CEOs successfully leading growth companies require continual learning, new thinking and a guided approach. CEO BrainFood was created to be a resource and guide for entrepreneur founders and CEOs seeking insights and useful tools to help them build enterprise value, generate higher profits, and develop the talent needed to consistently win at the Great Game of Business.
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025 Maintaining Resiliency in the Face of Stress and Adversity with Susan Drumm
Thursday, May 14, 2020 • Duration 41:17
01:44 – Michael introduces today’s guest, Susan Drumm who speaks to the origin story of her organization Meritage Leadership Development
09:20 – Michael and Susan reflect on the impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic
12:47 – Building resilience in the face of adversity, stress and anxiety
25:33 – The importance of effective delegation and the OURS system
29:30 – Susan speaks to the many assessment tools that she utilizes in her work with leaders
33:37 – Michael and Susan speak to their unique experiences as growth and leadership coaches
38:34 – Where listeners can follow Susan
40:00 – Michael thanks Susan for joining the show and where listeners can find his Functional Team Scorecard
TWEETABLE QUOTES
“I would say it’s more critical than ever that leaders spend time engaging with their team in this [remote] format because people feel isolated.” (10:11)
“What I was curious about is what makes some leaders able to handle stressful situations more gracefully while others just get their buttons pushed and become reactive or lash out. And, is it innate? Can it be learned and, if so, how?” (15:58)
“I recently heard a statistic that the average life expectancy for a police officer after they retire is ten years. Think about that. Because of the wear and tear from such high stress situations that they’ve had to deal with, the toll that’s taken on their bodies without the ability to build the resilience, can really make a difference.” (23:15)
00:55 – Michael introduces today’s guest, Albert Erisman
03:23 – Al talks about why he started Ethix Magazine & The Theology of Work Project
06:25 – Why purpose, meaning and focus outweigh the importance of profits
09:21 – Al talks about his book, The ServiceMaster Story, and the Four Objectives
20:09 – The concept of ‘Shingles on the Roof’
22:42 – The importance of leaders understanding the value of service workers
27:37 – Al explains that leaders aren’t perfect
29:11 – The importance of training
32:34 – Diversity of culture and religion
35:44 – Al speaks to how his company dealt with exponential growth through acquisitions while honoring the four objectives
38:08 – Michael thanks Al for joining the show and for the great work that he’s doing
40:15 – Where listeners can follow Al
41:04 – Where to find Michael’s Functional Team Scorecard
TWEETABLE QUOTES
“I think the whole idea of purpose, meaning and focus is the central idea and then profit is the means by which you do that.” (08:31)
“What happens to a company that has a focus on its employees, its purpose, and its meaning? And what happens when that shifts and becomes about profit?” (11:12)
“He wrote that, ‘ServiceMaster had cracked the code by the way the service industry is perceived because they alone were able to instill purpose, meaning and value into the work of a service worker. It changed the way they saw their work and, therefore, it changed the results for the customer.’” (25:07)
“If you build a system that will only works for perfect leaders, it will fail because there are no perfect leaders.” (28:15)
023 Mastering The Great Game with Jack Stack
Wednesday, January 15, 2020 • Duration 56:53
01:01 – Michael introduces today’s guest, Jack Stack
04:21 – Jack’s origin story and the goal of The Great Game of Business
14:25 – The importance of forward-thinking forecasting
20:29 – The secret sauce of The Great Game of Business
27:50 – The importance of the critical number
34:14 – Jack speaks to a story in his latest book, Change The Game
38:03 – The importance of creating jobs
39:59 – Michael and Jack discuss the value of culture
45:13 – Jack provides some final observations and takeaways on business
49:34 – Jack talks about the state of the economy
53:57 – Michael thanks Jack for joining the show and for the great work that he’s doing
54:23 – Where listeners can follow Jack
56:08 – Where to find Michael’s Functional Team Scorecard
TWEETABLE QUOTES
“I began to realize there’s two ways of leading a company. One is by a product and service and then one is these people look at the company from a totally different set of metrics. I’m trying to make a precision flywheel and they’re trying to make a precision balance sheet.” (07:26)
“If you’re not creating new businesses in your companies right now, your survival’s gonna be very very small in the future.” (21:38)
“If you can forecast, you can actually control the world.” (24:40)
“You need sales. There’s no question you need sales, ok? But sales without margins is just more work.” (33:04)
“Selling EBITDA is like selling a house with only one bathroom.” (39:34)
“When you appeal to the highest level of thinking, you get the highest level of performance.” (45:47)
022 Coaching with a Purpose with Mark Green
Monday, January 6, 2020 • Duration 55:09
00:54 – Michael introduces today’s guest, Mark Green
03:55 –Coaching for Results vs. Coaching for Growth
07:04 – Michael promotes Mark’s book, Activators
10:29 – Mark speaks to hidden growth killers
17:56 – Universal quantifiers
20:35 – Mark talks about three different types of fear
26:08 – Mark lays out the five symptoms of fear
32:45 – Mark tells the story about his Grandpa Ben and the importance of changing your neighborhood
37:55 – The value Mark places on purposefulness and the link between purpose and strategy
46:13 – Mark speaks to his personal purpose and the process it took to figure it out
50:50 – Michael encourages the audience to pick up a copy of his book, Activators
51:59 – Mark talks about some projects he’s currently working on, including a new book
53:06 – Where listeners can follow Mark
54:00 – Michael thanks Mark for joining the show
54:24 – Where to find Michael’s Functional Team Scorecard
TWEETABLE QUOTES
“When the hidden growth killers are operating and you’re not aware of them, you’re actually not really at choice, right? You’re surrendering choice to operate on your habits, your beliefs, your motivators.” (16:18)
“If you have fear that’s affecting you, there’s no way that you can feel like a great CEO when you know that you’re not addressing the behaviors that actually weaken your business.” (24:02)
“We use logic to justify our thinking. So, we’re typically blind to our fears.” (29:16)
“Often what I’ve observed is we maintain status quo networks, comfort zone networks… And, the truth of the matter is, in many cases, you’ve become among the most expensive houses in all of your neighborhoods. And then you wonder why you’re not growing as fast as you want to grow.” (34:47)
021 The Great Game Interview with Rich Armstrong and Steve Baker
Monday, December 9, 2019 • Duration 55:18
00:58 – Michael introduces today’s guests, Rich Armstrong and Steve Baker
01:41 – Michael promotes Rich and Steve’s latest book, Get In The Game 03:41 – The origin story of The Great Game of Business
08:48 – How Jack Stack began the process of teaching the language of business to his team
12:08 – Steve addresses the concept of open-book management
15:31 – Jack’s philosophy of lifetime hiring
18:16 – Building a dominant workforce
20:49 – How to engage employees to become better business thinkers
24:24 – How scorecarding works
27:39 – Benefits of a company getting into The Great Game
31:58 – Key principles and elements of The Great Game of Business
38:52 – The concept of a self-funded bonus
44:02 – The importance of a healthy culture
51:03 – Why Michael loves to highlight The Great Game of Business
52:06 – Michael thanks Rich and Steve for joining the show and praises the work they’ve done
52:17 – Michael encourages the audience to visit The Great Game of Business website
53:08 – Michael promotes the upcoming Great Game of Business Conference
54:01 – Where to find Michael’s Functional Team Scorecard
TWEETABLE QUOTES
“It [The Great Game of Business] was all about productivity. It was about quality. It was about building a solid product, but not necessarily building a company.” (06:38) (Rich)
“The dominant companies in the next ten years will be those who are dominant with their workforce.” (18:25) (Steve)
“People want to be in the know, and they want to know what they can do to contribute.” (22:55) (Rich)
020 Achieving Financial Independence with Paul Adams
Tuesday, December 3, 2019 • Duration 42:18
01:01 – Michael introduces today’s guest, Paul Adams
02:17 – Paul talks about his upcoming book, Your Business Your Wealth
03:55 – Michael speaks to his experience working with CEOs who take a salary that is lower than the market rate
09:15 – Two common mistakes entrepreneurs make when it comes to valuing their business
11:49 – The danger of not thinking about an exit strategy
16:45 – Michael talks about the ever-expanding role of today’s CEO
18:27 – Paul speaks to interviews he’s done with various financial publications
20:50 – Paul poses an interesting thought experiment to determine financial independence
24:40 – How Sound Financial Group identifies and works with their ideal client
28:41 – The architect example
34:13 – Paul speaks to the purpose of his podcast entitled, Your Business, Your Wealth
37:35 – Paul provides a special offer to listeners of CEO Brain Food
38:04 – Michael thanks Paul for joining the show and praises the work he’s done
40:54 – Michael encourages the audience to visit Paul’s website
41:30 – Where to find Michael’s Functional Team Scorecard
TWEETABLE QUOTES
“All too often, business owners spend most of their time focused on just growing their business. And the more successful their business is, they assume it’s just gonna work out on their personal balance sheet.” (03:43)
“It’s not a competition between what assets you can buy outside your business and how good the return is inside your business. Everybody will agree, the best rate of return you have is in your business just right up until it’s not. And, when it’s not is when you need to be in a position to have financial independence.” (20:01)
019 Purpose is Central to Strategy
Monday, November 11, 2019 • Duration 23:27
00:58 – Michael introduces today’s topic, making purpose central to strategy
02:00 – Michael recalls working for an absent manager whose purpose and values were misaligned
04:07 – Why making money should not be the sole purpose of an organization
05:46 – How the CEO of Michelin incorporated purpose into strategy
07:40 – The rise of entrepreneurship
10:03 – The pursuit of purpose crisis that our society is facing today
11:14 – Risks we face when we do not have a purpose
11:45 – Identifying your quest
12:58 – Attributes of exponential organizations
14:41 – The Massive Transformational Purpose (MTP)
15:31 – Examples of great MTPs
16:06 – The Disney Example
16:56 – What makes Massive Transformational Purposes so powerful and impactful
18:30 – The benefits of capitalism
19:13 – Michael recalls his past interest in starting a medical technology company
21:10 – How Michael found his own purpose
21:55 – Michael leaves the audience with a self-inquiry question to consider
22:08 – Where to find Michael’s Functional Team Scorecard
TWEETABLE QUOTES
“In recent years, purpose has become something that we’re all focused on. But once it’s discovered and articulated, oftentimes it gets relegated to the periphery of the business.” (01:35)
“The idea that making money as a primary goal or purpose, in and of itself, is good and worth pursuing has proven to be man’s downfall since biblical times.” (04:07)
“Purpose is no longer just the foundation stone or integral part of the DNA of your company. Today, purpose is becoming central to strategy.” (05:35)
018 Lifetime Learning with Daniel Marcos
Monday, October 21, 2019 • Duration 01:03:38
00:53 – Michael introduces today’s guest, Daniel Marcos
02:47 – Why everything starts and ends with the CEO
05:10 – Daniel speaks to why the strength of the founder usually becomes the weakness of the company
07:12 – Level Five Leaders
09:39 – The Southwest Airlines example
10:56 – Daniel’s entrepreneurial journey
16:50 – The importance of coaching
20:45 – Daniel speaks to his fundraising prowess
25:39 – Keeping up with the speed of scaling as a CEO
30:01 – The decision to leave his company, travel, and go back to school
32:13 – Daniel opens up about his mortgage company that failed in 2008
35:21 – Building the Growth Institute
37:44 – The value of learning through reading
39:14 – The importance of self-care
40:41 – Stages of growth
45:39 – Understanding that business plans change
46:04 – The second growth stage: sales
48:47 – The third growth stage: scaling and infrastructure
51:13 – The fourth growth stage: dominating your industry
52:03 – Differentiating between being an employee and owner of a company
54:56 – Michael and Daniel discuss core values
59:20 – Michael encourages the audience to visit Daniel’s website
59:50 – Daniel talks about his Master of Business Dynamics Program
1:02:37 – Michael teases the topic of the next episode of CEO Brain Food
1:02:52 – Where to find Michael’s Functional Team Scorecard
017 Three Execution Disciplines
Monday, October 7, 2019 • Duration 21:51
00:58 – Michael recaps the last few episodes of CEO Brain Food
01:29 – Introducing today’s topic: Three Execution Disciplines
03:25 – The strategy horizon
05:09 – Discipline One: Priorities
06:51 – Discipline Two: Data Metrics
10:25 – Creating a mini game to identify the critical number
11:19 – Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
13:28 – Discipline Three: Communication Rhythms
15:59 – The value of operating as a team
16:54 – Line item ownership
18:32 – The weekly huddle
20:46 – Michael teases the topic of the next episode of CEO Brain Food
21:05 – Where to find Michael’s Functional Team Scorecard
TWEETABLE QUOTES
“I like to think of strategy in a three-year planning horizon. Thirty-six months, twelve quarters, three years. That’s your strategy horizon.” (03:25)
“So, if we have an aspirational differentiator out there – something that we’re not doing today that we need to be doing in the future to be different than our competition – then it follows that we need to be working on elements of that differentiator today in the current year.” (05:39)
“Your activities in the organization should all be focused on improving or driving one primary objective in the current period that is critical to the ongoing success of the organization.” (06:38)
“People support what they help create.” (09:07)
“The right KPI is a number that directly influences that critical number and is gonna help predict the outcome.” (11:24)
“It’s important to understand that the daily meeting is not a problem-solving session. Instead, it provides an opportunity each day at a specific time for the team to communicate with each other on specific topics.” (14:53)
016 Driving Growth with KPIs
Monday, September 30, 2019 • Duration 34:23
01:09 – Introducing today’s topic: Driving Growth with KPIs
01:33 – Reinforcing the importance of tracking your critical number
02:28 – Defining the critical number
07:12 – Michael invites listeners to take a moment to reflect on their critical number
07:44 – The factors that influence and drive positive action towards your critical number
11:24 – The importance of financial literacy
13:21 – The Weekly Huddle
15:18 – Sharing the profits
17:54 – The importance of execution
20:13 – Developing KPIs
20:58 – Michael articulates the difference between accountability and responsibility
23:36 – The value in forecasting critical numbers in advance
25:02 – Michael provides examples of leading indicator concepts
26:25 – KPIs, priorities, forecasting and measuring
29:38 – The Five Scoreboards
32:13 – The importance of setting goals that will make organizations stronger
33:27 – Michael teases the topic of the next episode of CEO Brain Food
33:38 – Where to find Michael’s Functional Team Scorecard
TWEETABLE QUOTES
“The critical number provides a focus on what’s most important. And, in fact, it’s the determining factor critical to the company’s success.” (03:35)
“The driver is a number that directly influences the critical number.” (10:55)
“You want your people to be engaged in forecasting the number. You want them to really own that number.” (12:05)
“You want to be sharing with the employees the profit that they help you create, but only after a threshold level of profit is made.” (15:18)
“If you would have invested a thousand dollars, if you were brave enough to invest a thousand dollars back in 1983, that thousand dollar investment is worth close to eight million dollars in value today.” (29:06) (Rich)
“Business is like a game. To play any game, you gotta know what the goal is. That’s the critical number. And then you have to know what game you’re in so you gotta know and teach the rules. You’ve got to follow the action and keep score.” (34:46) (Rich)
“Let the slackers and the dead weight go work for your competitors.” (46:30) (Steve)
“The company is the product. And, if that’s the case, if the company is indeed the product, building a great company, you will have the best quality, the best service, the best of everything. And that’s a great place to work if you ask me.” (50:03) (Steve)
“You cannot have financial independence, you cannot retire on the business balance sheet. You have to transmit money from the business’ balance sheet to your personal balance sheet by more than the sale.” (22:07)
“When we make a client an offer, we charge a fee like an architecture does. We build the design. We help you build the blueprints based upon the future that you want. And then, you have the blueprints. You can go implement that yourself.” (28:41)
“Because what we [Sound Financial Group] want to be able to do is have people that are wildly satisfied with us. And what we don’t wanna do is charge a fee to anybody that we didn’t provide significant value in return.” (34:00)
“Today, the facts are, seventy-five new businesses start every hour, unbelievably. And eight out of ten of them fail in the first eighteen months.” (08:15)
“Many aspiring entrepreneurs are leaving the so called ‘security’ of their jobs – and I say that in quotes – in favor of working for themselves in pursuit of a dream. People are attracted to the idea of becoming an entrepreneur because of a deeper yearning for a sense of purpose.” (10:08)
“The truth is we all have a desire for purpose. It’s that thirst for a mission, a yearning for a quest, and then to fulfill it. Having a sense of purpose gives us a better chance at having a longer life than almost anything else.” (11:27)
“A Massive Transformative Purpose…is bigger than a mission statement. It’s why you do what you do, why you get up in the morning, and why your organization exists. It’s a higher aspirational purpose and it’s about thinking big.” (14:42)
“‘Delivering Happiness’ as a purpose for Disney at the central of strategy in that company has allowed that company to branch out from cartoons and animations all the way through to theme parks, animated movies, film, and many other divisions and revenue streams.” (16:10)
“The MTP acts as a guiding compass when decisions get made. It actually helps to lower transaction costs. And, this is critical to culture and I have to really emphasize this, it depoliticizes the organization.” (18:14)
“I would quote Sir Richard [Branson] by saying that, ‘When the dreams don’t scare you, then your dreams are too small.’” (21:45)
“Usually what I’ve found is the strength of the founder becomes the weakness of the company.” (05:16)
“We as coaches need coaches. We cannot coach ourselves.” (19:46)
“So whenever you’re doing something you want to do, something that is a challenge, you do it well. When you see it as a problem, then you’re gonna do it well.” (31:16)
“And, by the way, the more I learn and the more exercise I do in the morning, the better day I have after.” (39:01)
“People believe they can do a business plan and they’re going to execute the business plan exactly as they thought. No way.” (45:39)
“So that’s when you begin scaling, after sixteen to twenty employees. And you have to build and invest in infrastructure. And then you have to align and simplify the operation.” (50:12)
“The only way to bypass this growth is really throwing a lot of money to fix mistakes and problems.” (57:30)
“With empathetic listening, we’re building trust on the team which is a very very powerful concept.” (16:18)
“Make no mistake about it. The CEO is the metronome that will help you achieve your objectives and make your goals and help you scale your company.” (20:06)
“The critical number is what you want to achieve. The drivers are how it’s going to be achieved.” (17:17)
“When we’re developing the KPIs, first we want to identify the problem to be solved or we want to identify an opportunity that we’re going to leverage.” (20:13)
“Accountability cannot be delegated, but responsibility can.” (20:54)
“What gets measured gets done.” (30:16)
“The critical number provides us a learning opportunity that becomes part of our everyday process of running the business. Everyone in the company should know the critical number.” (33:08)
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