right. But, yeah, there's just three things that you can control and it's that, and I've realized, like, especially with different, you know, generations in the workforce and the workplace, like there's a things that, like, you can control. And if you can control those things, I'm going to be able to fight with you, I'm going to be able to try to do whatever I can do to help you and I'm going to have a significant more conviction to help champion for you, for whatever it is, you see, future site, whether it be internally with our organization, whether it be elsewhere, that's what it's all about, you know it, whether it be elsewhere.
James LaGamma:That's what it's all about, you know. It's how can I help champions. A quick follow-up question on the care, attitude and effort and in your scenario you talk about you're driving the bus right and you're either on it or not. Have you come across the situations where maybe there was attitude, care and effort but it just doesn't, it's not working out well? Do you put the extra time, effort, attitude and care into that person? Or at what point do they have to get off the bus? How do you handle those situations? I mean, you say you want to champion them and I feel like you like a good underdog story too. Right, so you could be really invested in them, but at some point shit or get off the pot. I know, yeah, I don't know. I just curious.
Jonny Strahl:So there's been multiple instances right, and I think you all have probably had these, these challenges in a way. Also, I can tell you this like I root for people who are maybe underperforming or not succeeding or not hitting the ground running, like maybe we want them to or the company expects them to, and that sometimes has been a challenge for my leadership style. I've been provided feedback where it's like hey, you got to kind of get a little bit more, not harsh, but you got to set expectations. But I firmly believe if those three things are there, there's some shape, some way. Somehow you could potentially help that person see success.
Jonny Strahl:Now, listen, as an individual who's expected to lead and develop and help, if you've explored every avenue, you've done, truthfully, what it takes to try to get that person up to speed. There needs to be a mutual connection where it's like, hey, this just isn't for me, but we've exhausted all options, I will, uh, I'll never and say bye-bye, like that's just not my mentality, that's not my style. And a little bit of that is because I think there's a lot of people we've seen succeed and they didn't maybe hit the ground running or they didn't do what was asked or hit the expectation that was needed and especially in a sales environment like it's a very sometimes cutthroat industry. But I think the organization I worked with and the culture we built that's not our philosophy. And sometimes it's very beneficial and it works out, and then sometimes that individual later decides to walk away or it didn't work for both parties. So yeah, the underdog piece is for sure something that really resonates now that you say it, because it's the truth.
James LaGamma:I mean, now you have that underdog but you also have a high performer on your team too. Do you have that conundrum of am I putting too much effort towards an underdog where if I put more effort towards the high performer and they can double X their output? I mean, where do you kind of set up that strategy as a manager to be able to help both parties? Because there is definitely teams that have all of these from different spectrums, right, and you want to be able to help both parties. There is definitely teams that have all of these from different spectrums, right, and you want to be able to cater to everyone. You don't play favorites either, but you know there's a little give and take there.
Jonny Strahl:It's a great question and that's that's something that I think is valid from a. If you you look at it like, if you look at the highest performer, I guess it's what are they doing well? And really understanding, hey, what is it truthfully that you do need help or improvement on? And I think it's understanding, does that individual that might be high performing like are they? Are we meeting just to meet? Are we meeting just to catch? Are we meeting just to catch up? Is there a reason behind it? But also having an understanding of, like I flat out want to understand, like you know, where that person is within their kind of journey or career within that moment, and what's going well and what's not going well and what can I help out with. I think my meetings are a lot of time, like hey, we have an hour here. Like I want to listen to you and I want to focus on what's really most important for you to get out of this.
Jonny Strahl:Um, now, if you're exhausting more energy in that person that might be underperforming and taking away from those that are overachieving, in a way, that's a, that's a going back and forth, and you kind of got to analyze and identify like is it a gap on my part, right? Um, so we all have one-on-ones with our teams, right? You know, we have that that time. But that's a very good question and I sorry for the hard questions. The short answer is like, hey, I, I'm gonna spend time with the person who needs it, right, and if they're asking for help, if they want help and there's that attitude, care and effort, sure, let's give it to them and I will go out of my way, right, and I will do whatever it takes and I will be in the weeds with you. Um, and then there's just people and we've all had them, y'all like people that are just really good and sometimes it's not even that they need help, it's they need a little bit more of a push because they have so much more potential and they just don't know. It's there. And that's the cool part.
Jonny Strahl:And the follow-up question to your point, ryan, when you talked about like expect kind of greatness in a way, but you got to be able to push that boundary Right. And it's not so much coming from a place where, like, we're trying to be like, hey, you're doing good but you can do better, but like I hope and I would think all of you guys have had people in your lives that have pushed you and maybe weren't so much quote unquote your best friend and you probably looked at them in a way where you're like dude and maybe weren't so much. Quote unquote your best friend and you probably looked at him in a way where you're like dude, what is wrong with? Like, am I going to? And then in the end game you're like, damn, now I see why that person did that, because they saw the true potential. Yeah, but yeah, great question, james. Thanks for putting me on the spot with that one. I'll report back to you on that.
Kenny Massa:Well, john, before we go, I got one last question, easy question, if there's one word that you could give Easy.
James LaGamma:We're big on one thing lately.
Kenny Massa:If there's one thing or one word that you could say is important for a leader or a manager to embody, what do you think that is? Whether it's a character, it's a trait, anything.
Jonny Strahl:I was going to give three words. I would say Three words.
James LaGamma:I mean, come on, we did that in football, right, we came up with an acronym. Yeah, we did, we did.
Jonny Strahl:That's so true I would say, in in the day, in the age of where we're living in, and just the people itself. I think one thing is very important is trust. I agree a few others, but like I'm going to throw a little curveball and say trust.
Kenny Massa:I was thinking.
Jonny Strahl:Your word was empathy, so I was going to say that but, I'm not going to say empathy because I said it earlier, I swear I was going to say empathy. I didn't want to say empathy, but I would say trust, because I think if you develop trust, there's some empathy behind it. Right, hey? All right, empathy. Gary V baby.
Kenny Massa:All right, all right, john, we love it.
Ryan Selimos:I'm going to steal the floor. One last question. I promise it's the last one.
Jonny Strahl:This is for the fans out there.
Ryan Selimos:We need to know. We need to know. It's come up, Jonathan. Are you AI generated? We need to know. The question has been asked. We are here today. Are you AI generated, John?
Jonny Strahl:I'm a pretty shitty AI generator.
Kenny Massa:There's a lot of better things that I could create than me.
Jonny Strahl:I'll tell you that.
James LaGamma:Don't sell yourself short there, John. Don't sell yourself short. He's AI generated. I thought.
Jonny Strahl:AI was supposed to be the best and greatest technology. I don't know If this is what they're putting out.
Kenny Massa:We got a long way to go. Oh, my God.
James LaGamma:Oh man, that's good, that's good.
Kenny Massa:Well, thank you for shedding light on your voyage and on your ascension towards where you are today, and we have all personally seen you grow and change drastically from the day that we've met you. Today, we appreciate everything that you teach us and help us understand as a leader because, like all of us, you embody a lot of really important characteristics as a friend. We really just trust you. We trust you a lot of really important characteristics as a friend, yeah, we really just trust you. We trust you a lot. Trust. There you go.
Jonny Strahl:Trust, love that. Thanks, jance, I appreciate the time. Thanks for drilling me with some questions. I was hoping there was one question you guys didn't ask me and you guys didn't Time management, because I got no time. That'll be a separate episode. I was waiting for that one to come up and I was like let's just go ahead.
Kenny Massa:James might take that one. He's good at that one. James, you can take that one, awesome. Well, until then, the banner continues.
