Refocus: Bridging the Gap on Accountability with Co-Founders Brandon Smith and Randy Hain

Speaker A: Your job as a leader is to hold your team accountable. But how you do this determines everything. Get it right and you build a culture grounded in trust. Get it wrong and you risk losing the team altogether. In this Refocus edition of the Leadership Foundry podcast, Brandon and Randy explore the tension between radical acceptance and accountability and how to strike the right balance. This is the Leadership Foundry podcast. I'm, um, your co host this week, Brandon Smith. And joining me is my other co host and co founder of the Leadership Foundry, Randy Haine. And. And today we're going to be talking about something that is really a life truth. Whether we're talking about raising healthy kids and creating a healthy household, we're talking about developing and influencing a healthy country, or we're talking about more specifically developing and leading a healthy workplace team, healthy workplace culture, or even just general healthy workplace organization. You always have to have a high level of balance between accountability, responsibility, expectations and compassion, generosity and empathy. And the key is keeping those things in balance, because if you go too far on either side, you run into problems. So today, Randy and I are going to talk about some of the challenges in keeping those things in balance and some practical things you can start doing with your team today to make that balance happen. So, Randy, my friend, always good to have you on my, on my side as we go through these discussions. How are you doing?

Speaker B: I am doing well. Well, caffeinated and looking forward to our conversation.

Speaker A: Yeah, now we have done sessions and conversations on accountability. That's a new topic for us. So we'll be, we'll be revisiting that a little bit today. But I don't think we've actually talked about how to kind of keep that imbalance. Uh, because while it's always good to be generous and compassionate and empathetic, there's actually such a thing as going too far actually creates problems. And so I think it's helpful for leaders to think about kind of how we keep those things in balance. So when you think about whether we talk about empathy, generosity or compassion, or you think about accountability, responsibility, expectations, is there one of those categories you would like to jump us into our conversation?

Speaker B: You know, I think this is such a great topic and it's, it's woven into, um, you know, it's definitely woven into our work. But when you mentioned the other day you wanted to talk about this, my first thought was, what are the most effective teams that you and I have observed? And it is those teams that the leaders are striking the right balance. And I was thinking about examples, and I Was just thinking about one, and this may kind of lead into an answer to your question, but I was thinking about, um, uh, one of our clients, uh, and we were doing some teamwork with them, and they're going through a particularly difficult time in their business, very difficult time financially. And that would be where you would see, typically, a lot of stress behavior, a lot of, you know, finger, uh, pointing and, you know, who's to blame and, uh, you know, crisis. The house is falling in, the sky's falling, all that stuff. And there's a particular leader we both work with and admire, and I love that he spent a lot of time meeting with the team individually, really understanding how they're doing, taking their pulse, um, really asking them what they thought we should do to really get the thing turned around. Um, and then from then on, with that input and feedback, he kind of came up with a very inclusive way to get the team forward to meet the objectives that were so critical for the business. But it started with him. Rather than yelling, screaming, overly directing, micromanaging, uh, he started with, let me take your pulse. How are you? Let's talk about you. Let's figure out what matters to you and what you think we need to do. And then he started with a great conversation that everybody was involved in, and they did eventually turn things around. They got the quarterback where it needed to be. But I love that he started with engagement and conversation. So I. I think that's where I would start. And I'm giving you a relevant example of a leader that I just saw this do this three months ago.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's a great starting place, Randy. And it's a good reminder for folks that when we talk about things like compassion and empathy and generosity, what we're trying to stimulate, what we're trying to do is build connection and support. We want those team members to feel like they're connected with us and with each other, and they're. And they're supported. They're not doing it all by themselves. And what a great example, Randy, that you said to Kenneth. There was some stress in the system. People were, you know, maybe turtling a little bit, you know, pulling within their shell. And he went out and said, hey, what do you think we need to do? What. How are you doing? What could we be doing differently? And use that information to bring people along, which I think is absolutely fantastic.

Speaker B: Um, but even more importantly, I think that the way that I. And he. I got a debrief from him and some of the team members. What he did first Though, was, how are you doing? How are you feeling? How is your stress level? So he started with the personal. I just want to know, let's do a gut check. How are you doing? And then he gathered their ideas, and then they started moving forward. But he made it very personal. He humanized the crisis. And I thought that was so powerful that he began with, I just want to see how you're doing.

Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. I love that. So let's go to the other side of the coin, my friend. So let's talk about accountability, responsibility. And of course, you know, when I talk about kind of, um, the author, it's kind of embedded in that. There's an ownership initiative, critical thinking. You're taking kind of that accountability responsibility at a personal level. Accountability responsibility. You know, um, setting expectations or holding yourself to expectations. Uh, what do you see as the value of that? And why is maybe that, uh, such an opportunity for leaders today?

Speaker B: Yeah, I, um. Obviously, leaders are there to hold their teams accountable, to reach objectives, to make the business run. I mean, it's simple. It's business 101. We all get that. But the way that leaders do that is so critical. This is where you win the team over. You've got great morale and great trust. Or this is where you lose the team and you have no trust, uh, and you've got attrition. So you. You're right. You could go either way. But when I think about this, I think leaders have to really be clear about expectations. Uh, you and I have spoken so much about clarity of expectations. So I think for leaders to hold their teams accountable and help them be responsible, let's be sure that we're expressing exactly what we want, when we want it, and if we need to explain how we want it and why, we need to give that too. So I think getting teams focused on the leader wants this. Let's make sure we understand what that means. But then the leader has to shift into, okay, what do you need for me to support that? I've set the expectation now as your leader, how can I support you? How can I coach you, uh, to get to the success that we all agree we need? And then also, you talk about this so often, Brandon, um, this idea of author versus editor. How do I, as a leader, really empower my team to come up with the solutions, the answers to get to the objective? Um, because if we micromanage, we're doing their job and our job, as you've often said, so we've got to make sure that we're also Empowering them and giving them the ability to author something that we can edit. So uh, not to steal your thunder, I know you'll talk about that, but that's kind of what I see when we talk about, you know, that side of the equation.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's great. And there was a piece of research that I saw and then what they found was the best managers asked two questions at the beginning of every week, uh, to their direct reports. And if it's exactly what Randy said, but it makes it very practical, they have a quick check in call and they say, hey, what are your priorities for the week? And it sounds like a simple question, but what they're really trying to do there is they're trying to drive clarity and, and alignment. Because if the direct report says something that's not what that leader wants to do or wants them to do, they have an opportunity to course correct. So they're saying, what are your priorities? Priorities for the week. And then they're saying, how can I support you? Which Randy kind of masterfully just illustrated for us. So they're asking those two questions, very simple, what are your priorities? How can I support you? But by doing that, you're doing accountability, responsibility, expectations and you're doing generosity, compassion, empathy, kind of support on that side, which is, which is really, really important. So I think that's great. And one thing that I want to add to our conversation here is, um, and Randy, I'll let you see if you've got any thoughts around this. I spend a lot of time thinking about this stuff. What happens when you go too far to either poll? So I'm going to start on the compassion, generosity and empathy side because I think often people think you can't go too far on that. Brandon, that's really, really good. Oh, absolutely. You can go too far. And we see it a lot with parenting. Uh, you see it really well with parenting, but you see it a lot with, with uh, employees too. So what happens is if we over index and we only do generosity, compassion and empathy and we don't do accountability, responsibility, expectations. In other words, we say our job is just to make the employees comfortable. We think that if we give them what they ask for, they're going to be super happy and they're going to do more. What happens is they just add another item to the Christmas list. The list gets bigger and bigger and bigger. I had a company I worked with for many years and they sold at one point privately held company. They really focus on employee culture and so they would give employees Big bonuses. I mean employees would talk about. These are employees in their 20s and early 30s talk about buying a house with their bonuses. That's the kind of bonuses we're talking about into a new building. Let the employees design it. Employees wanted like a uh, bike rack area and showers. They built all that for them. They did all this. And then when they sold and the founder sold it for billions of dollars, there was this big long complaint by the employees. We should get all that. We did all this. Why does he get all that? And there was just this sense of entitlement. And so what happens is when we over index on that and we remove people from, from accountability and we remove people from expectations, we remove some of that responsibility. We just make them comfortable. Um, it creates heightened anxiety, it creates a sense of entitlement. Um, and actually it doesn't actually create the kind of team members, uh, or people that we're really trying to develop. So I think it's a good reminder for us that while we want to be compassionate and generous, if you over index there, um, it doesn't turn into good human beings. We think if we give people things then they'll be like, oh, amazing, thank you so much. And they step up. They tend to just add to the list. So I want to add a little bit of that because I think, I think that's an important point for a lot of folks because we can over index now obviously we can over index on the other side too. We've all worked for those leaders that are just all about accountability and results. And it feels very kind of cold and transactional. We not to uh, beat up on our friends in the private equity world. But often, um, private equity that they operate a little bit that way, they buy a company, they want to flip that company in three years. They put more of a surgeon in that leadership role rather than a general practitioner. And that person just drives results. And uh, if you don't deliver results, you're out the door. Also very anxiety producing. So what's interesting about those sides of the spectrum is kind of a workplace therapist. If you go too far to either side and stay there, you're going to generate high levels of anxiety. So it's all about striking the balance. And I think Randy's given some good examples to that. So uh, again Randy, I'm springing in this on you. I think about this stuff all the time. Do you have any particular reactions to what I just said?

Speaker B: Yeah, I do actually. Uh, I love everything you just said, but I think there's a There is a way to strike a balance. Uh, so I want to offer something that came out of a blog post that I wrote a couple of years ago and it was called let's talk more about opportunity. And in it, um, and I think this is how we strike the balance between, you know, giving away the store and overindulging and giving those big bonuses you mentioned to, to strict dictatorial accountability is instead of offering door prizes and sign on bonuses and all these different things to attract people and all the benefits and perks and all this unlimited pto, there's a time and a place for perks and things and we all value them. But instead of focusing on that, I think leaders need to offer opportunity. So I took in the blog post, I took my reader through my experience and a lot of other people's experiences where my first three jobs out of college were really built around. We've got a great opportunity. We will make no promises, but if you work hard and do your part, we promise you that you will get promoted, you'll earn a great living and you will have, uh, you know, just have an unlimited opportunity in front of you and every one of those opportunities will realized. Because I had no false expectations, they were very clear with me. If you work hard and do your part, you'll get a shot at all of these things. And it all came true. And I've often encouraged leaders and companies to think more and more about promise, simply the opportunity for growth and benefits and perks and bonuses. Um, but don't go beyond that. Now as a leader, once you've promised the opportunity, it's really important that you do your best to invest in the team and support them and encourage them and coach them to success. But I think let's focus a little bit more on I've got a great job. It's going to be very difficult, but I need you to come and fill this if you're interested. And this is what can happen if you perform anyway. That's, that's to me is a way to kind of strike the balance and kind of cut this down the middle. Um, so opportunity is my answer to what you said in addition to everything that you said.

Speaker A: Randy, I think that's great. I love that ad and, and I think it's important as we, as you even hear Randy talk about it, he said, you know, opportunity lay that out there and opportunity would lay a little on that side of expectations, accountability, responsibility. I got this great opportunity. If you're willing to, if you're kind of, you know, if you're willing to take on this mission, right? Like mission impossible? Sure, if you're willing to do it. Uh, and that on that side of the equation, that accountability, responsibility, expectations, that's where growth lives. I want to be really clear to everyone who is a leader, who is a parent, who has other people that they're trying to nurture and grow. Growth lives on that side. It does not live on compassion, empathy, and generosity. You won't grow people by giving them stuff.

Speaker B: There's.

Speaker A: There's. That's never happened in human history. Okay, you might. They might. They'll grow out, like, on the couch, right? But they're not going to grow as people and as professionals. So I love that Randy mentions opportunity, but then he pairs it really well with how, how can I support you? What can I be doing to coach you? Because we want that connection. And connection lives on the other side, where we feel connected, we feel supported. We don't feel like we're all alone. The other, the last piece I'd add to this is Randy laid out a really kind of easy and masterful way to blend the two. Give people opportunity, support them along the way, make those kind of expectations clear. There's one more piece that he didn't mention that I would want to make sure that we, we double down on. Because I've seen a misstep here. When the, when the, uh, individual achieves the thing you laid out, you have to make sure they get the prize. You can't then move the goalpost. I've seen that happen too often where people say, hey, if you accomplish this, that, ah, then you'll be ready for the next promotion. And then the person works three years and they do it, and then they go, yeah, I'm sorry, um, I know we talked about this, but we really can't promote you right now. And the disappointment and the broken trust is really irreparable. So if you lay out the opportunity, you got to stick to your promise. You break that promise, and you've essentially, um, broken your credibility and integrity, um, permanently in that employee's eyes. You can't recover from that. Even if it's out of your hands. You. You can't allow that to happen. So be real careful. That would be the one caveat I'd add to the opportunity piece. Make that promise. You got to stick to it, break it, and it's going to cause you problems.

Speaker B: There are two things that, um, strike me as interesting about kind of where the conversation's going. One other additional maybe superpower that I See, in leaders that do really well with striking this balance we're talking about is I think leaders that are great at mind modeling vulnerability. The leaders that can get in the trenches and say, hey, we've got a lot to do. I'm going to hold you accountable for this. I've been through this myself. Let me tell you the struggles that I've been through. So the leaders that can, that can really talk about and model from experience, uh, with vulnerability, what I've seen and done, and I know exactly what you're going through. So I think leaders that are willing to open up and be personal about their own challenges will really are effective doing what you're talking about. Well, the other thing that strikes me as interesting, and I'd love to get your take on this, isn't the theme that's kind of running through everything. We're talking about really effective communication, because the leaders that are articulating their expectations, that are communicating their desire to be helpful, you know, we may take it for granted and we may say, oh yeah, sure, we've got to talk, we've got to talk about at all this, but we've got generations coming into the workforce that are taking over leadership roles that sometimes struggle with communication. I don't mean that unkindly. It's a fact. Communication skills are on the decline in terms of what we're seeing in leaders today, and it's not getting any better. So in order to strike the balance between compassion and, uh, empathy and accountability and responsibility, we've got to be really good at communicating really both ways down the middle and getting the message out. So my take is there's a sub theme here of effective communication really drives all of this. Now what's your take on that, Brandon?

Speaker A: I would agree with you, Randy. So I'm naturally thinking of our trust formula.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: So when we're working with teams, we often use this trust formula Randy and I have talked about before. Trust is, um, in parentheses. You got to put on your math hats for this. In parentheses, authenticity plus vulnerability. And then, and then the sum of that in parentheses is then multiplied by credibility. And that's how you get trust, particularly as a leader. But you can use that up, down, across, out, you can use that, that tool anyway, any which way. What Randy just illustrated, what he just talked about was he said leaders talking about their struggles and being open about that, that's vulnerability. Leaders being very active in communicating, that's actually authenticity. So authenticity has a lot to do with communicating what's going on in your head. What you're thinking is your, uh, motives showing genuine concern. Those are some ways that we communicate authenticity. It's transparency or honesty, which could be other proxy words for authenticity and having that regular communication. So we want authenticity. We want that kind of transparency and honesty as kind of a regular rhythm weekly from leaders. And then, when appropriate, share a little your own struggles and stories. Makes, uh, you a little more human. Builds, builds that trust. And Randy's exactly right. We are seeing a absolute decline in this. Some of it is simply because, uh, as we think about kind of, uh, folks that have grown up with technology, they're exceptional in using this as a tool. Maybe not as strong as using some other communication tools, uh, that maybe were more prevalent in prior generations. The other issue is I'm just not seeing leaders make the time and space for these necessary conversations.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Uh, and one of the things that Randy and I often preach when we're talking and teaching communication sessions with our clients is we'll say, in absence of communication, people tend to assume the worst. So if we're not filling that void, it doesn't just get filled with positive intent, uh, like we wish it would. It gets filled with, with scary stories. And that's human nature because we're always worried about getting eaten by. Eaten by a bear. So we'll say, oh, I haven't heard anything from the leader. Must be bad news. We must be getting ready to sell or close. Close the doors. I should probably dust off my resume. Yeah, I'm going to be out of a job in about two weeks. Like, it moves down that path really, really quickly. So it's just. Just some more, some more kind of thoughts and reactions. Randy, to what you said. I think it's a big component of trust, and it falls in that side of the equation, that authenticity vulnerability side.

Speaker B: While we're on the topic of formulas, you know, I love that you brought that up. Let me bring up another formula for our listeners, uh, that we often use in our work. And this is the accountability formula that Brandon and I use. So this one very, very similar format. This one is effective business meetings, which is another way of talking about communication because most of your communication is driven by the quality of your business meetings. Think about it. Most of the comms that go out come out of a meeting. So effective business meetings plus clarity. We talk about clarity a lot on this show. So effective m. Business meetings plus clarity multiplied by personal ownership. That's the X factor in the accountability formula. So we've talked a lot about communication, talked a little bit about clarity. Clarity. But the dimension of personal ownership. Yes, Leaders, you've got to strike that balance. Empathy, compassion, accountability, responsibility. But there's an element of this as a team member. Leaders, uh, are team members too, where we've got to take ownership, we've got to say, I own it. Brandon, you've heard me say this before. I had a boss many, many years ago when I joined a very, very large national restaurant company, um, as a leader in their leadership group and their talent group. One of the things he said is you've got a small team and you've got to go influence the behavior of about 260 leaders in the field. But Randy, if you and your team touch it, you own it. If you have 1%, you need to act like you have 100%. And as a 29 year old, that was a very powerful lesson. And, uh, I can tell you, 30 years later, it is still very important to me and I talk about it and use it every day. If I'm involved, even marginally, I always want to feel like I've got complete ownership. So if you're listening and you've been hearing us talk about leaders and their responsibilities to strike this important balance, also think about your responsibility, uh, to present and really live with personal ownership. If you're involved in it, you've got to act like an owner and really drive forward to get the best outcome.

Speaker A: I love that. It's fantastic. And of course, you know, fits well with author, editor. When we talk about the traits of the author, that's ownership, initiative and critical thinking. It's kind of if you touch it, you own it. So. All right, Randy, we've got a little bit time left and we've had some really fun conversations talking about how to bring these to life elements around these components. I want to go really practical and tactical for the next kind of three, three to four minutes. So if you were to wave a magic wand and you could restructure, uh, or help inform how a leader uses her or his time each week. Let's start with, um, expectations and accountability. When and what conversations do you think leaders need to be having each week with their team to help drive a little bit more on that side of the equation? Expectations, accountability, responsibility. What are, what are conversations that they need to be having that they can be thinking about putting into their calendar on that side of the equation?

Speaker B: I, uh, think it's really potentially just two things. We've got to have absolute transparency and clarity about the goals. What exactly is it that we're trying to get To. And let me tell you now, if your goal is to get sales up, that's not good enough. We need to have a two and a half percent increase in sales by the end of Q4. Uh, that's more clear. That's an openness and transparency about the goal. I think the second part of this is clarity of expectations. Transparency and clarity of goal. Absolute clarity about expectations. This is what I want, how I want it. Because when we start with that, there is no wiggle room. There's no misunderstanding, no ambiguity, and everybody leaves the room singing from the same sheet of music. So I think it's just those two simple things. The only thing I would add to this, um, and it's maybe more of a contextual, bigger picture thing is I want every leader that listens to this to always have the mindset of being a great coaching leader. And think about as you're listening to this right now, what does it mean to be a great coach? Well, great coaches are, you know, they're listening, they're asking great questions, they're engaged, they're empowering their people. They're. They're helping their people develop into the best versions of themselves. Because great coaching leaders drive great engagement. Uh, morale is up. They hit their goals. So I think it's clarity of goals, clarity of expectations. But then have the mindset of a great coaching leader. That's my two cents.

Speaker A: I love that. I would have said the same thing. I think that's the reason why we're partners.

Speaker B: That's why we're partners.

Speaker A: And I would add even more specific specificity to it, if you can, in that goal setting conversation that Randy said. Do that every week. Do that on Monday.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: At the beginning of the week. Do that in the beginning of the week. Because you're setting the tone and the expectations and the standard for the week. Maybe you got a constant drum beat. Hey, everybody, as a reminder, these are our Q4 goals. Okay? This week, this is what I want you working on. So just you resetting and focusing the team each week. Your team lives in a noisy world doing that. I absolutely love that. Um, and I love that kind of. Randy mentioned that. I think that's so very important. Now, on the other side of the coin, Randy started us down this path when he talked about coaching. We also want to make sure the team doesn't feel like, you know, they're all, all an island by themselves. And it's kind of like, uh, you know, like a game of Survivor and we'll see who the last one standing Is uh, we don't want them to feel that way with them to feel connected and supported and coaching is part of that. So I'll add a little piece to this Randy, and then I'll ask you for some closing thoughts. If we want to hit the other side of the equation. Check in throughout the week. How are you doing? Is there anything that uh, you've either stumbled across this week or any kind of thing unexpected that I can support you with, what have you, where might you need more additional resources or just tell me what's going on? So just checking in at some point is how people are going to feel a little more supported. Uh, and often m. In most cases they'll say, hey, I got it boss. But they're gonna feel like they're not doing it all by themselves. And what you're doing when you reach out like that is you're giving them permission to proactively reach out to you if there's a problem, which is what you want because we're trying to create that psychologically safe environment. So essentially folks feel super comfortable bringing you a three alarm fire. They don't feel comfortable. They're not going to bring you the three alarm fire. They're going to try to fix it on their own and then by the time you hear about it, it's a five alarm fire.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: And so there's another element around that. So that's another way to think about it is kind of having those check in moments throughout the week where you're offering that support. So Randy, uh, we're getting close to time here. Any closing thoughts on our conversation today on kind of balancing kind of the accountability side of the equation with kind of that, that, that compassion side of the equation?

Speaker B: Well, actually I want to piggyback on something you just said and uh, I love what you said and there's a, there's a dimension of this and you've actually mentioned this. I think it was three or four conversations uh, ago when we were doing another show where we were talking about leaders. Keep your one on ones, don't reschedule them, don't drop them. There's been a lot of, I've been, I've seen a lot of pot of um, of a blog, uh, post lately about let's get rid of the one on one. I reject that. No, no, no, no, no. Do not get rid of your one on ones. Make them more effective, be more consistent, but don't drop them. That would be silly. So in the one on ones, it can be a drive by and it's a quick conversation or it could be scheduled and you want to honor and schedule those. But in those conversations, and this is where I just want to go a little deeper, I want you as a leader to absolutely be specific in what you're asking your colleagues. We've spoken before on the show about, don't be generic. Be specific. So if you're asking about how they're doing, maybe it's a little bit more of, hey, what are two things you're working on right now that are a little challenging? What is something I can do right now to support you? Hey, before the end of the year, what is something that is critical for you to get done and what specifically can I do to support you? Uh, what is one thing I can do as a leader to better help you get where you're going? So. So asking specific questions like that will absolutely support everything that Brandon and I have been talking about. So keep those one on ones and be really specific in those conversations about what you're asking for and you'll get a lot more substance and you'll be a lot more effective.

Speaker A: Yeah. So Randy, I'm going to piggyback on that because that's, ah, so important what he said. Go back re. Listen to what Randy just said. It's so critical. Do not cancel your one on ones. It's a ridiculous idea. We as human beings are pack creatures. We need to feel connected with other humans. And this idea of we'll just AI everything and we'll just not have any personal connection. You're going to have a problem. We are going to have a problem. Everyone's going to have a problem. So I know the instinct for leaders is to say, hey, one on ones. I got a lot going on this week. It's kind of a waste of time having lunch with a colleague. I got a lot going on this week. It's a waste of time. Uh, it is not a waste of time. It is so important. And the problem with us is it's hard to measure the immediate result of one of those because the indicators are more long term and more embedded. We're building that connection, we're building that trust. It's hard to measure connection and trust, but we know they're important and that's where we feed those things, is in the one on ones lunches with colleagues. So a way that we can make it feel more practical is exactly what my partner just said. He said, uh, ask specific questions, have them prepared so you can feel more like you're, you're you're achieving something or you're being a little more specific, you're trying to get something accomplished. So whether you're having lunch with a colleague and you want to ask specific questions about their department and how you can support them better, or you're, or you're talking in one of your direct reports, in a one on one, you, you can say, tell me about what you're working on. What are two challenges you're having this week that I might be able to help you with? If you wave a magic wand, you know, where would you want, um, what would you want to remove or add that would make things better for you? Those kinds of questions will make those conversations feel a lot more productive. We'll often say in the, uh, survey and research world, you know, the quality of your output is directly correlated to the quality of the questions you ask. So let's be thoughtful when you go into those conversations. Um, well, Randy, my friend, any kind of final closing thought before we land our playing today.

Speaker B: Now, uh, you know, if anything, you know, as you listen to this, first of all, as a leader, as a teammate, no matter where you are in your career, you paused and took 30 minutes, hopefully to listen. But now reflect on what you've heard and think about where you can start to bring some of these best practices into your daily routine. The worst thing you can do is say, oh, that was interesting to go back into exactly what you were doing, Integrate some of what we've said, maybe not all of it, maybe just pieces of it, but you know, think about, you know, we often talk about stop, start and continue. What will you stop doing, start doing or continue doing after today? But we've given you some things to ponder. Now we challenge you to go and make them actionable.

Speaker A: Yeah. Fantastic. So as you're listening to this today and thinking about your own leadership style, really ask yourself on that spectrum, do you fall in more of the accountability, responsibility, expectation side of the spectrum? Do you fall a little more on the compassion, generosity, empathy, side of the spectrum? Both are important. Our goal is always somewhere in the middle. So how can you get yourself closer to the middle starting tomorrow so your team and you as a leader can continue to thrive?