Naming What You Carry

SPEAKER_03 0:15

What's up, y'all? This is James, and I'm here with JC. Today we hit the capability threshold, and the question is simple. What do I bring to the table? The good, the bad, and the ugly, and how do I use it well? A lot of leaders feel behind not because they're failing, but because they haven't named what they're carrying yet. That's where we're going today.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Is this easy for you to answer? What is one strength of yours? Um dude, yeah, it's hard. It's hard, man. It's so dangerous.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

Uh I I would say that you just can't pick at all of them, right?

SPEAKER_01 0:54

You're like, man, I stopped.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

One strength is I'm good at asking questions.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Verified. And I think our podcast listeners would verify. What about you? All right, one strength, one strength. Um

Strengths vs Drains Framework

SPEAKER_01 1:12

I can create systems of efficiency and workflow that save a ton of time. That's good. My brain works like that. I just think about it. No, you're right. We were just talking about it.

SPEAKER_03 1:25

I've seen it in work.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Right. Thank God for you. Yeah, yeah. All right. What about all right? So here's the language we're gonna use today. Instead of your weakness, we'll call it a drain. What's one drain for you?

SPEAKER_03 1:36

So I what drains me is it's crazy. So it's not crazy, but what drains me is getting stuck in the weeds, right? Getting stuck in the the details of what I would call. So we have this, we have this like you know, back and forth where it's like, oh man, that's so draining to me. How about you, man?

SPEAKER_01 2:00

No comment. Um so this is a this is a strength of yours, which is which is great. If it takes me more than five minutes to come up with like a new idea, I'm done. Like I just immediately the energy, I need a nap. Like, I'm like, if it comes real quick, yeah, great. And so I'll I need to collect a bunch of information, hear what other people are thinking to come up with something innovative. Cause I'm like, wrong, I just totally and that's where I live. You live anyway.

SPEAKER_03 2:37

I live there and I'm like, dude, to ask so many people is like, let's just do it, let's just go and let's try it out. And if it fails, all right, cool. But yeah, no, I I I love it, man. That makes so much sense.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

That's good. It's good, bro. It's good. All right. So we talked about capability isn't pretending you're strong everywhere, it's knowing what you bring and building around what you don't.

SPEAKER_03 3:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

So that's what we want to talk about today. This idea that the capability threshold is all about identifying our strengths and weaknesses, what energizes us, what drains us. So we'll go strengths and drains today.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Um, I got a story about uh how one of my strengths can also become a drain on other people, and how the awareness of that has become really important. Yeah. So in in my language, we'll talk about some of these inventories later, but I like to use the word galvanizing.

When Strengths Help And Hurt

SPEAKER_01 3:27

One of my strengths is to galvanize people, to motivate them to action, to rally people to action.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Uh my wife always tells me, Wow, you have no problem asking other people to do things. I confirm that as well. Which is it's true, it's true. But because of that, um, yes, I'm able to build teams and get people excited. Awesome. But until I recognize that not everyone like, because we like to lean into our strengths because they feel good. So we just kind of lean into them. Until I recognize that, I didn't realize one that not everyone comes alive doing that. Right. So I so I start thinking, like, what's wrong with you? Right. And so there's a couple people on my team where that was actually a drain of them. And I'm thinking, man, what's wrong with you guys? Like, don't be doing this. We are gonna be with these people at this time. Of course, you have three things in your head that you want to try and move them toward, right? Yeah, and they're like, Are you kidding me? That's crazy. So then at the same time, I learned that uh I get very easily frustrated when things aren't moving. Yeah. Now we all like we know that one of the most important things for uh any worker, any person, any leader is to have that sense of progress, right? Like progress and engagement go hand in hand. So that is like a deeply true thing, but it is like a very deeply true thing for me. That's true. And so you've seen me get frustrated of like things aren't moving. So I'm in a really interesting season. Uh, if you're watching on YouTube right now, you may have noticed that I have this super cool looking uh pillow strapped to my waist, and that's because I'm having these really bad back problems. It looks like a reverse fanny pack. Like it's like a reverse, yeah. It's like borderline hipster. Like I'm doing it. Although you got the golfer's hat. Hey, man, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

We did it together.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Let's go. Oh man. I've been wearing the same thermal every episode. This is my this is my podcast shirt, you know?

SPEAKER_03 5:25

It's like the Steve Jobs thing. Like, I why why create something new? Steve Jobs. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

So um, okay, so this happens, and I have to slow down. And you know, I've been pushing through and pushing through, but come to this place. Hey, you actually can't get better if you push through the pain. Okay, that's a that's a mindset shift. So then I get home last night and I'm flossing. Y'all should floss, by the way. Very important keystone

Health Setbacks And Slowing Down

SPEAKER_01 5:49

habit right there. I'm flossing, and my practically my whole tooth falls out. I got this old cavity filling. Now I'm like, now I gotta call the dentist. I'm having an existential crisis because all I'm thinking about is we had plans to move things forward, and now I got all these stalls. So that for me becomes like, okay, here's here's what I'm capable of. I can move people to action. I'm tilted that way. And not everybody's built that way. Yeah. Plus, I can get frustrated easily when things aren't moving.

SPEAKER_03 6:20

So you know what's interesting, man. I some of me believe that maybe this is payback, right? Like, I don't know. So just so people know, we were at an event together last week, working together, and we're working with these emerging leaders. You get on the microphone and you say, How many of y'all uh, you know, who who looks older? Me or James? I'm like, oh, okay. Yeah, how old does Uncle look? Like, this is what and now here it is, you're falling apart. The age, the age, I don't know, it's not a demon, but the the age caught up with you as well.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

It caught up quick, man. It caught up quick.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Hey, I thought, look, black don't crack, bro. I thought you were good. Hey, I mean, I'm good. I got it, I got a couple folks that were like, oh man, 30 something. I was I'll take that. I'm I'll be 40 in a couple of days.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Yeah, don't mention that that dude that said 50.

SPEAKER_03 7:11

Yeah, that was he was he was just trying to be funny, man.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

He was trying to be funny. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

Anyways, man, I I think as we as we think about this strength, um, it's so important for us to navigate when it comes to leaders that leaders don't need more motivation, right? But we need to actually, and you started doing that, we need an inventory for what we have and how to take it a step forward. And I think as we talk about or in really involve ourselves in this conversation on strengths, it's not about ego as much as it's about stewardship. It's actually like, what do I do with it? It's not this whole thing of, oh man, I'm I'm something's wrong with me because I have this strength or I have this drain. No, it's actually realizing that these are things that I have and I need to figure out how to work with them, how to work around them, how to invite my team into do it in it, how to invite people that I love into this space. Right. And I think that that's something you've done well. Um, is that you know the strengths and the drains, and even us working together, we kind of recognize each other's strengths and drains. And rather than getting upset with each other, now it's like, oh, that's just how he functions. So he he wants to get things done or move things forward. It just looks different than the way I want to get things done or move things forward. So I want to kind of lean into that first to really, as we talk about strengths, let's talk about it. Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Actually, as you're saying that, I'm like, ooh, maybe we need to zoom out for a second, which is which I think is totally your spot. That's most fake. So we we're making some assumptions. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then correct me because we haven't talked about this, but here's the assumptions I'm making. Maybe you're making them, but I think our audience needs to hear them. Uh, one of those assumptions is uh that we are wired a particular way. That there are some inherent things. Yep, yep. Doesn't mean they don't need to be shaped and formed and refined, but there's some errant inherent things about us. That's who you are. We have some strengths, we have some drains. So, okay. We have those. Right. Any any anything else? Any other I was just thinking about that. Any other assumptions before we dig in?

SPEAKER_03 9:14

The the assumption, I I kind of hit on it before, is that yeah, the the you're uniquely wired in some spaces. Um, and I think the when you lean into that, I think what we're getting at is that when you lean into those unique wirings, those unique strengths, there is what

Motivation Vs Stewardship

SPEAKER_03 9:30

we're looking for. That's the fruit, that's the fulfillment. Right. Right. I heard someone say it this way, and I'll break it down that there are these four zones that we have. And he kind of put it in this way that I thought was really interesting that we have zones that are bad, uh, good, great, and then their uniqueness, right? And so a part of those zones are really important as we frame this conversation. It's that there are some things that I'm bad at. Let me let me frame it this way. So let me take a social approach to it. I'm bad at small talk. Like I'm just, I'm just not good at it. I I just I get I get frustrated from it, it drains me. I just can't, I can't do it for a long period of time.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Yeah, you want to be like, why, why? Why are we here? Whatever.

SPEAKER_03 10:14

Right, right. And so so I don't like small talk. So I'm bad at it. But then there's things I'm good at. I'm good at, I'm relatively good at connecting with others, right? There's something that I'm good at, but it doesn't make me unique. It's actually something that's useful, but it's something that's not necessarily unique, right? Okay, um, but then there's things that we're great at. So when it comes to a social environment, I don't like small talk. I'm good with connecting with others, I'm great at stepping into uncomfortable spaces. I'm really good at stepping into uh uncomfortable conversations. In fact, people pay me for that. People I've gotten like so there's there's this something there, but what I'm really good at, my unique ability is not stepping into uncomfortable conversations because even that can drain me, right? At times. What I'm really uniquely gifted at is asking questions. I don't have to work for that. I'm unusually effective at it. Um, there's also uh this unique fulfillment for it, but I also gain, I gain value, but others gain value as well. So there's a sense that in a social circle, I'm naturally uh an introvert and I'm naturally shy, but I also have a way now where I can show up into spaces and I can use my my ability to ask questions to actually leverage that so it benefits me, right? So that that's where as we frame it, I'm kind of thinking through this this idea that uh the assumption that I often make is that everybody knows this, right? This is just this is just normal for people, but that's not the truth.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

We all have these these layers to these layers, okay. All right, so let's go into those strengths. Let's talk about that a little bit. Yeah. So uh as you were saying, I'm thinking. Just tell me how you discovered that. Like, how do we discover our strengths? You discovered that you are great at asking questions, and not that I'm sure you also have thought carefully about how to be even better at that, correct? But it is this innate thing. So, how did you discover that?

SPEAKER_03 12:09

So I think the discovery came from uh some of it just doing, right? Some of it just doing. It's it's when I look at what naturally gives me life, when I look at my life, when I look at um, you know, when I look at my day,

Assumptions And Four Zones

SPEAKER_03 12:25

what naturally gives me fulfillment? Um, and it's usually asking questions. You can put me anywhere in the world, JC, on any space in any place, and I will feel the most alive if I'm able to ask questions. And and I think sometimes that comes across, well, I'll before I get there, I think what that often does for me is it helps me. What people doesn't what people don't realize is that's more of a defense mechanism for me. It's more of a uh a space that I feel so comfortable in. So what I realize is I I begin to observe my life. So I again, I'm naturally shy, I'm naturally an introvert, and so the way that I show up in settings, my wife loves it. She's an extrovert. She's like, I'm gonna I'm gonna show up. I love people, blah, blah, blah. I'm usually like, okay, how long is this gonna be? How long do I need to be there? And I have to prep myself before I get into those environments. And the way I prep myself is all right, cool. I don't have to be the star here. I just need to ask questions. I just need to lean in to what I'm already good at, right? And so uh to answer your question, the way that I discovered it is I just observed my life. Um, it's something that over time people have always said, You're man, you're really good at that. So before I had a title, before uh it made me money, before any of those things, before I showed up in any organization, when I was a kid, I was a kid that was also always asking, Why are we doing that?

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Yeah, you got a daughter like that now. Dude, I have a daughter.

SPEAKER_03 13:59

I I feel, oh man, what a gift. But I do. It's like so it it's there's some things, there's some breadcrumbs, I think, that as you pull back the layers, there are breadcrumbs that help you discover what your natural.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

So here's what I'm hearing some self-reflection. Yeah, but also happens as we go. As we go. And if there's anything that we want to double down on, it is about like we learn as we go, we're formed as we go on the way. But I also heard you mention community. Just reminded me the first time one of the first times I realized that I was good at galvanizing, I was good at rallying people to action. Uh, I that's when I was uh I was your volunteer at that youth center, and we were talking about the future. What do you want to do? I'm like, I don't know. I I like what you do, but I don't think I could ever do that. I'm not sure. And you said, um, what do you mean? You said, look around, and then you counted like seven of the 30 people present and said, You brought them here. And then you said nice and gently, do you need a train to come through to tell you that you could do this? I don't know if you remember that. You did say that.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

No, I I was hearing it though, it was real.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

But the the point is is that just like people were telling you as a kid, you're really good at asking questions, is that we learn our strengths. They're like kind of relative in a sense, right? Like, how do you know you're tall? Well, because you're around other people and they're not that height, right? So people told you, Oh, you're a great question asker, you told me, and other people told me, Wow, you can really motivate people to action. Yeah, um, you can move people to action. So I think that's a great way to help identify them too, not to think like, well, I need to get alone and just think about it. I'm like, they're only ever realized you gotta do it in the context of work and other people, and work takes on a bunch of different forms.

SPEAKER_03 15:45

So I think I think you're right. It's it's it's the reflective piece of it's an activity that strengthens you, right? But yeah, it's it's also something that gives life or strengthens others. It act I think there is this this this play.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Right. Like we don't want to be, we don't want to lean into something like, well, I like it and it crushes people. That's cool. Yeah, that doesn't make sense. But you just said you were quoting, I think, Marcus Buckingham, who uh founder of the Clifton Strength Finders, one of those inventories. And he that's kind of the shift he gave for me is that uh just because you're good at it doesn't necessarily make it your strength.

SPEAKER_03 16:21

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

I'm like, oh okay, what are you talking about? What he's saying is strengths

Discovering Strengths Through Feedback

SPEAKER_01 16:25

are the things that strengthen you, they give you energy, joy, fulfillment. Because the truth is, if we're on fire, then we're gonna light the world on fire. And so to think about think about it that way, I think that's really good.

SPEAKER_03 16:37

Yeah. I think one of the things that I I want to pull back some of the layer on is the strength being um we almost have to go here, that there it feels like there's a shadow side to your strength.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Yeah, I was I wrote that down. Yeah, yeah. Talk to me. I wrote down, I wrote down shadow side of strength while we were talking.

SPEAKER_03 16:55

Lean into the street. That's so real.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

So just like the the kind of galvanizing thing, I can get frustrated or I can maybe judge others for it. Yeah. Um, I think that uh you said last episode that uh a strength overused is abused.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

And I think that's so true that if we're not aware of how we use our strengths, I mean, you were just talking to me about this wonder that you have and how you ask these big questions and how it was creating angst for you. Us, right? Us. And it's like, wait a second, that doesn't feel like, if you will, the right use of that strength, almost like it's out of out of bounds. So I do think that's something to watch. It's like our impact on our teams and our organizations isn't necessarily just the things that drain us, but it's also our strengths improperly used. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:45

And I think you're right because that improper use is usually it's at the wrong time. Um you taught me that. You you actually we were kind of navigating some of these inventories that we'll talk about in another minute, and you were like, man, this is a unique strength of yours, but I it probably shows up a little bit off-putting for others when it's this time, right? And so we were talking about my ability to uh wander and to invent and to really, I'm always looking for uh uh the the next next idea. And so what I was labeled as once, and I don't think it was done maliciously, but I was labeled as once uh in in a setting I was serving in was your contrarian. And I'm like, huh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Because you ask questions. Wow, and the if people don't understand the heart behind your questions, and maybe it's a heart check too, they'll think that you're questioning them.

SPEAKER_03 18:40

Wow. So so that right there, bro, that's a whole nother episode that we have to, as we're leading people, so we have to understand we have strengths, but there are other people that we're leading that have strengths, and we have to pay attention to that some people are not there questioning you, they're just asking questions. Right. Because their questions are actually what's gonna help us move forward. So I know that my unique strength is asking questions, it's seeing potential, it's being able to see there's a bigger picture here. However, if it's at the wrong time, if we're trying to implement, if we're just like, hey, it's it's game day, like it's it's go, like we gotta move forward. And I'm like, but what about, and what about that's the wrong time? And so it comes across then, not not in a healthy way. It comes across uh as a contrarian that's man, you're actually setting us back. And so I've got to do a little bit of inventory in my own self to say, okay, when's the best time to do this? Right. When's the best time to turn on the strength? And how do I, I've got to be mature enough to know, okay, one, this is my strength, mature enough, too, to realize, okay, is this the best time to use that?

SPEAKER_01 19:43

So I heard it said that the timing of your strength is just as important as the talent of your strength. That's right. Which I'm like, wow. But the thing that you were getting at too is that it's not only critical as leaders that we identify our own strengths, but we need to be aware of the strengths of the people on our team. Maybe they are a great question asker, but when I know that, instead of thinking, man, you are the contrarian, or you're just always coming at, I'm oh, wait a second, that's your strength. How do I help you leverage that in a healthy way? And I've even seen organizations that are everyone has this one strength. Yeah, they all love, they all love helping each other and being a team player, but nobody actually likes motivating people. And it's like, and it's like, oh, yeah, that's why you guys are like uh nice to each other's face, yeah, but unkind behind closed doors because you have this anyway. So organizations can take the shape and the leader strengths. People say they count double. I think they count quadruple, like they just shape that.

SPEAKER_03 20:42

It's because it's it's those strengths actually begin to set culture. Those strengths begin to set they they actually are the foundation of the values of an organization, so you can have uh aspirational values that you're like, oh, we want to be. Oh, everybody's a family. But the reality is there's something behind that that you have an idea of family that not everybody else does because of what you you know I mean. Like there's this, there's so we've got to ask more questions. There I go again.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

No, I love it. I think one of the things we want to hit home about strengths is that um

Shadow Side Of Strengths

SPEAKER_01 21:16

it's just human tendency psychologically. This has been proven in study after study, but you don't even need to study, you can just reflect on your own life. Yeah, that if we tell you something you're not good at, immediately you think I need to get better at that thing.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Now, pause on that thought. Here's the overarching thought for strengths: this idea that your marginally improved weaknesses will pale in comparison to your maximally exploited strengths. Here one more time. Your marginally improved weaknesses will pale in comparison to your maximally exploited strengths. The ceiling on your weaknesses, or what we're calling your drains, is way lower than the ceiling on your strengths. So the idea would be we want to uh leverage our team so situate our work where we could spend 80% of our time in those strengths. Yeah, that doesn't mean you don't do things that drain you. That's not what I'm saying. This isn't some like Pollyanna perfect world. Anybody who owns a business, runs a business, part of nonprofit. That is Not how things work. However, can we think thoughtfully about okay, what are the strengths of the people on my team? What are my strengths? And how do I do what only I can do? What's the best thing that I can do to move the mission forward as the leader? How do I leverage that?

SPEAKER_03 22:29

Yeah, yeah. So let's spend a little time, man, because we we've danced on it a little bit, but we've talked about the strengths. Um, let's lean a little bit to the drains. Yeah. Some of these things that some would call weaknesses, but I even think the language behind it is like, uh, we we spend so much time because we do start believing that it's uh this ego or it's character flaw, and we start personalizing weakness, and it's like, no, it's not a weakness, it's just a drain. It's something that you just don't get life from. You may have to do it or you may have to work around it, but you do need to navigate it. So help us navigate a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

No, I like that. So we could talk about the navigating part, but again, high level, and I feel like I just want to keep hitting this home is that uh these drains, which I think that language is helpful instead of weakness, yeah, are the things that drain our joy, energy, and fulfillment, which doesn't mean that you aren't good at them. You can get good at them, and depending on where you're at in your career, you probably have gotten good at them. Yeah, but we will have this like sense of guilt. I used to have the sense of guilt, I'm I'm not great at coming up with novel ideas and solutions. Doesn't mean I can't be innovative, I have to innovate in a different way, but I'm just not great at it. And I used to think, oh, the leader is the person that comes up with the best ideas. Do everything and being under you for a while, I internalize that. Like, oh my gosh, you got his idea. I can never be a leader, I can never be a leader. But it's like, no, you yeah, the leader helps get the things done, but that's why you have a team. What'd you say? If if you're walking in a direction and no one's following you, you're just taking a walk. You're just going for a walk, right? So I think that's part of it too, is that we could feel guilt around these things that drain us. That's good, man. That doesn't mean that we don't need a threshold competency. Now, that's that's a term. What I mean by that is our weaknesses, our drains can't be such that they limit us or the organization. That's good. So we have to navigate that. And here's add to this, but here's how I think about navigating them. We can do a couple things. Uh, one, we can, I thought I wrote these down. I didn't. Great. So we can we can we can delegate them. Yep. We can like delegate or we can borrow them if we identify. This is why it's really important to know other people's strengths. Uh oh, okay. You are, hey, we need to come up with some brainstorming ideas. James, can you come into this meeting? This is gonna be great. Yep. Um, so we can delegate, we can borrow. Depending on where you are in the organizational lifecycle, you can hire for them. I would say that some of the mistakes that founders make is that they hire people

Team Culture Mirrors Leader Strengths

SPEAKER_01 25:36

like them. Uh, I think we do that in a lot of ways, but when the organization is small, it's easier to do that. And so let's say you're a get-a-done kind of person and you love carrying it across the finish line, you hire a bunch of other people like that, and the innovation and the the team building just goes total crap. You know, you're like, okay, what do we do? So we want to be careful so you can hire for it. But also, and we mentioned this, you can just naming it. Some there's people on my team uh that don't love the kind of the kind of last piece of the uh work cycle of like, okay, now we gotta like grind it out, hash out the details, yeah, cross the keys, dot the i's. And so if we just name it and say, hey, we're gonna spend this next hour or this week is gonna be about this, it doesn't mean everyone's gonna be like, yeah, this is awesome. However, yeah, we'll be like, okay, yeah, and when I see a team member, maybe even self-talk, yeah, that is doing something that I know is a drain for them, they need double the encouragement. Yeah. Hey, I see you doing that thing, I know you don't love it. I I totally get it. Yeah, and then the last one is this, and maybe you could talk about it is energy management. So spit on that a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 26:48

Yeah, I I think that it's important for you to recognize that there are certain times where you're not going to be uh excited or motivated to do those things. And so it may be something that's draining you, but you what what really the reason it might be draining you is because it's the wrong time. So, right, like again, back to timing. Timing, people, I think all of that's connected. Uh, I think about one of my strengths is okay, I love the, you know, spending time in the clouds at if as you will. I love to come up with ideas. I'm relatively good. I'm okay when it comes to galvanizing. I'm okay when it comes to gathering people. That's not something I enjoy doing. And so I realize that it takes a significant amount of energy for me. Um, so I don't need to do that when I'm already drained of energy. Right. So I need to do that at a time where I'm actually full of energy. And another piece that you just mentioned, I think is really helpful, is it's doing it in the context of community. So, for example, uh, when you bring it home to someone, like, how do I do this in a family setting? How do you do it in a real setting? Okay, so we need people to get together. I don't love getting everybody together, like, but I do know I need to do it. So I'm like, okay, here's our chores. Everybody's got this, you got that, you've got this. Because what I would really love to do is talk about all the concepts, all the things that we who we are as a family, what's our values? Yada. My wife is like, I really need these dishes done, and I really need this floor swept. So the way I've

Maximize Strengths Over Fixing Drains

SPEAKER_03 28:18

kind of managed our energy or manage that energy is that, okay, let's all sit together. We're gonna sit down, sit together for dinner. And after dinner, what I want us to do is this, that, and the third. So we do it, and what we've done at times is let's do this for 15 minutes. Let's just do it everybody together. We're gonna clean, we're gonna make the house better. And I just think that as you put time on something, so it's the right timing, but you need to put time-bound things on your energy. You need to make sure it's the right time. Like, I can't do this same type of work with my family um when it's 12 o'clock at night. Right. Nobody's doing that, right? I can't have great conversations even with my wife when it's 11 p.m. Like she tries, but it's like it's a terrible thing. So I do think when it comes to energy, we really have to think through it's not time management, really, as much as it's energy management. Yes. When am I the best at this? When when I have I let think it's Karen Newhoff talked about the different zones. Is this a green zone for me? Is this a yellow zone for me? Is this a red zone? Like, you have to figure that out again. That needs to go back to okay, this is my strength, I need to look at it, but also here's the NASPES. You also know what's draining you by pe by what people tell you, by how you show up. Like essentially, you know, this is draining you because every time there's an argument, every time you run into friction, it's because somebody is feeling a drain that you haven't named.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

Yeah, no, that's really good. Like you show up in the meeting and you suck all the room out, the air out of the room, and you're like, Whoa, why do you just suck all the air out of the room? Like, dude, that was really intense. And we don't even realize. I love the question, like, uh, what's it like to be on the other side of me? Like, I always I just think that's a great question for any, any, any leader to ask. Yeah, if something drains you, don't do it tired, but what is it? Kiss the frog, right? And that sounds like, oh no, no, it's really energy management. Do you have more are the green zone in the morning? You have time in the morning. Okay, well then you need to bite off that thing that's right that you need to do another.

SPEAKER_03 30:18

So, dude, I I think the best decisions I've made have been after I've eaten. Like, I know I'm just one of those guys where I am terrible when I'm hangry. Like, I'm just, I'm just not the I I had a staff that was like, my writing would change. Like, I love whiteboards, my writing would get sloppy. I'm now getting a little snarky. My questions now turn into critical questions. Yeah, why aren't we doing this? Like, it's it's like uh because I just need to eat. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 30:44

Like, dude, my man brings a banana wherever he goes. That is self-awareness, bro. We were at the I know me. We were doing that leadership workshop, and you're like, ah, I need to get a snack. Hold on. I was like, man, my guy knows. There's no way I would have made a produce.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

Yep. My guy knows. Uh, I think one more point on that would be uh that the leader's behavior,

Navigating Drains: Delegate, Borrow, Hire

SPEAKER_01 31:05

attitude, energy is contagious. Absolutely. And so we create now. I also want our leaders to hear that doesn't mean that you have to show up in every space perfectly, but we do have to cultivate the sort of environment, one that you can demonstrate your vulnerability, say, hey, I'm feeling drained in general, or hey guys, you know this type of stuff drains me. But if we can do that, then we can create the space where someone can call you out on it. And I don't mean call you out like criticize you. I mean say, hey, how's it going? Are you okay? Hey, I noticed this. Yeah. And then we get to take a breath if we're if we're open-handed and say, Yeah, let me take a beat. I apologize. I can be very uh like gruff if I'm not in a good spot. Like I will be curt and I'll be like, oh, but I've had my team say to me, Hey, you okay? And I'll go, you know what? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off that way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. And there's forgiveness and it's good. And and then guess what? We're back up to we're a high-performing team again, rather than like, oh, let's talk about the boss in the hallway. Blah blah blah.

SPEAKER_03 32:02

So for me, you already know, just have emergency snacks. If you both be good, like I had one of my leaders, a mentor of mine, he would have emergency snacks for me. He knew, like, here you go. You just need to eat. So I love it.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

So let's let's touch just real quick on personality inventories, super, super quick, and then we're gonna get practical and land this plane. Um, so we will we will talk about this on another episode. Personality inventories, I believe that they have a place. Uh, one of our favorite tools is the working genius tool. It's it's 20% personality inventory, 80% productivity tool. We love it because it's simple, it has these just six activities of work. And it's effective. It's effective. There are two that energize you, two kind of middle of the road, and two that drain you. Um, if that interests you, if you were like, man, I would love to learn more about how I'm uniquely wired. Uh we didn't talk about this, but hey, uh, we would love to give you a free coaching call. Yep. Reach out to us podcast at cttleadership.com. I I guarantee you that after an hour, it will literally change the way you lead. And it it brings us so much joy and energy just to see the lights turn on and go, oh, that's why this thing is happening. Yeah. So we will we're gonna dig into some more of that in a different episode. Also, we'll shout out um the table group. They have an entire podcast about the working genius uh that I think is phenomenal. So you could you could you could binge on that and and and really be edified and educated at the end of it. Let's do that. Um, yeah, we could talk personality inventories, love-hate relationship, we could talk about them more, but we'll just we'll pause that there. Let's get practical. Um, all right. So what we need to do is identify our strengths and our drains. That's it. Right. So whether that's a personality inventory that's gonna help you do that, uh, we can do it in the context of community. That's important. Remember that it happens on the way. We want to identify that strength, and then we want to configure our time to do more of that. Yeah. That's it. Right. I mean, that's that's really it. And then and then the drain is yeah, okay, what are the things that drain me? And we talked about some ways earlier. You can delegate, you can borrow it, you can name it. You definitely want to manage your energy around it. Uh so one strength, one drain. I'll say this capability grows when you lean into strengths and stop shaming the drains, yeah, yeah and instead build around it, navigate it with empathy.

SPEAKER_03 34:28

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

All right, so give us give us our challenge, man. We got we got something there.

SPEAKER_03 34:33

I would just say, man, go forward at the end of the day. I want you to go home, take your notepad out at the end of the day, right? Strengths, drains, and just really look at yeah, what was the strength that I had? What was the drain that I had? How did it affect others?

SPEAKER_01 34:51

Right, right. Yeah, how do I move forward? I would say start there. That's simple. Yeah, just every day. Do it for a week, do it for a week, and you'd be so surprised

Energy Management In Work And Home

SPEAKER_01 34:59

if you just carve out that time. Set an alarm on your phone. See, systems, efficiency, implementation. There it is. He's already on it.

SPEAKER_03 35:06

I'm like, big ideas. What do you want the meaning of life to be? It's like, but we've got to do that.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

This no, it's so good. We we love this stuff. We love having this conversation with you. And uh, yeah, we we want to help. Uh, if you have not downloaded the threshold starter guide, if you're feeling stuck, if you're wondering, is it for me the capability threshold? Am I not aware? What would be the next step to do that? If you're feeling overwhelmed, you want to grow, but you're not sure, okay, what is the lever that I need to pull? Please download the threshold starter guide. Uh five minutes it'll take you, and we guarantee it'll change the way you lead and live. It has for us. You can get that at cttleadership.com or just check out the description in the show notes. Uh, but I'm JC. This is James, and until next time, guys, we'll see you. We'll see y'all.