How to Connect Sports & Business - Tanvir Bhangoo

Tanvir Bhangoo sits at the intersection of Technology, People, and Execution; unpacking the world of digital transformations through the pillars of leadership and culture, enabling leaders and teams to boost organizational performance and tackle change.

Formerly, the VP of Tech at Freshii and at Director at RBI (3G Capital – Burger King, Tim Hortons, Popeyes) Tanvir has led end to end digital transformations, like me - and so I was eager to connect with another accomplished leader in this space. 

He’s also a former college football player and that certainly influences how he approaches transformation on many levels. A relentless focus on building team culture, the importance of training and leadership. 

This episode gave us a unique opportunity to discuss two topics that I’ve been fascinated in of-late. Drawing inspiration from business, I’ve spoken with many national and Olympic-level athletes to better understand what we can learn from their experiences and apply in the business world.

We’re in the 4th industrial revolution - one highlighted by the exponential growth of knowledge workers. How to attract, develop, engage and retain key people is an industry in the billions. Largely because we’ve applied tired, legacy thinking to the problem.

Take the concept of rest. Any accomplished athlete will tell you that rest is an essential part of their training regimen. That mastering intentional rest and recovery can be the difference between winning and losing. So what then of our glamourized hustle culture that encourages people to work harder, longer and faster. What of our perpetually connected world where digital fatigue is at record levels?

It’s one topic of many that we dig into over our nearly hour-long chat. And i hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. 

So without future ado,,,

Tanvir Bhangoo

Tanvir firmly believes that culture, leadership, and adaptability are the keys to thriving in a digital future where uncertainty, tech commoditization, and AI is on the rise. Resilient teams, able to reimagine business models and disrupt themselves.

He has worked with top F500 firms and global brands, turbocharging their digital journeys in disruptive environments.

He also produces his top rated weekly podcast, where he interviews F1000 executives and former athletes (NFL, MLB, Olympians, and others) turned executives on building strong cultures in uncertain, changing environments.

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Thinking Inside the Box

Constraints drive innovation. Each week we’ll tackle the most complex issues related to work & culture.

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Matt Burns

Matt Burns is an award-winning executive, social entrepreneur and speaker. He believes in the power of community, simplicity & technology.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Guest 1: [00:00:00] People think you do training campus to get in shape. The only reason a training camp exists is [00:00:10] for the team to come together and buy in to the vision, because there's something about a hardship that brings a team together to the ultimate goal that when you're. Through the other [00:00:20] side of a hardship. It doesn't matter what comes your way.

You're like, you know what? We'll be able to handle this. We can get through it.

[00:00:30] Matt: [00:00:37] Constraints, drive innovation. [00:00:40] Hey everyone. It's Matt here for another episode of thinking inside the box, a show where we discuss complex issues related to work. And culture. If you're [00:00:50] interested in checking out our other content, you can find us at bento, hr.com, wherever you find your favorite podcasts by searching, thinking inside the box.

And [00:01:00] now in virtual reality, each Thursday at 5:00 PM Pacific standard time. Altspace VR in today's episode, I chat with [00:01:10] Tanveer Ben goo. Tanveer sits at the intersection of technology, people and execution unpacking the world of digital transformations through the pillars of [00:01:20] leadership and culture, enabling leaders and teams to boost organizational performance and tackle change.

Formerly the VP of tech at [00:01:30] Freshie and a director at RBI, which includes brands such as 3g, capital burger king, Tim Horton's Popeye's 10 veer has led [00:01:40] end to end digital transformations like myself. And so I was eager to connect with another professional and accomplished leader in this space. He's also a former [00:01:50] college football player and that's certainly influences how he approaches transformation on many levels.

Our relentless focus on building team culture, the importance of [00:02:00] training, and of course, leadership. This episode gave us a unique opportunity to discuss a couple of topics that I've been fascinated of. [00:02:10] Lately. First drawing information from business, I've spoken with many national and Olympic level athletes to better understand what [00:02:20] we can learn from their experiences and apply it in the business world.

Folks we're in the fourth industrial revolution, one highlighted by the exponential [00:02:30] growth of knowledge workers, how to attract, develop, engage, and retain key people as an industry that totals in the billions of dollars, [00:02:40] largely because we've applied tired legacy thinking to the problem, the problem itself hasn't really been fully addressed.

Take the concept [00:02:50] of rest. Any accomplished athlete will tell you that rest is an essential part of their training regimen that mastering intentional rest and [00:03:00] recovery can be the difference between winning and losing or worse and injury. So what then of our glamorized hustle? [00:03:10] Sure. That encourages people to work harder, longer and faster.

One of our protect perpetually connected world where digital fatigue is at record levels. [00:03:20] It's a sliver of what, 10 veer. And I talk about over the course of our nearly hour long conversation, and I had a great chat. So I hope you enjoy as much as I did [00:03:30] without further ado. Ben goo. Tanveer uh, I managed to remember to hit the record button that is a win already in this podcast.

Um, it's [00:03:40] always the first hurdle you have to accomplish. I'm looking forward to today's conversation. Uh, I think before we get into it, let's hear a bit about who Tanveer is your background, your experiences, and 

Guest 1: [00:03:48] what you're all about. I totally agree to be [00:03:50] on the podcast, Matt. Um, so. I am currently, I'm a keynote speaker, a consultant, and also upcoming author.

And my background [00:04:00] is a former college football player played at McMaster and then spent, um, a few years in the tech, uh, tech side of things at restaurant brands [00:04:10] international, which is Tim Horton, burger king and Popeye's. And then after that, as VP of tech at Freshie, and then, uh, most recently on my own business known as TBX digital.

[00:04:20] And, 

Matt: [00:04:20] uh, here I am. You're a busy man and I love, as I mentioned to you off air, I love talking to other digital transformation consultants. [00:04:30] It is such an umbrella catch all term, especially in this pandemic era. Uh, and I really value different perspectives and different, [00:04:40] um, concentrations, because as you, as you know, very well, you can focus on digital transformation in infinite number of ways and how people sequence up different activities and where they spend their time and [00:04:50] where their unique gifts are.

I think is a really key piece. I would love to hear first from that perspective, how your previous experiences, either academically, professionally, or athletically [00:05:00] inform your approach to business life, digital transformation, any 

Guest 1: [00:05:06] of the above? Yeah, I think first to, to your earlier point, Matt, [00:05:10] um, digital transformation, you know, anytime I ask a client or.

Former executives I've worked with. What does digital transformation mean for you? Everyone gives a different answer. [00:05:20] So it's a huge term. Um, you know, it can range from what technology to a project, to a way of doing things. So I think we'll get into that later, [00:05:30] but, uh, from, you know, what really influences my, my business and digital transformation work today is, is a combination of two things.

I would say the first one or the, the [00:05:40] biggest one is sports. So. I did play five years at McMaster was part of the, uh, well, you're from Vancouver. It's part of the team that won the [00:05:50] Vanier cup at BC place back in 2011. So we were there. It wasn't until I left a lot of, uh, or many years later, I realized [00:06:00] that, well, why can't businesses and why can't companies.

When, like a football team, you know, why are these fortune 500, these huge [00:06:10] companies that we're working with? Why are we. As employees and managers and leaders that have an unlimited amount of resources, uh, unlimited amount of [00:06:20] money, uh, all the, the support you need, why are they still not winning and why are employees not happy?

And it wasn't until, um, I started doing [00:06:30] some of the digital transformation work that I realized the problem. And the problem was that when nobody's focusing on B foundations, Nobody's focusing on the [00:06:40] culture piece or the people piece. So, you know, to a lot of the stuff that I'm doing, where I was doing, if I ever lead a or Emma leading, I am leading projects, it's really [00:06:50] around.

How do you get a team together, focused on the mission. And then how do you get the team buying into the vision? And how do you execute on that together? [00:07:00] Regardless if it's technology, if it's a project, if it's a two day task or if it's a three-year project or three-year initiative. So a lot of the big influences [00:07:10] is, is the support for the football side, being that it's all about the foundations, the people and the culture you can build.

Or you 

Matt: [00:07:16] couldn't be more, right? I mean, I learned this the hard way [00:07:20] being part of large multinational corporations, and I was exceptionally lucky and blessed to work with some really inspirational and thoughtful leaders [00:07:30] who, when I was young and up and coming, I had a lot of ego and I had a lot of enthusiasm and ambition.

And I felt that in a lot of ways, if you had the best [00:07:40] idea or you had a well-crafted thoughtful business case, that that would be a predictor of success. I, of course, as you well know, you know, that that is very little of [00:07:50] the actual equation for success. The majority of transformations fail, not because of the technology, not because of the budget, not because of the timeline, but because of a lack of alignment with their [00:08:00] people.

And it starts at the very beginning stages of the transformational project. You know, when you think about transformation, it's a really a fancy corporate, $10 [00:08:10] word that talks to change. And most of us. I don't like to do it. Um, and you know, you mentioned in the context of athletics, I think one thing that athletics does exceptionally [00:08:20] well is it makes it drives and reinforces the point through the entire time your team is that we're all pulling on the same rope.

We're all working towards the same goal. And [00:08:30] we all have a role to play to achieve that, that. You know, um, if you will collective success, I'm curious how you think, how that translates into the corporate world when you're concerned. 

[00:08:40] Guest 1: [00:08:40] Absolutely. You know, one of the chapters in my upcoming book, Matt is, uh, or the main chapter actually number one is called the system.

Buy-in right. And this is the number one thing that I've [00:08:50] seen work. Uh, when I've led projects or work, when I was in the football team wa and also other great executives that have done great things [00:09:00] is about getting the teams and the people bought into the ultimate goal. So for example, As TB analogy of, of a football team [00:09:10] that is going into a new season.

Um, you know, there's a reason why people think that training camp exists training camp is for those of you, uh, or [00:09:20] those of the people listening that might not really follow football or hockey is when you have two to three weeks of practice where you have. Well more than the players that you actually need on the team, [00:09:30] but it's a gruesome experience.

It's like, you know, you're doing two a day practices. You have meetings back to back. Um, you're being conditioning work. You're hitting each other every single day. You're bruised [00:09:40] up, you're getting hurt and it's, it's literally like, fuck I'm, you know, bringing through a fire hose and. You are back to back and, uh, for two to three weeks now, [00:09:50] people think the reason you do training campus to get in shape, which is, it looks like the right answer from far, but actually when you actually are playing or a part of [00:10:00] the training camp, there's, there's no, that's not the main goal because the teams have already conditioned themselves.

They've already been working out for the past six months. They've already been [00:10:10] studying in the off season. The only reason it training camp exists is for the team to come together and buy in to the vision. Because there's [00:10:20] something about a hardship that brings a team together to the ultimate goal, that when you're through the other side of a hardship, it doesn't matter what comes your way.

You're like, you know what, we'll [00:10:30] be able to handle this. We can get through it. So very similarly in a corporate environment, the thing that I believe we're missing and we need to do better is getting. [00:10:40] People bought in before even thinking about the transformation. So I think that is the most important piece.

It's a system. Buy-in, that's what I call it. I 

Matt: [00:10:49] can speak from personal [00:10:50] experience that when you show up to a sports, uh, training camp and you're not in shape that that's not going to be a good camp. And like, you're not going to last very long. You're not going to lie. No. [00:11:00] Yeah, two days and among other things, um, if you don't take your, your, you know, the gone are the days where you could, you know, essentially mail it in during the off season now it's, it's a 20 [00:11:10] it's 12 months, a year type of an exhibition.

Um, and then a master, you have your studies on top of that as well, and probably employment and working. So it's it's it's you got a full plate. Um, Yeah, I love what [00:11:20] you said there. I think you're, you're spot on, uh, you know, I think from a, from an alignment perspective and understanding where you're going as an organization, directionally is [00:11:30] critical.

Even more critical is bringing people with you on that journey and using those opportunities, those rituals that you create, and they can, they can be in, in a number of different modalities in, in today's. [00:11:40] Pandemic culture that populates like a zoom call, but you can create different opportunities for your organization to come together to understand where we are headed as a group.

And then a really [00:11:50] key piece to that is to provide vehicles for people to give feedback, um, to challenge ideas, um, to test and learn and grow, uh, to work on their [00:12:00] own craft in service, to helping the broader picture and. And w I think that's, it's absolutely a critical part of a transformation is having that.

I'll call it [00:12:10] the agile approach to transformation. I remember, you know, 10 years ago, 15 years ago when we started, I started this industry. Um, you know, it was, it was not uncommon for an [00:12:20] HR department and frankly, for that matter, any functional department to apply a waterfall style of approach. And for those who are unfamiliar with it, That differentiation in a waterfall style approach.

It looks a lot like [00:12:30] working behind the curtain and secrecy, working in isolation, working to build to perfection. And then you, at some point in that life cycle of the project, [00:12:40] you do this big, ta-da this big reveal you drop in the organization and you hope that it works. Uh, and agile approach is much more intuitive.

You bake [00:12:50] experimentation and iteration and piloting into your model up front, you expect to fail, expect, fail, to learn. It is allows for among other things, a faster [00:13:00] change cycle and allows for a more, uh, if you will, iterative and evolving approach to whatever you're trying to fix. And. To [00:13:10] me, it speaks a lot to bringing things back to our sports analogy.

It speaks to in a lot of ways training camp and then the pre-season, and then even the regular season for the teams that are going to have the most [00:13:20] success. They're all building blocks for the playoffs and ultimately in their pursuit of a championship and the teams that are the strongest and to have the.

Best success over the term, our teams that [00:13:30] slowly build over the course of the season and they peak right at the right time. Um, so that when they have their best performance is when the stakes are the highest. Yeah. 

Guest 1: [00:13:39] It's uh, I [00:13:40] think you couldn't have said any better. They're mad. It's about, I think two things, right.

That come to mind. Number one, it's about consistent execution. And when I say [00:13:50] consistent, it means, you know, there are teams that'll show you sparks of greatness. But if you can't be relied on, if you're not doing stuff consistently where you're showing [00:14:00] up to, let's say another sports analogy showing up to meetings on time, showing up to practice every single day, showing up to film review every single day, whether or not you want, or you've [00:14:10] lost the amount of work and dedication is exact same.

Whether it's a game number one or game number 10. Um, that's the most important thing is consistent [00:14:20] execution. What happens. And the digital transformation for example, is we'll have amazing product plan or, you know, hopefully it's an agile project plan and everything looks great on paper, but once you [00:14:30] start executing things fall apart because nobody wants to put in the work to show up every single day and make sure the tasks are being done.

[00:14:40] Hold people accountable, uh, which brings to a second point. Which is accountability, because for some reason we, um, you know, we lack [00:14:50] accountability in the corporate side and because either there isn't the trust, uh, that's you know, that we need in the corporate center, number two, there really isn't the rituals or [00:15:00] the routines or processes in place to enable that kind of execution, which I think is what you need every single week to, as you said, by week number 10, be [00:15:10] in amazing form.

So you're speaking. Right 

Matt: [00:15:12] before the playoffs, this topic of corporate athlete isn't is not a new topic. I remember reading articles as far back as the nineties, and there's this, [00:15:20] of course, many people who listen to this podcast have read the HBR article from the nineties, talking to the corporate athlete and some of those principles of bringing athletics over to business.

I think this [00:15:30] pandemic provides another inflection point as we consider that we're now down the path of the fourth industrial revolution. We are very much for the majority of us in a knowledge-based economy and. We [00:15:40] really in the industrial economy in particular last call it 20 years. Really didn't iterate approach a lot as it pertained to how we worked with [00:15:50] thought of valued, supported, nurtured talent.

And as we go forward, I think it's time and it's an appropriate time to rekindle the conversation around [00:16:00] corporate athlete. And I think I'd love your thoughts. 10 veer on a couple of different points. As I see the corporate athlete, if you will, of the 21st century. I think the first thing that for me stands out [00:16:10] is this idea that rest, if you speak to any high performing athlete at the college level, the university level, the professional level, the Olympic level, they will tell you [00:16:20] that their, um, training regimen includes all of the functional exercises that include.

That are specific to their sport. It [00:16:30] includes an element of psychological training, whether it's visioning, whether it's mindfulness, but there's a level of, of psychology in it, built into it as well. And then [00:16:40] third is rest that those three components are really underpin any. Holistic and thoughtful training regimen in addition to things like [00:16:50] diet.

Um, and in addition to other types of functional training, but there's this, when it comes to the corporate world, we, we get the work part relatively [00:17:00] well. We fall short when it comes to looking at the whole person and we don't talk enough about. Psychology in the workplace. I have, I have some [00:17:10] optimism that's starting to, but I think we have a long way to go.

And in particular, I'd love your thoughts on rest. I mean, the reality is there's no human being that can keep up a, [00:17:20] a 10 out of 10 pace. In perpetuity, all of us need time to, to reflect, refresh, to relax, to recuperate. Um, and I'm curious how you're thinking [00:17:30] about the concept of rest for the corporate athlete in the 21st century.

Guest 1: [00:17:33] Yeah, I think the problem Matt starts with we are moving faster than we can adapt, right. It all starts. I [00:17:40] always talk about how the consumer demands are. What's driving. The the business side, but I think here that business demands are much faster than what we've [00:17:50] given ourselves. Time to stop and think because literally since March, 2020, we haven't been, we haven't had a time to stop and think about this.

So what I think is happening [00:18:00] is back before the pandemic or even, you know, 10, 20 years ago work was work. Which meant that after your eight hours or nine hours, years, and we emailed, there was no phone, [00:18:10] you go home and you're responsible to rest and take care of your wellbeing. Now what's happened is you've got businesses that are, um, [00:18:20] fast paced, which means, you know, a big reason for that is actual disruption because now you've got to.

You know, fend off the Googles and the Amazons of the world. And what's happening is [00:18:30] with this disruption. We are now all working around the clock and then with the pandemic, it's actually even worse. So you actually got more time that you have to work, but [00:18:40] also from a psychological standpoint and your work is your home.

So we have only thought about work, but the environment that we're in. L [00:18:50] needs us to rethink about the rest and the psychological piece of that as well. So that is the driver of this. I think we're just moving so fast that we haven't thought about this, but [00:19:00] that being said personally, playing sports. Um, and you're absolutely right there, Matt, our coach, you, we should get a, a huge book every single year, a [00:19:10] book, every single, I would say every December, right after the season ended, that was our workout plan for the next eight months.

And that book. Was one-third a workout. [00:19:20] One-third psychological wellbeing and one-third rest. 

Matt: [00:19:25] Hey everyone. It's Matt here, and I hope you're enjoying today's discussion [00:19:30] before we continue. I wanted to make you aware of our latest creative project, HR in VR, every Thursday at 5:00 PM. Pacific standard [00:19:40] time.

All connect with technology pioneers, business executives from the world's most iconic brands and industry thought leaders to discuss the future of immersive [00:19:50] technologies like virtual reality. And their impact on future workplaces. In partnership with Microsoft we're broadcasting each episode on LinkedIn live [00:20:00] and in front of a live studio audience in Altspace.

Joining is easy for LinkedIn users. Simply follow my account, Matt in VR [00:20:10] and stay tuned Thursdays at 5:00 PM. Pacific standard time for the LinkedIn live stream. Or for a truly immersive live experience, visit [00:20:20] alt vr.com to download Altspace on your Mac, PC or VR headset, and join us live in our studio audience.

[00:20:30] There you'll have a chance to ask questions, meet me and our incredible guests and connect with others from the comfort of your own home. This is the future folks. [00:20:40] And I hope to be part of it. And I'll link the details for HR and VR, along with all other relevant information in the show notes of this podcast.

[00:20:50] And now back to our discussion.

Guest 1: [00:20:56] So if, if a sports team that you know, you're, [00:21:00] everybody's watching on TV is always running around doing great things. If the sports team actually has one third, or you can call it two-thirds of their time [00:21:10] spent not working out. Then there is something to it. You know, there's a reason why the great athletes actually do that.

So I think in a business standpoint, if we [00:21:20] just work, work and work, and there's a lot of D data and research behind this, we actually make. Bad decisions. We actually are less productive after I [00:21:30] believe 45 hours a week. So it's almost better not to do any work because the work that we're doing is actually so bad that is actually counterproductive to the business.

[00:21:40] So we've got to find a way to either make better decisions. Um, make fewer decisions or have better processes in place so that we're only doing the work that actually [00:21:50] matters because I also believe that we are all trying to do a lot of things, but many of us are doing things that don't matter and [00:22:00] constantly am reminding or was reminding my team.

I even my team now. So they guys don't only do the things that are going to get us the ROI that we need. Everything else does not have to happen. So I would [00:22:10] say that is a huge proponent of that as well. 

Matt: [00:22:12] Matt, isn't it ironic that as consumers, we want the new stuff, like faster, more, better, but as employees, we want things just to go slow [00:22:20] as possible.

It's one of those great dichotomies of the human existence. Um, and I, I worked a lot of my years in retail and I always was like, As consumers, we want things to go fast, but as [00:22:30] employees, we want things to go slow. And I think people thought I was a little bit off the wall then I probably was. Um, I also think you've raised a really good point and I like, you tend to your, I [00:22:40] default to systems.

I have a mind for just, I love to get at root cause because to be my mind likes to find shortcuts. I like to synthesize large sums of [00:22:50] information. And I like to do the couple of things that have the most amount of impact. And, you know, you speak to, um, you know, the idea of, you know, productivity, [00:23:00] really not being there after 45 hours a week.

I think it stems in this case. One of the, one of the contributing factors to it is we still, we go back to our, our legacy industrial in [00:23:10] economy, way of thinking we valued inputs. More than outputs. Um, we valued the people who spend 60 hours a week in the [00:23:20] office because they were fully dedicated and the person leaving at five o'clock to go to their child's dance recital with somebody who didn't have the commitment, didn't really matter the contribution to the firm.

Um, [00:23:30] and to your point, the science is clear that after a certain hours threshold, you're really not contributing what, like you could be. Um, I agree with you. It's one of the reasons why the tagline of this. Podcast is [00:23:40] constraints. Drive innovation. If we put blocks around time and if we are able to provide for.

Space in our schedules [00:23:50] to do all the things that we know lead to sustained performance. Um, we will ultimately have more success tender. I mean, you, you, you lay and I have a similar background in so far as you know, you [00:24:00] certainly went into a higher level than I did in athletics, but I have an athletics background.

Um, you went to the corporate world and now you're going into entrepreneurship. One of the hardest lessons for me going from corporate world to [00:24:10] entrepreneurship was learning how to hack myself. I, as a corporate employee, got away with a lot of bad habits. In terms of my diet, my sleep, my [00:24:20] exercise, my mindfulness, my overall balance.

My approach to life was just incredibly imbalanced. I spent most of my time thinking, breathing, worrying, [00:24:30] executing, and work. And I did not spend a lot of time nurturing relationships, nurturing the connection with myself, focusing on spirituality and focusing all the things that I know. Fills me and [00:24:40] I had to learn that the hard way as an entrepreneur, because you can't, as I mentioned earlier, you can't sustain a breakneck pace in perpetuity.

If you're going to have any success as an [00:24:50] entrepreneur, you need a couple of, uh, of ingredients. The first one you need is a resilience because you get smacked in the face a lot. And if you can't get up off the mat, after you get smacked in the face, then you probably are not. [00:25:00] Don't have the constitution for it to be an entrepreneur, especially in a pandemic.

And the second thing that works really, really well, um, Is the ability of [00:25:10] understanding yourself in every possible way, but that begins with your body, your mind, your spirit, because you're able to take better care of yourself because you know how closely correlated the [00:25:20] business success is to how well you are doing as an entrepreneur.

Um, and I'm curious if that comes up, I mean, with your background in high level athletics, and obviously looking at your [00:25:30] body and your fitness and your nutrition at a high, high level, I'm curious if those conversations ever leach theirselves into your consulting engagements, as you're talking to business executives, or as you're [00:25:40] talking to other leaders who may come to you talking about digital transformation, but you could quickly diagnose it.

There may be a bigger problem 

Guest 1: [00:25:46] here. Yeah. Yeah. You know what? I'll ask you to share a story. So back when I [00:25:50] graduated, um, after my final year, I was 295 pounds, so I was nose tackled. Um, and I, I realized, you know, what. [00:26:00] For me to work in the corporate side or entrepreneurship, I'm going to have to spend a lot of time.

And this weight is not going to be something that I can carry on for forever. You know, it [00:26:10] wasn't, it wasn't bad weight. It was, you know, pretty strong I think, but it was something that would have become bad weight very soon. So I actually decided to cut down 70 pounds in [00:26:20] six months and I did, um, right before I started my MBA.

And, um, you know, that actually led me to build processes and routines. [00:26:30] That automatically then I, when I look back now, We're a big factor into why I was able to do some of the stuff that kind of helped me out on the, along the way. So [00:26:40] for example, it forced me to wake up early. It forced me to always work out in the mornings, which helped me think better.

Uh, it forced me to, you know, [00:26:50] carry myself better. It also forced me to only do the things that I believed. Truly mattered because you know, as you know, from playing sports as well, [00:27:00] um, we'd love to get to, as you said, the root cause we'd love to get to the final, final thing. We don't like the politics, the bullshit that comes with it.

It's all about getting to the point, getting it done, [00:27:10] getting it, you know, getting in, getting out. So it actually helps build a lot of routines and rituals. And so now when I'm actually speaking to. A lot of the companies, uh, it doesn't matter if it's a startup or if [00:27:20] it's a fortune 500, uh, absolutely bring this up because I think sometimes it's not a matter of, you know, we want to transform our company to become digital it's [00:27:30] sometimes it's like, guys, you know, You got to first look at your internal internal selves.

You got to look at your processes. You've got to look at, uh, even personally, and sometimes I call the [00:27:40] leadership out and say, you know, you can have your employees do something unless you change the way you were conducting yourselves around the office or on zoom calls, SAPs. [00:27:50] Solutely something that that is, you know, I've seen, um, carry over to the business world and.

It's I think it's even more important now that in a pandemic world [00:28:00] where everybody is not taking care of ourselves, uh, if I may say that, you know, we need to take care of our bodies because that is, I believe truly that [00:28:10] is what actually. Results in success. And I used to have a blog about three, four years ago.

Uh, it was called fitness breeds success because I saw [00:28:20] that if you're a fit, you will have more success in life, whether it's relationship, whether it's cell work, whether it's taking care of your family. Whatever it is just staying fit, [00:28:30] whatever you can do will lead to better things in life. 

Matt: [00:28:32] Yeah. I mean, I speak from personal experience.

You're absolutely right. It, um, and a lot of the things that we could talk about [00:28:40] are pretty self-evident and I do worry about our society on the other end of this pandemic. Uh, I'm fortunate to be connected to a lot of different communities. [00:28:50] Entrepreneurial mastermind groups, corporate communities. And then I have, I'm very blessed to have a large circle of connections and friends that I speak with on a consistent basis.

And, [00:29:00] um, people are struggling and it doesn't, it doesn't matter if you are a corporate executive and entrepreneur, um, you know, uh, in a family role. All of the [00:29:10] above. Everyone's taken on more in the last 18 months. And most of us had enough before all that began. And I can speak from experience when the P the people that I've [00:29:20] seen able to endure.

I'll use the word endure the best are the ones who have this balanced look at their life. And it's not easy. I mean, it, it requires intentionality [00:29:30] requires discipline. It requires, um, Creating space and time in your schedule. And it requires a support system to see it through, but to your point, um, when you [00:29:40] have those things in place, um, and when you, when you reverse that, that, that spiral, if you will, you can start to have that sustained success and start to view things through a more [00:29:50] optimistic lens.

I mean, just want 

Guest 1: [00:29:52] to add on that. Yeah. Just, just one thing aloud there is I think, um, if we can separate the results out from the process, I [00:30:00] think that's, that's huge because a lot of times we're like, you know what? I want to lose 90 pounds or I want to get promoted or we need to launch this product.

That's great. But it's all about [00:30:10] what are the daily routines rituals tasks that we should be doing today. To help us get there and just focus on the repetitive, simple [00:30:20] basics. That's it. 

Matt: [00:30:21] And you're again, I can tell you're drawing upon your, um, you know, athletic experience. Any good coach will tell you is you could do the right things over and over and over [00:30:30] again.

You'll have success more often than not stick to the process. Stick to the plan. Stick. So the system, um, and that there's, there's significant value in doing that, but it's, it's human [00:30:40] tendency that when things don't go to plan, or if you don't realize the success that you think that you deserve, or that you don't realize it fast enough or habit sustained enough, but you want to start to change things up.

Then you [00:30:50] believe that, you know, better and. In some cases, that's true in a lot of cases, it's not, and I'm certainly guilty of taking big swings in my professional and personal life based on gut instinct that [00:31:00] haven't always panned out. Um, and I, I think it's, I think it's an important lesson to, to carry on forward.

The second area of. The corporate athlete piece that I did want to talk to you [00:31:10] about, because I think it's particularly important. Now we're all living in this hybrid dispersed world. Most of our workplaces, people are not connecting as they once were. And I know that in the [00:31:20] future on whatever continuum, wherever place in the continuum, organizations land in terms of fully remote or.

Fully in the office. Most of them are gonna be somewhere in between. [00:31:30] One thing that I'm mindful of in the context of traditional organizational practices is that most organizations that I've worked in do not do a [00:31:40] very good job of continuing to involve and engage and support employees. Where physical proximity isn't present.

So whether they happen to be working in a [00:31:50] remote role or a dispersed regional role, or in a more extreme example, maybe they're off work because of a, of a medical leave, maternity leave, a long-term illness, you know, parental leave of [00:32:00] some sort. Um, in those cases we don't do a great job. We, we ha we tend to take a pretty comeback to work and get involved when you're ready to come back and work.

But when you're not here, We [00:32:10] don't really want to hear and see from you all that much. I think about my experiences and my friends who were, you know, wearing a higher end athletics, you know, when, if you were injured, you came to [00:32:20] games, you came to practices, you went to team meetings. They worked really, really hard to make sure that the employee, the sorry that the athletes, even the ones who weren't ready to play.

[00:32:30] Felt involved because they realized that from a psychological perspective, staying connected with the team was as important as the physiological recovery [00:32:40] from somebody who was away from the playing field. So I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. 

Guest 1: [00:32:45] And the moment you see someone who got injured mat not show up to practice or [00:32:50] meetings, you knew that person never come back.

Uh, it w it was simple because if. That person's not there during meetings. That [00:33:00] person not involved. It's not that. You know what, that person's going to have a tough time coming back, but it's just that the, the team, the current team does not [00:33:10] believe that this person is working, does not see them contributing and does not feel they're part of the team anymore.

So psychologically it [00:33:20] makes it tough for the team to accept someone back. Uh, but more importantly, it makes it tough for the person who is not there anymore to come back and compete at the same level. [00:33:30] So if you're in a business and you have someone that has to take a year off or, you know, somebody has to go, I'll take some time off for two months.

The last thing you want to do is send [00:33:40] this person away and never have them speak or show up or be involved because as just separating and making silos in a culture that [00:33:50] does not, or can't afford, especially in today's environment. Where we're all online and all already dispersed anyways, you know, for some reason, uh, [00:34:00] it's, it's, it's really odd because whenever, you know, I've been in different companies and the moment you're beside someone at an accompany and you're working together, you're your friends, your buddies, [00:34:10] but the moment you leave or somebody else leaves all of a sudden, you really don't talk to the person anymore.

It's like, how could I go from speaking to this person every single day to [00:34:20] being our best friend in the office to now. Barely even knowing this person exists. And that's because we have this, uh, I don't even know what to call it, but I think [00:34:30] this misconception or we've been programmed. That it's only makes sense to have someone be a part of our journey if the person is present and [00:34:40] unless that changes, which is not going to change overnight, the best thing we can do is if somebody is not going to be present, if somebody has to take time off, we have to make sure [00:34:50] this person, whoever it is, uh, we do the best that we can to keep them involved.

And present in everything that we do so that we can have a culture of inclusivity [00:35:00] and a culture that will thrive with the entire team together. 

Matt: [00:35:04] Uh, I think you're spot on and I think the organizations need to be very mindful of this on a go-forward basis [00:35:10] where being present is not going to be as commonplace.

But to your point with intentional thought, we can include people as part of our journey, both individually and collectively. [00:35:20] And Tanveer. You know, the, the final area I'd love to explore with you. You alluded to in our last segment here, which is around the new ways of thinking for the future, [00:35:30] and I'm curious from your perspective, I'm sure again, with all your experiences and your line of sight into many different opportunities throughout the course of your career and [00:35:40] professional life, um, I'm curious what you see for leaders in the future and specifically for leaders in terms of what behaviors, [00:35:50] what rituals.

What attributes do you think need to see more of from leaders to have success in this future world? There 

Guest 1: [00:35:58] are two things that I believe [00:36:00] are super important. Um, first of all, if you're a leader that has the autonomy and the responsibility of managing a business, we must [00:36:10] stop thinking about what worked for us.

And instead we have to start thinking about what does our consumer want. So. What I call that is actually the [00:36:20] business model centricity. So you want to look at, you know, let's say you have a business model, so yeah, I always give the example of blockbuster. You don't want to be blockbuster investing [00:36:30] money into mail and DVD service.

You want to be Netflix. That actually invest money where the customer's going. So that's the first part it's very hard to do. I [00:36:40] struggle with it. Um, we have to forget about what worked, but instead disrupt ourselves to make sure we are doing the best thing we can for the customer. The second thing we [00:36:50] have to do.

Is forget about the skill sets that we have today. Forget about, uh, I'll, I'll go on to say digital marketing, forget about getting [00:37:00] technology proprietary systems built internally. None of that stuff matters anymore because you have AI that is commoditizing technology, and you have AI that [00:37:10] will take over every single skillset and you have all the businesses in the world that are now coming out in these startups.

Um, that are actually making it very easy for you [00:37:20] to have the best of the best technology available, which means the skills that we need in our workforce. Are not hard skills, it's the skill of [00:37:30] adaptability or being people centric. So the skills that you want to hire for any train for our, can your teams, can your workforce adapt when [00:37:40] there is another pandemic or when another Amazon comes and takes over, you know, or when, uh, another Google opens up a pharmacy, like for example, You know, [00:37:50] we think the food service or food restaurant business was disrupted by third party delivery services.

No, and not yet, the Amazon does Amazon drones will disrupt the food [00:38:00] delivery businesses. This stuff will always go on. Amazon will open a pharmacy. Now they're going to disrupt the pharmacies, you know, autonomous vehicles. This stuff will always go on. And the businesses [00:38:10] that have been adapting over the past 15, 20 years.

Um, they're never about technology. They're about being adaptable. Uh, you look at Netflix, you look at apple, you look at Google, [00:38:20] you know? Yeah. They have tech, but it's about the people. So I would say. Find out where the customer is going be, be business centric and number two, it's all about [00:38:30] adaptability and, um, make an impact on the business.

10 

Matt: [00:38:33] veer, a great conversation. I really appreciated your time for those folks that want to hear more from you. Where are [00:38:40] some places that we can find you both? Um, you know, I know you have a podcast. I'd love to hear more about that. Um, where else can we find Tanveer. 

Guest 1: [00:38:46] Absolutely. Uh, you can, um, you can connect with me on my website, [00:38:50] tender bamboo.com, uh, or you can search for my podcast, uh, sports to business sports to business podcast, uh, where I chat with, [00:39:00] um, NFL NBA, MLB athletes that have made the transition of business and are, uh, performing in chaotic environments.

So, uh, and always, [00:39:10] uh, always welcome any LinkedIn connections as well. We will 

Matt: [00:39:12] link all of your details in the notes section of this podcast. My friend, thank you so much for the conversation and looking forward to [00:39:20] continuing 

Guest 1: [00:39:20] this offline. Uh, it was a pleasure, Matt. Thanks for having me on

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[00:41:20] Okay.