HELP Others See their AWESOMENESS
Audio Transcript:
Michael Huff
Okay, what about, I think you did a little bit on imposter syndrome a while back, what about when that person doesn't necessarily see that in themselves, like that value?
Alex Reneman
You have listened to the podcast, I'm actually impressed. I'm pleased. I'm honored. I'm honored and humbled. So yeah, that's a big one. You line a bunch of Mount Leverage employees up, and I'm not telling on them, but you line a bunch of Mountain Leverage employees up and you start separating them by who thinks they're better than they are and who has the imposter syndrome and thinks they're worse than they are.
And you will be so lopsided that the seesaw will fly anybody on the other end clear out to the next county because I've got a ton of people who are awesome. They're absolutely killers. They're amazing in the world. And they quest second guests themselves and question their abilities. And so we're trying to solve that in every way. We've got a cool program we're about to put in here in another month or so that another attempt to help solve that. And so that's a lot of my discussions with folks is you are. And I think I can tell them all day long. They're great. And I think that's important. So as a leader, if I spend time.
Focusing on the lowest common denominator. So let's say we have some folks that are failing and aren't getting it done If I'm spending my communication to the company and a lot of CEOs do this like hey, we're down on our numbers We've got people not selling and whatever else your killer salespeople or or we're not developing fast enough or Digging a ditch faster, whatever it is. Your killers are hearing that as well. So your a players are hearing that and they're hearing we're not doing enough We're not doing enough. That's hard on them
And so there, and I'm not saying you should code everything. There's a reality that sometimes there's challenges. got to bring them up, but I spend more time on the other side of, of, talking about what we're doing well and maybe where we need to improve. Sure. But not focusing on the lowest common denominator of the people who are just dragging along and maybe probably shouldn't be here or they're just struggling right now and they'll find a way through it. The more I spend that way, when I'm talking corporately, the more I'm bringing everybody down and the more I'm, I'm, I'm feeding that piece. So again, fundamentally, I try to create an environment.
where we're focused on the best parts of ourselves and encouraging that and kind of supporting that. But I think there's another piece of this that's really important. When I'm in individual conversations, I can compliment them all they want. My goal, I'm trying to help them see. I'm trying to help them see what they're doing. And so I had somebody the other day ask me about, or we were talking about something. said, well, I'm just somewhat new here and I'm not really, you guys have done this great thing.
And I just gave her the analogy and I think it just shares to the company last week, but I just gave her the analogy. said, you know, when you're building a puzzle, which piece is the most important? Is the first one is the last one? Is it one in between? And she was like, well, that makes sense. And she was, it helped her realize she's important to what we're doing. And just things like that, I guess, you know, again, I can tell you, oh, you're doing great. You're doing great. They want to hear that. And that's important as long as it's real and not made up. But I've found what really sticks with them. Like that compliment lasts for a day or two a week, who knows, maybe a month. I don't know.
but helping them see their awesomeness in a way where I can be another voice in their mind and also help them be another voice in their mind with their imposter syndrome to balance it out. think that's, a leader, that's a really important thing. That's not easy to navigate and everybody's different. So I don't have a template to just hand somebody and say, these are the seven things you want to say to your employees to have them sorted out. It's tough, but that's my responsibility as a leader, I think. That's one of the big responsibilities.
Michael Huff
Yeah, I think you nailed it with the balance part of it because it's, you know, as a leader, it's like, it seems like you should be giving the team all the credit and then when something messes up, you're taking all the blame and...
I there's that fine line. I've worked with people that like, they think they're the best and then I've struggled with imposter syndrome a big time. That's probably of the books I've read, it's probably mostly on that type of thing. John Acuff's soundtracks is one that sticks with me. Those soundtracks you play in your head. Those things that you say to yourself, would you say that to somebody else? I try to think about that.
just kind of finding the good. That's another thing we focus on in the leadership training is finding the good. And we challenge leaders to talk about that and the impact it had on the team and the organization. And it's a struggle for them.
Like tell me about something, you know, a specific behavior that was good that recently happened that had a big impact on your team and the organization. And I see them, you know, they're all kind of looking up and trying to figure out what it is. But if you ask them to like, when was the last time somebody let you down or somebody failed or you had, you know, unplanned downtime, you know, they're writing, you know, lists of that stuff. So we're just trying to change that mindset of finding the good. And then when you find that good, recognizing that specific behavior because you do that because you want it repeated, right?
Alex Reneman
Yep. I think it's interesting you bring that up. One of the things I think about from myself, and I think this is applicable to this conversation and many others, when you talk about that soundtrack, we all have the soundtracks in our head, what we tell ourselves and Mike weaponize that guy, weaponize him, man. Like we talked on the podcast, weaponize him. He's an asset or he or whoever in your head is an asset ultimately if you can weaponize them. But how I see myself often in the company and this goes back to the old movie, Wilde movie, Clockwork Orange.
I think that's what's going right. And he, phrases himself as the humble narrator, right? He's the humble narrator. And I really kind of consider myself that at mountain leverage that I'm the humble narrator. Yeah, I, I'm the founder and the CEO, right? Somebody has to that role, but I'm also the humble narrator. And so, so when, when we have a year or we have a period that's, that's maybe not been as successful as we want it or something difficult happened or whatever else, I can narrate the story.
and remind us of some things that were amazing in the process. Or even when I'm talking to an individual, I can remind them of things that were awesome to help be another storyline, another soundtrack in their mind that they can play themselves. And so I do think that's an important piece. And you're right. I see myself as the humble narrator of Mount Leverage often.
Michael Huff
What was yours, Frank? that what was your... What was the name?
Alex Reneman
Frank. Yeah, you're right. Man, you are dialed in dude. Yeah. Frank is my guy, dude. He's talking to me right now. you asked me, look, seriously, when you asked me the opening question about leadership and being a leader, Frank's like, are you kidding me? You're not a leader. Blah, blah. Right? You're hearing all that stuff. And then you heard me kind of psychologically work my way around it. There's a lot of effort. Yeah, I get it. And I, and it went through all that. You play this recording back, you'll see me. I'm, I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to Frank. I'm talking to myself and you know, I've, I've tried tricks where I say, you know, you talk to yourself like,
Alex don't talk to Alex that way. Alex doesn't want this, but the best thing for me is ultimately been to weaponize that guy and say, Hey, I appreciate you, man. It's like my primal brain saying, you know, go eat that snacky cake. But, my other, my modern brain saying, Frank is more my primal guy and that's okay. I can appreciate it, but not everybody's kind of navigated that for themselves and sorted it out. So I just try to help be the and the narrator to help, uh, help be another voice and allow them to have another voice in their head. Because I got to tell you, man, there are probably.
I get it. There's turd employees out there everywhere. for us, in my experience, there are more people that want to be good, that want to do the good things, that want to be great. And if they had someone help them see how great they were, they would be great. And then they would help other people be great. And now I'm getting Shangri-La and I know this is where the hippie comes in. But ultimately, that's how we work, right? That's the momentum we want in the world of more people being great and wanting others to be great as opposed to
I gotta be great to cut you down or I gotta cut myself down and it just, the whole thing's ugly.
Michael Huff
Yeah, yeah, no, I get it. Yeah, I think it's a great mentality to kind of like, you know, not to get biblical, but you're kind of, you know, sending that message and then they're sending the message and things are kind of, you know.
Alex Reneman
Yeah, sure. Hey, good news spreads fast, man. And I know that negative news spreads to 10 and good news to two, but true good news, when it spreads, it lands and it sticks. It doesn't wait for the next news cycle. Really good news sticks. And I think the more of us that are spreading that, the better.
Alex Reneman is the founder of Mountain Leverage and Unleash Tygart and host of Flourishing w/ Alex Reneman. For 20+ years he has worked as CEO of Mountain Leverage, honing the concept of flourishing and experimenting with it in the business. In July of 2024, he decided to begin to share this idea with others, which led to his podcast, social content, and the plans for other initiatives in the future.
