Accelerate Your Business Growth · 2025-12-11 · 20 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
50 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Brad Farris brings 20+ years of experience helping founders scale to the $3-5M mark, and in this conversation with host Diane Helbig, he dissects a counterintuitive leadership problem: speed creates chaos. When leaders rush through emails with minimal context or hold distracted meetings, they generate boomeranback work - team members return with questions because they lack direction, prospects feel unheard, and wrong clients get hired. Farris advocates for what he calls "slowing down to speed up." By building buffers between meetings, entering each conversation with full focus, and taking discussions as far as possible toward resolution, leaders reduce rework, build team confidence, and unlock genuine engagement. This approach cascades throughout the organization: when team members feel truly heard, they bring better ideas, take more ownership, and model the same presence with their peers. For business owners who also serve as business developers, this shift is transformative - confidence in the team enables aggressive growth pursuit, while the practice of real listening helps filter out misaligned clients before they become problems. Farris introduced his Self Leadership Assessment tool (anchoradvisors.com) to help leaders identify what derails their presence and focus.
Quick email replies lack enough context for teams to execute independently, so they email back with follow-up questions. By the time you finish your inbox, more emails have arrived, creating a cycle that feels fast but generates boomeranging work.
Leaders who trust their teams will aggressively pursue larger clients and take on bigger growth opportunities; leaders plagued by doubt hesitate in sales conversations and miss deals. That lack of confidence is felt by prospects and undermines business development.
When working from home or in the office, leaders remain present to all surrounding distractions - laundry, emails, other tasks - that compete for attention. Removing yourself to an offsite or hotel allows you to exclude those interruptions and focus fully on planning and innovation.
When you rush into sales conversations, you miss the warning signals that something feels off about a prospect. Slowing down allows your "spidey senses" to activate and you can keep the wrong clients out before they become costly problems.
The free 8-10 question survey at anchoradvisors.com/Self-Leadership-Assessment identifies what draws you away from presence and reveals gaps in self-management so you can focus on improving your ability to stay present.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode contains one genuinely useful core idea - slowing down to avoid creating rework through incomplete communication - but spends excessive time on soft elaborations and repetition of this single concept. The guest reiterates the 'slow down to speed up' principle across multiple contexts (email, meetings, sales, team culture) without introducing sufficiently novel analytical depth or operational specifics that would compound learning value.
And so what happens is your team Emails you back. And so you get through your 70 emails and by the time you get to the end you have 30 new ones that have shown up.
If we can slow ourselves down, put a little bit of time between meetings so that we have a buffer, that buffer is there so that we can close the loops from the prior meeting.
The 'slow down to speed up' framing is well-worn advice in leadership circles, and the execution here relies on intuitive examples rather than contrarian insight or first-principles reasoning. The connection between presence, team psychology, and business outcomes is articulated but not particularly fresh or unexpected for someone who reads business literature.
That's exactly what it is. Slowing down to speed up.
It's that it impacts every aspect of the business.
Brad Farris is described as an engineer-turned-executive coach with 20+ years of experience helping founders scale to $3-5M. While he has relevant operational background, the transcript reveals no specific case studies, client names, or scaling metrics that would validate deep hands-on expertise at meaningful scale. He functions more as a thoughtful practitioner-coach than as someone demonstrating transformative business results.
He's known for helping founders scale their businesses to the 3 to 5 million dollar mark.
His over 20 years of experience helps entrepreneurs boost margins, strengthen client retention, and create the capacity for sustainable growth.
The episode lacks concrete data, named examples, metrics, or quantified outcomes. The '70 emails → 30 new ones' example is illustrative but anecdotal and not evidence-based. No client wins, revenue impacts, retention improvements, or timeline data are provided. The discussion remains at the level of principle and anecdote rather than actionable specifics.
you show up in your office and you have 70 emails in your inbox, right?
I could just only work on my business. And I was just, like, looking at her going, I have got to do that.
The host asks open-ended questions and allows the guest space to develop ideas, but rarely probes for specifics, challenges claims, or pushes back. Follow-ups are affirmative ('That's gold,' 'I love that') rather than investigative. The host does share personal experiences, which adds authenticity, but the interview reads as a collaborative validation session rather than rigorous examination of the thesis.
Wow, that's gold. That is really, uh, I get it. I never thought of it that way, but I get it.
I love that. Okay, well, uh, seriously, because it's like slowing down to speed up.
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
In this episode, Brad Farris joins our host, Diane Helbig, to explore the intricacies of decision-making in business, emphasizing the importance of intuition, building relationships, and learning from mistakes. They discuss how being rushed can lead to poor decisions and the necessity of slowing down to listen to one's instincts. They highlight the significance of trust in sales and the need for effective communication to foster strong business relationships. Brad Farris is an engineer turned executive leadership coach and the principal advisor at Anchor Advisors. He’s known for helping founders scale their businesses to the $3M - $5M mark, when operations become more complex and leadership must evolve. Brad teaches small business owners how to empower their teams and free up time to focus on strategy. His 20+ years of experience helps entrepreneurs boost margins, strengthen client retention, and create the capacity for sustainable growth. If you are a small business owner or salesperson who struggles with getting the sales results you are looking for, get your copy of Succeed Without Selling today. Learn the importance of Always Be Curious.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
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Speaker C: Welcome to Accelerate youe Business Growth, where we're exploring all sorts of business topics. Experts from around the world join me, your host, Diane Helbig for a conversation where they share their expertise with all of you. Take what you need when you need it. Featured on Inc.com Forbes and MFNBC's yous Business, this podcast is recognized as one of the best podcasts for small business, sales, leadership, social media, and more. When it comes to business, Accelerate your Business Growth has got it covered. And now on with the show. My guest today is Brad Farris. Brad is an engineer turned executive leadership coach and the principal advisor at Anchor Advisors. He's known for helping founders scale their businesses to the 3 to 5 million dollar mark. When operations become more complex and leadership must evolve. Brad teaches small business owners how to empower their teams and free up time to focus on Strategy. His over 20 years of experience helps entrepreneurs boost margins, strengthen client retention, and create the capacity for sustainable growth. Thanks so much for joining me today, Brad.
Speaker D: Thanks for having me, Diane.
Speaker C: Absolutely. So, um, I want to start with, uh, speed. So will you talk to us about how speed actually creates more work?
Speaker D: Sure, I'd love to do that. Let's think about, uh, you show up in your office and you have 70 emails in your inbox, right?
Speaker C: Sure.
Speaker D: And your thought is, how can I get through these as quickly as possible? Right. Because all of us know that email is not our job. And so we're trying to get through our email as quickly as possible. And so what I see a lot of my clients doing in that situation is they're, they're sending off very quick replies. Yes, I think so. Let's do that. Right. And those replies, while quick, often don't have enough context for your team to know exactly what to do in reply. And so then what happens is your team Emails you back. And so you get through your 70 emails and by the time you get to the end you have 30 new ones that have shown up. Right? And so it feels like you're going quickly, but in fact what you're doing is creating more work for yourself.
Speaker C: Wow, that's gold. That is really, uh, I get it. I never thought of it that way, but I get it. So, So what should we do differently?
Speaker D: So let's take it out of the email domain and think about it in terms of a face to face meeting.
Speaker C: Okay.
Speaker D: A similar thing can happen in a face to face meeting where we're having a conversation with someone, but our brain is also thinking about the next meeting or the, the last meeting, right? Or maybe it's the deadline that you have later today and you haven't finished the deliverable for that. And so as we're splitting our brain into all these different pieces, they're focusing on all these different challenges, ideas, meetings, what have you. We have less and less of our focus to give to the person sitting in front of us. And my experience with leaders in 2025 is that we need all of our creativity and all of our energy to deal with the uncertainty that we're facing. And so the fact that we have these other things going on in our mind again distracts us from giving the best possible answer to this person in front of us. And the result is very similar. That person then gets an incomplete answer to their problem, they go off and they start doing something that's not really what you wanted them to do. And then we start blaming, oh, that person. They never get it right. They don't understand. Right. And so the same cycle goes through again. Instead, if we can slow ourselves down, put a little bit of time between meetings so that we have a buffer, that buffer is there so that we can close the loops from the prior meeting. Either add stuff to your to do list or take a walk to get the energy out from that meeting. Whatever kind of, uh, overhang that prior meeting has so that we can enter into the next meeting fully focused on what's happening there and give that conversation whatever time it needs to get to a conclusion. Right. A lot of what I see happening in conversations and meetings is we take things just one step forward, but then the team goes and takes that one step and they're still stuck on the next step. So in each time that we're with a team member or a client or a prospect, we take that meeting as far as we possibly can, then we actually start completing things, then Less thing comes back to our plate, we have fewer emails in our inbox, and our team actually starts accomplishing things independently from our direction.
Speaker A: Wow.
Speaker C: I love that. Okay, well, uh, seriously, because it's like slowing down to speed up.
Speaker D: That's exactly what it is.
Speaker A: Right?
Speaker C: Yeah. Which makes perfect sense to me. Take the time on the front end.
Speaker D: That's right.
Speaker C: To go through all the paces. So you aren't cleaning up on the back end.
Speaker D: Yes. Right, yeah. And then let's look at this also from the person who's coming to meet with you standpoint.
Speaker C: Okay.
Speaker D: If you and I were having a meeting and while we were meeting, I was distracted by some other thoughts in my head, or I was checking my email, or I was jotting down some notes so that I remember what I was supposed to do. How does that feel to you as the person who's come in to meet with me?
Speaker C: Yeah. Not great. Like I'm insignificant and I'm a father.
Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. All those things.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker D: If instead I can give you my full and complete focus. If I can listen intently to what you say and I don't interrupt, I wait until you finish all of your thoughts and then I pause for a minute so I can think about what to respond. How does that feel?
Speaker C: Oh, um. Like I'm being heard.
Speaker D: That's right.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker D: Yeah. And it's actually quite rare for people to really feel like they're being heard. And so if we can give that to people that the they are then going to bring better ideas forward, they're going to feel safe to offer more creative solutions, things are more out of the box. Maybe things that they might not know whether they're gonna be successful or not. And so we're getting more out of not just the meeting, but our team itself that they then are more invested in whatever it is that we've talked about when they go out to do it after they leave our office.
Speaker C: Yeah, boy. And they're more empowered.
Speaker D: Yes.
Speaker C: Right. So they're more likely to think on their own because they feel safe, as you said. Safe. Right. They feel valued.
Speaker B: Mhm.
Speaker C: And say, you know, that it's okay to do those things, which, uh, is huge.
Speaker D: Right.
Speaker C: Wow. Okay. I'm curious if there are other rewards, um, for the team, for, you know, the leader, for the business as a whole, when the leader chooses to do this, when they choose to slow down and so will you share what some of those are?
Speaker D: Yeah. Let's look at both sides of that.
Speaker C: Okay.
Speaker D: For the team, when the leader really slows down and listens and gives them enough context and tools to complete things, their sense of agency grows. Right. They're getting more done. They feel more engaged in the work, and that is contagious. Right. That changes the culture of the organization. But also it's interesting what I find is that when we do that with our team, they start doing that with their team too. They start doing it with each other. And so then it's reinforcing. As part of kind of the way that our culture operates is that we're going to work from a place of slowness and a place of consideration and taking things as far as we can so that the business itself starts to accelerate. If we flip this around and think about it from the leader standpoint, when I slow down and put as much as possible, like complete as far as I possibly can, each exchange, like I said, I get less of that boomerang, less of those things coming back to us. What that does is it means that I develop confidence in my team. When things boomerang back to me, it's really frustrating. Like, oh, my gosh, don't these people know what they're doing? Like, I maybe I hired all the wrong people. Right. And that doubt and that suspicion which we're creating, we're creating by not slowing down and taking the time to really work things out then starts to undermine our confidence. And one of the things that I've seen is, you know, in a lot of smaller organizations, the business owner is also the chief business developer. When we're not confident in our team, how aggressively are we pursuing new business? What is that? What comes across when we're talking to prospects, particularly ones that could be significant increase in our business, we start to hesitate.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker D: Ah, we start to be unsure. Right. And so that's one of the things, like, when I'm more confident in my team, I am. I'm ready to take on those new challenges. I'm like, yeah, let's take on this client. That's going to be a 20% increase in my business next year because I have the confidence that my team behind me can handle that. And so it. We can either use that time and energy in investing in new business, or if we believe that our team has got it, we can also spend that time and energy on the golf course or with our families or however else we want to spend it.
Speaker C: Yeah. Boy, such great points. And I especially, uh, appreciate the point about the lack of confidence and all of these things you're talking about. There's this ripple effect, right?
Speaker D: Exactly.
Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. It's it's not just right here. It's that it impacts every aspect of the business.
Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. And that, uh, you know, I. I know that you talk a lot about selling without selling, and, and, you know, people not feeling that pushiness of the sales process, this slowing down also affects the way we talk to our clients. Right. When we have less of that anxiety of, I have to get this done right now.
Speaker C: Right.
Speaker D: We let the conversation unfold. And. And what I find then is that the clients are coming toward us. Right. They're asking us, well, how can we work together? Because it's just a different experience when the client feels heard. Right.
Speaker C: Yes. Yeah. It's exact. That's exactly right. It definitely makes a big difference. And we identify whether we can help them, whether we want to help them. Right. Yeah. Because we're present, we're paying attention. Yeah. And they know it too.
Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. Right. They know it too. Exactly. Yeah.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker D: One of the things that I talk to the. The owner who is the business developer, is that a big part of their jobs isn't just to bring new clients in, but it's to keep the wrong clients out.
Speaker C: Right, Right. Yeah.
Speaker D: We've all had that experience where we. We let the wrong person hire us, and it's a nightmare for everybody. Right?
Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker D: I know I've made those decisions, those mistakes, often when I'm rushed, when I'm like, oh, get this guy in. Right.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker D: But if I slow down, then there's time for my spidey senses to kind of go, hm, I don't know about this person.
Speaker C: Exactly. Something doesn't feel right. Yeah, that's right. I always say when you're. When you're in sales mode, you miss all those signals.
Speaker D: That's right.
Speaker A: Right.
Speaker D: That's right.
Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. Which is, in so many ways, once again, the ripple effect. In so many ways, bad for your business.
Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah. So, Diane, you're. You're. I can tell you're resonating with this. Where in your business have you seen slowing down to help you to accelerate.
Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. In so many ways. So, um, take. Taking time out, you know, stepping out, taking time, you know, because I'm a solopreneur, Right. So it's very difficult, but forcing myself to take a step out, to really just be able to think.
Speaker D: Yes.
Speaker C: Right. And. And plan it for my business and. And create. Ah. You know, I mean, I have to be in the right headspace to be able to create programs and things like that. Um, it's. That's probably the biggest.
Speaker D: Yeah.
Speaker C: Right. I mean, outside of being with clients and having to be totally present in the moment. Um, but. But that's probably the. The biggest thing because otherwise I just sort of roll through the day.
Speaker D: Yeah. You've pointed out a really significant, um, sort of conflict there, which is that when we're in the process of delivering value, uh, to clients, and this is whether you're a sole entrepreneur or if you're in a larger organization, a lot of. A lot of owners are still involved in delivering the service.
Speaker C: Right.
Speaker D: When we're delivering the service, when we're, when we're doing the thing, it's very hard to spend time thinking about the thing and innovating and finding the next way to do it. Right.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker D: And so go ahead. Sorry.
Speaker C: Well, I was going to say that I've actually been, uh, have experienced that over the past couple of months. I have been so gratefully busy with delivering. Right. Uh, that I have not been able to stop to then look at, okay, what's next? And so that's where I am right now, actually. Things got to a point where, okay, now I can breathe. I still have work that I'm doing, but I have an opportunity to really be able to breathe and explore and think. It's a big difference.
Speaker D: Right. And so if we're going from that delivery to delivery to delivery, the. I don't know how it ends up for you, but I often feel like a workhorse. Uh, my brain is not required. I just have to show up and do the thing. I'm not saying we don't use our brain in doing the thing, but there's a different part of our brain when we're planning and strategizing and thinking about what's next. If we can be present and move things along further, then we can schedule that time to really think about what's next. And how do things need to change. Change. And where are we going in the future?
Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, it's a. It's a big deal. I was at a meeting this morning, and, um, we were talking about a bunch of stuff, and one of the people said, um, I just got back from being away for two days, so I could just only work on my business. And I was just, like, looking at her going, I have got to do that. You know, I just. I do this thing where I work from home, so I should be able to do this, but I need to go stay in a hotel. Like, I need to leave 100%. Right.
Speaker D: Yep.
Speaker C: And so that I. That challenges me because I feel Like I should be able to separate here. Um, I think I just have to own that I can't.
Speaker D: And that same presence thing, right, that we can't be present to multiple things at a time. And so sometimes when we are in our home office, we're present to all the work that's here, but we're also present to the laundry that's in the basement and the dinner that needs to be cooked and whatever else is yelling at us and when we can get out of that environment. This is why off sites of any kind are valuable, is that we can exclude some of that from our vision so that we can be present to the thing that we need that we choose to be present to.
Speaker C: It's so true. It is so true. Believe me. It's right here. You know, just do it. Right. So, yeah, Brad, this is great. I really appreciate this information. It's really important for the listeners. So thank you so much for being here. Will you tell the listeners how they can find you, please?
Speaker D: Absolutely. Uh, my website is anchoradvisors.com and if you go there, uh, you can go to anchoradvisors Self Leadership Assessment. And there, there's just a quick like 8 or 10 question survey that can help you to identify some of the things that might be drawing you away from that presence. That in order to be in that presence, it's not that we're not doing a good job managing other people. It's that we're not managing ourselves very well. And so that assessment can give you some idea of some places where you might be able to focus to improve your self management so that you can be in those that place of presence more frequently. Uh, it doesn't require an email address. You can just go in and take the assessment and it will give you results right away.
Speaker C: That's really awesome. Thank you. We'll make sure that that gets, um, into the show notes. So thank you again. I appreciate you and listeners. Thank you. You are who we're doing this for.
Speaker D: Indeed.
Speaker C: Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Accelerate youe Business Growth, a production of Evergreen Podcasts. Discover more episodes of this podcast and Explore others@evergreenpodcast.com As always, continue to prosper and be curious. And if you're looking to get your sales strategy headed in the right direction, pick up a copy of Succeed Without Selling on Amazon or wherever books are sold. Until we meet again on another episode of Accelerate youe Business Growth. Goodbye and good day.
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