LeiLani Quiray - Finding Fun in Human Resources (#46)

On this episode of the Maximize Business Value Podcast, host Tom Bronson chats with LeiLani Quiray, founder and CEO of Be the Change HR. LeiLani’s recent shift to an on-the-road HR approach has been an opportunity for her to road trip around the country to work directly with her peers and clients. The two discuss the company’s social enterprise structure and philanthropic endeavors and successes. LeiLani’s core values play a huge role in her unique and fun approach to human resource strategies. Listen now to learn the importance of a fun HR atmosphere!

LeiLani Quiray, founder of Be the Change HR, has a fiery passion for both Human Resources and philanthropy. With 20 years of HR practitioning and philanthropic work, she built a business that was different from your everyday Human Resources consulting firm. This Orange County-based conscious company and social enterprise provides HR support for small-to-medium sized businesses in any facet of HR from pre-hire to post-term and everything else that happens in between. Gandhi’s quote “Be the change you wish to see in the world” has been the center of the company and inspires the team to make a difference in the surrounding community. Check out her fun social media pages: Instagram & Youtube.

Tom Bronson is the founder and President of Mastery Partners, a company that helps business owners maximize business value, design exit strategy, and transition their business on their terms. Mastery utilizes proven techniques and strategies that dramatically improve business value that was developed during Tom’s career 100 business transactions as either a business buyer or seller. As a business owner himself, he has been in your situation a hundred times, and he knows what it takes to craft the right strategy. Bronson is passionate about helping business owners and has the experience to do it. Want to chat more or think Tom can help you?  Reach out at tom@masterypartners.com or check out his book, Maximize Business Value, Begin with The Exit in Mind (2020).

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Tom Bronson is a serial entrepreneur and business owner. He is currently the founder and President of Mastery Partners, Mastery Mergers & Acquisitions, and the Business Transition Summit. All three companies empower business owners to maximize business value and serve business owners in different capacities to help them achieve their dream exit. As a business owner, Tom has been in your situation a hundred times and knows what it takes to craft the right strategy. Bronson is passionate about helping business owners and has the experience to do it. Tom has two books to help business owners on their journey to a dream exit: "Maximize Business Value Playbook," (2023), and "Maximize Business Value, Begin with the EXIT in Mind," (2020). Both are available on Amazon.
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Transcript

Announcer (5s):
Welcome to the Maximize business value podcast. This podcast is brought to you by mastery partners, where our mission is to equip business owners, to maximize business value so they can transition their business on their terms. Our mission was born from the lessons we've learned from over 100 business transactions, which fuels our desire to share our experiences and wisdom. So you can succeed. Now. Here's your host CEO mastery partners, Tom Bronson.

Tom Bronson (35s):
Hi, this is Tom Bronson and welcome to maximize business value. A podcast for business owners who are passionate about building long-term sustainable value in their businesses. In this episode, I'd like to welcome our guest LeiLani Quiray. She's the CEO of be the change HR. Now I met LeiLani through provisors the professional networking organization that you've heard me talk about on this program before, after running into her at various provisor meetings around the country. Thank goodness for virtual provisor meetings right now. I thought it must be fate and she needs to be on this podcast.

Tom Bronson (1m 15s):
So here she is. Welcome to maximize business value LeiLani.

LeiLani Quiray (1m 21s):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm delighted to be here.

Tom Bronson (1m 24s):
So excited about talking with you about your business. So, so you have an unusual name for the business, be the change HR, tell us about be the change HR.

LeiLani Quiray (1m 34s):
You know what, every once in a while I actually admit this, I have that tattooed on my back, but I don't have be the change agent I have to clarify. I don't have my company name tattooed on my back. It's not be the change HR. Can you imagine it is the actual quote from Gandhi, right? I got it years ago, but really the idea for me was, and for years I had thought about this idea of how do I do human resources and philanthropy under one roof? And so throughout my career, I was thinking, you know, do I start a nonprofit? No, that's not how those things work. And then, you know, four years ago I launched be the change HR with the idea, okay, we're going to figure this out.

LeiLani Quiray (2m 15s):
We're going to do human resources for small business and we're going to do philanthropy. And at the time I had been a volunteer for over a decade at nonprofits that help people with workplace readiness at nonprofits like working wardrobes WHW. So when I started the organization, I started continued to volunteer at those organizations. It wasn't till a couple of years ago that I had the light bulb moment. And I thought, Oh my gosh, why don't you build your own job readiness course and offer it to nonprofits. So they don't have to go anywhere. A lot of times nonprofits, they have to bus people in to these other nonprofits to help them with the workplace readiness skills like resume writing, networking.

LeiLani Quiray (3m 1s):
Instead we bring the course to them. So that is truly what be the change. HR is we do human resources for small business and we provide free job readiness classes and coaching to nonprofits. And those nonprofits are serving individuals who are coming out of trafficking, homelessness, teen moms, domestic violence, veterans in transitioning to help all kinds of people.

Tom Bronson (3m 24s):
All right. So do you work all over the country or are you focused kind of in any specific area?

LeiLani Quiray (3m 31s):
So clients all across the country when it comes to human resources, because I make the joke that if you can do HR in California, you can basically do it on the moon. All the other States you are so fantastically lucky that you are not doing business in California, because there are so many employment laws that apply not just on a state level, but at a County level and a city level. Like those of you in Texas, easy breezy. Anytime we have a client that says they're from Texas, like that's super easy. So we do have clients all across the U S and then with our job readiness course, we have nonprofits in California, Las Vegas, and currently we're in toxicities in Atlanta, Georgia two that help homeless people.

LeiLani Quiray (4m 12s):
So we're, we're creating that across the country as well.

Tom Bronson (4m 16s):
That is awesome though, that is such a needed service. And you're right. There was a time in my career that I actually owned some businesses in California. And I have found since then that I will never own another business in California. I love California. We visit there frequently. I love the wine country, but, but the business environment is onerous in, in many places. And of course the, all of the rules and regulations around HR, you could not be more accurate if you can, if you can navigate HR in California, you could do it on the moon.

LeiLani Quiray (5m 2s):
So true and, and compliance is only a small part of human resources, right? You want businesses and leaders to be able to focus also on the strategy part, how do you align what human resources goal, the businesses goals are with HR? How do you align them together? Well, when you have to focus so much on compliance, that usually beat that, that is where, where small businesses especially are paying attention to, like, I got to follow all these rules and these laws, there's also this other piece that is so important to businesses. And that is how strategically to grow your workforce, how to have a enjoyable experience for your employees. So they come in happy and they leave happy, which is also very, very important.

LeiLani Quiray (5m 42s):
So it, it kind of stinks when you gotta pay attention to all the rules when there's a whole other side of human resources, that is just as equally important because it involves your people being happy, right?

Tom Bronson (5m 53s):
Yep. No, no doubt. Yeah. I, when I bought a company there that gosh, didn't have much more than I know 20 employees, but they had a very high-end HR person who I offered to come and run HR for our business. Our business was based in Texas, but we had our operation in California and an operation in Miami and several places in between. And, but I really, really liked her. And I wanted her to come be our senior executive for HR at our corporate office, but I couldn't get her to move. But so she ultimately left the company and of course we didn't feel the need to have an HR executive level person at this very small operation in California, but it became very apparent to me quickly, why we bid It is, it is tough.

Tom Bronson (6m 47s):
So I know you are originally based in Southern California. Okay. My listeners and clients in, so Cal, I know it's so Cal, right? So, so I get that. But so you were in Southern California, but recently you were in Dallas and now I think you're in Alabama somewhere. Is there a 20, 21 road trip that you want to tell us about?

LeiLani Quiray (7m 12s):
Yeah. In fact there is. So I'll rewind all the way back to March of last year. I don't even have to say what happened. I get tired of hearing. What about when the thing hit? Right. I want to say it anymore. We're all tired of it. But everybody went remote and the team that I have is fully remote. I was the one that was just driving everywhere. So Cal native, any of you from Southern California, you know, how long it takes to get from the inland empire to Santa Monica? Okay. That's just nuts in itself. So we all went to a remote.

LeiLani Quiray (7m 54s):
I was remote. That was nice. I had a kid who graduated high school lives with dad, and I thought, okay, I'm actually the first time in my adult life going to take an extended sort of road trip. And so in the summer of last year, I went from California to Chicago and back, and in that time I decided I'm going to do this next year. I don't think that this whole pandemic thing's going to end anytime soon and I'm going to do it for 10 months. So from October of last year to December, I started selling all my stuff. Everything that I kept fit into 12 boxes and went into storage and everything that I needed fit in my car.

LeiLani Quiray (8m 39s):
Now I left Christmas day and I wish I could show you a picture, but my car is a cute little Mazda. Miata is it has no bad seat, right? It has, it only has a passenger seat and a trunk that will fit basically a carry on and couple extra bags. And I loaded really small bags, loaded up a Bianca is her name. So I loaded up Bianca and I started driving East. And my first stop was Dallas, Texas for the provisor members out there. I decided what I'm going to do is I'm going to visit our provider networks all around the country and I'm going to stop in places in between. So I was in Dallas, Texas for a month.

LeiLani Quiray (9m 21s):
From there, I went to a small town off of the Toledo Ben reservoir called Manny. Not many. I kept saying many. It's not many. It's Manny, Manny, Louisiana. And from there I I'm down now. And in the Gulf shores and Alabama from here, I'm going to hit NOLA stop in two places in Mississippi. I've never been. And then Birmingham, Atlanta, and then from there, who knows, but I'll be on the road until the fall. And I'm really, I'm waiting for the snow to melt because Bianca is not a happy, I mean, I don't think she's like this far from the ground, so I don't think she would fare well in any type of snow. She'd probably get pretty angry at me too. So we're going to stay yourself as long as we can. I'm waiting for the snow to melt up North.

Tom Bronson (10m 1s):
All right. So we're going to have to unpack this for just a second before we move on to more important questions. I actually, I think these are much more important. First of all, Bianca, the name for the car. What did I have? I have, you can see over my shoulder here, I have three daughters and, and they all named their cars. I've I don't know that I've ever actually named a car. Is that strictly a female thing to do? I, I don't know.

LeiLani Quiray (10m 30s):
I've heard of men naming their cars. I, I like to name lots of things and cars is one of them. And with that being said, I don't have much of a, what do you call it? Like an attachment to physical things. It's just fun to name them. And I think cars have different personalities. My car prior to this one was a cute little mini Cooper and his name was Jeannie, right? It's a perfect name for like a mini Cooper. So I think it's just fun. It's just fun. Name your cars. If not, I have a friend Ellie also improvisers. He didn't have a name for his Mustang. So he asked his granddaughter and his granddaughter named Bob. So if you don't have any for your car, ask your kids or your grandkids, what you should name the car. And that can be the name.

Tom Bronson (11m 10s):
As soon as I, you know, our, our kids is they've grown. They're all, they're all grown. Now. Our youngest is a freshman in, in college and they all sort of inherited cars, right. You know, from my wife and I, and my youngest daughter inherited, I actually, when my mom passed away, gosh, seven or eight years ago now I took her car as a part of, you know, our, our settlement of the estate and, and drove it for years. It's a, a Lexus LS, 400, right? It's like a 2005, right. It still hums like a, like a top. And when I ask our daughter, I said, Hey, you know, your turning 16, you know, I need to get you some transportation.

Tom Bronson (11m 58s):
Not because I want to buy you a car, but just because I'm tired of driving you around. And, and I said, I'm thinking about getting a new car. Do you want my car? And I'm thinking, there's no way this 16 year old girl is going to want this LS 400 boat. Right. And, and she goes, that was Nana's car. I want Nana's car. And she didn't have it for a nanosecond until she named it Ruben. And she, when she was home over the holidays this year, we have sort of a strange setup. We have side entry garage. We live on a corner, but our garage comes around the other side of the house, the driveway around the other side of the house.

Tom Bronson (12m 38s):
And she had parked sort of behind my garage door and partly behind my wife's. But when I came out, I pushed the button. I got into my wife's car. I threw it into reverse. I looked behind me, saw nothing and back, straight into Rubin. And of course I, I added a little dent there and I came home and I, and I looked at it and I'm like, Oh honey, I'm so sad. I, I, I hit Ruben and I say, let's go out and look. And she looked at it. She's like, Ruben's okay. You know, he's been around the block. I think he can handle it. So I really was distraught, but she wasn't. And then of course, you also mentioned you went from Southern California, so Cal, okay.

Tom Bronson (13m 22s):
To Chicago, please tell me you took historic route 66.

LeiLani Quiray (13m 27s):
I was on part of it on the way, but I did see when I was in Chicago, I did not know that's where it started. So I forget what street I was on, but I look up, I see the sign. It says, you know, at the beginning of route 66, I was like, Oh my gosh. So it is on, it is on the list to do one day to do that. Whether it's there in backer or one way maybe you can make a plan, like buy a car and needing the car. And then just had one whatever way. Cause I said about Chicago, if it wasn't so dang cold there, I actually would live there. It's, it's a wonderful city, but apparently it gets below zero a lot. And I don't know if my so Cal native person here could handle that kind of weather.

LeiLani Quiray (14m 10s):
I don't, I don't know. I don't think so.

Tom Bronson (14m 11s):
Well, and by the way, cause I I've lived all over the country and I lived in Chicago for, for the longest 20 years of my life. It was really only about 14 months, but I went through a couple of winters there. And not only is it very cold, but I think in the winter we were there of course, massive amount of snow, more than usual because it's on the West side of Lake Michigan. But, but we didn't see the sun for like 90 days. And, and that creates by the way, when you're running a business, all kinds of unusual and unexpected HR issues, when you don't get your vitamin D they could probably use your help up in Chicago.

LeiLani Quiray (15m 2s):
All I'm thinking is as an employer, that is actually an issue to offer like vitamin D supplements to everyone. If they need it, if they like it, you'd like, Hey, listen, employer, you're in Chicago and that's an issue then maybe it can be like, Hey, I'll send you a, a bottle of vitamin D if you'd like it just to help.

Tom Bronson (15m 21s):
I'm telling you, I think that they would get it because you know, when you're in the middle of that and I mean, it gets really testy if you don't see the sun, but, but, and, and it's all very tense in the work environment stuff, because you know, people are living like in the world's largest room. And, but then when the sun pops out and it's Mardi Gras, it's awesome. You know, everybody's happy, you know, it's a whole different ball game, but in between, you know, it's, it's tough. Well, let's see, let's get, let's get back to some business questions. I think a business with core values makes it a lot easier to attract and retain the right people. Do you agree with that? And if so, what are your core values?

LeiLani Quiray (16m 3s):
I, 100% agree with that. So when I started this business, it was just me a solo show, right? And I think every business owner who's growing their business at one point, you know, the contracts are coming in to proposal. The requests for proposals are happening. You're thinking, do I stay a one person show or do I scale? Right? And when, when I was presented with that handful, I remember that the work would come in, I'd be like, how am I going to do this? Then it would kind of like settle down a little bit. And as it continued to do that, I thought, okay, what am I going to do? And I went back to the reason why I started the business. This is to, to, to do great HR work and to impact the community around us.

LeiLani Quiray (16m 45s):
And it can be done in larger scale if we grow. So that meant to me, okay, well, this is the purpose of the business. Then we're going to scale. And so from may of that year, all the way until I started recruiting in November, I spent a lot of time doing two things, revamping the website, which anybody who's done that, Oh my gosh, like I had done my own on Wix. This was time. Like we got to work on the brand and the messaging, all of that had to be in line. But I also knew that I had to hone in on core values. And I know a lot of times we say, okay, we need to find another me, right? You need to find another you in order to grow your business. But I instead viewed it as I need to figure out why people love working with me.

LeiLani Quiray (17m 30s):
Why do they choose be the change HR with me behind the home and figure out what those values are that I would hire for. And so we have to, to this day, we have four core values. One of the biggest ones is calming. Okay. I work in HR. My team works in. If you can imagine an HR person coming to you and helping you with something or telling you something or orchestrating something with you and you feeling calm. And a lot of people listening are like, no, that usually doesn't happen. But I knew that because a lot of the comments that I would get from clients is I feel better. I feel better that you're here. Thank goodness you weren't here.

LeiLani Quiray (18m 10s):
So that was one of the main ones calming. We got to hire people who have that essence to them, that they feel when you're around, they feel better, right? Caring that has to do with not just our clients, but the, the nonprofits and the people we serve. You really have to give a crap about people. Not only when it comes to HR, when it comes to the employees, when it comes to the clients, but also comes to those individuals that we coach and we teach how to get healthy, gainful employment reliable. Because one of the things that I boast about myself as I am five minutes early, everywhere, in fact, even in my personal life, like if I set a kitchen timer for, let's say, one hour what'll happen is I'll be doing stuff around the house.

LeiLani Quiray (18m 53s):
And then I'll think I should check on the food. And I will walk into the kitchen. And I kid you not more often than not, the counter will be like 59, 58. And I have laughed to myself. Like my timing is perfect. So reliability is huge with your say, you're going to finish something on Friday, get it in by Thursday. If you, if you have a meeting at one, o'clock make sure if you're not there, like on a zoom call right away that you're sitting down, you're ready to hit that. Okay. Join meeting button right before one o'clock hits. So you are a little bit early. So reliable is a big one. And then finally, one of my favorites is fun. Again, another word you would not associate with HR individuals. And this, this has been a new one.

LeiLani Quiray (19m 33s):
We replaced intuitive with fun in the last six months. And the reason we did that is that HR can be such a serious topic. And a lot of times I feel like, you know, your traditional HR person is very buttoned up and binds their P's and Q's and Oh, don't do that, right? You don't know the HR people. I know, send them my way, please. I want more, more, more like-minded people. But another piece of it is me personally. This comes from me is that I'm silly in our YouTube videos, we have a whole series called asking for a friend where it is questions that you would not ask HR.

LeiLani Quiray (20m 13s):
Otherwise you would get fired. Like, can I smoke weed at work? Right. There's a question you would not ask HR. You might get fired. If you ask that question, This friend, and, you know, we, we approach questions like that. But with a lot of humor and I wanted to give my team permission to make jokes. If you read any of our blogs or our content, there's playfulness inserted into it. We, we make jokes. We insert with, you know, what are call the special characters that the whole curse word isn't written, but you can see it in some of our blogs. And so we're, we're playful in that way.

LeiLani Quiray (20m 54s):
And I want that to be part of what we do, our harassment prevention training. The first part's a game of jeopardy. Like we make it fun. And I want HR to be the two most important things is calming and fun because let me tell you sometimes it's not what we do is very serious. So it's good to interject those things where appropriate.

Tom Bronson (21m 14s):
That's awesome. I love that fun. And I will tell you that probably the worst day, every year was when I ended up parade in our management team and California, and do the, the harassment training videos. Cause they were all typically very dry. I wish I'd had you back then to help me with that. And I can recommend you to a lot of people who my age, that because it's mandatory.

LeiLani Quiray (21m 41s):
Yeah. When one of my dreams, I want to do this one day right now, it's a game of jeopardy, but I really want to get actors together and recreate the really awkward videos where like the person comes in and like touches the person on the show. And they're like looking like dumb. Don't touch me inappropriately. I would love to do our own videos and make them corny, but like purposefully. So you're laughing, but it's also serious at the same time.

Tom Bronson (22m 5s):
That is awesome. That is awesome. I just, I think that in fact, I go through an exercise with our clients to help them define their core values. Cause I'm really surprised. I guess I'm not surprised at the number of businesses that don't have core values. And I, and I recently was going through an exercise with a, with a client owned by, by a couple of people and, and we're, we're honing in on the core values and somebody says, remind me why we're doing this. Why this is important. We've been around for years and we didn't need this stuff. I said said, because we want to make the right hiring decisions. We want to be sure that we are finding people who match our core values, because what I've discovered through the years is that core values are not an acquired taste.

Tom Bronson (22m 53s):
You're born with them or without them. Right? I mean, you just have these things in your court now. It doesn't mean that it hasn't fluctuated through the years. Right. But, but you, if you, if integrity is one of your core values, you should be asking great questions about integrity, right? In your hiring. If fun is one of your core values, you should be asking questions that will, that will encourage people to answer in situations so that you can identify. Cause if you find people that are the right fit to me, core values are the litmus test.

LeiLani Quiray (23m 27s):
Oh, we, we totally do that in, in our, and so the whole core value process that I did was to prepare to interview, right? And now to this day, our first two rounds of interviews have nothing to do with HR. We ask questions like, what's your super power our company right now we have an internal battle on this pineapple belong on pizza. Like, yeah. Right.

Tom Bronson (23m 52s):
Don't have a huge Twitter war on that. When I, one of my companies, we owned a company that specialized in software for the pizza restaurant. So I started a huge Twitter and Facebook war on a pineapple, you know, pizza or not pizza. Right. And, and, and it was really quite, I wish I could think of some of the responses that I had out there, but by the way, we've discovered that the population is divided almost 50 50 on whether or not pineapple belongs on a pizza. Now I will tell you at some point in my career, because I've learned a lot of businesses actually owned a restaurant.

Tom Bronson (24m 32s):
And one of our favorite, our top selling pizzas was something that we called our, our Pollenzo's pizza. The name of the business was Pollenzo's pizza, but it was, was our polenta specialty pizza, which was been sliced steak with pears on a pizza, a Gorgonzola and a arugula. And it was spectacular and so very, very popular. So, so not only do pineapples belong on a pizza, not my personal preference, but pears do belong on a pizza.

LeiLani Quiray (25m 7s):
I'm for it. I like it. It sounds amazing.

Tom Bronson (25m 10s):
Somewhere along the line, you had mentioned that your business is really a social enterprise. So what does that mean? And why did you choose that type of a structure?

LeiLani Quiray (25m 19s):
Yeah, so a social enterprise is a for-profit business that made that the main goal is to make an impact in the world around in a positive place that could be through people or through the planet. And I'll rewind back to 2010. We worked for a company called Samizon and some Samizon was a certified B Corp. And not as where I got my introduction to what conscious capitalism is. In fact, I read the book while I was working there. Two very influential books for me, where it was conscious capitalism and let my people go surfing by, I don't know how to say his name. You Yvon Chouinard. I apologize, sir, if I'm saying your name wrong, but the CEO or the former CEO of Patagonia.

LeiLani Quiray (26m 1s):
And in that it was, it opened my eyes to, you know, having a business, but having the purpose be helping the world around you. And so that's what a social enterprise is. That's what we do. I often describe my business as the money-making side and the philanthropic side money-making side can be resources for small mid-sized business, philanthropic side, the free job coaching that we do for the individuals through their nonprofits.

Tom Bronson (26m 29s):
Awesome. I, you know, in fact, when you started talking about the description, I wrote down conscious capitalism, I was going to ask you about that, but I'm glad you've, you've read that. There's a great, strong, conscious capitalism chapter here in Dallas and it's, and it's exactly what, the way you described it. And so I love that we're up on a break. We're talking with LeiLani Quiray and over the break, and we're going to give her a hard time about being in Dallas and not visiting me, but we'll take a quick break back in 30 seconds.

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Tom Bronson (28m 8s):
We're back with LeiLani Quiray CEO at be the change HR. And we're talking about human resources, strategies. I'm sure you're going to find a lot of that in all of the dialogue that we have here. I did give her a hard time about coming to Dallas, not visiting me over the break, but that'll be a story that you'll just have to call me and ask about. So how do you measure success?

LeiLani Quiray (28m 32s):
Oh, well, one thing that we are doing in this organization, and let me, let me back up a little bit, when you start a social enterprise, it's not like you get a class on this in school, right? I know what a P and L is. I understand a balance sheet, but when we started venturing into the impact that we make in our organization, which is different to the individuals that we help with, the coaching we do with how we affect the planet, there isn't necessarily a guidebook for that. You don't learn that kind of stuff in school. And so what we started doing last year is how do we measure that? How do we measure that success?

LeiLani Quiray (29m 13s):
When I first started the business, I made a blanket statement, I'm going to donate 10% of our profit. I didn't say which one, either. Right? Top line, bottom line to nonprofits. And then as we've grown, okay, that has been sort of split into two parts. We donate money to nonprofits, so cash donations, but the team in our organization, they get paid to do the job readiness coaching and classes. It's not, it's, it's a, I call it a forced benefit. So when they're brought on board, they're told that you, you know, you will lead these classes, you will do these coaching as part of a benefit to you and we'll present those non-profits to you. So they get paid for that time, the regular rate than they normally get paid.

LeiLani Quiray (29m 54s):
So, as you know, we went through last year, I was like, okay, we have to measure this. And we started doing that, you know, and if you fast forward to today, the combination of both is more than 10% of our, our net income, right? So we're not only doing cash donations, but the dollar amount of labor that it costs an organization to do these classes is part of that as well. So now we have a measurement with what that looks like for 2021. We are actually doing more job readiness classes and, and then we've decided to dedicate our cash donations to a specific organization. One that helps women and children. Who've been trafficked. It's a house in Mexico called I network of hearts.

LeiLani Quiray (30m 36s):
So that's where all our cash donations are going versus your prior. We were just, if anybody asked, it was like, we'll donate money to you. Now we're focusing on ending trafficking for children and women donating money for that. And then focusing more on having a measurement of how many classes we'll do per month. So right now it's two classes per month. Then we're also doing a metric behind for the individuals that we coach, how many success stories are we getting? Right? So out of the people that we help, how many are getting that first job, and then beyond that, how many are being promoted or continuing to thrive? It is a tough, tough jump to go from a traumatic situation like homelessness or trafficking and get a job.

LeiLani Quiray (31m 16s):
And there is a lot that happens in between nor to get that person ready for that success. So we are measuring that as well. And the final component is how are we affecting this planet? I don't know how many of you actually calculated your carbon footprint. I thought it would be easy enough to go on and they have like a calculator. You could just plug some numbers into no, it's not. It's not that easy. So currently we're measuring, I was figuring out how to measure our carbon footprint bigger. How can we make that, make that neutral or possibly how do we make that negative? So that's our next measurement of success. So triple bottom line people, right planet. And then the easy one we can all do is profit. I mean, those reports, you just spit it out of your QuickBooks. It's the, the people in the planet that we're figuring out, what are the KPIs behind that and how are we gonna measure success for our organization?

LeiLani Quiray (32m 3s):
And then measuring success for me personally, when we get those stories of those individuals who have gone through our coaching program, and we're getting that first job that is success to me, that is the reason why I started this business has been something really passionate that I've, I I've been super passionate about for years. And now I get to make this impact through our organization. One of my favorite stories, I call her Lisa two years ago, I coached her prior to that, she had been trafficked for 17 years after being rescued and saved. She was in really a healing mode. So when I met her, she was ready to get that job, coached her for a period of time called me a month after that got a job at a large fortune 50 company.

LeiLani Quiray (32m 50s):
And just recently no more than two months ago told me that she's district manager of a major grocery store chain. So those types of things are how I know. Okay. For me personally, in my life, these, these, these, these wins of helping other individuals as a, as a measurement of success for me.

Tom Bronson (33m 7s):
Well, I'll tell ya. I've got a partner here at mastery partners. He and his wife were very involved in a, in a graphic human trafficking prevention organization called Valiant Hearts here in Dallas, anybody who's in the Dallas area. And you want to find a place to get plugged in. I will tell you that I've been to a few of their events. It is extremely eye opening, right? What happens to these, these people who are basically taken against their will, even though they sometimes go willingly, right? It's some interesting things about how that whole works. It was a real eyeopening experience for me.

Tom Bronson (33m 47s):
So I would encourage anybody listening who wants to learn more about that and how you can help to contact Valiant Hearts here in DFW, because this area is sort of a super hub for human trafficking. And I didn't know that right, because it's so easy. The transportation in and out of here as being a hub for, for airlines and, and major highways. And it's a, it's a horrible thing, but I'm so thrilled to hear what you guys are doing to, to impact that, that group. If, if people kind of want to see your fun HR and action, where can they find that?

LeiLani Quiray (34m 30s):
Oh, totally. So go on YouTube search, be the change HR. We have videos on there. There's a whole series that asking for a friend one, you can start there, you can see which fun we have there. You're welcome to visit our website and sign up for our newsletter. I promise we do not spam. We only do it once a month. So, and then in there, you'll get a glimpse of our blogs and how we were playful there. Another place that we do this at, and it's a mixture of all the things that we love is Instagram. So that'd be the change HR or any of the other platforms. And that is, that is inspiration. It's HR tips, it's, it's giving and it's fun videos that we're actually doing.

LeiLani Quiray (35m 12s):
Our second season of asking for our friend. You really should subscribe on YouTube because the first video, so in Dallas, I had some dental work done and they numbed my whole entire mouth. And I came back to my place I was staying at. And I thought, cause I was talking really funny and I knew I needed to record my video for asking for a friend. I was like, why don't I just do it right now? And so the first video is can I remove the drug policy? If people do drugs at work, I'm not kidding. And I, and I am, I am doing this while I'm trying to talk while my mouth is completely known. And even though it's a serious subject, it's pretty funny.

LeiLani Quiray (35m 52s):
So you should subscribe. So you can see that

Tom Bronson (35m 54s):
I'm going to binge wise. So I'm in the middle of a, or at the, toward the end now of breaking bad. That'll be the next series that I've binge watched. The, the, that sounds hilarious. And I love the approach of kind of making these very difficult conversations and, and difficult situations interjecting the fund, but you're delivering the message on, on how to handle that. So, so there are plenty of other kind of HR folks that, that are out there. How is your organization different from traditional HR? I hear a lot of that already, but how are you guys different from traditional HR?

LeiLani Quiray (36m 36s):
There's also another series on YouTube called HR from the heart. And I know I echo this, my team echoes this, that we take a more holistic approach to human resources. And what do I mean by that simply said, the old school way of approaching employees in the workplace is no longer acceptable. We're all adults, we're all human beings. And there is an element of having a vulnerable, open, honest conversation about whatever the thing is. That's going on. We pride ourselves on transparency, on vulnerability, on really caring. And that is another element to organization besides the fun, you know, besides the calming aspect is that we really, we really want people to enjoy their time at work because, Oh my God, even if we're all remote, right, people still affect ya.

LeiLani Quiray (37m 29s):
Let me tell you you're leaders, you're still, you know, whatever way they're trying to communicate with you. It's still a big deal that we really want people to be like, I love working. And I, and I, and I was expecting to appreciate my leaders because I can be open and honest them. So that's something that we are, we interject in, in the language that we use and how we handle our clients and in the material that we put out that that's so important.

Tom Bronson (37m 56s):
I love that there, this, of course, this podcast is all about maximizing business value. What is the one most important thing that you recommend a business owners do to build long-term value in their business?

LeiLani Quiray (38m 15s):
I alluded to it earlier, but when it, when it comes to being a business owner, when it comes to being a leader, I think vulnerability is one of the biggest things that you can do with your team. If you are getting, cause listen, we're not perfect, right? We make mistakes. Most of us, you know, well, everybody does, but if you think you don't make mistakes, you pick mistakes. And I think there's something so big to be said about, we don't have to always have a stiff upper lip with our people. We don't always have to look like we're perfect. We can turn to our teams and say, I've made a mistake. We can be vulnerable with them. And in that process, you'll build trust with them. And in that process, they will want to be on your team as well.

LeiLani Quiray (38m 56s):
And I've experienced this with my own team. There have been times where something has happened, where I know I'm like, shoot, like did I, did I mess up? Did I make a mistake? And I will approach them with exactly that like, Hey, you know, we had this conversation yesterday. I noticed your reaction. And I want to make sure that I didn't do anything, you know, anything wrong, or because I say something that bothered you, or sometimes they'll say something and be like, shoot, am I not seeing like myself properly? Like, is there something that I'm doing that I can do better? And in that, you know, you even, you have the ability to really show them that you believe that you're not infallible, right. That you can make mistakes and that it really will garner trust and bond you and your team.

LeiLani Quiray (39m 39s):
And through that, yeah. They'll bend over backwards for you, but that's not what the point of it, but they will, they will, they'll help you the organization. And because they see your heart, they see you and they want to be part of that and help the organization grow.

Tom Bronson (39m 53s):
It. Can't be fake. You've got to, you know, it's gotta be authentic. Right. And so, yeah, I, I can tell you that I've made, you know, CEO of run a hundred different businesses in my career bought or sold a hundred different businesses. And, and, and I didn't go a whole day without making a mistake, but I think it's okay to be vulnerable and, and recognize that the CEO isn't superhuman. Right? I mean, they may have some superhuman qualities, right. But, but they're not beyond making mistakes. And I think that when you can recognize that and, and, and be honest with your people, that, that they do respect that.

Tom Bronson (40m 35s):
I love that advice, but I can't let you off the hook that easy. That's the kind of the end of the business conversation. But people hang around on this podcast because they want to know the answer to our bonus question. And so here we are, those folks who have been hanging with us this whole time, they really want to know the answer to this. Leilani what personality trait has gotten you into the most trouble through the years.

LeiLani Quiray (41m 4s):
Oh man. I am. I am so strong-willed. I know every probably business owners like, yes, me too. I mean, that's why we're in the position that we're in. I went, okay. So I am, I know you're looking at my face and you can see my face. I look young enough, but I am not a millennial. I'm a gen X-er right. And I used to change jobs every year and a half, two years. And I thought something was wrong with me. I'm like, why do I get agitated? Bored. I want to leave. I feel like I'm not doing it. I always was moving when it wasn't acceptable to move. And then when I started this business, I finally got it.

LeiLani Quiray (41m 45s):
I don't like to listen to anybody. I don't want anybody telling me what to do. So, so this is the longest role I've ever been in this business. We're in our fourth year. And honestly, that's, what's gotten me into trouble because I would leave jobs because I didn't like how things were being done or I didn't agree with it. Or I had a more moral issue and I couldn't overlook it. So that's it that's, what's gotten me in the most trouble is that my money does not like to listen. And my parents I'll have them listen to us. They will be laughing right now. They'll be like, yes, she has been that way since she was born.

Tom Bronson (42m 15s):
I wish I could disagree with you. You know, this is episode 47 and I've heard 47 different answers to that very question. And unfortunately I've heard 47 different descriptions of me, right? Because almost everything that has been said on this podcast and answer to that question could also be used to describe me. In fact, with I've discovered some things about myself and with our, with the last company that I sold, the company that acquired us, wanted me to come on board and, and do some work for them. And I said, look, I've, I've discovered two things about myself through the years.

Tom Bronson (42m 56s):
Number one, I am a damn fine CEO. I know how to run a business. I know how to run a company. Number two, I am a terrible employee. You do not want me dragging your organization down unless of course, I look the CEO right in the eye. And I said, unless of course, you're thinking of retiring and you need me to fill that role. Then I would be happy to consider that. But, but other than that, you don't want, Because I am very stubborn and bull-headed, and I like call the shots and all that. How can our listeners and viewers get in touch with you?

LeiLani Quiray (43m 34s):
Yeah, you're welcome to visit our website bethechangehr.org. We also have a free 30 minute complimentary session. If you'd like to do that. Any of the platforms we are on any and all of the platforms @bethechangehr on YouTube. I always point back super funny as the bet that and Instagram, I would highly recommend.

Tom Bronson (43m 52s):
I'm going to go find you there. Thank you. Leilani for being our guest today. I really appreciate you coming on.

LeiLani Quiray (43m 58s):
Thank you. I had a lot of fun. You can

Tom Bronson (44m 0s):
Find LeiLani Quiray at bethechangehr.org, or of course on LinkedIn, any of the social media channels that she mentioned, but of course you can always reach out to me and I will be happy to offer a warm introduction. This is maximize business value podcast, where we give practical advice to business owners who are passionate about building long-term sustainable value in their business. Be sure to tune in each week and follow us or subscribe. You found this Podcast. And if you want to comment, we would love that. And we respond to all of them. So until next time, I'm Tom Bronson reminding you to develop an awesome human resource strategy.

Tom Bronson (44m 47s):
Like you maximize business value

Announcer (44m 53s):
Thank you for tuning in to the maximize business value podcast with Tom Brunson. This podcast is brought to you by mastery partners, where our mission is to equip business owners to maximize business value so they can transition on their terms. Learn more on how to build long-term sustainable business value and get free value building tools by visiting our website, www.masterypartners.com that's master with a Y masterypartners.com. Check it out.

Tom Bronson (45m 22s):
<inaudible> that was perfect. I wouldn't make any changes on that.