Big Hitters with Larry Weidel · 2026-10-30 · 15 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
21 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Jolene Janke, MVP at Big Hitter International's professional training center, shares how embracing delegation transformed her approach to leadership and business growth. The core insight: leaders who refuse to delegate rob their team members of development opportunities while trapping themselves in operational work. Weidel and Janke explore the paradox that early-stage business owners must do everything themselves to gain competence, but staying in that mode too long creates a self-imposed job rather than a scalable business. The conversation emphasizes how great leaders become specialists rather than generalists - focusing on their highest-value activities while systematically training others to handle lower-skill work. Weidel uses vivid examples (surgeons, nurses, supply closet organization) to illustrate how even highly successful six-figure business owners sabotage growth by micromanaging tasks anyone could do. Janke notes that when delegated leaders succeed and exceed expectations, it becomes a shared win that fulfills her more than personal victory. This episode is essential for entrepreneurs feeling stuck in their businesses, ambitious operators building teams, and anyone building toward an exit or expansion strategy - the only way to scale beyond yourself is by systematically removing yourself from daily operations while maintaining oversight.
Hosted by Larry Weidel. The show scores 59.4/100 on substance across its analysed episodes. See the full show profile.
Start by giving them simple tasks and observe how seriously they treat them - whether they pay attention to details, follow through, and handle basic assignments well. As the Bible principle states, 'faithful in little, faithful in much.' If you can't trust them with small pennies and nickels, you won't trust them with significant responsibilities.
Successful owners become so good at their tasks that they take pride in how well they do them, developing an intolerance for seeing others do it differently or less perfectly. They've also been the one doing everything for so long that they forget what it felt like to be learning the role.
The ultimate goal is to build a business that runs independently without your daily involvement - where you can supervise and make strategic calls, but the organization handles week-to-week and day-to-day operations without you. This makes the business scalable, saleable, and allows you to expand, start new ventures, or move into other markets.
When you delegate and others succeed, you see a piece of your leadership reflected in them and experience their win as your own win, which fulfills you more than personal victory. Additionally, having more fun and less burnout makes you more inspiring to your team, showing them a vision worth aspiring to rather than just modeling endless hard work.
Both work hard and put in effort, but mediocre operators don't get proportional results from their effort, while big hitters engineer maximum return on their effort through strategic leverage, delegation, and specialization rather than doing everything themselves.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode delivers only well-worn delegation advice at a slow pace with significant filler. The few ideas present - delegate to grow, transition from generalist to specialist, build a business that runs without you - are standard management platitudes with no novel framing or depth.
you're robbing other people of their leadership opportunities by not giving the leadership away
you start as a generalist...then you transition to becoming a specialist
Every concept recycled: the 'build to sell' playbook, testing delegates on small tasks first (explicitly citing Biblical 'faithful in little, faithful in much'), the surgeon analogy for specialization. No contrarian or first-principles thinking appears anywhere in the episode.
faithful and little faithful in much
it's one thing to be the best surgeon in the hospital, but you don't need to be the best nurse
Jolene Janke is introduced solely as an internal award winner ('MVP last year in our professional training center') within what appears to be a small sales or network-marketing organization. No verifiable external credentials, scale, or prior track record are mentioned in the transcript.
she is our MVP last year in our professional training center on winning at Big, uh, Hitter International
even being on the road right now, you know, I'm not the face of all the things
The episode is almost entirely abstract. The only quasi-numeric claims are a vague 'over well over half a million dollars a year' and an unsubstantiated '85% of your time locating someone to talk to' ratio. No named companies, real timelines, or verifiable data appear.
I've got people I've been in business with that are making over well over half a million dollars a year
you've got 85% of your time locating someone to talk to, and then you only got 15% left to talk
The host frequently answers his own questions with extended monologues (the surgeon analogy, the coffee-cup story, the Instagram fitness-class anecdote), leaving the guest to respond with 'yeah,' 'right,' and 'exactly.' There are no probing follow-ups, no pushback, and the opening question is entirely open-ended softball.
what would you say is one of the ones you've got this summer?
you know, you could have two people sitting on the other side of the room and they both look at competent, healthy
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Join Big Hitters Community here: Are you trapped putting out fires every day, or are you empowering a team to run the operations for you? In this episode, Larry Weidel connects with Big Hitter International MVP Jolene Janke to explore a major leadership breakthrough: the necessity of delegation. They discuss why attempting to control every detail of a business actually robs your team of valuable leadership opportunities. Jolene shares how stepping back from being a "20-year workhorse" allows you to live out your vision, have more fun, and inspire others to step up. Larry breaks down the critical transition from being a startup generalist doing everything, to becoming a specialist, using the analogy of a surgeon who focuses only on what they do best while relying on support staff. Together, they explain how to test new team members with small tasks and why top performers focus on getting the highest return on their effort rather than just working hard.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Speaker A: And actually, you know what I really. I really realized, too, is that people do it better than you. That's one thing. And then the second thing is, is that you actually get who you are. Because when someone that you've led takes leadership and they do it better than you, it's almost like a little piece of your leadership in them. You can. It's almost like one of your big wins. It's like, okay, when they win, I win. And so that actually fulfills me more than me winning.
Speaker B: Welcome to Big Hitters. I'm Larry Wydell, and this show is for people who are done playing small. Each week we break down what it actually takes to win at a high level. The decisions, the discipline, the adjustments that separate those who almost do it from those who do it. No theory, no fluff, just straight talk from someone who spent 50 years building winners. If you're serious about momentum, you're in the right place. Let's get into it. Hello, everybody. We're talking about the mind of winners. And I'm talking with Jolene Janke from Toronto, Canada, outside of Toronto, anyway, and she is our MVP last year in our professional training center on winning at Big, uh, Hitter International. So Jolene was telling me about a big breakthrough that she made this year. And the great thing in breakthroughs is you can use it the rest of your life, and you can apply it in all areas of your life. That's like. It's like it unlocks a door that kept you from progressing. And so what. What would you say is one of the ones you've got this summer?
Speaker A: Yeah, so I would just say even in the last year, it's been developing, but this summer especially, because I've even been on the road trip, but delegation. So one thing I think that we, you know, we're small thinking. We try to control everything. And the thing about being in a business where you're developing leaders is you're robbing other people of their leadership opportunities by not giving the leadership away. So I think that's where I'm having such a breakthrough, because even being on the road right now, you know, I'm not the face of all the things. So there's lots of people. I put a lot of people in position to be able to do things I used to do. And what I'm also finding in my own leadership is like, I'm having more fun. And if I'm having more fun, I'm actually more inspiring to people, because the life that I'm living is actually something that they, aspire to do if I'm always the workhorse. And they only ever see me doing that part and not casting the vision and living the vision. They. Nobody wants to be a 20 year workhorse. Right. Everybody wants to be living out their hobbies and their goals and you know, making a difference and fulfilling on their purpose. And so this version of me, I get to, I get to show them and I'm still a source calling. There was like yesterday, there were so many breakdowns calling this problem that problem. And it's amazing because I've done it for so long. I have the solutions to their problem and it's just quick. But that's all they needed me for. And then they get their own empowerment about that going and actually, you know, using that wisdom and then taking it and then calling me later at night going, hey, it worked out. I'm like, yeah, it's amazing how that works, right? So those, that's been a breakthrough.
Speaker B: Yeah, it's a paradox. And in the sense that when you get started, you have to be the, you're the one doing everything. So you wind up getting really good at it, you know, because there's nobody else to do it. And uh, you get to the point where you're success, you're making sales, you're getting clients, you're growing your revenue and all that stuff, but you don't want to stay there too long. If you stay there too long, you get stuck doing that and then all you are is you've created a job for yourself. And the trick is to learn how to do it successfully but not too good because then you have a pride about I'm the best and you. It is so I'm so good at it, I don't want to, I can't tolerate seeing how stupid they are doing it. But if you're not too far away from the point where you were the stupid person learning it.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker B: And you know, you could be sympathetic and so that's why you is the. It's great to grow as fast as you possibly can because they get you to give up doing those type things. I mean, I've got people I've been in business with that are making over well over half a million dollars a year. And uh, I call in their secretaries ready to kill them. And they said, well, when the supplies come in, they just, they, they have, they just want the supply cabinet closet organized the way they do it. And they insist on unboxing all the box boxes of supplies and, and stacking them because they've got, they Just want to have it that way. It's like, good lord, talk about majoring on the minors. Who gives a crap? You know, take the box, toss it in the closet, and when you need something, go in there and open the box and get it and just, you know, in terms of your mind and your priorities. But it's easy to get sidetracked like that, isn't it?
Speaker A: It is. And actually, you know what I really, I really realized too is that people do it better than you. That's one thing. And then the second thing is that you actually get who you are. Because when someone that you've led takes leadership and they do it better than you, it's almost like a little piece of your leadership in them. You can. It's almost like one of your big wins. It's like, okay, when they win, I win. And so that actually fulfills me more than me winning. So finding out.
Speaker B: Yeah, I always said, like, if I'm the smartest guy here, we're in trouble. You know what I'm saying? It's like. And the trick is, here's what will happen. You will be the smartest person in the. Because, you know, you've been there longer, you know, you've had more experience than everybody. But you want, you don't want to be displaying that all the time. You want them to figure things out and make them heroes, you know, and talk about how good they are at it. They'll take pride on it and realize, you know, they're like carrying the company in that arena. And so that's what you want, you know, like, it's one thing to be the best surgeon in the hospital, but you don't need to be the best nurse. 2. You know, it's just enough to be the best surgeon. You know, hopefully you have great nurses. You'll have great administrators that can check people in, but so you can focus on your thing. And then what happens is they do become. Eventually they do become better than you were at doing those startup type jobs because they do it more and more. And then the thing is, you're able to get better and better at what you do because you're able to spend more time on and you're getting more repetitions of those things than like. Like if you're a sales trainer in. For inside your organization, where you're going out and actually making the presentations, if you've got someone making those appointments for you, setting those sales up, now you've got more time where you can spend your time seeing people rather than having to spend 85% of your time locating someone to talk to, and then you only got 15% left to talk. So that's the great thing about having that support staff, because they can make the phone calls, they can check people up, they can see if they're interested, they can set up those times and coordinate the schedules. That's not the real high skill set. And so in the beginning, you don't have anybody do that. You got to do it yourself. You can't afford somebody. But as quickly as possible, you like to get people helping you and offload those kind of things, you know, and it's the surgeon, you know, the surgeon gets in there, cuts it this, that the other. He reaches the point, okay. You know, they pull the hands up and go. They're going to walk out and they sew him up, you know. And uh,
Speaker A: yeah,
Speaker B: he wouldn't walk out if he didn't have people capable of doing that. But like, their job was not to stitch up and have a nice pattern of stitches on the, you know, sewing the patient up. You know, they got people, they got nurses, they've got other assistant surgeons who could do that stuff. The big person can walk out, you know, and move on to another kidney or whatever they, you know, whatever their specialty is. So, you know, the idea is to be able to become. You start as a generalist.
Speaker A: Yes. But
Speaker B: then you transition to becoming a specialist.
Speaker A: That's right, that's right.
Speaker B: And ideally the end of that transition is you're nothing because other than an investor, a, uh, supervisor, chairman of the board, you know, in terms of. I'm talking about day to day operations.
Speaker A: Yes.
Speaker B: Because you want to, as quickly as you possibly can, get to the point. If you're going to be built, if your goal is to build a business.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker B: You want to get it to the point where it can run on the day to day basis. Week to week, month to month basis without you there. Now, sure, you'll know what's going on, you'll supervise, you might make a call in. You'll always have eagle eyes on it, all the moving parts. But you will not be involved in doing the moving parts.
Speaker A: That's it.
Speaker B: And then you have a business that you actually can sell, that you actually can walk away from. Or start another one.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker B: Or start an expansion of the same business. Or pull up a subsidiary kind, uh, of a, another sister type operation to go along with your main operation where they both complement each other. Or you can expand into other states, other regions or, or other countries. That's how people do it and, but you can't do it if you're going to be in there hour by hour, uh, having to be, uh, handling the uh, tyranny of the urgent, putting out fires, hour, you know, one after another, you've got to get it to where it can run without you. And things that, special events that come up, that there's somebody, there's always somebody in there who will know the answer of what to do next. And they might not make the perfect decision every time, but they'll make as good a decision as you would. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker A: Exactly. And you made a really good point Larry, earlier, because you said when people, winners look at things, they say like, what's the most I can do? And in the. The gift of learning to delegate, it's actually only possible with delegation. So I find the gift you give back to yourself by delegating is that you actually have confidence in a bigger vision, which means more people are actually going to be impacted by what you're doing. So that, that's why it's, I mean, I think it's non negotiable to figure out how to delegate.
Speaker B: Absolutely. Um, and you know, they've got to learn the, you start them on the simpler, you know, simpler things. And that's what to me it's a key once you get people in as quickly as possible, once they learn the basics and everything, to give them areas of responsibility so you can find out. You know, it's like the Bible says, faithful and little faithful in much. But if you give them simple. I can remember that testing people, we would have an event, we would have this, that uh, the other and be some little chore, some little thing that I needed done. And I could have gotten it done in seconds, but I would give it to them to do the new person so they'd feel a part of it putting the thing on. But also I could see if they took it serious, how well they did it. But if I couldn't trust them to do something simple, if I couldn't trust him to keep up with the pennies and the nickels, I'd never give them a dime.
Speaker A: But
Speaker B: it was a way that I could find out who I had. Because it's the old example of uh, that I've used before. It's like you could have two people sitting on the other side of the room and they both look at competent, healthy and uh, you know, and then you say, you ask both of them to go get across the room, get you a cup of coffee. And bring it to you. Okay. Or you have some guests. Could you both guys get some coffee and bring over here to our guests? Well, one guy gets up, stands up, walks around, gets the coffee, brings it over, hands it, no problem. The other guy gets up and he trips over the table and he never. He breaks his leg before he even gets. Gets across the room. And you never knew who was the spastic
Speaker A: until you. Yeah, it's true.
Speaker B: You know, and who was the athletic person until you gave them something to do. So that's why, you know, just sitting, looking there, everybody nods and they agree and everything. But give them something to do,
Speaker A: right?
Speaker B: Something simple as quickly as possible so you can find out, what am I working with? You know, did they even pay attention? You know, if you've seen the thing they have on Instagram or YouTube where the instructor is physic, physical fitness class or something, and you have the lady, she's dealing with a client it, and she says, take your thing. This. Step down and do this. And then they do something. Set. Now copy. You know, now you do it. And then you. And they do something totally different than what, you know, she was touching her toes and they're sticking their arms out. And then the instructor will come in and say, do you mind if I, you know, okay, we got to correct a little. So do you mind if I, uh, touch you? You know, to show you how to do it? They say, no, that's fine. Then you'll walk up and go whack to get her to pay attention, because obviously, obviously they weren't even listening. And so the thing is, you give them something simple and then you can find out, you know, are they capable of even understanding what I'm telling them?
Speaker A: Right. Yeah. We do a fun exercise. We put people back to back, and the one person has to tell the other person what to do. Like if they're building like a little putty thing or dry. And it's so funny because you're like, wow. Like, people don't. I mean, hearing and listening are two different things.
Speaker B: Absolutely. All right, well, this has been great. And let's keep talking about how the thing is, big hitters, you know, the people that are small and mediocre usually work hard. I mean, you know, obviously they have to work hard. You know, they'll put in a lot. They're worn out at the end of the day. But the deal is they just don't get results. But big hitters get results for their efforts, and that's what the power of the transformation is. If you're going to be putting yourself through the effort in a 24 hour day and you're tired at the end of the day and you're out there on the attack tomorrow. You want to get the biggest return on your effort as possible. And so that happens because you're looking at things different. You're thinking it different, you know, you're navigating through life differently. Thanks so much, Jolene.
Speaker A: Thanks, Larry.
Speaker B: That's it for this episode. If this resonated with you, do me a favor, share it with someone who's ready to level up. Winners, find winners and the right conversation at the right time can change everything. Want to go deeper? Join us inside the big hitter community at join big hitters.com that's where the real work happens. And if you haven't already, subscribe so you don't miss the next one. Remember that you're either growing or dying and there's no no standing still. Keep winning and I'll see you next week.
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