The People First Playbook What a Championship Coach Taught Me About Leadership | EP 116

Paul Leon: Welcome back to the managers Mike I have with us today Nick Reich. He is a leadership co and co founder of abundant empowerment and CoLab organizations dedicated developing people first leaders and high trust teams, which is why I'm excited about this. His upcoming book, ⁓ Every is bigger the program. Lens storytelling.

Nick: Welcome back to the managers, Mike. have with us today, Nick Reich. He is a leadership co-author the co-founder of Abundantment Empowerment and CoLab, organizations dedicated to developing people first leaders in a high trust team, which is why I'm excited about this. His upcoming book, ⁓ Player is Bigger Than the Program, blends storytelling.

Paul Leon: strategy and systems thinking to help leaders navigate complexity with clarity and humanity. Nick's leadership philosophy was shaped on and off the basketball court. As a young coach, he built a team that had no history, no reputation, and every reason to fail. Yet together they built a state championship program In just four years, it was the fastest to win in Indiana history. That experience informs his work today. The belief that people when led well become the engine of transformation. Nick has spent more than two decades leading and advising purpose driven organizations across the social impact and business sectors.

Nick: It was the fastest to win in Indiana history. That experience informs his work today. The belief that people, when led well, become the engine of transformation. Nick has spent more than two decades leading and advising purpose-driven organizations across the social impact and business sectors. He is recognized for his ability to translate complex change to

Paul Leon: He is recognized for his ability to translate complex change into practical, actionable guidance that helps leaders build trust, strengthen culture, and communicate with clarity. He lives in Indianapolis where he coaches leaders, facilitates retreats, and teaches the People First Playbook to teams committed to creating meaningful human-centered work. Nick, welcome to the Managers Mic Podcast.

Nick: practical, actionable guidance that helps leaders build trust, strength and culture and communicate with clarity. He lives in Indianapolis where he coaches leaders, facilitates retreats and teaches the people first playbook to teams committed to creating meaningful human centered work. Nick, welcome to the Managers Mike podcast. Thanks Paul, I appreciate you having me on.

Paul Leon: So how was that introduction? What did I miss?

Nick: How was that introduction? What did I miss? think you got it there. As you mentioned, ⁓ a of the work that I do stemmed from being a social worker ⁓ and launching high basketball program at an inner city Indianapolis charter school almost 20 years ago. ⁓ And no brand school, no gymnasium, ⁓ no team. ⁓ And as you mentioned, we built the fastest state championship program in Indiana history. know, basketball in Indiana is a big deal. And that was actually the last game I ever coached. I've been doing this work around leadership and leadership development ever since. It's been a passion of mine to understand how do you create high performing teams? How do you create high performing cultures and what kind of leaders make that possible? So thanks again for having me on.

Paul Leon: Yeah, you mentioned social work, if I heard you correctly. Was there anything that drew you to that, Nick, before? it was that, did you plan being a basketball coach or was that not on the roadmap, if I may?

Nick: Yeah, you mentioned social work, if I heard you correctly. Yeah. Was there anything that drew you to that, ⁓ before? was that, did you apply in a basketball coach or was that not on the road map? It was definitely not on the road map. I took the circuitous route to finishing degree. ⁓ I at a small school in Illinois where I was playing college basketball and I was kicked out of college at the end of my sophomore year, went a little bit of ⁓ a where, let say was a lost, early 20s trying to out my way when I ⁓ came back to or settled in Indianapolis. ⁓ I decided I to go into social work and finish my degree And I really wanted to work with youth. and and provide something that maybe I didn't have in my life. So ⁓ was the plan. And I started doing youth work here in Indianapolis, became the school social worker at this new charter school. joined halfway through the second year of the school's existence. And this is back again, almost 20 years ago, I think ⁓ in we started with a program that just an afterschool intramural program. It was... How do we find ways to keep kids busy and productive and give them something to do? was a very small staff at the school at that time. And they said, hey, you played a little bit of college basketball a long time ago. Why don't you help kids and start building this program? And that's what we did. So coaching was never the goal. was always for me kind of a means to an end to keep kids engaged, to provide a pathway. ⁓ for them to have something productive, but also provide a pathway to graduation and what was beyond for them. What is it about basketball that you feel, because you have a pretty powerful story. You used the basketball team story as we mentioned in intro when you talk about But what did basketball teach you about coaching? ⁓ what drew you most ⁓ regards to how we can

Paul Leon: What is it about basketball? that you feel because you have a pretty powerful story. You you use the basketball team store, as we mentioned in the intro, when you talk about leadership. But what did basketball teach you about coaching ⁓ what drew you most to it in regards to how we can connect the dots and how it helps most new managers miss certain key things about managing people the right way. And we can frame it through a basketball court ⁓ I ⁓ you're passionate about that, if that's fair.

Nick: connect the dots in how it helps most new managers miss certain key things about managing people the right way. We could frame it through a basketball court because I feel you're passionate about that if that's it's one of those things that when you look back, it's easier to frame, when you're in it. But what we know is, you know, planting those seeds of the type of culture, the type of teammates.

Paul Leon: Right.

Nick: the type of people that we wanted to be, the type of leaders that I wanted to be. was really, really important. And that level of consistency is extremely important over time. So when I talk to emerging leaders and new managers now, and that's really what we talk about in the book is this People First Playbook as a leader, especially as a new leader, I say when you become a manager, when you become a new leader, you become a household name, The folks that report up to you are talking about you at their dinner table. And I believe you have a responsibility to learn. and to do that well and to do some of these things that creates good managers and creates good leaders. And I believe that starts within individual person. We always say that leader development is self-development. ⁓ So start talking with new leaders around building purpose, your individual why, your core values, understanding those things are really important. ⁓ And had to do that as a young coach. What do I believe? What do I stand for? the types of things that I need to put in place. And all of these things translate into new managers and new leaders because around the same time, I managing my first team. Late 20s, I had ⁓ four reports right around same time I was doing this coaching. it really starts with understanding that individual purpose and those core values for you as a leader. And then I would say from a basketball perspective, you have to know the game plan. And when we talk to leaders, everybody on your team needs to understand where you're going, how you're going to get there, and their role in making it happen. So understanding that game plan is really casting a vision and creating a direction for your team as a leader. And I believe you have to know your personnel. You have to build that connection. You have to understand your people, their strengths, their weaknesses, their quirks, really get to know them humans in order to lead them. we think people first leadership and there's often ⁓ a feeling that it's soft or it's, and I believe high expectations and high accountability are extremely important in people want to be pushed. People want to be challenged when done with kindness. and respect. So we talk with leaders, know, keep raising the bar for your people, but keep it visible. then clear the path. I believe your job as a leader and as a coach is to, you know, put people in a position to be successful, eliminate the obstacles and the barriers to their success. And you can only do that when you know your people because it looks different for everyone.

Paul Leon: You mentioned that you want that conversation be part of the dinner table, if I heard you correctly, yes?

Nick: You mentioned that you want that conversation be part of the dinner table, if I heard you correctly, yes? you are a part of the dinner table. Once you're a manager, people's going home and they're talking to you about, their spouse, their partners, their kids, my boss is doing this, my boss is doing that. So you are a household name once you become a leader and a manager. I'm just curious because there's always certain rules they say, like keep working at

Paul Leon: I'm just curious because there's always certain rules they say like keep work at work. You know what I mean? There's certain boundaries.

Nick: You know what mean? There's I would push back a little bit and say the boundaries that we created were very different than most, ⁓ I don't that you can keep work at work, If you have a bad day at work, you come home. And I would say everyone I has had a bad day at work and has come home and it's impacted a conversation or relationship with their spouse or partner or kids. And if something's happening in your day-to-day it is impossible

Paul Leon: Hmm.

Nick: to separate that and not have it impact your work in some way. People that are dealing with loss and grief and divorce or sick kids or whatever the case is, it will have an impact. So first and foremost, I don't believe as humans we can separate work from work and home from home. we talk a lot at Abundant Empowerment about building full circle leaders and it's that integrated leadership between who I am at work, who I am at home, who I am in the community. because again, you can't separate those things. As a basketball coach, I had kids live with me over different periods of time. became a big deal during the state championship run that every Friday night, the entire team spent the night at my house. Now as a leader and a manager, I would not necessarily advise that you have the entire staff over to spend the night at your house. But I do believe that building connection and building those relationships that keep the work at work.

Paul Leon: Mm. Yeah.

Nick: and keep home at home, I believe is outdated and understanding that we can't do those things as humans. is a boundary, there is a line, and that doesn't mean you tell all of your personal business to every report that you have. But I do think that understanding that humanity and the that a manager has on their employees and that what happens at impacts home, what happens at home impacts work, really allows that dialogue. for some transparency and vulnerability to happen that I think is in building high performing teams and building trust and in building long-term culture and success. have when we talk about full circle leadership, again, it starts with each individual. We've got to understand, the things that are happening inside of me and inside of us. Too many leaders are focused on external piece. It's a you problem. I'm managing this. we've got to understand my own reactions and interactions. But then the next circle around that is really people first. and how are we centering and managing our people. But then, you know, we talk about systems orientation. You have to understand that everything is interconnected. What happens at home, at work, at church, at school, all of these things are connected each them has an impact and influences each other different ways. So we just to understand that, that we are ⁓ human. We are in different ways. A manager has more impact on an individual's mental health than anyone in their life besides their spouse and partner. role that managers and leaders play, don't think gets enough attention or enough understanding of leader and manager that they have this personal responsibility to do better, ⁓ lead better. be a better manager. we somebody gets a promotion, they become a manager, they're getting more money, they're getting a title change, whatever it is, that's what they're really interested in. The leading of people is ⁓ something a lot of there's a stat that I it's like 80 % of people managers don't want to manage people. Right. that. So, you know, understanding the importance of who you are as a leader and moving from getting results through myself.

Paul Leon: Yeah.

Nick: to getting results through other people because, you know, once you become a manager, once you become a leader, it's about supporting the people who are doing the work, not necessarily doing the work yourself. And that's a mindset shift that has to happen. So, yes, that is a lot of the work that we do. We do executive coaching, team development, leader development across organizations from the C-suite down to emerging leaders. And that's a lot of what we're talking about is there's an understanding of the importance of not only doing the work of myself as a leader, but then understanding how that impacts my people and how that impacts the systems and the teams that they're a part of.

Paul Leon: 80 % a big number is your book every player is bigger than the problem program. Is it designed to help bring that number down as part of your vision for the book when it releases in September or is there some other visions we have for that solution you're bringing to the public?

Nick: 80 % is a big number. your book, Every Player, is bigger than the program? Is it designed to help bring that number down as part of your vision for the book when it releases in September? Or is there some other visions we have for that solution you're bringing to the public? Yeah, I think a lot of it is awareness, right? I remember I mentioned, you know, my late 20s, I've got four direct reports now. I think three of them were older than me and two of them had kids. And I remember coming home that first day thinking, these individuals' children are now impacted by decisions that I make. And I took that very seriously, That I have a responsibility to myself, to my people, to their families, to be able to understand, learn, grow all of these things. And again, that's 20 plus years ago. ⁓ So do think there's some level of understanding around the responsibility that comes with that as a people leader and what that means. And we still focus on, you know, promoting high performers who are good at doing the job, who may not be adept at leading people and getting results through others. So, you know, that's a transition and a mindset shift that has to happen. Part of with the book is really creating simple, free, you tools frameworks that people can use and understand to to start to shift that mindset a little bit. All of the things that we talk about in there not ⁓ expensive consultants or changing a lot of things. It's things that you can do to have immediate impact on building that And it's broken down into those kind of six aspects, five of which I mentioned, purpose, direction, connection. ⁓ excellence and enablement. And then the last is legacy. I think it's important for leaders to understand that you are leaving a legacy every single day. intentional are you ⁓ the type of legacy that you want to leave? And that starts with day people managers. It's really those things that exist beyond us. So how are we intentionally designing the legacy that you're leaving as a leader? again, it's really goal is to share a story, but also to be to provide a framework where leaders can see themselves in it and small incremental

Paul Leon: Hmm.

Nick: changes towards high performing teams.

Paul Leon: Can we peel the onion around some of those six components to drive a new manager, new leader that ⁓ may hear some of these components, and be able to buy back years of mistakes and avoid problems that can kill rapport with their team?

Nick: Can we peel the onion around some of those six components to drive a new manager, new leader that may hear some of these components, Nick, and be able to buy back years and mistakes and avoid problems that can deal with poor with their so we talked about the first one is purpose. Understanding it's not necessarily, know, we've got understanding your why we think about this, you know, Simon Sinek's TED talk, it's around that organizationally, but putting that spotlight internally, understanding ⁓ purpose, my why as a leader, who am I, who I want to be my core values, what are those non negotiables for me? but really able to

Paul Leon: purpose.

Nick: to understand and identify my why and my core values. So everything we do, everything we talk about with leaders starts with me then starts to go out. So again, direction is the second one. It's know the game plan. Every single person on your team needs to understand where you're going, how you're going to get there. ⁓

Paul Leon: Hmm.

Nick: and their role in making it happen, which is really important because oftentimes that's the piece that leaders often miss out on. I've got this vision, this is the strategy, this is the direction, but there's often ambiguity or lack of understanding of every single individual's role. When you think about team sports, you think about basketball specifically, you have to understand how the pieces fit and everyone needs to know what their job is on any given play. And that's the exact same thing. day to day in your organization. that piece around roles, responsibilities is often an overlooked part of building that direction and creating that vision. Connection is really know your personnel. I say start with ⁓ an index card and write down every single person on your team, write down the name of their spouse or partner, write down the name of their kids, write down the name of their pet, and see how you do. That's the minimum of knowledge and If you can't answer all of those questions, then think about the connection that having and think about how well you know your people. ⁓ as far as again, their strengths, their weaknesses. I always tell this story. We had a point guard who is a great point guard. We had a center who is seven foot. And if the point guard passed the ball to the center, feet away from the basket and the center dribbled the ball off his foot out of bounds and turned the ball over, that's not the center's fault. That's the point guard's fault for passing him the ball in a position where he wasn't going to be successful. ⁓ knowing

Paul Leon: Hmm.

Nick: people is also putting them in a position to be successful, understanding those strengths, those weaknesses, how they respond to feedback. Certain players, certain people like more direct feedback, indirect feedback. I could yell at one kid, I needed to put my arm around another kid. That's the same way with ⁓ on our teams. Your as a leader is to, you can't speak. the same way to everyone. can't communicate the same way to everyone. You need to understand nuance of being able to communicate that direction with everyone on your team. ⁓ expectations, high accountability is the excellent side. It's really around being on the type of culture you want and what you will and will not tolerate. We say if you see something and don't say something, then you're casting a vote for the type of organization, the type of team or the type of culture that you want. in case, if I'm in the locker room after the game and somebody leaves a piece of trash in there and another kid walks by whether it's theirs or not, and they don't pick it up, then we've just said that's the type of culture that we want to have. We're going to leave that sitting there on the ground. So organizationally, it's the same thing for leaders. We have to understand the of team, the type of culture that we want. And if we are doing things and peer-to-peer accountability is more important than anything. And if we see someone doing something that's counter to what we've stated. we want to be or who we want to be, then we've got to be able to address that and communicate that. clear the path is really around enablement. Like I said, your job as a leader is to remove the obstacles and barriers for your team's success. That looks different for everyone at every point in time. We talked about the things that people deal with. You might be dealing with something at home. You might be dealing with something at work. I've to understand that as a leader and help navigate through your

Paul Leon: Hmm. Hmm.

Nick: success on a project on something that we're going because we're focused on that legacy, And that's the last aspect of the playbook is understanding that, ⁓ you again, every leader every day leaving a legacy. And we've got to understand what we want that to be, what we want that to look like. And when we've defined it and we can reverse engineer that, this is my vision, this is my goal of what I want as a leader, then I can show up and cast a vote for that every single day in the I lead, the way I interact with my teams, the way I support my people, ⁓ the way put them in positions to be successful, the way I, know, want them to stretch, also if that means leave and go to another organization and become a leader, then that's great be able to continue to support them in that way.

Paul Leon: When you were going through the thick of building that team, talk to me about some key ways that you would try to create the definition of purpose for that scenario. Because I feel like, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, the definition of purpose for like somebody who owns a gym, somebody who runs a basketball team, and somebody who just leads a small retail store might be a little different.

Nick: When you were going through the thick of building that team, talk to me about some key ways that you would try to create the definition of purpose for that scenario. Because I feel like, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, the definition of purpose for like, somebody owns a gym, somebody runs a basketball team, and somebody who just leads a small retail store might be a little different.

Paul Leon: I'm curious about how you defined purpose because I think that was an anchor in achieving that result of creating that winning team.

Nick: I'm curious about how you define purpose because I think that was an anchor to achieving that result of creating that winning team. Yeah, I think for me, my purpose as a leader is same, whether I'm coaching a basketball team, whether I'm the CEO of a nonprofit, whether I'm an entrepreneur leading my business, my purpose has remained constant throughout all of that. So in some ways, again, that's where we talk about driving that purpose for individual leaders. Because yes, the basketball team had a different purpose, that retail store has a different purpose. But everywhere that I show up as a leader for the last 20, 25 years, my purpose remains the same. of the things that we do a lot of work with teams on is understanding individual ⁓ purpose, individual core values, ⁓ then figuring out how connect that to organizational core values. Right. It's one for an organization to say, these are our core values as a business. But if I can see how my values translate and relate to those, then I'm a better employee. I'm more connected to mission. I'm more connected to the organization. again, I think a lot of that there is a purpose as a team, but understanding that individual purpose. And so is really important. I think the other thing that you kind of alluded Paul, around purpose, around basketball and organizations and managers, our purpose was not to win games. Win games is a byproduct. of the type of culture, the type of team, the type of relationships that we have. So as a manager, if your purpose Q1 if your purpose is revenue, I believe chasing the wrong thing. Right? We lost early on, especially a lot more games than we won. purpose didn't change. The goals didn't change. The strategy didn't change. You build, you build, you build. So our purpose was around building kids, leaders. Our purpose around ⁓ something bigger than Our purpose was around how do we

Paul Leon: Hmm.

Nick: You know, think about the culture of the team showing up for one another. How do we think about long-term success? Which for me was graduating high school, going on to something post-secondary, whether it's college or career, that is, being a responsible adult. being a good husband, a good father, a good whatever path is for that kid, that's the goal. I'm talking to 16, 17 year olds about what life is going to be like them at 28, 30, because that's the purpose. So if I'm a manager and I'm only thinking about short term results,

Paul Leon: Hmm.

Nick: then I'm missing out on what that bigger purpose is. with this short-termism of many businesses, we miss out on what's possible. I do think, for me as a leader, that purpose has remained the same for any organization that I've been with. And understanding that the purpose my people, ⁓ the purpose for that team to be bigger.

Paul Leon: Hmm.

Nick: than winning a game or quarterly income results. is but I've seen struggle ⁓ with purpose. Do you feel it's a skill or just something you're born with?

Paul Leon: but I've seen people struggle with purpose. Do you feel it's a skill or just something you're born with?

Nick: I believe all of it is an intentionality around taking the time to think about, you know, there's, I would say with each of those areas, if you ask me the same question, I would probably have the same answer, which is intentionality.

Paul Leon: interesting.

Nick: what are things that are important to me? It's taking the time to sit down and think and process and do this work and journal and whatever it is that resonates with me. And if you can't say, this is my these are my values, this is who I am beyond ⁓ the work or of these other things, then. you've missed out on this opportunity to understand how you're going to show up and understand why you show up. So I do think there's that level of intentionality that is missing from a lot of this work where we kind of sleepwalk through the day or sleepwalk through lives in some cases. So the purpose piece isn't something that ⁓ think you're born with. It's an intentionality around defining that because if my job changes, ⁓ if shut down the work at Abundant Empowerment and I go do some other work, my purpose as a human for me that I created intentionally is going to be the same.

Paul Leon: I'll give you a frame to work with and I'll use something from my personal life to put on the table and I invite you to pick it apart and I don't really have. ⁓ haven't everybody has an ego, but I feel like as a result of doing this type of work, it's gotten tougher. I remember I had a 360 evaluation done on me and I was ranked overall 4.6 out of five, which I felt was pretty good and it was to be up for a promotion.

Nick: I'll give you a frame to work with. I'll use something from my personal life to put on the table and I invite you to pick it apart. I don't really have, ⁓ haven't, everybody has an ego, but I feel like as a result of doing this type of work, it's gotten tougher. I remember I had a 360 evaluation done on me and I was ranked overall 4.6 out of five, which I was pretty good. And it was to be up for a promotion.

Paul Leon: And the manager at the time said, yeah, that's pretty good, but I like you right where you are. And you had mentioned earlier that many people managers because they were good at their job, not because they were trained to lead people. What's the big mistake as to why new managers making that transition. And maybe that manager was right. Maybe he was right not to do that to me. But I'll be honest with you. I was pretty mad I would say that that scene in life was an anchor for me finishing my MBA next month, because ⁓ it made so mad because I felt like he was wrong.

Nick: And you'd mentioned earlier that many people managers, because they were good at their job, not because they were trained to lead people. What's the big mistake as to why new managers making that transition? And maybe that manager was right. Maybe he was right not to do that to me, but I'll be honest with you. I was pretty ⁓ I say that that scene in my life was an anchor for me finishing my MBA next month because it made me so mad because I felt like he was wrong. I'm just being real with you. I'm curious, what are your thoughts? I don't think this person had that intention, I to be clear, but it made me mad that I heard that.

Paul Leon: I'm just being real with you. I'm curious, what are your thoughts? And I don't think this person had bad intentions. I want to be clear. But it made me mad that I heard that.

Nick: I like you right where you are. could have said Paul. I think you're doing a great job. I like you right where you are. I believe doing this 360 can help you build for your future. I don't think this promotion is the right one for you. But let's do this in order to support your long-term growth. You go into that 360 with a very different mindset. of what the end result's going to be. So again, some of it's just a framing and understanding expectations and level setting. Because I suspect that if he would have said, ⁓ Paul, you're doing great. I love you in this position. There's a open. ⁓ You're not the right fit for it right now. You have a different perspective. So I think that's the the miss that that leaders often have. get tired of saying something before your people get tired hearing it. But the job of a leader is to lead. And I think that's where of these things get confused or overlooked for a of organizations, a lot of managers, a lot of leaders is I'm too busy to people. I'm too busy to sit down and have this conversation with Paul because I've got all these other things to do. I that the most important thing a leader can do is to lead people. And so that, that framing is just a little bit different in how we're communicating what we're doing, communicating why we're doing something with a lot of leaders don't believe they have to communicate. because said so ⁓ is, is often thing and that doesn't work as a parent and it doesn't work as a leader. ⁓ I haven't seen, have two kids. have yet. ⁓ It kind of ⁓ My daughter, know, have a meeting.

Paul Leon: I haven't seen I have two kids I have yet to do I kind of works with my son my daughter we have a meeting with her teacher ⁓ in a few weeks and we always worry about you know I don't know if I'm assuming you struggled with this too where it's like ⁓ what's wrong with my kid type feeling so

Nick: teacher like a few weeks and know we always worry about you know I don't know I'm assuming you struggled with this too where it's like uh-oh what's wrong with my kid. Where can people find more about you and of be on the waitlist for people first playbook for building high performing teams?

Paul Leon: can people find more about you and and ⁓ be on the waitlist for people first playbook for building high performing teams

Nick: may. PeopleFirstPlaybook.com ⁓ is the book site. ⁓ On that website, there is a People First Leadership Assessment that you can take provides a score on of those six pillars ⁓ of the People First Playbook. You'll get a report out ⁓ on your leadership zone. ⁓ as it relates to people first leadership and then opportunities to on the book, stay involved, work people first playbook and first leadership coaches or consultants. books. Or you can just send me an email directly, nick at abundant empowerment.com. connect. And I would love ⁓ to share more about what we're doing

Paul Leon: What is a common denominator mistake you see amongst all the work you do that if you would wave the magic wand at it would probably

Nick: What is common denominator mistake see amongst all the work you do that you would wave the magic wand at it would probably make more, because you said earlier 80 % of people don't want to get into management, ⁓

Paul Leon: make more because you said earlier 80 % of people don't want to get into management we wave that magic wanted this one thing what do think that one thing may be at this time or maybe more people we want to get in and be successful at it

Nick: We wave that magic wand with just one thing. What do you think that one thing may be at this time, where maybe more people want to get in and be successful at I think there's a recognition of the humanity side. We talk a lot about leadership in the age of AI and what that means and what that looks like. I believe it's more human than ever. It is greater empathy. It's greater vulnerability. It's kindness. Dare I say it's love, these are things that we are missing. in And it's not something that should be taboo in my opinion, It's the old leave work at work, leave home at home. Like it doesn't, it never worked in the first place, ⁓ because it's impossible. So being able recognize and understand the humanity ⁓ of leadership, humanity of the work that we're doing, I believe is a critical first step because the more and

Paul Leon: Right. you

Nick: that we integrate the more and more we integrate ⁓ levels of technology, the more human that leadership needs to be and needs to become. And I think that makes a huge difference. I think it's, people managers, there people that don't want to get into leadership, and there people who are in leadership that don't want to lead people. They're there for the promotion. there for the title. They're there for the additional money, whatever the case is. also understanding what it means to, to be a manager, what it means to be a leader, the responsibility that comes with that. Because I would say when you think about basketball, you know, you put the name on the front of the Jersey and most coaches say, you know, no player is bigger than the program, right? You've got Duke on the front of the Jersey. ⁓ I would say player is bigger than the program. ⁓ Bye! is bigger than the brand because the brand doesn't breathe, Like I see when you invest in your people and you believe in your people and you support your people, the people will take you farther than name on the front of the jersey, the brand on the front of the door of the ever could because it's about people that are doing the work. It's about the people that are growing and breathing and adding life and energy to the culture and to your organization.

Paul Leon: Huh. Ha ha ha.

Nick: And I believe that recognizing that and acknowledging that shared humanity would go a long way in creating better people, creating better teams and creating better organizations for people to show up and work.

Paul Leon: I like that, that the brand doesn't breathe. I haven't heard it that way before. It was a good one.

Nick: I think that starting with the connection with your people, but also then understanding that with yourself. I say the way to change the world is one person at a time, and that starts with you. So if you are not doing... that work of understanding my why, my core values, things that make me tick, understanding why did I respond this way ⁓ Suzy showed up late to work. If we're not evaluating and understanding what I'm doing, what I'm saying, what I'm feeling, the emotions that I'm going through, all of that is critical to you being able to show up and be a leader. So think that purpose piece, that understanding yourself, starting with that, and then focusing on connection. How am I? connecting with folks. Trust is the foundation of high performing teams and that happens through relationships. So to me, those are two of the most important things, starting with myself and then understanding those relationships, building that connection, building that trust and that creates, again, it's vulnerability, it's psychological safety, it's trust building. Those things are critical. If you don't have that on a team, you're not going to be able to really create a strong culture.

Paul Leon: What is an activity that you do with teammates that you've seen be effective at bringing morale? ⁓ I know you said don't let everybody have a sleepover, but is there any fun? Is there any activities that you have found like, ⁓ we all do this together. This usually helps bridge a lot of gaps and brings connections strong. I'm just curious whether it's bowling or whatever. I hope it's not bowling because I'm not a big bowler, but.

Nick: hope it's not bowling because I'm not a bowler. don't think there's a universal answer. do think it comes back. There's a level of intentionality. I use that word a lot. ⁓ It could be any number of things. You go to Topgolf, you go bowling. The what is actually a lot less relevant than the why. we're with an with a senior leadership team. somewhat low trust coming in. It's not about what it is that they're doing. It is about creating intentionality, connecting one-on-one, connecting as a team. That can be done in team meetings with a little icebreaker to get to know each other a little bit better on a personal note. So it's not always about high resource things. Not that bowling is resource intensive, but you can start doing those things, building that connection. every single day staff meetings and one-on-ones. We cards that are Little icebreaker, get to know you cards. You draw one at the beginning of a meeting. You ask a question, you go around, everyone shares something that happened in my childhood or that I've experienced. It creates a connection in a different way because you can go bowling and you can go do any of these other things. And if everyone is sitting around with their phone, not engaging in a different way, it's, it's still all surface. I don't think it's, it's as much what, but why and how ⁓ that we're doing some these things ⁓ and, ⁓ building. that intentionality around connection and driving that is an important first step.