Mastering Workplace Culture: Leadership Insights and Success Strategies from Eric D Stone

Discover the blueprint for a thriving workplace culture as Eric D Stone, with his impressive 26-year tenure at Enterprise Holdings, shares the strategic maneuvers and leadership lessons that carved his path to success. We're not just talking shop; Eric offers a treasure trove of wisdom on fostering high-performance teams, the art of walking away, and the profound effect of mentorship. His recollections of overcoming adversity during pivotal moments like 9-11 and the Great Recession are as enlightening as they are inspiring.

In the realm of employee engagement, Eric turns the tables on traditional management with an hourglass metaphor that gets to the heart of what really drives a high-performing team. His insights on nurturing growth, bolstering customer loyalty, and skyrocketing profitability are the game-changers your organization needs. Whether you're at the helm of a Fortune 500 company or a burgeoning nonprofit, these strategies transcend industries and speak directly to the heart of what makes a team tick.

Rounding out our discussion, Eric engages us with tales from the frontline of customer service excellence, introducing us to Johnny the Bagger, whose story is a lesson in the ripple effect of positive culture. He also tackles the ever-evolving landscape of social media and its role in connecting workplace cultures across generations. Prepare to be captivated as we explore the symbiotic relationship between personal satisfaction and professional success, all while looking ahead at the bold steps Eric is taking to reshape the corporate world with ClearPath Ventures and his forthcoming book.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:00

My guest today. Eric D Stone has a passion for business that led him to the influential 26-year career in an iconic rental car-mit company, enterprise Holdings, where he quickly became one of the most decorated regional vice presidents in the company's history. His ability to connect and motivate employees from all different generations and demographics allowed his teams to sustain top-level results and a culture of pride. Eric attributes much of his success with his ability to create, ignite and sustain a high-performance culture, one that enabled him to lead his team through challenges like 9-11, the Great Recession, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Great Resignation, along with extraordinary ability to adapt to the unexpected and help others do the same. Eric retired from Enterprise in 2018 and founded ClearPath Ventures, where specialized in guiding young professionals and businesses as they navigate their path to success. Eric has served on the boards of multiple community-focused nonprofits, which focuses on providing strategies and resources to close the opportunity gap for marginalized groups. We're so thankful to have Eric on the podcast. Well, it's so good to have Eric on the show. How are you doing today, eric?

Speaker 2: 2:16

I am doing great. Keith Ready for a fun discussion.

Speaker 1: 2:20

I am too. Just get a better chance to know you a little bit better. Give me the best piece of advice you've ever received.

Speaker 2: 2:28

Oh, coming out swinging there, right, beth, there's so many good pieces of advice. If I had to give just one off the top of my mind, it would be you can't win a negotiation if you're not willing to walk away. Wow, it was a real big one. What was good about that is it wasn't just applicable to sales itself, but you almost can shift that into a lot of things like time management. You're not going to be able to accomplish things you want if you always say yes, so sometimes you just have to say no.

Speaker 2: 3:01

So, I think that might be one of them, but there's a bunch.

Speaker 1: 3:03

I love that. That's good. That's a good one. I'm always curious of my guests. All of our journeys have people that, along the way, have inspired us. Who are some people or a person in your life that you want to give a shout out to, who really served to be an inspiration to you.

Speaker 2: 3:21

Another tough question, because there's just so many. Because it starts with your upbringing. It starts with your parents, my brother, my sister, who ground me to the values that I have, and then it goes to some people at work who I remember one of my first mentors. The reason I signed my name the way I sign it was because of someone who was one of my mentors who actually showed me the whys behind why we do things. It really made me understand, instead of just saying hey, go sell, hey, go do this. It started to resonate of how it affects the bottom line. So I've had a bunch. And then, of course, there's the people who people know the legendary John Wooden that you'd read about and his pyramid of success, the Warren Buffetts of the world, who are just so consistent and have that model of consistency over intensity. So there's just so many areas that you could pull from. I couldn't even just give one, but I gave a couple.

Speaker 1: 4:19

That's good, I like that. So the question is oh, you need to be easier, but give us your personal story. I'm curious about your journey.

Speaker 2: 4:30

So grew up in Western Mass, loved for whatever reason, always loved business, always wanted to be in business. That's one thing I knew. I didn't know where and I was the typical person who would sell baseball cards or shoes or whatever my odd jobs business with a friend of mine. Always loved that interaction and dialogue and went to school at Roger Williams. For college with a business background and, as I always joke, since the Boston Red Sox weren't hiring a GM at the time, I found a company called Enterprise At that time it was Enterprise Rent-A-Car and started my business career there.

Speaker 2: 5:09

An office of four people. I was the entry level and two and a half decades plus later I was able to climb that corporate ladder, learn from a variety of different individuals, had the ebbs and flows, the challenging days, the days that were amazing, and became an officer of the company, was fortunate to lead a few hundred employees. We were well known for our team performance and balance. I've been able to take some of that skill set and I would use it on some of the nonprofit boards I've been part of to keep it Giving back to those who are in need. That I'm very passionate about, always very passionate about leadership development, and then made a big decision to write a book To share my message. And so, of course, on business, on workplace culture, and instead of Giving my message to maybe a few hundred employees, I'm hoping I can kind of scale it to a few hundred thousand and people and share the message of how important workplace culture is.

Speaker 1: 6:10

You would mention that you were a Red Sox fan. Being a Cardinal fan, it's still painful.

Speaker 2: 6:13

2004, yeah well and I've had plenty of pain growing up. But my kids don't know what it was like to lose until recently. But I had plenty of heartache growing up.

Speaker 1: 6:27

Yes, I still have heartache, but I'm curious about your journey. I know what everybody there, their ebbs and flows. What were some of the challenges you faced along your business journey?

Speaker 2: 6:38

I Think at the beginning, frankly, and thanks to my parents. But you know, I just wasn't getting the training I wanted early on, and some of the challenges were you know that you'd come home. You wanted to. Well, I was a little anxious. You get stressed out, you bring that home, and so in the beginning I always wanted to. I was hoping I would get a little bit more training. That eventually came, and it came in spades, but I think that was one of them. I think when you don't get a promotion through your career, always a challenge and you have to look at yourself in the mirror and I had more than I'd be willing to share. Every one of them made me better. And and then the stresses of as you go through the management team. It's not just about you, it's about leading and influencing, and you can't answer a phone or go on a particular sales call. You're relying on a few hundred employees to deliver that message, and that's not easy. And so those are just a few challenges that I would have as I progressed throughout my career.

Speaker 1: 7:36

I love that. I Love to ask this question. It was one of the ones that I first heard from Simon Sinek. So what's your? Why?

Speaker 2: 7:45

Yeah, that's a deep one too and he's such a legendary thinker with his golden circle and For me, if I had to pin it down, I'd probably say, hence the book portion I felt I had Some. I wanted to unlock people's potential. If, if I could, do we really one of two things help people, unlock their potential or try to figure out why everyone hates what they do. You know, the people don't have to be so miserable at work and Usually it comes to a bit of a leadership gap and and sometimes the employee gap of some things they could do better. But if I had to pick a few things that go in that realm, it's unlocking someone's potential and trying to figure out why so so many people are so unhappy at work. They don't, they don't have to be, because that carries at home and then you come home to your significant other, your kids, and it's a, it's a powerful thing. So those to be a few.

Speaker 1: 8:39

I love those. So let's get into your book. I can't wait to talk about it more because I think workplace culture is probably a big topic in today's society, especially the workplace, and your book is titled jumpstart your work culture workplace culture a road map for igniting high performance. So let's talk about what is the biggest myth about workplace culture.

Speaker 2: 8:59

I Think there's a few myths. If there's a biggest one, I just think it's misunderstood. I feel people think it's. It is this nebulous thing. It's kind of like how do you measure the love of your partner? You know how do you measure that? Similar to culture, but there are components that you can utilize to check the health of your culture. I think that's one. I think the other is it's thought of being, you know this, soft, philosophical hugs and high fives, just about values, and and it's so much more. It is so much more to you. For me, it was the catalyst to execution. It was the reason people get out of bed and come to work to achieve something that's uncommon and have this unique period of excellence together as an organization for this sustained period of time. And it was all this unique culture of getting all these behaviors in Action, and I think that would be a simple form of what I feel it does versus what it's not.

Speaker 1: 10:01

We all know we're in a bad workplace culture, but sometimes I think that the persons in charge of the culture have no idea that the workplace culture is bad. Is there, is there a key that you have for those who are leaders, who are leading a culture, to be able to identify that the workplace culture may be toxic?

Speaker 2: 10:22

I use an approach that I help with organizations. The approach is it involves a whole bunch of things, but it starts, and if you would envision an hourglass, and so what do leaders need to do is the first top of the hourglass for those who aren't on video but there's the top where you're pulling and listening, observing and learning. And so the leaders have to have settings and platforms in which they truly from customers, employees, stakeholders, board members, whomever they're pulling from They've got to have some regular cadence of how they're doing it. And as they pull the information, the hourglass, if you'd envision, one kind of comes out and then slowly gets a little skinny, right where the sand comes out. And as they pull the information, gather and commit their team to achieve the things that they want to, there's that clarity point, and in that clarity point you see the three to five priorities that will help them get back on track, and it can't be too complicated. And as they get those clarity moments, the hourglass slowly opens up a little bit. And that's where they have to reinforce, through coaching, training, reviews, anything to get all and every level behind the initiatives that they have. And so, right when you think you have it, of course, where the sand lies. Sometimes things go awry again and you have to turn that hourglass over and you're always again pulling from your individuals and your kind of lather rinse and repeating.

Speaker 2: 11:45

Now the key, two keys. One, it's called an hourglass, which means hour, so OUR is in the hourglass, so it's a team kind of concept, versus an eyeglass, which me and you both are wearing right now, meaning an eye, so it's more than that. And then, on the boundaries of those, the hourglass, it's really important on the right is going to be policies and procedures that guide you and your team's decision making into the left, or mission vision, values that will also guide your trajectory of where you go, and I think, if the leader can follow that with a strong field presence, staying very active to trust but verify, as Ronald Reagan used to say, you have to have some of those settings. That's an approach that involves a little bit of listening, observing, learning, communicating and at the end, the lather rinse repeat is to make sure that everyone in the organization is aware of what's going on, and that's obviously a challenge. It avoids those flavor of the weeks, as I say.

Speaker 1: 12:45

Right. Why is workplace culture so critical for success?

Speaker 2: 12:52

Well, a big part of workplace culture I call it one of the six components, or six point inspection to the measurement of is engagement. And when you have an engaged workforce, which is a big part of workplace culture, it tends to lead to really strong outcomes. And so if you go to the gallops of the world, who provide you all this data, when they look at their top, all the organizations they work with, when they look at the top quartile of the top performers in engagement versus the bottom quartile, there is a huge correlation to business outcomes. It's a 10% difference in customer service and loyalty. I think it's a 23% difference in profitability. I think it's an 18% difference in sales productivity and I think they reduce absenteeism by 81%. When you just look a little bit of the outcomes that happen when you have an engaged workplace, which is a piece of workplace culture, you get the right outcomes going. I think that's one critical component. Plus, of course, it's this human centric approach to living your values that you constantly should be talking about.

Speaker 1: 14:03

So you led from your bio a successful, high-performing team. What were some of the characteristics of your team that you put into your book or maybe you share with people that you talk about? This is what it looked like for me.

Speaker 2: 14:17

I would look no further than the simplicities of these five factors of engagement that we wanted to build throughout our organization, and we would design our organizational strategy or engagement strategy, based on these five principles or factors. And the first was you have to have a strong relationship with your manager, and so, through all levels of the organization, what are you guys doing? So, I felt, through initiatives and or the interview process or training, you got to develop a strong relationship. You have to be clearly communicating your expectations and goals, and so we would have a lot of settings, whereas that hourglass was that clarity part where the sand goes out.

Speaker 2: 14:56

It was critical that everyone knew the three to five priorities that we were all trying to achieve together. You would be part of a very big training environment where, from higher to retire, as you're in those confines, you always have a roadmap of training and coaching, and giving ability for someone to achieve the desired outcome was critical, I think, knowing your and developing your team personally and professionally. What are those things that you really get to know about your team and watching them grow personally and professionally? And then I think the last of the five is the ability to reward high performance. So recognize effort reward high performance, and I think those are a few factors that helped us all achieve some of the things that we were trying to do together.

Speaker 1: 15:45

How does that differ in organization as a nonprofit? Because I work a lot with nonprofits and the incentive structure of course is very different than the corporate structure. So how do you translate that into a nonprofit setting?

Speaker 2: 16:00

Well, I still think rewarding doesn't always have to be money necessarily, though I think there have to be components through goals. Sometimes you have to figure out on the motivational factor, what is it? Is it time off? Is it currency meaning money? Is it a plaque? Is it a special shout out? Is it just recognition? So I actually personally, and being on a few boards in the nonprofit space, don't see those factors exist and I think that they can be. Whether it's it's the same thing, keith, with hybrid remote in person, these factors cross. You still have to do them. It's harder in certain places. But if you take those and live almost like you live your, your values of a nonprofit, live your engagement factors of the nonprofit, I think you could be every bit as successful. It might just look slightly different on the reward side, but but, it kind of that's what I would do.

Speaker 1: 16:57

Yeah, yeah, I had a guest on probably about a year ago and we were talking about this employee engagement aspect of things and he was moving toward a system in his company's or a proposal where we didn't do evaluations because he thought those weren't necessarily good ways to enhance engagement. He says if we, if we're doing our job, we don't need to have employee appraisals, for example. Just kind of curious for someone who's kind of working in that nonprofit, I mean in that workplace culture, space. Your thoughts on the whole appraisal thing?

Speaker 2: 17:30

Yeah, I'm sure that individual is very talented and maybe that works for that individual. I personally would completely disagree. I think you have to have settings of feedback and and and that goes into whether it's a morning huddle with your team just having some dialogue. Every day might be a different morning huddle. It might be a weekly conference call or virtual setting. It might be a monthly performance development meeting, it could be a quarterly review and, of course, those yearly assessments that are important. I just from all the surveys I've given to teams, I mean people want feedback and so if you don't have a setting to evaluate in only in my opinion, then I think you're letting a huge opportunity off. So I personally am a huge proponent of it, but I'm not saying I have all the answers.

Speaker 1: 18:21

I like that you have a term called distraction, distraction catchers, and how does that relate to your ABCs of communication? And what are your ABCs of communication, maybe to start out with yeah, great.

Speaker 2: 18:33

So in my opinion, I think the key that organizations can sometimes miss is they get confused on the ABC, the A is the amplifying the message, and that is when you get new technology that comes out, a very important policy or procedure, maybe it's a pay raise, I mean something really exciting and important that's going on. Maybe you're rebranding, and that is the goal is to amplify the message, and that is in every single channel. How do you get the newest employee to the year employee to the tenure employee all to understand really what you'd say? Those three to five priorities, I think people can be pretty good at that. I think the B, the buffer, is where the distraction catcher comes in. This is where you avoid the noise. This is where you do addition by subtraction. This is where you take that confusing the long five page document and you squeeze it into something that's a five sentence document to make things a little bit easier to do. It's when you look into some of your policies and procedures and use that first principle thinking that Elon Musk is big on, where you're kind of reimagining how things could look and trying to close to the gap, and again thinking of the hourglass you're trying to buffer all these distractions and these flavors of the week in this 24 seven news cycle.

Speaker 2: 19:53

So many things get thrown at you. So the job of leadership a amplify the big stuff, avoid the noise on the potentially confusing, suffer long stuff using this addition by subtraction mode, and then the convey is usually pretty easy. Those are your ESPN, did you knows? Those are your reminders, those things that are nice to know. I don't have to know every single component of it, and I think as you communicate information, you really should look into the ABCs of how you're doing it and you'll be amazed. Sometimes I've seen organizations that there is a pay raise. Everyone should be really excited and they send an email. And what a lost opportunity. Even if you have a very large workforce, that is something that you want people to hear directly on some virtual setting, in person setting. You better amplify that. That's not a convey, and so those are a little bit of the ABCs of communication.

Speaker 1: 20:47

I love that You've led your teams to some very challenging times in our nation's history 9-11, the Great Recession, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Great resignation. How did you keep employee engagement high and avoid burnout during some of those challenging times?

Speaker 2: 21:07

I think the first is always being present. And so, when times were tough, I probably did a few things. We developed a leadership think tank, and so what was really important and those were actually we were overseas between 45 and 50 brick and mortar stores and what we would want to do is take those managers of those stores and we would have a small group meet with me every other month and they were the voice. They were the ones who were in the field and seeing what's going on. And so, step one it was really important that I had a platform where I could really have the voice of the region from them and we would meet and we, strategically, would always be thinking six months every year out, especially in difficult times of, oh my God, what do we feel we need to do? And the whole goal was they run the agenda. I am not controlling the agenda. They bring to me everything. I will usually have a setting for coaching and development. It's also a little bit of a development tool where we go over something that might help them out as well.

Speaker 2: 22:05

I think step one is having those leaders, or what I would call culture carriers, within your organization during difficult times to help spread the message. So, step one, have a leadership sort of group that you might have and trust I would always be very visible and present and so I would do these rotating visits to stay close, communicate regularly. During those unique, unique times and that could be you'll have to find the magic of whatever your organization is, whether that's weekly by weekly, it's your town hall, it's your voice message system or video you, whatever you need to do. Those are a few simple things that you can start with during those unique times. The other, of course, is what we talked about prior, and that was using these five factors through anything you know, those were really our touch points of how we have to stay close to our team.

Speaker 1: 23:01

I love those. One thing I always appreciate about enterprise was their customer service and customer satisfaction. I remember the first my run enterprise car and the tagline was we will pick you up and I'm like, well, that's unique, but that I always go with them because they seem to have the customer first. So how do you provide that memorable customer experience for those, for your people?

Speaker 2: 23:29

Yeah, I think in any organization, the first thing I'll share a quick story that will help really kind of communicate. This is at one point I was working with an organization who is struggling with service and there's this great video I always talk about called Johnny the bagger, and we found it on the on the Internet. It was a YouTube video of some sort. Really, the long story short of it was it was this young man who was listening to a consultant given inspiring speech about each and every one of you at this grocery store chain can make a difference by putting your personal signature on every interaction. And so Johnny the bagger takes this information home and but he doesn't know how to help. So he figures I'm going to come up with a thought of the day every day and on the back of it I'm going to say thank you, and when I bag their groceries I'm going to put the note in the in the bag. And he actually calls the consultant and Shirley, you know, probably says you know, my name is Johnny the bagger and probably informed her that he is down syndrome. But he finally figured out how we could make a difference.

Speaker 2: 24:36

Well, a month later, all of a sudden, the store manager sees Johnny's line three times as long as everybody's and he's trying to triage the line, open up new, new avenues for customers, until someone taps him on the back and says, hey, we don't mind, I'm waiting for Johnny's thought of the day. And then all of a sudden someone 10 to 10 deep in the frozen food section says I used to come here Once a week. I now come here every time I'm in the area because I want to get Johnny's thought of the day. But it doesn't stop there. A month later the manager calls the consultant now and says you won't believe what's happened to this store. Our floral department has now joined the cause of transformation and every time they have a unused I think it's a broken flower unused course they would go pitted on an elderly individual or young child as they were walking around the store and it completely changed the experience for everybody.

Speaker 2: 25:32

The customers are coming back, all because Johnny chose to make a difference, and so we ended up taking that video and that became part of the new hire orientation, because they wanted to know the behaviors that will go around customer services, everything, and so you have to eventually take what your behavioral is, put it through your training so they put it into the training classes. Every employee it's only a three minute video would view the video and it would be a reminder throughout their journey. We then said, ok, that's great, but we want this part of a weekly customer service meeting. And so we're always going to recognize who's the Johnny the bagger this week, and they would get nominated. Well, at the end of the month.

Speaker 2: 26:15

Guess what they do? They bubble up the Johnny the bagger moment and, at the end of the month, gets funneled all the way up to the top leadership and they pick a Johnny the bagger of the month. They take the Johnny the bagger of the month and they recognize and reward them with an award at their monthly get together. And so it's a simple way of you know how do you take change behaviors, put it into the system, train, develop, review them on it, have a setting or an initiative for it, and then recognize it. And, if you think about it, it actually touches many of those factors of engagement. And so that's what organizations need to try to do is, of course, constantly coach, train and develop your team on how to handle those unique situations.

Speaker 1: 26:59

Oh, I love that. It's such an inspiring story to kind of have everybody personalize their customer experience by saying this is what I can do to make the customer's life a little better.

Speaker 2: 27:11

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 27:13

So what do you hope people who pick up your book get out of it?

Speaker 2: 27:18

I think the if I had to say a few things. Number one they have an opportunity to take the six point inspection that I talk about and utilize it to try to check the health of their organization. Number two is it's a very practical approach to utilizing culture to help with the execution of the plan, and so the culture is going to help drive the bus, it fuels everything, and so I hope they learn some practical, real life stories of mine and or others that were interviewed in the book to say, oh, that's how I could do it, kind of like the Johnny the bagger story. A very simple approach, that's, but not simplistic, to put through your entire organization and a little bit of maybe demystifying what culture is it is. It can be empathetic but accountable. You know, you can have high character with high standards, and I think those would just be a few that I'd hope the reader will be able to get.

Speaker 1: 28:20

That's great. So, eric, what are you excited about in this phase of your life, this season of your life?

Speaker 2: 28:28

Well, I think personally is just, frankly, watching my. I have three kids, so having an opportunity to watch them you know, my youngest is 19, my daughter is 23, my son's 24, watching them grow personally is really, really fun. And then, professionally, me and my wife have this book that we're going to go out and spread the message that will hopefully impact a whole bunch of people to kind of when you said, what's your why? I don't want people to hate what they do all the time and I think if they read this book it'll help guide them and, specifically, leadership of how that they can have that, you know, balanced approach to success.

Speaker 1: 29:05

That's awesome. I love to ask my guests this question what do you want your legacy to be?

Speaker 2: 29:12

Oh boy, that is another deep one. You know, I think I think for me, I look at what my kid, what I want my kids to think of their dad. I actually gave them to this question. It's actually right, right above me. It's these 21 pieces of advice to guide you through your personal journey. And if I could get any one of those to not only my kids but to others whether it's the importance of family you know that's the true measure of wealth Maybe it's about numbered personal brand you know it's everything what people say about you when you're not in the room I think any one of those 21 principles would be awesome if it could be a piece of that legacy. I hope it's not just one thing, I hope it's not just professionally. I hope it certainly is something personal about being a great dad, a great mentor, and also professionally, hopefully, the ability to inspire and unlock people's potential.

Speaker 1: 30:17

That's a great legacy. Is there anything I haven't asked you that I should have asked you?

Speaker 2: 30:24

I thought you did a really good job of some of the key components you know. I would just say within the book itself it also talks about the importance of hiring. So there's a little component of the importance of how can you hire for that cultural match. You know there's this big and it might be semantics of fit and match and when I look at the great organizations who hire for cultural matches, when they balance the competencies, which are the head, but the character, that's the heart, and they have not only questions that are competency based and behaviorally driven of tell me about a time when but they're able to pull and get in an interview the typical response versus the optimal response which can sometimes happen in an interview. That's usually when people are at their best. But I would say that might be one small component of that cultural match. In hiring for what I used to call this attitude, effort and coachability, it's free of charge. Three things that only require a little bit and everybody can utilize those three.

Speaker 1: 31:30

Great Working listeners. Find your book. Jump Start your Workplace Culture.

Speaker 2: 31:35

They can go to Amazon. Barnes, noble, amplify Publishing. It's available on hard copy, believe it or not. Keith, I did the audio version and I always joke. I was trying to figure out, do I get Morgan Freeman or me?

Speaker 1: 31:51

And since, morgan Freeman, was a little too much money.

Speaker 2: 31:54

I decided to invest in myself, so all those channels are where they're available.

Speaker 1: 32:01

You don't want the voice of God reading your book, probably. Well, actually it would have been a little bit better, I think.

Speaker 2: 32:08

I think you have to if you really you know it's a passion project and I felt it was really important. It comes from my voice, so unfortunately, people are going to have to listen for about six hours to me, but I felt that was really important, since it was all about the tips that me and my team did together.

Speaker 1: 32:25

Where can people connect with you on social media if they want to learn more?

Speaker 2: 32:30

So I am on LinkedIn, which is certainly probably the best place. You could go to ericdstonecom and learn a little bit more about the book itself. You could go to Instagram Clear Path Ventures underscore. I'm on Facebook kind of all over the place, but I'd say the biggest one would probably be LinkedIn.

Speaker 1: 32:50

So you're not doing TikTok videos of you dancing.

Speaker 2: 32:53

Not yet. You never know, though. I'm never going to say no, because even though that was the beginning of my thing sometimes you have to say no. I think every platform is important and you need to win over every generation, which is also which makes culture so tough. You know, front and center. You know you've got five generations in the workplace, keith.

Speaker 2: 33:12

So you've got to find the way to bring out the best when each generation has different values and perspectives on things, and so the great leaders are finding a way to do that, but it's certainly not easy.

Speaker 1: 33:24

Thank you so much for taking the time before Christmas to have this awesome conversation and blessings on your book and made people pick it up and help change their workplace culture.

Speaker 2: 33:34

Keith, I really appreciate the setting to be on, and thanks for the great questions and let's stay in touch for sure.

Speaker 1: 33:40

I would love to, I'd love to have you on any time.

Speaker 2: 33:44

You bet.