Powering People First: Servant Leadership in the Co-op World

Electricity is just the excuse—the real story is people, community, and servant leadership. In this episode of Consulting from the Couch, Josh McGhee from Touchstone Energy unpacks how the cooperative business model prioritizes its members, why servant leadership outperforms top-down control, and how co-ops strike a balance between scale and hometown heart. 

From Amazon-style “mass personalization” to leadership that responds instead of reacts, we'll explore practical strategies for keeping tech human, building trust through simplicity, and turning community knowledge into a true competitive edge.

Run Time: 34 minutes

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:40

First, when I was a uh committee chairman for a committee a couple years ago, two or three years ago. But then most recently, Josh I started providing some all-site training for some leadership groups that I oversaw. And I really got to know Josh well during that time. And uh again, when I was putting together the podcast uh to talk about leaders in various businesses and various industries, Josh came to mind. So, Josh, welcome and thank you for joining me today.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Thanks, Steve, for having me. I appreciate it. One of my favorite things to do in supporting our Touchstone Energy members is to support them throughout the country, even including traveling, like you just mentioned. I've always been enjoyed to being able to partner with you and support some of the initiatives that you've had going on. And the whole point is to build engagement across electric utility employees so that we can all engage the nearly 42 million Americans that electric cooperatives serve. And so I take my role pretty seriously, which is to bring the cooperative business model to life because that is what makes electric cooperatives different. Electricity is just an excuse to make life better in those areas. So that's what we focus on, Steve. I touched on energy programs resources to help our member co-ops strengthen their relationship with the end-a-line members that are so important to them.

What A Cooperative Really Is

SPEAKER_02 2:05

That's awesome. So listen, so we might have some non-co-op employees, members, staff, or whatever. Touch real quickly, if you would. You mentioned the co-op business model. I obviously know what it is, was in it for 35 years. Will you tell those listeners that might not have the privilege of uh being exposed to it like us? Can you tell them what that is?

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Absolutely. It's an alternative business model that can go into any industry. In fact, this business model is pretty industry agnostic, in that you can see it across housing, education, agriculture, like us, the energy industry, retail industry. And what it is is an alternative for the for-profit model. So many businesses are driven and built for that ROI at the end of the year. What's the margin at the end of the year, and what's the bottom line? Well, we care about the bottom line and margin too, but this way. We do electricity at cost, and we don't have a margin. If we do, we give it back to the people who gave us the the money in the first place, which would be our members. So, you know, cooperatives are a global business model. You can see it in many places. Like I mentioned, schooling and agriculture and retail. Uh, it's really all around. A few examples, REI, outdoor sports store, uh, ace hardware. Some of these familiar names are cooperatives too.

Balancing National Brand And Local Impact

SPEAKER_02 3:30

That's great. So listen, you mentioned it, and we'll get to the co-op because I've got some more questions shaped around leadership and the business model. But with Touchstone serving just you know a national brand, I mean, really the co-ops, and I speak maybe I'm kind of speaking from a slanted point of view, but if the co-ops, the local co-ops use touchdown energy like they should, strategic backbone for these co-ops. From a leadership perspective, how do you balance that big picture strategy trying to satisfy many, but also keeping that that deeply local community-driven service? How do you balance that?

SPEAKER_00 4:10

It's all about value. Uh if something's valuable at the local level with an electric cooperative, that that that's all that matters to me. And local impact is so important, it doesn't matter what business that you're in. And so if our business model allows our members to be in the middle of our decision making, they essentially are our owners. So any business will want to bring value to their owners first, because if you can't do that, you can't bring value to anybody. And so our members in the middle of our decision making. When companies put their customer, their client, whoever they're serving in the middle of their decision making, you are naturally going to start being a leader in the field that you're in. Walt Disney taught the world this. He put his guest, he didn't call them customers, he put his guest in the middle of everything that he did. His guest experience, I often say he was healthily obsessed with it. He he went to the absolute last mile, and because of that, he became a leader in the entertainment and amusement and magic space because he put his uh who mattered in the middle of his decision making. So, uh Steve, as long as we do that at the national level, at the local level, we'll continue to be valuable to these communities.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

You know, and I think Josh, we're we're very fortunate to have worked in the co-op world because co-op model it naturally aligns with the values of servant leadership. Just talk a little bit how you personally approach servant leadership in that manner, obviously, what that means to the co-ops and the members.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Sure, I'm happy to, Steve, and I can sort of take my hard utility hat off and put on several hats that I wear around the town and you know the community that I live in here outside the DC area. Servant leadership has always been important, but it's more important now than ever because it's starting to become quite rare. Leaders can have agendas that put them in leadership positions. Mine is to serve others, it's to anticipate their needs, bring value to their life. Sometimes it's in the form of wisdom or guidance during the day. It's giving programs and resources to my clients, which would be electric cooperatives under the Touchstone Energy brand. Certain leadership can be defined by putting the other person in an elevated position above yourself. And you know, many people mentioned the golden golden rule rule, I should say, which is treat others how you would like to be treated. I I'd like to take it another step, is treat them the way that only they could be treated, meaning that they're individualized, they're important to you. You you have uh invested in them so that the way that you serve that person is going to be different than you serve someone else. That's the highest form of respect. Understanding what their preferences, what their values are, and aligning with those so that when I go to serve that person to speak into their life in any way, I'm doing it in a way that's unique. And a servant leader has to have that sort of mindset that I see this person who's in front of me, I see and hear what they tell me, I also see and hear what they might not tell me, which is understanding the context that they're in. What challenges are they upcoming against? What are their strengths that we can leverage? When you know the intangible and also what's exactly in front of you, you can really serve them in a way that sets you apart.

Challenges In A Changing Energy Landscape

SPEAKER_02 7:48

You touched on a lot during the first couple of minutes here. And you wear many hats. You wear many hats with Touchstone Energy. One thing that you do enjoy, and you mentioned it in in the very beginning, was being able to go out and and visit co-op, come to see me and my group. Can you share a time when listening deeply to a co-op's need or challenges directly shaped a strategic decision or innovation at Touchstones? You've been to a co-op, you listened. Maybe you got a phone call, maybe you got an email, maybe at a conference, but something that occurred that really shaped when you went back and you guys made made decisions. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

There are a lot of challenges and opportunities that are coming into the energy space. The first is just the whirlwind of technological advances that you have to be aware of and invest in and apply. That's one thing. The other is how energy has really been brought to the forefront of policy and regulation at the highest levels of our country. At the same time, cost, supply and demand, all of it sort of coming together to make the energy industry uh a unique time. And we're excited about it, frankly. I mean, there's a lot of challenges. It can be tempting for an electric co-op to try to be like another type of utility, to try to be like the big power company up the interstate, or to try to be like perhaps how a larger co-op would act. But to answer your question more specifically, Steve, when we have a challenge, leaning into servant leadership, which would be our cooperative business model, is how we overcome. It's not being like the big powerhouse up the street, it's being the best version of ourselves. And so there's been times where there's been struggles in co-ops and man, we're just we're having trouble doing this. We'll often say, well, let's go back to the co-op principles and let's see what qualities we can build on so that we can get through this particular challenge.

Tech, “Mass Personalization,” And Feedback Loops

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Back to basics, right? How about that? Back back to basics. How about that? You mentioned technology, okay. Technology obviously is everywhere, and technology is great. It can also sometimes uh maybe make things less uh less personalized, maybe more sterile. Maybe that's a good you know good term. But you know, you guys have introduced a ton of tools like Shine, which was uh which is a website builder for you know for the co-op to use to you know to share with their members or internally. You guys do national campaigns, you've got you know, a ton of things. Co-op connections is a great community engagement uh tool that you guys have used. How do you guys focus keep keep that people first approach you know when developing things like that?

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Sure. Yeah, I appreciate that question. You know, I've often thought of a term it's called mass personalization. How can those two words be put together?

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Where you're supposed to communicate to the masses in a personalized way. There are many technology options that can help you reach both of those targets where you are to come able to communicate to many, but you're doing it in a tailored and individualized way. I personally think Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, has really understood how to do this. In fact, he's probably listening right now. In fact, there's a probably an Amazon package that's on its way, and we'll get deemed here in just a little bit. But what I mean by that is Amazon has almost become more of a retail associate for you. It's an assistant. It's your search engine, it's your ability to get things quickly. And the items that you saw when you opened the app or the browser were probably suggested items for you anyway. So think about the global supply chain network that Jeff Bezos has to understand. That's the mass part. Okay. But then he also does an excellent job on the personalized part where the experience is tailored to you. That's the approach that we have to take as well. How do we make individualized needs just as important as how many people we reach as well? So one of the things we do uh at the shop is get feedback. I mean, if you don't know the answer to a question of how to serve someone, you've got to ask them. And so we have a really dedicated group of people, over a hundred folks who serve on advisory committees and help us support things regionally. Our governing board of directors, Steve, you helped chair one of those groups for for quite a few years, and we appreciate all the selfless work you did there. We've got to ask those people what is important to you? And then you go back to the drawing board and you build your national resources around what's important.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Back to the basics, man. Just ask. Sometimes we have a tendency to overcomplicate things, but sometimes it's it's it's simple, right? Very simple.

Simplicity As A Strategic Advantage

SPEAKER_00 12:55

It is simple. Yeah. Yeah. And that's the word I would choose, Steve, is the word simple. Yeah, simple. And I believe that we're moving into a period in business and technology where both have to be simple to break through the noise. Your value has to be simple. You've got to go back to the basics of being able to share why you're valuable and why you're the preferred provider very quickly. Convoluted structures are actually sort of suspect. Yeah. But a simple business model is refreshing.

Living The Four Core Values

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Yeah, I mean, you're competing every day, trying to get your messaging across. Not only, you know, you're not competing with with other utilities or whatever, you know, in this case, you're competing with, like you said, Amazon, you're competing with you know with Apple, Amazon. I mean, fill in the blank. And people's time is they value it. And so you have to simple sites and sites, yeah, for sites. And just I mean, you have to be to the point. So yeah, and you guys over the years, you have done a great job with that. We when I was you know working at the co-op, guys were were Johnny on the spot. I mean, just the the creative stuff you provided, but the programs, yeah, the community programs that you provided, as well as when there were problems or opportunities, however you want to say it, you guys were always really receptive and and and really responsive to uh you know to you know to listening to the members. So kudos to you and Anna and you know everyone else at uh touchstone. So let's talk about touchstone and the culture. It's rooted, obviously. Anybody that knows anything about touchstone knows the four core values integrity, accountability, innovation, and commitment to community. If you didn't know that now, listeners, you do. As a leader, how do you reinforce these values across the wide, varied network?

SPEAKER_00 14:38

One of the first and important ones is integrity that you mentioned. If you don't have integrity, it's going to be hard to move into other principles. Because even upholding those other principles, you're going to have to have a high integrity for it. What's kind of interesting is you can't really have high integrity unless you have a way to measure that, and that's called accountability. And so if we hold ourselves accountable to certain standards, standards that are cultural standards, team norms. We even call everything a touchstone energy to uh towards our North Star. That's going to be our high highest mission statement of uh strengthening relationships with between members and their co-ops. All of that has to be very in the forefront of our minds. And so we really push integrity of operating in a way that's transparent with one another, operating in a way that's transparent with our membership. You know, we're a not-for-profit uh structure, we're cooperative ourselves and owned by our members, and so we have to do uh the highest uh standard by them at all times. And so I would say that integrity really has to begin that conversation, Steve.

Lessons From Rural Communities’ “Heartbeat”

SPEAKER_02 15:50

That's great. That's great. So mentioned earlier about traveling and you know something that you may have learned from a co-op that you know that helped you make a decision. And your travels or your interaction with local co-ops. A lot of them are rural based. The co-op that I work for, Joe Zonsley was a was a little slightly different. Larger membership. Uh we actually had a town that had a Starbucks, how about that? Or had whatever. Had three or four Starbucks. But a lot of the co-ops are small, rural, they they're the major employer. Traveling and co interacting. Is there something that you may have learned a l a leadership lesson potentially learned from coming directly in contact with one of these co-ops? It didn't have to be one of the small rural ones, but something that m that might have surprised you. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Well, I think I have learned along the way never to underestimate a town or a community by its size. Because I have been able to drive hundreds of miles in one direction just to get to where I'm going, and that's after flying there. We talked about that.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

We talked about that uh with Texas not long ago. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Yeah, that's right. And so I've I you know I consider myself very privileged to be able to travel across America and and and and often go to places that are very you know, way off maybe the main drag. But what I've learned is don't ever underestimate that. Every single place I've gone to has something special. They have a heartbeat. Some might have have a smaller one, might have less heartbeats, but they all have one. And there's something unique about that heartbeat on a more practical letter level. If you go to a town and they say, well, there's nothing special about here, we just only have the largest peanut east of the Mississippi, you'll be like, oh, well, what do you do with that? Oh, well, every year we have a peanut festival. Well, well, that's nothing to you know, uh put your nose up at that. That's that's actually awesome. And if you embrace those things, every community can be unique, and they are. So for the listeners that that are taking the time to listen to Steve and me, I would encourage you just think about what makes you unique. Because there are companies out there like Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, Oracle. These are national firms. They would love to know what the heartbeat of your community is.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

If you know what that is, if you know where people are on Friday nights at the ball field, if you know what people are doing on Saturday mornings or when the summer fair is, that's information that's very valuable. Embrace that. Don't ever underestimate the value that you know things about your community. If you're in the business world, you'll be able to serve your community better. That's all, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Couldn't agree with you more, man. We co-ops sometimes have the have this advantage. A lot of times they don't realize it, and the and the big boys would would kill to be able to know their members or their customers the way that co-ops do. Let's talk about long-term leadership success. What does that look like for you, man? Not just necessarily for Touchstone Energy, but for the whole broader co-op business model, co-op ecosystem.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Uh Steve, to me, a leader has to respond well to events that happen around them. One of the differentiators to me between a leader and a follower is that one reacts to everything, the other one responds. The difference between a reaction is that you're only as good as you were in that moment. But a response allows you to choose how good of a response this is going to be. Does this response that I might give to a situation around me, an email or phone call, or four-year-old pulling on your pant leg, is this going to be a positive response for them and will it create a positive event for them? The difference between a reaction and a response is just really one simple thing. You've given yourself the time and space to move out of just reacting into responding. It could sound as simple as this. Hey, that's a great question, and I'd like just a few moments to think about it before I respond. See that right there prevents just a reaction. When you respond to things as a leader, you are creating events for others that they then respond to. Having a very high self-awareness of what those what that ripple effect is to others gives you the ability to maximize your influence. Reacting to everything doesn't maximize your influence. Sometimes it'll ruin it. But responding well will help you. Abraham Lincoln taught the world this, Steve. He would often write a letter, he'd read it, he'd ball it up, he'd write a second one, as often the second one that he would send. Number one, the second one isn't balled up. Number two, it gave him the opportunity to respond well.

Mentoring: Humility, Learning, And Listening

SPEAKER_02 21:09

That's great. At one point in time in discussions with you and your what little free time you do have you are involved in. You were involved at one point in time in church and with a church and with was it youth leadership that you were involved in? Yeah. Okay. So let's talk about I want to morph that because your experience of that, there's a good chance. There's a lot of people getting old like me in the co-op world and they're they're retiring or and going on to do other things. You potentially have the opportunity to be a mentor to someone. And and I know obviously that was what the lead up about the youth pastor portion of that was. But if you did have the chance to mentor a a rising leader in the co-op world, what's one principle of servant leadership that you would encourage them to develop early?

SPEAKER_00 22:02

I would encourage them to always learn, always be learning. Uh when a leader thinks that they have every answer and that they have to give every answer, you really become weak over time. But if you constantly learn and gather information from those around you, you'll become stronger. You know, there's there's a Bible verse, Steve, that says even a fool is considered wise if he remains silent. Leaders have to speak leaders, I I should say, have to spend time in silence to listen and to process. That is another differentiator to as well. So, you know, we've heard it, and I'm certainly not the first person to say that you don't have to be the smartest person in the room, just surround yourself with smart people. I agree with that, but you could do that and still not listen. So I think there's got to be a measure of humility as a leader that you've been given a position of authority and influence. And trying to operate in that place without the feedback of others is pretty dangerous and and uh actually sets you up at risk because there might be blind spots or corners or speed bumps along the way that you might not have been aware of unless you worked together as a team. So I would apply humility to listen, humility to be the last to speak sometimes and not the first. And uh have fun too, because nobody wants to work for somebody who's not having fun with it.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

So I 100% agree, 100% agree with that. Last question on this, and then we're gonna shift gears. What continues to drive you in this work? Is it the the innovation, uh the leadership, the opportunities, the community impact? You are an extremely talented guy, man, and and and just so personable. Anybody that comes in contact with you knows that you're employed by Touchstone Energy. It's not a job for you. You you work with Touchstone Energy and you you bought in. So what continues to drive you to work like this with Touchstone Energy?

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Yeah, I I appreciate that question, Steve. I I feel very fortunate that I am able to have a vocation and a professional role that is mission focused, and I don't have to decide if I want to be missional and and help support the world in my community or have a job. I don't have to make that distinguished, uh, that delineation. I I get to be able to do that at the same time. I believe that our electric cooperative employees, they don't have to make that decision if they want to be supporting their community or or or make a living. That's a two-for-one bundle there. And so I encourage people to find what you love to do and and find where you're strong in. See what makes you not feel like you're working. When do you feel full as and fully alive? When do you have your A plus game? Tag what those moments are and try to find where you can be valuable to somebody in those things. Because in order to be passionate, you've got to have a deep well. And many times we have to do things, and it doesn't necessarily reflect having a deep well, but when you find what that is, you're able to pull from that a lot. And I'll tell you what mine is. It's to make life better for people, to lift them up. There's a principle that uh that I have a lifter of my head and I want to help other people to be lifted up as well. Uh, there's enough to bring us down. What's a way that you could bring peace or a moment of happiness to somebody? Or really a stronger word is joy. And during the day, my job allows me to use electricity to do that. Electricity powers and empowers people's lives to do important things. And and when I'm not wearing that hard hat figuratively, then I'm wanting to still do that on the side. I want to lift people up. I want to help empower them to do things that they never thought that they could do. And I'm really only doing what people have shown to me. I love because I was first loved. And uh I want to carry that to others as well.

Rapid-Fire: Success, Favorites, Rituals

SPEAKER_02 26:25

That's awesome, man. What a great way to go through the first part of the questions that I shared with you. And and I mean that's I mean, that's just amazing stuff. So now I'm gonna ask you some questions. You have no idea what I'm gonna ask you. And I'm gonna just be some this be some questions that these are I'm just asking all my podcast guests these questions, just trying to to to get a little feedback about even more who they are. So when you think of the word successful, who's the first person who comes to mind and why?

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Who's the first person that comes to mind? I I I have to think of my parents because they paved the way for me to understand what success looked like, and and I'm not referring to the tangible or the material side of things. I I come from a family, fortunately, that has always been of service. My dad has owned an auto repair shop for 45 years in Waldorf, Maryland, and Steve, he's fixed many cars without ever gathering a dime because of it. I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

I am sure.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Yeah. Yeah. And uh, you know, there's been uh recessions along the way. You think of the 08 and the 09, you think of inflation and then the pressures that COVID put on. There used to be about 300 auto repair shops in the small town of Waldorf, Maryland, and through all of those pressures, only about 120 remained, and my dad was one of them. Because you have to have more than just good books, you got to have good heart as well. So that's that's awesome. I'd say my parents fit the bill.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

All right. What is your favorite documentary or movie?

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Oh, I love the American Revolution, and there's a series that AMC put out a few years ago. It's now on Amazon Prime, Jeff, in case you're listening. Yeah. And it's called Turn.

SPEAKER_02 28:16

I love it. I love it. Great. Yeah, it's a great series.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Oh, I love Turn. It's based off of the book Washington Spies, and it's uh filmed all around our area in Virginia. I love Williamsburg, and so I I've watched Turn more times, and my wife is so sick of it, but it it's a winter thing for me to help get through some of those long evenings in the winter.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Is it? So it's now on Prime. How many seasons total? Yeah, it's four there's four seasons right now.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

And AMC, you know, made it a TV series, and I think Prime has the first three right now, and then AMC, you know, has a plus or something like that. Yeah. And you can subscribe, subscribe to all of them, but don't ask me how I know that.

SPEAKER_02 28:57

That's good. I've yeah, I've yeah, I've enjoyed that too. Morning rituals. What do the first 60 minutes of each morning look like for you, Josh?

SPEAKER_00 29:09

Well, it used to be waking up on my own, but having a four-year-old, I have a a four-foot alarm that jumps on me every morning, and and so I enjoy that. And I'm being jumped on a little more than usual because my wife is approaching almost the finish line of being pregnant with our second. And so, you know, she has to be a little more comfortable there. And so I take the uh the pain and the grunts of the four-year-old, and he's just he's just really sweet. First thing we love to do is to come downstairs and make coffee as soon as possible, if not sooner. And my little buddy will get teddy grams, and he loves to dip his little teddy gram in our coffee.

SPEAKER_02 29:51

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

And we have a yeah, we have a front sitting room here in our house and two chairs, and there's no technology in this room. There's a piano and uh we read our Bible, we read our devotional, we we try to catch up before the world gets going if we're if we're able to beat it, and then you're off to the races. But it's always good to to have some quiet time. Quiet time is a very rare thing, and many people say they want to live in the present more. Well, then you gotta pause enough to enjoy the present and and and creating quiet time as we call it helps you do that.

SPEAKER_02 30:29

That's uh great. That is awesome. What topic would you speak about if you were asked to give a TED talk and it's but it had to be on something outside of your main area of expertise? What topic? That's a tough one.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

Yeah, you you you're throwing some incredible questions this way. Yeah. Boy. Even the fool's considered wise of your main science. Sorry, Steve, I'm on the show.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

That's all right. That's all right. Let's go. You think about that one. Let's go to the next one. What do you believe is true even though you can't prove it?

Closing Reflections And CTA

SPEAKER_00 31:09

Well, being upright is sometimes more difficult in life. And you don't always immediately see the results of being an honest, upright, above reproach person. And sometimes if someone asks me, well, why do you do that? Do you see the benefit of being honest? Well, not all the time, you don't see it immediately, but I believe that it's true, and that time will tell you that being honest and transparent and loving is the right way for the long haul. You might not move as fast as some of these other, you know, folks, but uh you're going to go to the distance.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

That's great. Josh, listen, man, amazing. You're a superstar in the co-op world. Man, it's this has been great. I appreciate you giving me the time today. You provided just a really insightful look into how servant uh leadership is. And it's not just a philosophy, it's something that's practical. There's a daily commitment to it. And with Touchdown Energy, you guys truly believe that. You know, I want to provide for the listeners one thing. In addition to the servant leadership stuff that Josh talked about, the cooperative business model, and in this instance, uh, you know, as it relates to electric utilities, it's just not about electricity. It's about people. You know, and that goes for other forms of of co-ops, you know, like Josh talked about, whether it's grocery store co-ops or insurance co-ops or whatever, but that the the common thread is that it's just it's not about the product or service that they're selling, it's about people. So, Josh, thank you, man. I appreciate it. I appreciate you taking the time, man. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

Thank you, Steve. I appreciate your leadership, what you do in our world as well. Uh, there's a few people that that I I consider as valuable to our community as you. So thank you, Steve. I really appreciate you having me on. And it was great seeing you last week as well.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

Yes, sir. Thank you. And for those that that are listening to us, I hope you enjoyed this episode of Consulting from the Couch. You be sure to follow us or check out the other episodes. You can go to BLC Consulting LLC. There's the LLC on the end of that. BLC ConsultingLLC.com. Until next time, I'm Steve Goodson. Talk soon.