The 3 Levels Your Goals May Require (2494)

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In today’s episode of Next Level University, hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros explain the three levels your goals may require. Operators do the work. Managers coordinate people, systems, and standards. Leaders take responsibility for direction, culture, outcomes, and risk. Each level demands a broader skill set and a greater ability to make sound decisions under pressure.

They discuss the value of learning how organizations work, leading by example, building competence before delegating, and accepting accountability as responsibility grows. This is a practical framework for anyone who wants to increase their contribution, become more valuable, and earn opportunities that require more than effort alone.

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NLU is more than a podcast. From the Next Level Dreamliner to Group Coaching, we provide tools and communities to help you grow with more clarity, consistency, and accountability.

Visit our website and socials through the links below. 👇

Website: http://www.nextleveluniverse.com

Instagram:
Kevin: https://www.instagram.com/neverquitkid/
Alan: https://www.instagram.com/alazaros88/

Facebook:
Alan: https://www.facebook.com/alan.lazaros
Kevin: https://www.facebook.com/kevin.palmieri.90/

Email:
Kevin@nextleveluniverse.com
Alan@nextleveluniverse.com

LinkedIn:
Kevin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-palmieri-5b7736160/
Alan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanlazarosllc/

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Show notes:
(2:03) The three levels your goals may require
(4:11) Operator, manager, and leader defined
(6:26) Why career growth demands new skills
(8:08) Leadership as a valuable skill set
(16:39) Accountability at every level of a company
(19:07) The difficulty of delegating work you do not understand
(23:10) The operator-manager-leader framework
(26:32) Outro

🎙️ Hosted by Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

Next Level University is a top-ranked daily podcast for dream chasers and self-improvement lovers. With over 2,100 episodes, we help you level up in life, love, health, and wealth one day at a time. Subscribe for real, honest, no-fluff growth every single day.

Transcript

Kevin Palmieri

(0:01) Unfortunately, being really good at rowing the boat is not good enough for you to accomplish your goals because if you don't know where you're rowing the boat you're going to end up slamming into the side of the freaking beach and you're going to get stuck there. (0:13) So while having one of these skills is great, unfortunately you have to evolve into having all of these three skills if you're actually going to get to where you want to get to.

Alan Lazaros

(0:23) If you want to be level 10 successful, you have to be an unbelievably effective operator, you have to be excellent at management organized, and you have to be a really, really, really, really, really effective leader. (0:39) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:41) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri. (0:43) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazaros. (0:46) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.

Alan Lazaros

(0:53) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:00) We bring you a new episode every single day on topics like confidence, self-belief, self-worth, self-awareness, relationships, boundaries, consistency, habits, and defining your own unique version of success.

Alan Lazaros

(1:15) Self-improvement in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, completely free. (1:22) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:27) Next Level Nation today for episode number 2,494. (1:32) The three levels your goals may require. (1:35) You've heard us talk about this before.(1:37) I am a really good battering ram. (1:39) Just throw me at the door. (1:40) I'll knock the door in a couple times.(1:42) Alan's like flying in the helicopter above like charting the path out and making sure things are connecting the way they're supposed to. (1:47) There's a reason for that. (1:49) There's many people throughout history that have had that type of partnership, but there is a third one we're going to talk about today.(1:54) I am going to kick it to you because this was your idea.

Alan Lazaros

(1:57) I have a client I've been working with for four or five years now. (2:03) For years now, we've been working toward a specific goal to run an entire financial firm. (2:12) He was supposed to be the predecessor of his previous boss.(2:15) His previous boss is retiring and he's taking the helm. (2:19) For a long time, probably the last year, it's been on the fence of whether he was going to go and do his own thing or stay there. (2:26) I'm keeping all this anonymous for a reason, obviously, but picture one of the top financial brands in the world.(2:34) Awesome. (2:37) Today, we found out, assuming he passes this next license, which he's gonna, he is the guy. (2:47) He's the guy.(2:48) Now, he's running the whole firm. (2:50) Awesome. (2:53) I lit up like a Christmas tree on the call with all these...(2:57) It's like all of a sudden the floodgates opened of all the stuff I've been wanting to talk to him about regarding leadership. (3:05) I break out the peak performance business flywheel. (3:08) You've got, I'm not going to go through the whole thing, branding, marketing, sales, production, customer service, quality assurance, finance, that is the whole thing.(3:19) And who's the DRI, directly responsible individual for each? (3:23) What's the KPI under each? (3:24) It's a whole, basically, now you're going to run the whole firm.(3:27) Awesome. (3:27) Now, I get to coach the way I want to coach. (3:32) The higher the level you climb, the more awesome I love my job.(3:38) And there's another client that you and I work with that has a 30 person team, 31, I think. (3:44) And I just like coaching him because I get to talk about leadership. (3:48) I get to talk about management.(3:49) I get to talk about leading by example as an operator. (3:52) So the three levels that you have to succeed at to be successful at the highest level, the first one's operator, and you have to be... (4:03) Can you define operator?

Kevin Palmieri

(4:08) I feel like that's valuable.

Alan Lazaros

(4:11) Someone who does the thing. (4:14) If I was just a coach, but I didn't lead a company, I'm an operator. (4:19) I'm just coaching.(4:22) That's a little bit weird because coaches are technically leaders. (4:25) So maybe that's not the best metaphor. (4:27) When I go to Target, who's the operator?

Kevin Palmieri

(4:32) Cashier?

Alan Lazaros

(4:33) Yeah. (4:34) Someone stocking the shelves. (4:36) Someone who's a cashier.(4:39) Yeah. (4:40) Security.

Kevin Palmieri

(4:41) So the people that you... (4:42) Usually the people that you see there doing the stuff, doing the stuff.

Alan Lazaros

(4:48) And then the next... (4:48) That's level one. (4:49) Level two in this metaphor is manager.(4:54) And the manager is making sure the security, the cashier, and the person stocking the shelves are all doing it optimally. (5:03) And they're sort of somewhat charting a little bit of a course. (5:07) Then you have the leader, which is in the back office that's crunching the numbers of how the entire branch is doing.(5:15) In this case, Target, the store of Target. (5:17) And then you have leaders on top of that, which is like, you usually have a district sales manager, and then you have a regional sales manager, and then you have one for the Americas. (5:26) I don't know.(5:27) Is Target global? (5:27) I'm assuming it's... (5:28) I know it's in Canada, right?

Kevin Palmieri

(5:29) So at least it was. (5:30) It was. (5:31) It didn't do well.

Alan Lazaros

(5:31) I think it's in Europe. (5:33) I don't want to go through that necessarily, but Target, if you've been to Target, it's like a Walmart or whatever. (5:40) And every company is set up where there's hierarchies of leadership and management and operators.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:50) So this is the thing that... (5:51) So Alan brought this idea and I was like, just let's make it land to somebody watching. (5:55) Because I know in my mind, the whole leadership thing never...(6:00) I didn't understand the importance of it if... (6:02) Let's say I just want to get better at my career. (6:04) I don't want to do entrepreneurship.(6:05) I don't want to start my own thing. (6:08) Operator, makes sense. (6:09) Be consistent, be reliable, do the stuff you're supposed to do.(6:13) Awesome. (6:14) Go above and beyond, be the person, the most obvious choice as the operator. (6:18) Cool.(6:20) Why is it important to get to the next one beyond that, to manager?

Alan Lazaros

(6:26) You take on more responsibility. (6:29) Well, why is it important? (6:30) Okay.(6:30) So one of the reasons is you can't advance in your career without doing that. (6:35) You're not going to have an 18-year-old leader, and you're not supposed to either. (6:41) There are no 18-year-old CEOs.(6:44) I think Zuckerberg was the youngest CEO for a publicly traded company in history, and that was a unicorn. (6:53) Right? (6:53) So should we...(6:55) I kind of want to flip this and have you explain because you didn't really understand... (7:01) I don't want to pick on you. (7:03) Old Kev didn't get how this all worked.(7:06) And the reason why I'm saying this too, I want to make sure we land this. (7:09) Listener, you cannot be... (7:11) You will be more successful in your career if you learn this.(7:14) You just will. (7:17) Don't turn off to this. (7:18) You have to learn how corporations and organizations run in order to flourish within them.(7:26) I mean, you don't have to, but you should. (7:29) You really should. (7:30) I don't know how else to put that.(7:31) It's helpful.

Kevin Palmieri

(7:32) It gives you a leg up.

Alan Lazaros

(7:33) Big time.

Kevin Palmieri

(7:34) Yeah. (7:34) It gives you a leg up.

Alan Lazaros

(7:36) Yeah. (7:36) I have a client who works at a very large bank in Canada, and I taught him the whole thing. (7:41) And now he knows like, oh, I know how this whole thing works.(7:45) And it's like, yeah, it's very important to... (7:49) How are you supposed to chart a path of your career if you don't know like the game you're playing?

Kevin Palmieri

(7:54) I think that's the hard...

Alan Lazaros

(7:55) Okay. (7:56) What do you want me to do? (7:57) I want you to...(8:03) Why should someone try to get to level three? (8:05) Yeah. (8:05) Let's start there.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:08) I honestly, now more than ever, I understand that because you will have skills that make you rarer, that make you more valuable. (8:16) Leading people is really hard. (8:18) Yeah.(8:18) It's the worst. (8:19) It's like genuinely the hardest skill on earth. (8:21) It's a really hard thing.(8:23) Do you think there's anything harder? (8:30) I don't probably. (8:32) I don't think it's the hardest thing in the world.

Alan Lazaros

(8:35) It's the hardest I've found. (8:37) Of any skill that you could develop, I think leadership is the hardest. (8:42) That is my current thesis, but I am open to debate.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:47) I don't know if I've... (8:47) I mean, I've heard it said so many times. (8:49) I don't know if I've really like sat down and thought like, is this the hardest thing ever?(8:51) It's definitely challenging and it's brutal and it's stressful. (8:54) And there's so many, there's emotions and logic and what's best for the business and what's best for Pete. (8:59) It is fucking brutal.(9:00) That part is brutal for sure. (9:02) But this was, this is what we've used before in, before it was the Next Level Podcast Accelerator. (9:08) We would talk about how oftentimes what happens is 18 year olds go get jobs at fast food and they do the burger assembly or they do the register.(9:16) Cool. (9:17) What do you need to know? (9:18) You need to know how to run the register and you know the burger, the burger setup.(9:21) Awesome. (9:22) Great. (9:23) Then if you want to get promoted to a manager, you have to know all of that.(9:25) And you have to know the codes to the safe. (9:27) You have to know how to unlock the stuff. (9:29) You have to know what goals are supposed to be hit.(9:32) You have to know the work schedule and who's going to fill in if somebody leaves. (9:35) Okay, cool. (9:36) And you talk to the higher ups.(9:38) If you want to... (9:39) Inventory. (9:39) Inventory, all this stuff, right?(9:41) You're making sure that the store... (9:42) When the shipment's coming. (9:43) All this stuff.(9:44) Wasted food. (9:44) And in response to that new responsibility, you get paid more. (9:51) You get paid more.(9:52) Then if you own the place, you know all of that. (9:55) You know the competition. (9:57) You know the finances.(9:58) You know the distributors. (10:00) You know what the marketing is. (10:03) You know all of that stuff.(10:05) And because of that, you are taking on more responsibility and far more risk. (10:09) You get paid in accordance to that. (10:11) Assuming you're successful.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:12) Well, yes.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:13) If you're not successful, you make less money than anybody does. (10:17) But I think of it that way. (10:19) A good operator can follow a system.(10:21) Hey Kev, Z out the register every day. (10:24) Bada bing, bada boom. (10:25) Lock up at nine.(10:26) Cool, right? (10:28) Yeah. (10:28) And when you're off the clock, you're off the clock.

Alan Lazaros

(10:30) That's the thing.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:31) When I was working at the gas station, I started as an operator. (10:34) I could pump the gas. (10:36) Awesome, cool.(10:37) Then I became a manager. (10:38) There was people that I trained. (10:41) I was the lead.(10:42) People worked under me, quote unquote. (10:43) I never made it to leader. (10:46) I never made it to leader.(10:48) I never made it. (10:49) But if I did- You got fired. (10:51) I did get fired because I told them, look, I went in.(10:54) I said, look, I just want to be respectful, honest. (10:56) This is the type of person I am. (10:58) I'm going to get my personal trainer certificate.(11:00) It's not going to be for a while. (11:02) It's going to take me at least six to eight months. (11:04) Next day, I got to call at five in the morning.(11:06) Don't come in. (11:06) You're fired. (11:08) Ah, shit.(11:09) Just trying to do the right thing.

Alan Lazaros

(11:11) I was just trying to do the right thing. (11:12) Yeah, not exactly a flagship example of doing the right thing.

Kevin Palmieri

(11:15) Well, my boss was a dickhead.

Alan Lazaros

(11:17) Also naive, yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(11:19) I was naive. (11:19) But I think that- Because at the end of the day, your skills are going to determine how far you make it. (11:28) And leadership is a skill.(11:29) Management is a skill. (11:31) Being an operator is a skill. (11:33) And you are limiting yourself if you only learn one of those sides.(11:38) And if you really want to be successful, you're most likely, you're going to have to lead people. (11:43) And that might be your family. (11:44) You might be leading your family in some regards or your friend circle or whatever, right?(11:48) Like, it doesn't necessarily have to be in what we're talking about.

Alan Lazaros

(11:51) Yeah. (11:52) One thing I was reluctant to say, but I know you don't mind and we have to anyway, because I'm still going for most accurate humanly possible. (11:59) Sure.(12:00) I would, I bet you if I went away, God, it's going to come off pretentious, whatever. (12:07) If I went away for two years and then came back, I bet you you'd think leadership is the hardest skill.

Kevin Palmieri

(12:14) I've already told you my plans if you die or get abducted. (12:17) We're going to have to downsize immediately because I don't know what the fuck I'm doing.

Alan Lazaros

(12:21) But I think one of the things when I ask you, do you think leadership is difficult? (12:25) You're like, yeah, it is. (12:26) But I don't know about the hardest thing in the world.(12:27) Are you thinking like compared to rock climbing or what are we doing?

Kevin Palmieri

(12:31) Yeah. (12:31) I'm thinking like more physical activities.

Alan Lazaros

(12:36) When you said that, I had a moment of, I bet you I'm taking on a lot more of the brunt of leadership than Kevin realizes. (12:42) Probably. (12:43) Yeah.(12:44) To be continued with that. (12:45) Okay.

Kevin Palmieri

(12:46) Back to the point of this, real quick. (12:48) Isn't it interesting how your desire to be the most honest person ever now fucks with me? (12:54) Isn't that interesting?(12:55) Yeah. (12:55) Oh yeah. (12:56) Yeah.(12:56) A hundred percent. (12:57) As a matter of fact, everyone in my life will be.

Alan Lazaros

(12:59) Yeah. (12:59) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:00) Just so you know, I didn't get it. (13:01) There was no votes. (13:02) I didn't get the vote for that.

Alan Lazaros

(13:03) This is just how it goes.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:04) And I'm kidding, obviously. (13:05) Like it's not, it's a good thing.

Alan Lazaros

(13:08) It will be. (13:09) And that's leadership. (13:11) If I'm the most honest humanly possible, other people will also have to face things they normally wouldn't.(13:17) Right. (13:17) It's the whole thing. (13:18) It's supposed to ripple down.(13:19) Okay. (13:19) One of the hardest things is once you do decide to be a leader and then go for it, which by the way, for the listeners, if you have a really high income goal, there is no way around leadership. (13:35) Unless you're an investor.(13:40) We have one client who, I was like, why don't you just sell all these properties and all the headache and then just invest it. (13:48) You get a better return and you won't have to deal with it. (13:50) He's like, it's a good idea.(13:51) So he's going to do that probably. (13:53) But my point of this is like, unless you're an investor who already has a lot of capital, you cannot create a huge income without leading people, at least to some extent. (14:03) And I would love to see an exception to that rule.(14:06) There isn't really one. (14:07) I don't think you were a foreman and you made six figures, but you were also the foreman, right? (14:12) Didn't you make more than other people?(14:13) No.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:15) Is that because of the union or whatever? (14:17) That's because of prevailing. (14:18) Everybody, whether you were there for 10 years, you started that day, you made the same exact rate.(14:24) That makes no sense. (14:25) The point is, so it creates a fair employment opportunity where I can't just come in and say, yeah, we'll do it for 20 bucks. (14:34) It just makes sure everybody gets paid the same amounts.(14:36) You can't undercut people based on ripping people off on wages.

Alan Lazaros

(14:39) And these are government contracts?

Kevin Palmieri

(14:42) Government or state.

Alan Lazaros

(14:43) Right. (14:44) Okay.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:46) That's a unique exception for sure.

Alan Lazaros

(14:49) I'm the second most truthful man on the planet, so I just got to tell you like it is. (14:54) The hardest thing that I've found, and I said this to my client earlier today too, just who is going to be at the helm here. (15:01) I said, you have to be the best operator and that has to be clear because otherwise your team won't believe in you.(15:09) You have to lead by example. (15:11) So you mentioned the battering ram. (15:13) I call it the tip of the spear.(15:15) I have to be... (15:18) Imagine, okay, Phil Jackson, best basketball coach in history, arguably. (15:22) He was also an NBA player.(15:25) I don't think you can be the best basketball coach in history and not having played in the NBA because the players know you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. (15:32) You've never been on the court. (15:33) You've never been in the war, right?(15:35) There's something to homegrown, organic people who start from the bottom and then climb each rung. (15:43) My other mentor I mentioned a few weeks ago, who ended up the COO of iRobot, acting CEO, he did all... (15:54) He was like from the bottom and he climbed through multiple companies, not just iRobot, but he was leading a business unit long before he led the company.(16:04) And the company is comprised of business units. (16:06) So it's almost like you lead a little business and then you lead a little bit bigger of a business and then you lead the whole business. (16:11) And you can't just jump to leading the whole business.(16:14) When Steve Jobs hired Tim Cook at Apple, he had already mentored him for 11 years as the COO. (16:19) It's not like Tim Cook was like, all right, I'm fresh off. (16:23) Here we are, Apple, what's going on?(16:25) This is Tim. (16:25) This is Tim. (16:26) Have you guys met Tim?(16:28) Tim, this is... (16:29) And then like here, lead Apple, the most successful company in history at that time.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:33) You know the interesting thing though? (16:35) The interesting thing is when the people that don't get seen, people think it's really easy. (16:39) I use...(16:39) So we onboarded a new director for Next Level Social Media recently. (16:45) And when we were going back and forth, they said, I just want to make sure I have like an understanding of my roles and responsibilities. (16:51) I said, you are the head chef.(16:52) If a dish goes out and it's fucked up, that's on you. (16:56) 100%. (16:57) I'm the owner.(16:58) If a dish goes up and it's fucked up, it's on you in the restaurant and it's my job to fix it. (17:04) Everything is my fault. (17:07) Everything, unfortunately.(17:08) But if there's a secondary fault, it's going to be yours. (17:11) And it's also your responsibility to make sure that you're communicating as a leader to the team to make sure everything gets done. (17:17) But that was my thing is you are the head chef.(17:19) Yeah. (17:20) And then the people that you're working with, alongside with, and you're giving them tasks and, hey, this is what we need. (17:26) This is deliverable.(17:27) Those are like the sous chefs. (17:29) Yep. (17:29) That was my analogy.(17:30) That helped me explain it.

Alan Lazaros

(17:32) I'm so grateful we're doing this because when you listen to podcasts and I occasionally will listen to different shows, interviews, none of these shows really explain this the way you just did. (17:44) Because in that metaphor, right? (17:46) One of the reasons I love group coaching is because it's a very clear inside out look at the company instead of outside in.(17:54) And I think group coaching is when people really go, okay, Alan is doing more than I thought. (17:59) Right. (18:00) And that's, that's great.(18:01) Whatever. (18:01) But the point is, is in this case, the head of NLSM is you lead her. (18:08) I lead you.(18:10) And, and those, if something goes out, that's a dish that's messed up. (18:15) It's on her first. (18:16) Well, it's on her and you and me.(18:21) And so the way I see it, and hopefully this will land for everybody else who is going to be a leader and or already is if the company goes out of business, it's on me first. (18:31) If NLSM next level, social media goes out of business, it's on you. (18:36) And if a dish goes out, that's shitty.(18:40) It's on her. (18:42) Right. (18:42) And ultimately it's on you and me, but you know what I'm saying?

Kevin Palmieri

(18:46) So even to the operator thing, when she came aboard, I said, I know how to do everything.

Kevin Palmieri

(18:50) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(18:51) So if you ever get, if you run into a, now when I say everything, obviously like, you know, I don't know everything on the planet, but I said, I can do this stuff with my eyes closed. (18:57) I've been doing it long enough. (18:58) If you ever get stuck, just let me know the things that I have not done successfully in this company or the things that I've never done before.

Alan Lazaros

(19:06) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(19:07) I think that that's never really, it's never worth valuable.

Alan Lazaros

(19:10) It's never worked. (19:11) There's a quote. (19:13) I don't know if it was Peter Drucker who, but you can't delegate what you don't know is a quote that I actually think, I don't want to say you can't, but it's, it's, I will say it's 10 times harder.(19:26) I've been, I've taken over a lot of the digital assets of the company lately, and I now understand it better. (19:32) And if I do pass that back, it's going to be when I'm ready to do that. (19:37) And it's going to be to the standard that I've now created.(19:40) And again, this is just a metaphor for everything. (19:45) Like why would you, and I knew this back in school, last piece, I remember as a kid, we had, we had one teacher, I'll keep it anonymous. (19:54) He was miserable, divorced, overweight, drank two, two liter diet Cokes a day, breathe heavy struggle bus of a human being.(20:05) And I remember when I was a little kid, I was young and I was probably 15. (20:08) I remember being like, why the fuck am I listening to you? (20:12) Like, you obviously you're going to lecture me on life.(20:15) Like you're a mess. (20:17) I don't, you don't have any of the results I want. (20:20) And that has always bothered me more than maybe anyone else, but there's nothing bigger pet peeve than not leading by example.(20:26) So I hope to be the change I wish to see in the world. (20:30) I'm not going to like teach you fitness and be overweight. (20:35) I'm not going to teach you finance and be broke.(20:38) I'm not going to teach you leadership and not lead. (20:41) Like I can't even with that. (20:43) It doesn't even make any sense.(20:45) It's, it's, it's not only irresponsible. (20:46) It's out of integrity and the world is full of people that are full of shit. (20:53) And I think that that's the most depressing thing I've ever said out loud.(20:56) And it bothers me so much. (20:57) So I figured the only way I can fix that is just be, but the problem is now you have to be good at everything. (21:04) Now I have to be good at pretty much everything, which is like really freaking hard to do, but it's better than like, Hey Kev, I can't believe you didn't pick up the ball on a Sunday.(21:20) It's like, well, I'm he imagined me on the boat. (21:23) Like, Hey man, where were you last Sunday? (21:26) It's like on the boat, on a boat in the lake.(21:29) Amelia, the lake at the lake. (21:31) Oh yeah. (21:32) I didn't know where you were going.(21:33) No, no, no. (21:34) I just meant like, imagine me chilling on the beach, yelling at you.

Kevin Palmieri

(21:38) You know what I mean? (21:39) Well, that's what people, that's why I wanted to use that example because yes, let's say as the restaurant owner, it looks like I'm riding on easy street, but every, like when the power goes out, I get the call. (21:50) When the, we have a client who runs a very successful company.(21:53) He is relatively financial, financially free. (21:56) He's crushing it for sure. (21:59) He gets a million calls a day.(22:00) You know, when he gets calls, when shit's broken, that needs to be fixed. (22:03) And he literally said the other day, he's like, I cannot believe this stuff at the shop is not working. (22:10) I pay an unreasonable, I pay for all of this, everything in here I have paid for, and I can't believe it's not working.(22:16) It blows my mind. (22:17) What am I paying for? (22:18) I'm with him for hours on Friday.(22:21) He gets like 50 calls and it's like, Hey, the building permit didn't happen. (22:25) Or there's like, there's cops here. (22:27) Or I get sideswiped in my work van.(22:30) It's like, that sounds terrible.

Alan Lazaros

(22:32) Facts. (22:33) That sounds terrible. (22:34) People think CEOs don't do anything.(22:37) You told me that. (22:38) So we, we would have to have you unpack that to me. (22:40) That makes no sense.(22:41) You obviously just don't know. (22:43) Why would the board of directors pay a CEO so much if they did nothing?

Kevin Palmieri

(22:47) I think people just hear the nights, like this person got paid $45 million last year. (22:52) And people just assume it's like, what could you have possibly done to earn for it? (22:55) Well, you, you earned the shareholders $450 million.

Alan Lazaros

(23:00) Exactly.

Kevin Palmieri

(23:00) I just got you a little piece of it. (23:02) Yeah, exactly. (23:03) So, well, that's a whole nother conversation, but.(23:06) All right. (23:06) Give me the one sentence summary of what we talked about today. (23:08) Okay.

Alan Lazaros

(23:10) The three levels are become the most effective operator you can, learn how to manage yourself and others, and then learn how to lead effectively toward a bigger, better, brighter future.

Kevin Palmieri

(23:20) Mine would be the higher you go, the less people there are that know that skillset. (23:25) There's not that many great leaders out there.

Alan Lazaros

(23:28) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(23:29) There's not. (23:29) There's a lot of good operators. (23:31) A lot of good operators.(23:31) I'm a really good operator. (23:33) Tell me what to do. (23:34) I'll do it.(23:34) I am not the best leader for sure. (23:36) I'm working on it. (23:37) I'm working on it.(23:38) And is it a coincidence that as I get better as a leader, I get more opportunities? (23:42) Probably not. (23:42) More successful.

Alan Lazaros

(23:43) You will be more successful, the better you get at that.

Kevin Palmieri

(23:45) That's and I believe that for everybody, as much as it sucks and it's not sexy. (23:48) And this is more of like a professional development episode. (23:51) It's required.(23:52) I mean, it's required. (23:55) You have to have a certain skillset to get to a certain point. (23:58) Right.(23:58) That's, that's what we're talking about. (23:59) You dig it.

Alan Lazaros

(24:00) And last thing you, your ability to lead is predicated on my leadership. (24:05) So in a weird, messed up way, I'm the bottleneck to your leadership. (24:10) That's fair.(24:11) So if I'm reading, you know, a leadership book on the weekend, that's making Kevin's future brighter. (24:19) And I just hope that people realize that it's not just for me. (24:23) It's, it's not even for me.(24:25) It's, it's, it's necessary to achieve a certain outcome. (24:29) Like you can't build Apple without leadership, you know? (24:32) And I'm not saying we're building Apple, but we're building our own microcosm of a company like that, that, that has high standards and provides value to the world.(24:40) So, and I just use Apple because everyone knows it. (24:42) I don't, you know, I think that that's, and it also has obviously high standards.

Kevin Palmieri

(24:46) So, all right. (24:47) We mentioned group coaching the next round of the next level podcast accelerator starts on Tuesday, July. (24:55) I can't believe it's the end of July.(24:56) July 21st at 5 p.m. Eastern time. (24:59) If you are a podcaster who's looking to grow, scale, monetize your podcast, you want to have the awarenesses, you want to have the habits, the skills, the metrics, all the stuff that we kind of talked about today to become a successful podcaster. (25:10) And you want to live your dreams of being maybe a full-time podcaster someday, like Alan and I get to reach out to us.(25:15) We would love to see if you're a good fit for the group. (25:17) Again, we handpicked 10 people for these groups, but if you're a good fit, we'd love to have you.

Alan Lazaros

(25:23) Do we want to give them the promo code? (25:24) In the show notes?

Kevin Palmieri

(25:25) Link in the show notes?

Alan Lazaros

(25:27) All right. (25:27) The link will be in the show notes. (25:29) Nextleveluniverse.com forward slash group coaching. (25:32) I guess. (25:33) Sure. (25:34) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(25:34) I never know forward versus backslash. (25:37) That has always eluded me.

Alan Lazaros

(25:38) Yeah. (25:38) It's nextleveluniverse.com spelled just like it sounds forward slash group coaching. (25:43) All one word.(25:45) The link will be in the show notes. (25:46) Click that. (25:47) NLU listener, all one word.(25:49) All caps or not. (25:51) Gives you 30% off. (25:53) It comes to $97 per month for the three-month program.

Kevin Palmieri

(25:58) Boom.

Alan Lazaros

(25:59) And you will have 12 weeks of me, Kevin, and Amy in your corner.

Kevin Palmieri

(26:05) Yeah, we're actually, so are we changing it?

Alan Lazaros

(26:07) Are we locked in?

Kevin Palmieri

(26:08) So we were doing a coaching call and then a connection session where we would just do like a Q&A essentially. (26:14) Now we're just going to do 12 actual coaching sessions. (26:17) So it's going to be, again, there is no, I can say this very confidently.(26:22) I cannot imagine there is a more affordable group coaching program where you get three coaches and it ends up being like, I don't remember what, $25 a call or something. (26:30) So yeah, there's that. (26:32) All right, cool.(26:32) As always, we love you. (26:33) Appreciate you. (26:34) Grateful for each and every one of you.(26:35) If you are as committed as you say you are to getting to the next level, make sure you tune in tomorrow because we will be here every single day to help you get there.

Alan Lazaros

(26:41) Keep leveling up to reach your full potential.

Kevin Palmieri

(26:44) Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University. (26:48) We love connecting with the Next Level family.

Alan Lazaros

(26:50) We mean it when we say family. (26:52) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. (26:56) Everything you need to get ahold of us is in the show notes.

Kevin Palmieri

(26:59) Thank you again, and we will talk to you tomorrow.