Episode 328: Angelo Valenti, Psychological consultant -"Can I Count On You"

Speaker A: Hey, thanks for checking out the sales Leadership podcast. I'm your host, Rob Jepsen, and I have one for you today that I cannot wait to share. This is one that's going to be a difference maker as you Prepare for the 2026 selling year. And I can't wait for you to get into it. But first, if you're considering a speaker for your upcoming sales kickoff or a leadership retreat, and if you want that to be, uh, a career changing event, I hope you'll consider me. We're booking a lot of SKOs, we're booking a lot of leadership workshops right now and creating those career changing, those Catalyst events, those inflection point events. It's one of my favorite things I do. Listen, I'm not one of those speakers who shows up with a canned talk and hopes you like it. I work closely with leadership teams to design custom content and create a unique experience that first, entertains, because it's gotta be fun. Second, challenges how they think because you want them to do different things as a result, you want them to see different, think different, act different. But third, and most important, you gotta motivate them to change. We want every member of your team to say, I can do that, but more important, I want to and I will. So whether you want someone to speak to your entire team or to work with your leadership group, I hope you'll give us a shot. Please reach out. Let's see if we can make a great event. Elite. Finally, today we talk about one of the most important things that we need to be intentional about as a leader. Listen, I found there's three crucial ingredients that elite leaders have in their teams at higher levels than average managers have with theirs. And the first of those three ingredients is trust. Trust is falling and today is at an all time low. So today I'm excited to introduce the company psychologist, Dr. Angelo Valenti. He works with companies of all sizes and in all industries all around the world, helping them build loyalty, especially in times of change. And as you gear up for next year, you're gonna need an abundance of trust because you're gonna have to have the best year the company's ever had. That's what you, that's what you're hired to do. And that means you've gotta create change. You're gonna need to make change happen and have be something that people embrace. And I've learned that you're gonna need to be intentional about how you do that, because if you do the changes, if you do it right, will actually build trust. So Today we're going to answer what might be the most important leadership question you'll get asked. Here it is. Can I be counted on? Every one of the members of your team asks that question probably every day. Can I count on my leader? Which means they're asking, can they count on you? And today we're going to help make sure that answer is a resounding yes. So you ready? Let's freaking go. Hi, I'm Rob Jepsen and my mission is to help sales leaders everywhere create record setting growth in the companies they lead. I'm here to share the secrets of the world's most successful sales leaders. I don't care how big the company or how big the team. We showcase sales leaders who are taking what the market gives and then some. This show features leaders of teams who are beating their markets, winning at crazy rates and creating life changing years for the people they lead. The Sales Leadership Podcast is brought to you by Sales Leadership United, the world's largest collection of sales leadership assets. Be sure to check out the all new sales leadershipunited.com fast track your sales leadership development. Gain insights into how other sales leaders are solving challenges similar to the ones you face and tap into over 400 leadership topics, hundreds of video insights, battle tested leadership frameworks and new material that comes out every single week. Sales Leadership United is the easiest investment in yourself you'll ever make. Head to salesleadershipunited.com and use the code Rob at signup and get a free trial on me. Now get ready for some serious insights from sales leaders who are making it happen. And remember, don't worry, we got you. Hello and welcome to the Sales Leadership Podcast where high growth sales leaders share high growth practices and tactics. Thank you for so many of you to continue to send me your messages on how much you're enjoying these guests. I love hearing your stories. I am grateful your support of the show. Please keep the messages coming. I love hearing how you're applying these things and how they're making a difference in your career. That's why we do it. That's why we keep bringing you the greatest guests that we can find. And today we got another great one for you. Today's guest is the leader behind the leaders, the person advising high performance leaders and elite teams worldwide. But this person doesn't just coach performance and he understands people. Please welcome Dr. Angelo Valenti to the show. Angelo is a consulting psychologist who spent decades in the trenches with business leaders. Not just helping them create better results or have more impact, but guiding them to become more both as professionals and as people. He's the kind of leader you stay loyal to, not because you have to, but because of the relationship you've built and the way he earns that loyalty. It's the same way he teaches other leaders to build it through trust, truth and authenticity. And with an unwavering commitment to the whole person, not just the performance driven business person. Angelo's work lives at the intersection of psychology, leadership, and human potential. And in today's world, where we see burnout rising and transactional leadership being far too common, it's happening all around us. Angelo's message could not be more timely, and it's why I'm so excited to have him here today. So today we're digging into what loyalty really means. We're going to really unpack why the best leaders don't just manage performance and what it means to invest in and develop people in a way that they know is all about them. If you can't tell, I am fired up for this one. This is going to be an important one. This is going to be one that will help you create life changing years for the people you lead. So let's get after it. Angelo, welcome to our show and thank you so much for joining us.

Speaker B: I am so glad to be here. I'm just as fired up as you are, so let's get after it.

Speaker A: Let's get after it, man. Thanks for joining me. I, I am a fan of your work. I am. I'm appreciative of your message. And we got 60,000 leaders who are going to be better off because they got 45 minutes with you today. So why don't you start by introducing yourself to these 60,000 listeners, who you are and what you do with, uh, your clients around the world.

Speaker B: Well, thank you. Uh, first and foremost, I am a husband. I'm a father, I'm a grandfather, I'm a dog owner, I'm a golfer. Uh, that's more the way I see myself. Uh, what I do is not who I am, but it's become a big part of me.

Speaker A: That's a show in and of itself. What I do is not who I am. That, that would help a lot of people's mental health if we had just that show. Right, Right.

Speaker B: Well, there's no reason we can't do another one, right?

Speaker A: Yep.

Speaker B: All right. So I'm a consulting psychologist and I got, I, I came about it in a very roundabout way. Uh, my goal when I got my PhD, uh, from the University of Georgia was to be a College professor. And I did that for four years, um, in the late 70s, which not. I'm not sure how many of your listeners are going to be old enough to remember the late 70s very well. But, uh, it was a terrible economic time. I mean, lousy. So I realized after four years that I wasn't going to be able to support my family. I had two young kids in the manner which I was raised when I was a kid. Ah. So I left academia after four years and joined an international consulting firm, RHR International, uh, in their Memphis office. Um, and they taught me how to work with businesses and business leaders. And I really fell in love with it. Um, you know, business. One of the great things about business leaders that doesn't apply to a lot of other people out in the world is business leaders will make a decision. Good business leaders will make a decision, and they're willing to try something. If what they're doing is not working, they're willing to try something else. You know, fail fast is. I hear a lot of leaders talk about failing fast, which. I love that concept. So I worked with, uh, RHR for two and a half years. And I met, uh, my first client when I opened up my own business, uh, in Nashville. He, uh, was the general agent of Northwestern Mutual. Life had a top 10 general agency. Um, and we, we developed a consulting relationship. And after a few months, uh, he asked me, uh, would I be interested in moving to Nashville and setting up my own shop? Which I'd never hadn't thought about that really. Uh, I was pretty happy working with rhr. But, uh, he explained what that would look like from his end and what he expected of me from my end. And we just really hit it off. Um, and I made the leap at 33 years old, uh, to set up my own business, move my family to Nashville. And I couldn't have asked for a better first client because the gentleman's name was Bill Cochran. He passed away a few years ago, but he was one of the best leaders I've ever worked with to this day. And Northwestern Mutual, as you know, at the time, was a life insurance company. It's now a financial services company, but it was a life insurance company. And they were selling whole life insurance, which is not an easy sale. Uh, but he had developed this agency that was, as I said, top 10. And it wasn't a top 10 market, but, uh, he had developed a top 10 agency. And the way he did it was he was. He had a process and a system that he stuck to no matter what. And he believed in it. And he inspired the people that were working with him to believe in it. And, uh, what I did, I helped him on two fronts. I helped him, uh, bring it select agents to come into his agency. Because, as I said, whole life insurance is not an easy sell. So it had to be the right kind of person. Not only who wanted to sell life insurance, but who wanted to fit into his approach, his way of doing it. Uh, and he was, he wanted every one of the agents in his agency to be wildly successful. He would tell me, I don't care if they're making $10 million a year, I want them to make $20 million. He's. Because it helps everybody. Um, and one of the things that he impressed upon me early on was we'd have a monthly meeting around the first of the month where I'd come into his office, shut the door, and he'd ask me what should I be doing more of, less of or differently? And it was his way of saying, I want feedback on what I'm doing. And he was very receptive. He asked a lot of questions. He wanted to know why people were doing certain things that they were doing. He, uh, developed, uh, his management team. His man. He was, he used to laugh that I'm the. I'm the AAA for general agents with Northwestern Mutual Life. Because his district managers would all end up, uh, getting tapped to be general agents in other parts of the country. So he had to keep continuing continuously developing his next district managers. Ah, so he was great at developing people. He was so good at developing people that he had to keep doing it all the time because they kept getting promoted out of his organization. Um, and the things I learned from him, uh, besides, uh, the relentlessness of his beliefs, of his process, he didn't deviate from his process because it worked. And the people who were successful in his organization bought into that process. And they saw that when you just do the things that we ask you to do and do it consistently and do it relentlessly, you'll be successful. And the only people that didn't make it in his system were those who just didn't do it. They tried to shortcut it. They tried to figure out their own way to do it. Never mind that the way he was doing it was wildly successful. Uh, and they just, they washed themselves out basically because they just wouldn't do what they needed to do, what they know they needed to do to be successful. So that was my first experience with a great leader. I've had many other experiences with great leaders. Uh, Shortly thereafter, after meeting Bill Cochran, I was fortunate enough to begin working with Cal Turner, who was the CEO of Dollar General Corporation at the time. And Dollar General, uh, at that time was still based in Scottsville, Kentucky, which is a tiny little town about 60 miles. 60 miles north of Nashville. And the first meeting we had, he was going to go out and show me a couple of stores, and between his office, we had to walk through the warehouse, through the offices, and out to his car. He talked to 25 or 30 people. He knew everybody's name. He asked him a question about their family or what their hobbies were or what they were into. He showed a genuine interest in those people, and they were intensely loyal to him and to the company because he showed that he genuinely cared about them. And you can't fake that. People can tell when you're faking it. Uh, so, uh, those are some of the things I learned early on in my consulting career and what I've kept doing over the last 43 years is help companies build strong teams by hiring the right people for their unique culture, developing the talent that they have, and helping leaders to be the best leaders they can be and the best people they can be. And those two things, uh, shouldn't be incongruent. But often leaders feel like they have to wear their leadership hat. Then they go home and they wear their husband, father, uh, whatever, other hat. And really, if you're a, uh, cons, if you're consistent in your values and consistent in your behavior and consistent in how you treat people, that applies both to business and to your personal life.

Speaker A: Beautiful. I love your backstory. Thank you for sharing it. So I'm really excited to dive into how that backstory translates to how we solve modern challenges. Right now, as you work with leaders, one of the things that you've shared with me and that you talked about is this concept of, like, the two stories you told just now. People were genuine. They had interest in connection to people. I'm guessing that that led to this idea of loyalty and trust. Your focus point that you liked, that you and me have talked about is, is why leaders need to create loyalty. And. And maybe even it's a currency that we trade on as loyalty and trust. Why is that something that has become so important to you right now? Like, what's your definition of it? Uh, what's the business case for it? And maybe more important, what's the state of loyalty and trust in the. In the world, Business world today?

Speaker B: Well, I think. I think the state of loyalty and trust, if you read the Wall Street Journal or follow the news, follow business at all, uh, it's become a fragile commodity. I think it's, it's, I don't want to say it's going away, but it's harder to find. And as we talked about earlier, I don't know whether companies stopped being loyal to their team or the team stopped being loyal to the company. It is a chicken egg situation. But for whatever reason, people don't feel the same sense of loyalty to their team and the team doesn't feel the same sense of loyalty to them. What's loyalty? Loyalty is being willing to stand by, uh, or stand with your organization. And your organization is nothing but people. People are the organization. And the only thing that separates one success, one business from another business in the same industry is the people. Because very few people are selling a unique product or service. And if they are selling a unique product or service, in six months, somebody's copied it or cloned it or whatever, and it's not unique anymore. So the difference is in the people and the way you inspire loyalty is allowing people to first challenge themselves, be stretch themselves, go beyond what they're doing now if they want to. Some people don't want to grow. Some people are just really happy doing the job that they're doing. And in good organizations, there's a place for those people. You need a lot of people who are consistently doing a good job at what they're doing, are doing. But the, uh, people who want to grow, you have to give them an opportunity to grow. You have to recognize accomplishment or achievement, even if it's a small achievement. Great leaders. Go ahead.

Speaker A: No. So the reason that I asked the question, I'm really interested to get your take on this. Deloitte has been studying and tracking trust since 1973. And they have a book that came out not too long ago. I, I have a copy of it sitting here because I just recently did a, uh, workshop for leaders in a pretty big firm on trust. So I bought the book the Four Factors of Trust that came from a couple of their people. And it was about organizations creating lifetime loyalty. And as I was getting ready for our meeting today, I went back and checked it out. And one of the things that I liked that kind of blew my mind was in 1973, people shared with Deloitte that they had a 48% trust in people in general. So not very trusting in general and only 32 per. And today in 2024, it's down to 32. But in 1973, almost 70%. Trust in companies, to your chicken and egg, is like, hey, we trust companies. They're going to be, you know, we can trust a big company. They won't lie to us, they'll be there for us. It was 68% trust. Factor in the companies. My pension will be there. They're going to, you know, whatever it is. There's lots of different ways it showed up. But in 19, 20, 24, when that study was released, like less than a year ago, even trust in businesses is down to 32. It's, uh, a 32% trust coefficient in people and in businesses it's falling fast. And in the sales profession it's, it's even lower. With the absence of a relationship, it's down to 19%. And uh, so does that surprise you at all to hear those numbers?

Speaker B: It doesn't. I think as a to be use a general, big vague generalization. I think people have become much more cynical about both people and businesses. Because you've seen, for example, when I was a kid growing up in the 50s and 60s, if you got a job with a big company at GM or an IBM or Sears or, uh, you got a good job with them, you were set for life. And the goal was to work 40 years for that company and retire with a nice pension. And that was a realistic goal. If you can tell me a company right now where the realistic goal would be, start working for them when you're 22 years old and work for them until you're 62 years old, I'd like to know what that company is.

Speaker A: Yeah, me too. Uh, I'm with you. So, so that's interesting. And that trend got my attention because if you can be a company that beats that trend, like you want to make the trend your friend.

Speaker B: Right?

Speaker A: That's right. That's like, how do you make the loyalty trend your friend? And because right now the loyalty, friend, is every person for themself is what I think. Uh, and that's my own words. There's no research behind that, where I just feel like we're at a time where it's every man for themselves, every woman for themselves, every worker for themselves right now. And I don't know if that's true, but it's just kind of what my observation is as I work with a lot of organizations.

Speaker B: Well, it sure feels like that. I mean, you know, uh, turnover in companies is in general very high. People will leave for, in my opinion, some pretty silly reasons, like the coffee in the break room is in Starbucks. It's Some other kind of coffee. So they're, they get dissatisfied and they leave. Um, but I think people are searching for a place that they can call their professional home. And businesses aren't creating an environment that feels like a professional home to them. You know, the great, uh, the organizations that inspire loyalty are ones where the leaders are visible, they're interacting with their team. The team knows where they stand and they know where the team stands. They genuinely care about those people as people. They're consistent. They're not chasing after the latest fad or the latest trend. They also have to be nimble. You have to be able to adjust, uh, when the trends change. But you can't just be, uh, vacillating back and forth between one idea and another idea. You have to show some consistency. People have to get a sense that when they walk in the door, things are going to be pretty much the same that they were yesterday. And the vast majority of people do not like change. They're deathly afraid of change. So if you can, as to the extent that you can create consistency, you can inspire loyalty because people know that, uh, they're going to have the same opportunity today that they had yesterday.

Speaker A: So I love that. There's a great quote by the, by Mark Benioff, uh, founder, CEO of Salesforce, where he talks about how consistent leadership trumps, you know, fleeting moments of greatness. You know, consistency beats like these roller coaster rides. And I buy that, but I, but what you said just gives me a question. So as a guy who's a specialist and a expert in, in, uh, trust, um, change is a fact, man. We're in a world that changes really fast. And you said that we gotta have. Consistency is what breeds loyalty. But companies have to be able to change. How can a leader be someone who takes advantage of opportunities to grow companies when change comes, but still not blow up the loyalty effect that you're talking about, how do you, how do you juxtapose those?

Speaker B: I think the best way to do that is be very open in your communication and be very willing to listen. Because if you're, if you like, if you give people the why and they understand the why, they're more likely to get on board when a change becomes necessary. And what too many leaders do is, as I said, they chase the latest trend or the latest fad, and not only do they not communicate the why to the team, but when they switch, when they do something, one month and three months later, they're doing something else, the why ceases to matter because it wasn't a real why to begin with. So if what you need to do is let, uh, communicate with your team, let them ask questions if they have concerns. People have to feel free to express their opinion, express their doubts, express their fears to a leader in a way that they know they're not going to be vilified for it or they're not going to be punished for it. It's going to be seen as a positive thing. And that takes time. And the only way you do that is with consistently asking questions, consistently being visible, letting people know what's going on. I know a lot of companies are afraid to share their numbers. Private companies are afraid to share their numbers with people. How do people know how the company's doing if they don't see the numbers? So that's one way, um, that companies can inspire trust and loyalty is if you're realistic and let people know exactly what's going on in the organization.

Speaker A: So I love this, Angelo, because I hope that we have a bunch of leaders that. Because our listeners are every industry. We got tech, we got finance, we got industrial, we got professional services, we got them all. And they're the market leaders, but they're also the new up and comers. So it's the publicly traded down to the startups. Change is a fact. I was with one of the largest companies in North America yesterday and um, and our leadership workshop was helping these members of the team feel like change wasn't like this bad thing. Like change created opportunity. How do we take advantage of these opportunities? But what I like is change. Change doesn't mean that we have to be inconsistent. We can be consistent in what some of my notes that I've jotted down here. Consistent in how we address why we're doing it, what's the business.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: Consistent in what this is going to do for you and your career. Okay. We want to be consistent and focused on the success we'll create for your career. Consistent in the transparency of, you know, the implications of these things. What happens if we're good at it? What happens if we're not? Uh, consistent in the. How, how can you win if we could be consistent in some of those things? I gotta think that change in what we do as a company becomes less scary because I have a leader who's being consistent and making me have this safe place where I have an environment where I can thrive.

Speaker B: Yeah, uh, that's absolutely right. And if you can create that environment and it's the leader's job to create the environment because like it or not, Everybody sees what the leader does, everybody hears what the leader says, and everybody follows the example of the leader. He's creating the culture. The leadership team creates the culture. And in good organization that feeds down all the way, uh, from top to bottom. And in too many organizations, that culture, it's not clearly articulated and it's not clearly practiced. So once you develop that culture, that change can be a good thing. And that if we're, if we have to change, we're going to do it fast, we're going to do it right, we're going to do, we're going to be nimble, we're going to make decisions and we're going to get people involved in the decision making process. I think too many leaders don't ask the people in the trenches who are sometimes closest to the customers or closest to the manufacturing process, closest to the market, what's really going on. What are you hearing? What are you seeing? Where are we succeeding? Where are we failing? Why did we lose that customer? Did anybody, uh, bother to ask why we lost that customer? And if you're, if you're creating an environment where you understand what's going on at where the rubber meets the road, then you can, then people can get excited. If we have to, if we have to change. And like you said, change isn't always bad. Some changes are necessary. The companies that were slow to react, uh, for example in the 60s and 70s, name me the best retailer in the country.

Speaker A: 60s and 70s. I can't go back to that. I don't know that you can't, but I can.

Speaker B: It's Sears.

Speaker A: Okay, okay, okay.

Speaker B: There was a Sears in every town, every big city, every mall in the country.

Speaker A: They have like a famous like catalog that people ordered from as well.

Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. Ah, absolutely. When you, they, you know, they were online shopping before there was an online shop. Yeah, when you got the Sears catalog, man, that was a big day in your house. Okay, so they uh, dominate, they dominated retail. So how do you go from dominating retail for like almost 100 years to being non existent now? I'm not sure I could even find a Sears store if there is one. Uh, but they were so facts.

Speaker A: That's facts. I'm not sure I could either.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So how did that, how did that happen? I gotta believe that they were slow to react to a changing retail environment.

Speaker A: There's a lot of stories like that. That's the Blockbuster versus Netflix story.

Speaker B: Absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: So, so, so, so then, then this is opening up an interesting conversation. So we got 15 minutes, probably, uh, 20 minutes. We got 20 minutes left that we got to talk. And so I love this. I love that you're. You're bringing this up like they dominated retail, but they resisted change. And that probably created a false loyalty. Here's where I want to take this. Like, so loyalty and trust. I think that we probably have a little more to unpack there if there's drivers of that. You talked about consistency, but I want to talk about what's the role of being in the inspiration business as part of this. Like, I feel like great leaders look at change and create a sense of we're going places that we're excited to go. Is it going to be new? Is it going to be different? Yes, but I'll follow you there. I think that's the angle that would be reflective of where we are. So we don't become Sears, so we don't become Netflix. Right. That we're. We're going to run into it. Like, it reminds me of the metaphor of the buffalo. Maybe you've heard it, that buffaloes versus cows, they both can feel when a storm's coming. And when a storm comes, a cow will run away from the storm, and the storm will always catch it, and they end up running parallel with it. And the reason they're afraid of the storm is they actually have thin skins. The cow skin is thin. And they can get, like, sick from these things. They can get. They can get pneumonia. Uh, so they. They run away from it, but they end up getting caught. And because they're running away from it, they run parallel with it, and they ended up staying in it longer than they needed to. But a buffalo, when it comes, they have this sense where they run into it. They run into it, and they get to the other side of it faster. Do we get what. Yeah, we get wet, but we get to the other side first. And then there's opportunity. There's food over there. There's things to eat over there. There's, like, sun over there. There's all these things. And I've always loved the metaphor of running into a storm with confidence that I'm going to something. I'm not just holding on for dear life. I'm running to something on the other side.

Speaker B: Boy. Well, I love that. I really, like. I hadn't heard that before, but I'm going to use it again. And I'll give you credit for it.

Speaker A: No, don't give me credit. That's like an old m. That's an old story. You Google it, you'll see There's a thousand people have used it. I don't get credit.

Speaker B: Okay, good.

Speaker A: It's out there for a long time.

Speaker B: I love that thing. You mentioned inspiration. Yeah. I don't. You don't have to have this dynamic, charismatic personality m To be inspirational. What you have to be to be inspirational is genuine and consistent. I know I keep hitting on this consistency thing, but I'm glad this is a thing.

Speaker A: It's a real thing.

Speaker B: It's really important. If, I mean there are, I uh, know some great leaders that are terrified when they have to get up and speak in public, when they have to go to a shareholders meeting or something. Like it's not comfortable for them. Other leaders, they love it. It's part of their DNA. They get excited about it. It's the whole introvert versus extrovert thing. But uh, you can inspire loyalty. Just. But if people know they can count on you, that's the essence of loyalty. People know they can count. They can depend on you. Bless you.

Speaker A: Thank you.

Speaker B: And that's okay. Um, and that will inspire loyalty.

Speaker A: Can they count on you? I want to pause on that. Let's sit on that. Can they count on you? How does someone know they can count on you, man? And how do. Maybe you can give a couple of pointers to our listeners. You got a few thousand people listening to you right now and I would guess right now there's a lot of people who might need some better self awareness that maybe they aren't as able to be counted on as they think or how. How can you know you're doing things that make it so you could be counted on? Is that resonate as I say that?

Speaker B: Yes. There's, there's something. There's a couple things that are really simple that anybody can do to let people know that you're dependable. And most leaders are busy. They're juggling a lot of balls. They got. They're thinking about a lot of different things. But let's say you say to one of uh, the, your newer managers, I'm going to touch base with you this afternoon and we're going to talk about this. Okay?

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: This afternoon comes, you don't touch base with the person. They don't know why. You just don't show up for the meeting or you never call them or you don't send them an email, whatever it is. So that sends a message that that meeting, at least from the leader's point of view, even though the leader said they were going to do it, isn't important enough to that individual to that leader. So what does that person think? Well, I don't know if I can count on that leader to have, you know, to tell me what I need to know to do, to do whatever I need to do or not. If you do it often enough, people just quit believing you. It's. It's the little boy who cried wolf. I mean, if you don't, if you're inconsistent in how you communicate with people, the best way to inspire that is just do what you say you're going to do. Show up when you say you're going to show up. Provide the support when you say you're going to provide the support. And you have to do it over and over and over again until people understand that that's just the way he is. He's going to do that or she's going to do that.

Speaker A: Seems like such a simple thing. But usually the simple things are the things that speak the loudest. Fair.

Speaker B: Fair. Absolutely. It, it is simple leadership. You can make it as complicated as you want to make it, or you can make it as simple as you want to make it. If you can give people a clear idea of what this organization is about, what we're trying to accomplish, how we're trying to accomplish, how we're going to treat people, how we're going to treat our customers, how, huh, we're going to interact with the community. If they know that on a consistent basis, then they can decide, is this the kind of place I want to work? And if it is the kind of place they want to work, as long as you stay true to those ideas, they're going to keep working there because it aligns with them as a person. And the best people who work in the best companies are very proud to say that they work for that company. Uh, and they'll spread the word.

Speaker A: One of the things that I know as a fact is when someone takes a job, one of the top drivers of why I take a job is the leader I'll be working for.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: It's also, I think, the number one reason why I choose to leave, when I choose to leave. So every leader is a catalyst. There are no neutral leaders. You are either going to be a magnet that attracts or you're going to be the backside of that magnet that repels.

Speaker B: I think you're no, you're no, you're 100% right. That's the number one reason people leave. People don't leave jobs. They leave leaders. And the reason you know that is because when they leave you, they're going to go to another company and do the same job. So they're not leaving the job, they're leaving you. And uh, you know, you can make excuses all you want, but I mean I, I interview people all day. That's my, that's my job. I help companies hire and develop talent in their organization and I coach leaders. So I'm talking with leaders and I'm helping them build their team all day. And I am stunned at how many people when. And these are people at senior levels also, why did you leave your last job? And they'll uh, say, we had a change of leadership and the new leader did this, this, this. And I wasn't the only one that left. Five or six other people in my, at my level in the organization left too for the same reason. So if you, if you're having high turnover in your leadership team, you might want to take a good long look in the mirror and see if it's your leadership style or what you're doing that's causing those people to leave.

Speaker A: I like it. So stay in the inspiration business and people can be inspired if you're genuine and if you're consistent and you're honest. Okay. Gonna add that to it as well. But I like your question. Can I count on you?

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: Because there's so many things that I may not ever get to see. Uh, what's happening inside the company. I may not get to see a lot of things. So I got to know is the person that I'm signed up to work with and for can I count on them? That question is echoing in my, in my head right now, Angelo. That, like that's, that's a question we better be able to have really good self awareness on. And I, I just wonder how self aware are we really? I know that like for example, there's a couple of uh, studies that have been done in recent years where in the sales world. And I know our leader, our listeners are sales specific. I know you do work with some sales orgs, but I think you'll learn this. 87. In one study that was done, 80% of the sales leaders self identified as. I'm, um, excellent. The highest possible score we get ah, in coaching. I am an excellent coach. I've been doing it for 20 years. I coach really well. Well, the people who worked for those leaders were asked how good is the coaching that you receive? And 83% of them said either it doesn't happen or what does happen sucks. I wouldn't call it coaching. Okay. I would call it terms so there's this massive, massive gap. Another one that got done by Bain and company, uh, not too long ago where Bain reached out to sales people and said, if you had to pay out of your own pocket for one hour of coaching time for your leader, um, because you wanted them as a coach, how much would you pay per hour for that coach? And 54% of them said, not even a buck.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker A: Not even a buck.

Speaker B: That's scary.

Speaker A: So that tells me that leaders often have a self perception gap. I think what I'm doing is right. I think what I'm doing is helpful. I think what I'm doing is, is good and it's being perceived as something different. And so that makes me think your question, which I think is a massive question. Can I count on you? Am m I dependable? Am I someone you can count on? Can you count on me? That rings at me, man. And I'm sitting here thinking about that. And I betcha, I bet you we have just as big a self, uh, a self perception gap on that as we do on things like coaching.

Speaker B: Oh, sure. And you know, it's, it's, if you're gonna, if you're leading a sales team when you, if they don't, if their numbers are down, whatever, um, if you don't do a really deep dive into exactly what's going on, ask them specifically about their behavior, what their, what obstacles they faced, why this happened, why this didn't happen, and give them your insights. Instead of saying, well, just go, you know, make more sales calls. That's what, that's what most a lot of people do. Just go out there and beat, uh, the bushes or make more calls. Um, but if you, I'll get, I'll tell you a little story that might be relevant, might not be, and it's, it's not a real story, but anyway, so salesman comes back, six o' clock at night, comes back into the office dejected. And sales manager says to him, you know, how'd, uh, the sales call going? He says, didn't go very well. And the sales manager says, what did you learn from that and what did you do? The salesman said, what went through the whole process of what happened? And then the sales manager said, what did you learn from that? And the salesman said, I guess I learned you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. And then the sales manager said, it's not your job to make them drink, it's your job to make them thirsty.

Speaker A: Oh, I like that.

Speaker B: Yeah. Uh, but, but you have to be willing to talk to your team, find out what. What they did, what they didn't do and how they reacted. So that's co. That's what coaching is, is watching what people do and then correcting what they did wrong and praising what they did right and give them some ideas of how to do it better.

Speaker A: So here's where I want to take this. We have like six minutes left and I want to give some time for you to give some background and how to get a hold of you. So I want plenty of time for that. So I think this will be the last thing I want to get your take on. I think that being in the inspiration business means that you're more than just a job. And I think there's a lot of people who treat it as just a job. And it's that loyalty that went away. That chicken or egg that I don't know is that, ah, companies got less loyal to people and that's why people got less loyal to companies. I don't know the answer. You probably know way better than me. That's not the point of this conversation. The point is leaders that have loyalty will probably have an unfair advantage. They will have a very competitive advantage, for sure. So I think being in the inspiration business is when it's more than a job, because I got someone here that gets me. Am I like. Do you see any of that? That the inspiration business is becoming more than just a job?

Speaker B: Oh, sure.

Speaker A: How do you get.

Speaker B: It's a. It's a calling. It's not a job. It's a calling. If you're in the. If you want to inspire other people to be the best versions of themselves, you have to approach that with almost a religious zeal. It has to be something you're passionate about. If you're, uh. And great leaders are passionate about their team, they genuinely care about their team. And that shows. And I. As I said earlier, you can't fake that. People can sense that. People have a spidey sense about whether somebody's being legit with them or not.

Speaker A: So it's not that the team is a means to the end. I genuinely care. You're right. I've seen that. I see. I saw that in the. The woman that leads the team I was with yesterday, she's amazing. She's incredible. She probably is going to listen to the podcast. She's a longtime listener and that is a fact. She genuinely cares. She took the team over about a year ago, and all she focused on at the beginning was the relationships with the people. Yeah.

Speaker B: Yes. Because you know, you can't, you can't coach as a leader. You can't coach everybody the same way. It's like if you're, if you're a football coach, you're not going to be coaching the left tackle the same way you're coaching the quarterback or the defensive back. They have different skill sets and what you want to do is bring out the best in their skill set. So you have to coach every individual. As an individual, their motivations might be different, their life, the life away from work might be different. If people are going through some personal issues, the best thing you can do as a leader is to understand that and try to be as flexible as you can in helping them deal with the person away from work.

Speaker A: Uh, and I have a lot of people tell me, Rob, you know, it's just so hard for me to individualize how I do that, how I, how I coach. And that's why they, they degrade to. I just got my coaching agenda, I have my coaching checklist, I have my coaching questions. And I have found that that approach is not a good approach.

Speaker B: It works for, it works for 25% of the people. For 25% of the people, yeah. That approach is exactly what they need. For the other 75% of the people, they need something else. You know, I see leaders all the time talking about how, you know, money, money's what drives people. And the example I give, well, sometimes unless you do it for nothing, then money is a driver. Um, but let's say you've got a great uh, employee in your company. She's a working mother, she's a single mother, she's got a 12 year old daughter and she's done exceptional work on a project and you're thinking about giving her a $300 bonus in her paycheck. But she's also, her 12 year old daughter, on a Friday at 1 o' clock in the afternoon, is in a school program that this woman really would like to attend, would really cares about her daughter and wants to be there for her daughter, but she has to work.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So as a leader, if you gave her the afternoon off to go see her kids school program, would that mean more to her than 300 bucks?

Speaker A: Possibly. Possibly, yeah.

Speaker B: Uh, yeah, it, it might. So if you're thinking about the person as a whole person, as an individual, you're going to recognize that that daughter means everything to her. And she's never going to forget going to that school program, but she's going to forget 300 bucks next week.

Speaker A: Yeah, I really like where you're going with that. And Unexpected Rewards has been proven to be a passion driver. And one of those things. Expected rewards are almost a stress factor. I expected. I earned it. I'm just. I have a sigh of relief that it finally showed up. The unexpected ones, the 300 bucks. Hey, it's Friday afternoon. Why don't you take off and get started on the weekend? Or I saw you do an X. Why don't you do Y to celebrate? Those are the things that people.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Yeah, those are the things. And so we could have a whole show on that, but we're. We're about out of time, so this has been great. I can't believe how fast it went. I. I love this idea of being someone that I can count, that you, uh, can count on me. I'm consistent. Not consistent that our company never changed. I'm consistent on what you can expect from. For me. I'm consistent in your ability to depend on me. Boy, if you can become more like that, there's nothing you can't accomplish, I think.

Speaker B: Right, Right. Absolutely.

Speaker A: So. So, Angela, this has been amazing. I really love your. Your focus on being in the inspiration business. I think the world needs more of it. How do they get more of you? We got a lot of people out there. I. I would imagine there's going to people who say, I want more of what he has to offer. I want to learn more what he's about. How do people learn more of what you're about?

Speaker B: Okay, here. The easiest way would be go to my website, which is www.Angelovelenti.com. that's my author and coaching website. My consulting website is the company psychologist dot com. Uh, and the easy. If you want to book a discovery call, free discovery call, I'd love to visit with you. Just go to reachangelo.com.

Speaker A: i like it. Uh, we'll put all of those things. We'll put all of those things in the show notes and make it so it's easy for them to access your work and access you and see what you've developed and, uh, read anything that you have for them to read all of that stuff. We'll make that really easy for them to do. So, um, I think that this is something that. I hope that people will use the links that we put there and that they look at it and check it out, because I think that we need more of this. I think we need more consistency. I think we need more leaders in the inspiration business and not just in the perspiration business. And so, so I appreciate that. If, if we were to give you, like, just one minute, another minute, uh, to wrap it up and, and have it be Angelo unplugged, right, like the old MTV days. How would you put a cherry on top? Is there, like, a final message, a final, like, suggestion you'd want to give a whole of bunch, bunch of leaders that might benefit from, from maybe some better self assessment and better inspiration and better connection to people. Any final thoughts you'd give to the, to these leaders all around the world?

Speaker B: Uh, the final thought would be, don't overcomplicate your business and don't overcomplicate your life. I think it's. I believe that people were put on this earth who enjoy their life. I even wrote a book about it. And if you understand that you, you can help more people in what you do if you're enjoying your life than if you're stressed about everything. So take time for yourself, uh, take the best care of yourself that you can and understand that.

Speaker A: Uh-huh.

Speaker B: You're going to make mistakes. But come at it with a joy from a, from a place of joy. And I think you'll do much better, both as a business leader and as a person.

Speaker A: Perfect. His name is Angelo Valenti. He's helping people create loyalty by finding consistency during these turbulent times of change. Okay. Um, he's helping leaders answer the most important question questions, and that is can I be counted on? And, and you did write a book on it. I want to make that easy for people to find because your job is to not over complicate it. Sometimes leaders do make it too hard, and we should find ways to make trust and loyalty easier. And, and my advice is go check out what he has to offer. I, uh, think you'll find that he'll help you be a more impactful leader, and he'll help you find a little more joy and a little more fulfillment along the way, because the world needs more people that are in the loyalty and trust and inspiration business. So on behalf of 60,000 people, uh, Angelo, I want to thank you for 45 minutes of your time. I want to thank you for your passion. Your passion's undeniable. And I hope that we can have people lean into that passion that comes from earning loyalty, from earning trust, from doing good for people's lives and careers. And brother, I want to thank you for the work you do. I hope you have a lot of people reach out to you. I hope we get you come back sometime in the next few Months. And I wish only the greatest success and fulfillment what you do. So thank you very much, and thank you, Rob.

Speaker B: This has been terrific. It's been a blast. I really appreciate it.

Speaker A: Hey, everyone. Welcome to another. So what portion of the sales leadership podcast where we break down that interview and we ask ourselves, why did that conversation even matter? But first, 2025 is wrapping up, and teams everywhere are planning their launch into 2026. Because the better you start, the better you finish. And for most companies, that means leadership retreats and sales kickoff events. And if you're planning one, don't just look for a speaker. You want a catalyst. And when I partner with teams, we design experiences that do three things. Number one is entertain, because it's got to be fun. I want to be a highlight of the entire event. Number two is educate. We will challenge how people think and help them see opportunities through a new lens. But number three is to motivate. I want every person in the room saying, yeah, that makes sense. I can do that. But maybe most importantly, I want to, and I will listen. When people hire me to speak, I don't just show up. I show up to ignite. Together, we can create a custom experience that challenges thinking, shifts leadership, and accelerates performance. Every SKO should build momentum that powers the best year in company history. So let's make it happen. If you're looking to do an sko, let me know. I'd love to help your help launch your team into a place that's elite. Now, let's get back to this convo with Angelo. This is a killer conversation. I found a couple of ingredients. Elite leaders developing their teams intentionally and have more of that. Average ones just don't have as much of, uh, three elements. And the first one is the one I want to talk about. It's trust. Elite leaders have trust. They have more trust. They are more trust ed. They develop and create trust on purpose. And the point is, I guess it isn't accidental. It's not some happy accident that I guess they like me. I guess they trust me, trust me. Trust has developed over time. It's something that's always under construction. It takes time to develop, but it can go away in an instant. I was hired by a company not too long ago to do a leadership event focused on trust. And as part of this, I dug into all of the recent trust research and stats I could find, and it was telling. One area that had, like, a wealth of knowledge I would highly recommend came from Ernst and Young. They've been tracking trust since 1973. In 1973, people reported they trusted other individuals in general, 48% of the time, not even half. Back in 1973, businesses was better though. 68% of the time they would trust a business. There was like this thought that I could trust a business. There was trust in organizations. There was trust in companies and employers. Today, however, it's a different story altogether. Today that 48% trust in people has dropped down to 32%. But the 68% trust in business is what I want to focus on. What do you think that 68% trust in business, uh, business has, has become? Answer. If I was Steve Harvey on Family Feud, I'd be pointing up to the screen. I'd say, survey says the answer would come up with a ding. And it would say 32% trust has been cut by more than half. 68% trust in businesses down to 32%, just like it is in people. And when I share that with people, I sometimes hear people say, rob, I'm actually surprised it's that high. Here's a fact. Trust isn't an all time low. If the numbers are accurate. We trust one in three people that we meet. We trust one in three businesses that we work with. It's all time low. And Angelo's right. People are cynical. He says trust is falling. It's in an all time low and it's continuing to fall. Ah. And I trust Angelo's perspective on this one. Like he said, and like I've mentioned, turnover's high. People are leaving companies for reasons that make you scratch your head. I recently had a friend start looking for a new SaaS sales job. The reason she told me she didn't trust the leaders. Too many inconsistencies, too many commitments that weren't kept. And in fact, the only consistency was the inconsistency. And her number one criteria for where she wanted to go next. It wasn't money. It was having leaders she can trust. So when Angela wanted to talk about loyalty and the relationship it has with consistency, I was really excited to have him on the show. Listen, M, we're going to always have to deal with change. That's. That's something that's a fact of life for us. And in sales, it may present itself to us in ways that it doesn't in any other profession. But that's why we need to follow the advice that Angelo gave us today. He gave us three focus points as a starter. Be consistent in how you use the why, be consistent in how you use the how, and be consistent in how you use trust, transparency. If you apply those lenses as a framework to how you approach your job as a leader with consistency, it's going to transform some things for you. Now, listen, Angelo gave us a lot of killer insights, but consistency will help you answer what may be the most important thing you need to answer for every team member. And that question is, can I count on you? That's what it all boils down to. Can you as a leader be counted on? Can you as a human be counted on? Can you as an individual be counted on? Consistency makes people believe that they can or gives them proof that you can't. Inconsistency makes people start wondering if you're a leader they can hitch their career wagon to. So I want you to ask yourself that. If people ask the question, can I count on you? What's the answer? That's why this conversation with Angelo is so important. Important. As you're Preparing for the 2026 year, I want you to ask yourself, how can you become more trusted? Not can you be trusted, how can you become more trusted? How can you become more consistent? Because nothing will screw up your leadership impact more than inconsistency. Marc Benioff is the founder of Salesforce and he's attributed with a quote that I think about often. It goes something like this. Consistency is far better than rare moments of greatness. If you look it up, I think you'll find it. Consistency is far better than rare moments of greatness. Listen, here's what I found as a leadership coach. Ah, As a, uh, performance coach to leaders in market leading segments. Every elite leader I've ever met, consistency is a hallmark of that elite leader. So I want you to go back, I want you to listen to Angelo. He didn't talk about how you create loyalty by having less change. It was the opposite. He talked about how to create.