Maximize Business Value Podcast

Rick Robinson - Secrets to Successful Leadership Development (#55)

April 25, 2021 Tom Bronson/Rick Robinson Episode 55
Maximize Business Value Podcast
Rick Robinson - Secrets to Successful Leadership Development (#55)
Show Notes Transcript

Host Tom Bronson chats with guest Rick Robinson, Managing Director of Ramsee Consulting Group, on this week’s episode of the Maximize Business Value Podcast. The two discuss leadership development that leads to success including the three main goals of leaders and Rick’s four C’s: commitment, content, coaching and community. Tom regards company CEOs as the keeper of the company culture which is imperative because culture is the only sustainable competitive advantage businesses have in the marketplace. Interested in building a strong leadership team to maximize your business value? Listen now!

As Managing Director of Ramsee Consulting Group, Rick Robinson has focused developing and delivering a variety of programs in the areas of Leadership Development, Project Management, ERP systems, Lean Manufacturing, Teambuilding, Quality Systems, Strategic Planning, Motivation, Measurement Systems and Change Management. In the last ten years Rick has facilitated a number of strategic and project planning sessions for a variety of clients, including Wingstop Restaurants, the Town of Addison, DeKalb Office, Malphurs Interactive, the City of Richardson, the City of Georgetown, the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce, and Greenberg Farrow Architecture.  His inclusive and highly interactive style has earned him high praise from his clients and conference attendees. Rick earned degrees in Accounting and Finance from Texas A&M University in 1985 and taught Economics and Accounting in the Fiji Islands as a Peace Corps volunteer after college. His client list also includes GM, Chrysler, Nortel, Picker, Del Monte Foods, Steelcase, Texas Health Systems, Dallas HR, and Lloyds of London.

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 a


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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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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 of mastery partners, Tom Bronson.

 

Tom Bronson (35s):

Hi, this is Tom Bronson and welcome to another episode of 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, Rick Robinson. He's the managing director at Ramsee consulting group. Ramsee focuses on developing and delivering programs in the areas of, are you ready for this list? Leadership development, project management, ERP systems, lean manufacturing, team-building quality systems, strategic planning, motivation measurement systems, and change management. Good Lord.

 

Tom Bronson (1m 17s):

His client list includes GM Chrysler, Nortel picker, Delmonte foods, Steelcase, Texas health systems, Dallas, HR, and Lloyd's of London. And by the way, he has a way he's a great golfer and they wicked draw. You gotta look out for him, make he can draw it around almost any corner. Unless of course it's a dog leg to the right. Rick and I are both members of Vistage as trusted advisors. And I'm excited to have him on the podcast today to talk about the role of leadership development and building business value. So welcome to maximize business value. Rick, tell us a little bit more about Ramsee.

 

Rick Robinson (1m 58s):

Well, thank you, Tom. I, well, every letter represents something in Ramsee. It's R a M S E E and the S E E stands for strategy execution and engagement. So if you think about all those disparate things that you read off, that we do those all come into, either developing your strategy, deciding where you want to go, then executing against that strategy and engaging and inspiring your employees. So that's what we're all about. Right?

 

Tom Bronson (2m 30s):

Excellent. So, all right. Why don't you send all the letters stand for something. What about Ram?

 

Rick Robinson (2m 35s):

Well, that stands for my Y, which is Rick angel and Maddie. So it's the family. So it's all of our initials.

 

Tom Bronson (2m 43s):

I love that. I love that. That is awesome. So what is your background and how did you get into this line of work?

 

Rick Robinson (2m 50s):

Yeah, so I struggled a lot with figuring out what I wanted to do when I grow up. It was so bad in college. I had so many majors. My dad actually called me once and invited me to lunch. When I was home on a break and halfway through lunch, he looked me dead in the eyes, says you've got two more years and that's it. He goes, you can still go. I just not going to pay for it anymore. So I ended up actually got a course catalog and figured out what I could graduate with. And within two years, and it turned out accounting, I could do that. And then a year and a half. So I got a degree in accounting and along the way, I picked up a degree in finance because I had a lot of extra hours, went to the P score, still struggling to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up.

 

Rick Robinson (3m 38s):

And at about six years after I got back from the peace Corps, a friend of mine, my best friend from the peace Corps contacted me. He says, Hey, I'm working for this training company in Detroit. And I think he'd be good at this. So things were pretty bad at the company I was with at the time. It was one I've shared with you where I was sitting on the edge of my bed, talking myself into putting shoes on every morning. So I'd get up, go to work. So I said, you know, let's try it. It was a lot less money and I was making, but I figured it was worth it at the best. But so, and as soon as I took, went on that first project, I said, this is what I meant to do. What I, what I really trips my trigger is to help people live a richer, more fulfilling life.

 

Rick Robinson (4m 25s):

And so that's what we focused, staying focused on doing within Ramsey and within my career.

 

Tom Bronson (4m 32s):

That is awesome. What a great backstory. So when you were in the peace Corps, where were you, where were you based?

 

Rick Robinson (4m 38s):

I was in the Fiji islands.

 

Tom Bronson (4m 40s):

I knew that I knew that already, but I wanted you to say that out loud to our audience.

 

Rick Robinson (4m 45s):

Yeah. So th that's the point where everybody says, Oh, well that was rough.

 

Tom Bronson (4m 49s):

I hear about people going to all these third world countries and whatnot. You were in Fiji. That's so terrible. Yeah.

 

Rick Robinson (4m 56s):

Well, we weren't on the Bay on the beach every day. Sipping cocktails.

 

Tom Bronson (5m 1s):

Yeah. I'm guessing that I'm guessing. All right, well, let's start with the basics. What exactly is leadership development?

 

Rick Robinson (5m 9s):

Well, from my view leadership, development's all about developing in someone, the, the proper mindset, because the mindset that enables you to be a, what sometimes called a champion or an expert performer is completely different than the mindset that you need to in order to be an effective leader. And without that mindset, you're never going to be as effective as a leader, as you, as you can. The second is giving you the right skillset. You know, there are so many tools, so many books, there are more books than you could read about how to be an effective leader. So one of the things I feel as my role is to cherry pick and go through and look at all the books and frameworks and ideas and tools, and kind pick the ones that are, that work the best.

 

Rick Robinson (6m 1s):

And then, then within a leadership development program, the next step is then to establish for large organizations, the group disciplines that enable cross functional execution, because most in large organizations, most divisions or departments function pretty well within their silo and where things break down is when they need to rely on each other. So that's leadership development in a nutshell.

 

Tom Bronson (6m 27s):

Wow. That's a, that is a very concise description. Thanks for that. So why is leadership development important to building business value? You know, this podcast is all about maximizing business value and you've told me what leadership development is, but why is it important to developing business value?

 

Rick Robinson (6m 46s):

Yeah, probably the most important reason it's important to developing your business value is that at the end of the day, culture is your, your only sustainable competitive advantage that you have. If you have a great product is going to be copied. If you get a great process, it's going to be copied. If you've got great people that can get hired away, but they can't steal what your internal culture is. And culture is driven primarily, if not exclusively by leader behavior. So having great leaders in your organization is going to drive a great culture, which means your people are going to be happier. They're going to be taking care of your customers better.

 

Rick Robinson (7m 27s):

You're going to have better processes. And those are the things that are gonna maximize your business value.

 

Tom Bronson (7m 33s):

I liked that it, you know, I wrote that down. You mentioned that to me the other day, the only sustainable competitive advantage you have is your culture. You know, I've seen a lot of companies that have, perhaps their culture is the only sustainable competitive disadvantage. You know, those are out there, but, but I never really thought about it that way, that that having a great culture is an enormous competitive advantage. It doesn't matter what business you're in. So I love that. I don't know if you learn that somewhere. It's something that, that you've thought through all the time, but that's going to be one of those quotes that I'm going to ponder for a long time.

 

Tom Bronson (8m 17s):

And I appreciate hearing that. What, what, why are you so passionate about developing leaders?

 

Rick Robinson (8m 24s):

Well, I think it all started from when I was first promoted to leadership position, and this was a long time ago and I was, I was such a good accountant that they said, okay, now you got 12 people reporting into you and all that stuff you're good at. And you're comfortable with. And you're like, we don't, we don't want you to do much of that anymore. What we want you to do is take care of these 12 people, which you don't know how to do. And they slapped me on the back and said, go get them and let us know if you need any help. And I didn't even know what help to ask. So I faked it until I made it. I read a bunch of books. I tried a bunch of different things. Some of them worked, some of them didn't. And I know there were a time or two that where I was not as happy as I could've been, or should've been, I had tons of self doubt.

 

Rick Robinson (9m 12s):

I didn't have a whole lot of confidence early on, you know, you never know if you're doing the right thing. You know, when I was younger, I used to build fences and decks. And you know, at the end of the day, you look up and you either did a good job, or you didn't when you're leading other people. It's, there's not a whole lot of feedback tell you whether you're on the right track. So it takes knowing and that confidence. And I'm sure the people that work for me could have been a lot happier in their job or how they're happy in their life. And a more fulfilled if I had been a better leader. So I am passionate about helping people get there so that they have the confidence to lead and that they can take care of their people.

 

Rick Robinson (9m 54s):

And so their people can take care of their families.

 

Tom Bronson (9m 57s):

Yeah. I'm really astounded over and over and over again. When the, the story that you just told about being promoted into a leadership role, even big companies, that's the way it works so many times, they're just, okay, here you are. You're the new manager in charge of this and where I find probably the most, although it happens in every department, right? But where I find the, the best and examples of that are typically in sales, do you have a great salesperson? He's selling a lot of stuff doing well, and you promote them and you make him sales manager. And when you do that, you've done two terrible things. You first promoted somebody who is a great sales person, but probably not a leader and doesn't know anything about leadership.

 

Tom Bronson (10m 43s):

And secondly, you just took your best sales person out in the field and your sales immediately started dropping. And so, so I'm just, I don't know why more companies are not intentional about really developing that leadership role, instead of just saying, okay, here you go. Best of luck. Right? What, what does it take to be a great leader? And so, yeah,

 

Rick Robinson (11m 7s):

As a matter of fact, there was a study done recently, and that's a leadership development. It's kind of like top of the list for about 70% of executives. They're going to spend between 15 and $25 billion on leadership development programs this year, depending on what source you look at. But the vast majority of them fail, just because they don't, they don't think it through. So,

 

Tom Bronson (11m 34s):

And I've seen stuff like that. You know, over the years, I've seen a lot of leadership development programs that they've worked well and, and some that not so much, right. So what's the difference then now that you've kind of cracked that egg open for me, what's the difference between leadership development programs that work and ones that don't work.

 

Rick Robinson (11m 55s):

Right? So there's lots of different things that have been called our leadership development program. Everything from book clubs to a formal programs, custom programs, there's off the shelf programs, but the successful ones all have a few things in common. First, they start by defining what, what does good look like? So at the end of the program, what do we expect to be different than then as true today? So they define that end state or future state. And then we broke it down to really four CS, right? So the first one is commitment. You have to have commitment from the top commitment to change from the executive team.

 

Rick Robinson (12m 35s):

And they have to be bought into the program and behind it, because, because of the way we structure it, we're going to be taking people off the floor for a little bit. We're going to be giving them some assignments. And if, if your boss isn't coming to you and says, Hey, have you done the homework for the class yet? You're probably not going to do it. And we can't force anybody to do it. So, so you gotta have commitment. Second is content. You need to have the curated content that, that works and the tools around it. A lot of business books give you good ideas and theory, but they don't, they don't give you a tool to implement it. And one of what I consider our strengths is to create those tools around some of these exceptionals frameworks.

 

Rick Robinson (13m 20s):

And that content really needs to include an application exercise, which is missing in a lot, right? So they teach you the, even if it is a tool, they teach you the framework to teach you the idea and they expect you to go apply it. And in doing this for 30 years, I would say about 10 to 15% of the people will go out and apply it. Unless I explicitly say here, I expect you to do this and turn it in. And then, then we can get up to about 85, 90%. And then we build in competition within that. Sometimes it, between teams, not individuals, we made that mistake because we want people to work in together and, and we get that number up.

 

Rick Robinson (14m 2s):

So the content is key. Then an element that we didn't do early on 20 years ago, that we have realized is absolutely critical is coaching. So within that, you know, we give you the content and then you need help with the application exercise. So the coaching is directive specifically the application exercises, not kind of a loose form, I'm having this problem, although that does sometimes come up, but we really want to coach you through applying that tool because when we give it to you, you're new. Just like I was new to being a leader. And I don't want to slap you on the back, say, go get 'em and let them, you know, if you need any help, because you're going to get stuck and quit.

 

Rick Robinson (14m 43s):

Cause that's what we all do. So if we have a coaching call and I say, you need to try this before the coaching call. And then in the coaching call, we talked about what worked, what did, and what would you do different? And the foresee is the sense of community. So we, we built in, we built in, you know, in in-person sessions, we can do kind of that sense of community and we can learn from each other. We share stories, you know, and the last year we've started doing group calls. So zoom calls, a directed zoom call would deal with breakouts. And, you know, we give, give you topics to discuss, and you talk about what worked and what didn't for you, so we can learn from each other.

 

Rick Robinson (15m 26s):

So it's a commitment, content, coaching and community are the elements that I think really separate the ones that work and the ones that don't.

 

Tom Bronson (15m 36s):

So the four CS commitment, content, coaching community, you know, commitment. That's probably the number one and not only commitment from the individual going through it, but the commitment from the company, the leaders to really hold people accountable and do that. I mean, commitment drives almost everything, strategy, you know, everything. So, so super important. Same story here. Look, I'm a small business owner, you know, shouldn't I do it. Couldn't I just do this on my own or, or why should I, why would I need to seek help to do these things that you're talking about?

 

Rick Robinson (16m 9s):

Yeah. So you can most definitely do it on your own. If you want to go out and read about 50 to 100 books and discern what, which ones are the most relevant, you know, and what I, what happens when we try to do it on our own, as I'm sure you've seen time after time, after time is the owner leader goes and reads a book and they love it. And they go, this is the greatest book ever. They give it to everybody in the team and they say, we're going to implement this. And then, so the first time that happens, everybody goes and reads, you know, they read it and they go, these are the expects us to implement it. And they start talking about how to implement it. And about that time he reads another book and he comes walking in and orders everyone for everybody.

 

Rick Robinson (16m 53s):

And that's where this whole flavor, the much C month comes from. But you, you can, if you follow that structure and you include the commitment and the content, the coaching, the community, the, the only question I would have was why build it yourself? You know, you can, when you could turn in, as it is, you know, you know, we'll even add a fifth C, which is cost-effectiveness because the program that I'm running right now is, is extremely cost-effective. So, yeah. So yeah, it's going to cost you more in the long run, especially if you think about factor in what your time and opportunity costs are, but you, you certainly could.

 

Rick Robinson (17m 35s):

It just, I don't know why you would,

 

Tom Bronson (17m 37s):

Right. That's funny. The flavor of the month of the program is you are, you know, I've heard it called many things or book, you know, a book, does your, I worked for a, a fortune 1000 company when I sold one of my businesses to them. And I happened to be on one of our corporate aircraft with our CEO of the parent company. And he was reading a book and he was going on and on and on about it. And, and, and so of course, I went out and picked up the book and I'm talking to other people in the organization because I was new. Right. I had just been acquired. My business had just been acquired, and I want to make a good impression on Pat he's long since passed away.

 

Tom Bronson (18m 19s):

He was a great guy, but, but I started commenting on it to some other executives and they just started laughing at me. And, and I said, what? They said, it's just the book of the month. You know, you know, Pat's not serious. He's not gonna make us, you know, do this. It's just you shake your head. Yes, sir. And then, but it's just booking the month because he's always doing that. And so, and I laughed at that, but I will tell you that he had a great program. It was unfortunate that it was so short and, and focused, but every year in the company, all of the leaders that had been promoted, somebody had been promoted into leadership for the first time, wherever it was.

 

Tom Bronson (19m 6s):

You're, you're a branch manager, you know, you've taken responsibility for, for whatever region, whatever he held every year annually, a program called creativity week. It was down at Island Marotta in the Florida keys. And basically we rented out almost the whole resort, but the program was only two days for each cohort that came through every two days or every day, they would get 10 more people showing up. So two small groups of five, each the small groups were led by the CEO and the, the chief marketing officer.

 

Tom Bronson (19m 52s):

And who'd been there for 20 years. Right. And, and they sent us four books in advance. And I want to see if I can remember here, the goal, a whack on the side of the head, a creativity book, of course, Stephen Covey's seven habits. Right? I can't remember. I'll have to think of what the other book was, but they would send that in advance. You have to read those. And then when you got there to creativity week, you basically sat with one of these guys, and you did case studies of actual stories of things that had happened in the business. And then you brainstorm about what to do. And then the executive would tell you what actually happened.

 

Tom Bronson (20m 33s):

So you get your group, you'd do that for a day with one executive. And then the next day you move over to the other executive and the new group joins you and you're teaching them. Yeah, it was so, so I, it was just a great program, fond, fond memories of that. I, I miss Patty was a great guy, but, but even doing something like that, you know, can help really develop the leaders and giving them real world scenarios. I think made all the difference in the world because you can read all kinds of things you want to in a book. But these, each year, these are actual things that happened in the business. They present the problem, and then you discuss it and try to figure out what's the solution.

 

Tom Bronson (21m 15s):

And then, and then the executive would tell you, yes, we agree. Your solution is good. Let me tell you what actually happened.

 

Rick Robinson (21m 21s):

Yeah. I love that. You know, you never, you never learned something. So well as when you got to teach it to somebody else.

 

Tom Bronson (21m 28s):

Exactly, exactly. That's the point I wanted to, to bring out is that paying it forward instantly, you know, learning it one day and teaching it the next day, because then the executive could hear it. Are you actually picking up on this stuff? Right? Are they actually picking up on the principles that we're looking for? So I love that. It's one of my favorite stories of leadership development. So we're talking with Rick Robinson, let's take a quick break. We'll be back in 30 seconds.

 

Announcer (21m 56s):

Every business from eventually transitioned some internally to employees and managers, and some externally to third party buyers, mastering partners, equips business owners to maximize business value so they can transition their businesses on their terms. Using our four step process. We start with a snapshot of where your business is today. Then we help you understand where you want to be and design a custom strategy to get you there. Next, we help you execute that strategy with the assistance of our amazing resource network. And ultimately there'll be able to transition no business on your terms. What are you waiting for more time, more revenue, if you want to maximize your business value, it takes time.

 

Announcer (22m 37s):

Now is that time get started today by checking us out at www.masterypartners.com or email us at info@masterypartners.com to learn more.

 

Tom Bronson (22m 49s):

We're back with Rick Robinson, managing director of RAMSEE consulting group. And we're talking about the importance of leadership development when it comes to building business value. So how long have you been doing this work, Rick?

 

Rick Robinson (23m 4s):

Well, I've been in training development for about 32 years. And specifically in leadership development programs for about 18.

 

Tom Bronson (23m 14s):

That's a lot of years, a lot of years.

 

Rick Robinson (23m 18s):

They say age is just the number but mine's getting to be a pretty big number.

 

Tom Bronson (23m 25s):

And you know what, no matter how old you get, I'll always be older than you, you know, that's my line with my brother. So actually it's the other way around. No matter how old I get, I'll always be younger than him. There you go. Yeah. So when we talked about this before we recorded this podcast, you told me that leaders play different roles, and that caught my attention. So tell us more about that.

 

Rick Robinson (23m 52s):

Yeah, well, real simply we have identified three main roles of a leader. The first first role is to set direction and it's first, not because it's more important because the other two are as important, but it has to come first. Right? So until you know where you're going, you can't have a relevant conversation about whether you have the right people or whether in the right seat, you can't have a relevant conversation with your structures, right. Or whether you're measuring the right things. It all depends on what it is you're trying to achieve. So we got to set direction. The second thing is then we have to execute against our strategies, right? So I heard it attributed to Ben Franklin, is that a vision without the ability to execute it is an illumination.

 

Rick Robinson (24m 39s):

And if it is Ben, Franklin is my second favorite. Ben Franklin quote, my favorite being beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. So, and then the third is you need to engage and inspire people, right? So setting direction, execution, and then engaging and inspiring people. And it doesn't, and we don't talk about motivation per se, because if they showed up to work, they're already motivated, has the same root as the word motion, motor locomotive, it's all about movement. So if they're moving, they're motivated, what we really want to focus our leaders on is to engage and inspire. Right? So just kind of channeling that.

 

Rick Robinson (25m 19s):

And you've heard a lot about employee engagement of, you know, in the last five, 10 years and how do we increase employee engagement? And the question I always ask is what are you giving them to engage with? You know, w have you set a compelling vision, set a compelling direction, and then shared that with people and invited them to come along with you, because, you know, in order to get growth, you've got to change and change is hard. And it's uncomfortable because I got to get out of my comfort zone and do something differently. And if I'm going to do that, then I need to be sold on that future. And I have to believe it's going to be worth it. So, so those are the three roles of the leader from our perspective.

 

Tom Bronson (26m 0s):

Awesome. In fact, on an upcoming podcast, maybe even next week, we're going to have Susan Steinbrecker and we're going to talk about employee engagement in a remote world. And so I know you've got a lot of thoughts on that as well. So that'll be a fun podcast. I think it's coming up on next week. You guys, you recently partnered with Huron associates. I think it's here on am I pronouncing that correctly? Yes. I had to create a program called a champion to leader. So what does that program all about?

 

Rick Robinson (26m 30s):

Yeah, actually they here on associates develop this, right? So the leader of your own associates is, is my old friend from the peace Corps. So some, you know, the world turns for things keep coming back. And we hadn't worked and probably five or six years, but he had taken the program. We started to develop for some of our clients and then with COVID and then last year he made it totally virtual. So he called me for help on some of the coaching end of it. And so working with folks one-on-one and then also to promote it, et cetera. So, so I joined them in their efforts to roll this program out and reach a broader audience.

 

Rick Robinson (27m 16s):

So that's, that's why, that's what I, I joined here on.

 

Tom Bronson (27m 21s):

Okay. Now. And, and, and what you, you kinda talked about the inception of it. What, what does the champion to lead?

 

Rick Robinson (27m 30s):

Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. So it's, it, it, it encompasses all the four CS that I talked about. Right? So the program from its structure, it's all virtual, it's all done by zoom. And the first week is you'll get a webinar, which is the content, you know, get the tools and the frameworks. And, and it'll be explained by the instructor. And then you get an assignment and you have two weeks to complete it. And two weeks after the, the webinar, you then have a one-on-one coaching session with someone like me, and we help you through the tool.

 

Rick Robinson (28m 11s):

And you talk about what worked well for you, what didn't work, what would you do differently? Where did you struggle, et cetera. And we challenge you on some of the things that, that you might have done in that, and kind of steer you in the right direction. The week after the coaching session is a group call and it's a, a guided group calls. So we don't just get everybody on a web or a zoom call and say, you know, talk to each other. We ask you some specific questions as we get you into breakout rooms. It's, it's very much value added and you can learn from each other. And then the next week is the next webinars. So it's, it's for four months of that structure with a bonus webinar at the end, that is, you're going to like this.

 

Rick Robinson (28m 56s):

It's totally focused on project planning, project management, because in order to get anything done, you're going to have to do that. You know, and Tom and I spoke yesterday, he mentioned to me that he hated project management. So, and I mentioned, I had a tool that my be able to help

 

Tom Bronson (29m 13s):

That's right. That's right. Well, you know what, we're going to look at that too. Not here, but we're going to look at that and it might be worthy of another followup podcast, cause yeah. That's project management. That's sort of the, the thing that I'm, I'm not very good at, but I know that it's necessary. Right. But it, I don't like it, you know, it's kinda like if you remember, what was it? I think president Bush, the first I don't like broccoli and I'm not right, right. That's crazy. That's just great and talk right there because I love broccoli, but I hate project management. So, but consequently, I have to be pretty good at it because I have to stay focused on it.

 

Tom Bronson (29m 56s):

Let's talk about that. So how long the program is four months long, you say, and, and you get sort of a group, a peer group, a component to it when you're challenging them in a peer group setting there, but w w who should be signing up for this? Have you got one starting sometime soon and who should be signing up for this?

 

Rick Robinson (30m 20s):

Yeah, we, we have one that starting early, early may. I believe it's May 7th. It'll be on the website, but anybody that has the responsibility of leading others and has a desire to get better, that has a desire to be the kind of boss that everybody wants to work for. So, you know, we've all been in those organizations where, you know, you got boss a and boss B, and everybody wants to work for boss B and not posse. And there's a reason for that. And it's usually because boss B cares about them and shows it, you know, and boss B has the tools necessary to be an effective leader.

 

Rick Robinson (31m 6s):

And boss is basically stopped and stuck in what we call champion mode, right? So they're, they're hoping you leave them alone so they can get their spreadsheet done right. In that that mindset promotes your actually, what actually, what it promotes is you competing with your, with your employees, because you're still trying to be the best at whatever that is. And so in order to be the best, you've got to be better than them. So you, you, you actually in direct competition with them. That's, that's why it doesn't really work within that dynamic.

 

Tom Bronson (31m 39s):

Wow. No kidding. So, so really anybody sort of in a leadership role or even new leaders, that kind of thing would be what might be a good candidate for this?

 

Rick Robinson (31m 48s):

Yeah. New leaders are ideal. We've had feedback from people that have been in leadership roles for 15, 20 years. And the feedback is, you know, some of it was kind of a nice refresher, but it was nice to get the refresher, but just that reminder of being and leading from the right mindset and being intentional about that is just invaluable.

 

Tom Bronson (32m 13s):

Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes having somebody else in there or getting that refresher, getting that reminder, you know, gosh, there's always things that I go, I knew this already. Why haven't I done it? Right. Right. And it's interesting. Similarly, our, our mastery class, which you know about is, which is designed, it's a 12 month program. They meet once a month for 12 months. And it's specifically designed for very small businesses under $5 million. But we've had participants go through that program who are much, much larger businesses who are, who are reaping as much benefit from it as a, as the small businesses are.

 

Tom Bronson (32m 53s):

We designed it with the small businesses in mind, and I'm very gratified that it's benefiting much larger businesses as well. So, so if you need a refresher course on, on leadership, this is a great opportunity. How much does the program cost or, or would you rather them just go to the website?

 

Rick Robinson (33m 12s):

No, it's fine for it's four 95 a month for the first four months. And then again, you get a free bonus, a webinar in month five to help you get and do a plan for how you're actually going to implement the changes that you talk about. And so, yeah, and we, we start with strategy, right? So we start with, actually, we start with mindset because that got it. That has to come first. Then we start with, you know, defining your vision for your scope of influence. So what do you want your department, your division, your company to look like, and then we go into, how do you execute? And then also, how do you engage and inspire your people and pull all that together within the four months?

 

Tom Bronson (33m 53s):

Awesome. Sounds like a great program. So, and it's a bargain too for now for, for four months. I'm sure that the, that I'm an ROI guy. Everybody listens to this podcast knows that I am a relentless tracker of ROI, guaranteed. A huge ROI on a program like that. All right. We're almost out of time, but one last business.

 

Rick Robinson (34m 15s):

I have one thing to say, cause you said you don't use the word guarantee and we do guarantee it. So not only is it a good ROI, not only is it not a, a huge price point. If you go through the program, you go through the first month to decide it's not for you, then we'll give you your money back. No questions asked.

 

Tom Bronson (34m 35s):

I'll tell you that's a great deal. That's a great guarantee. Awesome. So one last business question here, the podcast of course, is all about maximizing business value. What's the one most important thing you recommend a business owners do to build long-term value in their business?

 

Rick Robinson (34m 56s):

Yeah. It's a relentless and continuous focus on your people and your culture, which necessitates strong leadership. Typically, when you look at a balanced scorecard through a strategic planning process, you have a financial goal. You haven't got a internal business process goal, you've got a customer goal and, and you've got an employee goal. And the problem that you run into is when you try to run your business that way, cause it's really backwards, right? So you gotta put the employee and your culture first, so they can take care of your customer and achieve your customer goal using your internal processes. And the money is what happens when you do that.

 

Rick Robinson (35m 39s):

So focus on, so yeah, disciplines around culture and people it'd be the number one thing I would recommend.

 

Tom Bronson (35m 46s):

I love that. And don't forget the only sustainable competitive advantage you have is your culture. And so I've often said that that to me, the role of a business owner or a CEO is to be the keeper of the company culture, right? No, absolutely culture officer, if you will. And that is to me, the most important thing in running a business, because it is your people that gets things done. And as one of my mentors told me a long time ago that that forget about the business, Tom focus on the people, because if you take care of the people, they'll take care of the business.

 

Tom Bronson (36m 26s):

Right?

 

Rick Robinson (36m 26s):

Absolutely. If you were to allow me to have a second one sure. Is have the discipline to make things repeatable and to run without. Cause if you ever want it to be valuable to somebody else, it can't be relying on you.

 

Tom Bronson (36m 42s):

Yes, exactly. Owner dependency. That is a value killer. Our folks know that. So, alright. I tricked ya. I'm going to, now that you gave me a second one, I'm going to ask you my, my fun question, which we ask everybody on this podcast and our listeners pay attention all the way to this point. The bonus question is what personality trait has gotten you into the most trouble through the years.

 

Rick Robinson (37m 9s):

Oh gosh, probably blunt honesty. And I'll tell you a story where it kind of illustrates it. I was interviewing for a job about 30 years ago and they asked me a similar question. I said, well, what's your biggest weakness? And I told them it was honesty. And, and they said, well, if we don't really consider that a weakness. And I said, well, I don't really give a crap what you think. So

 

Tom Bronson (37m 35s):

They get the job. I did get the job well, they're being blunt and honest, honestly. Well, I don't think that that's a weakness. Well, I don't give a crap what you think. That's awesome. That is classic. I'm going to have to remember that. Sorry. How can our viewers and listeners get in touch with you, Rick?

 

Rick Robinson (38m 0s):

Well, our website is just www.ram-c.com. My email is rick@ram-c.com or they can call me on my cell, which is (214) 448-5623.

 

Tom Bronson (38m 16s):

Awesome. Awesome. I'm curious. Why did you do Ram dash the letter C instead of the S E E because since those actually that's, that stands for something it's an acronym. Yes,

 

Rick Robinson (38m 31s):

Absolutely. Yeah. Well, you probably can discern the answer to that question is that Ramsey was owned somebody else and they were willing to sell it to me for $75,000. And when we were for as a small startup, we were like, Hmm, let's see if there C works. And it did. So we went from there.

 

Tom Bronson (38m 53s):

Awesome. That is a, that is greatness right there. So thank you, Rick. What a fun conversation. Thanks for being our guest today.

 

Rick Robinson (39m 0s):

Thank you, Tom. I appreciate you having me on,

 

Tom Bronson (39m 3s):

It's been a lot of fun. You can find Rick Robinson at Ram dash Steve, a letter c.com or on LinkedIn. And of course, as always, if you'd like a warm introduction to my good friend, Rick Robinson, then just reach out to me and I will be happy to introduce you to my good friend and golfing buddy. This is the maximize business value podcast, where we give practical advice to business owners on how to build long-term sustainable value in your business. Be sure to tune in each week and follow us wherever you found this podcast and be sure to comment. We love comments by the way, want to add one's note here. Someone pointed out to me the other day that they didn't realize they've been, they've been listening to our podcast and just making notes like crazy, right on our website.

 

Tom Bronson (39m 50s):

We actually post a transcript of this. So in case you didn't know that you can always go and download our brand script, as well as the audio and video podcasts that might help you a voracious note takers out there until next time. I'm Tom Bronson reminding you

 

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You to develop your leaders. And it has a lot to do with value while you maximize business. Thank you for tuning into the maximize business value podcast with Tom Bronson. 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 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.

 

Announcer (40m 44s):

Check it out. <inaudible> that was perfect. I wouldn't make any changes on that.