Beyond Titles: Laura Brandt on Leadership, Growth, and Influence

Chapters

• 1:57 Laura's Journey: From 3rd Generation Network Marketer to Leadership at IDLife
• 3:52 The Origin Story: How Laura and Mark Met
• 5:37 Embracing Leadership and Overcoming Adversity
• 13:13 The Philosophy of Leadership: Training, Delegation, and Empowerment
• 20:28 Fostering a Culture of Growth and Decision-Making
• 24:07 Navigating Leadership as a Woman in a Male-Dominated Environment
• 24:40 Navigating a Male-Dominated Industry as a Female Executive
• 26:42 The Importance of Assertiveness for Women in the Workplace
• 28:49 Mentoring and Building Confidence in Young Women
• 29:59 Embracing Leadership and Overcoming Self-Doubt
• 36:14 Effective Communication Across Generations and Platforms
• 43:32 Core Leadership Qualities and Advice for Aspiring Leaders
• 47:00 Final Thoughts: Leadership Lessons for the Next Generation

Transcript

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 0:21

Welcome to the healthy, simplified podcast. Everyone. I'm a little nervous today cause I've got a special guest here. Miss Laura Brandt. When we were doing this leadership series, I was trying to think through, who I wanted as a very strong female leader. And to be honest, I really couldn't think of anyone else other than Laura, she and I have been working together now for 11 years. She epitomizes the, permissive leader versus titled leader role that, we've been talking to coach had a check and Todd cash about, but most importantly, it's just one of those things where it's a very comfortable conversation for me because we've gone from the where she was a PM at ID life and listening to somebody like myself to basically telling me what to do every day. Yeah. She and I have a very good rapport, but most importantly, I think you're going to get a lot of benefit in listening to, how she got into the position that she's currently in. But Laura, I really do thank you for agreeing to do this because especially when you know that I have the microphone and I got to ask the questions, what can happen.

Laura Brandt: 1:23

I've known you for a really long time, so I know the possibilities are endless, but now I'm excited to be here and really excited about this new podcast and the opportunity to be on it today. So I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 1:37

good. One of the things that I love doing with guest is letting the listeners get to know them. I know how important family is to you. It's like your family is part of my family. It's an extension of it, but why don't you tell the listeners a little bit about yourself and a little bit about your family?

Track 1: 1:55

Absolutely. Goodness gracious. I like to usually start with the fact that I'm a third generation network marketer. I'm proud of that fact. Actually, my grandfather was in network marketing for a health insurance company that my father is a serial entrepreneur. He's never had a boss and he's always been successful in network marketing for at least four years. For the majority of what I've seen and and even still today. And then of course, myself having also at one point been a network marketing and now getting, having the privilege and honor of working for what I think is the best network marketing company out there. It's really a great industry and I'm so thankful to get to be a part of it. But also, just more about my family. I've got goodness, an incredible family, huge family. My mother is one of 10 kids. And as a result, I've got cousins galore, most of which are more like brothers and sisters and just really close friends and family. And really honestly the family of choice here at ID Life is a big one too, but I. Definitely can't leave out my husband who really makes it all possible. Truly. I would say, when we started this journey together, I definitely was not in a role like I am today. And the fact that he's made it possible all along the way, the entire journey, but really does continue to make it possible for me to do what it is that I do every day. And my incredible daughter who's just 11. So she's growing up and goodness too fast. So yeah, it's a little bit about my

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 3:19

year old black belt in Taekwondo. You got to love that.

Track 1: 3:21

She is.

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 3:22

that's. She's 11 going on

Track 1: 3:23

Yes, she's And she's quite, quite the thinker. Some of the things that she says to me on a daily basis blow my mind.

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 3:32

Karma can be as they say, a little bit bad at times, but, she is basically a small mini me version of yourself. One of the things I think people would find interesting because you tell this story a lot differently than I do. mainly because I tell it the truth. And you have this made up version of what actually happened. But I think it's always a good way to start this when you talk about the way that you and I met, because, it started a journey of how we get to where we're going to go in this conversation. But I think people would be interested in, in, in hearing that part of how you and I got to to know each other.

Track 1: 4:11

Yeah, it's funny. You were the guy that was doing the diligence on something that was being acquired. And I was actually part of the team That was managing that at the time. Really? Goodness gracious managing it. I don't even know how to say what it was. I was doing a little bit of everything. But yeah you were doing the diligence on it to make sure that it was what we said it was. And Goodness gracious, that was seems like a lifetime ago, but also like yesterday. And you were that lawyer that everyone is afraid of that's depicted on television. Nothing like you are today. It's funny to look back and think of that. And I was a

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 4:49

Yeah, you were you just had a baby, six months before. You had literally just had a baby.

Track 1: 4:55

Yes, I had just my first born who I wasn't expecting and she was quite the blessing. And so yeah, brand new mom and it was an exciting time of my life.

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 5:06

One of the things that people don't realize is you actually told me, no the first couple of times that I asked you to come work with me and And as we can see, no, didn't work with me. So you eventually did decide to come on, but I can still remember back in, in those early conversations. I told you, Hey I'm hiring you to take my job. Yeah. Probably going to take you three or four years to get there, I'm hiring you to take my job so that I can do another job and do something else, within ID life. And you did it in less than 18 months. And I'm still look back and I'm like, this proud dad moment, but really let's talk about that journey a little bit because, you didn't have. This amazing title or anything else when you first started with ID life, it was, Hey, you were coming in to be a project manager and help me deal with anything that went wrong. And it seemed like that was starting to happen on a daily basis when we first started, because, Hey, it's a startup things happen. Okay.

Track 1: 6:06

In a position to train everyone to do all of the things that I was doing. And you guys had hired several people, but my goodness I want to say 10, 15 people in a really short period of time. And I had no intention of working with you. And in fact, had told, several times I was really proud to be a mom. And like I said, I had at that point expected to be a mom. And so the fact that the turn of events happened and I had the honor and privilege to To have my child I knew what you guys were in for. That's the truth. I knew that it was a long, hard road. And if I knew it would be as long and as hard as it really has been, I probably still should have said no, but I kid. But yeah, I just, goodness, looking back at that time, my head was set on being a mom and I knew what you guys had ahead of you. And I knew that it was going to be, Really hard, long hours. And I just knew that at that point in my life, I wanted to have a little bit more control over my schedule than you guys could offer me. And so by declining the job, it did give me a little bit of leverage. I got to control my hours and I got to work from home back when working from home really wasn't a thing. And and then, the whole point was for me to train everyone how to do what I was doing. The only problem is. I didn't go so well. I just kept taking on more and more. And before I knew it you had convinced me to take a full

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 7:30

I told you, she tells it one way, I tell it the other, I tell it the way that I saw it, which was, she said, yes, that's what I heard. So I just, I knew what was going to happen. And, over the years you've seen how that works with me. It's Hey, give me an inch. And the answer's okay we're gonna, we're gonna make this happen. I put things into the existence, but as we started going through in the development of the company and you took on a bigger role and you started to be responsible for more and more projects and things. It seemed to be there was this change in the atmosphere of ideal life where people started to come to you on a regular basis for issues that weren't necessarily the, scope of your technical job responsibilities. It was for and I like to refer that as permissive leadership. People were coming to you for advice. So talk about that transition from, Hey, I, okay, I finally accepted I'm going to do this, I'm going to be part of this craziness that is going to be ID life, but then all of a sudden starting to see more and more people coming in your direction to ask you for advice and how you would handle certain situations.

Track 1: 8:33

Yeah, thinking about that I guess at the time I was, really had nothing to lose. I wasn't afraid of losing my job because let's be honest, I had turned down the job multiple times. And so that, that did give me maybe a little bit of an edge in the workplace and something I've learned a lot from and carried with me. But I think most importantly is I was there doing. Things that I was passionate about, things that I cared about. And so it wasn't just a job. It wasn't a job at all. It was fun. And not only that, but having people that had been hired with far more experience than me, most of which were older than me that should have been experts in their field coming to me to Bail them out or solve their problems pretty frequently I figured out that, I did have a unique skill set. I see the world in a way that most people don't and can think quick on my feet. And yeah, naturally, I think people just. sought me out. They look for my advice and a lot of times because they were afraid to ask for maybe they were afraid to ask you. You were scary back then. They're afraid of the founder or all of the executives involved. And and so a lot of times I think that might've had Something to do with why people came to me is they're looking for advice. They wanted help solving a problem or they wanted help positioning something to you guys. And I really, that wasn't something I was afraid of doing was talking, saying things, disagreeing with you or the others. That was something that came to me naturally.

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 10:07

As I've said, you've you were most definitely the work wife. I never needed in the sister. I never wanted, we we do have some some epic disagreements in the office. But as I say, if we ever agree, just step out of the way because it's what's going to happen.

Track 1: 10:20

Yep.

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 10:21

And. One of the things that I want to dig a little bit deeper on is because it wasn't just a situation where they were coming to you for advice. It was more of that thing that they viewed you in more of a leadership role. And one of the things that you and I talked about early on was how you deal with adversity. There's a lot of people in the world that when things go wrong or there's a issue or there's a problem, they're what I call the ostriches. They want to stick their head in the stand, pretend like it's not gonna happen. But time and time again you get You and I working together, you saw the way that I was dealing with it, which was okay. Head on right now. Let's deal with that. Let's talk about that. Minds mindset shift, because that wasn't something that came natural, but obviously it's something that you do on the regular basis now, but let's talk about how you saw that, how you develop that and what you saw the benefit of that was.

Track 1: 11:15

Absolutely. I think it's two. I think there's two sides to it. It's the problems that, we're coming. You feel them in your gut and you're afraid of them coming. And as a result, the head in the sand, is a lot of people's natural tendencies. They think it's just going to go away. And the reality what I've learned over the last decade is, They never go away when you have that feeling, it's going to go wrong. You already are stressing about it. The fact that you're even thinking or stressing about the fact that it is going to go wrong or it is going wrong is you're already dealing with the negative consequences of it. You're not going to sleep well. You're not going to eat well. You're everything is going to be wrong. And I guess what I've learned repeatedly over and over is the faster you deal with it the faster you can sleep and that's part of it. But I think the other part of it is the problems that you don't see coming. Those happen all the time. I think that I say I'm a professional firefighter in the corporate role. And that means that my job is to put out fires on a daily basis. And most of those fires are fires that I don't see coming or that other people within the organization didn't see coming. And truthfully that did come naturally for me. I've always been the type of person that you just deal with it. I think quick on my feet. And and usually jump into action. Sometimes I make the wrong decision. In fact, more, more often than I'd like to admit. But the one thing that's always been true of my leadership style is that I own it. 100%. If I make a mistake, make a bad call, I'm going to be the first to say, that was me. I did it. I'm sorry. Here's why. What are we going to learn from this? And and learn and grow and move on. That's all you can do. I think that those opportunities are just as important as leadership is the opportunity to allow yourself to fail and to make a bad decision. And then most importantly, to allow yourself to take ownership

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 13:07

So let's. Let's talk about that a little bit more because one of the things we talk about a lot is credit down blame up. We talk about that all the time and it's one of the principles that I've tried to talk to other guests about, but I want you to explain to the listeners what that means to you, because it really is important that they truly understand what a credit down blame up mentality and in a leadership position really is.

Track 1: 13:33

Yeah, actually you gave me a little bit of an outline, not much I'd say for today. Cause you, I know how you roll. You're going to, throw some punches in there, but a little bit, I had a moment to think and reflect on some of the topics that I wanted to discuss today. And it's in big, bold print in my notes, which is, and I say, blame up credit down, is, It's one of the most important leadership qualities for anyone, but specifically that I think is one of my greatest strengths. And that is really simple. It's you should always be training your replacement. In every area of your life, your business you're always looking for an opportunity. You should be looking for an opportunity to grow and you really can't grow. If you're not willing to let go. of what you're comfortable with today. And as a result of that means that in a leadership position, you're always training someone to do something that you're better at initially than they are, right? Which means they're not going to do it as well as you now, when someone who you are in the process of training or let's say someone that you haven't even trained to do something that you do well, and they make a mistake. It's your fault. There's only really one way you should look at it, which is, did you not communicate effectively? Did you not train them effectively? What what did I do wrong? How did I set them up for failure? And, I think that's a that's just the reality of leadership is it's an opportunity for a leader to grow when someone makes a mistake. What did you do? How can you do it better next time? How can you better equip someone to succeed? And then most importantly, when you train someone or prepare someone or even guide someone to the right answer as you're training them and they do something really well. Taking any of the credit for that publicly should be the furthest thing from your mind. You should be celebrating the fact that they were able to do it. Even half as good as you, because if you ever want them to be as good as you they're going to need some positive reinforcement along the way. It's Growth is not easy. It's hard. And so giving people the opportunity to shine and, really positively reinforce the things that you're seeing in them so that they're willing to stick their neck out and do it again is absolutely imperative. Yeah you'll see that pretty regularly. If you're one of my teammates, I'm always shouting people out. I'm always talking about how great they are, what they've done well. And alternatively, when they do things wrong, I'm always, I always have their back. I'm always, fighting for their growth and their opportunity because truly without their growth and their opportunity, really doesn't mean much.

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 16:17

It's funny there, there's this lore within our customer advocates of early on, if you remember when people would call and they would be a little unkind to them, or they would start using a colorful words, it was always, they would hold on just a second. I would like to elevate your call to my supervisor. And basically it would, I would jump on the call and then all of a sudden people would see what I think about protection of my employees. Protection is a big deal, but let, I want you to be transparent. Because delegation was never really your strong suit when we first started out. So I want you to be, I want you to be a little transparent here because you and I had to have a lot of conversations about delegation cause it's hard. And a lot of the things you just talked about are, it's perfect. It's exactly what you do now. And it is a struggle sometimes when you're like, man, why didn't I just do that? And the reason why is because a company can't grow if everything has to go through a single source. But let's talk about that delegation, that, that struggle that you had early on.

Track 1: 17:17

Yeah. It's always been a journey because from the very beginning I was forced, there was no way I could do everything. I was forced to teach as many people as possible in as many areas as possible. But then there are those things that you're really good at or, that you find. An immense amount of pride in and those things are a lot harder to let go of truthfully. They are and then there's comfort in those things, right? It's comfortable to come to work and to be good at something. And I know you're the only person that can do it. I will say that this is something that took me a lot longer to learn. Then I'd like to admit I've always, as a leader, I've been forced to delegate, right? It's not that I didn't delegate. It's that I didn't delegate well enough. It didn't empower people enough. And it is hard. It is, it's really hard to allow people the space to make mistakes. That's the truth. When, you can do it exceptionally well. And you're forcing yourself to let someone else do something that you know, at first, maybe they're not going to do it as well. It's incredibly hard to allow that person to do that. In your eyes fail because it's not as good as what you would have done. And so you gotta really look for ways to celebrate the wins, the things that they did do well, and even accept the things that they do better than you. That's hard. I will tell you, that's hard for me. It was always hard for me. My goodness, That's the one thing I'll say about leadership is just, you have to grow in order to grow as a leader, you've got to be willing to constantly allow other people to grow and be better at things than you are. And I would say somewhere mid journey as a leader. I. I, I changed one of my statements to, one of the only reasons why I'm as good as what, as I am, is what I do is I hire people that are a lot smarter than me. And I have that tone when they're coming onto my team, which is I'm hiring you because you are smarter than me in this area. More than I will ever know, you are the expert. I am not. And I'm just here to help. I'm here to help you in this journey as much as I possibly can, but hopefully as soon as possible, you're going to be independent and off to the races. And those are hard lessons. I will say it is in my nature. I'm a doer. I am a just through and through I'm a doer. I will work. All day, night and weekend to get something done. And that's a bad thing, right? It's hard to have balance in your life as a mother and a wife, when you're willing to just work yourself into the ground to get things done. And and the reality is, that learning to truly delegate and learning to have trust in the people that you've hired to do what they were hired to do. It definitely didn't come naturally for me.

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 20:15

You manage a lot of people within ID life and you touched on something that I want you to expand upon a little bit more, which is we have this philosophy where we give people the freedom to make a mistake. And they know that, hey, we're going to learn from them. There's not going to be, this blame because all the blame comes up, I'll take the blame for everything. It's fine that we don't mind the blame, but you have to be able to make a decision and that's the hard part. And it's hard to train because this is not human nature. There's a lot of people that, let's be real. Some people, their greatest fear is public speaking. Some is making a decision and you have to coach people through that. So how do you coach people through being a little bit independent, taking command, taking control in areas, especially, there's a lot of very young people that work at ideal life. How do you basically get them to do that? Because you're better at it than most I've ever seen.

Track 1: 21:07

I don't know that there's any specific thing that I'm doing, or maybe that I've ever put words to but I will say that I think it probably is attributed to the fact that I don't criticize people often. I celebrate, I talk positively about them in public and to their peers and to the other executives. I'm always just really pumping them up and maybe in some ways, even more than they think. That they're capable of, and I think often it creates room for them to rise to the occasion. Now, don't get me wrong. There are people that take advantage of that and don't rise to the occasion and it's part of leadership, right? It just is. It's one of the worst parts of leadership is when, you have to allow people to Make their own decisions. And and yeah, I would say that it's not an easy thing to do, but I would say that my style of leadership is that most people know two things about me. Number one, if they show up to a meeting or anything and, they leave it saying, oh, she doesn't know anything. She doesn't know what she's talking about. Then they should. Walk away immediately knowing that they're the problem, not me. That's because they weren't willing to speak up. And so from the very beginning, when somebody is new on my team, one of the first things that I'm going to tell them day one is speak. If you think I'm wrong, or you think there's a better way to do it and you don't say it, you don't get to blame me. That's not how this works. Blame yourself because you didn't, you weren't willing and able to speak up. And so I think from the very beginning when someone is working, alongside me, I don't really have people that work for me. But people that work alongside me is the fact that they know that they can speak up and they're not going to be punished for it. If they disagree with me just creates a really great environment. For growth and really for the best idea to win. That's the truth. And then the second thing that I think, real quickly that people figure out about me is that if they make a mistake, I'm not going to yell at them. Now, don't get me wrong. I do yell sometimes. That doesn't happen very often, but people do push me sometimes past the point of return on that. No I am really not a yeller, but. But I will snap back, just like any other human would. The reality is that happens to you in far between most of the time when someone makes a mistake I'm pretty understanding. We talk about it openly, honestly. We don't hide from the fact that they made a mistake. We talk about it and then we talk about what we're going to do to make sure it doesn't happen again. We have a conversation and that is I think those two things create room for people to be willing to learn and grow and make mistakes because they know that I'm going to support them

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 24:04

So let's talk about one of the elephants in the room. One of the difficult things in today's society is for women to excel in male dominated structures. And it's something that you see all the time and we're, as a society, we're getting better at it. But you were a female executive and you weren't even a really, an executive yet. You, you were up and coming. And it was an extremely male dominant high what do I say? Ego environment at ID life. How did you how did you work through that culture to basically get to where you are now? I know there's a lot of female listeners that would love to hear that because it's not an easy thing that you did.

Track 1: 24:46

Houston was I say it still is, right? I'm the only female executive within our organization still to this day. I'd say from the very beginning, it was it was a male dominated environment and still is today and even our industry, the whole industry, when we show up at industry events and see and hear from others, there are some female executives. But most of them are not running the company. And yeah it's definitely been something that, that has been a challenge from the beginning, but for me, I think that, I don't know, I might be a little unique in this regard, but I don't expect people to, change or to treat me differently because I'm a female. And that's definitely hard to do sometimes, right? Because I am a female. It's not that, but I don't necessarily want anything to be handed to me or easier just because I am a female. And I think even in this environment, you've many times taken on the role of protector for me. And I think many times you've seen that I've held you back and said, no, let me, I got this one. I don't need you to take care of me. I'm fine. I can take care of this myself. And should I need any help? I'll make sure and ask you, and those are things that sometimes it's easy, to allow someone, especially being raised, as a daughter, my father was always very protective of me. And was always there for me, anything I needed from him. And so it was, maybe it would have been easy or natural for me to step into this role and allow for myself to be protected in the business environment, but that's not something that I've ever really allowed. I've always. I would say that's probably one of the number one traits that I possess as a female executive is very assertive. And I see that regularly often with women in the workplace. And in fact, I've worked with quite a few women and I've told them point blank, Repeatedly, like you have got to be more assertive. You have got to be willing to say what needs to be said in the meeting. Even if it's going to be uncomfortable even if you're going to call someone else out because they're wrong and they're wrong. If you're not willing to be assertive, it's going to be incredibly difficult for you to grow in any environment, but especially here in this environment, even though I am a female, if I have other females working with me who are unwilling to be assertive, it's going to be hard for me to to continue to accelerate their growth because in my opinion, To be a leader in some respect, you've got to be assertive. You have to be willing to communicate effectively your position or your stance and then support it. Really why you feel that way and not be emotional about it but be factual and willing to say hard things. So yeah, I'd say, I know there's really no easy answer because there is no every female. In a position, of leadership or an executive role has had their own journey. And mine is unique, my environment here at ID life has been in a lot of sense. It has been protected. I've got incredible people that I work with. God fearing people who celebrate me and my success. And so it is unique in a lot of ways. I have been shielded maybe from the real world. In, in, in that respect, but the reality is that nothing can shield you from business dealings and working with other executives with other companies or vendors that maybe aren't upholding their end of the deal. And yeah for me, I would say that's probably the number one thing that I had to learn really quick and I had to get Truthfully, as I've grown as a leader and as I've grown in in my position here, I've had to learn to be. To be more assertive than maybe I was in the

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 28:49

So let's expound upon that because one of the other things that I have witnessed a lot, and I've obviously been in business a long time, not just at Idealife and other places, is, there's this thing, and it just happens to be more female oriented than it does male oriented, where there's almost like a self doubt. There's a lack of self, worth or I don't feel like I'm worthy or they won't ask, or, it's just, I don't think I'm ready. Or how do you. mentor women specifically through that. Because, when you and I first met, you didn't have the greatest amount of confidence and I was basically trying to build you up as much as I possibly can and tell you how much I saw in you. Cause I saw what you were doing for the company that, we acquired. And I was like, Wow. You have so much more in there that, that could be tapped. And I know we have employees that have come and some have gone and some are still here and they're growing, but I know you do a lot of mentoring of especially these young women on getting that confidence in themselves to basically take that next step. Let's talk a little bit about that.

Track 1: 29:58

Certainly. Reality is that being a leader, it shines a white spotlight on your weaknesses. It really does even still today. I think of that and I look around and I'm like, I really need to grow in this area because I just see it being reflected all around me and and that's been true of my journey as a leader from day one. So yeah, to say that, growing in confidence was something that was incredibly important as a female, Society as a whole, right? Growing up as the daughter of a boomer. I was definitely, I faced all of the worst challenges. I think that females, I wasn't skinny enough. I wasn't pretty enough. I wasn't wearing lipstick. My hair wasn't, I wasn't wearing the right things. Hearing, seeing and believing those things growing up was just a reality of being, a woman. I look back at times, and I think about what it was like to be in, Junior high school, college, and what I thought about myself during those periods. And what's interesting is that society had me thinking about all the wrong things. I was thinking about how I looked, what people thought about me, What people thought about me, what people thought about what I said and I really wasn't nearly as focused on or not focused as much as I should have been on what I thought of me and what really mattered to me. In fact, it wasn't until I was. I would say in my mid to late twenties that I even really started having those conversations with myself and most importantly, challenging my internal beliefs. I would say that this is something that I'm always talking to my daughter about. It's those negative thoughts that you hear in your head, the things that you're saying to yourself. And as a woman, I think there are so many women out there that can identify with. Not liking what they see in the mirror. The question is. Are you going to walk away from the mirror and challenge your thoughts and celebrate what you do and talk to yourself about all of the great things that you did see, and that you're going to continue to see and who you are and what you stand for? Are those going to be the things that you're saying in your head? Or are you going to allow what you saw in the mirror for that minute that you didn't like to rule? The majority of your thoughts or even the thoughts about what other people think about you or about what you said, along the journey. One of the things I honestly, I've thought about this a lot, like, where did I learn this from? But I really don't know. But somewhere along the way someone said something to the effect of if you think that someone leaves a conversation thinking about what you said on repeat. You've got another thing coming. Like they're not thinking about what you said. They're thinking about what they said. Do you ever leave a meeting and you're just like thinking over and over about what the other person said? No, you leave thinking about what you said, because you're the most important person in your universe every single day. Fun fact. So is everyone else. And so that was one of the hard lessons that I had to learn was like, even when I would leave a meeting or I would leave a situation and I'd be really hard on myself, man, I wish I would have said this, or I wish, I sounded really stupid or whatever it was that I'm negatively telling myself. I learned over the years and I've gotten better and better at it to challenge those thoughts and to stop myself from going down that rabbit hole and thinking about all the things I would have, should have. Could have done and think about what I did do and what I'm going to do and how I'm going to grow and how I'm going to get better and think about all the things I'm doing. I positive affirmations are real, they work. And if you're not using them and you're not using them regularly and you're not talking to yourself positively regularly it's going to hold you back, period, end of story. And those are the kinds of things that I try to communicate effectively to women that I work for repeatedly. Be assertive, say what you think, say it out loud, practice it. The amount of times I've told someone, prepare, go into a meeting thinking about and preparing for how you're going to communicate when you disagree with someone and get yourself into, the space to be able to assert yourself and disagree with someone and effectively communicate it and walk away feeling good about yourself. Those are all really important things being a female. And yeah, it's just, I would say that as I'm talking with people and as I'm mentoring, especially women, I'm always just trying to encourage them to. Really work on, yeah their self worth is probably, and I usually don't use that term but to believe in themselves and to assert themselves. And I think that while I have, played a small role in a lot of women's lives, I keep in touch with a lot of women that have. Worked with me in the past. And I say that, being a leader shines a spotlight on your weaknesses 100 percent with 100 percent conviction. The reality is I think back on what I could have done better. When I was their leader and I think about how I'm being a leader today and what I can continue to grow, how I can serve women, not just women and men that are working with me every single day. How can I serve them better? How can I provide a better opportunity? And most of those lessons I've heard had to learn the hard way. I think I've done I'm proud of the fact that I've supported a lot of women in their growth journey. And I've seen a lot of women leave and go be incredibly successful. And I like to think I had, I played a small role in that, but the reality is while I did play a small role, they had to do the hard part. They had to grow. They had to believe in themselves. They had to take new opportunities and go out there and make it happen. And so I don't take I definitely don't take credit for that. I take credit for the small role that I played in

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 36:10

You, you pushed him out of the nest, and say, here you go grow. I want to switch gears a little bit because there's another aspect of leadership where you excel and it's unique to our industry. Which is, it's not just the four walls of ID life. It's outside as well, because we have an entire independent army of Salesforce that are trying to grow and build independent ID life businesses. And there's leadership requirements in that as well. So let's talk about some of the little unique aspects of having to lead the field at the same time that you're leading the four walls of ID life.

Track 1: 36:49

Yeah. Effective communication as a leader is probably the most important

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 36:54

Bingo.

Track 1: 36:55

Especially. Especially as it pertains internally and externally, with the field and with internal teammates, I've learned over the years that as a leader, it's my responsibility to communicate with them in the way in which they Best receive information and sometimes that even just means how I communicate with them. Not necessarily what, but if it's teams or, text or email or phone call effective communication as a leader means that I'm. Thinking about how they're going to receive that information more than how I'm going to give it to them. Or what the reality is, I have to be understanding of the fact that I have field leaders that need me to call them on the phone, even though. It is difficult for me to pick up the phone and call someone. And the reality is I do it every single day. I pick up the phone and I talk on the phone to people all the time. But if left to my own devices, I would email text is like my number one form of communication. But as a leader, I have to communicate in a way that is best for that person. Period. End of story. And and so the other thing that, that is, that's. Really important in effective communication is to say it again, say it, and then when you think you've said it a million times, say it again.

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 38:30

so you I'm going to talk to you about this because now you've teed it up. Because you are the ID life interpreter for Mark. Let's be real. That's just what you are because I say things and I'm like, okay, that was clear because no one asked a question to your point. You didn't ask a question. It's your fault. So from now on, I'm going to use that and be like, Hey, this is your fault. You didn't ask any questions, but let's talk about that because there's a unique aspect of communication and it's not just field oriented. It can be inside the office, but in some respects, it's almost generational. My, my instinct is to grab the phone, call it and talk to a human being. There's nothing lost in a communication. Your instinct is email or text. The younger generation can be a DM somewhere that I don't even know how to, most of the times I have these DMS that are like eight months old and people are mad because I didn't respond. I'm like, I don't even log into this thing that often. I just now saw that this was there.

Track 1: 39:21

yeah.

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 39:21

let's talk a little bit about that because that is a key thing that you're exceptionally good at, which is not just identifying how somebody needs to be communicated to the information that they need. But also the way in which they want to communicate. Let's talk a little bit about that because that's a lost art that a lot of people don't have. And it's a true leadership trait.

Track 1: 39:43

The reality is the thing is never the thing, right? Whatever it is that, that someone is upset about or passionate about or way, there's always more to the story. And it's our job as leaders to look for the rest of the story. And you never going to get the rest of the story if you're not communicating with them in the way in which they communicate best. If there are people that communicate really well behind an email and they will go back and forth and they will say more than they would ever say in person or on a phone through email because they just have the comfort of being behind the screen. And so you have to be willing to, email someone over and over again. And the same is true for text and phone calls, but trying to identify and then making a note of it. What is, it's funny I say this, but one of the hardest things for me as a leader to accept is voice texts.

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 40:41

I'm out. I can't do those. No Send me one of those things.

Track 1: 40:45

so it's so funny. Because in this industry, as our field leaders, they are out in the field and they're always talking to people. They're having conversations, they're driving places, as a corporate executive, I'm clearly not. I'm in an office. I'm running an operation. I'm always in the same place. I'm in meetings, or on a phone call or on a zoom and I'm in, I'm stationary, right? And so the best way for me to communicate is via text, via email, via teams because I can do it. While I'm also doing other things. However, a lot of our field leaders, they're in their car and they can't text me, right? Or maybe they have something to say and it would take them forever to text it. And so they either want to call me or they want to voice text me. And I was really, I will say, it's a great example of, something I was very resistant to as a leader because I just didn't like voice texts. Like I hated them. They were so inconvenient and and I just did not want to accept that was going to be a form of communication when it was new and introduced to me as a way that people would get a hold of me. And then one day I went, okay, wait a minute, I have to change the way I think about this. And I started being accepting of voice text and Finding pockets of time during my day to take a moment to listen to that voice text And then actually respond to them in voice text Which Is also hard. I'll be honest. It wasn't that long ago that I was like, how do I voice next? I didn't even know how to do it because I hated it so much. I didn't even want to know

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 42:25

called a voicemail, just a different form. Yeah,

Track 1: 42:28

yeah, just a different, you have to know where it is though. It's not it's just like the super, there's a feature and you have to know where it is. I didn't even know where it was. I'm like, how are you, how are these people even doing this? But anyways yeah, it's something that, that as a leader, you just have to be willing to Accept that as a leader. It is your responsibility to communicate effectively. It's not theirs. It's mine. And if I'm not communicating effectively, then it's my fault. And and that means I have to be willing to meet people where they are. And like I said, saying it over and saying it in multiple different ways and formats. That is something that I learned the hard way repeatedly over an extended period of time. I was unwilling to accept that I needed to say things over and over again and in multiple formats. And I will say it's like a muscle. You have to practice it and you have to do it over and over again. And and when you're sick of saying it, like absolutely, cannot even fathom saying it one more time. You probably should still say it again.

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 43:31

boy, isn't that true? Let's I want people to understand. What I would call your basic tenets of leadership. There's certain things and must haves when you're looking at people about, hey you're considering people for promotion or you're saying, Hey, this person really can be a leader. There's certain things that you're looking for in that individual. What are, a couple of two or three things that you're always saying, okay, now this person has potential because they're exhibiting the following type of things.

Track 1: 43:57

We've talked a lot about them. Definitely people that are giving credit, not seeking it. That's number one for me. When somebody is willing to take ownership of their mistakes and they're willing to give credit to someone else, I'm like, that's my kind of person. Someone who's willing and able to embrace change is hard. It is so much more comfortable. Thank you. To do the things that you've always done, but you won't grow. And if you're not willing to embrace change, then you're likely not going to grow in our organization. And so that is something that I'm really looking for. Yeah, looking for people that are willing to train themselves out of a job. Those are the kinds of people that, that I that I value the most that they are always. Passing off knowledge and handing things over reality is they're just making room to take on more. And I love that because I have more than enough things that I could pass on to someone else. So definitely looking looking for that. And then, I would say that someone who is willing to accept Their weaknesses and acknowledge them publicly. Sometimes. I try to acknowledge my weaknesses publicly. I joke about my weaknesses to others because I don't I don't want them to think that I think I'm perfect because good Lord. I'm not. I'm so far from perfect. Perfect. And and so I try to make light of those things and joke about these are my weaknesses. I acknowledge them. They're there. I do try to tackle my weaknesses. I'm not going to lie. However I would say that my leadership style is that I. I'm continuously looking for new strengths over the last 10 years. I've found more and more things that I'm strong at while I'm letting go of other things. And I find that to be more rewarding than trying to improve on my weaknesses. So there are some things that I just accept, like I'm weak there. I need to find people that compliment me. So I'm looking for that in a leader. I'm looking for people that are willing to accept. their weaknesses, talk about them, try to improve them. Great. Yes. Or find ways to surround yourself with someone that compliments your weakness and give them all the credit and praise for the things that They're doing

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 46:17

can remember early on, I told you, you need to hurry up and learn how to manage people because right now I'm doing it and I'm doing really poorly at it. So I need you to do this for me because no one wants me managing them. Trust me. The other attribute that I think I personally look for in people is, or is the person that's working for the job they want, not the job they have. I always look for those folks because those are the ones that get it. They're training people to take their job while they're learning a job that they want so that they can be ready to take on those responsibilities. That's so critical. Laura, one of the things I want to always do in any of these podcasts is give my guests the opportunity to have the last word. And in this particular situation, I want to set up a scenario for you to talk, if you will, imagine that your daughter Sloane is listening to this seven years from now. Okay. And you're talking to her and you want to explain to her, Hey, sweetheart, this is what you need to know as you're walking into life, leaving home, going to college about leadership and the things that, I really want to make sure that you as a young female understand. But most importantly, you understand about. So I'm going to talk a little bit about me and my style and what I'm looking for in individuals. And most importantly, what I think is the most important for you to know, so you can excel. Cause there's a lot of young women out there right now that are just looking for that. Hey, how do I get started? How do I actually start to believe in myself? How do I, get rid of the largest critic in my life, which is the person in the mirror. And start moving forward and I think I, I want you to have that conversation because I think the people are going to get a real good benefit out of hearing you explain how they can become a better version of themselves with focusing on some real key issues.

Track 1: 48:12

And there's so many things that I would say to my daughter that I would want my daughter to hear from me. And hopefully I am teaching her these things every But I would say first and foremost Surround yourself with people that are people that you aspire to be like that's so important. If you're not looking up to the people that you're working with and for, and find a new place, I truly because you're, they're not going to do you any favors and you're probably not going to do them any either. Go find a place and surround yourself with incredible people. Leaders and people in all areas, one of the things that, that I actually heard that was coined best by a fellow leader in my circle her name is miss Tanya par and I will say it right now. I'm blessed. I am surrounded by incredible, powerful, strong women. And leadership roles all around the end. So goodness, I have got the best mentors. But yeah, I heard heard this from Miss Tanya Parr. She's going through something personal, very personal in her family, and it was do hard things. Do hard things and I would say, man, that is so true in every area of life. If I look back on my career, maybe one of the number one reasons for my success along the way is the fact that I was willing to do hard things, started small, right? Just one thing here, made a decision. I'm going to get better at this. And I just did it until it became natural. And then I chose the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. And in order to do hard things I had to change the narrative in my head. And so that's the other thing that I would say is so incredibly important. We've talked a little bit about this today is as you're choosing hard things to do and get better at make sure that you're also choosing to be your biggest And talk positively about yourself to yourself and what in the mirror and be honest with yourself. I'm not just saying be your own hype girl yes, but also be willing to celebrate the small victories along the way. Write them down. If it helps you, I've never been someone that needed to write everything down. But start small, pick one thing you can stick with, do it over and over again until you get really great at it and then pick the next thing. Those are all so incredibly important. And I will say this, as a mother if, I could say one thing to a new mom or someone who is aspiring to be a mom someday. The number one thing I would say is. To raise a great leader, you've got to be one yourself, which means you have to lead yourself well, which means that everything that your daughter or child is seeing you do they're going to mimic eat well. Prioritize your health. Priority, speak positively about yourself, surround yourself with great people, do all of these things so that your child sees you doing all of these things. And and they're learning by example. I think that's so important. Talk to them about what it is and why it is that you're doing this way, or why you've made the decision that you've made openly and honestly talk to them like they're a person, not like a child. And and that's something that I definitely am, I'm. As I raised my own daughter, I will tell you, it is not easy. The world is not easy on her. She has many of the same struggles that I had as a growing girl. But I will say she also has a lot of advantages that I didn't have because I'm having hard conversations with her and providing her the opportunity that maybe I didn't have as a kid to challenge. My thinking

mark-bennett_2_03-21-2024_141108: 52:03

Pfft. One of the most important leadership roles we will ever have in our lifetime is that a parent and Lori, you do it amazingly. Sloan is an amazing young girl. And I just, the world better watch out because trust me, I have my own mini me version of a female in in my own daughter. And as I warn her boss all the time, when I talk to him, I'm like, Hey, You've got me in her body and good luck to you because she's more ruthless than I am because I taught her to be that way, but, it has been a real pleasure having you here today. Hopefully people have gotten a lot of benefit out of this. Obviously, there's a lot more that I would love to go into a lot more than I would love to dig deeper in, but When it comes to leadership principles, you epitomize what a leader is. You are a permissive leader. People do look at you as a leader, and yes, you happen to have the title, but you didn't always have it, but you always had the permission to lead and that is probably the most important quality in a leader is they literally have the the staff before they have their title, and you did for the longest time, and I can't thank you enough for being here, and on behalf of myself, behalf of the. Wonderful ID life community. Thanks for all you shared today. And until next time, this is Mark Bennett. I look forward to talking to you again real soon.