How to Get What You Want

Creating space with Todd Porch

• Susie Tomenchok • Episode 58

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Ever wondered how the art of negotiation can propel your career to new heights? Grab a seat as we engage in an enlightening conversation with Todd Porch, president of Strategus, and learn how he harnessed negotiation skills to transform his professional journey. From pleasing people to learning from failures, Todd shares his leadership lessons, offering valuable insights into the art of giving and receiving feedback as well as the dynamics of leadership transitions.

In today's episode, we also touch on the importance of self-awareness, the courage to admit mistakes, and the potential consequences of executives operating below their roles. This is an absolute must-listen for anyone looking to level up their leadership game and excel in their careers.

Connect with Todd:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-a-porch-b25aa/

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📖 Continue Your Professional Growth with These Resources:
Get my Book: The Art of Everyday Negotiation without Manipulation:
www.susietomenchok.com/the-art-of-everyday-negotiation

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www.susietomenchok.com/services

_____________________

Remember, negotiation is more than a skill—it’s a mindset.
💕Susie
www.linkedin.com/in/susietomenchok


Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Leaders with Leverage Podcast. I'm your host and negotiation expert, Suzy Tomonczuk. It's time to be your own advocate and negotiate for what you really want out of your career, Not simply the next role or additional compensation. I want to show you that negotiation happens each and every day so that you opt in and say yes with confidence. Together with other business leaders, you'll learn the essential skills you, as a leader, needs to become that advocate In growing your professional skills, to increase confidence, gain respect and become the future leader you're poised to be. When you face a high-stakes situation, you're ready, no matter how high those stakes are. Let's do this. Let's lead with leverage. Welcome to Leaders with Leverage. I'm Suzy and I'm super excited today because I have a. I have to say it really to your friend. People are going to be like Suzy, of the best friends. I'm going to be like yes, I totally do.

Speaker 1:

I'm here with Todd Porch. I'll tell you really quick before I let him go. He's currently the president of Strategist. Throughout his career he has done some amazing things working at Yahoo with Mark Cuban. I want to hear a story there. I was an executive with Comcast in a few different roles and just has had this really impressive resume of leadership positions. In fact, Overseas, which I want you to tell us about. Overseas, a leadership executive program that has had such success. Welcome, Todd Porch, I'm so glad you're here.

Speaker 2:

I appreciate it. I'm humbled to be invited to have a conversation with you in this forum. I mean it's fun because we've sat at many a coffee table over the years and shared meaningful stuff that I think has shaped and guided all of our interactions in the different costumes that we've worn. But thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. It's fun to be here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the costumes. Yeah, we have some really great conversations and that's why I was super excited to let's just have one of those. This is just two friends talking about their lives and leadership, but I'd love for you to tell me about your journey, maybe highlight some inflection points for you that, as you grew as a leader, what were some of those influences to get you where you are today?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, as I've grown as a leader, I've always put a ton of stock in folks that have gone before me and served as mentors, an encouragement and challengers to me. I've tried to surround myself with people that encourage but also drive me to do things that I probably would be afraid to or venture out to do on my own. There's a handful of those folks in my life Some family, some friends, some business folks. I would tell you, I've been fortunate enough to have a lot of those folks in my life that aren't afraid to call me on my BS, if you will. They speak the truth in love and they speak the truth in challenge.

Speaker 2:

To me I think that goes all the way back to high school. I mean coaches that I looked up to, that pushed me to do things that I didn't think I could do. College. It was fraternity brothers that were way smarter than I was and challenged me to dig deep, academically or experience-wise, in my career. There have been bosses and peers and over the last, probably the last, what I consider one of the phases that I'm in the midst of right now is, you know, educational, academically.

Speaker 2:

There are people pretty involved at the University of Denver, the Daniels College, and you know there's a handful of folks there that kind of make me sharpen my sword every time I walk in that place because I'm just afraid I'm going to say something stupid. So you know, and they've given me a platform to teach a couple of classes there. And you mentioned the Leadership Academy. You know that's a passion that I have that I feel, you know, completely inadequate doing, and we do it once a year and have for the last 10 years, and I do that with a professor, a partner, who has been an executive and enterprise executive for, you know, a big Fortune 25 brand, and you know, blocking arms with that guy and allowing him to rub off on me over the last 10 years has been a gift as well. So you know, those mentors and friends and peers, that if I boiled it down I would say speak the truth to me and challenge the fire out of what I do every time I put my feet on the floor in the morning. So Wow.

Speaker 1:

So it really to you all. Through your career, you surrounded yourself with the right people. Because I was going to ask you how did you make the shifts, like, how did you decide to move from one big job that you were having success at to the next and how did that come up? People often are like did you have a forecast? How was that for you?

Speaker 2:

No, you know, for lack of a better way to describe it I tried, yeah, I think, early on in my career. I mean, look, I started my career in telecom. You know selling and you know I learned the art of the sale, of building relationships, and you know getting to know kind of truly what issues business owners had and how could I use what was in my toolbox to, you know, be a multiplier for them and solve their problems. And I learned the value of that moved from, you know, I moved from from sales into customer retention, because I maintained those relationships and, you know, knew that if I could continue to add value there would be opportunities to sell more. So, really, you know, I'd love to say it was really strategic and I had this master plan and this roadmap that just checked the boxes and you know, every day I took a step forward.

Speaker 2:

I think it was, you know, more realistically it was, you know I failed enough to where I learned what worked and what didn't, and then I continued to try to move to what worked and at the end of the day, you know, I'm a relational person. So you know, pleasing people, especially that you work with or for or on behalf of, is a big piece of that. I would say that's really really smart. But it's really really risky too, because if you fall into the trap of only, you know, trying to please people, you know there are other repercussions that might not be as positive. But I've been able to keep that, you know, pretty good balance of that. So, look, I've always tried to look at where businesses need to go and be really authentic about how I could add value realistic, practical value and, frankly, those moving in those directions in my career have always afforded opportunities that have come about. So it wasn't necessarily I had this grand, grand vision, this grand day of vision where I was like, okay, hey, if I do this, this and this, then I'm gonna, it's gonna net. In that it's been more. I just, you know, kind of flip the right rocks over in the midst of, and then been good enough at sales to, you know, convince somebody that they should hire me to do. You know what I would want to do. So I've always, you know, I've never been in a job that I didn't like and I've always, you know, kind of moved forward in roles because I moved towards things that were interesting to me or that I was passionate about. And then I get to overlay relationships and you know results along the way. So Moving from a sales role into a retention role was great.

Speaker 2:

I tend to gravitate towards more operational things. I love to put stuff together, I love to optimize stuff and make it work more efficiently, because when you do that you tend to get more investment, and more investment creates freedom to do cool and fun stuff. That was my time at Sprint. I take a ton of in this day and age to say I've worked for four companies. It is pretty odd because of our culture moving quickly. I think if you look at my history at about seven and a half or eight years is when I start to itch and need something new or a new jersey to wear. I was at Sprint for nine years. I was at Yahoo for 14. I was at Comcast for about nine. I've been in my current role for the last couple man am I knee deep and having a ton of fun but have a lot more to do.

Speaker 1:

When I look at that resume and I look at the steps you took, they seem like really big steps. Your feet didn't quite fit in the footprints, if you will. People often say to me but I don't feel like I have enough experience to take that next step. When I listen to you, I hear a lot of confidence. But talk me through. How do you get yourself, your mindset right to go? I have enough to fill this Talk to me, whether it's personally or professionally.

Speaker 2:

I think I get this is a little bit of a secret to my agency. I literally audibly every morning look myself in the mirror and say don't screw this up.

Speaker 1:

Really.

Speaker 2:

Don't screw this up. Today I've done that probably for the last oh gosh, I don't know 23 years. It goes back to exactly what you're talking about. I've been fortunate enough where people have believed in what they thought I could do to be put in roles that I probably should never have been put in. I remember walking into so when I was at Sprint. I started at Sprint in Denver and moved to Chicago to prove out a business concept that the company had the proving out worked and ended up in Louisville, kentucky. We were hiring 300 folks to build this division. I remember thinking, oh, I hope they don't figure out who they've gotten in charge of this deal. They would fold it up tomorrow and leave or take it away. That's literally when I started to say boy, I hope I don't screw this up.

Speaker 2:

When you enter into that mindset, I think it makes you mind your mouth and really ensure that you're actually thinking about what you're about to say before you say it. I have that horrible problem of sometimes my mouth runs at 100 miles an hour and my brain has to catch up. I'd said discipline that I've got to be really, really conscious of to make sure that I'm listening and not planning on what I'm about to say, but that I give a level of thought to that. Look, the bottom line is, throughout my entire career your words, not mine I've had to put on shoes that I didn't feel adequate to put on. So I've had to put on shoes that I didn't feel adequate to put on. It's it's an exercise in discipline, of really making sure that I'm doing my homework and doing the stuff that I need to do to think about Before I, you know, believe I've got the opinion that should prevail. Shoot Susie, I mean, there's. There isn't a day today, you know, in my current role as the president of strategist, that I feel adequate filling those shoes.

Speaker 2:

You know the demons. There definitely is a. You know, there's the Stable of folks that I talked about earlier, that are my encouragers and folks that speak the truth to me and they sit on one side, and then there's, you know, the you know the devil on the other side that tells me that I'm not adequate and that I don't have the experience to sit in the chair that I sit, and that you know I. You know that I'm liable to screw something up if I, you know, and so it makes you, paralyzes you.

Speaker 2:

So you know there's a there's a bit of balance that you've got to enter every day with and you know you really have to ensure that. I really have to ensure that I've got the right people kind of behind me that are, you know, giving me that truth that allows me to lead and lead effectively and efficiently and productively. That's, you know, kind of, at the end of the day today, you know that's really what I. What fills my bucket is if I feel like I led folks, you know, individuals and organizations and teams and initiatives, if I, if I, if I have the ability to lead. You know, and and leading isn't necessarily standing up on the box and pointing in given direction, it's listening and providing a perspective and asking really good questions that I feel like I've been successful.

Speaker 1:

Yeah it, you use you. I would love to get in your head a little bit around. When, when does that imposter syndrome come up? Like? Can you think of, even like speaking in front of the group, and Maybe some thoughts that you had, or you know why didn't they ask me about that or tell me a little bit?

Speaker 2:

So I mean this week in particular, an opportunity you mentioned earlier that I that I was, I Founded a leadership program here in Denver that that I've had the blessing to be able to be a part of over the last 10 years. We kicked off the ninth cohort of that program on Monday, tuesday and Wednesday of this week. So 26 participants, all kind of executive you know newly minted executives. So these people are hungry and excited and they've been successful. They got a strong track record. All you know that represent different disciplines. There's engineers and finance folks and HR people and sales folks and operators, and you know we put them all into the same room and we have the. We have the opportunity to kind of this first couple of days of this program is all about level setting and getting, you know, kind of shedding egos and, you know, building a foundation that we're gonna build on for the next nine months. We'll get to spend a day a month with with these folks and you know I literally had this out-of-body experience on Monday morning when I stood up in front and kind of explain the story of the leadership Academy and you know I rose up above and was kind of watching myself going dude, who in the world. Do you think you are to think that these people have any interest in what you have to say? And we know that this is a successful program one. Nothing lasts for ten years if it doesn't have meaningful impact. And so you know the, the metrics, the success metrics and how we measure. You know whether or not you know it's, what we've, what we invest in, is meaningful over this nine-month period. We know that it is. I mean, people have looked back as they walk across the proverb proverbial graduation stage and say this is the best Development program I've been involved in in my entire career. And these people have been around Companies for 10, 15, 20 years, so there's not a shortage of experiences there. So we know it's meaningful and we know it works and we know it makes an impact and it changes how people lead.

Speaker 2:

But man, you know that little guy on the right side was like do you have no business Landing up in front of these people and expressing your opinions, for goodness sakes? You know or maybe you should tell him about the 37 times you failed, not the three times you were successful, but you know. So it manifests itself in you know, in you know really monumental times for me. But then you know it can be driving the car or sitting on a conference call With my leadership team and somebody asked for feedback, but they don't ask for mine. First it's like, oh well, obviously they don't care about your opinion or others are more important.

Speaker 2:

I sit around the leadership table with my team, my leadership team, every Wednesday and I mean I've had to learn in my current role that it's not. You know, my role isn't always to talk. It's a lot of times to listen and, frankly, encourage through the nonverbals. And so you know it's a man. This is all a lesson or a case study and growth in careers and learning how to move between passages. You know, I guess it's a there's an HBS professor named Ram Sheran who wrote a book called the Leadership Pipeline.

Speaker 2:

It talks about these passages of leadership, from individual contributor all the way up to, you know, organizational owner or shareholder. And you know, if you don't move between those passages effectively, you end up operating levels below what the role you're in dictates them and that has downstream effects for everybody on your field. So you know, it's certainly an exercise in trying to trying to do the right thing and being vulnerable enough to say when you don't do the right thing. Hey, I was wrong, yeah, you know, and that you know that those, I think those times are even more monumental than the times that you're right.

Speaker 1:

Hey there, love this podcast. I'm taking 10 seconds out of this episode to ask you to leave an honest review. More reviews on the show help us to reach more professionals who are ready to lead with leverage. Now let's continue the conversation. I'm pulling from this, too, is is as leaders disrupting our habits or the way we jump in?

Speaker 1:

I was I was working with an executive recently and I just was observing that he is the one that jumps up to the whiteboard or he's the one that answers the question first, and he's not teaching, he's not delegating, he's not creating silence so that the other people will take the lead, and so sometimes we don't even see some opportunities. And that's what I'm hearing you say.

Speaker 2:

Well, you know, look in roles that we've served in, you know, in previous parts of our career. You get comfortable and you perform and because of that you're elevated. But your DNA, what's natural, is to revert back to what made you successful in the previous role or two, and if you do that again, I think you're cheating the folks that work, you know, in those current roles, because then they're, then they don't have space to operate, they don't have space to lead, they don't have space to impact, and so it has this, you know, ugly downstream effect and cripples organizations. Frankly, I think you know, I would.

Speaker 2:

You know in a, in a, from a macro perspective, I would say that I think that's a big problem in corporate America today is that you know we've got it. We've got executives that are operating two or three levels but beneath where they should be, and that hinders, hinders the ability for, you know, macro level growth. So you know, when we teach, when we have the opportunity to teach and to influence, you know that's one of the big things I talk to. I talk about this concept with my team all the time because it's got to become kind of just general nature that they're thinking about. In my current role in my position, am I doing the thing, am I spending the time today that allows me to operate in the right space for the company? And that's that's really, really vital, I think, to them getting what they need to, but also their people having the space to operate.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh, the two things you just said that were brilliant were making space for others and making space for yourself to show up differently. And it makes me think about now. Now you're in a position where the buck stops with you, so how has that shift from being an executive within an organization People don't think about? What is that difference? Tell us. Not everybody's going to be the president of a company. I'm not, so do you tell me?

Speaker 2:

So look, I mean, here's a, here's a prime example and it's a bit counterintuitive, I think. You know I keep talking about, you know, this era today and our corporate culture where it, where it stands in you know, kind of the current space. I think we're over stimulated by the information that is available at, you know, at any given time during the day. I think we're overtaxed with all of the different technology that we have to maintain, you know, a pulse on and keep up with. I think we spend way too much time checking boxes and moving between tactics and transactions versus, you know, strategy and meaningfulness.

Speaker 2:

I sat with my leadership team this morning.

Speaker 2:

We meet, we meet every Monday morning as a leadership team and as a whole company and we meet every Friday morning to kind of wrap up the week as a leadership team and as a whole company.

Speaker 2:

I meet with my leadership team first and we kind of walk through and here's what we did, here's, you know, here were our successes and failures of the day or of the week, and then we transition into an all company meeting where everybody on the company is there and we celebrate and recognize and, you know, we talk about what we're going to do next week and what's on the books, and you know there's finance folks on those calls and sales folks, and you know different disciplines are represented On my leadership team meeting this morning.

Speaker 2:

I encouraged my guys to do, and gals to do, something different next week, and that was I wanted them to turn off their computer, get out of where they currently work, whether it's remotely or in the office, and I asked them to walk around a park or sit on a park bench or go to a Starbucks that they don't know everybody at and think for two hours and, I think, taking time to think about business, their business, their team, the individuals, their customers. And I asked them next Friday for the leadership meeting to come back with a story about what they thought about and how that manifested itself in, you know, in exchange for their team or for our customers. And I'm, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm fired up about kind of hearing what comes out of that, because I don't think we spend enough time thinking. I think we do a lot.

Speaker 2:

I think we, you know there is no shortage of emails, voicemails. You know Slack messages, teams messages. You know Zoom calls that we fill the back to back to back. I mean I hate back to back. I hate when people say I got back to back meetings because to me that says okay, you don't have control over your schedule, your, your schedule is controlling you. If we make space for that thinking, I think that will. That changes the dynamic. You know, whether you manage three people or 300 or 3000.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that is so good. That is something that I am going to I have to post about, but I hope that people are listening. What a great exercise, even just to do it for themselves.

Speaker 2:

Two hours to think. Do it one time and I bet you you carve out time every week. Yes, my encouragement to you know the people that we were, you know that we've encouraged to do this. They just come back with stories about meaningful things that happen on the backside of that and it becomes a discipline. I'm not much of a journaler, but that you know. Just reflection time, I think, really pours fuel on the ability to lead, and lead in a differentiated way.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that was so good, so good. Well, one thing that I want to do that I always have to do, and you won't be surprised is talk about negotiation. And since you are, you come from sales routes. You think about leverage and framing and silence and anchoring your baton. I'd love for you to tell me how, what are, what's your favorite strategy and how do you incorporate it into your leadership.

Speaker 2:

The age old baton Love that, love it. My strategy in negotiation and you write about this, you know, in your, in your book, and you know we've had a lot of conversations I'm a talker and it takes a lot for me to keep my mouth shut or not express my opinion, and I feel like, from a negotiation perspective, the less I talk the better. You know you can gain so much ground with letting other people talk and you know, allowing the awkward silence to you know create a forcing mechanism that exposes positions, that exposes maybe weaknesses or cracks, and you know another person's perspective or position. So, yeah, I would say, susie, that that is a. You know I try to exercise that just as much as I can Is it to allow that silence to occur? And if you know, if I do that appropriately, I tend to learn a lot more because folks want to fill that silence with, you know, things that I can then use to my advantage.

Speaker 1:

I love it In exchange. And I just want to put a exclamation mark too. There's a difference between uncomfortable silence and awkward silence, like let it linger, and that's where it gets interesting.

Speaker 2:

Well, you know, and you know, a lot of times people think about negotiation and business deals, but there's also negotiation and coaching of leaders, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely yeah, and oftentimes that silence will allow me or my leaders to solve the problem or remove the obstacle that we were talking about in the first place. So you allow them that space to solve their own problem and I'm a big believer that you know people if they people that put their fingerprints on whatever the solution is, versus just being told how to solve it. Yeah, oftentimes actually solve it, yeah, yeah, it's good stuff.

Speaker 1:

It is good stuff and it's funny. Sometimes just in a one-on-one with an executive, and I don't really feel like I brought my full self If I just ask a few questions. They're the ones that come with the brilliance and they're like oh my gosh, you're amazing and I'm like I didn't do anything.

Speaker 2:

Sat here and listened, yes, and encourage you and probe you the space.

Speaker 1:

It goes back to the space. All silence is is giving people space to think through. That's so good.

Speaker 2:

I just noticed that my dog, george, is in the background.

Speaker 1:

I know. So people have to watch this on YouTube so they can meet George and Charlie's right here. So we're there in good company, but I've tripped over Charlie a couple of times.

Speaker 2:

Well, todd. Thank you, george.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, George, for joining us. Todd, thank you so much. I feel like the time just flew by. How should people, can people reach out to you on LinkedIn?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. Todd Porch is my name. I work for a company called Strategists. I work with an awesome group of people that make me better every day, happy for folks to reach out. Look, I'm humbled to be a part of your program and I love the work that you're doing. It is a multiplier, so thanks for what you do and how you do it.

Speaker 1:

Oh, thank you. Thank you. Well, make Todd your friend too, so reach out to him. Thanks for joining us. Feel free to drop either of us a note and follow both of us, and again, this has been Leaders with Leverage, and both Todd and I appreciate you.

Speaker 1:

Thank you all. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Leaders with Leverage. If you're ready to continue your professional growth, commit to accelerating your career development and say goodbye to that anxious feeling in your stomach anytime you need to advocate for yourself, then get my book the Art of Everyday Negotiation Without Manipulation. In this book you'll learn the essential steps to take before entering into any negotiation or conversation, any interaction. In your day to day. You'll discover what the other party really needs and be clear about what you're going after. You'll bust through your fears and boost your confidence and embrace that negotiation truly happens all around us. Click to the link in the show notes for more, and you can even get a bonus if you buy it today.

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Susie Tomenchok

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