Speaker 2
Is there a success story that you can share that just will always be with you forever?
Speaker 1
So what's pretty cool is that I've got a lot of those and I'm so proud of it. And you know, my marketing people and such say you should be doing a lot better job, you know, in getting these stories out there. So we're trying, we're trying because there are so many, but I can tell you a story of my favorite CEO. And his name's Joel, and I talk about him in the book. And what I think has made him so successful, we've worked with him in two different companies. So we've known him for years. And I think what has made him so successful, he's the CEO of the companies we've worked with. And what he came to me with originally was, I know that project management and building a project management culture in my organization, if I do it the right way, will help us achieve our business goals, help us achieve our strategy. And we have a board with all these great ideas and all these things we want to do. And I need to make sure that we're doing it in the right way with limited resources. What company doesn't have limited resources, right? The thing is though, is that when I met him, he said, Laura, I used to be a terrible sponsor. I absolutely had no idea what I was doing. And I learned the hard way that if you don't as an executive really engage with your organization in a meaningful way and help lead them on this transformation journey, then you're gonna fail. So he hired us one time, then hired us again. And why he's my favorite CEO is because he, you know, he when he called me the second time, he's like, Hey, you got to come back and do the thing, right? Do what you do to help us achieve our business goals. What I love about him is he actually does what he hires the consultants to teach him to do. And it sounds wild, but everybody that's in consulting will say, Oh my gosh, it's so hard to get them to do what they hired us to do. And that's where the real success stories in our business come from is that we will make it easier for you. We will help you achieve those intended business outcomes. But if you do what we tell you, it's going to happen a lot faster, right? That's the idea. And that's where that sees a big success story for that reason. He actually says, I am so amazed with what we accomplished with what we had. And we had no business accomplishing all that we did for the size we were, you know, in the first company we worked with because they just really leaned into following the process. And if you do the work, it works. I
Speaker 2
will tell the world, and you can tell him too, that I think he's a very humble leader. He is, he is a leader of humility. And I also believe he is a life long learner. That's why he's implementing what you recommend to him. Kudos to Joel. I don't want to, let me re, let me step back. It's okay if you say, I, I'm not a reader, but if you are, we ask every guest this question, some of your favorite books, or the question could be what have you been reading lately? Or the could be what book have you been recommending the most? Obviously, we know what book you'll soon be recommending a lot. Oh,
Speaker 1
yeah, we've been recommending our book for quite some time, because we got some early copies when I went and spoke in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, different places and all over the world. We were really fortunate to get... So we've been recommending the book for months because we were able to get some early additions out for different speaking events. But yeah, so I will tell you, and this is one a lot of people probably wouldn't bring up, but it's funny you should say about Michael Port's book, because I actually we've talked about book yourself solid early on in this episode. But what's really funny is I actually have a limited edition of his book that was in and it was sitting on my desk because I'm now teaching other people this, you know, how to think like this and how to, you know, in the early stages of their business, we have a mentorship group of other small entrepreneurs that are trying to learn things. And I referenced his book and I said, go get it. And so he's actually releasing one for coaches and consultants shortly. But that's one of my favorite all timetime and the very first book I read when I started my company in 2013. I remember reading his book and thinking, oh, this makes so much sense and it's so simple. So he's been an early influencer for me. And another book I actually happen to have on my desk right now as well is A.J. Harper's Write a Must Read. And that was a really important book for me in this process. A.J. is a dear friend and taught me everything I know about writing books. And I just, it's just an incredible place to start. And then another book I have on my desk that I can't reach right now, I read a lot of books as well, a book by my dear friend Mike Hannon, which is all about, it's called The CIO's Guide to Breakthrough Portfolio Performance. And it's for all C-suite executives. You definitely, Mark, you'd love a conversation with Mike as well. He talks about, he actually combines a lot of different techniques all across different, um, different, different theories and practice to help people get portfolio performance just knocked out of the park.