Live Blissed Out

154 - Transform Your Leadership By Understanding Your WHY

Marisa Huston & Dan Dominguez Episode 154

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Dan Dominguez, former Chief Growth Officer of the WHY Institute and founder of WHY Not Leadership and the Lead Different podcast, has a proven track record in sales, leading teams to exceed billion-dollar quotas. He helps leaders connect more effectively with their teams by understanding their "WHY." 

Today, we’ll explore how knowing your WHY can enhance your leadership and build stronger connections. With greater self-awareness, you'll make a more significant impact, both individually and collectively. Dan has guided thousands in discovering their WHY and helped hundreds of Executive Coaches implement the WHY.os. discovery in their practices. 

If you're looking to understand the power of your WHY and transform your leadership, reach out to Dan at www.whynotleadership.com

In this episode we cover:

  • Understanding the Power of Self-Awareness in Leadership 0:00
  • Defining Self-Awareness and Its Importance 3:26
  • Exploring Different "Whys" and Their Impact on Leadership 8:32
  • Understanding Different Leadership Styles and Their Interactions 12:30
  • Applying Self-Awareness in Practical Leadership Scenarios 16:28
  • The Role of Self-Awareness in Team Dynamics and Effective Communication 16:41
  • Conclusion and Resources for Further Learning 31:04

Thanks so much for tuning in again this week. I appreciate you  🙂

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Special thanks to Dan Dominguez for being on the show.

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Did You Know  0:00  
Did you know that 73% of employees are considering leaving their jobs with 1/3 of them searching actively or casually for a job. 69% of employees say they would work harder if they were better appreciated. 

Intro 0:14
Hello, action taker. Welcome to Live. Blissed out.  A podcast where I have inspirational and informational conversations with business owners and subject matter experts to help you get the scoop on a variety of topics. Tired of hesitating or making decisions without having the big picture. Wanna be in the know?  Then this is the place to go. I'm your host. Marisa Huston, helping you achieve bliss through awareness and action. So let's get to it. 

Dan Dominguez, former chief growth officer of the why Institute, and founder of why not leadership and the lead different podcast has a proven track record in sales, leading teams to exceed billion dollar quotas. He helps leaders connect more effectively with their teams by understanding their why. Today we'll explore how knowing your why can enhance your leadership and build stronger connections with greater self awareness, you'll make a more significant impact, both individually and collectively. Dan has guided 1000s in discovering their why, and helped hundreds of executive coaches implement the Y, o, s discovery in their practices. If you're looking to understand the power of your why and transform your leadership, reach out to Dan at whynotleadership.com.

Disclaimer 1:20
The information, opinions and recommendations presented in this podcast are for general information only, and any reliance on the information provided in this podcast is done at your own risk. This podcast should not be considered professional advice. 

Marisa Huston 1:32
Dan, it is so great to have you here today. Welcome to the podcast. 

Dan Dominguez  1:37  
Thank you for having me on. It is a pleasure to be on with you,

Marisa Huston  1:40  
We're going to be talking about a subject matter that I think is going to help a lot of people. It's about the power of self awareness and how to lead differently through that. And I think it's such a critical thing, because if we don't understand where we're starting, we don't understand the basic foundation of things, it's hard for us to take that next step. Don't you agree?

Dan Dominguez  2:04  
Absolutely? And you know, for me, it's something that I've practiced for a long time. It's something that one of my first leadership authors that I ever read is a gentleman by the name of Chris Lowney, and he wrote a book called heroic leadership, and it talks about the best practices from a 450 year old company that changed the world. That company happens to be the Jesuits. And the Jesuits had four pillars of leadership. The first one was self awareness. You have to understand your strengths, your weaknesses, your values and your worldview. The second pillar was ingenuity, to make sure you confidently innovate and adapt to a changing world. That's a great principle. The third one is love, and that's so important, I think we forget when we're in the corporate world that love has a place. You want to engage people with a positive attitude that unlocks their potential, and you do that by loving on them, by making sure you're taking care of them, and you're putting people first. And then the final pillar is heroism, to energize yourself and others with heroic ambitions and a passion for excellence, so living up to your potential. But you notice that first pillar is self awareness. I read this book in 2005 I mean, it's probably the one book that I read every single year, because it reminds me of what's important in leadership, and how to be a good leader, how to help the people that I work with be the best leaders they can be, and how I can be the best leader I can be. Wow,

Marisa Huston  3:27  
I'm gonna read that. That sounds like a very interesting book. To your point, I think that self awareness, it's a word that gets used a lot, and every single person I believe who hears us today will know what we're talking about when we say self awareness, but I don't want to assume either. For me, self awareness is really the foundation of, like, opening your eyes to something and seeing it in a way that you probably never anticipated or really understood. Because if you know where you're starting, you know where you're going. It's kind of like, how do you get to a destination when you don't have kind of a starting point. I would love to hear your definition of what self awareness is.

Dan Dominguez  4:07  
That's a great question. Marisa, here's the way I look at it. You know, I think there's a lot of people out there who want to be better leaders, who want to do things better, or who are trying to improve themselves and the work that we do at why not leadership? When we work with the leader, we start with helping them understand themselves. All of us are driven by certain things. All of us have a why, and all of us have a how, and all of us have a what. So that's the main thing that I start with. What is your why? What is it that wakes you up in the morning. For me, it's making a difference. So I wake up every morning, and if I can make a positive impact on somebody, if I can make a difference in the life of a person that day, it's going to be a good day. So that's my why in everything I do, I'm looking to make a difference in the lives of others. My how, how I go about doing. That is by challenging the status quo, doing things differently, doing things that are outside the box, looking at things from a different perspective. So Marisa, if you and I were working together, I would introduce myself by saying, hey, Marisa, I'm here to make a difference for you. That's what's most important to me. So help me. Help you. What I would say is, how I'm going to do that, though, is by challenging you to do things different and outside the box. If you're comfortable with doing things that you haven't done before, if you're comfortable with looking at things from a different perspective, I'm going to be a good match for you. And then I have everybody has to have a what. And for me, my What is to make sense of things. So what I deliver, what people can count on from me, are solutions that make sense. I love helping people make sense of things, just even the concept of self awareness. I like helping people understand what self awareness is. So this is a process that I learned during my work at the Y Institute, where I spent four years as their Chief growth officer. I helped 1000s of people discover their why, their how and their what, and then I help them live into it and then apply it in their coaching practices or in their businesses, so they could attract the people that they could help most given the gifts that they had. Does that make sense?

Marisa Huston  6:13  
It makes total sense, and it's very clear there's a path towards it, and I think that's critical, because a lot of times we just look at the word why, and people have heard it before, and they're going, how obvious is that I know why I want to either put food on the table or I want to apply the skills that I enjoy applying in my daily life, but it's a lot deeper than that. Absolutely,

Dan Dominguez  6:38  
That's a great segue to talk about the whys that people have. Often, when I ask someone, well, what's your why, they'll show me a picture of their family. That's my why. That's why I do what I do. Or they'll show me a goal. You know, I want to lose 30 pounds. I've got a 30 year class reunion coming up, and I want to lose 30 pounds before that reunion. Or they'll have something tangible that they're aiming towards, and those are good temporary motivators, because guess what, Marisa, and I don't know how old you are, but I have a grown child. Kids grow up and they leave home, and if that's your why, what's your why when they leave or your business? A lot of people say my business is my why. Well, what happens when you sell it? What happens when you retire? What happens if your business goes broke and you don't have that business anymore? So what I like to work on is, hey, think of your why is your motivation what you would do regardless? And so when I look at my why of contribute, I do that whether I'm at work, whether I'm volunteering at my daughter's school as a track and cross country coach, I'm wanting to make a difference when I'm volunteering to help raise funds for the school. I want to make a difference when I'm a part of a board. I want to make a difference. That's what drives me, making a difference, doing things to help other people be better. And so that's my why, and that applies everywhere. So that applies to my family, applies to my work, it applies to my volunteer work, it applies to everything. And so that's important to figure that out, and that's one of the things that I love helping people figure out. And

Marisa Huston  8:09  
I'm really glad you shared that, because a classic example would be, let's say that your why is you want to play football, because you want to be a professional football player, and then one day, you play a game, and you get injured, and you're told you can never play again. Well, there's a lot of people that have experienced that exact thing, and they're lost because they have no further direction. They stopped with the football game. I want to be a football player, but then I hear story after story where they realize that they can contribute so much more if football is still on their minds and they can't let go of it, then they can become a football coach. They can write a book. They can counsel somebody else who wants to be in the game. There are so many ways to leverage things, but at the end of the day, it always goes back to what you said, which is that motivation, that drive that you have, that gets you up in the morning and gets you excited to contribute.

Dan Dominguez  9:07  
Exactly whatever your why is, right. So in the work that we do at my institute, that we've done for so many years, and that we continue to do, we discovered that there are nine whys, and everybody has one. So Marisa, yours, it could be different than mine. And from those nine whys, we also figure out your how and your what, if you'd like. I can share with you what the nine Whys are, and those of you that are listening think of people you know who might have this why. So I'll give them to you, and then we can talk about them. But all of them are different. All of them bring gifts. All of them are necessary. So the first one is contribute, which I already talked about. My why is to contribute, which means I want to make a difference. I want to contribute to the success of others in everything I do. That's the first thing that I look at. The second one is trust. So people with the why of trust. Believe that trust is the most important thing. So for them, if they trust you and you trust them, the sky is the limit, but they're also the people that if you violate their trust, the relationship can be over. And I'm sure you've met people like that. Very important, if we're dealing with someone who has that, why that? We don't let them down. And it's very important for them to let people know, hey, my Why is trust. You can do just about anything, but don't violate my trust, because that will have some very serious consequences, right? And

Marisa Huston  10:29  
I'm glad we're going through these nine because I'm excited to hear what they are, but at the same time, it's important to know these things, and the reason why is because if you tell people upfront what you're about, they understand how to play the game with you, and vice versa. 

Dan Dominguez 10:45
Yes.

Marisa Huston  10:46  
That clarity, that communication, respecting where people are coming from, also builds bonds.

Dan Dominguez  10:53  
Right.  So now we've gone through two the third one is make sense. So you've probably met people like this. Makes sense. People are people who are driven by solving problems. They can take in lots of information really quickly, process it and come up with solutions. So they like to make sense of things, and so they thrive where there's a lot of challenges. They thrive in solving problems. So those people wake up in the morning and they say, Ooh, what problem can I solve today? That's what drives them. That's their why. The fourth one is better way. These are people who love to make things better. In everything they do, they look at anything, they say, ah, we can do it better. I bet there's a better way to do that. You bring them an idea, and you say, Hey, I have an idea, Tom. And they say, You know what? That's a great idea. Let me show you how to make it better. So they're constant innovators. They take things that exist and find a way to improve them. And so they're great to have on the team, because they keep you from getting stale.

Marisa Huston  11:47  
And I love people like that, because it opens your eyes to other things, right? We just look at it and go, Okay, well, this is how I've always done it. So that's how you view it. And then somebody comes along and gives you an idea, and you're like, I never thought of that. It's just incredible. I love those types of people.

Dan Dominguez  12:03  
Yeah, you know, there's a challenge. They all have positives and they'll have negatives. The negative on this one is sometimes they make things better that don't need to be made better, right? Sometimes the person you're working with is very happy with the way things are, and they don't want you to change it. So it's very important to know that, hey, I'm not saying what you're doing is wrong. I'm just letting you know that there's a better way to do it so you don't have to take their advice. Always, they sometimes improve things that don't need to be improved.

Marisa Huston  12:30  
How about we replace the word better with there's a different way that we could consider because it's really just about looking at a different perspective

Dan Dominguez  12:40  
Absolutely well, I'm going to get to that one. The next one is right way. These are people that love to do things the right way. They follow the rules. There is no way you'll ever catch these people cutting corners, bending the rules. They are all about processes and systems. If there's not a process and a system in place, they'll create it. And they're really good at helping you create consistent, reliable results. And those are very important people in an organization. Guess what they do? They create the policies and procedures so you can create continuity with all those great ideas that your team has. They find a way to repeat them, right? So when you come up with a great process, they'll say, Huh, how do we continue to do that. That's the value that they bring. Now they tend to clash with better way people, because the better way people are saying, well, what if we could do it better? And the right way people are saying, we've got a process and a system, this is how we do it, right? But as long as you know that about each other, you can work together. You can know that, hey, Marisa is not trying to sabotage my program. The way she's wired is to look for better ways. So she's sharing her better ways. That doesn't mean I have to accept them, but we can look at it and if it's better, and if it can get us consistent, reliable results that right way, person will give in. So it's understanding that, hey, that's the gift that that person brings. And now we're going to get to the one you were talking about earlier. This is the person with the why of challenge. So these are people that love to challenge the status quo. They like to say, how can we do it different? How can we do it from a different perspective? How can we look at it in a different way? So the difference between better way and challenge, I have the how of Challenge. Challenge. People just want to do things different just to be different better way. People will do it different only if it's better. We know those challenge people. They're the visionaries. They're the people that come up with outside the box solutions that nobody could have thought of, people like Steve Jobs, people like Herb Kelleher that created Southwest Airlines, these people that said, Hey, let's do it different than anybody else is doing it, and they brought great ideas to the forefront that none of us had thought of. So their creativity is really important, and they do such a great job of working in that space. What we want to do with those people is we want to make sure we put them in the right seat. We want to make sure that we put them in a place where. They can be creative. Because you take somebody like that and you put them in a box, guess what? They'll wilt. They're not going to be happy because they're in a box and they feel constricted. You put them in a place where they can be creative and do things their own way, and they have freedom to move around, they will blossom. So very important to know that about them. So would

Marisa Huston  15:18  
You call these people idea people, their mind is moving in different directions. They're trying to look at things from different perspectives.

Dan Dominguez  15:26  
Yeah, I call better way people. And challenge people your creatives. If you're stuck, if you're feeling like you're in a rut, go to these people. They'll get you out of the rut before you know it, and they'll get you uncomfortable, right? These people are very comfortable being uncomfortable.

Marisa Huston  15:39  
Wow. This makes total sense. Okay, keep going.

Dan Dominguez  15:43  
So we've got three left. The next one is clarify. Clarify. People are people who are all about finding clarity. These are the people. When you talk to them, Marisa, when you ask them a question, they will come up with three or four more questions on top of your question. They want to make sure they're really clear about what you're saying. And they want to make sure they understand you clearly. They also want to make sure they're understood clearly. So they use a lot of examples analogies to make sure, and they'll often say, is that clear? Because they want to make sure they're communicating clearly. These are great people to have on a team. When you have a big decision to make, if it's a big decision. These are the people that are going to ask the questions that you might forget to ask. You. Want these people on your team, and you want to go to them when you've got big decisions to make, they'll say, Hey, have you thought of this? My wife's Why is clarified. I'm a ready fire aim guy. She's like, Wait a minute. What about this? What about this? What about this? And she'll ask all the questions that I'm like, Oh, I hadn't even thought of that, but good question. Let's answer that. Great. Why to have when you're looking for clarity? 

Marisa Huston  16:48  
Would that be an individual who looks a few steps ahead and wants to know, if we go in this direction, what are the ripple effects of that decision? So they're kind of looking at different things and how it impacts other areas before jumping in. Is that similar to what you're talking about?

Dan Dominguez  17:07  
Yeah, absolutely. They're excellent question askers. When I was incorporating, I was hiring people. I loved having one of these people on the interview team, because they're really good at asking next level questions, right? Every candidate that comes in for a job. They know how to answer the first question. Tell me about yourself, but they're the ones that would say, Okay, you mentioned that you skydive before. Why did you do it? Tell me what was it that you got out of skydiving? And then they would say something. And then most of us would let it go at that if we even went that deep, then they'll say, What about jumping out of planes was exciting for you. So they are really good at digging deep and asking those next level questions that are so important when we're trying to get to know someone. Number eight is mastery. People with the why of mastery are what I like to call lifelong learners. They like to learn things at a really deep level. So these are people that will get PhDs. You know, if they're passionate about a subject, they will learn everything they can about it. If you ask them about something they love, they will talk to you for an hour about it. You know what I'm talking about. They'll say, hey, so how long have you been gardening? Oh, and then they'll tell you about, you know, the soil types, and they'll tell you about the flowers and and the seasons and when's the best time to plant. Because they love learning things at a deep level. These are people that are one inch wide and 20 feet deep. They learn things at a deep level. How we use their gift is they make great subject matter experts. You know that if they're passionate about something, they're going to know it inside. Outside, you can go to them and they're going to know the answer. The challenge that they have is they never feel like they know enough. They always want to learn more. 

Marisa Huston  18:43  
Yeah, absolutely! And as you know, things change. No matter how good you are at something, there's always something to learn, right? 

Dan Dominguez  18:51  
Oh, absolutely. So these are the people that everybody around them is like, oh my gosh, go to Marisa. She's an expert at x Marisa, if her Y's master will say, Oh no, I still have so much to learn compared to everyone around you, you're like 99% better than everyone around you. You still don't feel you're good enough, because there's always more to learn. Great people to have constant search for knowledge. And the last one is simplify. So simplify is a great WHY. People with the why of simplify are all about making things simple. These are the people. When you talk to them as clients, you know you might have Marisa 10 step method to do something, and they're the ones that will say, okay, Marisa, that's too much. Give me three. I can only work on three things at a time. They email us in bullets. They use simple sentences. They're the people that probably came up with emoticons. You send them a long message all about asking them, and they'll say, Okay. Their communication is simple. Their gift is they can take things that are complex and make them simple and easy to understand. So they're great communicators. A great place for them in a company is having them be the people that take the big vision and make it simple and easy for everyone else to understand. They're very. Valuable in highly technical fields, because they'll take the stuff that's very technical and make it simple and easy to understand for the lay person.

Marisa Huston  20:07  
So you know this question is coming, right? I'm sure you've been asked this before. How do you deal with somebody who has multiple interests in these areas, so meaning they have talents, or they value more than one of these. There might be three or four that are really strong in them. Is that something that you run into? 

Dan Dominguez  20:29  
Oh, absolutely.  Remember, we all have a why, we all have a how, and we all have a what. If we go back to my introduction, my Why is contribute, my How is challenge and my what is make sense. Those are my why, operating system. Why I do what I do is to contribute. How I do it is by challenging the status quo and what I deliver solutions that make sense. But guess what? I also have a little bit of the other six. We all do. It makes sense that we all have a little bit of all of them. But your one, two and three make up your why, how and what? Those are the dominant ones. That's where you want to spend most of your time. So for example, for me, my number nine is right way, following the rules, doing things by the book. That is the last thing I want to do that drains my energy. Because I'm a challenger. I'm a person that likes to think outside the box. Do things differently. If you and I are working together on a project and you say, Dan, this is exactly how I want you to do this. These are the steps you have to follow, and don't you dare deviate from these steps. I want you to do this just like this. Every day. Come in here and do it just like that. I will do it because that's probably what's paying my bills, but I will find a new job as soon as I can, because I can't live in a place where I'm just doing repetitive I like different out of the box, so I need to challenge myself. I need to do things different. I need to be put in a place where you say, Hey, Dan, here's the job that needs to get done. I don't care how you do it, just get it done now I'm happy, because I can contribute to the success of the company by doing things my own way. And then I'll help you make sense of it, because you will come back as the boss, right? And say again, why did you do that? Let me help you make sense of it, boss. That's a gift that I have. I know how to challenge the status quo and do things different, but I also know how to explain it so people can understand it. That's my zone of genius. If I'm working in a place where I'm contributing, and I'm working in a place where I can do things different and outside the box, and I'm working in a place where I'm making sense of things. I have energy for that all day long. Yeah.

Marisa Huston  22:22  
And you know, what's funny is that sometimes the things that we think are great might not apply to somebody else, which is why you have to go back to this list. For example, when I had a team, I would do exactly what you said. I would meet with them at the beginning of the week and let them know what we need to accomplish. And then I would check with them on Friday and say, what have we done? And I really don't care what you did in between. I'm not going to micromanage you. I'm not going to check in on you. You know where we need to go. You're probably going to do it differently, and that's okay. I want to give you the flexibility to do what you need to do and go and because I didn't know how to communicate this part, what I found is there were certain people who didn't like it, and I never understood why. Because I'm going, I'm giving you freedom. What's wrong is because they needed more direction. They wanted me to feed them. 

Dan Dominguez 23:13
Yeah, they were probably right way people.

Marisa Huston 23:16
Yes, exactly. They wanted me to give them the steps. 

Dan Dominguez  23:19  
They wanted a system. It's so true, right? Because you get with those people and you're like, what's wrong? I'm giving you all the freedom. You can do whatever you want. And they're like, No, I need you to tell me what you want and how you want it done, right? Yes,

Marisa Huston  23:31  
And that's why it's so important to understand we're going back to the awareness. Oftentimes we see things through our own lens, and we think, Well, if I like this, everybody else is going to like it. And that is not the case. It's not even a right or wrong, because all of these points are important. But there are certain people with strengths and values that are different from yours, and so when you take the time to have that conversation and really understand it, that puts you in the best possible place.

Dan Dominguez  24:02  
No, exactly. So in the work that we do, we help leaders be self aware. So now that you know, and we'll use me as an example, let's say I'm working with someone, with my wife. We know that they're driven by contributing. We know that they're driven by challenging the status quo. We know that they're driven by making sense of things. Well, that's all great, but guess what? One of the things that I work on a lot is something I call the platinum rule. The Platinum Rule is different than the golden rule. The Golden Rule says, What? Treat others the way you want to be treated, right? The Platinum Rule says, treat others the way they want to be treated, right? So if I'm the leader and I like to contribute, I like to make a difference. I like to do things out of the box and different, and I like to make sense of things. That's all great for me, but my team could have a completely different combination of top threes, and I need to know what's important to them so I can maximize their gifts. What is it that they want? If I come to you, it could be we have the same iOS. It's very. Prepared, but there are y o, s twins out there. I have a few. But if I come to you, and I'm telling you all about, hey, if we do this together, Marisa, we're going to make a big difference for everybody, and it's going to be so different than anything one else is doing. And here's the problem that it fixes. Let's say your why is right way, and clarify and simplify. So you might say, well, that's a good idea, Dan, but how are we going to do it? And I'm gonna say, Well, I don't know, man, we'll just figure out as we go. And you're gonna say, no, what are the steps that we're going to do? And I'll say, I don't know. We'll figure it out as we go, because we're going to try it and it's going to be fun. And you're going to say, Well, okay, I need some clarity. I have some questions. And Dan, this isn't simple, right? That's never happened to me, right? So the important thing is to know. So now let's say you are right way, clarify, simplify. I'll take that same idea and I'll bring it to Marisa, and I'm going to say, hey, Marisa, I have an idea. And here are the steps that I think that we can take in order to implement it. I've looked at the way other people have done it, and here's a really clear and easy plan to do it so that we can make sure that it works and that our clients get results from it. Here are the clear steps that we'll take all seven of them, and here's how we'll make it simple. Now, if you're looking for right way clear and simple, that's going to appeal to you. And so I tell people, Look, I could still have a bad idea. Your idea could still be what we call stinky. So if it's a stinky idea, your boss or the person you're presenting it to may not like it, but the goal is to give that idea the best chance to be accepted by presenting it in the way that that person likes to hear it. 

Marisa Huston  26:41  
Yes, absolutely.  And that's why it's so important to have that communication, have that understanding. And these nine steps that we just went over, which are, contribute, trust, make sense, better way, right way, challenge, clarify, mastery and simplify. If we have this in front of us, it gives us that clarity to say, Okay, I have a starting point now I can use this as a communication tool, not only for myself, but for the people I work with. Now we understand how to play well together

Dan Dominguez  27:16  
Exactly, and so that's how it helps us exactly what you're saying. So we can play well, because we understand who we are. And I call it, it's how we're wired. And I spell it, W, H, Y, R, E, D, it's our why wiring. We're wired that way. I was working with the client. He's a founder and chief executive of a not for profit, and when we went through his results, his results were better way make sense contribute. And as he was going through it, and then he went home and shared them with his wife, and he said, Oh, there's so many things that I can see that I can change to be better. And I had to stop him, and I said, Hold on a second. This isn't about changing. This is about being who you are, just better, because now you know who you are. We can't change how we're wired, but what we can do is communicate better and work with others better by knowing our tendency. So somebody with a why a better way? Very creative, very innovative, always thinking of ways to improve. One of the challenges I have found when they're in a leadership role. Their people tend to feel like nothing they do is good enough. You could have been working on something for three days. You're working eight to five every day, putting a great presentation together for the boss, and he's a better way. And you bring it to him after perfecting it for three days. And the first thing he's going to say is, Marisa, this is really good. Let me show you how to make it better. And you hear that enough times you say, Gosh, nothing I do is ever good enough. Yes. So what you do is, and I'll tell you, because I worked with a better way guy for the better part of four years at why Institute, the founder, Gary Sanchez, and I, who is a really good friend of mine, he's a better way. You know? What I learned is I never finished anything before I brought it to him. I would get about 6050, 60% done with something, then I'd go show it to him, and guess what he did? So he would look at better ways, yeah, and he'd say, Oh, Dan, leave this with me, and I'll get it back to you perfect. Now I could go work on something else while he made that better. And then when he brought it back to me, then we'd go final with it. But I took advantage of his gift of making things better instead of being upset. Because at first I was like, gosh, nothing's good enough. Then I realized, no, that's how he's wired. Take stuff to him that you want made better, and he'll make it better. And if it's final, then make it final. Know that if you take it to him, he's going to tweak it, so don't take it to him.

Marisa Huston  29:39  
And you know, I just got to thinking about how valuable this conversation is, because now this is something not only that you can utilize for yourself, but when you're conversing with somebody that you meet or you work with, or whatnot, you can actually use this as a tool and a conversation piece that's ongoing. Because. Then you start to understand each other better, and then that clarity then makes it so that you can even work more harmoniously down the road,

Dan Dominguez  30:08  
Exactly. And so if you hire us to work with your team, our process is a simple, five step process, know yourself, and then we help you know your team, so understand the natural strengths of everybody on your team. Then we say, Okay, now know each other. Everyone understands how to leverage each other's natural synergies and minimize potential tension points. And then we say, now we're going to get to know the leader. So that's the four step. So it's know yourself, know your team, know each other. And then we say, know the leader, because now that they understand what drives the leader and how to communicate more effectively with him or her, then they can move forward faster. And then the last part, the fifth step, is no no limits, because when you know yourself, know your team, know each other and know your leader, there's no limit to what you can do together. 

Marisa Huston  30:51  
I can tell you right off the bat, I learned so much in this conversation, and I have no doubt the listeners today are going to feel the same way. Dan, given all this, how do people get to know more about you and the services that you offer? 

Dan Dominguez  31:06  
Thank you for that question. Marisa, right now we're in the fourth quarter. We're finishing up the year strong. A lot of companies, a lot of leaders, are doing their end of year retreats. So why not leadership put together a package that we're doing with our leaders, and we've got a few slots open still, but if you go to interest dot Why not leadership.com? You can learn more about our workshops that we're conducting and how they might be able to help your leader. And this is not a sale. Take a look at it. And if you want to learn more, there's a link in there so we can set up a 20 minute phone call. I'm on LinkedIn under Dan Dominguez, why not leadership? And if you really want to get to know us a little bit better, catch our podcast, the lead different podcast, where we interview leaders who have said, why not to leading different through the power of self awareness. And I interview a different leader every day. As a matter of fact, I'm going to be interviewing our good friend, Nico Santana, who premiering his episode, and he is a fantastic YouTube and social media Maximizer.

Marisa Huston  32:06  
I really appreciate it, and I encourage all our listeners today go check his podcast out, The Lead Different Podcast. You won't regret it. Dan, thank you for being here.

Dan Dominguez  32:16  
Thank you so much, Marisa for having me, and please reach out if there's anything I can ever do for you.

Outro  32:22  
That's a wrap for this episode of Live Blissed Out. Thanks to Dan Dominguez for joining us and thanks for listening. If you have a question or comment for a future episode, all you have to do is go to speakpipe.com/LBOVM, or click the link in the show notes to leave a brief audio message. If you find value in our show, please visit www.liveblissedout.com to reach out, subscribe and share on social media. This show is made possible through listeners like you. Thank you. So long for now and remember to keep moving forward!