Leadership Evolution: Adapting Styles for Success | Ep 5
Welcome to the Veritas Vantage Podcast!
In today’s episode, your hosts Brian Hastings and Justin Maines discuss the importance of hiring the right people with the right mentality to ensure a team's success. Justin and Brian delve into the significance of leadership, managerial strategies, and the key traits of successful leaders, like leading by example, setting clear expectations, and building trust. They emphasize the value of recruiting coachable individuals who have faced adversity and are motivated to prove themselves.
Get ready for discussions on Logistics and Leadership!
The Logistics & Leadership Podcast, powered by Veritas Logistics, redefines logistics and personal growth. Hosted by industry veterans and supply chain leaders Brian Hastings and Justin Maines, it shares their journey from humble beginnings to a $50 million company. Discover invaluable lessons in logistics, mental toughness, and embracing the entrepreneurial spirit. The show delves into personal and professional development, routine, and the power of betting on oneself. From inspiring stories to practical insights, this podcast is a must for aspiring entrepreneurs, logistics professionals, and anyone seeking to push limits and achieve success.
Timestamps:
(01:13) - The Essence of Leadership: Leading by Example
(02:14) - Recruiting the Right Talent: Traits to Look For
(04:36) - Building Trust and Setting Expectations
(08:58) - Evolving Leadership Styles: Adapting to Life's Stages
(12:25) - Maximizing Impact: Focusing on People and Goals
(14:56) - The Importance of Mentorship in Leadership
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Transcript
You can't teach hunger.
Speaker A:On this episode, we're going to talk about getting the right people with the right mentality on the ship, rowing in the same direction.
Speaker A:Justin, what are your thoughts on that?
Speaker A:Man?
Speaker B:It's crucial, you know, from a leadership standpoint, from a managerial standpoint, you're going to make your job a lot easier if you get the right people on the bus or the ship, so to speak.
Speaker B:And if you think, you know, historically, back in your experience, how much time did you have to commit to bad hires or hiring mistakes that you made as a manager?
Speaker B:They suck your energy, they suck your time.
Speaker B:And all that does is now you're neglecting your top producers or people that you want to spend time with and invest in.
Speaker B:So it starts with recruiting.
Speaker B:From there, you know, it's on you in terms of, like, what your leadership style is.
Speaker B:But you know, for you, Brian, what you know, in your experience, you have a ton of experience in leadership, you know, even prior to your career in sports, you know, specifically baseball.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:What are some of the top characteristics that you see?
Speaker B:Not necessarily industry specific and logistics, but top leadership characteristics that you see that may make a successful and impactful leader?
Speaker A:Yeah, I think number one is always leading by example.
Speaker A:I, you know, some people might disagree with me, but I feel like that is a staple when it comes to leadership.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You have to do the things that you want your people to do.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And I think there's so many sales managers out there, so many managers of groups or organizations or coaches, they want to, you know, shake their team and say, you know, do this better or try harder.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And I think that a leader or a coach or manager has to look in the mirror and say, am I doing those things that I want my team to do?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So I think those are some attributes or I think that's the number one attribute.
Speaker A:I also think there's a level of expectation, right?
Speaker A:The clear expectations up front, as well as a level of trust with your team.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So the clear expectations.
Speaker A:This is what I expect of you, right?
Speaker A:So if you go in and you have low expectations, you're probably not going to have a lot of results.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But at the same time, I think if you have those high expectations now, you can drive accountability to those people or to those members of your team.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:You have a ton of experience as well, man, like hiring, managing, coaching.
Speaker A:What are some things that you look for in, like an applicant or somebody that you want to bring onto the team, like, more of like the recruiting side of it?
Speaker B:Yeah, it's a great question.
Speaker B:And, you know, we used to have these hiring profiles for, like, your ideal candidate for me.
Speaker B:And I mean this in the most humble way possible, but I always look for people like me.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:You know, I felt like I knew exactly what it took to be successful in the industry.
Speaker B:I'm always learning, but if I could have someone like me, I knew that I was going to be able to make a bigger impact on them and motivate them more, coach them, train them more to get them to the point where I need them.
Speaker A:What attributes would you say that you had that you would look for in, like, a new hire or somebody that you would be wanting to bring on your team?
Speaker B:In terms of attributes, I've been through a decent amount of adversity with that.
Speaker B:I had.
Speaker B:I had a lot of chips on my shoulder.
Speaker B:You know, you think of the Michael Jordan.
Speaker B:You and I are both MJ fans.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Love Ron.
Speaker A:Love it.
Speaker B:We respect them both.
Speaker B:But Michael Jordan used to just create chips that he would pull on his shoulder.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:He'd make up stories in the locker room, like so and so, you know, was running his mouth about me and say, he's going to, you know, hold me to 10 points or whatever it may be.
Speaker B:He'd create these chips.
Speaker B:He also had a lot of chips on his shoulder that.
Speaker B:That he used to go, you know, be a killer.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:He was stepping on people's throats.
Speaker B:He was getting after it.
Speaker B:I had a lot of chips on my shoulder as well.
Speaker B:So I wanted people that have experienced adversity that you didn't have a silver spoon in their mouth, that were go getters, they wanted to compete.
Speaker B:They had someone burn them in the past and they were out to prove them wrong.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:You know, I was raw.
Speaker B:I wasn't talented by any means.
Speaker B:I'm still, you know, honing my craft, but that's always gonna be a work in progress.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Someone that is coachable, you know, they don't know, you know, everything in the world.
Speaker B:You know, you have some people that come in that have a lot of experience that, you know, whether it was a previous sales position or let's say they went to school for, like, business management or got a master's in logistics, whatever it may be.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:They come in and they think, oh, well, I know everything already.
Speaker B:I don't need to learn anything.
Speaker B:I think that's ridiculous.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You should always be willing to learn and get better and improve.
Speaker B:So coachability was a huge factor in a characteristic that I looked for in candidates.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:For you, what you mentioned hiring profiles and kind of what you looked for in candidates.
Speaker B:What were some of the characteristics that you looked for in building a team in terms of a leader?
Speaker B:I know you touched on this earlier, but drill down to industry specific leadership characteristics.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I think there's number one, lead by example.
Speaker A:Number two, set expectations and number three, have a level of trust with your team.
Speaker A:One thing that we try to do or one thing I try to do too today is two things.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:The first one is love the hell out of the team.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:If you bring those people on and they're a part of our team, love the hell out of them.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And again, we're going to make bad hiring mistakes and that's going to happen over time with that now it's not like, you know, soft and you know, you know, it's accommodating all the time.
Speaker A:That's not it.
Speaker A:The second piece is hold them accountable.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So yes, we are going to give them as much effort and energy and coaching on the front side, but on the back side, holding them accountable to our clear expectations.
Speaker A:Up front leaders that I always look up to and leaders that I always, you know, admire to be.
Speaker A:They're those people that set the standard.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And they are the people that, you know, they're consistently driving action within the group.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So I think that, you know, to answer that question, I think it's what are they doing?
Speaker A:Are they having the right mentality and behaviors that I want to aspire to be at some point in the future?
Speaker A:Do you like, do you see when you, when you look at past jobs or coaches or leaders, are there any like attributes or anything that sticks out to you?
Speaker B:Yeah, I think the biggest thing, and I know this from experience and even with our team and previous teams, but building trust is extremely difficult to do.
Speaker B:For some, it's easier.
Speaker B:For most, it's difficult.
Speaker B:You have to earn the respect.
Speaker B:You have to earn their trust.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, as a leader, if you don't have trust, it's very difficult to drive your team for them to reach your potential.
Speaker B:Trust was always important to me because if I didn't have that and I didn't respect them as a leader, sure.
Speaker B:It was difficult for me to engage with them.
Speaker B:I didn't want to spend time with them, I didn't want to interact with them because I didn't see the value that they brought me.
Speaker B:I've seen the professional side, the personal side, whatever it may be.
Speaker B:People are going to be different inside of work, outside of work, and they're going to interact with people differently.
Speaker B:So I take trust.
Speaker A:Isn't that telling?
Speaker A:I just feel like there are so many leaders out there that don't set the right example.
Speaker A:Or maybe you're not.
Speaker A:If you are a leader and you're listening to this today in our audience, you know, maybe you're that leader who is.
Speaker A:It's a fine line between friend and boss or leader.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And how do you.
Speaker A:How do you draw that and what do you do?
Speaker A:And I think, like, I think with a lot of different leaders out there, they cross that line.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So my opinion is anytime that you go into leadership, you do have to draw a firm line in the sand.
Speaker A:Hey, I can still be cordial and nice and friendly, but I do have to draw a line from the leadership perspective.
Speaker A:I mean, what's your take on it?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It starts with what you said earlier.
Speaker B:You know, set those expectations.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And you know this as well.
Speaker B:With our team, we hire within our internal network.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:And we drive referrals for candidates.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So a lot of people, you know, I grew up with personally, I'm, you know, I'm from the Cincinnati area.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Kansas City.
Speaker B:So I know a lot of our employees, and I've known them for years.
Speaker B:So setting the expectation early on, like, listen, we're always going to be cordial.
Speaker B:We're going to be.
Speaker B:We're going to be close outside of work, on a personal level.
Speaker B:But when it comes to business, this is my baby.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You got to deliver, man.
Speaker A:You got to deliver.
Speaker B:I do not mess around when it comes to work.
Speaker B:Like, we can chum it up outside of work or maybe a happy hour on the weekend, whatever.
Speaker B:But when it comes to business, here are my expectations.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I think if you do what you say you're going to do, it's very easy to earn that trust and respect.
Speaker B:But those expectations has to be set on the front end because all that leads to is, you know, people getting comfortable.
Speaker B:And you bring in, like, HR and you have a diverse work group, so people get too comfortable.
Speaker B:Now you're dealing with other issues that you don't really want on your plates.
Speaker B:I do want to.
Speaker B:For our audience, if you're listening, we'd love to get your thoughts on characteristics of leadership.
Speaker B:You think about some of the best leaders, worst leaders you've interacted with or.
Speaker B:Or worked with.
Speaker B:Leave those in our comments on, you know, even if we miss a couple that you think are worth discussing, I do want to change topics Real quick on leadership.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But for you, you mentioned lead by example.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Right now we're bootstrapping.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Most entrepreneurs, they don't just come with a Fortune 500 company.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:They're starting from ground zero.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:As your company grows, your leadership style has to somewhat evolve because.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Mission lead by example.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You might be able to do that on an executive level.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:But for your employees that are in the day to day, how has your leadership style evolved as you build a company?
Speaker A:I think it's hard, Right.
Speaker A:I think that if you would ask me this question 10 years ago, I think I'd have a lot different answer.
Speaker A:It boils down to a couple different things for me.
Speaker A:It's how do we empower our people to make the decisions on their own so that me and you can focus on higher level things as well as, you know, we're both in different stages of life than we were 10 years ago.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Kids, soccer practice, wives that work.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, those are things that I think are different.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, you know, me and you, you know, every couple of days we'll do the daycare drop off.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And we might not be getting into the office as early as we, you know, truly want.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And that is something that I've had to grapple with over the past couple of years.
Speaker A:But at the same time, I think I look at it in this stage of like, my life and your life as like the total body of work.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:What are we doing during those hours in the office?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Are we spending that?
Speaker A:Or when we're talking about leading by example.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, what are we doing during those hours?
Speaker A:And then like, what are we doing to empower our people?
Speaker A:Or how are we helping encourage or coach our people during those times?
Speaker A:Yeah, I think it's tough, man.
Speaker A:I think it's definitely evolved.
Speaker A:I think it's one of those things that, you know, stage of the life are tricky because 10 years ago, man, you would.
Speaker A:I remember giving people Saturday shifts for showing up to work, you know, two minutes late.
Speaker A:But yeah, so I think things change, Right.
Speaker A:You're always in different stages of life.
Speaker A:I mean, what about you, man?
Speaker A:How have you evolved?
Speaker A:How have you changed?
Speaker A:What's.
Speaker A:What do you got?
Speaker B:Yeah, I think you nailed it.
Speaker B:And that's the exact same for me.
Speaker B:I know we're similar in this respect of our stages in life, but my values have evolved as I've, you know, grown up older and you start a family and I'm different.
Speaker B:Different position of my life.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Early on you mentioned, you know, leading by example.
Speaker B:I did that.
Speaker B:Definitely on the effort side of things.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:And that, you know, this is when we met in our previous role.
Speaker B:But, you know, I was green.
Speaker B:I was raw, I was competitive.
Speaker B:I led by example through my.
Speaker B:Through my actions where.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:You know, I was pushing people.
Speaker B:I was.
Speaker B:If you did not get on my level, I wanted nothing to do with you.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:We don't need to go into details here, but I know for a fact I talked more shit.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Than anyone in the entire office.
Speaker B:And that was way of, you know, I would agree.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I don't talk as much.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:No, I think it's a good thing.
Speaker A:No, I don't.
Speaker A:Don't take that wrong, man.
Speaker A:I think it's a good thing.
Speaker B:I think my point is that's not always how people want to be motivated.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:You know, I ran my mouth, but I was trying to motivate people.
Speaker A:I mean, if you can back it up, then I think it's a different story.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:If you can talk trash and, you know, talk the talk, Walk the wall, like, then I think it's fine.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, I mean, it worked.
Speaker B:I think the people that had a similar mindset and.
Speaker B:And style, it worked.
Speaker B:They wanted to compete.
Speaker B:They were going after my numbers, calls, revenue, whatever it may be.
Speaker B:So it worked in that way.
Speaker B:But again, I was so focused on money that I didn't really care about grooming people and developing leaders.
Speaker B:My focus was selfish to the point where I wanted to invest in my own success.
Speaker B:Financially, I wasn't as concerned professionally.
Speaker B:Now it's flipped financially, that's kind of lower on my list of priorities because I value investing in people.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:We started this company, we brainstormed it years ago, and as we build it, our main thing was people.
Speaker B:We wanted to invest in people.
Speaker B:We wanted to build a culture, focus on people.
Speaker B:My leadership style now is more centered around how do we bring people in and squeeze the juice out of them so that they're maximizing their potential, whatever goals.
Speaker B:And you know this.
Speaker B:But for.
Speaker B:For our listeners, we are so focused on setting goals, pushing people to their max, getting the absolute most out of them, because nine times out of 10, especially with our demographic, they're not even thinking of their goals.
Speaker B:They're concerned about, like, what am I doing this weekend?
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Not next year, not five years, not 10 years down the road.
Speaker B:So when we can kind of change that and rewire that mindset now.
Speaker B:Oh, oh, this is important.
Speaker B:I don't really have a plan, so that's, that's more of my leadership style now.
Speaker B:And it's focused on like, getting the most out of people.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:No, I think you hit the nail on the head, man.
Speaker A:I think that, I think what you said, like, how do we.
Speaker A:How do we make the most impact?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I mean, that's what this company is about.
Speaker A:How do we make the most impact on people?
Speaker A:How do we change others lives?
Speaker A:How do we have the most influence to help other individuals out?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So, I mean, even if you're a listener today and you have a small team or a group that you want to try to influence or manage or help them, hopefully you can take a few of these tactics away that can help push.
Speaker A:Push the needle a little bit.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So I think that's where we want to try to help leaders and help individuals help lead teams.
Speaker A:Whether that's leading a sales team or an operations team or a.
Speaker A:Any type of sports team or, you know, whatever that looks like.
Speaker A:Being a better leader in general, I think I'm a firm believer.
Speaker A:I think our society needs more leaders.
Speaker A:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker A:More people that are, you know, setting the standard in their daily lives to help influence others.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think that's something that, with this podcast and what we're doing, I think it has to be a staple.
Speaker A:One last thing that I want to touch on, on the leadership front.
Speaker A:There's a book that we read back in the summer.
Speaker A:It's by Simon Sinek.
Speaker A:If you're listening to this and you haven't heard of Simon Sinek, please look him up.
Speaker A:The dude is a master on leadership.
Speaker A:He has a book that's called Start with why.
Speaker A:A lot of that book boils down to what is the purpose?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:What is the purpose of doing what we're doing?
Speaker A:Salesperson.
Speaker A:Or if you want to be a better, you have a salesperson.
Speaker A:We have to figure out what their why is.
Speaker A:And you know, some people might call it a why or a burn figuring that piece out.
Speaker A:So that is a good.
Speaker A:A good book to look up if you're looking to grow and learn from a leadership perspective.
Speaker B:Mark Zuckerberg had Steve Jobs, Bill Gates had Warren Buffett, Abraham Lincoln had George Washington.
Speaker B:The last one is made up.
Speaker B:My point is all successful people have mentored others and have also had mentors.
