The Leadership Spotlight continues this week with Dino Evangelista. For the past three years Dino has been the Business Technology Project Leader for the Broadcast Division of Dave Ramsey’s The Lampo Group, Inc. As Project Leader Dino has responsibility for leading 5 web-based software development teams that serve several businesses including our Radio Team, Endorsed Local Provider (ELP) Program, our MyTotalMoneyMakeover.com subscription site, and most recently our Curriculum and Live Events businesses.

Prior to joining The Lampo Group Dino served as Vice President of Program and Project Management for Confluent Data Systems, Inc. (CDS) based in Washington State. CDS was a startup software development and business analytics company working with various industries including aviation, government services, automotive, and wine industries. Prior to CDS Dino worked for Home Depot as a General Manager after graduating from their “Store Leadership Program”, based on the General Electric “Masters and MBA Leadership Program”, which he started after receiving his MBA from Regis University in Denver, CO. The early phases of Dino’s career he worked as a Network Engineer for such companies as Siemens AG, Perot Systems, and Accenture. In addition to his MBA, he holds a B.S. in Computer and Information Systems from Troy University in Troy, AL. Dino was born a New York Yankee fan in Queens, New York and grew up in Miami, FL where he developed his love for University of Miami Hurricane football. Dino currently live in Franklin, TN with his wife of over 15 years and their three beautiful daughters.

CLo: What is your role in leadership?

DE: As a Project Leader for the Broadcast division, I lead 5 teams of Web Programmers who deliver software solutions that support the various businesses of the division. These solutions include web-based application development and marketing focused development for the Dave Ramsey brand.

CLo: What is the best advice you’ve ever received about leadership?

DE: When it’s not fun for you as a leader, your team will know it and it will become a cancer. If you don’t enjoy what you do, you will never be an effective leader.

CLo: What is the biggest challenge facing leaders today?

DE: To me the biggest challenge I face as a leader is that my younger team members are motivated by their desired feelings of significance on the team. They want to play a role of significance that is sometimes more than they may be ready for. As a leader, we need to help them fulfill that need without putting them in a place where they are set up to fail.

CLo: How do you continue to improve yourself as a leader?

DE: I have a few ways I improve myself as a leader. 1) I read quite a bit and try to apply what I learn directly to what I am doing. 2) I learn from other respected leaders through observation and through time spent with them personally. 3) I ask for a lot of candid feedback from my team members. Quality feedback is something that takes time because your team members need to learn to trust that you can take the candid feedback and that you will change based on the information.  It’s tough to hear sometimes, but it is the best way I know to learn quickly.

CLo: How do you invest in others?

DE: I invest in others in a couple of ways: 1) I am a developer (Not software) by nature. I like to hear what they want to be, not necessarily who they currently are. I like to work with them to develop into what God intended them to be. In the end, I like to help others figure out what they need to do to reach their life’s goals, whether it’s finding the courage to step out of their comfort zone or to change directions completely. 2) I love spending quality time with others; whether it’s time taking someone to lunch or going and hanging out at a hockey game. Sometimes it is face to face discussions and sometimes it should to shoulder sharing of life experiences.

CLo: What was the last book you read?

DE: The last book I read was “Making Vision Stick” by Andy Stanley. It’s really short, but I really enjoyed it. It helped me to define the importance of continually communicating the vision to the team in order to keep everyone heading toward the same target.

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You gotta admit that’s a good title. Hey, you clicked on it! Anyway, today is day two of EntreLeadership-Chris LoCurto here in Brentwood, Tennessee. And in EntreLeadership, you’ll find a common theme throughout the whole event: In order to lead well, you must serve well. Servant leadership is the only kind of leadership that ultimately works.

When I was hired as the VP of Live Events, I was the 18th person on Dave’s team. (For perspective, there are over 300 of us now.) And back in those days, we would load a van to haul all our products to our live events. At the time, we were holding events in churches instead of arenas, so we didn’t have a lot of stuff to take. Eventually, we moved to larger venues, which required a 12-foot box truck. That graduated to a 16-foot, then a 24-foot, then two 24-foot box trucks, and finally to a big rig. Now we have two big rigs that take all of our stuff, that’s loaded at a fulfillment center, to arena events.

But jumping back to the early days, those trucks had to be loaded at our offices. And with 18 of us, about 10 of us were guys. So all guys were called to load the truck two days before an event, and after Monday staff meeting, to unload the truck. Which was fine when the events were small, but they grew 50% almost overnight when I started Pastor Luncheons. So we needed a bigger truck and more product.

At every truck load/unload, you would see Dave Ramsey right there alongside all of us. Throwing boxes, lifting tables, and giving high-fives to the guys when we were finished. One day, one of the guys snapped this picture and sent it to me. It’s been on my phone for about eight years. From time to time, when people ask if Dave is a prima donna or if he actually helps out around the office, I show them this picture.

You see, you have to be willing to do whatever it is that you’re asking your team to do. If you’re a pastor, you have to be willing to set up chairs. If you’re a car detail shop owner, you have to be willing to detail the cars. And if you’re a speaker, you have to be willing to throw some boxes. You see, your team pulls a lot of energy from you. Or, conversely, they don’t! When I was still traveling with the road crew, I was always the guy in the truck throwing the boxes to the group of guys on the ground. My team would watch me handle 50% and sometimes 100% of the boxes while they handled 15%.

Why? Because I wanted my team to know that I was willing to outwork anybody. That I was willing to serve them by taking on the toughest job. And that gave them energy to work hard themselves. Can you imagine if I were the guy who always stood out of the way hoping to touch the least amount of boxes? (Believe me, I’ve seen that guy!) Then they would do the same. If your team walks into your office and your feet are up on the desk, theirs will be too. Next time you wonder why nobody works as hard as you think they should, maybe start by taking a look at you. You might be surprised to find the answer in the mirror.

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The Leadership Spotlight continues this week with Daniel Bell. Daniel is bad at keeping secrets. When there is something he loves, he can’t wait to tell the world. Building start-ups during the dot-com boom, leading national public relations and advertising agencies into their first interactive client offerings, and helping start a world-class museum are great ways he has used design to inspire audiences.

Still, nothing compares to building a movement that empowers folks to make smarter choices with their money, business and more. And no one is worse at keeping that a secret than Dave Ramsey.

So when Daniel got the chance to join the team in 2008, it was an easy decision. He works with the creative team to build inspiring, entertaining and educational experiences across the web, in print, on television, through live events, videos, books and even a few T-shirts.

CLo: What is your role in leadership?

DB: I am one of two Creative Directors for Dave’s team of 30+ creatives. Our team supports all of our business units in connecting our products and services with our audiences through multiple media experiences.

CLo: What is the best advice you’ve ever received about leadership?

DB: “It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” —Harry Truman

Operating with that focus in mind removes much of the ego and ownership issues that get in the way of simply helping people and moving a mission forward. The ironic part is that it typically creates more authentic business relationships and associated accolades.

Dave shares a similar thought with his statement: “If you help enough people, you don’t have to worry about money.” It’s countercultural to promote and serve others, but the results are substantial.

CLo: What is the biggest challenge facing leaders today?

DB: There is an increasing level of pressure for leaders to be public personas through publishing and social media. It’s true that it might gain you some recognition among peers, but using it to promote yourself versus empowering your customer will create a distraction from the real purpose of your business.

Similarly, it is important to filter what advice you absorb. Given the constant connectivity within this era of business, managing your time and focus is critical to success.

CLo: How do you continue to improve yourself as a leader?

DB: Design, marketing and technology are relationship-driven disciplines. Improving my ability to lead within these environments requires growth in three directions:

1. Personal: It’s important to always be improving the technical skills of my trade: technology, design and communication. One of the best ways to do that is to keep in tune with the best practices and innovations within the industry.

2. Team: We are building a village of targeted missiles who are dedicated to speaking Truth in the marketplace. Our ability to do that is dependent on their abilities and motivation.

3. Customers: No part of our business is more important than supporting our customers in their goals. Here at Lampo that includes advocating for stronger relationships between our business units and their customers by injecting fresh ideas and application for communication experiences.

Ultimately, success requires being an incredible listener to the industry, our team and our customers. Growth happens as a natural by-product of helping those constituencies connect.

CLo: How do you invest in others?

DB: You can only help a person grow as much as you understand that person and where he/she is headed. Then, you simply hold them accountable to the progress that they choose to make. The good news is that there is an easy way to get that information—ask them!

One exercise we do on our team is to have each team member list the strengths and challenges within their abilities. We define goals for where they want to grow and the threats to their overall success in this field. Then we meet every six months to review their progress.

Allowing them to own that progress is empowering and removes the leader’s (my) weaknesses as a barrier for their growth.

CLo: What was the last book you read?

DB: I re-read the book Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend. No one who has spent more than a week with me doubts my esteem for that book!

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