The Scalability Code

Chris “The Cleaner” Davenport: From Fixing Laptops to EOS Implementer

• Matt Haney • Season 1 • Episode 9

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In this episode of The Scalability Code, Chris Davenport joins host Matt Haney for a discussion around how Chris went from entrepreneurship to EOS implementer. 

In this episode, host Matt Haney is joined by Chris Davenport, an IT professional who built a successful business and later transitioned into an EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) implementer. Discover the challenges he faced and the strategies he used to pivot his career while helping other businesses thrive.

00:00 Welcome
09:05 Chris’ First Exposure to EOS
15:28 Kinds of Companies Chris Helps
19:40 Experience with AI
24:46 Lawyers are Notorious for Rescheduling
28:18 Hardest Part About Managing People
33:00 Hobbies Outside of Work

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chd2/

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Welcome to The Scalability Code, the podcast that helps you get out of the sh*t show and start growing your business. A few times each month, you'll hear stories and commentary from visionary entrepreneurs, EOS implementers, and fractional COOs about how they've taken businesses to Level 10. And now for your host, Matt Haney.

Matt Haney:

Thanks for joining us today on the Scalability Code. I'm your host, Matt Haney here with Chris Davenport, another Texan from the great state of Texas to, uh, report to you guys about some great things we're working on in our day. So Chris, welcome to the Scalability code. Thanks for taking out some time to join us.

Chris Davenport:

Hey Matt. Thanks for having me today.

Matt Haney:

Awesome. Well, like I always do, I like to jump in and we do talk a little bit of EOS. We talk a little bit of life. We talk a little bit of challenge and we talk a bit of fun. So, uh, why don't you set this up and let us, let us, uh, know about yourself and a little bit of your backstory and, and we will jump into some questions and see where the road takes us.

Chris Davenport:

Sure. So I started my journey really professionally. Uh. You know, when I, when I started off as a freshman in college and I was going pre-med, I dreamed of being an anesthesiologist and I got a laptop for my graduation gift, and I immediately fell in love with technology. It was 1995 right there when. OL and all the internet things were starting to happen, you know, time. And before my first class, I changed my major, changed my degree plan, uh, went computer science and I just never looked back. And then something really strange happened. I a connection with some people that needed some. It help. And didn't really know what to do. They were struggling with viruses and their whole sales force of 64 people were down because of a

Matt Haney:

Wow.

Chris Davenport:

It was costing them money.

Matt Haney:

Literally.

Chris Davenport:

And, uh, my dad at the time worked for this company and he brought these computers home to take somewhere else to repair and they couldn't repair'em. And I said, well, let me take a look at one. And so I looked at one and I figured out quickly how to fix it.

Matt Haney:

With no experience. You were just curious.

Chris Davenport:

It was just, I was curious. I

Matt Haney:

I love it.

Chris Davenport:

excited about, I've always been a problem solver. And so it was, that was the root of what was driving me. I was like, man, I wanna solve this issue. So I just, I didn't sleep till I figured it out. uh, you know, I think he brought home that day, like 20 laptops. And

Matt Haney:

And you're thinking, how am I gonna get through all these? Oh,

Chris Davenport:

yes. Well, when I figured out one, it was like a five minute fix.

Matt Haney:

ah.

Chris Davenport:

thing. It was like nothing. And, and, uh, a few hours to, you know, and then there was the joy in seeing them all fixed. And at this point, I wasn't making any money off of

Matt Haney:

right,

Chris Davenport:

just the thrill of solving the problem, figuring it out, the Rubik's

Matt Haney:

right.

Chris Davenport:

And so he took him

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

and, uh, the CEO said, Hey, uh, tell him to come in tomorrow. Right now, like yesterday.

Matt Haney:

Um,

Chris Davenport:

he calls me and said, Hey, and I'm up at school and, uh, an hour away. And he said, Hey, uh, CEO Tom Glazer wants you to come in and look at these computers. And I was like, okay. Uh,

Matt Haney:

there's that.

Chris Davenport:

I, I went in and he said, can you fix these other 40? Uh,'cause my salespeople are down and they sold food to restaurants and things, a large food distributor. And, uh. I said, sure. So I fixed him and he said, Hey, why don't you come to work for us and come on staff. So that's, that was my first client.

Matt Haney:

That's so awesome. And, and you, you stayed predominantly on hardware or did you eventually kind of run into the managed services provider world where you were doing all sorts of different offerings for these folks?

Chris Davenport:

that's exactly where I ended up. So it started as break fix as we call it in

Matt Haney:

Love it. Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

and, uh, transitioned all through word of mouth and, you know, picked up client after client. And referrals are the best gift anyone can give,

Matt Haney:

Absolutely, especially in that space because people that do well get tons of referrals. People that don't we, you don't do well. You're not getting a lot of phone calls because people talk about their managed service provider or

Chris Davenport:

Exactly.

Matt Haney:

around the happy hour.

Chris Davenport:

Yes. So, you know, I still went to college and fast forward, you know, I was working 80 hour weeks and taking classes. It was kind of insane. I didn't sleep much. while my friends were partying, I was working and I, I, but I was having fun. I,

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

it. And, you know, fast forward about, you know, seven, eight years, I started competitors in the space that couldn't, you know, their people would get stuck on a problem. It'd be a Windows server

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

and their system's down, and I'd come in and spend two or three, four hours and I'd have it figured out and get everything going again. So one of my competitors nicknamed me The Wolf for the Cleaner, you know, from Pulp

Matt Haney:

Yeah, sure.

Chris Davenport:

and I was like, I'll take it. You know, so I, they'd call me in to clean up and I got some notoriety around town here in San Antonio. Of being the cleaner and I just go in and help other IT companies clean up messes, you know,

Matt Haney:

And did you stay on your own or were you able to build a team or sort of what was your, what was your goal there? Or, or maybe what did, what was the goal and where did it end up? Or two, normally, two different things,

Chris Davenport:

yes, and at this point I stayed on my own, but there's only so many hours in the day.

Matt Haney:

right?

Chris Davenport:

So around that same, you know. Another three years. So around 2006 or so, I, I hired my first employee and, you know, officially started a company and, and started growing and then grew it to about five or six employees, uh, till around 2011. Then I merged with, uh, I met an incredible friend, mark Elliot's, his name. He was in the copier business. So him and I merged to form a company together, uh, named three I International.

Matt Haney:

Okay, and you guys had two good recurring revenue businesses, management and maintenance of copiers and MSP work. You got some stickiness right there. Those businesses could not operate without you, either of you, in those times.

Chris Davenport:

You fingered me right there.

Matt Haney:

Yep.

Chris Davenport:

that, you know, you, you caught us. So that's what we were after. That, that a RR. And, uh, the stickiness. And so we used the copiers to get in the IT and vice versa.

Matt Haney:

Love it. Love it.

Chris Davenport:

so we grew that company to about, uh, 35 employees and um,

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

million in revenue. And then we, you know, sold it in 2003. We sold it in parts. So copier piece we sold to, uh, Dex Imaging and the IT side we sold to the 20 up in Plano.

Matt Haney:

Yeah. And when were they rolling up MSPs at that point? Was that sort of, I mean, it's still a very popular, you know, private equity business model because of what we mentioned earlier, the stickiness of the revenue. Um, I. But man, what a tough business to scale at times.'cause it's all people, right? It's all people.

Chris Davenport:

oh, it is on both sides. You know, you're, you know, people think, oh, it's a tech company. No, you're, it's a people company.

Matt Haney:

Absolutely.

Chris Davenport:

people. And as soon as you realize that. You start to get traction, you know, and, uh, but it's fun. Yeah. The twenties still rolling up. Uh, I, I helped them implement EOS

Matt Haney:

That's great. Uh, during the moment or after the fact.

Chris Davenport:

do, uh, uh, before, so before we sold to them, you know, implemented, EOS went and worked as their COO for a while just to help them out

Matt Haney:

Right.

Chris Davenport:

the right fit. And so then I went back to running three I and um. Then we ended up selling to them.'cause we built a relationship over time and just really liked him, the owner, and it just, it seemed like the perfect fit.

Matt Haney:

That's awesome. That's really, really, really cool. And, uh, what a, what a great story of, of taking it from. One place to the next and understanding what the, what the needs are and, and making sure that, um, you're helping folks out along the way. Yeah. I, I also have, I have a background in service-based businesses and I've lived through a couple mergers and acquisitions and, and kind of often joke that. The only businesses I've ever started are the hard ones because I never have had these recurring revenue opportunities. I've been so transaction based in my whole business career that it's like, man, kind of wish there was a, a business that had, uh, some sticky recurring revenue. Well, tell me, how did you get, how'd you get to EOS? Like, what was your entry point into the business or into e os as an implementer?

Chris Davenport:

I shared with you all the, the fun parts, right? So there were some, there were some moments that were tough and ran into, in, at three I, we ran into some issues where. We had a CFO that, uh, was embezzling money

Matt Haney:

Mm.

Chris Davenport:

and we, and we found out after, and it was all cleaned up and he paid it back and everything. So that ended well. But some maturity lessons there. Right.

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

trusting a little too much and, and then, uh, and thank, thank God that, uh, I could trust my partner

Matt Haney:

Right.

Chris Davenport:

me. I mean, we're still. Talk every week. And um, and then we had, uh, you know, just some growing pains. We got tangled up in a million dollar lawsuit, um, million plus dollar lawsuit by a large company that ended up filing bankruptcy. And so we, it still cost us over a million

Matt Haney:

Yeah, well, not to mention the blood, sweat and tears that go along with litigation and, and even if you're innocent, you still have to prove that, and that's expensive and it's, and big business has a lot more money to throw around at small business and intimidate and all the things. It's tough. I've, I've, I've been there both with a client and, and personally as well.

Chris Davenport:

So that, so yes. And it, it is tough. You're right. And where we found DOS. It was just it. It had us at each other's throats and the business, I don't wanna say it wasn't in trouble, but it was definitely on the rocks to some extent. And we had immense growth, all of that happen. And that was our largest client. So we lost our largest

Matt Haney:

Mm-hmm.

Chris Davenport:

were suing us and every other vendor they had.

Matt Haney:

Right.

Chris Davenport:

so it all went away, but it cost us a million and. And legal fees. And to become an expert at, in being deposed, which

Matt Haney:

Oh

Chris Davenport:

I'm thankful for that actually,

Matt Haney:

yeah.

Chris Davenport:

And so we found EOS to get, to really get traction on what levers do we need to, you know, to pull and push in the business. Where do we need protections and safeguards? Where do we need processes? Because at this point it was, we had hired people that were evangelical about us.

Matt Haney:

Right.

Chris Davenport:

evangelical about what we were doing. And then you scale out of that at some point. It's hard to find those people and then you're just hiring people that need a di need direction, and we didn't have that.

Matt Haney:

Yeah. So how did you, who introduced you to it? How'd you find it? Sort of, what was that process like? And I.

Chris Davenport:

M Mark was in eo. We were

Matt Haney:

Okay.

Chris Davenport:

but uh, cha EO chapter. You know, typically when you're partners, you're in separate or groups.

Matt Haney:

Yes, I'm familiar

Chris Davenport:

group and, uh, he was introduced to eo s there, and then, so we, you know, uh, hired Kurt Heimer as our Integr, integr, or implementer, excellent human being

Matt Haney:

outta Houston or is she in Austin?

Chris Davenport:

He's Houston

Matt Haney:

Houston.

Chris Davenport:

uh, he does some work in Utah,

Matt Haney:

Okay.

Chris Davenport:

he, people call him the, the EOS, uh, guru. So he, he's, he's been in it 10 years.

Matt Haney:

that's great.

Chris Davenport:

Yes. So he, he, uh, implemented and then he ultimately encouraged me to become an

Matt Haney:

Well shout out to Kurt. We need to have him on here and hear his stories. We gotta make sure you get him on here.

Chris Davenport:

yes. His story is incredible.

Matt Haney:

That's awesome. That's awesome. So you met him through referral, EO referral. And any idea how long ago that was? Like when did you guys originally get spun up?

Chris Davenport:

2015,

Matt Haney:

Oh wow. Decade ago.

Chris Davenport:

Yep.

Matt Haney:

That's awesome.

Chris Davenport:

We were one of his first 10 clients, I

Matt Haney:

Ah, it's so cool.

Chris Davenport:

So

Matt Haney:

That's rad. And um, so fast forward 10 years later or so, actually, I don't know how long. Tell us about your implementer journey and sort of where that got started.

Chris Davenport:

So I once, once I knew that we were planning on selling, you know, mark had moved to the Dallas area and, uh, so it was just, it was time to make a move to, to sell. It

Matt Haney:

Mm-hmm.

Chris Davenport:

uh, we decided to sell because the space was getting. You know, there's some litigious things going on with the lines are drawn with cybersecurity. we just, we saw the roll-ups happening and we knew Tim, uh, the owner of the 20 very well and thought, you know, that it was probably a good time to start posturing to, to make a sale. And then all that was really left was to negotiate the sale of the, know, the copier side. So. The copier sale took over a year, the 20, I think, because Tim and I and Mark knew each other so well. It took like three months and we were done. It

Matt Haney:

Wow, that's pretty awesome. You guys worked through a lot of those details early on and and eliminated some of the nonsense that comes in negotiations.

Chris Davenport:

There was that level of trust that was already there with

Matt Haney:

Right?

Chris Davenport:

and I think rep, he, he was trusting what we were showing him, and it just made it. You know, and still to this day, we didn't have any issues.

Matt Haney:

That's awesome. I.

Chris Davenport:

so that just made it. And then, so I was, started planning my trajectory to ramp up my practice during those times. Um, you know, started getting, getting clients on the EOS side. And actually my first session room conference room was the conference room of. Three I International,

Matt Haney:

That's awesome.

Chris Davenport:

awesome. It was just right there. And we just put a sign on the door and let the, the employees know, Hey, meeting, you know, we'd tell'em ahead of time.

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

so it was, it was pretty cool to do both at the same time and watch one kind of wind down and the other one pick up.

Matt Haney:

And what, how long ago was that? So how long have you been doing full-time implementation?

Chris Davenport:

20, really? I started full-time in 2023.

Matt Haney:

Okay.

Chris Davenport:

so, but I started that process in like 22.

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

doing both at the same time,

Matt Haney:

Love it, love it, love it. Well that's fantastic. And, and tell me a little bit about some of the clients or do you see, you know, I guess I always say gimme, gimme the smallest and the biggest. No, you don't have to share numbers obviously, but, but an example of their companies and, and then, you know, uh, industries that because, and part of my goal here is to show the diversity of the platform and not the fact that it's a shoe. You know, shoe fits only one size model.

Chris Davenport:

Yes. So, and that's, that's a great way to, to look at it, uh, because it can be fit to these different sizes organizations. So I would say the smallest would be, I have a realtor team. Walter Baring, uh, Sotheby's, he's, he is one of the most successful, realtors here in the Houston area.

Matt Haney:

Love that.

Chris Davenport:

yeah, he, I think Heran, his transactions were over a hundred million last year,

Matt Haney:

Good for him. Those guys are crushing it.

Chris Davenport:

and last year was a down year in the

Matt Haney:

Right? Right.

Chris Davenport:

Um, he's a luxury inside the loop here.

Matt Haney:

Yep.

Chris Davenport:

Memorial. And, they're a team of, they don't, I mean, the, the team is the team, so he's got a team of four people they all help him in various ways. So it's so, you know, if you read traction, they're like the leadership team only. Well, this is really his

Matt Haney:

This is it? Yep.

Chris Davenport:

so you've got a marketing person, you've got an and someone that's the integrator. You've got someone over, you know, customer experience, he's over sales, and then you have, you know, someone else that's like, you know, that's an assistant that runs anything

Matt Haney:

Yeah, everything, transaction coordination and titles and all the closing, all that stuff.

Chris Davenport:

So you would think it, it face value, like, ugh, I don't know if EOS is a fit, but. These leader, these realty teams are using it. and others, like Laura Sweeney uses it another big name in town and killing it

Matt Haney:

Yeah,

Chris Davenport:

works

Matt Haney:

it does. So there on the smaller side, tell me about some of the bigger companies and and complexities around that that you've seen.

Chris Davenport:

Uh, so one of'em, it would be the 20, the one that we

Matt Haney:

Hmm.

Chris Davenport:

And they're currently, I would guess they're not, this is not, I don't have any inside knowledge, but they've ramped up to about half a billion in revenue

Matt Haney:

Wow. How many different offices do you think they have?

Chris Davenport:

probably 35.

Matt Haney:

all independently operating on EOS, but also as a holding company as well?

Chris Davenport:

Well, they've rolled'em up. So the, so the, the leadership team is in Plano and they're running on EOS principles, and so they've just, they've, you know, a lot of these owners have turned into employees that

Matt Haney:

Right.

Chris Davenport:

stock,

Matt Haney:

Right.

Chris Davenport:

and so all management decisions are done out of. Of, know, the leadership team, so quite well. But their leadership team, even when they graduated was, um, I think there was like eight of them. It was pretty big size

Matt Haney:

That's awesome. Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

you've got, you know, customer experience, you've got hiring, you've got all kinds of stuff going on in there.

Matt Haney:

Yep.

Chris Davenport:

And, um,

Matt Haney:

Yep. And are you still doing sessions with them?

Chris Davenport:

I don't do sessions for them. They've fully graduated

Matt Haney:

it.

Chris Davenport:

Uh, their integrator slash COO is doing their quarterlys and annuals

Matt Haney:

Great.

Chris Davenport:

Um, they, you know, they're, but they're set up for success and they've been running on it since 20 20,

Matt Haney:

That's fantastic. Well, um,

Chris Davenport:

them before EOS went franchise, so I, I did that when I was just base camper as we

Matt Haney:

that's awesome.

matt-haney_2_02-06-2025_192447:

You are listening to the Scalability Code. I'm your host, Matt Haney, founder of Sinclair Ventures, and we help visionary entrepreneurs like you get out of the shit show and focus on growing your business. We offer fractional COO and leadership coaching services that free up that brain of yours to focus on what's next. Learn more about us at SinclairVentures. com. Now back to it.

Matt Haney:

you mentioned, uh, in our, before we caught up, that you also have some interest in AI or companies or tech companies inside ai, and it's one of those things where. I, I feel like I, I don't consider myself an early adopter at all, but I'm, I'm committed to saying the word on a daily and weekly basis in hopes that I continue to learn and gain more knowledge about it so that I can impart that wisdom on companies and also friends and family and whatever. So, give me a little bit of, of your experience with ai. You're obviously a tech driven human based on your background, and tell me what you're seeing out there in AI or a company you've worked with or things you've seen that, you know, business owners could benefit from knowing about.

Chris Davenport:

You know, I'm seeing people use it in different ways and it's fun being in the session room because I have different, I have, you know, I work with tech companies, insurance agencies. But then I also have like a steel building manufacturer,

Matt Haney:

Yep.

Chris Davenport:

uh, there's the, the real estate team, so the, like the real estate team, they're starting to use AI to, to digest these inspection reports

Matt Haney:

Love it. Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

house and instead of reading the 50 page thing with a bunch of junk in

Matt Haney:

Yep.

Chris Davenport:

Hey, tell me what I need to know. And it spits it out in 30 seconds.

Matt Haney:

That's awesome.

Chris Davenport:

And. The insurance agency space, it's being used to set appointments and to, to make dials.

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

have another oil and gas customer that they're using it to set appointments for, to sell shares and oil wells. And so I would say a lot of it right now, you know, you think AI and you think all of this, oh, this critical thinking and

Matt Haney:

Right,

Chris Davenport:

massive problems

Matt Haney:

right.

Chris Davenport:

The way the consumers are using it now is to augment staff where they have, you know, problems finding the right fit, or hiring or managing. You know, you can have an ai, um, LLM, you know, it can do like a thousand dials in an hour, you

Matt Haney:

That's crazy.

Chris Davenport:

I know, it's just nuts.

Matt Haney:

to me.

Chris Davenport:

so you start to think about that and that's humanly impossible. I.

Matt Haney:

Yeah. Literally.

Chris Davenport:

person to do, and, and by the way, you've paid, instead of, you know, a, a$5,000 a month salary or whatever, you're gonna pay the, the person. It's, it's, it's a couple of thousand dollars to do that a month. And

Matt Haney:

Yep.

Chris Davenport:

it, so it's just nuts and,

Matt Haney:

I, I, I find it to be, and I still use it for some of the, the simple things and editing job descriptions and, and synthesizing down large documents to details. And I finally found a good note taking platform that I like, that actually has a desktop application. That might sound silly, but it's a d it's a, it's a differentiator for me is to have this desktop application that I can run in the background while I'm in meetings and not have to toggle between. Browser windows, et cetera. And so I love the, the kind of cheat type of things that are out there for it. But I do, I do hear what you're saying. I think there's a ton of, there's worlds we just don't know about that this is going to unlock. And, and I still, you know, I still know and, and believe wholeheartedly, there's, there's no AI engine that's going to replace the creativity that a human can bring. Um, and the spontaneity and the wisdom. Um, but I do think there's ways that we can certainly embrace it and, and help our clients use it. And, and push them into it. Not, not of course forcefully, but like encourage them to see that there are ways out there that, that if we're open to it, uh, can, can benefit everybody.

Chris Davenport:

I, I agree and I think that. The way I, here's the way I look at AI right now is if you're not using it, you are gonna be left behind. But it's because the person next to you is going to be

Matt Haney:

Right. Right.

Chris Davenport:

and it's, it's not gonna replace you,

Matt Haney:

Sure.

Chris Davenport:

that uses it is going

Matt Haney:

I.

Chris Davenport:

best you in whatever it is that you do.

Matt Haney:

Absolutely.

Chris Davenport:

and that's where I see it going

Matt Haney:

Yep.

Chris Davenport:

Microsoft came out with something a couple of days ago. That was a pretty shocking statement, but I, I, as soon as I read it, I see it happening in my head. They say that AI will replace all software at some point in the future, and I

Matt Haney:

That's a bold statement.

Chris Davenport:

it is, but AI is such a good coder compared to a programmer that I, I could see this happening.

Matt Haney:

That's crazy. Just the ability of like, to try to think about it. Replacing a human that's writing code, very unique specific code for a very unique, specific reason that there's some learning model that can replicate or, or, or duplicate. That is crazy

Chris Davenport:

Well, and Duolingo just laid off all their contractors. I

Matt Haney:

really.

Chris Davenport:

this. Yes. Because AI and LLM is sitting there doing translations

Matt Haney:

That's crazy,

Chris Davenport:

they don't have to hire, you know, I feel kind of sad for the contractors, but. Yeah, they figured it out and the

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

yeah, we're full steam ahead using AI to, to translate and we're, we're done with contractors. It's amazing.

Matt Haney:

That's nuts. Well, you also said you have some experience with law firms. Tell me about that. How'd you get into that world and, and what are you seeing? I, I have, you're not the first person I've heard that I. Has a niche within law firms. Um, and I love that space because man, a bunch of lawyers in a room trying to run a business is a, is a daunting task at times.

Chris Davenport:

Okay. Well, I told you on the onset, I like a problem. I like

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

problems. Right. So I, you know, and, and a lot of implementers you talk to are, they don't like to deal with law firms for two reasons. One, they're hard to facilitate because they're lawyers.

Matt Haney:

Right.

Chris Davenport:

you know, to keep control of the room. The second reason is, um, they reschedule a lot. So, because they

Matt Haney:

funny. I didn't even think about that. But are they notorious for rescheduling? That's funny.

Chris Davenport:

for rescheduling.

Matt Haney:

That would be annoying as shit.

Chris Davenport:

Yes. And, and, but I, I, I love working with him. Like

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

'em that's, uh, here in town, Maverick Ray, is one of the most successful criminal defense attorneys in Houston,

Matt Haney:

Wow.

Chris Davenport:

he's, he's, he's an awesome guy to work with, but. You know, he, he's got a big team, so typically you have three or four, maybe five people,

Matt Haney:

Right.

Chris Davenport:

he was kind of small like the real estate team. And he wanted to start with his paralegals in there because they were helping him manage and he didn't really know what he wanted. And sidebar, this was kind of early in my EOS career and I was telling him, Hey, only bring the people you want, you know, in the room long term.

Matt Haney:

Right.

Chris Davenport:

like who would you share payroll reports with? Who you know, and I was going through these questions. We kind of helped these people paint a picture. So we ended up with like seven people on the leadership team, which is kind of crazy.

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

and three of them are lawyers. so you're in the room in there and you're having to facilitate and control the room. it can be challenging. And I'll tell you after those days, I'm pretty worn out. Um. But I look at it as a challenge to go against one of the best lawyers in

Matt Haney:

Right.

Chris Davenport:

And of course he'd beat my pants off in a, you know, in a, in a debate, in a courtroom. But calling him out, saying, Hey, you know, Maverick, you know, are you sure about that? You know, why don't you let you know so-and-so say something. You know, those types of things

Matt Haney:

Right.

Chris Davenport:

Um, and it, and it, and it works for them and it's a ton of fun, and they're a great group. But, uh. Lawyers are fun. You know, I had some experience with all of the, the litigation we went through at three I that I

Matt Haney:

Mm-hmm.

Chris Davenport:

lot of time around lawyers and I just enjoyed that space. You know,

Matt Haney:

That's really cool. Well, good for you for, for jumping into, into that pool.'cause you're right, uh, general contractors don't, don't like, uh, building houses for lawyers. And I can imagine what it's like to, uh, to, to sit in a session room with some strong willed litigators. Who, but, but I, I'm, you know, to their point, anybody that has an interest in learning and is willing to be taught. Is a, is a prospect for education. Right,

Chris Davenport:

Yes. And you know, that's the other fun thing, just about EOS in general. When you're in these rooms with these people, in these successful companies, you learn stuff. They're learning from you.

Matt Haney:

right.

Chris Davenport:

I'm also learning from

Matt Haney:

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, let's segue into, um, a, a, a question I have for everyone, which is, what's the hardest, in your opinion? I. What's the hardest part about managing people? That's a big question. Um, but I do, I'm not gonna lead you into some examples because then you would just pick on those examples and iterate on them. But, uh, what's your opinion on what's hardest about managing a group of people?

Chris Davenport:

I, my opinion, and I've thought a lot about this and reflecting on. Many moments where when I was younger had the wrong response to things, and as I aged and went through therapy and other books and had more experiences, it's, for me, the hardest piece is it boils down to the emotional response happens when something happens.

Matt Haney:

Mm-hmm.

Chris Davenport:

that may sound like word soup, but when. When, say there's an, there's an employee or a teammate that's off track you're a business owner, your, your kids are, are dependent on him or her performing

Matt Haney:

Right.

Chris Davenport:

and they're in there slacking off on Facebook,

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

And your, your first response might be, guy, he's stealing from me. You know, he's just screwing off and, and

Matt Haney:

the clock and not doing his job.

Chris Davenport:

And so you might have your, your emotional response may be anger, it may be disgusted, it may be, and it's hard to, as humans, to, you know, to manage that.

Matt Haney:

Yeah,

Chris Davenport:

on the other side. It's hard for them to manage when you come at them, whether you're, you're or not. They have, they have an emotional response back to you.

Matt Haney:

I mean, guilty emotional response. I, I mean, I had an exchange yesterday with a client, actually, I. Guy that's signing my checks, who was, who was a very smart guy, but, but I'm, I essentially was, was questioning his adherence to his own core values based on a couple responses. And actually at the end of the call, I was, I, or closer to the end of the call we were, I. We were going back and forth on a, on a subject and, and I basically said, Hey, I, I, I need in this call, I feel like I need to, to get off now. Um, and he was escalated. And I was escalated and I just said, we're not gonna get anywhere productive. And, and, um, I. So why don't we talk tomorrow at two o'clock and called, called him back. And the first thing I said is, Hey, I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I got elevated and that I, you know, had an emotional response and I was triggered and, and I apologize. You know, I'm, I'm guilty. Um, and he was receptive of the, of the apology. And we talked a little more about the topic and I said, why don't we just. You know, kind of go heads down for a minute and, and come up with some suggestions on how to move it and then bring it back together. And, and man, we're, we're still humans, thankfully. Um, and we still have emotional responses, but to your point, navigating that, um, is tough, especially as a leader, right? Because you're looked at through the microscope and they're just going, we're just, they want, they don't, people don't wanna see you. Meltdown or whatnot, but sometimes we're held to standards and we should be held to standards that, that our employees aren't necessarily held to because we're the leader of the, of the division or the branch or the business or whatever.

Chris Davenport:

Yes. And Matt, kudos for. Saying, you know, taking a pause because a lot of people, their ego won't allow that.

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

And, and so I, I just see where leaders will get upset and they'll, you know, to talk curt or harsh to their, their teammates and their, or their leadership team or even the people under them.

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

And nothing good comes out of that

Matt Haney:

No, no.

Chris Davenport:

You know, it's best to share constructive things. then if they start to have a response, get curious and ask questions, so they start to think of their response. I find that helps a

Matt Haney:

Yeah, no, I think you, you hit the, you hit a word I use a lot and I, and I, it's something I don't think we can say enough is be curious, be curious as to a different way. Be curious to how it's making another person feel. Be curious to see if there's. Uh, you know, a, an unintended consequence. So curiosity over criticism is something I try to say a lot, which is if we're leading with curiosity, then we're like less likely to be critical. Right?

Chris Davenport:

yes.

Matt Haney:

Um, alright, so couple other questions before I let you go. Um, you said you have, you have some hobbies outside of work that include CrossFit and maybe an obsession with Porsches in general. So I know which one I'd rather talk about. So, but let's get CrossFit out of the way and then we can talk about cars.

Chris Davenport:

I just love a good workout and I like much like, you know, work. I like working with people. So it's,

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

it's the same with working out. I like working out with a team of people and it's fun and there is no better feeling after that workout that I can I, you know, just to start the day with that. I usually work out at, you know, 5:00 AM

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

I'm ready to start my day and it's just awesome.

Matt Haney:

That's awesome. Well, I, I am a, I'm a fi a newly minted five 30, uh, workout person. Be, I was for 20 years. It was a, my wife would get up early and she would work out and come back and then get the kids going, and then after they left for school, I would, I. I would go work out and kind of start my day at eight or nine after I'd start, and now for whatever reason, role reversal. Over the last year, I've gone to a five 30 class, not a CrossFit class, but a, a small group fitness class that I love where we focus on CrossFit type movements without the, you know, strenuous nature of an impact of them. But the point is, is that committing to that early morning has been empowering to me, and I, I fought it for so long. But man, coming home and getting to see my kids in the morning before they go to school and having a cup of coffee while they're getting ready and, and, uh, is, is awesome. So have you always been a five or five 30 guy.

Chris Davenport:

I have, I, you know, and I haven't always done CrossFit. I used to be a runner. I

Matt Haney:

Oh wow. Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

to run, but, uh, I've just, I can't sleep in. I wake up at four 30 to five without

Matt Haney:

Wow. I.

Chris Davenport:

I've just always been that way,

Matt Haney:

Get up and go. If you're up, you might as well go.

Chris Davenport:

Yep. I'm gonna get the day before the day gets me

Matt Haney:

Love it. All right. Now, tell me about the fun part. Tell me about the cars.

Chris Davenport:

I just love, so I always dreamt of when I was a kid of having a

Matt Haney:

I.

Chris Davenport:

And so as soon as I, as soon as I could when I was, you know, I, like I told you earlier, I started early. So when I was 18, 19, I started making some money and I didn't have any expenses. I didn't.

Matt Haney:

Yeah, at that age you don't have anything. Rent and food, maybe

Chris Davenport:

So I bought this 19 76, 9 11 Targa. It was red and uh, it had been rebuilt and,

Matt Haney:

air cooled.

Chris Davenport:

air cooled. And so I was driving that around. When I went to college, I was driving it around and then I kept it for a while, and back then, I mean, I paid like$12,000 for

Matt Haney:

It's a lot of, lot of money. 30 years ago.

Chris Davenport:

But now they're like, I don't know, 50 grand.

Matt Haney:

They're coveted. That old, that old generation. Pre, pre liquid cooled. Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

I should have kept

Matt Haney:

Yep.

Chris Davenport:

then I traded it for a, a 9 81, 9 30 turbo, and then drove it for a while. And, you know, I, I then I had other cars, you know, in between, but

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

I just, kept finding my way back there.

Matt Haney:

you have any vintage ones now or do you go back to the old school or are you, you a new tech guy now?

Chris Davenport:

Just new because I still have young kids, so I'm in a, a Tycon turbo s right

Matt Haney:

Yeah. Fun.

Chris Davenport:

Um, I had a GT three RS

Matt Haney:

Yes, yes.

Chris Davenport:

it was a ton of fun,

Matt Haney:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

but the values of those went up. I was just afraid to drive it,

Matt Haney:

Now I hear you. But man, what a fun car. I got to drive one of those around a track in Vegas and uh, have the video and the, you know, I was just like, you know, the, the adage driving like you stole it. I mean, I was pedald out. Maybe just going through'em all. Yeah. That is an incredible car.

Chris Davenport:

Yeah.

Matt Haney:

Well, that's really cool. Really cool,

Chris Davenport:

So I just figured I, it, you know, have to drive somewhat, but because I living in Houston

Matt Haney:

You're always in the road.

Chris Davenport:

I'm just gonna, I wanted to have fun while I was driving,

Matt Haney:

Yeah,

Chris Davenport:

that's, that's kind of what it, what it was rooted in. It wasn't for, you know, some people buy them for their status. It was just to enjoy it.

Matt Haney:

yeah. No, they're so great. But those old ones, man, they're so rigid. Right? I think it's just, it's a. They're fun little cars and speed bumps and potholes and all those things. And they're, they're, they'll catch you in the lower back chiropractic appointment after time.

Chris Davenport:

Yep.

Matt Haney:

That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, hey, I thank you for your time today. It's great to catch up and chat and I look forward to getting to know you, uh, as we continue our EOS journey and, and, um, love just sharing stories and hearing how your business has grown. And, um, maybe next time I'm down in Houston, I can, I can, uh. Come over and have lunch or grab a beer with you.

Chris Davenport:

That would be awesome. Yeah,

Matt Haney:

Awesome. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for your time. Have a great week and uh, thanks for joining us on the scalability code.

Chris Davenport:

Thanks Matt.

Matt Haney:

Take care.

Thank you for listening to The Scalability Code. If you made it this far, please follow the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's get out of the sh*t show together. We'll see you next time on The Scalability Code.