Getting your LEADERSH*T together

In this episode, Peter Mohr and Jake Brown discuss what makes a great leader. The hard truth is that the most amazing, successful, hot-shot entrepreneur could also be the worst boss in the world. Find out strategies for improving the underrated skill of leadership by listening in.

Here are a few things we cover:

• Becoming a better leader for yourself AND others
• Strategic management tools to increase company work ethic
• Why business owners should conduct periodic assessments of team dynamics
• Improving company culture by encouraging connection and community
• Focusing on the humanity in your business relationships

Notable passages:

1:30 where the inspiration for Jake’s upcoming book LEADERSHIT came from, and why entrepreneurs should strive to become better bosses

7:14 Jake’s WIPE framework and how determining where you fall within your business hierarchy can help you enjoy healthier work environments  

12:55 a look into Jake’s boss horror stories and what he learned from them 

Reference links to Jake:

http://leadershitthebook.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/airballoon/

For more entrepreneurial wisdom, follow Pete on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/petemohr_coach/ or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermohr/

Are you looking to make some changes in your business and your life in 2024?  Head over to speaktopete.com and book a chat with me to see if we're the right fit!

Transcript

Jake Brown: 0:32

I was the worst boss I've ever had working late hours doing stuff I wasn't qualified to do diving in making up things I started looking at. And I thought, I am the worst boss, I am just abusing myself. From that point, I just kind of went back, I said, What would I do. And I actually sat down and every week started having a meeting with myself. From that point, I got back to like, developing myself and had to put on that boss mode. And then what I've since done is I have people around me, other entrepreneurs, other bosses kind of create this council where we're holding each other accountable for sure. So I have a coach that works with me, I have a few other people to hold me accountable. And that's what I've been doing for my clients is a lot of times they rise up, and they're just abusing themselves. And they do it in the name of taking care of the people or growing the business. They always have this great altruistic reason why they're ruining their life. You know, it's fun to step in and help them just back up and just have a little bit of fun with it again, like remember, this thing used to be fun. Let's get back to that.

Pete Mohr: 1:34

Are you making every decision in your business may be feeling a little overworked and overwhelmed? Do you ever wish you had someone to go over the big decisions and entrepreneurial choices you had to make? Well, maybe this sounds familiar. Your partner at home doesn't want to hear about business anymore. And your friends don't know what the heck you're talking about. And maybe your team at work well, even though you have an open door policy, they're not always as open as you'd like them to be? Well, there's good news, I have room for two more one on one coaching clients next quarter. And, you know, here's how it works. We'll get together on Zoom either every week, or every second week to discuss the strategies and frameworks that will clarify your thinking and advance your business and entrepreneurial life. It's all about the five P's, your promise your product, your process, your people and your profit. Once they're better aligned, you'll enjoy a better life and business. Remember, you own your business and it shouldn't own you. It's time to reduce the frustrations and increase the freedoms. So if this sounds interesting, go to simplifying entrepreneurship.com forward slash Call to book a freedom call with me and we'll see if we're right fit. Hey, it's Pete and welcome to another edition of the simplifying entrepreneurship podcast always helping you cut through the castle running a business. After all, you own your business and it shouldn't own you. And today I had the opportunity to speak with Jake Brown. He's a fellow business made simple certified coach and super interesting guy, Jake, you know, always enjoy my conversations, because he has such cool takes on different things. And Jake just finished writing a book. And it's called Leadership and it's all around the stuff that can happen as a leader. He's got some great stories in the beginning of it and kind of goes through a really cool framework called wipe that we're going to dig into here on the conversation today. So let's dig into it now. With Jake Brown. Jake Brown, it is a pleasure to have you here on the simplifying entrepreneurship podcast. I've been looking forward to this for a while. I've been looking forward to it. I'm excited. Yeah, you know, we've known each other for a year and a half or so now and have some back end conversations around being business made simple coaches, and all of that sort of stuff. And I always love your takes, you've got a very unique mind. And I was excited to learn that you're writing a book, and really excited to share some of those things around the book today on the podcast.

Jake Brown: 4:06

I've been fortunate I've always enjoyed our time together, I always learn stuff. And then it's processing it and figuring out and taking in the other information. And I love the way that you pull out things out of people, like you always push me a little bit uncomfortable, where it's like, I'm uncomfortable to where I learned to where I grow to where I have to change something about what I'm doing to be better.

Pete Mohr: 4:28

Thanks, man. I think we have mutual respect, which is a really cool, cool thing. And I'm also in that boat. And that's another thing we share. We're both writing when we're having this recording writing books. But by the time this releases, you'll have yours released. And it's called Leadership. Right? That's right. I'll fill us in where does it start? Where did you get this idea for leadership?

Jake Brown: 4:50

The first I got the idea from the bad bosses. But the idea like the actual title came from I was sending an im to a co worker, like to somebody it was my equal. Yeah. And I said, Is this going to be another leadership training? Yeah, but it was a typo. Actually. I typed a leadership and I hit send. And it was just so perfect, because it was perfectly snarky, sarcastic, but it didn't I didn't mean for all might have been a Freudian slip, I don't know. But it happened and that just kind of stuck with me. And what I did is I just started kind of looking back as I left there and watch down sort of my own stuff, sort of my own company and helping people. One thing that I kept coming back to is there are a lot of people that just are stuck and people are complaining about you know the jobs and all that. And I'll come back to that boss. So I just started sharing some of the stories, trying to empathize and relate with them and help them know what I had done that has now become a book. It's a, you know, collection of stories on the front end. And then on the back end, it's the framework of my journey through and then how I would mentor people that worked for me, kind of when I would do reviews, and I'd help people. And now as I'm coaching people, how do I help them look at it, how to help them process through,

Pete Mohr: 5:58

entrepreneurs typically don't have anybody to talk to about this stuff, right? Their wife, or husband at home or partner doesn't want to hear about it anymore. Their friends typically don't know what they're talking about, because they aren't entrepreneurs, right. And your team at work is not always as sort of, let's say open with you as you would like. Because even though you have an open door policy, and you want everything to be brought up, you still pay them and they still have some sort of reservations. Right? So like, who do they talk to? And that sort of stuff. And I think that's an interesting thing, too, around this conversation here today about how we can be better bosses, and who do we talk to and go to stuff with all of that sort of thing. And one of the things that you hit on me earlier was this idea of you created this because of a bad boss, and who was the worst boss you've ever had, Jake.

Jake Brown: 6:49

So I've had some really, really great bosses I could talk about, but to be honest, when I went out on my own, I was the worst boss I've ever had, working late hours doing stuff, I wasn't qualified to do diving in making up things, covering up things that I've messed up, like just rounding around, I started looking at it, I thought, I am the worst boss, I am just abusing myself. From that point, I just kind of went back and said, What would I do? And I actually sat down, and every week started having meeting with myself, you know, my weekly planning that I would pretend to there was like, Okay, I'm showing up. And I'm doing my weekly check in with myself, I kind of had this imaginary meeting. From that point, I got back to like, developing myself and had to put on that boss mode. And then what I've since done is I have people around me, other entrepreneurs, other bosses kind of create this council where we're holding each other accountable for sure. We need somebody to hold that accountability. Yeah. And what I found is, so I have a coach that works with me, I have other people who hold me accountable. And that's what I've been doing for my clients is a lot of times they rise up, and they're just abusing themselves. And they do it in the name of taking care of the people or growing the business. They always have this great altruistic reason why they're ruining their life for their business. You know, it's fun to step in and help them just back up and just have a little bit of fun with it again, like remember, this thing used to be fun. Let's get back to that.

Pete Mohr: 8:11

I remember Jake, we were chatting, this is when we first met each other. I think we were chatting a little bit about this idea of putting your modem on a timer, and and how that would change behavior around working these crazy hours and stuff.

Jake Brown: 8:27

Yeah, I think you mentioned it on clubhouse. And I was like, That's a great idea. Yeah, like next week, I grabbed one other garage, and I did it. And mainly it was frustrating. But it was very obvious how much I was taking advantage of myself and even my wife like the time that we could have together. Yeah, just those little things. Like I said that you challenged me you do, you'd say something weird, like get a Christmas timer and put your modem on it. I'm like, that's weird. And I tried it that was like, Oh, wow, I didn't realize how far out of bounds I had taken myself until, you know, I did that. And then I was like, oh, regain get back in control, and what do I need to be doing? And when does it need to happen?

Pete Mohr: 9:03

And when we flip that to leadership, you know, and being a leader, it's an interesting thing, because especially over the last couple of years, how much are you as the listener and leader of your business, expecting of your team, and asking them to do this sort of thing, and asking them to be working continuously and asking them to, you know, go out of the way, because maybe for a little while, that's what was happening, because we weren't used to working the way we're currently working and all this other stuff. But maybe it's time to do a little reset on your leadership in order to see, you know, if you're abusing it for yourself, it's one thing but if you're abusing the relationship with your team, that's going to be detrimental to the business.

Jake Brown: 9:46

Even at the like at the end of the book, I talked about the framework that I put in, and I call it wipe. Yeah, it talks about the four different classifications of people, I call them winners, interns, prisoners and experts. And the idea is like you are one of those at any given point, you can kind of take a quick assessment, you know, on scale, and figure out look, why do you live in, like, where are you functioning? And how do you, you know, how do you adjust to that? What are the options you have in that space? So the winner, that means you're aligned, the company, the leader, everything, you're aligned with what's happening, and at the same time, you're able and allowed to do your job. So it's a two by two table and that's the winner. So then you come down and say, the intern, well, you're aligned and you're super happy and everything, but you're not able to do it or you're not allowed to Do it. So the idea I like to think of this as it's the interns what I call it, but it's the puppy, you get excited and up all over the kitchen. That's what you do. And the problem with the intern is they really have to become a super fan, and fan the flames of the leaders ego, or really, they got the crosshairs on their back. Because when something goes wrong, they're gonna get thrown under the bus, you just have to be careful and know that that's where you are. And you can make choices to grow from that point. Because if you become able or good at your job, then you can rise into that winner space. Like that's a point where you're a team player, and you're pulling people with you. Or if something happens, and you shift down into prisoner mode, like if you get thrown under the bus, you're a prisoner, that's what happens Are you push there, or just leave, if you get to the point where you're like, I can't get better, I'm not allowed to get better, there's always the option to jump ship, find another cause that you can be a part of, and move forward. Now, if you're leading the company, that may not be possible, it's always possible, it may not be the best idea. But I like to say look for yourself, wipe yourself. And then if you're in a leadership position, think your people where are they wipe them? It's just like being a parent, you had a little kid that's potty training, sometimes you got to wipe them, you know, just go through where are they placed them on that scale? And I used to do this during reviews, have an employee and I'd be doing the review of fear. Where are they? And I talked to him about it, here are your options. Yeah, this is how we can move forward to get you out of this, you know, stuck in the space. The thing is, you have to be self aware of where you are. And then when you're talking with other people, they have to be the one who make the choice, you can't, you can't drag them somewhere else. And that was a big lesson I had to learn,

Pete Mohr: 12:04

you can overlay the whole model on to any person, right? Whether any person in the organization and just use it as a regular sort of ongoing thing. What do you suggest? Once every quarter? Are you doing that or sort of every year? It's it's sort of a conversation that you want to have with them, aligning them with the actual which one they are? Then how do you take them to the next area? Like do you have the conversation around? Okay, you're here? Where do you want to be? And how are we going to get you there is that the transition?

Jake Brown: 12:32

So the idea with with the white frame, everybody needs to be in winter. That's where they need to be heading. That's the direction I think you have to be doing at least quarterly cool.

Pete Mohr: 12:46

This episode of the simplifying entrepreneurship podcast is brought to you by zootopia.ca. We're always helping our clients look great and feel fantastic with the heat you can free your feet with some of the awesome sandals from names you know and love. Like Birkenstock keen and Mephisto Of course, we have you covered for the casual athletic needs to guests like you are at the very heart of Utopia, stop in for a visit or drop in on shoe topia.ca We're currently only shipping to Canadian addresses.

Jake Brown: 13:22

I think a year is way too long. I think quarterly is good. I think monthly is a bit much. Because you don't have a lot of time to get traction to get habit. And I think you should have conversations monthly for sure. But you're kind of reassessing, you know, quarterly for sure. But that is everybody's should be moving toward winter. But there are different paths to get there. And I say there's basically three options in each quadrant. As you're moving through. And I'm talking to the people, I don't really ask where they want to be okay. I always say what does it take us to get to a winner. And sometimes like, say you're a prisoner from prisoner, you'd either have to slide into intern din winner, or you select the expert and then winner. And I'm like, Okay, we're going toward winner, are you going to align with us? Are you going to increase your skill first? Yeah, like, which one are you going to do? And then I make them tell me what that is going to be? And I say, okay, Will that get us the results that we want, because it's this whole process was about me having a bad boss that wasn't investing in me. And I found out how to invest and start to grow kind of self discipline, and then find people around me that I could almost have virtual mentors, and move through the system myself. And then what I've done is I've pushed this back on people who've worked for me, where it's like, I'm going to stand in front of you and show you the path, but you are the one who has to take every step along the way. Because that's how I learned and it worked for me. And I've now left and other people have taken this system, and they're training people below them. So I'm like, Well, we're onto something here. Yeah. Awesome. And it's pretty simple. Like I said, it's a two by two grid.

Pete Mohr: 14:48

Yeah. And I've had the opportunity to read a couple of the stories. And then we have so many great stories in your in your book. But the one that sort of you just alluded to about how your journey around there, which is chapter one, why don't you give us a little taste of that story and get them into the book a little bit and why you came up with that. Yeah,

Jake Brown: 15:09

so the first you know, 20 chapters are a little bit more, they are snapshots of things that happened. And the names are, you know, changed to protect the innocent and guilty. And as you're going through, it talks about me walking in on my first day at this agency. So I walk in and I meet a guy and introduce himself as hawk and then I said, Hey, I'm the new guy. I'm here is the boss here. was the boss isn't here today, he was actually out golfing and I'm like, Oh, that's nice. What do I do? It's my first day. He said, I don't know. So he asked another guy, and they don't know what to do with me. So he walks off and they come back. And they told me to read a binder. And that's it. That's what I did honestly, for the first week is I sat at a desk and read a binder. And it's just this really quiet stale headphones on people aren't talking very uncomfortable, a robotic place. And I am an Enneagram seven, I'm an extrovert, I need to engage with people. Yeah. So I notice the one place that people are engaging and actually smiling is like in the kitchen. So at lunch, and people are refilling the water, so I'm pumped up to go hang out with them and try to interact with them any way I can. Then it just kind of went from there out into the hallway. And one day, this guy is coming out in in the book, his name's hook, and he comes out of the bathroom, and I'm walking to the bathroom. And I just point at him, you know, like, you know, little kids shoot a gun, and he's covered his heart and hits the wall. And um, from there, it's just like a little kid in me just like erupts. And we created this game that when you see somebody in the hallway or the elevator, you attack them. Like, it's a hallway assassin, there's what we named it. For two years, we go on, and we're just like, in the office, you know, we're Michigan's in the office, but then we come to life in the hallway. It's so fun. And then it goes down to the parking garage and all over the place. But I mean, there's like, dark guns, and we got, you know, giant squids and Krakens dragging people out and you know, down to Davy Jones locker. So it's, it's pretty fun to hear how that all unfolds and everything. At the end of that chapter, the thing that I really noticed, because I ended up getting caught one day, as that all wraps up, I realized that, like, we've resulted to like playing in the hallway, and pretending to kill each other, just so that we can know each other so that we can overlap and have that connection. And that was one of the first things that in my mind, I thought, This isn't right. Like the leader is like crushing the spirit in the culture in this environment. That's a quick rundown of the story, I think is written better than I just told it. But

Pete Mohr: 17:37

it's great story. And I thought was fun. I want to share it here too. And, you know, it overlaps. One of the sort of my frameworks around people at work want clarity, confidence and community. And that's this thing around building the right community. Right, Jake, this whole story is around this community. And it's an important part of leadership is building the right community for your team so that it can be successful and grow and, and so can your business. And so can you as leader.

Jake Brown: 18:03

That's right. Yeah. And what's funny is, so I had fun in the hallway, and we're just being goofy. I mean, really, it's like little kids out there. But we're having we have fun, but that fun caused community. Yeah. And then since we had community, it, actually, I've gone back. And there's a quote by Anne Frank, that I love. And it says, a happy person will make other people happy. Yeah. And says, no one who has faith and courage will die in misery. And I mean, her level is way deeper. But if you take that into work, like a happy person will make others happy, and no one will die, who has faith, you know, faith and courage. And I think about that, I'm like, You shouldn't be miserable. No, if you have those things. So it's like that fun, starts that community. And that spark of joy, which can then lead to the communities can gather together that gives you hope. And then from hope somebody has the courage to step up and lead and that's where growth happens. And then eventually, more people start following that path. Like I said, for me, it all started accidentally. I mean, it's kind of how I was wired, like fun is how I survive. But you said that that community is important. Otherwise, in my white method, that expert is the person who's great at their job, but they're not aligned with anybody else. They're in a silo. Yeah, they're leaving. Yep. There's no reason to be there. And it is. It is very lonely in that quad.

Pete Mohr: 19:21

Yeah, it is. And nobody wants lonely these, especially these days. Well, nobody ever does. It's, it's a bad place to be in a bad place to have as a culture of your business. For sure. Thanks so much for sharing your stories and the white method, that you've recently released the books. I want everybody know how they can get a hold of a copy and how they can get a hold of you.

Jake Brown: 19:43

Yeah, for sure. You can either reach me and learn more about the book, the book, it's at leadership, the book.com

Pete Mohr: 19:50

Awesome. And if people are looking to get a hold of you socially, where's the best platform for them to reach you there?

Jake Brown: 19:56

Okay, you can find me on LinkedIn. Awesome. Jake brown right on LinkedIn. Search for Jake Brown. I'm the one with the red beard suite.

Pete Mohr: 20:03

Yeah, I used to have one now. It's white. Thanks so much, Jake. It's been a pleasure.

Jake Brown: 20:09

It's been a blast. Alright, man, talk to you soon.

Pete Mohr: 20:14

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Jake. He's such a cool guy. What can you put into action around the stories in the take in the conversation today? You know, he talked about injecting fun in your business, of course, the two by two framework, the white model around being A winner an intern and prisoner and experts and how we take everybody as he calls it up to the winner box as leaders, such interesting things. And I liked this concept around being able and allowed and that's a big thing that we talked about a lot in my coaching programs around accountability. We didn't get into it in the conversation today, but the idea around the word responsible, you have to be able to respond. And that's part of being a leader and being given accountability. So some really cool stuff. If you'd like a little bit more information on my coaching programs, you can just go to speak to pete.com That's speak to pete.com where you can book in a zoom call with me to discuss turning your wants into wins. It's time to simplify your business and your life as a leader and until next time, make it a great day

Unknown: 21:27

and I ironic media production visit us at IR O M IC K media.com.