Intro to Season 2 Episode 2

SPEAKER_02

Welcome to another episode of the Family Business Podcast with Steve and Mary Alessie. And uh today we're talking about things that we can't talk about on Sunday. So we want you to relax and enjoy the Family Business Podcast because family is everybody's business. And today we're gonna talk about something, and really I'm gonna use Alan Paul's little phrase he just shared with us as we get going in this particular podcast. And many podcasts to come.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

We're gonna be the podcasts that is saying things that we should be canceled for. Oh, Jesus. Yes. Okay. All right. So Alan Paul is in the back with John Roman, and we have in place Precious Ashley. This is amazing. Here is our next subject matter to tackle today. This is this is a big one.

SPEAKER_01

Don't just throw it out there yet.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

This is a big one. Would you like to give a little intro to it and then Well, I think this is an issue that not only people deal with in the family, they deal with it in every single area of their life. And it has destroyed families, it's destroyed businesses, it's destroyed huge corporations, it's destroyed kingdoms.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

This is a big topic. And it hides.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

It hides. Some people it doesn't. It's it they wear it like a badge. And other people, true. Almost everybody has this, but it can be hidden. Even in the meekest person, it can be hidden. Some people use it for their own. Yeah, you know, their own um, what's the word I'm trying to find?

SPEAKER_03

Sex.

SPEAKER_01

That's a good one. That's a good one. Oh, for their own benefit, to their own advantages. No, it's it's a it's a it's a Leviathan. Yeah. That's a word.

SPEAKER_02

Well, we're not gonna be able to put the title of this then on the episode because we we we just want they just got to tune in to hear what this is gonna be about.

SPEAKER_01

We can't.

SPEAKER_02

Can I tell them the title yet? I think you should. I want to tell it. I want to tell you. I want to tell it. I want to be the one that's gonna be. Don't stop. It's my idea. Okay? Ready? I I claim

The Big Confession

SPEAKER_02

ownership. Okay. Here we go. And here I'm giving it over to you. Yes, you are. You're so good. There'll be payback later, though. Yes, there will be. Yes, there will be. Okay, here's the title of our podcast Confessions of a Control Freak. Am I controlling, Mary? You can't say it on Sunday, but am I controlling?

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

At times, yes.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

And I admit it.

SPEAKER_02

I admit it.

SPEAKER_01

That's how you control.

SPEAKER_02

And that's why it's a confession.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

I know you now for all those years. A control freak.

SPEAKER_01

You are. And I think it's good that you are owning up to that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Because it's what sets you free.

SPEAKER_03

It is.

SPEAKER_01

I'll just turn this mic off. Go ahead. Go.

SPEAKER_03

You're the expert.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. And uh this is part of my therapy. The counselor said I have to speak more about these things. Oh, you know I'm not a professional, right? I'm not a counselor, but go ahead. No. No, here's why I want to bring this up. Uh we make light of it now. Yeah. But and I have to make sure we understand when I say I'm a control freak, I may like control. Yes. But I personally don't have to always be in control. Yes. So I'm okay with, you know, passing the mic to you and our line of work. I'm okay with passing the mic to Christopher and the girls and others, John and Armando. I I like passing the mic on. It's when we when I pass the mic on, I just like things done a certain way because I think that particular way works good for the brand, you can say, or for, you know, the response for the people and so on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So it's the overall thing.

SPEAKER_02

And the problem with it is sometimes it could come across as controlling.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_02

And uh though there's areas that I like things perfect and in order, that could be then perceived as controlling.

Push The Button!

SPEAKER_02

And in our relationship over the years, especially early on, you felt like that, didn't you?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I think because you were just a stronger personality on the outside, not necessarily the stronger personality, but that's why I said in the beginning, control and controlling nature can also hide itself. And there's other areas of control. There's a proverb that I read that said, man looks at the outward appearance, but God judges the motive. And I think the the tricky part of control is there are people who are strong leaders, and you are one of those people, but you're not a manipulating, controlling person. You just were very, you like to dominate. I I love this story because I think it's so funny now. But the kids were really small, and we'd gone to Orlando to visit my mom, and we'd spent three days there. You didn't come. You we always went together as a family, but for whatever reason on that trip, you didn't come. You were gonna come on like the fourth day and join us. And we'd spent the days at the park, stayed in a hotel, and I just had it was me and the four kids and my mom for three days. And we just had fun. It was so laid back, it was just relaxed without marching orders. Get the kids, let's go, let's get out of the house. And you get to the air uh to the hotel, and we're all in the elevator. Do you remember this? No. Okay, we're all in the elevator together, and we're laughing, we're just having another great day, and you're not there three minutes, and you went, somebody push the button, push the elevator button, push it. We're on, we're on the sixth floor, push the button. And we all just looked at you like, Are you kidding me? And I looked at you and I said, For three days, we have been freak free. We have been fine, and we've pushed the button and we've made our ways to our room. No one's been lost. We've not hung around this elevator for 30 minutes with no one pushing the button. And the the the great thing about you in that moment was that you realized it and you immediately stopped.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And we made it a joke. It's not always funny for some people, though.

SPEAKER_02

No, it's not. No, it's not.

Importance of Self-Awareness

SPEAKER_02

You know, self-awareness is a good thing. Yes. And with maturity and with mistakes and with successes, you you become, you should become aware of yourself, how you respond, how you're coming across. You got to learn what it is to read the room and walk in and know where you stand and and so on. And all that is so important, right? Not just to success in your work and your business, but in your personal relationships. You got to know what it is to read the room. It's like there's some members of our family that, you know, if we had a zapper, uh, I'd rare uh wear out the battery on one who just doesn't know when to stop talking around the table. Right. Because it's always, it's like a vortex. You get sucked into their world and you're like, wait a minute, I want to hear from others at the table too. It's it's a lack of self-awareness that some people have.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And when it comes to this right here, being a control freak, some are a control freak and don't even know it. Right. But you have to sit back and realize there's other people that have an opinion or other people that may not like things the way you like them. And then you have to say, okay, let me back off. I don't have to do this. We don't have to do this. And maybe one of the things that over the years, lessons that I've had to learn was, well, just recently, if we're going to go up to Georgia, we have our farm in Georgia. It's an eight-hour drive from our doorstep without stopping to buy any groceries or go to a stop to eat or anything. It's literally eight hours to the minute from our doorstep to Georgia, our farm. And what I like to do is because when we get in the car, and every man that uh and some women that have that tendency to want to it's not just a man controlling. It's it's I want to get in the car, let's get to the destination.

SPEAKER_01

Right. Now that's a guy.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so so that's where I'm at, first thing. So I'm like, okay, we got to be out of here at 5 a.m. We got to be in the truck. On the nose. On the nose. Because I I want to make sure that I'm there. And it's it's like, okay, I know exactly what the traffic flow is gonna look like in Dade County, then what it's gonna look like in Broward County. This is registering my brain. Then we're gonna get up past the Palm Beach County, we're gonna end up in Martin County and Orange County. All these things are going off in my brain at the same time when I'm thinking about let's get out of the house at 5 a.m., which means you got to wake up at four, you got to get your luggage downstairs. I'm gonna pack the night before, so we are not late in the morning. Got to go.

SPEAKER_01

Your heart, I just watched your heart rate go up, just talking about it. Just talking about, right?

SPEAKER_02

Oh my goodness. So we did it the last time though, so whenever we would go on this trip, we're out the door at 5 a.m. But the last time we were going, we were taking my mom. And I didn't want to have to wake her up, but I wanted this to be a nice experience. And so I think I sh we said, we'll show up at nine o'clock. By then the traffic will die down.

SPEAKER_01

Which was hard for you.

SPEAKER_02

So, yes, it was. But I talked myself into it because I'm thinking for once and every so often, not myself, I'm thinking of how this is going to manage, go over with my mom. I want her to be healthy, happy, sitting in the back of the truck and everything. We get on the road, nine o'clock. Long story short, we end up getting later to the farm, but it was such an enjoyable trip. Yes. Imagine that. It was so much more peaceful. Yes. All my calculations of traffic and stress and everything were like totally changed because now there's a second option to doing it just my way and the only way. Imagine. It's all about yes, yes. Sometimes when you give up a little control, just a little. Just a little, it's amazing how life pans out. Yes, I know.

SPEAKER_03

I know.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, that it it does. So so self-awareness is important when you have a tendency to want to control things or do things a certain way.

What Causes Control Issues?

SPEAKER_01

Where do you think that comes from, though? What is that level of control? And I know it's there are normal facets to that.

SPEAKER_02

God. No.

SPEAKER_01

What?

SPEAKER_02

I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_01

Don't blame him.

SPEAKER_02

Mary, I think it's I think partly it's it's a personality thing. I I really do. It's not deep-seated insecurities. I don't I don't know if there's any insecurity there. Now, I got insecurities, but I'm not sure that's the insecurity area that's motivating. Um I I think, uh gosh, maybe we need to call a counselor. Give me your phone. Let's call somebody right now on this one because I'm just gonna call Dr.

SPEAKER_01

Laura. She's on the radio right now.

SPEAKER_02

Uh I don't know. I what what do you think it is?

SPEAKER_01

You don't want to know what I think. Talk to me. Well, I I I think that the more controlling the personality is, there's just this tendency to think, and and I've observed this even with other, I've I've had friends who would say they're control freaks too, that there's this tendency to think nobody's gonna do it as good as you. So you've got to take the lead because everyone else is gonna flake, or somebody's gonna flake on you. And whether or not that's not what's in your mind, your thoughts, it can be what comes across. Yeah. And I remember you saying one time, because you really did work on adjusting this part of your personality. I've watched you say, I there's areas that I need to lead and not control. Because the truth is, people that are hearing this and know you would go, he is so not. He shares everything. But for those of us that have worked behind the scenes, we do know that it can come across as controlling, but it's because you do know you have a vision for what you want and how it needs to be. But in the areas where I would say it would have been an unhealthy controlling thing, that it really just stemmed from this need for things to go a certain way. And the only way that they would meet your expectations is if you were at the wheel and you controlled it. And that it was hard for you to let go and let either somebody else drive and just go along for the ride, even in conversations, even like when we would be sitting with people that were new, and I'm just listening and learning. I'm just being a listener. You wanted me to be a talker because you wanted me to carry the conversation, and I would feel like you're trying to even control this conversation. Can we just sit here and listen? Be like, well, Mary's quite the talker. Mary, why don't you say if you, Mary, you know, ask some questions, or you would kick me under the table, like talk more. And it would make it frustrating for me because I would think you can't control everything. There are just some things you've just got to let happen. You have worked very hard on that, but I think at your nature of your core, and there's a lot of people like that. And really, you need those people. Yeah, you gotta have people that will take the lead and say, okay, I'm at the front of the line, everybody follow me. You know, we can't all just be Indians and no chiefs.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So I think control freaks get really a a bad, a bad uh light sometimes when they get it confused with just good, strong leadership. They're not affirmed in that area. They're just called, you're just controlling everything, which isn't necessarily true.

Difference between Unhealthy Control and Authority

SPEAKER_02

No, I'm glad you say that because it's not. There, there's a level of control in every family and every business and every church. There's a level of authority that comes across as controlling from the top, because you you have to have that. At the same time, here's where I would say it you you're a control freak, okay? When that level of authority and control starts to cause everybody else serious anxiety and anger, resentment, uh eggshells I can't speak of. Now, now we've just moved into an unhealthy environment. And again, we're not over here at the level of you know, mental disorders with someone who has to have things a certain way all the time. Now we're talking about somebody that's just maybe uh irritant when you're working with them or in the home every so often something arises.

SPEAKER_01

And you put the cup here and they're gonna come back in the room and go, who put this cup here? The cup belongs here.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, that's not that's not good. Uh, but I I would say from from the standpoint of realizing that I don't have to be a control freak, here here's where it gets dangerous, okay? I think when you realize that there are people that really do not want to hang out with you.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_02

When there are people that really don't want to uh work for you or with you, they don't want to be on your team. Uh now you got some freakish behavior patterns that are causing people to say, hey, you may even pay me more money, but I'm not, I'm not, it's not worth working here.

SPEAKER_04

Right.

SPEAKER_02

You that's where you've created a toxic environment through being a control freak. And you know, if you you go to your home and you can't even sit in certain furniture, certain rooms in the house because God forbid you move a couple of pillows or a hundred pillows that you've set up, somebody put in place, and you the me. No, not me. I'm saying the control freak. If if you can't do that, uh now you're gonna have some problems in your relationship. I mean, you know, we joke about certain ethnicities and the way the mother is in that ethnic group, and we laugh. I mean, years ago we went to Cuba, and when I introduced your mother, my mother-in-law, all the Cubans started laughing, and I never understood why until I realized more and more that there are Cuban mothers that are incredibly controlling to the point that they take the fun out of everything. Now, that's where you you you become a freak. Now you've got problems. It's too far. It's it really is too far.

SPEAKER_01

It's just creating a lot of resentment. Nobody can just be themselves. And then the problem with that is it creates a critical atmosphere, critical spirit. Everything you do, you feel judged by that

Controlling vs. Manipulation

SPEAKER_01

person. And that makes it really, really hard. But I want to say this, because we mentioned it in our intro the the controlling nature that's hidden, that hides.

SPEAKER_03

Good.

SPEAKER_01

Because there's at least the person that's controlling, that's outward about it, at least you know. You know, you can confront that, you can deal with that. Usually those types of control, controlling natures go, I know I'm that way. I hate it that I'm that way. Call me out on it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That's healthy, okay? But there's really a controlling nature that turns into manipulation quick, which manipulation is what's dangerous.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Not control. You know, it it that's that's okay. You know, we need the leaders. But when it becomes a manipulation where it's a hidden control and you can't put your finger on it, but you're always feeling like you have to apologize for something and you don't know quite what you did wrong. That's the level of control that is dangerous. Yep. That goes too far and it's and it lurks, it's hidden, it's quiet, it's always passive aggressive, which I looked up years ago, aggressive passive, because I thought that's what you were. You, your disorder was aggressive passive because you'd be aggressive and then you'd get sweet. Oh, yeah. Because I knew I was passive aggressive.

SPEAKER_02

So is that a disorder?

SPEAKER_01

There's no aggressive passive. So, oh, okay. Good. There's no such thing. Because being on see, one for Steve. One for Steve.

SPEAKER_02

They didn't catch it.

SPEAKER_01

Trust me. They didn't catch it. Ding ding ding. You got that one. Um, but there's no such thing. It's not a disorder. It is order. It's okay to be strong in the moment, not abusive. We're not talking about the 1% of crazy. We're talking about the 99% of normal that we all deal with, right? So when you're dealing with a controlling nature, your mom's that way or your dad's that way, or your sister, whoever it is in your family, there's some normalcies. Where it's not normal is when it's quiet, it's stealth, it's hidden, but everyone feels like something's off. And they can control from behind the scenes. And they'll control by either being very critical, whispering to other people, using chisme, which is in Spanish, is gossip, um, cutting down and harming and hurting and controlling that way, or shutting someone out. Yeah. Completely cutting someone off and you don't know what you did, to control an environment. That's that's a different type of control that really is destructive. So if you are a control freak out there and you like to put your cup in a certain way, you can sleep tonight. There's some normal things to that. Yeah. You know, that you can monitor and manage. Yes. But it's the other quiet control goes into manipulation. It's not healthy.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. It's destructive. I'm

When Control is a Good Thing

SPEAKER_02

glad you say that because wanting things done in order. In order, that's right. Or even, let's not, uh some will say, well, they have it has to be perfect. No, how about professional? Yeah. Wanting the bathrooms cleaned a certain way in your company, and you and if you're at the top and you're saying, This is how I want it done, and you walk in with a checklist and you tell that employee, this is what I want you to check out, and I'm going to make sure this is done because this bathroom makes a first impression to our people. That's not being a control freak.

SPEAKER_01

No.

SPEAKER_02

That is being professional. Right. This is what we need to represent with our brand, what we're doing with our family.

SPEAKER_01

Holding high standards to hold the whole family to.

SPEAKER_02

You know, there's nothing wrong with that. No, that's healthy. That's healthy. You've got to show some instruction, which is good. That's why, even while I'm in an elevator and all of y'all jump in there and all of y'all are blondes and nobody knows to push the button, I'm gonna say, Hey Chatty. Push the button. Well, it's not because I'm trying to control everything, I just want to get to the floor. Is that all right?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I have to be honest because most of the time now when I get on the the elevator with my children, no one pushes the button. So you make a good point, sir. We just stand there talking. That's so true. So if our children are more like me. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Okay. But but all of them.

SPEAKER_02

But we do like things in order. And I know this from your standpoint.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um, that could have been and was kind of a, you know, uh an issue early on in our marriage, but the results of that what was perceived as a control freak. Right. Um I wasn't a control freak. I just like things are certain done a certain way the right way. Uh, you're thankful because of the way it has benefited the you know surroundings and so forth in our lives all these years later.

SPEAKER_01

It's taught me to to raise the bar a little bit in my own life.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

To it's not controlling because I was taught wrong. Okay. I think I believed something that wasn't necessarily true.

SPEAKER_02

I don't think somebody taught you this.

SPEAKER_01

Meaning the society that I was in, I learned, right? And I want to say my my father, not my mother. My mom's very much in order and in control. But my father just had a different way.

SPEAKER_02

She well That's why those Cubans left me out the door. She's a good woman. She's a great woman.

SPEAKER_01

So I I would say what I picked up and thought if I spoke my mind or wanted things in order, that was control because I had a father that was so fluid with everything. But that wasn't that was control that was hidden. That was manipulation. So in my mind, I was so worried. I think I didn't know where the threshold was with you, where the line was. So what I learned was this was somebody who had their life in order, valued order, and was willing to tell the whole family, we're walking this way, and the house will look like this, and we are going to hold this standard high. And I'm not living like that. I want the house, I want our life to look this way. And I learned, it took me a little while, but I learned that thank God I had a leader that was leading our home and leading me, that I could really come into submission with and in agreement with and in a partnership with that I knew would hold the banner high. That we were gonna live life well and it wasn't going to be in disarray. There would be order, but that did not mean it was because I just had to listen to what you said because you're a control freak.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You know, that was a false um thought or even a false accusation that I made.

SPEAKER_02

Most people will criticize the person that's in control like that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And we understand why. Because uh a person that has a that kind of strong leadership or temperament makes people without it feel uncomfortable. Because it's okay then to leave the bed unmade all day. Right.

SPEAKER_01

Or it's okay to be lazy and dumb when you're gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_02

I didn't want to stop money and going home to get gas, and then you get in a car the next day and it's like empty, and you're like, wait a minute. What now they it's almost a um you resent them because they're pushing you to do something that naturally you don't want to do.

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_02

So that person is going to manifest itself in pretty much every area of life where there should be some measure of order. Right. Now, again, not abusive, because we we can't have that person in the relationship. And if you're that person, then you really got to go back and check yourself out. Look at how others are responding. Look how your kids respond to you. Look how your employees or your spouse. If if if you're aware of yourself enough, you're gonna see that, okay, when I'm step over this edge, now I'm making other people feel very uncomfortable and their behavior is unsettling. And I don't ever want somebody to feel uncomfortable with that, with me being in the room. And over the years, I would say to you quite a bit, Mary, hey, are you happy? Say to the kids, hey, are you happy? There's something in me that wants people to be happy because of my presence, because of my production, what I'm doing. I want people to be happy. It's the server portion, a part of me that that comes out. And people don't always see that here in the church. They only hear me sitting, standing on the platform saying things a certain way. But for me, people uh come to this church from the moment they drive onto the property, I want them to feel some measure of good. I want them to feel good. So every touch point, every environment has to demonstrate that in one way or another. So then, okay, we had uh an event not too long ago that was here at the church. And uh I walked out in the lobby, the staff was there in the lobby, people were talking, so on and so forth. And I looked through the windows in the lobby and I saw weeds growing by the garden. I saw that the fountain was not on, and man, it just came up within me. So I go running out there, I'm dressed up in a jacket, I'm gonna host the whole event. Our staff is in there, they're talking, making light, everybody's having a good time getting ready. But as soon as I saw that, I caused, it's like somebody turned off the lights and the air conditioner, it just went.

SPEAKER_01

Took all the air out of the room.

SPEAKER_02

Took all the air out of the room. And I'm out there, I'm like, come on, I'm thinking, okay, this is where I got to lead by an example. I'm not gonna sit there and say, guys, go pull the weeds, go get things ready. I'm gonna step out and start doing it because the smart staff know that if the boss goes to do something that they shouldn't be doing, we better step in and relieve them from doing it, or else everybody's gonna be bothered. It's gonna be uncomfortable for everybody. And sure enough, they all came out. They all came out. Mary, I walked away feeling like, oh my God, I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have pushed that envelope there. There's other things to get ready for. And that's the part where sometimes the whole control freak thing, you feel like it's it's wrong to try to create some kind of order because if you do that, then you're labeled a control freak. No. I was like, no way. Yeah, good. If if we didn't do that, if I didn't start the ball rolling, if I don't set the standard, if I don't move forward, even sometimes when it's a little more aggressive than we're used to, sure. All right, then the the level of presentation and the production, all those things start to get watered down. Right. And you you just can't do that in your home, in your relationships, on the job, in the business that you're running. Here's the thing if you run the business, if you run the family, you're the head of it, then you better have a measure of control about you, or you won't have a big business, a healthy family, even a ministry.

SPEAKER_01

No.

SPEAKER_02

You're not gonna draw the people that it's gonna help you elevate your existence.

SPEAKER_01

Well, there has to be a standard bearer in every home. There has to be one in every business, there has to be one, there has to be many in business and in ministries. You have to have a standard bearer. And a lot of the time it's like that's the mom at home. She's the one that's so aggravated. She's doing all the work and nobody cares, and the kids are running around. It's not always the dad. So when it is the dad that's that standard bearer, what a blessing it is, because he does have the ability to speak to the whole family that this is the way it's gonna be. And I think sometimes moms feel even more guilt than like what you felt walking out and saying, Why aren't these weeds pulled? Right. Because the truth is, you're right. You're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. You saw what the rest of us did not see. We all walked right past those weeds and we didn't see it. But you're controlling nature, which I think is such a negative term, it should be switched. We need to come up with a different term. It's a standard bearer that we need to constantly be raising that bar, and somebody has to help us hold it high. And a lot of people get a bad rap. I know moms get a real bad rap. I've talked to moms over the years that say, I'm just so tired. You know, nobody cares but me. That I want the house to look nice. And we spent a lot of money on this house, and and and nobody cares. And I'm it's just me, and I freak out and I get so upset, whatever. And we put that parent in the wrong position. We should support that and say, let's help hold that standard high. Because the truth is, it does take chaos and turn it into order.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Somebody's got to do that.

Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_02

Uh, and we're called to do that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

We we are, especially for the the leader. If you're gonna be the leader, then be willing to take the lead and take to charge and don't come across as a controlling freak, but definitely raise your level of expectation of others and hold them accountable to it. Call them up to that level. Um, you know, they tell us this about just in general, people's expectations. They say a person will never go eat in a restaurant that's dirtier than their kitchen.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_02

Have you noticed that? Absolutely. If we walk into a a restaurant that is not as nice as the one we have at home, our kitchen, we're not staying there to eat. Doesn't matter how good the food is. We'll do takeout. But but we'll be able to do that. No, I wouldn't stay in a hotel that wasn't. Yeah. So expectation, the the level of professionalism and everything that you do in your home and so forth, you've got to make sure you're pulling that level up and you constantly improve your surroundings. Whoops. You constantly improve your surroundings and your environment and your home. That's a good thing. That's a great thing. That's not a bad thing. As long as there's not the manipulation, as long as you're sitting there saying, okay, maybe I shouldn't be so hard, this too hard. Maybe there's a better way to communicate this. Maybe I need to use other people to help me get my point across. So, you know, even with our kids, I'll say to you sometimes, Mary, please, I don't like the way the kitchen's looking. Can you please talk to the girls about it? And so on. And then you let me be the messenger. Then you because you say things better. Yeah. You say things differently. You come at it in a different manner. And that's very healthy for us. So this could go on because my mind keeps going and going about other situations where uh either a control freak can get you in trouble or there's a misperception of it. Uh, especially today, it's amazing. I don't know who the person is that wants to create this cancel culture that's out there pulling the strings and saying to people that are too aggressive and too harsh and too strong that you shouldn't be that way. Because whoever is up there at the higher levels pulling all the strings is trying to control everything.

SPEAKER_01

Well, that's just that is exactly what I was talking about. That though. That's that quiet stealth, destructive controlling spirit.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Hey, that's the dangerous one. You did really good.

SPEAKER_01

You did good with that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Appreciate how you, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Back off.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, gave it away. Not so controlling. Not so controlling.

SPEAKER_02

Well, we hope you enjoyed this other episode that we had here. Why don't you close this out? Because I don't want to control it. Go.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know what I was supposed to say because you take the lead so much that I'm not. I hope that you all enjoyed this podcast. You're really gonna have to take the lead on this one.

SPEAKER_02

Thanks for joining us for another podcast of the Aleste Family Business. Good job, Mary. Good job, she's shaking my hand.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks for listening to the Family Business Podcast with the Aleste. We appreciate you listening and learning with us as we just shared more about the family business. You know, I bet there's someone you know who could use this kind of advice, encouragement. So make sure to share this episode with them and their family because let's face it, family is everyone's business. If you want to be a part of our family, subscribe to the show right now on your favorite app and make sure to download the episodes so you can hear them at any time. Oh, and one more thing one of the best ways to help us spread the word about the family business with the Alesssies is by reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite app. So help us out, write a review, and join us next time at the Family Business Podcast with the Alesi.