JUMPSTART it: UNCORKED with ERIC STONE

This UNCORK conversation with Eric Stone, the author of "Jumpstart Your Workplace Culture: A Road Map for Igniting High Performance," explores these questions: How do we create and sustain a workplace culture that energizes and enables us to outperform and is a catalyst of execution, not just excitement?

Eric and I discuss the importance of building strong relationships, clear communication, training and development, and recognizing top performance. Eric introduces the concept of the hourglass approach, which involves listening, orchestrating, and assessing. He emphasizes removing distractions and focusing on a few key priorities. 

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
& Author of the UNCOMMODiFiED Book
tim@uncommodified.com
https://uncommodified.com/ 

PRODUCERS: 
Kris MacQueen & Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.com

Transcript

PLEASE NOTE: UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast episode transcriptions are raw text files and have not been proofed or edited. They are what they are … Happy Reading.

© UNCOMMODiFiED & TIM WINDSOR

[00:00:00] Hey, my friends, here's the question I want you to consider as we start this conversation today. How do we create and sustain a workplace culture that energizes us, enables us to outperform, and is a catalyst of execution, not just excitement? That's the question we're going to consider. Hey, my friends, welcome back to the Uncommodified Podcast and to another UNCORK Conversation.

Today, my guest is Eric Stone. Eric, welcome to the show.

Tim, pleasure to be here, especially on the heels of our UConn Huskies winning their back to back championship. So I'm excited.

That's right, for sure. So listen, this episode might go live a couple months from now, but for those of you who are basketball fans, you'll know that Eric's talking about March Madness that just finished up. Man, the women's teams were amazing this year. I think more people watched the women's basketball at NCA this year, Eric, than the men's.

That is pretty amazing when you think about it.

It is a transformation for sure on the women's [00:01:00] basketball. Great to see. Great

Yeah. No, it's been a great now. No, you know how those those basketball players, they contend for the basket. You know, they contend for everything to do. And we were contending for this podcast tonight, Eric. For those of you listening in, Eric and I had this sort of cluster docket in relationship to technology.

And so Eric and I were we got on the phone, then we got on FaceTime, and then we shared a screen. And you know what, we figured it out. So there is hope. There's hope for us, Eric, still in the I. T. Space. In case we lose our day job, we're going into I. T. Next. How about that? How does that 

right. Well, you were clearly the assist maker. I was just along for the ride and clueless, thank God to your leadership, we got through it.

my gosh, that's just hilarious. Listen a little bit about Eric. We're gonna have some fun as you as you can tell my friends in this conversation. But Eric has over 30 years of experience and leading and transforming organizations across various industries. And I'm sure you'll Give us a bit of context for that.

He's become a trusted advisor for executive managers and professionals who want to inspire, who want to motivate and retain their [00:02:00] teams and their customers as they do their business. In 2018, Eric came out of that corporate world, came into a new journey, and he founded a company called Clear Path Ventures, which specializes in guiding young professionals and businesses as they navigate their path to success.

Eric is an author and that's sort of what's brought us together is this wonderful new book that Eric's written called Jumpstart Your Workplace Culture, a Roadmap for High Performance. That's a great title and that's what we're going to talk about tonight. But of course, every great conversation, or most of them, is energized or ignited by a great drink across the table.

In this case, what are we drinking, Eric?

So we are going with, it's called Heddy Topper. It's from the Alchemist in Vermont. it was purchased when we were doing a book tour out in Vermont. So we visited UVM and one of our fun events outside of going to bookstores, uh, was a brewery. And so they, they make their own. It is a IPA and it's, it's ready to be uncorked I[00:03:00] 

That's right. Awesome. Well, I'm going to open mine. I got a IPA from a local brewery in my area, but it's, it's actually a 90 calorie, uh, uh, low alcohol IPA and it's, it's really good. So I'm going to go with that one.

There you go. Mine's like having a cheesecake. This is like a thousand calories

Uh, I know, I know. I normally do those in like 12 percent alcohol, but then podcasting gets a little complicated, Eric.

That's true. Very well. Yeah, good point. I probably should have rethought that one.

No, that's gonna be good. And listen, cheers to you. Thanks very much for the conversation. So again, the question we're going to form our conversation around is, how do we create and sustain a workplace culture that creates energy, doesn't just sap it, enables us to outperform and becomes a catalyst of execution, not just making people excited, but executing.

How do leaders create and sustain these environments so they don't burn out and they don't burn out their people? That's the question we're going to wrestle. So, Eric, I'm A little bit about your journey. Help us understand that. Why this book at this time? And what kind of [00:04:00] advice and counsel would you have for me if I'm a leader of a company these days?

Well, so my journey in business started a long, long time ago, and I grew up father was a traveling textile salesman, and he used to come home at night, and he would, you know, communicate all the ebbs and flows of his travels. And I would always be eavesdropping over and so I had a love early on for business.

My mom was a teacher and so she was all about coaching and development. So I had this connector and businessman and a coach her and guide her with my parents always had this love of business. Went to college for business and landed on a company called Enterprise Holdings, which is now Enterprise Mobility, and had a chance to be part of a great and special organizational culture.

Kind of grew within from a party of four, one of four, to eventually have a chance to learn all about leadership until I had a chance to lead a few hundred employees. And one thing I found that separated our team From all the others. There were many [00:05:00] talented people a whole lot smarter than me. But in my opinion, this unique culture that our organization and our team had is something that allowed us to perform at a high level.

And so I would constantly get asked, What are you guys doing? And so it always resonated, which leads into the book idea. I hung up my enterprise cleats. and 18 and wanted to share my impact or the story that our team was able to develop, this uniqueness that brings everyone together, sustained excellence, extended period of time, and I started creating an outline.

Next thing you know I have some stories, some interviews, a book comes out, and now I have a chance to share some of the things that were really beneficial for me and my team.

Uh, it's great. And you know what? I love the structure of your book because it's, it isn't just this theoretical sort of journey around what culture ought to be and how only certain people can create it. But it's got this really wonderful practical aspect to it. It challenges with some great questions and some understanding.

So. Let me [00:06:00] ask you. You come into a place. What tells you that an organization has great culture? What? What are the hallmarks of great culture for you? And what are the things that leaders and people can do to actually create it?

Yeah, I'll go with the create, because that's what my passion is. And so I'd start with the create. And what I usually will ask organizations to do is to look at five simple factors of engagement. And step one is what are you and your team doing to create a strong relationship with their management team?

And what initiatives under those usually three are under each factor? The second is, what are you doing to clearly communicate goals and expectations along the way? It's three initiatives under there, which we can go into depth. The third is what sort of training material equipment, what is being given and provided to the team in order to achieve the desired outcome?

along the way. it goes to personal and professional growth. What's the organization doing and what do they need to continue to [00:07:00] do to develop and encourage that unlocking people's potential inside and out of work? And lastly is how do we recognize top performance? And under each factor you're going to tuck in a few strategies that the organization really needs to look at.

What I find most people struggle with is they get very complicated. So that goes to the clear communication of goals and expectations. We want to do so many things. And when you go around and start asking individuals, What does this organization stand for? What are those three key priorities? There tends to be a little bit of a disconnect.

And they're not wrong answers, there's just too many of them. And so I think they have a difficulty, which behind me you'll see and we can go into shortly is an hourglass approach of what I recommend organizations do as they're trying to take these factors and build out kind of a unique culture that really leads inevitably to execution.

So this hourglass image, which if you're watching on the YouTube channel, you're [00:08:00] going to see behind Eric. And obviously, if you're listening in, you can just imagine one here. So why is this image become so important to you? And how do you use it to unpack this idea to people so they can really grasp what it is that they need to be doing to create these cultures of extraordinary performance and execution?

Yeah.

is a visual. I, I wanted to be able to make, I'm, I'm a big simplistic thinker and I wanted something that a new hire employee could truly grasp. And the hourglass came in and it's kind of my principles I hope are timeless. An hourglass kind of represents time. And so as you look at the top of the hourglass really goes into relationship building, but that is kind of the.

where you're going to listen, observe, and learn. You're pulling all this information from your team. And again, I don't know how well it shows, but that's the discovery stage. You know, so, so those who are watching or not watching, there's this discovery stage, whether it's stakeholders, employees, clients, [00:09:00] customers, you're really pulling all the information to understand where we're going next.

And then as the hourglass goes, comes out, you're orchestrating that information. You have now pulled it. You now have to orchestrate the plan with your team. As the hourglass kind of comes out, is really where you're reinforcing those few priorities. So when the sand is going through clearly, it's a little area, that's what we're going to dominate on.

That's what we're going to focus on. That's what the new employee to the senior executives are going to be working on. Searching for to execute as it goes out where I also find opportunities within organizations is the reinforcement piece. So what are we doing with training? What do we do with reviews?

Are all our initiatives tucked into this to allow us? to execute at a really high level. And so as it kind of comes out, that's that reinforcement and training part. And then when the sand lands, so now you envision an hourglass and the sand has landed, you have to reassess or assess your scorecard, the health of your organization, however you might be using this assessment to measure it.[00:10:00] 

Now, the unique thing about the hourglass is once you're complete through that process, five step process, you're going to notice two pillars on most hourglass. To the left of it will be your mission vision values. To your right will be your policies and procedures. Those are your guiding forces it's, it's your decision making process.

That's what you're going to use. And so this hourglass is easy represented for all employees to understand. Right when you think you have it, of course, you know, new technology comes out, something we didn't expect could happen, a pandemic could happen. You kind of turn the hourglass over and the sand kind of dials itself back out.

You assess where you are through that process. It might be back from the start, orchestrate in the beginning, then you're going to kind of roll out and, well, discover, orchestrate, roll out, train, and then assess again. And so it was a nice visual that allows people to have a process.

It's really, first of all, it's a very powerful image, and it's an image that's very important to me. Uh, it's an image that I, I have a lot of affection for. As a child, my [00:11:00] grandfather actually had an hourglass and a clock on his mantle, and I've told this story before, but he, he talked to, uh, to me about time, and he even said the essence of time is more like the hourglass than it is the clock, and that really stuck with me, so it's a very powerful image for me.

It is interesting, though, as you describe it, you know, I suppose the challenge or the problem that you're identifying here is that many companies are trying to put way too much through the skinny part of the hourglass. They're trying to get their people focusing on far too many excellence and executables that they lose focus.

And so part of the wisdom, it seems like you're talking about is that as it comes through, we're becoming very clear about the non negotiables that we're executing on that deliver the special thing that we have for our market or for our customers.

like I said, under each factor, so clear communication of goals and expectations is where things can get cloudy. And if you ask a hundred [00:12:00] employees, you happy at what they do, they usually say, I'm happy, but knee jerk reactions, flavor of the week. So, so yes. I go into the ABCs of communication that will help here.

So when you're going through that skinny part of the hourglass, there's A is the amplify the message. What is the organization doing? You call them non negotiables. We used to call them commitments. You know, what are we committed to truly do? And under amplify, it's kind of how often. How often are we going to meet to talk about these?

Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, biannually, yearly, whatever your settings might be. And in what setting is that? Is it virtual? Is it in person? Is it an email, phone call, a Slack channel, project management system? How are you going to go about doing that? And the really good organizations find the Goldilocks version of the just right of where we're going to address this.

The B makes the A stand out. So when we talk about the key initiatives, the buffer's key. So you have the amplify, which is what we need to get. Those three key priorities are three to five. [00:13:00] The buffer is what the great organizations always do. I call them the distraction catchers. So these are the ones who really synthesize the information.

They use first principle thinking. They question all assumptions about these policies and procedures that don't need to be as cumbersome as they are in order to amplify and execute. The message. And so that buffer is really, really important. It might be we have way too many meetings. It might be we have way too many reports do on this busy traffic highway of reports that get thrown in and then the sea is conveyed.

What are we going to just pass along? What are the, we would call them on ESPN fans, the did you knows? What are those things that they're nice to know, but not necessarily need to know? And when you are great at an organization of buffering and conveying, it allows the hourglass, those three to five commitments, negotiables, non negotiables to really stand out.

Hmm. Interesting. Now, this is something that you developed, uh, when you [00:14:00] were at Enterprise. So you had this, you, you saw this happening there. So here's a question. Did it, was it very purposeful in the beginning for you as you began to craft this? Did you find this along the way and sort of begin to say, this is all happening and I think this is how it's happening or was it very much you were saying, this is how we're going to do it and we're going to create it?

Did it

find you or did you find it?

well, I think it's a little bit of, so, When you go back to, personal professional development, one of the big key things I was orchestrated in my corporate days was what we call the think tank. And you would get your , we would call 'em, uh, well they were nominated by their peers, but top line managers who would then meet with me every other month and kind of strategically think through where we need to go as an organization.

And so a lot of it was just listening, learning, and observing from my team, kind of part of the hourglass, but to take what they're telling me and massage a little bit. And then, so this was an evolution. This is not something that in, uh, my [00:15:00] month six or year four. came out by a corporation. This was just great feedback.

And we took a framework and kept building upon it. And so what's really important also in building culture is while you master these three to five things, as you evolve and create a process and things that people can trust, that you're going to then build, and we would call it the behind the back pass.

That's when you can create a little bit more excitement. It avoids the mundane. It avoids the, the burnout. It's, it's something new and fresh. And so then you build out a little bit. And so to answer your question, a lot of this stuff was through my team and then eventually coming up with a visual. We got these factors.

I wish I can remember who even gave me the idea. And this became our values of the company. So, companies have values and they live and list them. These were things that would be brought up in any, oral, written exam, through your employee journey. You are going to get asked about these factors. [00:16:00] How do you implement them, execute them, train them, coach them, develop them.

But long way of saying a lot of this was evolved through just listening, observing, and learning from my team and leaders.

Wow. That's, that's, uh, amazing because that means it was born in the fire of real experience. It's not just, again, it's not just theory. It's the practical experience you had and then what you saw and brought out of it, which is pretty powerful. So what gets you to a point where you say, I think I'm going to write a book on this and my, my fascination here is at what point as you start doing this, do you realize that People are, are reading this book and starting to actually take practical things and apply them and you're finding them sort of channeling that journey for themselves.

So I, I remember this, uh, my father years ago, I was probably in my thirties at the time. And he said, Eric, God could not have put me on this earth to be a textile salesman. And there's nothing wrong with being a textile salesman. There was nothing wrong with that, but there [00:17:00] was this greater purpose in life.

It's not just being, you know, about what you do. It always resonated with me. So that was a seed that was planted, you know, in my thirties. And then I got to a place where, while it was an amazing experience, enterprise. provided me a lot of opportunities. Um, I was the driver, but it was their car.

Hmm.

And, and I wanted to live what my father was kind of saying.

I, I felt I could impact more people potentially by instead of maybe a few hundred, maybe I do 10, 000. Maybe I can impact a hundred thousand by sharing a message. I never thought I'd write a book.

I used to get asked in some of my interviews, Eric, what are you guys doing that's special? And it was, what are you doing for culture?

And so as I was trying to figure out what was next, interestingly enough, it was either I'm passionate about branding and personal branding, and I was passionate about culture because to me, it was the catalyst to execution and it brings everyone together. And so as I was deciding what to do, everyone was telling me, go personal branding.

And I'm like, [00:18:00] you know what? No. It's not right for me. I know what I think will really help. And then I decided to create an outline, put my stories together, conduct some interviews, massage, mold, and next thing you know it comes out. And that is amazing when you get feedback. And this has been the most amazing part of the journey.

I got a random email. We did a west coast trip. We went out towards Stanford and went down the California. coast on a book tour. And we're at a local Barnes and Noble for one of them. And a young lady comes and says, I want to buy this for my mother. And I'm like, you know, fantastic. Three months later, I get an email from the mother saying, you know what?

You're not going to know me. My daughter gave me the book. I just wanted to tell you, I've already taken some of the principles and I'm using it at our coffee company and stuff like that. That's why you go it. That's why, that's why I did it. That's exactly why I did it, to give, others some insight.[00:19:00] 

Uh, that's powerful. And when you start hearing those stories, then you realize that this message is resonating and it's bringing value and fruit to others, which is the big part of the experience. So, so here's a question is you sort of map out where you are today.

And now you've got the book, you've codified this and you can communicate it. Now you're taking this message out. So what would you say are the the key components? Like if if people are going to synthesize one thing in the beginning to start their journey towards jump starting their culture What's the first thing?

that they need to really start to focus on

Oh, God. And it's so hard because there's never just one thing. I mean, so I look back and I reflect to either my journey, which was, as you said, couple of decades in corporate America or guiding people. And to me, it was how do you, take. lot of information and synthesize it. [00:20:00] And so for me it was the practical tips of becoming a distraction catcher that allows people to just focus on three things.

Then taking those three things, creating initiatives that are threaded through every component of your organization. And what I mean by that is, again, the new hire employee has to have a small component. If it's a sales component, well, it won't be the same as the VP of sales, but there has to be a few threads that they have to be able to understand why we're doing it and what their role is.

And so for me, it was removing the noise. And so I always am able to hopefully say, wait, why are we doing that? Or what was the point of this? Synthesizing it to then create, almost like this big deep breath, like ah, thank God. I don't have to submit that report. I don't have to do that part anymore.

That really never made sense anyway. Then you tuck in the training to allow people to truly develop and get better at what they do? And that's an easy, easy place to start. The other thing, and I know people will embrace this, [00:21:00] is the hiring process. And knowing from, I have 11 nieces and nephews, three kids, just about all of them in the workplace, and the hiring process is quite Opportunistic to say the least I think from looking into what are the key questions the true questions that not only you But others are asking throughout the interview process.

what is the length of that process? How do you make them feel special? But when I looked at our hiring process or others in the past, I found a lot of opportunities I found we were actually passing on candidates that were actually really but we had this Unconscious bias of what we thought So, those are just a couple of things, but unfortunately, I wish there was just one thing. yeah.

Fair enough. There's not

just one thing and there never is. But you know what? It's interesting, though, that you said something because you talked about the importance of vision, mission, values, that sense, that one pillar that comes down the side of this hourglass. And then, but you just talked about distractions, which is kind of interesting [00:22:00] because there's two sort of images that are coming to my mind or this juxtaposition.

So on one level, great leaders who are setting culture need to understand the dream. That they're bringing people into this dream of what they want to become and who they want to become for the customer's sake or whomever. But then you've got this distraction piece. It's almost like, you know, First Nations, we have this, this dream catcher idea.

But then you talked about being a a distraction catcher. So there's two things that I'm hearing here, which is on one level, I've got to be able to catch and contain a certain element of dreaming for people. But then I also have to identify the distractions that are getting in the way of them fulfilling this dream.

And the distractions could be, from what I'm understanding, it's sometimes it's even our own processes. Our reports are structure that we think we need, which actually becomes a distraction to the very essence of what we want to be or the culture we want for the sake of our [00:23:00] employees and our customers.

And again, if you're listening in, I think that's a really interesting thing is what are you doing in your organization? That's actually not enabling the dream, but it's distracting people from the dream and fulfilling it. That is really interesting, and that's a very wise way of looking at it, Eric.

Yeah, and it really goes to the discovery part. So the top of the hourglass. So really, the distractions are what hopefully, and I know in my approach gets removed first, because that allows us to see the forest through the trees. And so by asking through stakeholders, through clients, customers, employees, you know, again, sometimes it's not accurate.

And I'm going to give you a story, a real quick story. My son, believe it or not, is a branch manager in the company I used to work with. In my old region I used to run. Now he will come home sometimes and he will say, Hey, Dad, uh, this is what's going on. Now, knowing the inner workings of the company, I know that he's incorrect.[00:24:00] 

Someone didn't communicate the right information to him. Conversely, sometimes he brings up great points that someone should have listened to that were quite a distraction. Extra reporting, extra things I need to do. And so yeah, this ability in the discovery stage, and usually it tends to be some policies and procedures.

It could be as simple as there's too many meetings, and we all know that. It could be there's too many emails. It could be we document people for everything and it's, we now have a paper trail and it's too complicated. It creates negativity. It's not driving the beliefs and behaviors we want. And so such a powerful thing.

To me, the distraction, I'll give you another quick story. At one point working with an organization who acquired a company, we did the smallest thing by listening. They wanted a refrigerator for their area. We gave him a refrigerator. You know, all of a sudden, by giving them a refrigerator, they believed a little bit more.

So, when we removed some of the noise, when we supplied something that they truly needed, all of a sudden those [00:25:00] three to five priorities made a little bit more sense. You know, you've deflated the basketball a little bit. It's easier to deal with, 

maybe everybody needs a refrigerator. Ha, ha, ha, ha. That's, that's hilarious. But, but interesting though, because what you're doing is you're saying you're listening. And then you're moving them towards where you want them to be, which is a really important strategy.

So, Eric, this is a really interesting conversation. And so you're at a point in your life now where you're doing things similar that you used to do in culture, but you're doing them in a broader basis and in a, in a, in a much larger scope. And so where do you see, This going for you personally, professionally.

What do you see is the next stage in your own journey as you work with enhancing these ideas as you move in other organizations? do you see all this going for you?

Yeah. And I'm going to give you, it's more of a dream, but, uh, I think, well, the next six months are still going to be book related is, is, you know, the first marathon of a book is writing it. Second is marketing it. And so I just hit my six month [00:26:00] and, uh, the next six will still be getting out in front of people to share my message, you know, through social media, through speaking engagements and things like that.

And then I'm going to continue to, Pile in opportunities that come from it, whether it's working with really fun organizations or other speaking opportunities. But on a serious but joking matter, I love sports, I was 10 years old when the U. S. Olympic team team beat, the Soviets, you know, these bunch of amateurs come in and shock the world and then go on to win the gold medal.

And so I love sports, I love business, I love all the business movies, I love all the stuff that goes on behind it, I love it. I have a passion for leadership. And so I'd like to work for a sports organization at some point where I'm going to pocket some of this stuff and make sure there are so many from business and sports.

And so if the Patriots are listening, UConn Huskies are listening, So they can get their three peat. I want to do something with a group of [00:27:00] people that's just really special. I want to be very selective with who I work with and enjoy this much harder journey than I thought of writing and then marketing a book.

That's awesome. That sounds like a great dream. I love it. So listen, in your background, I know we didn't talk about earlier, but you also have a connection in a not for profit world, which is kind of interesting to me. And so, so tell me a little bit about that. And how does this connect to this journey in any way?

So when in any part of corporate America I've been part of, it was always so important, probably thanks to my grandparents, my parents always giving back to the community. And, and so that was always a big part. And then when you're in corporate America to be an indispensable business partner, you always want to do things that are a high character.

So you want to support those who allow you and your employees to be, well, hopefully profitable. And so supporting the communities you live and work in. And so always wanting to give back, always knowing that was [00:28:00] important, always knowing that that's something that frankly is a, difference maker in the marketplace.

Partnering with your own, valuable clients on a backpack for kids on a breast cancer walk or whatever that might be. So it was just always important growing. It was one of the values. That I had through my family that led into corporate America. It was always important to support those communities.

And so right now, that's what I try to do. I try use this platform of business to try to bring it to a board that allows those who need help to get it in whatever realm that help is, for the most part, it tends to be where the opportunity gap is. And in Connecticut, I think it's probably the leading state for opportunity gap in the country.

Wow. Wow. Well, and I appreciate that. And I think that says a lot about you and your character and obviously character informs culture. I mean, these things are connected. Culture is not disconnected [00:29:00] from character. I look at character and culture. They're intertwined because culture is the sum of our actions, behaviors and attitudes.

we created We create culture by we act, how we think the things that we're focused on to your very point, the things that we choose to focus on in our journey and make those critical deliverables either in our families or in our communities or in our businesses. That's the essence of the culture we want to create.

So that to me is a really interesting part of your own journey. And so let me ask you, how do people find you? If they want to find Eric and they want to look you up, first of all, I imagine they're going to get your book in lots of different places. Amazon would be one of them, I'm sure. I'm sure it's available in lots of online retailers across the globe.

But, uh, how do they find you personally, Eric, if they want to connect with you and continue a conversation?

 easiest way, LinkedIn. Thanks to my daughter, have over the last couple of years jumped on LinkedIn. That's the easiest one. Instagram, uh, for the Gen Z Millennials [00:30:00] is my Instagram. So that's ClearPathVentures underscore. And then my, my website, so, ClearPathVentures.

com, would probably be the easiest.

Okay, so you can connect with Eric on LinkedIn, that's where Eric and I connected, where I connected with a lot of people these days. Eric, really powerful. So let me ask you this question as we finish up. So for me, this idea of uncommodified, is all about understanding that if we're not careful, we can become a commodity.

We can sort of fit in and sit down and sort of shut up and follow a party line that we don't maybe want to because we want to be accepted. Okay. And we want to fit into the environment. So we at I want to ask you a question about you obviously are a very unique individual. You have a unique sense of yourself personality.

I appreciate that. So when Eric is walking into a room and you're bringing that thing that you know that that Eric Stone brings into a room. For the sake of others, for the positive benefit of the people who are in that room, whether it's a business [00:31:00] room or a, social room. What's Eric bringing that, you know, has the ability potentially to be transformative in the moment to the people you're interacting with.

That's such a good question. I hope I'm bringing belief.

Uh,

I hope I have allowed, whether it's personal, so family and or in business, an ability to unlock someone's true potential is to connect with any generation Gen Z all the way up to the silent generation. But if I had to pick a word is is I hope I bring belief, belief in leadership, belief in themselves, belief in the plan.

So belief.

well, that's powerful because it is one of the most powerful forces on the universe. When people believe, everything is possible. When they don't believe, everything is also not possible because they can't find it in themselves. And that is a powerful, powerful opportunity. Again, if you're listening in, I challenge you to listen to this.

You know, maybe what your world needs is a little bit more belief, and he's belief in something [00:32:00] bigger, greater, stronger, faster, more significant than in one individual can create by that group can create together. The belief is a powerful force, and I really love that, and I appreciate that. Appreciate that, Eric.

Eric, I really appreciate your time today. It's a great conversation. If you haven't picked up the book, grab it. Again, it's called Jumpstart Your Workplace Culture. Is that what it's called? 

Yes, it 

is. 

Jumpstart Your Workplace Culture. It's right there in the thing. I also like the little graphic I like the fact that you're jumpstarting my coffee cup.

That's what I love.

But you know what, Tim, if I had to tell you how long it took me, I'd be embarrassed to come up with a cover that's going to stand out with, you know, as you know, the books are with Elon Musk's of the world. What's going to make my book stand out outside of its practical matter outside of its uniqueness and how I might measure culture in the book.

But what is going to make people get it off the shelf first? And so I figure coffee cup representing the workplace, some jumper cables to kind of give you a [00:33:00] little bit of a spark. I figured the water cooler wouldn't be good to jumpstart. So I

didn't want to do that. 

I love, I love the graphic. It's awesome. Eric, thanks so much for your time. It's a pleasure. Again, if you listened in and you listened in for a reason, do me a favor, uh, look me up on social or email me at Tim at uncommodified. com and let Eric and I know what you're doing with this conversation for yourself, for your workplace.

Maybe it's not your workplace. Maybe it's a community, group that you're connected with. Maybe it's a social group that you really want to improve the culture. Think about the things that Eric said, apply them and grab the book and let's take. Culture to a whole new level for the positive benefit of the people that we interact with.

Thanks for listening. Have a good day. Cheers.

 [00:34:00]