What If It Did Work?
What If It Did Work?
Daily Discipline That Builds Real Leaders
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Leadership advice is everywhere, but most of it skips the hard part: doing the work when nobody is watching. We sit down with Charlie Newcombe, author of Life, Leadership, and Success, to get practical about what actually separates average performers from enduring leaders. The through-line is simple and demanding: leadership is a responsibility you choose, and success is built from daily decisions, self-discipline, and character.
We talk about why empathy and emotional intelligence matter more than ever in today’s divided culture, and how “boss” behavior quietly destroys workplace culture through low trust, low ownership, and high turnover. Charlie shares real-world lessons from a long career that started at McDonald’s, plus why promoting the best salesperson or the longest-tenured employee often backfires. If you care about team performance, management training, leadership development, and building a stable organization, this conversation connects the dots between standards, accountability, and influence.
You’ll also hear what accountability looks like in practice: setting clear goals, checking progress consistently, coaching people honestly, and protecting credibility by keeping promises and never moving the goal line midstream. We wrap with a grounded take on success that goes beyond money, and why failure, handled well, becomes fuel for long-term growth. If you feel stuck professionally, the advice starts with the mirror and continues with finding a mentor who will tell you the truth.
Subscribe for more conversations on leadership, success habits, and professional growth, then share this with someone who’s stepping into management and leave a review. What’s one leadership behavior you refuse to tolerate at work?
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Cold Open And Guest Setup
SPEAKER_01And it's gonna be an amazing episode of my favorite podcast because I am biased. What if it did work? Now, today's guest. He believes in leadership is not just a title you're handed, it's a responsibility that you get to choose. Charlie Newcombe has spent decades studying, living, teaching what separates average performers from enduring leaders. He's not selling hype, he is teaching habits. His message is simple but demanding. Success is built from daily decisions, discipline, character, and leadership that begins all within. If you've ever wondered why some people rise consistently while others just stall out this conversation, is your blueprint. This is about life. This is about leadership. This is about success. And more importantly, how those three are inseparable. So let's get into it. How's it going? Great, Omar. How are you? You know, I'm here with you. So, you know, like I said, it was a mission. I'm like, I we all everybody, full disclosure, we were running a little late by a couple minutes just because I was in the wrong room. And I'm like, and technology, my phone said, and it wasn't until I'm like, oh, this is for tomorrow's meeting. No wonder, no wonder, Charlie. You know, now now the leader in me from being a business owner and whatnot, you know, I pivoted. But usually what would happen is people would just be sulking, and oh, that guy, what a jerk. Here he was. He wanted to talk about his book, and he didn't even show up. Let me ruin my day, and let me just ruin maybe tomorrow and then the next day. That's right. So I guess I I gotta say, man, I I love the book, life, leadership, and success. Because as we as the days get the years go by, the leadership and success, that's something that's lacking in our society.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's uh it's it's pretty scary. But I you know, I've been uh I've experienced a lot of the stuff I talked about is in the book, is just what I experienced. And you know, I I'm always learning, but you're right. It's I just I don't know. I just think our society these days is just in different directions, different people go in different directions. It's uh it's crazy.
SPEAKER_01Also, lack of empathy. I mean, how can you be a leader with zero empathy? Yeah, but that that's how we we're starting to operate. Yeah, anything happens bad to someone, we go to the well, what's their sexuality? Who who did they vote for? Which is kind of crazy if you think of yeah, I mean, you and I it wasn't like this. I never asked someone, did you vote for HW or did you vote for Bill Clinton? Because whoever you voted for, I might be your friend or I might be your worst enemy.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
Why The Book Comes From Experience
SPEAKER_01Yep, and I uh I respect all opinions. Oh, me too. I when when I tell people because I I I tell people I laugh and I I joke around, I'm like I'm great at sales and great at leadership. I can't come from a a a place of judgment. So I I don't care who you vote for. I don't I'm I'm not a politician, I'm not a lobbyist, I'm not angling to get on anybody's board or cabinet. So who cares? And if if it means that much to you, then I am whatever you want me to be in order for us to connect. Yeah, for sure. Yep, I agree. Now, what what did inspire you, Charlie, to write the life leadership and success?
SPEAKER_04Well, it's uh, you know, I've always wanted to do it. I I grew up, my life in the corporate world started when I was 18 years old, and I took a job at McDonald's working part-time while I was going to school for criminal justice. And I didn't look back. I got my college degree, I got my uh bachelor's degree, and then I never used one iota of criminal justice because I loved the business world, I loved the teamwork that I created, and I love being part of that team. You know, I you know, you don't create it, you don't create teamwork by yourself. You know, you need a a group of people that have the same goals in mind. Look at the USA hockey team, men's and women's. They they they were destined to to succeed, and the men's especially had great, great camaraderie between them. And you need that in the business world in order to be successful, in my humble opinion. And you're right, you know, sometimes I think that of our learnings. I mean, I learned everything about leadership just from experiencing it. And then when you study leadership and look at the different subjects, I mean, some people think it's so boring, but there's so much that goes into it, and I'm just so intrigued by it. I I would really love to, you know, do some public speaking engagements. I'm trying to work through that on my website. And uh, you know, go speak. I love speaking in front of people, I love uh talking about my life, how it influences others, and maybe you know, somebody somewhere out there will be few people that I can make their life different and make them help them succeed in life and in leadership in business in whatever they do.
SPEAKER_01Well, this is what I got out of it. You you folk to me, I I even had to write this down because it to me it was like a a wow. Because what separates your leadership book, besides the fact that it comes from you, yeah. You you weren't trying to mirror and be like John Maxwell Jr. You weren't trying to any other leader in all the leader books. No, this came from you. You you focus on you focus to just based on personal stories, yeah, the lessons you've learned, real world business principles. So it it didn't come from academia, because you and I, you know, we we we have the degrees, and it it comes from like the it doesn't come from real world, it comes from Disneyland or Disney World, fantasy land. If it was a land, it would be fantasy land, and you know, practical applications throughout it, and then you you you just have everything you focus on personal responsibility, character over charisma, principles over shortcuts, leadership as influence, which people don't realize. We are all leaders, and just success is a byproduct. What what happens though is people want the success without leading themselves or or finding ways to lead the team to success, right? Because you said it best, it it's it's we because on paper looking at at the US story, Vegas said, you know, we were supposed to lose by two goals. I mean, if you bet if if if the US would uh lost in overtime, or once once the game went into overtime, you you won your money if you you bet on the US. That's how how bad it it was. And you're right, there wasn't one when somebody everybody focuses on oh the superstar, the superstar, you have to the superstar can be great, but is he a leader? And if if he's not, is there someone else or are there more than one that had the same goal in mind and checked the ego at the door? And to me, that group, you know, there before years past, Team Canada or Team USA had you know the heavy hitters. There wasn't anybody that stood out that you're like, oh yes, this is this is the reason why we won.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you're right. But let me give you uh something I saw today that really showed good teamwork, you know, was how that affected. So Jack Hughes came back to play his first game back as a New Jersey Devil last night. So the home crowd did a big celebration for him. Welcome back, our U.S. hero, blah, blah, blah. And he came out on the ice, waved his hands, but he immediately went over to the Buffalo Sabres, Sabres bench. And I can't remember the player that uh played for plays for Buffalo Sabres who also was on that U.S. team. Lyndon, I can't remember. I wish I knew that name. I wasn't planning on talking about it, but you know, he got him off the bench for the Buffalo Sabres because he was an equal part of that team, and what a great gesture. I mean, here they were, the New Jersey Devils celebrating their homegrown Jack Hughes, and he went over the Buffalo Sabres bench to bring off, got off the bench the USA player who played for the Buffalo Sabres to bring him out to center ice as well. I mean, what a showmanship moment, and uh, you know, that great teamwork that it's about the team, as as you mentioned. And, you know, there's so much of that that applies to the business world as well.
SPEAKER_01Well, uh, Charlie, when did you first realize that leadership begins with something that uh rarely people have self-discipline?
SPEAKER_04You know, that's a great question. I think it took me uh took me a while, you know, post McDonald's life when I realized, you know, how much great training I had in the McDonald's world. I mean, they paid for my courses to go to see Dale Carnegie course, a 14-week course that was phenomenal. They paid me to go to the one-minute manager presentation, they paid me to see the Stephen Covey presentation, and you know, they invested a lot of money in me. And, you know, then, you know, after post-mcdonald's, as I said, into the you know, into my role post-mcdonald's, how I saw all these different things that you know shaped me in my career and guided me in my career and my choices, you know, as I mentioned, my degree in criminal justice, but I love the business world. So you're at that fork in your life. Do you want to go to the business world or do you want to become a police officer? And I the last five years in high school, you know, I wasn't exactly sure what I want to do, but then I don't it dawned on me that I wanted to do police work. I I like giving back. And then I realized in the business world, you know, a lot of that applies as well. You know, Ray Krock, the founder of McDonald's, always talked about giving back to the community. And uh, you know, I'm always trying to be a people pleaser, trying to help others be successful in their life. And all of my experiences, both in McDonald's, after McDonald's, in my current career, uh, I'm always learning, always trying to do better. And that's where I I learned my leadership from watching others. And there's so many different traits of leadership. And someone will say, Well, what's the favorite, what's the most important part of leadership? And you need to be a you need to be have good uh leadership skills and so many different so many different traits that's out there. I mean, leadership leadership can be summed up in many words, and uh some may be more than important than others, but your opinion of leadership may be different than my opinion of leadership, you know, and what's important may be you know different to you than me.
SPEAKER_01Now, Charlie, growing up, were you just the natural leader, elementary class president and president of your fraternity, your your parents instilled leadership within you, nothing like that? It was not like that.
SPEAKER_04It's you know, it's kind of cultivated on my own, just based on my experiences. And uh, you know, I I oh you know, I always I talk a lot about emotional intelligence, and I always watch, even to this day, I watch how people interact with other people, I watch how um coworkers interact with their peers, I watch how bosses interact with their subordinates, and I I'm always learning by examples, and sometimes you learn from the not so good examples. That's that's a great lesson as well. You know, I I I I talked about in my book, I've learned from those, I learned how not to act based on others too. I I can't remember that exact quote, but I um I rem I remember talking about that.
Bosses Versus Leaders In Real Life
SPEAKER_01Well, that that's what made me want to become a leader was I was just sick and tired of working for leaders that were the furthest thing from being a leader. Like these guys were definitely not General Patton, these guys one might have thought they're leaders because there's a difference between a boss do this and and that's it, or can't be condescending. Now, um we will both agree on this, it bleeds from the top down. So if the leadership is horrible and they treat people bad, there's no ownership in the employees, the team members are gonna be like, uh checked out, they're they're they're not gonna want to help out anybody. That's not my department. I can't help you.
SPEAKER_04They and you you know, turnover increases, people you know don't want to be in their job anymore. And a lot of times it's the boss who who makes it for them, makes you know, I had I was I had two great bosses when I started my job with Manitowak Ice, and uh they taught me so much how about people and how you treat people, and not that I didn't treat people poorly before, but they they they were they epitomized how you treat people, how they how they how they are, and I spoke very highly of them in my book.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, if you treat people poorly, they're gonna do the same with your customers, and then these leaders or quote unquote, and I don't consider them leaders, they don't understand that productivity is stalled if you have constant turnover. Yeah, time is money. If you're if you're gonna have to retrain new employees over and over because you can't keep them, because you're you're you're that horrible person that speaks about it, and you know, the office has you know the teamwork poster up and they have all the cliches up, but yeah, you know, HR gives you like the War and Peace version of the rules and regulations and what you cannot do here at this company.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but I'll tell you that sometimes bosses promote somebody because they work hard, and that's the biggest mistake they make because they're not sometimes they're not leaders, and you know, they get in their position because they know how to do certain things and they follow the company rules, and it it doesn't always work like that. And and sometimes they're the they get in their own shadow and they just fail, and they take a lot of people down with them. Um it's it's it's crazy, but you know, a lot of times, you know, you see people off to the side that are a little bit more quiet and reserve. And at one point, that was me. I was a quiet, reserved person, and I you know, I learned through watching others how to excel, how to start communicating, how to um help motivate people and bring people together. And I'm not perfect at it. And I've been a boss, and there have been people that don't like me because maybe I hold them accountable and they don't do so well when they're held accountable. And that's you know, a big piece with um the leadership is the accountability. That's one of my top five categories I look for in in in a leader is holding their people accountable. So um, but that's just my again, my humble opinion on it.
SPEAKER_01Well, you're you're speaking about it a lot of times too. The number one thing that they always just miss on is like sales is important, right? So usually the sales manager they they give that role to the person, they don't care what the leadership skills of that person is. It's like, well, he's my best salesperson. Well, just because he's amazing at selling doesn't mean he knows how to motivate, how to push, how to get others to replicate him.
SPEAKER_04Right. He and he he doesn't know he knows how to do it, but he can't teach others.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And and and sure and it happens even in sports when oh, why why did Wayne Gretzky or why do all you know, all these legends, why are they horrible when it comes to management? It's because they can't relate, because they expect people to excel at the same level that they do, and it's the same in sales, which which you either have that or you have the company, the leader that's like, Well, I I promote based on attendance, and it's like, oh, so because somebody, you know, just shows up the longest, it that that's that's who you promote. That that's who you're gonna become a leader, is is based on attendance. Wow, you know, if that's the case, well, we should have just uh um we elected George Burns to be president because he was present at one time the most compared to most people when he was at 100.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I can remember that. I like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh, but it it's it's crazy because I remember uh I wanted to step back and I wanted to I had managers and I wanted an area manager, I wanted one person running, you know, being the top guy. And I gave two people the opportunity, and and the guy that didn't get the job was upset because he was there the longest with me, and it's like that's not that's not how and I gave you and I'm like I gave you every opportunity because I wanted you. This isn't about popularity, that's right. This is about profitability.
SPEAKER_04That's right, yep. You know, I can well I wrote I wrote in my book about the time I was a a first assistant manager and uh became a store manager after uh six months on that in that previous job, and I beat out two people that had been an assistant manager for three years or more, and you know, here's this young puck coming in. Who is he to get promoted over me? Well, I wanted it more.
The Myth Of Overnight Leadership
SPEAKER_01Well, it it's just common sense. You want uh unless you're running a non-for-profit, yeah, you know, the the boys' club of wherever, and you know who cares? At the end of the day, we're here. We we we need to pay bills, we need to be successful. You always want the best, you want the best leader, you want the person that guides this company, this store in the right direction. And people don't understand that. That the the perfect example, if if we're having surgery, what we we just want some we we don't look at their track record, just they showed up the longest at a particular hospital, or you know, they they deserve it because yeah, they've got seniority. No, that's you don't you don't want your pilot when land landing in a place that's very hard to land, that well, you know, he he he was on record as you know, we he started. It out as the flight attendant, and then he worked his way, you know. But what about his experience? Well, he was here the longest, and you know, he he he was great at that flight simulator, so we just decided screw it, he can do it. It's funny because it's so absurd, but that's how people react. Yeah, and that's why when you hear when you hear people say that too, showing up is half the battle. And what exactly? In attendance, maybe. No, no, I I mean you certainly don't want an organization of people that just show up, right? And you know, the leader just shows up, he doesn't really lead, he does, he doesn't have guidelines, he doesn't have standards, he he doesn't have short-term goals or midterm goals. He just, you know, let's all just show up. That's right. Everyone goes about their day, exactly. Things will get done. We're you know, just hire hire lead from popularity. You you don't want to upset anybody. That's right. If if someone's incompetent, hey man, you don't I mean you can't let them go because think about it, you know, Easter's coming, and then after Easter's probably another holiday, Mother's Day, and then Father's Day, and and then you know, the the the summer, whatever, the longest day. There there's always an excuse. No, you can't run it like that. Because a lot of people, well, you know, all the all the holidays are coming. Well, the way we create Hallmark creates a new holiday every every single day, man. You know. Boost the economy. Let's get another holiday. Exactly. Now, what's what is the biggest misconception people do have about leadership?
SPEAKER_04Oh, I I my opinion, I see too many people that think leadership is just happens overnight. And you have to work it, you have to really work at it. You know, you have to experience it, and you know, you have to fail at certain things and you know experience failure. Uh who was it invented like uh electricity? Thomas Edison, he failed two or three times before he invented electricity, and look what he ended up doing, right? But I don't know, I'm I'm of the belief that you know, a leader, you know, I I speak for for myself, you know, I learned through watching others, you know. I just I just didn't wake up one day and say, Oh, I'm gonna be leader. You know, some people can do it naturally, and that you see that from time to time, people just natural leaders. And um I generally speaking, I think sometimes it's hard just to show up and be a leader. You need to experience uh some of the the tough tough challenges that are that are along the way can in in any business that you are in. And you know, I talk in my book a lot about what I experienced at McDonald's, but you know, that can apply to people working for Hewlett-Packard. That can uh you know happen to somebody working for Dell computers, uh, the phone companies. You know, look at you know, look at the phone companies, how they've evolved evolved over time. They just get so ripe they begin to rot and uh they they fail over time. And uh that's uh that was one of Ray Kroc's famous quotes. When you write, when you're when you're green, you grow, and you're when you're ripe, you start to rot rot like a banana. He related it to a banana. So uh I chuckled it when I think of that from time to time.
SPEAKER_01Well, that that that's way more inspiring than if there's time to lean, there's time to clean by Ray Kroc. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I've said that myself sometimes.
Success Paths College Trades And Fit
SPEAKER_01Oh gosh. No, can someone truly be successful without being a strong leader? I mean, I don't think so, but what's your opinion on that?
SPEAKER_04It depends on who that individual is. There are some people that just like to come in, punch in, do their job, and go home. You know, and I talk, you know, in in my book, I talk about, you know, I could not be a person, an assistant manager at CVS stalking shelves because that's all I see them do, or not necessarily always the assistant managers, but you know, if if I'm an associate, you know, working in a uh a shoe factory, you know, I just I am not the one to come in and assemble shoes for eight hours and then punch out and go home. But some of those people, that's all they want to do. Some people don't aspire to grow. Uh for me, I always wanted to grow. Even to this day, I want to grow. I want to take on more responsibilities. I want to improve myself. I want to be a better leader. I want to, you know, still learn from other people. I'm always watching people how they how they act and how they interact with fellow folks, as I've kind of already mentioned a little bit. So, I mean, that's a leader's always learning, never can never it's never enough. Always learning. That's the way I look at it. That's my motto.
SPEAKER_01You're gonna laugh. Uh everything what you said made me just something a million years ago in the dark ages when I was in junior high. I felt like that's I just wanted to do. I you know, who was I to be a leader, anyways? Like all those people you just named, just show up, make a lot of money, leave. And I remember telling my guidance counselor, he's like, So, what what would you like to do as a career? And I remember telling him, I'm like, if someone pays me fifty thousand dollars a year, I'll make pizzas for them. Now, people, full disclosure, you you could do that now, fifty thousand dollars. But fifty thousand dollars in like 1986 was a lot of money, right? So I I didn't mean by today's 50,000, but yes, what what made me want to become a leader was because there was just always something in me that felt I was way smarter than the people that uh that was usually ahead of me or my boss because they weren't real leaders, or there was always how can I replicate, how can I do this and make more money for myself instead of being a tool for someone else's dreams? Maybe I can be a leader and we can all succeed, right?
SPEAKER_04You know what? I think the majority of the folks in high school, junior high school, they don't know what they want from life. And I can only say that based on my experience, you know. But in junior high school, I I uh I was in the band. I love playing in the band. Uh in high school, I I love making friends. Uh, we would in the wintertime, we would get together and and pick up, play pond hockey every afternoon after school. I wasn't thinking about what I want to do in life, you know. I mean, I went to college first semester. I was gonna be a go and major in computer science. I didn't know I wanted to be in computer science, I didn't know a thing about computers, really. So, why'd I pick computer science? I have no idea, you know. So I came back home and I said, Well, maybe I'll be a cop. And I and I thought about that. I I studied up, you know, read a lot about it. Says, yeah, this sounds like something I want to do. I almost went in the Air Force for that, but found out I could go to college locally for that. And then I also living on my own after high school, I also had to pay the bills. So I picked up the part-time job at McDonald's and boom, the rest is history because I love the business. I love interacting with customers. You know, I remember at the at the beginning, though, I was a shy little crew guy. You know, I didn't down, I didn't want to talk to a customer. Oh man, I you know, if you don't do your job right, you you have certain policies that you had to follow. And you know, I wasn't perfect. I made mistakes. And uh, you know, but then I learned how you interact with customers helps bring them back to grow your sales and grow your business. And I started interacting with some of the other managers, and I realized, hey, we were a pretty good group, you know, and uh I just grew that way. I I just fell into my job, you know. And it's funny, my youngest daughter, you know, wasn't exactly sure what she wanted to do. She won, you know, she talked about being an accountant, and all of a sudden she decided she wanted to be a nurse, and she is a great nurse. She's my future doctor. But she's so good with people and so compassionate. She has the traits of a great nurse. You know, exactly what you need, you know, in business. I feel, you know, I have the traits of a good business person, and I just love that. I wouldn't be interested in being a nurse per se, but to each their own. You know, everyone's attracted by other other things that interest them. You know, they just got to find out what that is.
SPEAKER_01Well, we we also tend to force kids, because that's what somebody in junior high or high school is. What do you want to do for the rest of your life? It's like rest of your, you know, what do you want to do for the next 50 years? And that's why it's like, you know, a deer caught in the headlights look. I I mean, I switched majors a few times just out of a whim because I'm like, oh well, that's gotta my my first major. I thought accounting sounded great because you know, I took an accounting class in high school and it was fun, and it was entertaining. And oh, you have to be good at math. Didn't realize that. Oh, you you can make a lot of money, but you have to be good at you know, a lot of times people are like, you know, it's what are you good at? Instead, they focus on, well, I want to be a a chemical engineer. Well, why is that? Well, have you seen the starting pay? It's like, yeah, but are you exceptional? Not are you good, are you exceptional at math? And is that something that you want to do? And yeah, no, I that that's why I I I snicker because um my my ex-wife with my our two daughters, it's always like one's a sophomore in college and the other one's gonna be a freshman, and she's always about and it's like you can't focus and and we but we're we're both highly educated, so I don't know where she gets the you know, yes, social media says these are the top 10 jobs, or you know, that doesn't mean I mean I'm not designed up for I I can't be a pilot because I'm afraid of heights, I'm not afraid of flying anymore, but it's not something you know, I couldn't see myself doing that. You you know, we we need to know what our strengths are, and a lot of times too, you're gonna laugh. Doesn't that make you cringe when they they say everybody is a everybody can be a leader? It's like, no, some people just it's just not their nature, it's not their personality. You just can't buy a book if you have zero, it it's not within you, like what you said, somebody that just wants to clock in, clock out, go home. You know, you can't be all of a sudden, hey, we need you to be a leader, and we want you to be up at night restless, wanting to solve the company's issues and problems. That's not the person, that's not what they're designed for.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you know, I think you know, I think social media puts a lot of pressure on the younger generation these days because you know, younger kids, they just it's too soon for them to know what they want to do in life. Uh, you know, it's just my opinion. I I think there's some sometimes there's too much pressure put on them to uh figure out what they want to do from life, and it's it they don't know yet. They just you know, a couple of my you know, my grandson, one of my grandsons is great with his hands, and he he loves he wants to be a carpenter, and you can just see how well he can succeed being a carpenter, you know, and sometimes a blue-collar worker can make a great living.
SPEAKER_01Oh and that that's something else. I'm like, because you know, academia, they we we try to instill uh not we I'm not a professor, never wanted to be one, but academia ever since we were little kids, if you don't go to college, you're gonna be living under a bridge somewhere. That's right. You need a lot of debt, you you need to get a you uh useless degree sometimes in arts and sciences just because it's a piece of paper, and we can look down upon the guy that's got zero debt that went to a trade school and is right off the bat making eighty thousand dollars a year, but but yet, you know, we and college academies like, yes, thank you. And that's why that's the the price of tuition is just like oh no, yeah, crazy.
SPEAKER_04But the key is you know, I mentioned my grandson, but he just loves the carpentry and he'll he'll do well. He's graduating high school this year, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And that's and it's not like you guys are like, have you checked the top 20 industries and getting a degree? Everybody is everybody is if you do something that you're amazing at, you you're set now. If you try to fit a round square in a peg hole, because that's what we we as a society try to do. If you are everybody's a leader, everybody's designed for college, everybody's this, everybody's that. No, it it's it's not.
SPEAKER_04And you can't, as I think we touched on a little bit, you can't teach someone to be a leader, they need to have a natural ability to adapt to ever-changing situations that they're in. You know, they I mean, they need to be good listeners, you know. Empathy, we talked about empathy, they need to have empathy for those folks that may be having a bad day. And what's the root cause of that bad day? You know, something happened at home.
SPEAKER_01I mean, you have to you have to be a therapist, yeah. Because you have to have that empathy and you have to be able to talk to people, right?
SPEAKER_04You can't be just doing that's the that's the comp that's the social worker in you, right?
SPEAKER_01That we you have to wear many hats as a leader, yeah. And and even if you read history books, all these amazing leaders, they had to wear many hats. They didn't just show, and sometimes leaders come from like you're like, holy smokes, you know. Ulysses as Grant was like the last in his class, nobody ever thought he'd be president, much less lead the union, but yet here he was, and because there was already that all hit inside you, and I mean, I never thought I was gonna be a leader, it wasn't until but once something clicked, I'm like, yeah, and but you can't just buy a book or a program. You can't be like, Well, here's a program I want you to take, and you know, you're gonna be here top top leaders for all weekend. You're not gonna come go from, hey, I just want to clock in to clock out to all of a sudden you're General MacArthur.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And I've I've picked up some leadership books um to read. Uh, and you know you you gotta do things a certain way, you gotta set goals. And I'm not discounting goals, you need to do that. But the they talk you you talk like uh and you learn like a textbook, a textbook. And uh to me, I can't just uh read something and learn from it. I need to experience that. You know, experience uh someone coming in and you know, yelling at you for something that you didn't do right, and how you diffuse that situation. Uh you know, if someone's upset with something you did, uh you need to experience that as a leader so that you can diffuse and find out that what they're mad about isn't really anything to do with you at all. It's about something that happened happened at their home, that they're taking it out on you. It's silly things, but that's back to life sometimes, you know.
Building Accountability With Honest Follow Up
SPEAKER_01Now you don't you don't talk, I mean you said have goals, but I know you talk a lot about accountability. Yep. How do you build a culture of accountability?
SPEAKER_04Well, you know, a lot of times you see people that will write some goals and not hold anybody accountable for it. Or here you're you know, let's work together, let's agree upon our goals, first of all. Sometimes the goals, you know, you I mean, I sometimes I I hate some of the book stuff, but there are some good points to it. You know, that they talk about the smart principles, right? Goals need to be specific, measurable, attainable, um, realistic in time frame. You know, in this year, you're gonna improve profitability by two percent or whatever that might be. And then if you get halfway done with that goal, uh you know, through the year, you say, Well, you didn't quite meet your goal. And you want me to you want me to give you a bull raise when you didn't meet the goal. Well, part of the goal is profitability, maybe. So I'll share in some of the profit. Um, so yeah, maybe in this particular area you didn't meet the goal, but you might have met another goal for crew turnover, for example, company turnover. You know, you helped improve turnover by X percents. Well, that that earns you something as well. So um sometimes we we try to hold people accountable, but we don't follow up with them. Ken Blanchard was a great, great writer with some of his books, you know, the one minute manager, uh, who's got the monkey, and um so many great things that he he writes about. But one of the things he writes about in the one minute manager is you know, giving somebody a goal, but talking about it every month or every every week, every month, every year, every six months, whatever that is, to see how we're doing against the progress. Sometimes people write a goal and they don't say anything about it for a year. Well, you didn't do this goal, you didn't do this. Well, you know, how do I know what the score is halfway through the year? How do I know the score was last month? And they just don't level with that person sometimes, they're not honest with them. So, in order to be hold someone accountable, you got to be honest with them, both as success and both as opportunity. Because then maybe they're in you know, maybe the way they're going about achieving those goals isn't quite the way they need to do it. You could help coach them to try it a different approach, you know. Sometimes you know, they need a little coaching to help them improve their techniques or how they how they talk to people.
SPEAKER_01There's so much so much that goes into it. My favorite thing about the one-minute manager is before you you critique someone, give them praise. And that that's something that a lot of people don't understand. You know, they just want to attack a person, person's gonna be closed off immediately if you're like, you know, because all they hear is how horrible they are, and they're worthless, and they're this, so you know, come from a place well, you're doing great at this, and you know, lead off with something good quality, and then you know, coach them.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, he's you know, speaking of the one minute manager, he's got a new book out. The new one minute manager. It's an interesting read. So they're interesting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh I've I've read them all. They're they're good books, yeah. Easy reads to easy reads, right?
SPEAKER_04I'll just uh mention what you just mentioned, Omar, a second ago. A lot of times a boss always feels like they need to say something good in order to give them criticism, and then they train the people to expect that you did a really good job talking to that customer, but when you come into work, you have a dirty uniform. Um, and of course, I relate to a lot of my McDonald's experience, but um a manufacturer um on the manufacturing line. Hey Susie, you did a really good job. You assembled, you know, 90 pairs of shoes today, but yet uh 50 of them were defective because the shoelaces weren't put together right. You know, so it so then you program your people to think you're only giving them a positive to highlight the negative. And they expect it that way. So they're they're okay. So they don't hear that compliment. They don't hear the positive because they don't think it sounds sincere, because they know every time you say a positive, it comes a negative. And then they always say, but you know, they say you assembled a hundred pairs of shoes today, but 50 of them had defective shoe laces. You know, it's it's you don't have to put that word but in there. And it's it's kind of I joke about that a lot, but it's so true. One of my Bosses at one of my jobs would always say, You did a nice job with this customer, but you did this, this, but you did this, you know, the buttons. Like I said, Randy, you don't need to say the word but you know, try and and I tell people to practice that, and they and they go, Yeah, you're right. But anyway, I I digress a little bit with that. But I always say, be careful with the positive if you're always if you only can bring up an opportunity by emphasizing a positive, and then it's in your tone of your voice, you know, you're not really serious about that positive comment, you know, because you really want to emphasize the negative. So many leaders want to emphasize the negatives, that's what they want to do. And uh I've I've done that, I've I've been guilty of that. We all done it. So that's my two cents.
SPEAKER_02Carl, what's the fastest way to lose credibility as a leader? Not following through on your promises, um, you know, deflating trust.
SPEAKER_04You know, if you if somebody trusts you with some confidential information, you don't go blurb it up to have someone else, you ruin, you hurt your credibility.
SPEAKER_01Or you move you move the goal line too, because uh a lot of bonuses, pay structure.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I had that happen to me one year. They changed my target, you know, six months into my into my current role, they moved the goal line, and I came up short of my goal. And when I say something about, hey, you changed the goal, I mean midstream, you know, that's not right. You know, so I lost all credibility with with uh that time the boss's boss, you know, I lost all kinds of credibility with them because of that.
SPEAKER_01You don't yeah, I you never do that. Never amen. Amen. I I never did it as uh as a leader, but ever every every time that's ever happened to me, oh talk about deflating. Talk talk. I mean, yeah, I that definitely no no no team building there, man. Morale goes straight to the toilet.
SPEAKER_04That's right. Yep. And so many you know, turnover is increased, but exponentiously everything is exaggerated just by losing that trust and that credibility.
SPEAKER_01Now, Charlie, how do you define success today versus earlier? The the younger you think in your career.
SPEAKER_04Um you know, when I was younger, I wasn't thinking of what success looked like. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, you know, and I don't think I realized it until I was, you know, partly into my you know into my McDonald's career. And then I realized, hey, if I grow with a corporate corporation, you know, I can be successful. And you know, some people's gonna was successful equate to um being a millionaire, you know. I'm not a millionaire, and uh I hope to be someday. And but that isn't success to me. You know, I look at success as my as my family, you know, how they do, how they've been successful in life. I've learned a lot from my wife watching how she interacts with people. She is so good at it. My kids, you know, my two daughters, you know, that's their success is my success.
SPEAKER_02That's what I look at. So it's not monetary. Amen. Never should be.
SPEAKER_01Right. Now Charlie, what role does failure play in long-term leadership growth?
SPEAKER_04Well, um I bet you there's not one leader out there that hasn't had failure at something. You know, I've had a couple investments that I failed at, you know. Fail at uh, you know, just making bad decisions on investments. You know, I think there's many people who have done that. Um yeah. That's a learning experience. It's a lesson. Absolutely. Um, there's a gentleman I talked to recently. Uh it was a podcast I was watching that talked about, you know, the the gentleman in in the podcast basically lost everything. Lost his wife, lost his job, lost his lost his financial well-being, and uh it it it impacted him, but yet we grow stronger as a result of that. And uh, you know, behind every leader is is failure that you sometimes don't even know about. You know, everyone has you know ghosts in the closet that they don't necessarily talk about. And uh sometimes it's not necessary, you know, it's not necessary for a leader to disclose all of their failures, but sometimes it's good to show that you're human. The human characteristic, yeah, yeah. That you know, and you can relate to somebody failing at a job. I mean, that I've I've I've had failure at jobs and you know, with different goals that I wanted to set. I've had failures. I I and I take that personally, but I I always say that I have to learn from that. You know, you know, failure brings success.
SPEAKER_01It always does. You just have to people have to realize it it's just temporary, it it doesn't define who you are. That's right. Now, Charlie, what leadership mistake costs you the most since you were just talking about that guy in the podcast. What I'm sorry, what leadership what? Uh was has there been any leadership mistakes that cost you?
SPEAKER_04And um yeah, you know, um I think that you know, I I I remember one time, you know, you cannot be a perfect leader to everybody. And I remember in particular one of my restaurant managers um who I thought was doing an okay job, and one day I go into the store to visit with him, and he throws his keys to me and walks out the door and he quit. So I failed as a leader, right? I saw something in me didn't adapt to his way, that's how I took it, you know. So um, you know, I don't pretend to be perfect, you know, but I think the key is you know learning from that for sure.
SPEAKER_01I hear you. Yeah, we've I've I've had to experience that. That's just just something that you move on, you you learn from it, you you put it down in your little database inside your head and make sure that doesn't happen again. That's right. Yep. Absolutely. Now, Charlie, if someone feels stuck professionally, what's the first thing they should change?
Getting Unstuck With Mentors And Mirrors
SPEAKER_04They should stand in front of the mirror and ask themselves, what am I doing wrong? You know, but at the same time, you know, I talk a lot about in my book about uh mentors. You know, find a mentor is what I would say to somebody. Find somebody that can be honest with you and tell you the truth about maybe something that you're not quite doing right. Well, how am how what am I doing today that I can be better tomorrow? And sometimes you need a that mentor to help guide you and kind of give you some self-reflection and give you some sometimes it's it's hard truth. Sometimes the truth hurts. And um, you know, that mentor cannot be a boss, though. Some people think their boss can be a mentor, but you need a mentor that you can confide in and you know, you know, speak your soul and and guide you. And yeah, you can't do that with with your boss. That's right. Yeah, you think you can, you know, and if you think you can, you know, your boss subordinate relationship, it's not friend subordinate, it's boss subordinate. And they have a job. Exactly. You know, but exactly. You know, but I also think that as you look at yourself, you have to be honest with yourself. And perception is reality sometimes. Sometimes people perceive me as a shy, quiet person, you know, but that's it, that's just because they don't know me yet. You know, if you put me into a room, walk around with 10 people, you know, that I don't know, you know, I'll just keep quiet for a little bit. And then as I get to know people, I start, I'll start introducing myself. Um, but that perception, you know, a lot of times perception is reality. And uh it's you know, good to know how people perceive you.
Where To Buy The Book And Work With Charlie
SPEAKER_01It always is, as long as you don't spend all your resources trying to change people's perception. Sometimes not not everybody is your target audience, not everybody's your target client. Yeah, that that's a great point, Charlie. Life, leadership, and success. It's an amazing book, people. Practical leadership, philosophy, it's just wrapped in life principles. How can they buy the book? And where can they buy it?
SPEAKER_04More importantly, well, it is currently um Amazon best seller on Amazon. That's the that's the best way to get it, but it's also in other bookstores now as well. Um, but I recommend Amazon because there's also an audio version, so it's a great book to listen to as you're driving to work sometimes. And uh, you know, the best thing that I like about my book, it's it's one, it's from the heart. And it's it's not based on really much that I read, it's based on my life experiences. You know, I I talk about learning from my mom, I talk about learning from my wife, I talk about learning from my children and what they've taught me. So it's it's from the heart, and simple things I talk about, you know, is to me can lead to a life on experience in leadership.
SPEAKER_01You said it best. I mean, I I love it because it wasn't that cookie-cutter, it it didn't read like all the others. I mean, John Maxwell, the the the 40 books, all he does is rearrange the chapter, still the same stories, you know. You read one, congratulations. You you and all the other ones are just you know the this has heart and soul because this comes from you, it's practical and yeah, real life experience. What what's not the love about that? Now, Charlie, how do people find you? Can they they hire you? Do you do consulting on with leaders one-on-one or group sessions?
SPEAKER_04I'd love, I really have started a strong desire on my website to get you know to do some coaching sessions, talk about how they can how they can turn themselves around, how they can better themselves or how they can market themselves. Uh you they I can be reached on LinkedIn. Uh LinkedIn sometimes gets to be a popularity contest sometimes, but there's some good people on there as well. But uh, you know, I also like I said, I aspire to do some public speaking, and I'd love to speak in front of uh large corporate a bunch of leaders together in a room. And uh, you know, because I can speak from the heart, you know, leadership is so much goes into it, you know, the confidence, you have to be resilient, you have to be um strong, you have to be, you know, you have to be creative with some of your ideas, and uh you have to have integrity. I mean, there's so much that goes into it. You have to be a good listener. I'm not perfect at all of those, but I've watched so many different people. I've enjoyed learning from watching others, and I've kind of developed my own style.
SPEAKER_01So you have your own style, and the the one thing that separates you from other people is you're not trying to be someone else, you're just trying to be Charlie Newcombe, and you're trying to be the very best version of Charlie Newcombe, and not a carbon copy of a guru or someone else that's a leader expert. Yep, for sure. Brother, the only thing I my words of wisdom, and you are you're very engaging, uh very personable. Uh you're in New Hampshire, so speak at some events, free events, go to your Kiwanas Club, Rotary, speak, take pictures, have someone shoot a little bit of video, create reels and send them to organizations. You see, there you go. Alrighty, Charlie Newcombe. Love you for being on my show, for taking time out. You took family time away because you have a passion for leadership. You want people to be great leaders, you don't want people just to be bosses, you want to inspire a world full of leaders. Thank you. I want you to have an amazing rest of your night. Have a great rest of your weekend, brother. Thank you for being on the show, man.
SPEAKER_04Yes, Omar. Thank you for having me, and it's been a pleasure to meet you.