March 17, 2025 • 34 mins
Lior Arussy shares why leadership is no longer about being the invincible authority with all the answers, but about embracing vulnerability and taking action when you don't know what the right thing to do is. This fundamental shift transforms how we connect with teams, build trust, and foster genuine engagement.
• Vulnerability in leadership means strategically sharing stories that activate others to join your journey
• Employee engagement comes from understanding impact and having the tools/authority to get work done
• "Response-able" is giving people both the responsibility and the ability to respond
• Command and control leadership is dead – exceptional performance comes from personal choice
• Stories, not data, drive people to action and inspire meaningful change
• The "gratitude denial syndrome" robs leaders of insights about their superpowers
• Organizations must choose: are they processes operated by people or people using processes?
• Three key challenges: AI changing customer relationships, developing leaders in hybrid settings, and delivering "one and only" experiences
• Choose customers carefully – wrong customers consume resources needed for the right ones
Check out Lior's new book "Dare to Author" which helps leaders convert past experiences into future resilience and tools to face uncertainty.
Connect with Ron
Just Make A Difference: Leading Under Pressure by Ron Harvey
“If you don’t have something to measure your growth, you won’t be self-aware or intentional about your growth.”
Learn more about Global Core Strategies
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Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any organization or entity. The information provided in this podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners should consult with their own professional advisors before implementing any suggestions or recommendations made in this podcast. The speakers and guests are not responsible for any actions taken by listeners based on the information presented in this podcast. The podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice or services. The speakers and guests make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in this ...
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Turning Point Leadership Podcast with
your host, ron Harvey of GlobalCore Strategies and Consulting.
Ron's delighted you joined usand excited to discuss and help
you navigate your journeytowards becoming an effective
leader.
During this podcast, ron willshare his core belief that
effective leadership is one ofthe key drivers towards change.
So together let's grow asleaders.
(00:25):
Here's Ron Harvey.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good morning.
This is Ron Harvey.
I'm the Vice President andChief Operating Officer of
Global Core Strategies and I'mwelcoming you back once again
for Unpacked.
With Ron Harvey, we run aleadership firm which is called
Global Core and we spend all ofour time helping organizations
develop and really help theirleaders become more prepared for
a sustainable future within theorganization.
How do they stay connected tothe people that they're
(00:50):
responsible for and responsibleto?
We do that all the time.
We love it, helping leaders bebetter connected to the
workforce, but we do.
The podcast really is to let youbehind the curtain, and it's
called Unpacked because ourguests always come on.
They don't have any questionsin advance.
We do promise that for all ofour listeners, viewers, that
we're going to talk aboutleadership, but we're going to
(01:11):
really do it in real time, soit's almost like a live set that
you get to see us talk aboutwhat's happening, what's taking
place, what are we doing, whatare we noticing?
So hang in with us.
I have another phenomenal guestwho has a phenomenal resume
that I'm super excited has donesome great things across the
board, and that's what I loveabout the podcast is we bring
people on that's doing greatthings across our entire society
.
So I'm happy to have Lior withus and I'm going to hand him the
(01:32):
microphone and let himintroduce himself.
Before we dive into theunpacking piece, lior, let me
hand it over to you.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Well, thank you very much.
Thank you for the kind wordsand thank you for having me on
the show.
Yeah, I spent the last threedecades basically helping
organizations transformthemselves.
The transformation can runanywhere from new strategies to
a FDA recall and anything inbetween.
So I got a chance to work witha wide variety of industries B2B
(01:59):
, b2c for Mercedes-Benz all theway to Nova Nordisk and Delta
Airlines, royal Caribbean,cruise Lines, walmart, a variety
of organizations.
All, basically, are facing theneed to evolve and evolve faster
than what they can do, and themethodology that we developed
basically helped them do exactlythat and achieve some
phenomenal results.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah.
So, lior, you spoke about a lotof places that I spend money at
, so you know you've done somegreat work to help them evolve
faster, because they do have toevolve, and that's for every
single person that's listeningto us that change is happening.
It's happening faster than ever.
It'll happen faster tomorrow,so I'm happy that you're in that
space and you said yes toUnpacked with Ron Harvey.
One of the things that wealways promise is the ability to
(02:42):
talk leadership, and you've hada nice blend of clients and
people that you get to partnerwith.
When you think about the workthat you're doing, where do you
see us going forward?
The importance of leadershipand, regardless of what industry
, regardless of what level, howimportant has leadership become
with change happening so fast?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
So I think the definition of leadership is
changing dramatically.
When we started our careers,the definition of leadership was
an invincible leader who knows.
You don't know what the rightthing to do is.
Let me repeat that it's doingthe right thing when you do not
know what the right thing to dois.
So stop mirroring your managerfrom 30 years ago and start
facing the reality that you areleading people through
(03:38):
uncertainty, ambiguity,complexity and you don't have
all the answers.
Ambiguity, complexity and youdon't have all the answers.
And in fact, it is yourhumanity and your willingness to
take action when you don't knowwhat the right action is that
will gravitate other peoplethere.
So if you understand that weare shifting from invincible
leader to a vulnerable leader,then you need to ask yourself
what is my toolkit?
(03:59):
What is my toolbox?
How do I engage people when Idon't have all the answers?
You know, and that's when theconcept of authoring your life
story in the new book Dare toAuthor is extremely critical.
So you can actually convert.
My definition of authoring yourlife story is converting past
experiences into futureresilience and tools to face the
(04:19):
future.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Wow, you gave us a lot to unpack.
I mean, we could spend thewhole podcast on just that thing
of the definition has shiftedand what leaders are expected to
do, but you're asking leadersto be vulnerable.
There are leaders that arelistening to this call, that are
running organizations, andoften when people are vulnerable
, you get minimized,marginalized or don't be seen as
a subject matter expert anymore.
(04:41):
How do you close that gap whereI can be vulnerable but be safe
?
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Fair question.
And I start with a very, veryfunny example in my situation.
So I started my consultingbusiness from zero to about 150
consultants offices in Australia, canada, london, new York and
doing these big projects that Imentioned before over 400
transformations worldwide.
And the first thing I tell CEOsis I said look, as a CEO myself
, I don't know if I'm funnybecause I don't know if they're
(05:10):
laughing because I'm the CEO, orif they're laughing because my
jokes are funny and you knowwhat?
I probably will never know andI need to learn to live with
that.
So vulnerability number oneyou're not sure if you're funny
or you're not funny.
Let's start with that.
But here's what I'm talkingabout.
It in the book.
I'll give you a great example.
I was at the Aria Hotel in LasVegas about to go on stage major
(05:32):
conference, thousands of peoplethere and the CEO of the
company stops me there and hesays you know, leo, I want to
sign up with you to coach me howto speak.
I'm a banker, I don't feelcomfortable and you connect with
the audience much better thanme and I want to learn.
And I said you know what youreally want to learn?
He said absolutely.
(05:54):
I said here.
We're going to do this rightnow.
I want you to tell me why youlove this company.
When did you fall in love withthis company?
Why do you love working here?
And he's telling me the story,and it's actually a pretty good
story.
So I said to him you know what?
Leave your slides aside.
I want you to go right now onstage You're next and I want you
to tell them this story andthen tell them what you want
from them, whatever new strategyyou have for the year and stuff
like that.
And he said to me why wouldthey care?
(06:15):
I said just trust me.
You want me to coach you.
I'm coaching you on the spot.
Go out there, don't use asingle slide.
And I want you to tell them thestory of why you love this
company and when did you fall inlove with it.
And he did, and you could heara pin drop and he came back
almost in tears.
You know, his background is infinance.
(06:36):
He's not your storyteller, he'snot your marketeer, something
like that.
And what I try to teach himthere is, first of all, when we
talk about vulnerability, we'renot talking about stripping down
everything.
This is not ultimatevulnerability.
This is not vulnerability forthe purpose of vulnerability.
This is vulnerability for thepurpose of engaging and
activating other people to joinyou on a journey.
(06:57):
It's a different thing and inthe book, when I talk about
leadership, I said be mindful ofwhat you're trying to activate
people and share the story thatcan bring them on board.
Don't share every story.
I don't need to hear about yourrelationship with your dog and
the fact that they had cancerand you had to put them down Not
interesting to me right nowbecause I don't know what to do
with it.
That's just vulnerability forthe sake of vulnerability.
(07:18):
Use your stories as a way tosay I don't know all the answers
and I need you to join me,because here's what I want
leaders to understand.
When you project the invincibleleader, you're projecting.
I don't need anything from anyof you, I just need you to
follow blindly and that's notgoing to resonate well
definitely not with Gen Z.
(07:39):
They want to make an impact,they want to bring their
superpower, they want to bringtheir talent, they want to be
part of a journey.
When you project the invincibleleader, you're basically
blocking them from any of thatand they're saying okay, if you
know all the answers, forget it,I don't need to be here.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
You're so spot on.
So now what we're telling allthe people that are listening is
the vulnerability and beintentional about what it is and
know where you're trying to getthem to join you on this
journey.
Every story doesn't need to beshared, but what's the story
that helps to make a connectionthat wishes they'll wish to
follow you.
But you said something in theretoo, Lior is trust.
It's at an all-time low.
(08:16):
People are having a reallytough time just even
understanding what it is andwhat they're asking for.
I'll say, Lior, I want you totrust me.
If you say, well, what do youwant?
What does that mean to me?
Even leaders are strugglingdefining what it means and
they're struggling at even doingit.
So when you say, hey, I wantyou to trust me, because leaders
have to earn trust in my mind.
But what is it and how do youbuild it?
Speaker 3 (08:39):
So I'm going to come back to trust in a second.
Okay, just stay with me for asecond.
Yes, one of the misunderstoodtopics right now is employee
engagement.
Okay, yes, everybody wantstheir employee to engage and
we're struggling in a hybridwork environment and so on and
so forth.
And I'm coming out right hereand telling you I disagree with
(09:01):
a lot of the employee engagementmethods out there.
This is not about fun.
This is not about making itmore fun.
Employees are not going to staywith you because you gave them
another pizza and another happyhour on Thursday or something
like that.
In our research, there were twomain drivers to employee
engagement and retention.
I understand the impact that Imake on other people and I have
(09:22):
the tools and authority to getthe job done.
I want leaders to understandwhen you ask someone to be
responsible for something, theessence of the word responsible
is response able.
That means you need to givethem the ability to respond.
You need to give them the tools, you need to give them the
empowerment.
So let's now visit the conceptof trust.
(09:43):
Here's the problem.
The problem is that we arestill using old leadership tools
.
When I do workshops, I say tothe audience please help me fill
in the blank.
If you want to do it right, andthey all say do it yourself.
We trust, trust and verify.
And I said this is what yourmanager from 30 years ago told
(10:05):
you on your first day.
Well, we don't use Windows 95anymore.
So why are we using Management95 in the workplace today?
Trust is ultimately the act ofgiving them the vision and the
tools to get the job done.
It's not about trusting meblindly.
It's about having them join ona journey, and that's what
(10:28):
leaders don't understand In theinvincible leader model.
It's about trust me blindly.
And the answer is why?
What have you done to betrusted?
You know, in the vulnerableleadership model you're saying I
don't know as much as you don'tknow.
We're going to discovertogether and you know what my
talent is important and yourtalent is important because we
(10:49):
are going on a journey together.
That's a different type oftrust.
That's a joining hands.
This is not following.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Spot on.
I love that.
Responsible responds able Likegive me permission to respond
and make me able to respond,which is provide resources.
So I love that.
So, as you go down this journeyand you think about where we
are as a society, it's fair tosay we're not using Windows 95.
So why are we using Management95?
Would you say unpacking for aminute?
(11:19):
I want to unpack response able,but before we go there, command
and control leadership is done.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
I want to impact, response able, but before we go
there, command and controlleadership is done, absolutely.
I'll tell you more than that.
When I'm being approached tocome and help an organization
with transformation, they sharewith me what the strategy is or
what decision they made.
I turned to the CEO and I saidI'm going to deliver to you
probably the most painful pieceof news right now.
I understand what you want toachieve.
Now I'm going to go and focuson Susie from accounting and
(11:45):
he's like who's Susie fromaccounting?
I said, oh, susie fromaccounting.
She's responsible for thestrategy execution.
And he's like I don't even knowwho she is.
No, she's not.
I said, yes, she is.
That's the problem.
You see, execution is done atthe bottom.
If Susie will decide that she'sexecuting, it's going to happen
.
And if the thousands ofemployees of yours will decide
that they are executing, it'sgoing to happen.
(12:07):
And if not, they're going tokill it a hundred small deaths
and your strategy is not goingto happen.
Let me share with you a piece ofdata.
In 2017, we have done abenchmark study with Harvard
Business Review.
We benchmarked 422 companies.
We asked them how successfulare you with your change
programs?
9% 9% out of 100%, stated thatthey are successful.
(12:30):
Then we said okay, so what arethe root causes for the lack of
success?
And is it IT, is it governance?
Is it budget?
Number one issue is the humanfactor.
This is Susie from accounting.
So you want to tell me thatcommand and control is the way
to go because you were dreamingabout it for the last 90, 30
(12:52):
years, until you become a CEO.
Good luck, ain't going tohappen.
They're not listening to youand we need to understand what
the real culture of theorganization is and what is the
capability of the organizationto move faster, because your
core competence shifted fromproduct to the speed and scope
in which you can move faster.
So it's a totally differentworld and you need to understand
(13:16):
that.
Command and control is for theold days where your processes
were leading the way and yourpeople were just widgets in know
, widgets in your system.
And today we're in a totallydifferent place and I'll give
you another example.
Let's do a quick exercise.
Try to think about your flightto New York last week or back.
Yes, on the way, when youboarded the plane, a flight
(13:37):
attendant smiled at you.
And when you left the plane, aflight attendant was smiling at
you.
Which smile was more authenticand sincere?
When you boarded or when youleft the plane?
A flight attendant was smilingat you.
Which smile was more authenticand sincere?
When you boarded or when youleft?
When I boarded, are you sure,because most people it's.
When you left, they were likeget out of my face, I don't want
to see you anymore.
And I use this because thefirst one was required.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
The second one was from the heart.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
And here's my argument to leaders Every
employee shows up to work withan average commitment because
they need to survive and getpaid.
Yes, anything above thatcreativity, leadership, thinking
outside of the box, takingownership all of these things
these are personal choices.
This gap between the average,let me hide behind the box.
Taking ownership all of thesethings, these are personal
choices.
This gap between the average,let me hide behind the process
(14:29):
and I'm taking ownership.
That's a personal choice ofyour employees.
You cannot mandate it, becauseyou cannot mandate a fake smile.
You know they'll have to decidethat they want to smile.
They have to decide they wantto care.
If it's fake, it's not helpful.
So all of this gap betweenaverage performance and
exceptional performance ispersonal choices of your
(14:49):
employees and what's going toactivate it is your ability to
create the environment thatinvites them to do that.
Your leadership is not tocommand and control, because
you're not running processesthat I can digitize.
I don't need people for that.
Your leadership comes in forexactly that gap between average
and exceptional performance.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Hopefully everybody's taking notes.
I mean, you're really sharingand unpacking a lot of great
information.
You're sharing practical things.
So if I'm the leader and I wantto close the gap between
average and exceptionalperformance to really deliver
what we need delivered, what doI bring to the table as a leader
, since most of the stuff, asyou said, the processes are
becoming streamlined andautomated?
What do I need to bring as thehuman portion of that to help
(15:34):
close that gap as a leader?
Speaker 3 (15:36):
I think that first, as a leader, you need to decide
is your organization a sum totalof processes that happens to be
operated by people, or yourorganization is a sum total of
people that happen to useprocesses?
This is not just a statement.
It's a fundamental differencein what type of organization you
want to create.
If you choose the first one,then you will always be average
(16:00):
and you'll never be exceptional,because processes are designed
for common denominator.
The other option, where yourpeople business that happens to
use processes, that's when yourpeople can rise up and start
personalized and start creatingvalue and start creating
differentiation and startcreating exceptional performance
that will create loyaltytowards your business.
(16:22):
So that's the first decisionyou need to get in your head.
The processes is not thepurpose.
The processes are just a tool.
Okay, now, if you're in thepeople business and we are
living in a world of VUCA, ofvulnerability, uncertainty,
complexity and ambiguity, andyou don't have all the answers,
then you're charting a path inwhich you help them understand
(16:45):
the vision, but you don't knowall the details and all the
answers.
You're going to evolve asyou're going to go along.
I'll give you a simple exampleof one of the most successful
companies we know todaySalesforce, salesforce today are
not just selling Salesforce.
Their name shows that even theydid not have a big enough of a
vision to where they can go, andtoday they're in the cloud
(17:06):
business and other businessesthat are not CRM and Salesforce,
you know.
So in Dare to Author, I talkabout have a deliberate vision,
but not a detailed vision, not adetailed vision and then work
with your team to inspire themwith examples and stories that
(17:26):
can activate their choice to goand deliver above and beyond.
And that comes from storiesPeople.
Let me put it this way for youand I know some leaders are
going to hate it we do notfollow facts, we do not follow
data, we follow stories.
You don't believe me?
Just look at January 1st.
On January 1st, hundreds ofmillions of Americans are going
(17:46):
to go on the scale.
They're going to get the dataand then they're not going to do
anything about it.
They're going to hate the dataon the scale that tells them
that they probably should belosing some weight, but they're
not going to do anything aboutit.
Data doesn't drive people.
Stories do, and I'll tell youwhat the beauty of the
vulnerable environment we are in.
(18:06):
In the previous environment,employees did not really have a
place to express themselves andmake a big impact because the
processes were really leadingthe way, but today, and
especially with AI that willtake over some labor-intensive
work, we're actually opening anamazing opportunity for
(18:27):
employees to come and bepartners in creating a new
future, as opposed to justrepeating the past.
So I think that what's nervousfor some people is really an
exciting new path, under the onecondition that we author our
own story and we will not letcircumstances author that story.
(18:48):
We will not give agency to ourfears, prejudice and otherwise
to author our story.
We need to dare to author ourown story.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
So data tells story.
Sel is what I'm hearing fromyou.
Data you have it, but storieshave to be there.
What advice do you give to anew leader or a young leader,
someone that's figuring out?
I can tell you, I'm a veteran,21 years of Army service and my
first leadership.
Well, I had no clue.
I had to figure it out.
The airplane was in the air.
I just tried everything I couldto make sure I didn't crash the
(19:18):
airplane, and that was my firstleadership experience.
What?
I just tried everything I couldto make sure I didn't crash the
airplane, and that was my firstleadership experience.
What do you offer to leaders sothey don't always have to be
nervous about how to get to thisdestination of a better leader?
What advice do you give toleaders that are listening, that
are new in this seat ofleadership?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
So I'm going to do a quick exercise with you that I
do in workshops, and I wanteverybody to go through the same
thought.
Okay, so I have a new startupthat I want to share with you,
and it's called EntitledAchievements.
Okay, my startup, my startup isfocusing on people who have big
dreams but lack discipline inexecuting them.
(19:54):
For example, you want to run amarathon.
You just don't want to practice.
Okay, so let's take the NewYork marathon.
Okay, you will sign's take theNew York Marathon.
Okay, you will sign up for theNew York Marathon, get your own
bib and everything else.
You'll run the first 500 metersand then, right there on the
side, I'll be waiting for youwith a special car.
We'll be driving you to thefinish line.
(20:14):
500 meters before the finishline.
You'll run that.
You'll cross the finish line.
You'll get the picture line.
You'll run that.
You'll cross the finish line.
You'll get the picture.
You'll get the medal.
You'll put it on instagram.
Would you take this service ornot?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
no, why not?
Because lack of integrity, it'snot real, it's not being
truthful.
What else that would probablybe?
The main reason, honestly, isthat I didn't do what I said I
was going to do run the marathon.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
So, in a sense, this medal is not meaningful to you
because you don't put the effortand it doesn't reflect your
values right.
Yes, I would submit to yourconsideration.
There's an even deeper layer.
The notion that you may neverfinish made finishing it even
sweeter.
The possibility of failure madethis medal more meaningful, and
(21:05):
my first message to leaders isthe fear should be your driver.
Don't deny it, don't say itdoesn't exist, but understand.
Just like with the example ofthe medal, it is the notion that
we may fail that actually canhelp us enjoy what we achieve
(21:25):
later.
So that's the first thing.
Second thing in the book, as Imentioned, you know my assertion
in the book is if you do notauthor your life story, it will
be authored for you, and one ofthe examples of what's authoring
our life story where we giveagency is what I coined in the
book is the gratitude denialsyndrome.
(21:45):
The gratitude denial syndrome isour response to any type of
positive feedback we receive.
We downplay it, we belittle it,we dismiss it, and I'm arguing
that this is not only the wrongthing to do.
It's pretty dangerous, becausewhen you receive positive
feedback, you actually receiveclues about your superpower,
(22:06):
clues about how you impact otherpeople.
If you want to be ready for theunknown situation tomorrow, you
need to take this feedback andhave this as an energy to face
the future.
When you belittle it, when youdismiss it, you are robbing
yourself from ref.
Dismiss it, you are robbingyourself from refueling.
You're robbing yourself fromthe energy that's supposed to
take you there.
So, as a new leader, pleaselisten to those things, without
(22:29):
the dismissal, without thebelittling, without the downplay
.
Say thank you, reflect and startto understand what your
superpower is.
Some of us, our superpower,will be very result-driven.
Others is in compassion.
Others will be able to describea journey.
Others will be able to inspirewith big visions.
We all have different.
Others will use humor.
(22:51):
Same situation, differentengagements.
Learn your superpower throughnot downplaying the gratitude,
but receiving it.
Not to become arrogant, but tobecome confident and to know
more what your superpower is.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Phenomenal, I love.
I mean, you took them down twopaths of how to really pay
attention to showing up as aleader, and there are tons of
books out there, but thepractical thing of unpack you
know that we talk about is realstuff that you can use.
So, as we begin to come to aclose, a couple of minutes left
in the podcast for us.
When you think about thechallenges that organizational
(23:26):
leaders are facing today, whatare the top three and how do
they overcome them?
Speaker 3 (23:31):
In my recent articles .
I'm talking about AI, not inthe context of the workforce,
but in the context of customers.
I would submit to you that thenumber one challenge of
organizations today is tounderstand that AI is probably
the tipping point in changingthe relationship between
customers and brands, pin pointin changing the relationship
between customers and brands.
And customers today are soempowered to the point that they
(23:52):
are becoming the brand and weneed to redefine our roles.
So that's item number one.
Item number two fororganizations on the workforce
side is where would the nextleaders come?
Because if you're going to behybrid, what is going to be
missed is, you know, throughZoom you can get a lot of people
to follow a lot of tasks, butyou don't get them to learn the
business by osmosis.
You don't get a lot of theinteractions that are going to
(24:15):
have the next leaders rise up.
So I think organizations needto be much more conscientious
and much more purposeful abouthow they're going to grow the
next leaders.
Otherwise, in 10 years from now, we're going to be facing some
serious crisis of a lot ofpeople that likes to work in
hybrid but do not understandthat.
And the third thing around theproduct and the solution.
(24:36):
So we are shifting.
In my writing I talk about thenew era of customer engagement,
which I call it the one and only.
Our customers are no longer asegment.
Our customers are no longeranything like that.
They're the only one.
They want the full attention.
As far as I'm concerned, youexist only for their purpose.
So how do you adapt your valueproposition to serve the one and
(24:57):
only customer is going to beanother critical challenge.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
It is so true.
I mean because we all have thishyper focus on I want to be
seen and heard at the momentthat I'm in front of you.
So I love that you're sayingthat and you got to do a
phenomenal job of.
There used to be a song back inthe day love the one you with,
like whoever's there, love themat that moment and you continue
to expand that I want to be.
Even if I'm a room full ofpeople, when you're talking to
me, I want to feel like I'm theonly person that you see, and
(25:23):
that's important.
I mean, I say that as a leader,I want to know that you see me
at that moment.
Now, what you do 10 minutesafter I'm gone, I'm not paying
attention, I'm not concerned,but those 10 minutes you're in
front of me, I want yourattention.
So, leo, you've dropped a lot ofgreat data, a lot of points.
First of all, if someone wantsto leverage your services, what
are the top three things thatwill be happening in my company?
That says time to pick up thephone and reach out to you.
(25:45):
What's taking place?
That says I need your help.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Okay.
So, first and foremost, if yousee a cost of acquisition of
customers going up and yourprofitability going down, call
us, Because that's one area thatcustomers are engaging with us.
It's not just about customersatisfaction.
We go straight forprofitability and retention.
We need to reengage thecustomer experience because
obviously you're not deliveringthe right value for them for the
money that you're asking.
(26:09):
Second thing is, if you gothrough any type of change or
crisis it can be new technology,digital digitization or
anything else and you need toactivate your team, then that's
where our specialty comes in.
We know how to activatethousands and thousands of
people in remote locations andgather them around writing the
next chapter of the organizationand be part of the journey.
(26:30):
So that will be another exampleand the last one.
You've got the ideas.
You want to make it happen.
It's been dragging in theorganization.
We can accelerate it withworkshops that can get you on a
90-day cycles of starting to getsome results done.
So, from value proposition andretention through activation of
(26:52):
change and, if you need it, in avery focused way, the workshops
are the way to accelerateperformance and change.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, I love it.
I love it Three ways, or threereasons why and I'd say everyone
that's listening you ought toknow three reasons why people
should call you as well.
What's happening that they cansee.
That says pick up the phone.
So, lior, how do we reach you?
I know you're on LinkedIn, Ihave your information, but for
our listeners and our viewers,what's the most effective way to
reach out to you and yourorganization?
One, if I need your services.
Two, if someone else isinterested in bringing you on a
(27:22):
podcast Sure, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Sure, absolutely.
So.
Leorarusicom is the best way toreach me.
I put all my articles andeverything there, so
leorarusicom will be the firstdestination.
Linkedin is another area whereI'm very, very active.
So if you want to see thelatest thinking, it's all posted
there, some interestingdiscussions and so on.
So I would say those are thetwo first entry point.
(27:44):
I'm also a chairman of acompany called ImprintCX, which
provides those services as well,so Imprint CX will be the other
destination where you can.
If you want to look at it morefrom a services standpoint and
so on and so forth, imprint CXwill be a good starting point as
well.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Awesome, Two questions what's the biggest
challenge you had to overcomebeing an entrepreneur yourself?
Speaker 3 (28:05):
When I started the business, I knew what I wanted
to do, but there were so manyother consulting businesses that
I'm like the world doesn't needanother Arusi and Associates,
you know?
So how do you differentiateyourself?
And, by the way, my first roundI fell flat.
The first year fell flat on allmy ideas and I had to come back
.
And I want everybody to knowyou know, don't just read the
(28:26):
good stories.
I mean, we all went throughscars.
We all went through those painsand stuff like that.
So I built a model and I builtmethodology that ultimately
solved a bigger problem thanwhat my competition was doing.
I introduced a new pricingmodel that was flat fee, based
on deliverables and not based onhourly rate or anything else.
So I've absorbed that.
(28:48):
And the last thing and I thinkeveryone that's in business
should know is choose yourcustomers carefully.
Not everyone that has a budgetand knows to spell your name is
a customer or a potentialcustomer, because the moment you
engage with the wrong customers, you're screwing yourself twice
.
You're taking profits from theprofitable customers and you're
screwing yourself twice.
You're taking profits from theprofitable customers and you're
(29:10):
wasting them on people who donot appreciate your value and
you are not available to deliver, exceptional to the profitable
customers.
Yes, so the hardest discipline,especially when you care about
cashflow, and so, help me, god,I've had that as well and so on
and so forth.
Be careful of the wrongcustomers.
Train your people to sniff thewrong customers.
(29:31):
Teach them what are thecharacteristics of who's the
right customer and who's thewrong customer.
And the other ones, be generous, send them to the competition.
I believe in win-win.
Win-win is when you take yourworst customers and you send
them to the competition.
Then you win twice.
Your competition is stuck withthe wrong customers and you can
delight your real customers.
That's a great win-win.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Sounds like a setup.
Leo, I appreciate it.
I mean great, great.
Thank you for coming on thepodcast.
Is there anything that you'dlike to close out with for
people that are listening?
Any books you're releasing,anything you want to share as a
closeout?
Speaker 3 (30:08):
So Dare to Author just came out late October.
Based on the stats, we areabout to finish the first sprint
, which is wonderful.
We are in less than a monthfrom now and I will tell you.
The responses are phenomenal.
People feel that it's changingtheir lives.
So my message to everyone is ifyou love someone, get them the
book, and if you love yourself,get yourself the book yes, book.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
And if you love yourself, get yourself the book.
Yes yes, and it's the holidayseason.
What?
Speaker 3 (30:31):
a perfect time to get a great gift.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Yes, yes, is it on Amazon.
Where did they find it?
Speaker 3 (30:35):
It is on Amazon, it is on Barnes, noble and other
places.
Dare to author.
Love someone.
Give them the book.
Believe me, they'll be thankful.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yes yes, yes, yes.
Thank you so much.
You've been a phenomenal guest.
Love to have you back.
I mean I can have thisconversation probably a whole
lot longer than we want to runthe podcast, but love to have
you back and if there's anythingthat we can do to make sure
that you're successful in yourbusiness, love to and for
everyone that's listening, joinus.
Every single Monday we release adifferent version, a different
guest that comes on and sharereal insight, and we have fun
(31:03):
with it.
So thank you for joining us onUnpacked with Ron Harvey.
You can always find us on ourwebsite, global for Strategies,
and you can also find me onLinkedIn.
Those are probably the two bestplaces that you'll find
anything that I'm doing or whereyou can connect with me.
Love to hear from you, love tohave you as a guest, love to see
if it's an opportunity for usto support what you're trying to
get done, leo or I we're bothhere and what I tell you.
(31:24):
I actually promote otherbusinesses that do exactly or
something similar to what I do.
There's enough for everybody.
Business owners, just be goodat what you do.
There's enough for all of us.
So until next time, leo and Iwill sign off.
It's been great.
Thank you all for joining us.
Have a happy holiday season,and I will get this podcast up a
lot sooner because I love whatyou're sharing.
So thank you all for joining usand until next time, leo and I
(31:45):
will sign off.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Turning Point
Leadership with your host, RonHarvey.
We're so glad you joined us.
Remember to join us every firstand third Mondays and expect to
receive real answers for realleadership challenges.
Until next time, make adifference where you are and
with what you have.
There are those who arecounting on you for effective
leadership.
Welcome to Turning Point Leadership Podcast with
your host, ron Harvey of GlobalCore Strategies and Consulting.
Ron's delighted you joined usand excited to discuss and help
you navigate your journeytowards becoming an effective
leader.
During this podcast, ron willshare his core belief that
effective leadership is one ofthe key drivers towards change.
So together let's grow asleaders.
(00:25):
Here's Ron Harvey.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good morning.
This is Ron Harvey.
I'm the Vice President andChief Operating Officer of
Global Core Strategies and I'mwelcoming you back once again
for Unpacked.
With Ron Harvey, we run aleadership firm which is called
Global Core and we spend all ofour time helping organizations
develop and really help theirleaders become more prepared for
a sustainable future within theorganization.
How do they stay connected tothe people that they're
(00:50):
responsible for and responsibleto?
We do that all the time.
We love it, helping leaders bebetter connected to the
workforce, but we do.
The podcast really is to let youbehind the curtain, and it's
called Unpacked because ourguests always come on.
They don't have any questionsin advance.
We do promise that for all ofour listeners, viewers, that
we're going to talk aboutleadership, but we're going to
(01:11):
really do it in real time, soit's almost like a live set that
you get to see us talk aboutwhat's happening, what's taking
place, what are we doing, whatare we noticing?
So hang in with us.
I have another phenomenal guestwho has a phenomenal resume
that I'm super excited has donesome great things across the
board, and that's what I loveabout the podcast is we bring
people on that's doing greatthings across our entire society
.
So I'm happy to have Lior withus and I'm going to hand him the
(01:32):
microphone and let himintroduce himself.
Before we dive into theunpacking piece, lior, let me
hand it over to you.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Well, thank you very much.
Thank you for the kind wordsand thank you for having me on
the show.
Yeah, I spent the last threedecades basically helping
organizations transformthemselves.
The transformation can runanywhere from new strategies to
a FDA recall and anything inbetween.
So I got a chance to work witha wide variety of industries B2B
(01:59):
, b2c for Mercedes-Benz all theway to Nova Nordisk and Delta
Airlines, royal Caribbean,cruise Lines, walmart, a variety
of organizations.
All, basically, are facing theneed to evolve and evolve faster
than what they can do, and themethodology that we developed
basically helped them do exactlythat and achieve some
phenomenal results.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah.
So, lior, you spoke about a lotof places that I spend money at
, so you know you've done somegreat work to help them evolve
faster, because they do have toevolve, and that's for every
single person that's listeningto us that change is happening.
It's happening faster than ever.
It'll happen faster tomorrow,so I'm happy that you're in that
space and you said yes toUnpacked with Ron Harvey.
One of the things that wealways promise is the ability to
(02:42):
talk leadership, and you've hada nice blend of clients and
people that you get to partnerwith.
When you think about the workthat you're doing, where do you
see us going forward?
The importance of leadershipand, regardless of what industry
, regardless of what level, howimportant has leadership become
with change happening so fast?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
So I think the definition of leadership is
changing dramatically.
When we started our careers,the definition of leadership was
an invincible leader who knows.
You don't know what the rightthing to do is.
Let me repeat that it's doingthe right thing when you do not
know what the right thing to dois.
So stop mirroring your managerfrom 30 years ago and start
facing the reality that you areleading people through
(03:38):
uncertainty, ambiguity,complexity and you don't have
all the answers.
Ambiguity, complexity and youdon't have all the answers.
And in fact, it is yourhumanity and your willingness to
take action when you don't knowwhat the right action is that
will gravitate other peoplethere.
So if you understand that weare shifting from invincible
leader to a vulnerable leader,then you need to ask yourself
what is my toolkit?
(03:59):
What is my toolbox?
How do I engage people when Idon't have all the answers?
You know, and that's when theconcept of authoring your life
story in the new book Dare toAuthor is extremely critical.
So you can actually convert.
My definition of authoring yourlife story is converting past
experiences into futureresilience and tools to face the
(04:19):
future.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Wow, you gave us a lot to unpack.
I mean, we could spend thewhole podcast on just that thing
of the definition has shiftedand what leaders are expected to
do, but you're asking leadersto be vulnerable.
There are leaders that arelistening to this call, that are
running organizations, andoften when people are vulnerable
, you get minimized,marginalized or don't be seen as
a subject matter expert anymore.
(04:41):
How do you close that gap whereI can be vulnerable but be safe
?
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Fair question.
And I start with a very, veryfunny example in my situation.
So I started my consultingbusiness from zero to about 150
consultants offices in Australia, canada, london, new York and
doing these big projects that Imentioned before over 400
transformations worldwide.
And the first thing I tell CEOsis I said look, as a CEO myself
, I don't know if I'm funnybecause I don't know if they're
(05:10):
laughing because I'm the CEO, orif they're laughing because my
jokes are funny and you knowwhat?
I probably will never know andI need to learn to live with
that.
So vulnerability number oneyou're not sure if you're funny
or you're not funny.
Let's start with that.
But here's what I'm talkingabout.
It in the book.
I'll give you a great example.
I was at the Aria Hotel in LasVegas about to go on stage major
(05:32):
conference, thousands of peoplethere and the CEO of the
company stops me there and hesays you know, leo, I want to
sign up with you to coach me howto speak.
I'm a banker, I don't feelcomfortable and you connect with
the audience much better thanme and I want to learn.
And I said you know what youreally want to learn?
He said absolutely.
(05:54):
I said here.
We're going to do this rightnow.
I want you to tell me why youlove this company.
When did you fall in love withthis company?
Why do you love working here?
And he's telling me the story,and it's actually a pretty good
story.
So I said to him you know what?
Leave your slides aside.
I want you to go right now onstage You're next and I want you
to tell them this story andthen tell them what you want
from them, whatever new strategyyou have for the year and stuff
like that.
And he said to me why wouldthey care?
(06:15):
I said just trust me.
You want me to coach you.
I'm coaching you on the spot.
Go out there, don't use asingle slide.
And I want you to tell them thestory of why you love this
company and when did you fall inlove with it.
And he did, and you could heara pin drop and he came back
almost in tears.
You know, his background is infinance.
(06:36):
He's not your storyteller, he'snot your marketeer, something
like that.
And what I try to teach himthere is, first of all, when we
talk about vulnerability, we'renot talking about stripping down
everything.
This is not ultimatevulnerability.
This is not vulnerability forthe purpose of vulnerability.
This is vulnerability for thepurpose of engaging and
activating other people to joinyou on a journey.
(06:57):
It's a different thing and inthe book, when I talk about
leadership, I said be mindful ofwhat you're trying to activate
people and share the story thatcan bring them on board.
Don't share every story.
I don't need to hear about yourrelationship with your dog and
the fact that they had cancerand you had to put them down Not
interesting to me right nowbecause I don't know what to do
with it.
That's just vulnerability forthe sake of vulnerability.
(07:18):
Use your stories as a way tosay I don't know all the answers
and I need you to join me,because here's what I want
leaders to understand.
When you project the invincibleleader, you're projecting.
I don't need anything from anyof you, I just need you to
follow blindly and that's notgoing to resonate well
definitely not with Gen Z.
(07:39):
They want to make an impact,they want to bring their
superpower, they want to bringtheir talent, they want to be
part of a journey.
When you project the invincibleleader, you're basically
blocking them from any of thatand they're saying okay, if you
know all the answers, forget it,I don't need to be here.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
You're so spot on.
So now what we're telling allthe people that are listening is
the vulnerability and beintentional about what it is and
know where you're trying to getthem to join you on this
journey.
Every story doesn't need to beshared, but what's the story
that helps to make a connectionthat wishes they'll wish to
follow you.
But you said something in theretoo, Lior is trust.
It's at an all-time low.
(08:16):
People are having a reallytough time just even
understanding what it is andwhat they're asking for.
I'll say, Lior, I want you totrust me.
If you say, well, what do youwant?
What does that mean to me?
Even leaders are strugglingdefining what it means and
they're struggling at even doingit.
So when you say, hey, I wantyou to trust me, because leaders
have to earn trust in my mind.
But what is it and how do youbuild it?
Speaker 3 (08:39):
So I'm going to come back to trust in a second.
Okay, just stay with me for asecond.
Yes, one of the misunderstoodtopics right now is employee
engagement.
Okay, yes, everybody wantstheir employee to engage and
we're struggling in a hybridwork environment and so on and
so forth.
And I'm coming out right hereand telling you I disagree with
(09:01):
a lot of the employee engagementmethods out there.
This is not about fun.
This is not about making itmore fun.
Employees are not going to staywith you because you gave them
another pizza and another happyhour on Thursday or something
like that.
In our research, there were twomain drivers to employee
engagement and retention.
I understand the impact that Imake on other people and I have
(09:22):
the tools and authority to getthe job done.
I want leaders to understandwhen you ask someone to be
responsible for something, theessence of the word responsible
is response able.
That means you need to givethem the ability to respond.
You need to give them the tools, you need to give them the
empowerment.
So let's now visit the conceptof trust.
(09:43):
Here's the problem.
The problem is that we arestill using old leadership tools
.
When I do workshops, I say tothe audience please help me fill
in the blank.
If you want to do it right, andthey all say do it yourself.
We trust, trust and verify.
And I said this is what yourmanager from 30 years ago told
(10:05):
you on your first day.
Well, we don't use Windows 95anymore.
So why are we using Management95 in the workplace today?
Trust is ultimately the act ofgiving them the vision and the
tools to get the job done.
It's not about trusting meblindly.
It's about having them join ona journey, and that's what
(10:28):
leaders don't understand In theinvincible leader model.
It's about trust me blindly.
And the answer is why?
What have you done to betrusted?
You know, in the vulnerableleadership model you're saying I
don't know as much as you don'tknow.
We're going to discovertogether and you know what my
talent is important and yourtalent is important because we
(10:49):
are going on a journey together.
That's a different type oftrust.
That's a joining hands.
This is not following.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Spot on.
I love that.
Responsible responds able Likegive me permission to respond
and make me able to respond,which is provide resources.
So I love that.
So, as you go down this journeyand you think about where we
are as a society, it's fair tosay we're not using Windows 95.
So why are we using Management95?
Would you say unpacking for aminute?
(11:19):
I want to unpack response able,but before we go there, command
and control leadership is done.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
I want to impact, response able, but before we go
there, command and controlleadership is done, absolutely.
I'll tell you more than that.
When I'm being approached tocome and help an organization
with transformation, they sharewith me what the strategy is or
what decision they made.
I turned to the CEO and I saidI'm going to deliver to you
probably the most painful pieceof news right now.
I understand what you want toachieve.
Now I'm going to go and focuson Susie from accounting and
(11:45):
he's like who's Susie fromaccounting?
I said, oh, susie fromaccounting.
She's responsible for thestrategy execution.
And he's like I don't even knowwho she is.
No, she's not.
I said, yes, she is.
That's the problem.
You see, execution is done atthe bottom.
If Susie will decide that she'sexecuting, it's going to happen
.
And if the thousands ofemployees of yours will decide
that they are executing, it'sgoing to happen.
(12:07):
And if not, they're going tokill it a hundred small deaths
and your strategy is not goingto happen.
Let me share with you a piece ofdata.
In 2017, we have done abenchmark study with Harvard
Business Review.
We benchmarked 422 companies.
We asked them how successfulare you with your change
programs?
9% 9% out of 100%, stated thatthey are successful.
(12:30):
Then we said okay, so what arethe root causes for the lack of
success?
And is it IT, is it governance?
Is it budget?
Number one issue is the humanfactor.
This is Susie from accounting.
So you want to tell me thatcommand and control is the way
to go because you were dreamingabout it for the last 90, 30
(12:52):
years, until you become a CEO.
Good luck, ain't going tohappen.
They're not listening to youand we need to understand what
the real culture of theorganization is and what is the
capability of the organizationto move faster, because your
core competence shifted fromproduct to the speed and scope
in which you can move faster.
So it's a totally differentworld and you need to understand
(13:16):
that.
Command and control is for theold days where your processes
were leading the way and yourpeople were just widgets in know
, widgets in your system.
And today we're in a totallydifferent place and I'll give
you another example.
Let's do a quick exercise.
Try to think about your flightto New York last week or back.
Yes, on the way, when youboarded the plane, a flight
(13:37):
attendant smiled at you.
And when you left the plane, aflight attendant was smiling at
you.
Which smile was more authenticand sincere?
When you boarded or when youleft the plane?
A flight attendant was smilingat you.
Which smile was more authenticand sincere?
When you boarded or when youleft?
When I boarded, are you sure,because most people it's.
When you left, they were likeget out of my face, I don't want
to see you anymore.
And I use this because thefirst one was required.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
The second one was from the heart.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
And here's my argument to leaders Every
employee shows up to work withan average commitment because
they need to survive and getpaid.
Yes, anything above thatcreativity, leadership, thinking
outside of the box, takingownership all of these things
these are personal choices.
This gap between the average,let me hide behind the box.
Taking ownership all of thesethings, these are personal
choices.
This gap between the average,let me hide behind the process
(14:29):
and I'm taking ownership.
That's a personal choice ofyour employees.
You cannot mandate it, becauseyou cannot mandate a fake smile.
You know they'll have to decidethat they want to smile.
They have to decide they wantto care.
If it's fake, it's not helpful.
So all of this gap betweenaverage performance and
exceptional performance ispersonal choices of your
(14:49):
employees and what's going toactivate it is your ability to
create the environment thatinvites them to do that.
Your leadership is not tocommand and control, because
you're not running processesthat I can digitize.
I don't need people for that.
Your leadership comes in forexactly that gap between average
and exceptional performance.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Hopefully everybody's taking notes.
I mean, you're really sharingand unpacking a lot of great
information.
You're sharing practical things.
So if I'm the leader and I wantto close the gap between
average and exceptionalperformance to really deliver
what we need delivered, what doI bring to the table as a leader
, since most of the stuff, asyou said, the processes are
becoming streamlined andautomated?
What do I need to bring as thehuman portion of that to help
(15:34):
close that gap as a leader?
Speaker 3 (15:36):
I think that first, as a leader, you need to decide
is your organization a sum totalof processes that happens to be
operated by people, or yourorganization is a sum total of
people that happen to useprocesses?
This is not just a statement.
It's a fundamental differencein what type of organization you
want to create.
If you choose the first one,then you will always be average
(16:00):
and you'll never be exceptional,because processes are designed
for common denominator.
The other option, where yourpeople business that happens to
use processes, that's when yourpeople can rise up and start
personalized and start creatingvalue and start creating
differentiation and startcreating exceptional performance
that will create loyaltytowards your business.
(16:22):
So that's the first decisionyou need to get in your head.
The processes is not thepurpose.
The processes are just a tool.
Okay, now, if you're in thepeople business and we are
living in a world of VUCA, ofvulnerability, uncertainty,
complexity and ambiguity, andyou don't have all the answers,
then you're charting a path inwhich you help them understand
(16:45):
the vision, but you don't knowall the details and all the
answers.
You're going to evolve asyou're going to go along.
I'll give you a simple exampleof one of the most successful
companies we know todaySalesforce, salesforce today are
not just selling Salesforce.
Their name shows that even theydid not have a big enough of a
vision to where they can go, andtoday they're in the cloud
(17:06):
business and other businessesthat are not CRM and Salesforce,
you know.
So in Dare to Author, I talkabout have a deliberate vision,
but not a detailed vision, not adetailed vision and then work
with your team to inspire themwith examples and stories that
(17:26):
can activate their choice to goand deliver above and beyond.
And that comes from storiesPeople.
Let me put it this way for youand I know some leaders are
going to hate it we do notfollow facts, we do not follow
data, we follow stories.
You don't believe me?
Just look at January 1st.
On January 1st, hundreds ofmillions of Americans are going
(17:46):
to go on the scale.
They're going to get the dataand then they're not going to do
anything about it.
They're going to hate the dataon the scale that tells them
that they probably should belosing some weight, but they're
not going to do anything aboutit.
Data doesn't drive people.
Stories do, and I'll tell youwhat the beauty of the
vulnerable environment we are in.
(18:06):
In the previous environment,employees did not really have a
place to express themselves andmake a big impact because the
processes were really leadingthe way, but today, and
especially with AI that willtake over some labor-intensive
work, we're actually opening anamazing opportunity for
(18:27):
employees to come and bepartners in creating a new
future, as opposed to justrepeating the past.
So I think that what's nervousfor some people is really an
exciting new path, under the onecondition that we author our
own story and we will not letcircumstances author that story.
(18:48):
We will not give agency to ourfears, prejudice and otherwise
to author our story.
We need to dare to author ourown story.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
So data tells story.
Sel is what I'm hearing fromyou.
Data you have it, but storieshave to be there.
What advice do you give to anew leader or a young leader,
someone that's figuring out?
I can tell you, I'm a veteran,21 years of Army service and my
first leadership.
Well, I had no clue.
I had to figure it out.
The airplane was in the air.
I just tried everything I couldto make sure I didn't crash the
(19:18):
airplane, and that was my firstleadership experience.
What?
I just tried everything I couldto make sure I didn't crash the
airplane, and that was my firstleadership experience.
What do you offer to leaders sothey don't always have to be
nervous about how to get to thisdestination of a better leader?
What advice do you give toleaders that are listening, that
are new in this seat ofleadership?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
So I'm going to do a quick exercise with you that I
do in workshops, and I wanteverybody to go through the same
thought.
Okay, so I have a new startupthat I want to share with you,
and it's called EntitledAchievements.
Okay, my startup, my startup isfocusing on people who have big
dreams but lack discipline inexecuting them.
(19:54):
For example, you want to run amarathon.
You just don't want to practice.
Okay, so let's take the NewYork marathon.
Okay, you will sign's take theNew York Marathon.
Okay, you will sign up for theNew York Marathon, get your own
bib and everything else.
You'll run the first 500 metersand then, right there on the
side, I'll be waiting for youwith a special car.
We'll be driving you to thefinish line.
(20:14):
500 meters before the finishline.
You'll run that.
You'll cross the finish line.
You'll get the picture line.
You'll run that.
You'll cross the finish line.
You'll get the picture.
You'll get the medal.
You'll put it on instagram.
Would you take this service ornot?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
no, why not?
Because lack of integrity, it'snot real, it's not being
truthful.
What else that would probablybe?
The main reason, honestly, isthat I didn't do what I said I
was going to do run the marathon.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
So, in a sense, this medal is not meaningful to you
because you don't put the effortand it doesn't reflect your
values right.
Yes, I would submit to yourconsideration.
There's an even deeper layer.
The notion that you may neverfinish made finishing it even
sweeter.
The possibility of failure madethis medal more meaningful, and
(21:05):
my first message to leaders isthe fear should be your driver.
Don't deny it, don't say itdoesn't exist, but understand.
Just like with the example ofthe medal, it is the notion that
we may fail that actually canhelp us enjoy what we achieve
(21:25):
later.
So that's the first thing.
Second thing in the book, as Imentioned, you know my assertion
in the book is if you do notauthor your life story, it will
be authored for you, and one ofthe examples of what's authoring
our life story where we giveagency is what I coined in the
book is the gratitude denialsyndrome.
(21:45):
The gratitude denial syndrome isour response to any type of
positive feedback we receive.
We downplay it, we belittle it,we dismiss it, and I'm arguing
that this is not only the wrongthing to do.
It's pretty dangerous, becausewhen you receive positive
feedback, you actually receiveclues about your superpower,
(22:06):
clues about how you impact otherpeople.
If you want to be ready for theunknown situation tomorrow, you
need to take this feedback andhave this as an energy to face
the future.
When you belittle it, when youdismiss it, you are robbing
yourself from ref.
Dismiss it, you are robbingyourself from refueling.
You're robbing yourself fromthe energy that's supposed to
take you there.
So, as a new leader, pleaselisten to those things, without
(22:29):
the dismissal, without thebelittling, without the downplay
.
Say thank you, reflect and startto understand what your
superpower is.
Some of us, our superpower,will be very result-driven.
Others is in compassion.
Others will be able to describea journey.
Others will be able to inspirewith big visions.
We all have different.
Others will use humor.
(22:51):
Same situation, differentengagements.
Learn your superpower throughnot downplaying the gratitude,
but receiving it.
Not to become arrogant, but tobecome confident and to know
more what your superpower is.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Phenomenal, I love.
I mean, you took them down twopaths of how to really pay
attention to showing up as aleader, and there are tons of
books out there, but thepractical thing of unpack you
know that we talk about is realstuff that you can use.
So, as we begin to come to aclose, a couple of minutes left
in the podcast for us.
When you think about thechallenges that organizational
(23:26):
leaders are facing today, whatare the top three and how do
they overcome them?
Speaker 3 (23:31):
In my recent articles .
I'm talking about AI, not inthe context of the workforce,
but in the context of customers.
I would submit to you that thenumber one challenge of
organizations today is tounderstand that AI is probably
the tipping point in changingthe relationship between
customers and brands, pin pointin changing the relationship
between customers and brands.
And customers today are soempowered to the point that they
(23:52):
are becoming the brand and weneed to redefine our roles.
So that's item number one.
Item number two fororganizations on the workforce
side is where would the nextleaders come?
Because if you're going to behybrid, what is going to be
missed is, you know, throughZoom you can get a lot of people
to follow a lot of tasks, butyou don't get them to learn the
business by osmosis.
You don't get a lot of theinteractions that are going to
(24:15):
have the next leaders rise up.
So I think organizations needto be much more conscientious
and much more purposeful abouthow they're going to grow the
next leaders.
Otherwise, in 10 years from now, we're going to be facing some
serious crisis of a lot ofpeople that likes to work in
hybrid but do not understandthat.
And the third thing around theproduct and the solution.
(24:36):
So we are shifting.
In my writing I talk about thenew era of customer engagement,
which I call it the one and only.
Our customers are no longer asegment.
Our customers are no longeranything like that.
They're the only one.
They want the full attention.
As far as I'm concerned, youexist only for their purpose.
So how do you adapt your valueproposition to serve the one and
(24:57):
only customer is going to beanother critical challenge.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
It is so true.
I mean because we all have thishyper focus on I want to be
seen and heard at the momentthat I'm in front of you.
So I love that you're sayingthat and you got to do a
phenomenal job of.
There used to be a song back inthe day love the one you with,
like whoever's there, love themat that moment and you continue
to expand that I want to be.
Even if I'm a room full ofpeople, when you're talking to
me, I want to feel like I'm theonly person that you see, and
(25:23):
that's important.
I mean, I say that as a leader,I want to know that you see me
at that moment.
Now, what you do 10 minutesafter I'm gone, I'm not paying
attention, I'm not concerned,but those 10 minutes you're in
front of me, I want yourattention.
So, leo, you've dropped a lot ofgreat data, a lot of points.
First of all, if someone wantsto leverage your services, what
are the top three things thatwill be happening in my company?
That says time to pick up thephone and reach out to you.
(25:45):
What's taking place?
That says I need your help.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Okay.
So, first and foremost, if yousee a cost of acquisition of
customers going up and yourprofitability going down, call
us, Because that's one area thatcustomers are engaging with us.
It's not just about customersatisfaction.
We go straight forprofitability and retention.
We need to reengage thecustomer experience because
obviously you're not deliveringthe right value for them for the
money that you're asking.
(26:09):
Second thing is, if you gothrough any type of change or
crisis it can be new technology,digital digitization or
anything else and you need toactivate your team, then that's
where our specialty comes in.
We know how to activatethousands and thousands of
people in remote locations andgather them around writing the
next chapter of the organizationand be part of the journey.
(26:30):
So that will be another exampleand the last one.
You've got the ideas.
You want to make it happen.
It's been dragging in theorganization.
We can accelerate it withworkshops that can get you on a
90-day cycles of starting to getsome results done.
So, from value proposition andretention through activation of
(26:52):
change and, if you need it, in avery focused way, the workshops
are the way to accelerateperformance and change.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, I love it.
I love it Three ways, or threereasons why and I'd say everyone
that's listening you ought toknow three reasons why people
should call you as well.
What's happening that they cansee.
That says pick up the phone.
So, lior, how do we reach you?
I know you're on LinkedIn, Ihave your information, but for
our listeners and our viewers,what's the most effective way to
reach out to you and yourorganization?
One, if I need your services.
Two, if someone else isinterested in bringing you on a
(27:22):
podcast Sure, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Sure, absolutely.
So.
Leorarusicom is the best way toreach me.
I put all my articles andeverything there, so
leorarusicom will be the firstdestination.
Linkedin is another area whereI'm very, very active.
So if you want to see thelatest thinking, it's all posted
there, some interestingdiscussions and so on.
So I would say those are thetwo first entry point.
(27:44):
I'm also a chairman of acompany called ImprintCX, which
provides those services as well,so Imprint CX will be the other
destination where you can.
If you want to look at it morefrom a services standpoint and
so on and so forth, imprint CXwill be a good starting point as
well.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Awesome, Two questions what's the biggest
challenge you had to overcomebeing an entrepreneur yourself?
Speaker 3 (28:05):
When I started the business, I knew what I wanted
to do, but there were so manyother consulting businesses that
I'm like the world doesn't needanother Arusi and Associates,
you know?
So how do you differentiateyourself?
And, by the way, my first roundI fell flat.
The first year fell flat on allmy ideas and I had to come back
.
And I want everybody to knowyou know, don't just read the
(28:26):
good stories.
I mean, we all went throughscars.
We all went through those painsand stuff like that.
So I built a model and I builtmethodology that ultimately
solved a bigger problem thanwhat my competition was doing.
I introduced a new pricingmodel that was flat fee, based
on deliverables and not based onhourly rate or anything else.
So I've absorbed that.
(28:48):
And the last thing and I thinkeveryone that's in business
should know is choose yourcustomers carefully.
Not everyone that has a budgetand knows to spell your name is
a customer or a potentialcustomer, because the moment you
engage with the wrong customers, you're screwing yourself twice
.
You're taking profits from theprofitable customers and you're
screwing yourself twice.
You're taking profits from theprofitable customers and you're
(29:10):
wasting them on people who donot appreciate your value and
you are not available to deliver, exceptional to the profitable
customers.
Yes, so the hardest discipline,especially when you care about
cashflow, and so, help me, god,I've had that as well and so on
and so forth.
Be careful of the wrongcustomers.
Train your people to sniff thewrong customers.
(29:31):
Teach them what are thecharacteristics of who's the
right customer and who's thewrong customer.
And the other ones, be generous, send them to the competition.
I believe in win-win.
Win-win is when you take yourworst customers and you send
them to the competition.
Then you win twice.
Your competition is stuck withthe wrong customers and you can
delight your real customers.
That's a great win-win.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Sounds like a setup.
Leo, I appreciate it.
I mean great, great.
Thank you for coming on thepodcast.
Is there anything that you'dlike to close out with for
people that are listening?
Any books you're releasing,anything you want to share as a
closeout?
Speaker 3 (30:08):
So Dare to Author just came out late October.
Based on the stats, we areabout to finish the first sprint
, which is wonderful.
We are in less than a monthfrom now and I will tell you.
The responses are phenomenal.
People feel that it's changingtheir lives.
So my message to everyone is ifyou love someone, get them the
book, and if you love yourself,get yourself the book yes, book.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
And if you love yourself, get yourself the book.
Yes yes, and it's the holidayseason.
What?
Speaker 3 (30:31):
a perfect time to get a great gift.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Yes, yes, is it on Amazon.
Where did they find it?
Speaker 3 (30:35):
It is on Amazon, it is on Barnes, noble and other
places.
Dare to author.
Love someone.
Give them the book.
Believe me, they'll be thankful.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yes yes, yes, yes.
Thank you so much.
You've been a phenomenal guest.
Love to have you back.
I mean I can have thisconversation probably a whole
lot longer than we want to runthe podcast, but love to have
you back and if there's anythingthat we can do to make sure
that you're successful in yourbusiness, love to and for
everyone that's listening, joinus.
Every single Monday we release adifferent version, a different
guest that comes on and sharereal insight, and we have fun
(31:03):
with it.
So thank you for joining us onUnpacked with Ron Harvey.
You can always find us on ourwebsite, global for Strategies,
and you can also find me onLinkedIn.
Those are probably the two bestplaces that you'll find
anything that I'm doing or whereyou can connect with me.
Love to hear from you, love tohave you as a guest, love to see
if it's an opportunity for usto support what you're trying to
get done, leo or I we're bothhere and what I tell you.
(31:24):
I actually promote otherbusinesses that do exactly or
something similar to what I do.
There's enough for everybody.
Business owners, just be goodat what you do.
There's enough for all of us.
So until next time, leo and Iwill sign off.
It's been great.
Thank you all for joining us.
Have a happy holiday season,and I will get this podcast up a
lot sooner because I love whatyou're sharing.
So thank you all for joining usand until next time, leo and I
(31:45):
will sign off.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Turning Point
Leadership with your host, RonHarvey.
We're so glad you joined us.
Remember to join us every firstand third Mondays and expect to
receive real answers for realleadership challenges.
Until next time, make adifference where you are and
with what you have.
There are those who arecounting on you for effective
leadership.
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