[12 min] Building a Growth-Oriented Team with Leila Hormozi

Ever wonder what it's like to build a team that's as passionate about growth as you are?

These are the kind of people who don't just clock in for a paycheck; they're invested in the journey and ready to make a difference.

Lemme tell ya, those team members are out there. It just might take some extra effort to find them.

In this episode, Leila opens up about the process of hiring, building, and leading such a passionate team, especially when faced with challenges.

Click play to hear all of this and…

(00:00:41) How to find employees that are hardwired for growth.

(00:03:32) How being transparent online helped Leila find the best candidates who get excited about challenges.

(00:06:08) The process of leading a team through tough times, including transparency, setting expectations, and compensating employees.

(00:10:32) How to find people who are the right fit for your company.

For full show notes, visit:

https://jasminestar.com/podcast/episode422

Transcript

(00:00:01) - It's a. She.

Whitney Carmichael (00:00:16) - Have you ever wondered what the big industry leaders did to attract team members who truly care about the business and treat it as their own, in a good way? Hey there, I'm Whitney, content director for Jasmine star and social curator, and in this short espresso shot style of an episode, Jasmine and Laila Hermosa dive right in to hiring and leading a team of growth oriented people. Let's listen.

Jasmine Star (00:00:41) - What we're hearing from a builder is that in order to build, you must do simple things and you must attract the right person. How do you know that somebody is hardwired for growth? Like, how do you know that?

Leila Hormozi (00:00:50) - I think if somebody is excited about a challenge.

Jasmine Star (00:00:52) - And so how do you assess that when somebody is applying?

Leila Hormozi (00:00:54) - I present them with all the things that I want them to do. I don't hold it back. So I'd be like, this is what I need you to do, okay? This is an impossible job. I need you to come in here.

Leila Hormozi (00:01:01) - I need you to do all this. That's awful. And I need you to figure out how to build a team to do it in, like, three months. And they're like, that sounds amazing. They're, like, salivating over it. And I can tell because somebody, they will their voice will raise, they'll start talking high. They'll be excited. Somebody who's not growth oriented. And they tend to, you know, like get to uncomfortable. Like probably levels of anxiety at that kind of thought is like they'll be like, oh, well, I mean like, how long do you want me to run the thing? And how long do you know? Good. You're looking they're looking for an end date versus the other person is like, this is what I'm built for, you know what I mean? And it's like, I think that some people you have to look at like, what do they value in themselves? You know what I mean? Like, I look for people who value the the fact that they can work really hard for long periods of time and like, they pride themselves upon that because that's what I do.

Leila Hormozi (00:01:48) - Right? And so I know that I need people like that around me to help build this thing versus there's people that don't. They're like, I mean, I had a call with somebody and I was like, here's what I need to do all these things. And it was somebody that wasn't Caleb, it was somebody else for that position. And they were like, well, like, I have to be really frank. Like I'm like, I am done at 5:00, like I can't like. And I was like, oh, I was like, dude, that's totally fine. But like, we can't work together like, that is acceptable, right? But not here. Right. And like I make that super clear. I'm like, that's not like good luck finding a startup that does do that. And or at least you may find one, but I doubt they will grow. Right. And so it's like at least if it's bootstrapped, right? VC money, it's a different thing. Like a bootstrapped startup business.

Leila Hormozi (00:02:23) - Like you need people like that. And oftentimes the most disgruntled employees and like the worst experiences come from the employer or like the CEO entrepreneur not understanding what kind of people they need and hiring button pushers and people that are there to clock in and clock out, rather than people who are like, willing to like, bleed and die by the company. And then the employees not understanding the difference between a startup and a corporation. And so they apply for a startup thinking like, this is gonna be fun. I have more influence on, well, what's the cost of the fun and influence? The cost is that you've got to work your ass off. Now, in neither situation is any person being forced to do anything. This is an opt in. You're not a prisoner to the company. So it's like some people say, oh, they made me work. I'm like, you took the job. If you're at a startup and you're like, complaining about how much you're working, I'm like, then go work at a big corporation, but you don't have the freedom.

Leila Hormozi (00:03:08) - So it's like, what's the cost of freedom? It's like most entrepreneurs will work all day to not have to work all day, and most of the people on the team will work a lot longer to not have the stringent rules and the red tape that big corporations bring. So there's always a cost, you know what I mean? And do you think that your.

Jasmine Star (00:03:22) - Content kind of like puts up the safeguards around like you're attracting people who kind of subscribed to that philosophy? Or do you think that you do a lot of it, like in the job applications, in onboarding, or is it like you're applying because, you know.

Leila Hormozi (00:03:32) - All of it is everywhere we are. So we repeat my favorite thing is when it comes to the end, I'm like, what questions do you have about the job? Where are you lacking clarity? And they're like, honestly, I get it. They're like, I watched all your content, watch all of Alex's content. I went through the whole process and like everyone is very congruent.

Leila Hormozi (00:03:48) - They all say the same things, and what they all repeat is they tell me that they're like, you guys all talk about the values. They're like, you guys talk about the values in every interview and you all say them multiple times. Competitive greatness, sincere candor, unimpeachable character, competitive greatness is the biggest filter because competitive greatness is the love of a hard challenge. And that's what I want on this team. That's what we need to accomplish our goals. Now, does that mean that I've created a hostile work environment where people are being pushed to work too long? If the people that I hire like that kind of work, the answer is no. If I hire the wrong people, then yes, they'll feel that way.

Jasmine Star (00:04:18) - So okay, so can I read something on that note? Yeah. Okay. So when you talk about attracting the right people and if I created a hostile work environment, it's not whether or not that was in fact the case, it was whether or not you hired the right person, I think.

Leila Hormozi (00:04:34) - So it's all about expectations okay.

Jasmine Star (00:04:36) - So I'm going to read something. What most people don't know about Lila is how generous she is with her team in how much she cares. She constantly finds a way to show kindness to others, and it's just a part of who she is. For example, my husband took a job recently and he's going to be traveling on the road. I'd post on Instagram how my kids were having a hard time. Next thing I know, I had donuts at my doorstep to cheer my kids. If someone is sick, she sends him soup. If someone is celebrating anniversary, she sends him a gift card for dinner. She randomly sends people thoughtful gifts. She doesn't have to do this, but it's who she is. She genuinely cares about others. She's truly an amazing human, and I'm thankful every day of being on her team. That was from oh, that was from Yasmine. Yeah, yeah. And so for those of you who are not familiar, I've always been familiar because I watched videos and how you accidentally missed a meeting and you had scheduled your own meeting and you went on stories and be like, I'm so sorry I missed a meeting.

Jasmine Star (00:05:28) - It's because Yasmin didn't schedule it for me. That's why I don't get to. When I reach out to you on Instagram, I'm like, I'm doing Vegas. Can we do this podcast with you? You're like, talk to Yasmin. And so I got I got the ins and she I asked her a question. She's like, I don't. Normally answer like this, but I said, I really want to showcase a different side of how you approach people and how you build teams. And so there was a time where you had launched Jim Launch, and you guys are going through Covid. And in one of your videos, you talked about the time that you told your team that for a period of time that everyone had to work nights and weekends to ensure your customers and your company got through it. What was that process like, asking the team to do that? And then how did you feel as a leader?

Leila Hormozi (00:06:08) - I think I was really lucky because I had read a book by Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, and he talked about, you know, essentially, you have to let your team know when things are tough, like you have to be transparent.

Leila Hormozi (00:06:21) - And it's not that like hiding. It does no good for them. And I've never been a hider. You know, I probably I try to appear very composed to people. I think anyone on social media can probably see that because I practiced enough with my company., but, you know, he talked about, like, we have to be in it together. And the only way, if you read about companies that can come out of a hard time, the only way that they're able to do it is like complete transparency and then complete honesty. And so I told them where we were at financially. I have I always in every company share all the financials. So I was like, you see the financials?

Jasmine Star (00:06:48) - Wait a minute. Okay. Whoa, whoa. Okay. How much of the financials like how detailed are the finances?

Leila Hormozi (00:06:54) - So anyone in a leadership position, they get the full PNL, all the itemized breakdowns. Okay, the rest of the company gets the high level like revenue, profit loss, like that kind of stuff.

Leila Hormozi (00:07:04) - Got it. The only reason I don't for the whole company is it is I did at one point, and it's very hard for people to understand. Right, if they're not educated on how to read one. And so it just causes a little more confusion.

Jasmine Star (00:07:12) - Thank you for that clarity. That was great. Okay, cool.

Leila Hormozi (00:07:14) - So the hard thing.

Jasmine Star (00:07:15) - The hard things.

Leila Hormozi (00:07:15) - Yeah. The hard thing about hard things and ask myself like what kind of company do we want to be? Do we want how could we use this as an opportunity to be a stronger company on the other side? And I'm like the only way. And if you look, I'll give you an example, right. People that go to war together, like comrades in arms, come out and like they are closer and they stay connected for the rest of their lives because they went through something hard together. Right. And I thought to myself, like, that's like kind of how it feels right now with this. Like, it's like our industry is hit harder than it's us in restaurants.

Leila Hormozi (00:07:44) - And but I was like, this team can come out stronger on the other side. I was like, so I want that for us. Here's what this looks like. Like we all have to work nights and weekends. Not because like anyone's lacking, but because if like, we all feed Jim launch, it's not just me and Alex feeding Jim. It's every one of us putting in the effort to feed this company. Right now, it's too small or it's too big for it to just be like a few people or the leaders like, working their asses off. It needs to be the whole team. And so I explained that to them. I explained, like, these are different circumstances. Different times were in wartime, were not in peacetime. So here's what wartime looks like. Here's the difference between wartime peacetime. And I explained to them to that and that I got from the book a Hard Thing about hard Things. I broke down. Here's all the things we're going to do differently. Here's the new expectations.

Leila Hormozi (00:08:25) - I have everyone on the team. But I promise you, if we get through this, like everyone will be compensated for it. And that's what we did do is like, the one thing that I didn't skimp out on was making sure that the people that stuck it out, that stood out, sticking out, that, you know, like, stood it out with us and like really committed themselves, which was mostly everybody. Like we made sure that they were paid well. They were compensated for it, that we, you know, again, like go above and beyond sending gifts, doing things like investing in them, giving them bonuses. Like, I speak a lot about the hard stuff, but I cared deeply about everyone on my team, and I cared deeply about people. And the only reason that I hold people to high standards and I am hard on people, is because I care about them. Because if you really care about somebody and you want them to be as good as you are, do you expect to do that? Putting them in different circumstances? No.

Leila Hormozi (00:09:14) - They have to go through the same hardships you've gone through to become the kind of person. So if somebody joins my team and says, I want to be good at business, like you and Alex, they're not going to get that way with me protecting them, right? You know what I mean?

Jasmine Star (00:09:25) - Yeah, 100%. So are you doing this in person or you guys do it and it's probably in zoom, right? Like like we're back in big zoom. Okay. Yeah. And what's going on? What are the faces? What are the vibes like? How do you feel? Like you press and meeting and then where's your head at? Like what's the story there?

Leila Hormozi (00:09:42) - I got feedback on the meeting. So okay. They were hyped. They were like,.

Jasmine Star (00:09:48) - Okay.

Leila Hormozi (00:09:48) - And that's because they're the right people for the team. Like I knew I was like, we have the right people, you know what I mean? Like, they get it grow or dies. One of our core tenets, they're like, you don't attract people that are like me, like, like tiptoeing around work.

Leila Hormozi (00:10:01) - Like a lot of other stuff, like grow or die is like people are fully invested. They're super bought into the mission. And we had a great culture. And so they were all like, I got you. I would go to war for you guys. I would do I mean, like, they were so supportive and like the reason that company is where it is now, which is like growing and thriving and doing so well is because of that. Like, I am 1,000% positive because everyone's really, like stepped up.

Jasmine Star (00:10:22) - So you had said most of the people made it through the pandemic and the benefits. There was a subset of people who did not. Was there a common theme of the people who just were just like, I think I'm good. Yeah.

Leila Hormozi (00:10:32) - And, you know, I respect them for it. There were some people that left because their priority was not work, it was their family and they were prioritizing. And that's where seasons of life are very interesting. So someone can be very growth oriented, but it might be that all their growth is going into a different area of their life.

Leila Hormozi (00:10:48) - And that.

Jasmine Star (00:10:48) - Is amazing.

Leila Hormozi (00:10:49) - Totally understandable. Like, right, totally get it. And there are sometimes some roles in companies that are small startups that are fitted for people, like in that area of their life where they're like, I can't fully but like I'll check in and do an awesome job, but like, I'm out at 4 or 5 and I think anyone that was in that phase was like, hey, I've got small kids at home, I've got to do that. And I was like, totally respect that. Like, I. Get it. We just need extra.

Jasmine Star (00:11:10) - Okay, so we're at that point we talked about being real and authentic and you got feedback on the team meeting. So after the feedback on the team meeting you close the zoom. And then where's your head at.

Leila Hormozi (00:11:22) - I think I felt relief. I tend to always think that I'm okay. Like, Alex knows this. Like I'm pretty insecure in the sense of like, I do all the things, but like, I'm like, oh, they probably think I'm awful.

Leila Hormozi (00:11:32) - They probably think I'm a terrible CEO. Like, my mind totally goes there. And then seeing the slack being like blowing up with like, let's do this, let's go. We're going to crush everybody, eat all our competitors. I was like, oh, it's just like relieving to feel like you have that kind of support, you know what I mean?

Whitney Carmichael (00:11:48) - Well welcome back. We hope you enjoyed this episode and apply one thing that you've learned in your business. Thanks for listening to The Jasmine Star Show.