Lessons from the School of Hard Knocks

Hey aspiring leaders,

Welcome to the Better Business Brief, where I share takeaways from:

running a business I’m building to sell for millions
my consulting with business owners building to sell for millions
tips and tricks you can use to do the same

I graduate from my MBA in about 1 week. My last big assignment was giving a presentation last night on what my experience with leadership had been so far and what my leadership development plan was going to be going forward. I told some of the defining stories of what I believe shaped my leadership. So I want to share some of these, and the lessons I learned.

So today, in less than 5 minutes, I’ll give you:

🤕 The Two Weeks that Broke & Rebuilt Me

🏫 The School of Hard Knocks Way I Learned

3️⃣ 3 Leadership Lessons I Walked Away With

It was September 19, 2021. About a week and a half earlier, my partners and I had secured our first ever contract. It was a staffing contract for an eventual 65 or so people. We got this contract unexpectedly and were panicking to get ready to fulfill it, as it was set to start in about 5 days. Although it was a lot of work, we were elated because this meant the company we’d been working on for 9 months was actually taking off.

But then something awful happened. My father got in a motorcycle accident that he later passed away from. My father was the sole owner of his own company. So in the span of those two weeks, I went from having no leadership experience or skills whatsoever to being the leader of my dad’s 3 employees that were all anywhere from a decade to three decades older than me, being the leader of 5 or so employees that we rush hired to help with this new contract, and being responsible for another 60+ people that were going to be working it.

The weight of this was unbearable at first.. until I had to adapt. I eventually just had to figure it out as I went. I made mistakes. And learned lessons. My good friend Devin later told me he considered this my batman moment. It literally broke me down to my core, but then turned me into someone I didn’t ever really know I was capable of being.

Along the way, I had to learn the hard way how to lead people. It wasn’t easy by any means. It was totally unclear what decision I should make… most of the time. In other words, it was the school of hard knocks. But it taught me really well.

As we built the staffing company, we developed a leader amongst the many people working for us named Adam. Eventually, long story short, he was running the entire company pretty much. He had become our Chief Operating Officer in under 2 years, and for very good reason.

One day, he came to me telling me the stress of the job was too much and that he was going to be hanging up his hat and quitting. Because he was literally running our company, I did the only thing I could and tried to get him to stay. I was successful, but I learned a lot from this experience and many others along the way.

Here are 3 core leadership lessons I learned from first having no leadership skills whatsoever, then getting a little better at it, then being able to retain and help grow Adam to be such a valuable asset to our company that it was able to sell without two of the founders staying in it:

#1 - Any idea could be better than yours, so you should hear and listen to them all

This doesn’t mean you should act on every idea that is brought to you and be a doormat. But it does mean you should consider them fairly. Many times, if you are leading someone, they are more in the trenches than you and might actually have better information to make a decision with. This is valuable. But in order to really benefit from this, you need to drop your ego. You must truly set your ego aside in order to be able to admit that the people you are leading probably have better ideas than yours. Only then will you truly weigh them correctly.

#2 - Grow people and they’ll grow your pockets

The more you develop your people, the more they will make you money. I even learned 3 C’s of engagement that I’ve realized are necessary to growing people.

Consistency: You must meet with someone regularly to have true impact and influence over their development
Caring: You must take an honest interest in someone’s goals and get to know them to be able to help move them towards them
Cultivating: You must take the time and make the sacrifices to support them in reaching their goals within reason

These 3 C’s are what helped me actually start making some impact with my leadership.

#3 - Create a culture you want to be a part of

The first part of this to me is being a chameleon. That means two things…

You must set your tone and approach based on the person you are leading
You must tailor your approach to each person and be adjustable

People ultimately want to be lead in a way that is digestible and enjoyable to them, based on their personality. This doesn’t mean you need to change your personality, but you should adjust to their communication style to suit their needs and not expect them to do so for you.

The second part of this is taking an honest interest in people’s lives and needs. If you think about a culture you’d like to be part of, it’s probably one where people are friends with those they work with, and where they feel supported. This is what everyone wants at the end of the day. And this starts with you. You have to create these conditions as a leader by taking time to get to know people on a deep level and by encouraging feedback and transparency.

One bonus lesson I’ll leave you with - your people are your business’s most valuable asset. When you take the time to develop them, you develop assets that allow you to actually take steps out of the trenches of the business and possibly even sell it without yourself staying in it. That’s why these skills are so valuable. That’s why I was able to sell our business - because it came with Adam in it. Develop your leadership skills and you will make yourself into the kind of person that can build a truly great company.

Be great. Keeping growing and aspiring. And as always: I hope you got something from this.

If you did, share it with a friend who may too, as this is the best way for me to grow it and make this better.

They can even sign up here :)

Happy value-building to all of you!

See you next time for Better Business Brief,

-Brody

If you are considering selling your business soon, let’s talk. Grab some time here and we’ll make sure your plan is on track.