562 | Breaking Through Your Personal Ceiling

Chris LoCurto 0:00
On today's episode, we are shedding light on overlooked, but major benefits of leading your team really well that is coming up next.

Welcome to the Chris LoCurto show where we discuss leadership and life and discover that business is what you do, not who you are. Welcome to the show, folks, I hope you're having a fabulous day, wherever you are. Today we're talking about how to really lead effectively, and what the benefits are when you do it. So many times we talked about how to lead in situations and how important leadership is and, and all that kind of fun stuff, which is great. It's important to understand how to lead a specific situation or lead a specific way. But there's something that we miss out on. And that is what are the extra benefits of when I'm just intentionally consistently leading. And that's kind of what we're talking about today. So if you think about it, have you ever had one of those moments where, you know, not just leading in the moment, but you're leading on something, you're teaching on something, and you see this result? And it could have been that you were leading in the moment, but you see this result where you're like, oh, wow, that was really cool. I didn't even expect that to happen. I didn't know that was gonna happen. That's that's a great outcome. Right? Those are the kinds of things we're talking about today. The benefits of leading Well, the benefits beyond just leading the situation leading the discussion leading the the solution to the problem. What else if I'm just being intentional?

So one of the things one of the first benefit we're going to talk about, and I think this is just incredibly important, is the benefit of teaching active listening. Now, what does that mean? Well, we all know that when there is something on the line, and we've got a super important project that has to get done, or a deadline that's coming up, or we're trying to put out a fire somewhere, some problem that we got to solve that listening becomes something that everybody does, right? People pay attention, when we're putting out a fire people pay attention when there's an emergency. But what about when you're just teaching on a regular basis? Well, if you were focused on it, and you're focused on teaching your team to actively listen, then what you can do is help your team to always be paying attention, even in just a regular everyday kind of teaching a regular everyday kind of leading situation, right? So the goal is, and we get to hear this, one of our coaches recently heard this, from one leader speaking to another leader, a business owner, speaking to another business owner, where he said, they're listening to you, he could tell that the team member or the team members of that business owner, were listening to that business owner, because they were using that business owners words, they were repeating back, they were speaking in the very words that business owner was using. Why is that important? Because it means they're actually listening. So to actively listen requires that you listen attentively to the speaker, right? Whoever speaking, it means that you understand what they're saying, it means that you respond and reflect on what's being said, and that you hopefully, you really should retain the information for later, right.

So how do we make this happen? The goal is, is that we pointed out, it's okay for you to actually give the secret away. Hey, guys, here's what I'm focusing on today, I'm going to be teaching on this or I'm going to be leading on this. And this is obviously you intentionally choosing a time to lead your team really well. But here's what I want to make sure we're doing as I go through this process, and this is assuming that you're not having like a brainstorming session, that wouldn't be the best time necessarily to teach on active listening. Instead, make sure that it's something that you're wanting to teach and train the team on. And then let them know that you want them to actively listen. Here's what I'm looking for. Here's why this is important. I'm looking for you guys to actually take down notes, I'm looking for you to pick up on the things that I'm saying I'm looking for you to be able to repeat back to me or or give input on or or you know, fill in the information and let them know ahead of time. This is what we're going to be doing. I want to make sure that I help you to listen attentively. I want to make sure that I help you to retain this. If this happens, what's the benefit is going to be so often let me kind of give you the opposite of you know the benefit would be, which is what we normally see.

So many times people are so focused on themselves, that when topics come up, let's say it's in a group of different teams or something, or people working on different teams, or whatever, or even if it's just, you know, leaders that have different areas, quite often people are so focused on themselves in their area that when somebody else is being talked about, they don't listen. They don't pay attention. Over and over and over again, I have literally sat with leadership teams, in when one team is being discussed, because there's a problem a situation or a team member issue, a sales problem, you know, something is falling apart in that area. You can literally watch the other leaders, these are leaders, to now. I've watched them get on their own cell phones. I've watched them get on computers, I've watched all kinds of stuff happen, and I allow it to happen for a while and then I'll call it out. Hey, help me to understand, what are you doing right now? Oh, I just needed to check on something. There's a problem or there's a thing. Okay, but what about this conversation? Well, that's not my area. Okay. Are you intelligent, though? Well, of course, I am. Alright, well, we might need your intelligence in this, we might need you to help us solve a problem, you might be able to see this in a way that somebody else doesn't see it.

So right now you're tuning out. And actually what you're supposed to be doing is listening and helping. You're supposed to be part of this process. Yeah, but it's not my area. No, it is part of your area, because you're part of this leadership team. So you're not just responsible for one area, you're responsible for being a part of a team, team, you're on a team. So help your team out. Just because your area may not be struggling in this moment, doesn't mean that you shouldn't be helping others and what happens when your area is struggling. So one of the things that I will do, especially with the leaders, now, again, I will push harder on leaders than I will on team members. Because if you sit at the leadership table, you need to be able to take it if you can't, then you probably shouldn't be sitting there in the first place, right? The thing is, is that you need to understand that if you can't actively listen, you can't intentionally or purposefully help. You can't have any good input. You're not going to help us solve a problem. And you just might be the person who actually has some information that can help out. It's what we call taxing the collective intelligence. I don't just want the intelligence of one person. I want the intelligence of everybody who's involved or everybody who's at the table. Why? Because somebody knows something that the rest of us aren't thinking about. Somebody's got a perspective that the rest of us don't have. So for me, it is vitally important to teach active listening. Because as you do, it's an amazing thing, how people will start hearing things going on with other team members, even if it's not something they're involved in, and then start being able to speak into it. And when you call out, that it really causes them to go, Well, I better be paying attention next time. You know, an easy way to do it is just to ask them a question. Hey, what do you think about this situation? What do you mean? What? What are you hearing? I wasn't really listening. Okay. Can you help me to understand why?

Because it's not my area, and I wasn't focused on it. Okay. Well, you're part of this team. Let's get back in. I want you to actively listen, I want you to give input, I want you to process through this. And I want you to help. Right? So there are incredible benefits of being very intentional about teaching people to actively listen. And it goes beyond that. When your team members are taught to actively listen, they care for each other more, they will think about what somebody else is experiencing, they will listen to what somebody is saying. They will also very possibly hear something that's going to affect them. Maybe they'll hear something from another team member that they go, Oh my gosh, I could plug that into my area. Oh, you're doing that over there. I didn't realize that I'm doing this over here. Sounds like we're doing double the work. They start to get more information from team members because they're listening. And the more that they do that, the more they start to retain information.

So as you're teaching a lesson or guiding somebody to some sort of goal or some destination, then they start spending time retaining that information. What am I going to do with this? This is obviously important. I'm going to need this down the road. So teaching active listening is definitely a benefit of leading people really well benefit number two, boosting team morale and confidence now unless Unless it's just a really toxic environment, your team members want to do well for you. Yes, they want your approval, they don't want to fail. I know, as a leader, you probably have all kinds of things that run through your head that that go against what I just said, you may have convinced yourself that your team members don't want to please you that they don't want to get your approval, but I'm telling you, they do. They really do. They want you to look at them and think, Wow, this is somebody who's doing a really good job. Now, personality styles are going to respond differently on that, right? D er, now you're gonna see they're probably going to be more focused on getting you to say that they're doing a good job, SS and c's are not, you know, especially high seas, they're not going to be pushing for you to tell them that they're doing a good job. And S and C's definitely don't want it done a potluck, right? But either way, they still want you to let them know that they're doing a good job. That's very important. So when you are focused on leading people, well, an amazing thing happens when you are intentional about leading them and guiding them and making them better at what they do, and helping them with better information and answering questions that they may have. And getting them through complex situations, it starts to boost their morale, because it tells them that you have prioritized them. When you spend time with them, it tells them that you're taking interest in their job and how they do it. And that your goal is to help them to do it. Well. When you don't spend time leading people well, when you just leave them in the seat and hope that they accomplish everything that you expect them to accomplish. They think you don't care. They think it doesn't matter. Very, very, very few people, like the autonomy without any input. I mean, it's an incredibly low number that actually want the autonomy and don't want you to to give any input, they believe that if you gave them autonomy, then you think they're doing a great job. That's such an incredibly low number. The rest of folks want that input, they want to hear from you that they're doing a really good job.

So do it, train, teach, spend time with them, have meetings with them, give them what they need to be successful, give them what they need to be confident to build their confidence in what they're doing. To know that they're doing an incredibly good job. When you lead like that, their morale goes up, their confidence goes up, their productivity goes up. Now, sometimes, and I say sometimes it can be a lot depending upon the leader, right? Sometimes leaders can assume people don't welcome the leaders input. Sometimes, team members can assume their leader expects them to know exactly how to do their job. Many times we're just trying to, you know, assume that we know what the other person is thinking either way, no matter what it is. It's a insecurity that's holding a person back, whether it's the leader, or the team member, we know an example, as we know, a leader who was holding back on giving input to a team member thinking while they don't want it in the moment, they stepped up and gave them some inputs. All of a sudden, that team member was relieved, because the team member didn't know how to accomplish the job. And so the leader is thinking, This person doesn't want any input from me, the team members thinking, oh my gosh, the leader doesn't want to give me any input or or I'm too afraid to ask, you know, of the leader for some input or some direction. But once the leader stepped in and wasn't worried about it, gave some input, the team member was relieved. It gave them more confidence to do their job, because now they have the answer that they were looking for.

So a big benefit of leading Well, being intentional stepping in, jumping in and giving input in something that I do quite often. Because I do this for a living. Many times, it's very easy for me to just jump in and give input is I will ask, Hey, do you want any input on that? Do you want any direction on that? If you want any help on that, and the person who is whether they're insecure, and you know, fearful that they're going to fail at this thing, then there's a really good chance that they will say yes, obviously the the person who's insecure that thinks that if I think they don't have the answer, then they must be a failure in mind, that person is not going to ask for input, right? But they're also not going to take it really well if I just give it to them. So instead I give them given the option. Would you like any input on this? Would you like any direction on this? Would you like any advice on this? That's something else saying not just, you know, team members, I'll say to people, period, right? If I see somebody struggling in a situation and they're looking to To me, and I can't tell, do they want input? Or do they not want input? They'll just ask the question, Do you want any input? And most of the time, people say, Yes, please, what are your thoughts on this? And then every now and then you'll get this super insecure? No, no, I got it. Now, I know the answer. And unfortunately, in those moments, there's not a whole lot you can do. Right? So you probably already can tell that they actually don't know the answer. But they're too embarrassed to admit that they don't know the answer.

So instead, just let them do their thing. Let them know, Hey, if you ever want any input, just come get me just come ask me. Right? That's the best that you can do at that point. Unless you're a leader, if you see that this is somebody who is on your team that is unwilling, then, after you've asked and you've given them the opportunity step up, hey, okay, well, so here's what I have to do, I see that this isn't going the way that it's supposed to are, I see that there's the struggle over here.

So I'm just gonna go ahead and speak into this anyways. And I'd love to know your thoughts and opinions on it. But here's what I'm seeing. And here's what my questions are, here's what I'm wondering, or here's my input, whatever it is, obviously, at the end of the day, if they are unwilling to take your input, and yet you're still responsible for their success, at that point, just linked, right, I like to give people the opportunity, because I feel like it's treating people with dignity. You know, it gives them the opportunity to say yes, I would like some input, right. And once they realize that, that's okay. That it doesn't mean that they're a failure, that it doesn't mean that they're, you know, a loser, then what happens is, is they will be more apt to ask you for input later on, the more comfortable they can get, the less embarrassing it is for them. And they can ask you for input. So leading people really well helps people by boosting them around. It helps them by boosting their confidence. It helps them by removing insecurities that they have, by assumptions that made about you, I cannot possibly ask Chris, this question. I sure don't want Chris to know that I'm failing. You know, whatever it is fill in the blank, when you step up, and help them to see that you're going to treat them with dignity, you're going to lead them well, you're not going to call them out and rip their heads off, and all that kind of stuff, than they realize that they can be vulnerable with you in that situation. Or any situation really, number three, the art of delegation, empowering team members, this is vital to your leadership. It is so important for you to grow as a leader. But guess what? Effective delegation doesn't just get stuff off of your plate. It makes people feel trusted. It makes people feel valued when you are affectively. And I've got to throw this big caveat in here, right? The key is that you do it properly. You you delegate properly. That's what we teach in killing the leadership Crazy Cycle is that delegation is not giving something over to somebody and then you know, every 30 minutes asking, Did you get that done? Did you get it done? Did you get it done? Is that done yet? And then finding out that they haven't done it yet. So you take it all back. That is terrible. delegation that is not proper at all. When you properly so this is the caveat. When you properly delegate, people feel trusted. They feel like you trust them with more. They feel like you trust them with bigger things. That trust causes them to feel more valued.

As they feel more valued. Guess what, they're going to become more productive. When somebody understands you trust them, and you value them, then they want to bust their butt. Because that is speaking to their worth. Right? You are worthy. I believe in you. I believe you can accomplish this, I believe that you are skilled and talented enough to do this. Now I'm not talking about self-esteem. I'm not talking about making somebody feel better when they're doing bad things and making bad choices. That's not what I'm talking about. You got to feel good about you even though all this bad stuff has happened and you've created all these bad decisions. That's not what I'm talking about at all. So I don't care about your self-esteem. I care about your self-worth and your self-respect, and self-esteem, I have no use for right if you're making bad choices, let's take some responsibility and solve those things. What I am talking about is that the more that I feel valued by a leader that I can accomplish things that they trust me and believe in me, then the more self-worth I have. Because I know that my worth to the business I'm being paid. Now keep in mind my worth to a human being or my worth to God is considerably different. But really what is your worth to a business that you produce what you're being paid for? Right now, we don't run our business that way you you need to produce but we see your worth in a much higher way in the through the lens of God So we see your worth as being a child of God and believer in God and a follower in that creation.

So there's much more to just producing. But we pay you to produce. So you got to do that to the more that you help people to feel valued, the more they're going to produce. And another fantastic, fantastic result of feeling valued and feeling trusted, is buy-in and ownership for if you've been with us for years, you've heard me talk about it for years. Two incredibly important things that you want from every team member is buy in. Do you buy into what we're doing what we're trying to accomplish our mission, our our vision, this strap plan that we're trying to accomplish? Do you buy into that? where we're headed, right? Do you buy into the goals? Do you have ownership of your area, you're part of this. So the more you lead really well by delegating properly, not only does it empower team members, but it also helps them to really take ownership and the thing that they're doing, because they see they're trusted and valued by you that you believe in them. So they take ownership, they take responsibility, and I will tell you, that is huge for me. I don't like having team members who don't take responsibility for their area. My team knows, you can find just don't make better players and don't keep failing at the same thing. You can fail to take responsibility. Let's solve it. Let's fix it. Let's move forward. Let's make sure it doesn't happen.

Joel Fortner 21:36
Hey, it's Joel Fortner. Here, I'm the vice president of leadership development on Chris's team and I oversee our Next Level Mastermind business coaching program. Most business owners and leaders lack a clear path to succeed in business. They question whether they're making the right decisions, if they're focusing on the right things to really grow their business. If this is you, you need a coach in your life. coaches help you make better decisions, navigate uncertainty lead more effectively, and grow your business without sacrificing your life and your family. In their first year, our clients typically see an average of 67% increase in gross revenue and an average of 138% increase in net profit and regained hours. Our clients stay in the program for three and a half years simply because of the results they get. So if you're ready to run your business at the next level and see the growth you've been wanting, then visit Chris LoCurto .com/mastermind. Again, Chris LoCurto.com/mastermind. Today

Chris LoCurto 22:37
benefit number four, when you're leading really well. A great benefit is creating a culture of open communication, folks, this is so incredibly important i i teach communication so much. And you know, it should just be common sense that open communication is vitally important. But it's not. A lot of times we don't recognize because we're running so hard and so fast, that we're not recognizing the benefit of having open communication. So this has to come from you. The leader needs to foster this throughout the whole team, you need to be clear, you need to be more clear with your team members than ever before, you need to make sure that you're communicating in ways that is setting them up for success that they absolutely understand what it is that you're saying. You need to prioritize time so that you're communicating really well good quality communication, high levels of quality communication, if you will set that time and that priority for that open communication for that clear communication, for high levels of quality communication, guess what you will teach your team members to do the same, they will start to understand how important it is, you know, for Frank to make Sally super, you know, successful in her area because they're working together. If he doesn't communicate well with her, then how's that going to affect her and it's probably going to come back and affect him. Right. So it really helps your team to go wow, our leader communicates this way I must communicate this way. In the early days of my leadership. It was surprising to me to see that as I communicated clearly, team members began to communicate better. They began to communicate more clearly. And as I recognize that, from that point on, it's not been a surprise to me. It is great to watch us communicating clearly openly, being transparent, sharing information that people need oversharing in certain situations or a lot of situations and things that people can digest. That's an important thing. But sharing information, how much it's caused leaders team members to make sure that they are sharing incredibly well communicating incredibly openly with other team members as well. It is fun to watch my team or even just hear stories about my team from other leaders about how incredibly well they communicate. And the great thing is, it shapes your culture, folks, this is incredibly important.

Do you want a culture of not sharing of only communicating, when it seems necessary? What's the what's the military saying, You need to know communication. No, you don't want that. You want team members who are communicating, effectively, and openly with transparency. You want team members who are communicating, and setting each other up, it changes in sets your culture. So everybody stepping into that culture understands, oh, this is how we operate. Everybody seems to be sharing, and I'm not. So I must step it up. Somebody new coming into your culture, realizes they've got to learn how to communicate really well. But if they have a teacher who is leading well, then they can help them to get there. So make sure that you're encouraging team members to voice their ideas, to voice their concerns, you know, make sure that you praise it, make sure that you share how it helps out, when they do, make sure that you respond well in healthy ways to concerns and feedback, don't be the kind of person who just shoots it down and become super self-protective and defensive. Make sure that you respond very healthy. If you flip out or get angry, or you shut it down, then guess what nobody will share. If you're the type of person who's so insecure that you freak out when people are sharing concerns. Even if you don't think you are, if you just become controlling and dominant in those moments, then what you'll see is people will shut down the bottom, I don't want to share anything, that guy, that guy becomes a jerk. Every time I try to share something, it doesn't mean that every concern that's being shared is legit and accurate and all that.

So you know, surely there's gonna be plenty of times where there's not, but in how you handle it communicates the culture, that it is okay to share a concern. Now, there have been many times somebody has shared concerns, and it was just ridiculous. And it's just like, you know, okay, well, I hear that. Let me compare that to what's going on. Or let me think through that process with your leadership team, or whatever else, you know, and sometimes when it's silly, or I'll even ask questions and push back, hey, help me to understand that now I hear you saying this over here. helped me to understand that. Is this not this and this and this? And then somebody can go, oh, no, you're right. Absolutely. You know, treat them with dignity, treat them well. And then if it's something silly, it will be very apparent. But what I find is with my team, when we share concerns, they're legit concerns. And it's, it's just not that often, because we're constantly focusing on how do we make things better. And how do we fix things? So when a concern comes up, it's oh, let's look at that. Let's tackle it. Let's jump on it. Also, be specific about ideas and types of concerns you want people to share. That's important as well, you know, it may not be good enough to just broadly say, hey, I want you to share your concerns, because people assume stuff. And often, you know, that can be insecure. So you might hear some things that are just that you were not expecting, you might get blindsided with something that is just, you know, off the chart, inappropriate, that that can't happen, because somebody has been very insecure, and they haven't, you know, they've been making stuff up in their head or whatever.

So just be cautious. You can always tell somebody you know, in if they have something that is really what they feel is super concerning, or, you know, maybe personal then, you know, come see me personally, we'll talk through it. But it can be detrimental to have somebody share something in a team meeting that everybody looks at that person like, Well, you're a freak, that is not something you want, right? So make sure that you're sharing the types of concerns that you want them to share. Is it affecting their team? Is it affecting their their day to day job affecting, you know, how they interact with clients or vendors or you know, anything that has to do with making them successful? What do they do? If they are sharing gossip about some, you know, one of your big clients about to leave or something and it's not even remotely true. I don't know, that kind of stuff is just bound to come to you. Individually, right, the last thing we need. We don't need team meetings if we're discussing this in a team meeting. We don't need somebody to be sharing stuff that all of a sudden becomes super confusing and every change everybody's focused on is something that may be gossipy or not correct. Hopefully, that's coming through. Clearly. Hopefully, It makes a lot of sense. If you've ever experienced that you know exactly what I'm talking about, where somebody will hit something, and it takes you five minutes to pull everybody back because it's just outlandish. That happens once in a great while, right?

So just make sure you're clear on what you want them to, you know what concerns you want them to be sharing, don't shut down legit things, don't be shutting down stuff that's like you need to hear it. I'm just talking about stuff that is not important. That kinds of things that are affecting conversations or like I say gossipy stuff that just really doesn't matter. Benefit number five, is the unseen impact on personal development. Now, when you're effectively leading, not only does it benefit your team, but leader, listen to me, it affects your personal growth. Now, it makes so much sense if you've ever played any kind of sports or, or done anything, artistic music or whatever, it makes so much sense that practice makes better. There is no perfect on this side of heaven. Practice makes better. Right? I remember when I started racing Formula cars I, you know, played in lots of sports as a kid, when I started racing Formula cars, the thing I kept hearing from my coaches because I have coaches everywhere, I I like to steal other people's wisdom, I pay for it.

So I guess there's no stealing. You know, I like to pay people for their 10,000 hours of expertise. So I can, you know, plug it into what I'm doing. I used to hear all the time, you know when I would be frustrated that I wasn't able to do something that they were guiding me on, they would say it's it's just seat time, you just need more seat time, the more seat time you get, the easier that will come. And in the beginning, it was like I know what you're saying is true. But if you say can be done, how come? I can't do it? Shouldn't I be able to do it? No, you just need more seat time. And what they're saying is you need more practice, the more you practice, the more this will make sense. And in the moment, it will happen. And it is just so true. And so powerful in every aspect, right? Your leadership is going to grow, the more you practice it. The more you put your leadership in place, the more you effectively, intentionally lead your team, the more you're going to grow, the more you're going to learn, the more you're going to learn from failures, the more you're going to develop good habits, the more you're going to get comfortable. This is all gonna allow you to you know, operate differently at home that's going to free up your brain. It's going to help you to learn more. Why? Because now things are becoming easier. Intentional leading, makes leading easier. It doesn't make all leading easier. I should say it this way. It makes it more comfortable. Where you've done certain things so many times that it becomes second nature, right? There's things that people come to me with, and they're just like, Man, I got this big problem. Here's the question and I'm like, bam, bam, bam, like, wow, how do you have that answer? Because I've been through that 40,000 times. I've been there. I've done that. I know what it's like. So here's your answer, right? That practice of leading well intentionally leading, grows you, it helps you to lead well, it helps you to lead better, it helps you to grow not only in your business, but it helps you to grow at home as well.

So when you're leading a meeting, you know, there's many times that a lot of leaders, a lot of you know, young leaders are but also leaders that have been doing it for a while. They hate leading meetings because they always feel like it's just a colossal mess. So they go into a meeting, being afraid of leading the meeting, you know, being concerned, not wanting to waste people's time, thinking they're not going to get any good input. And so they rush through a meeting and they walk out and again they go, that sucked. That just wasn't good. Instead, if you intentionally look at that meeting as an opportunity for you to grow as an opportunity for you to become better at leading meetings, then guess what, you'll get comfortable. You'll settle in, you'll start to look at the meeting and go what is the most important stuff I get out of this knot? How fast can I get through this thing? And I hope it doesn't suck. One of the things I loved you know, I grew up racing and skiing. And somebody I greatly appreciate is a fantastic skier by the name of Michaela Schifrin I think she was 16 years old in the Olympics. And just powerful like, I can't remember I think she won the slalom. At that time. She's gone on to win multiple World Cup apps, all that kind of fun stuff. But back then she came off this Olympic run. And I hoped that I was going to someday ski in the Olympics, but that did not happen. But I see her come down this run 16 years old, and she's just like, hey, that was fun. That was great. You know, this,, the gal that was interviewing her is like, you're not even stressed out. And she's like, No, and I can't remember she said it was my dad, I think she said was my dad, she was now my dad always taught me to look at every single race as a practice race for the next race. You know, don't look at this as the race look at this as the race that you bust your butt as hard as you can. And you practice really well on this, because it's going to be a race that leads to the next race. And I carry that over into my racing later on in life and Formula cars, where when I would be in a championship race, I would try and convince myself to drive this race as hard as I possibly can. But driving it as a practice race, right in your doesn't mean you let off you drive it as hard as you can. But don't think of it as the race. Because when you put that kind of emphasis on it, you stress out when you freak you freeze. And I've had some of those early races where I was freaked out, right? Well, once I learned how to relax, then I could drive so much better and won some of those championships.

So you need to realize, if you are stressed out about stepping into a meeting, that this is like, you know, you've got to make this thing perfect, or you know, this is going to be a failure or think, guess what it is going to be a failure. Go into it and ask yourself this question. You know, how can I practice this meeting the best I can so that the next meeting gets better? And the next meeting gets better, and so on, and so on and so on. So that 100 meetings later, I'm like, man, I've grown in this, right? So the personal development is super important. You've got to continue to be growing as a leader, you've got to keep learning as a leader, you cannot stop, you're not going to get to a point where you're just like, okay, my leadership is great. This is as far as I need to go. Nope, you've got to keep growing. It's something for me, I always continue to grow and evaluate and learn and ask questions and gain perspective and, you know, constantly look at how can I be better at what I'm doing. So these are the five things that we think are great benefits to you. If you will intentionally lead Well, if you will make sure that you don't just lead in the moment, but that you focus on teaching active listening, that you focus on boosting your team's morale and confidence that the art of delegation is so powerful not only to you because it frees you up to do higher level things, but it is crazy empowering for your team. It shows on their trust that it shows in their value they'll get by and they'll get ownership super important thing as a leader, make sure that you're creating a culture of open communication where you have team members, not just you as a leader or your leadership team, but the entire team is communicating incredibly well. And don't stop focusing on your personal development. The more that you intentionally lead your team to become better, the more that you will become better. Now, I want you to also make sure that if you need any help on how to lead better, this is what we do go to Chris LoCurto.com. There are hundreds of free blog posts, podcasts, and other resources. We've been doing this for so long, we've stockpiled so much information across chrisLoCurto.com to help you lead better to help you get through specific situations to help you to grow and develop personally. Now, running your own small business means wearing a gazillion hats. One minute, you're crunching numbers the next year solving team issues, and the next year working hard to keep customers happy. It's a roller coaster we get it. Here are my thoughts.

Have you ever noticed how understanding yourself a bit better can make all of this simpler? Oh, that's where self-awareness steps in. It's like having a secret weapon that helps you tackle those everyday challenges with a bit more ease and a lot less stress. Imagine knowing exactly what makes you tick. What fires up your team and how to keep your cool even when things get hectic? That's the power of self-awareness. It's not just good for you. It's great for your business. And guess what? You can dive deeper into this at the Next-Level Leadership Live Event. It's happening April 17 through the 19th in Franklin, Tennessee. It's the perfect place to explore how self-awareness can transform your business and make your life a lot easier. So why not join us? Sign up now at Crystal crystal.com/events Remember, that's April 17. Through the 19th. So go to Crystal crystal.com/events To take advantage of early bird pricing, we sure hope that we get to see you there. Well, folks, that's all the time that we have for today. We hope that this information has helped you. As always take this information, change your leadership, change your business, change your life. And join us on the next episode.