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097: How to Use Hospitality as a Leadership Strategy

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The Launch Youniversity Podcast
The Launch Youniversity Podcast
097: How to Use Hospitality as a Leadership Strategy
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Summary:

Many innovators and launchers do not consider themselves leaders, but becoming a leader is inevitable in the process of bringing your idea to life. Most run from the title because it often feels weighty — you have flashbacks to The Office’s Michael Scott or maybe your current leader and think, “That will not be me.”

However, what if leadership could feel a lot more like home? Rooted in the idea of treating your team, collaborators, and future employees like guests, Terry A. Smith shares with host, David Farmer, another perspective of leadership based on the principles of hospitality and how we can create an environment where people and dreams flourish.

Welcome to episode 97 of the Launch Youniversity Podcast.

Links + Resources:

Enter to win a free copy of Terry A. Smith’s book, The Hospitable Leader, for you and one friend by following Launch Youniversity on Instagram. Locate the post about the book and comment in the caption!

The Hospitable Leader: Create Environments Where People and Dreams Flourish

Live 10

Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business

Frances Hesselbein

The Hospitable Leader online community

Elevator Pitch

Three Takeaways:

1. Hospitality is Crucial for Influence
You cannot lead someone effectively if you don’t have their permission to be led, and you will not get their permission if they don’t feel welcome. From your attitude to your environment, hospitality can make all the difference in how you influence others.

2. Engagement is Essential in Leadership 
Moral leadership is about engaging and influencing someone’s will. It will be easier to mobilize your team around your mission when they feel heard, understood, and invested in as individuals and as a valued contributor.

3. Inclusion Multiplies Influence
Growth happens when we are stretched. One way to be stretched is to surround yourself with people and ideas different from what you’re used to. Celebrate inclusion and diversity.

Thank you for listening to the Launch Youniversity Podcast! If you have a question that you want to be answered on the podcast… ask us here!

071: Customer Experience, Culture and Scaling with Chicken Salad Chick’s Scott Deviney

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Chicken Salad Chick on the Launch Youniversity Podcast
The Launch Youniversity Podcast
071: Customer Experience, Culture and Scaling with Chicken Salad Chick's Scott Deviney
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Summary:

Welcome to Episode 71 of The Launch Youniversity Podcast. On this episode, Kevin talks with Chicken Salad Chick CEO Scott Deviney. Chicken Salad Chick has grown remarkably under Scott’s leadership, and today he’s sharing his wisdom on culture, customer experience, scaling franchise locations and more. We hope you find Scott’s advice as fascinating and inspiring as we did.

Links + Resources:

Chicken Salad Chick

The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni

Elevator Pitch | Minimum words, Maximum results

Free Personal Brand Assessment

DISC Personality Assessment

Three Takeaways:

1. It’s not just about the product, it’s about the people and experience. 

Your product is important, but your product alone won’t keep you in business if your customers have a bad experience. Chicken Salad Chick isn’t successful just because they make great chicken salad (though, they do!). It’s also because they provide fresh food in a clean space with friendly and helpful team members.

2. Business mentors will show up at the right time. 

One of most-asked questions we get at Launch Youniversity is: How do I find a mentor? Mentors are incredibly important on the entrepreneur’s (lonely) journey. Scott’s advice is to stop stressing about when and how. Instead, focus on building genuine relationships with other business owners, entrepreneurs and members of your community. One day you’ll look up and realize you have several mentors in your corner.

3. Sales and growth don’t solve all your problems. 

Scott realized that in order for CSC to reach its full potential, they needed to focus on culture and hiring. To focus on culture and hiring, they needed to slow down on selling franchise locations for a season of time. If there are cracks in the foundation of your business, more sales might lead to more problems. You don’t need to slam on the breaks, but you can tap on them.

029: What Working for Tony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey and Dave Ramsey Taught Kevin Jennings About Creating Customer Experiences

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What Working for Tony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey and Dave Ramsey Taught Kevin Jennings About Creating Customer Experiences
The Launch Youniversity Podcast
029: What Working for Tony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey and Dave Ramsey Taught Kevin Jennings About Creating Customer Experiences
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Summary:

Kevin is our resident creative-visionary here at Launch Youniversity. In addition to being part of the Launch Youniveristy team, he’s a husband, new father, digital strategist and founding CEO of a marketing agency.

Kevin has had the opportunity to work with some of the most well-known personalities on the planet. As you might suspect, Tony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey and Dave Ramsey are masters at caring for their customers and cultivating a valuable customer experience. Kevin has had a front-row seat to it all and he’s joining us today to share his lessons learned.

Welcome to episode 29 of the Launch Youniversity Podcast.

Links + Resources:

Kevin’s Marketing Agency Junction 32

Kevin on Twitter

Tony Robbins’ Website

Oprah Winfrey’s Website

Dave Ramsey’s Website

Basecamp

Harvest Time Tracking

Three Takeaways:

1. Add value first, sell second.
Tony Robbins’ philosophy is that he wants to add value to each persons’ life as fast as he can. This isn’t something limited to purchasing customers. Tony wants to add value to any person that comes in contact with his brand. This might be a free book chapter download from his website, an inspirational Instagram image or a blog post. If you’re first adding value to people’s lives, eventually selling a product will be a whole lot easier.

2. Know your customer’s pain points.
Even though Dave Ramsey is the CEO of a 500+ person company, he also has a radio show where he spends hours each day just talking to his customers about the pain points they’re facing. Talking to customers each day gives Dave an instinctual knowledge about what his people need (and what they don’t need). It’s not uncommon for CEOs to be out-of-touch with their customers, so they make decisions without any empathy for their customers. Empathy is the secret ingredient that Dave Ramsey and his team have mastered.

3. Turn your casual customers into raving fans.
Something that Tony, Dave and Oprah have all done successfully is turn their customers into their biggest fans. This happens when you continually get to know your customer and you continually serve their needs. This doesn’t happen when you think “okay, they bought my product.. so I’m finished with them.” Raving fans will evangelize your products or services to their friends, volunteer at your events and be your social media cheerleaders. But raving fans don’t happen naturally… they have to be nurtured.

 

028: Brad Lomenick on Launching Catalyst, Scaling Success and Being the Right Kind of Leader

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Brad Lomenick on Launching Catalyst, Scaling Success and Being the Right Kind of Leader
The Launch Youniversity Podcast
028: Brad Lomenick on Launching Catalyst, Scaling Success and Being the Right Kind of Leader
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Summary:

If you’ve heard of the massively successful conference called Catalyst, then you’ve probably heard of Brad Lomenick. Brad was on the ground floor of launching the innovative leadership event and today he’s sharing the wisdom he gained through his experience there.

In addition to Catalyst, we’re talking to Brad about his book H3 Leadership: Be Humble. Stay Hungry. Always Hustle. We left this conversation with Brad feeling completely inspired, and hope that you’ll feel the same.

Welcome to episode 28 of the Launch Youniversity Podcast.

Links + Resources:

Brad’s Website and Twitter and Instagram

Catalyst

H3 Leadership: Be Humble. Stay Hungry. Always Hustle. by Brad Lomenick

LeaderCast

Three Takeaways:

1. Know who your audience is and invite them to the table.
The organizers of the Catalyst conference wanted to create a new type of event that reached next-generation leaders. So what did they do? They invited next-generation leaders to the table and spent time talking to them about their needs, ideas and goals for attending a conference. They didn’t ask conference veterans in their 40s and 50s what they thought would work. They hyper-targeted all of their research, planning and decision to the specific group of people that they wanted to serve.

2. What do you do after a successful launch? Go back to step one.
One of the reasons that Catalyst has scaled so well is because—even during their busiest, most successful seasons—they went back to step one in the Launch Loop: Understand. They never stopped trying to understand the problems they were solving and what their audience needed.

3. You honor people by asking for their help.
As launchers and leaders, we often tell ourselves that either: 1. We don’t need help, or 2. People are busy and will be bothered if you ask for help. Almost 90% of the time, you’re wrong about both. It takes wisdom and humility as a leader to know when you need another voice speaking into an idea or giving you honest feedback. Also, you’ll be surprised at how much other people are excited to help you. When you ask people for help, you are telling them that their opinion matters a lot to you, and by listening to them you honor them in the process.

017: Culture, Influencers and Ingenuity: Our Conversation with Sid Mashburn Pt 2

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Culture, Influencers and Ingenuity: Our Conversation with Sid Mashburn
The Launch Youniversity Podcast
017: Culture, Influencers and Ingenuity: Our Conversation with Sid Mashburn Pt 2
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Summary:

This week, Launch Youniversity is honored to be joined again by Sid Mashburn, accomplished entrepreneur and owner of the #1 men’s independent clothing store in the US. In this episode, Sid talks about experience and business growth, team culture, and positive influencers in his life. If you missed Part One of our conversation, listen now!

Welcome to episode 17 of the Launch Youniversity Podcast.

Links + Resources:

Sidmashburn.com

Annmashburn.com

GQ Style’s Profile on Sid Mashburn

Three Takeaways:

1. Use your experiences to see new opportunities. As soon as Sid got his driver’s license, he went to work in a men’s store. He loved clothes. He loved working with people. He loved sharing. Sid dreamed about becoming a designer, and even wanted to leave college and go straight to design school in New York, but his father encouraged him to wait. After years of experience working for large companies like British Khaki, J.Crew, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Land’s End, Sid learned the essentials of design, product development, and sourcing. With his combined experience working in small specialty stores and learning from large companies, Sid saw an opportunity like no other.

2. Healthy team culture leads to great customer service. Sid doesn’t believe in commission for selling in his stores. He wants employees that see this job as a real vocation, not a stepping stone to other positions and industries. He wants his employees to feel they’re part of something bigger than selling clothes. They’re really taking care of a piece of someone’s life. Treating his employees this way has lead to above and beyond acts of customer service from his team.

3. Positive influencers make the journey easier. The closest person to Sid is Ann Mashburn, his wife. Sid relies on her judgement, honesty, and trusts her advice on all subjects. Another trusted voice in Sid’s life is David Supple, his COO and business partner. Sid and his team have also established a board of directors for further counsel. Sid firmly believes in welcoming advice from all his trusted family, friends, and peers.

016: Sid Mashburn on Launching the Number One Men’s Independent Clothing Store in the US Pt. 1

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Sid Mashburn on Launching the Number One Men’s Independent Clothing Store in the US
The Launch Youniversity Podcast
016: Sid Mashburn on Launching the Number One Men's Independent Clothing Store in the US Pt. 1
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Summary:

This week, Launch Youniversity is honored to have accomplished entrepreneur, Sid Mashburn, join us on today’s episode. Sid is the owner of the number one men’s independent clothing store in the US. This is part one of our conversation with Sid, make sure to subscribe to the podcast so that you don’t miss part two next week.

Welcome to episode 16 of the Launch Youniversity Podcast.

Links + Resources:

Sidmashburn.com

Annmashburn.com

GQ Style’s Profile on Sid Mashburn

Three Takeaways:

1. Do your own research. When Sid was scouting a location for his store in Atlanta, he drove down every single street within a several-mile radius. He looked at the license plates of cars driving around to see what surrounding counties they were coming from. He noted the restaurants, where people were hanging out, who his neighbors would be. After spending time finding out who the people are and what surroundings they enjoy, he was able to determine the need.

2. You can’t go wrong when you put people first. Building community is part of the Sid Mashburn business model. Sid says that when people cross the threshold into his store, they are his guest. What do you do when a guest comes into your home? You offer them a drink. Simple gestures of graciousness, like offering customers a beverage, have turned a clothing store into a place where people come to hang out. The Sid Mashburn store is a place where anyone can shop and everyone is welcome.

3. Great Product. Great Price. If you can accomplish the dynamic duo of fantastic products and prices, you don’t have to live in fear of the ebbs and flows of the economy. Sid launched his store at a time when everyone in retail was trying to leave retail. He knew that if he put out a really great product, at a really great price and wrapped it up in exceptional service, it would be okay. He was right.