575 | Leading Through Change: Your Questions Answered – Part 2

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 are onto part two, the questions and answers that we got from our Next-Level Leadership LIVE Event.

So we had a lot of people that, that asked questions, we answered a bunch at the event, and we had more than we could possibly, that we had time for. And it's such a powerful part of our event. We love it.

We love the things that people are wanting to know. I tried to answer all those last week, could not get to 'em all. So I'm going to attempt to finish the rest of them today.

Obviously, a lot of these questions, they're so good, they're so deep, they, they take a lot of explanation and sometimes have decent caveats to 'em and, you know, things like that.

So that is what we are hitting today. If you did not hear part one, you do not need to hear part one first, but I highly suggest that you do listen to part one.

Also, for more information to help you lead better, make sure that you go to chrislocurto.com. There is hundreds of free blog posts, podcasts, and all kinds of resources that help you to become a better leader.

So with that, onto the next question from the Next-Level Leadership LIVE Event Q & A.

Can you share your DISC and values and could you break down your strengths and weaknesses and how that has matured evolved over time?

Oh, okay. So I have to share something that's gonna surprise some people who've seen the, the Personality Styles video.

My personality profile is I am a 88 S, 67 I, and then I'm either a 40 or 50 D and a 40 or 50 C, I think I'm a 50 D and a 40 C there. You might have heard me say that I was a High D once.

This was many, many, many moons ago. And it was during a insane time of us doing a large number of events. I'm in an incredible number of events and we were all running super hard.

And in the midst of, I was a, I was gonna do the video shoot and I wanted to get a accurate up-to-date DISC, it was the worst time for me to take it because I pegged high D.

So, which I've never been, except during probably that season right there of like three or four months. And then afterwards, it was so funny because I struggled with it going how maybe something has changed in me and I don't know.

And then after that whole season, I just settled right back down into myself. A thing that is confusing for folks is that as a High S I'm very confident now, I still struggle with a lot of issues of being concerned about people.

I'll, I'll get into that in just a second here. The, the classic highest stuff. But because of the tools that we teach, for all of you that have been through next level life, you have learned and received those tools of how to overcome.

So listen, the very stuff that we teach is the stuff that we've been doing. I've been doing this stuff for a very long time, and that's allowed me to overcome the procrastination, the struggles, the, the avoidance of conflict.

I've been able to overcome that stuff to a point where I've been very good at facilitating conflict and helping people.

Those of you that have been through StratPlan, you see conflict at the table. It is not something that I shy away from.

It's something I lead people through. It's something I help people through because it's vitally important to get through that instead of just trying to let it sit there or avoid it or any of that.

I, I've learned a ton about how avoiding conflict is detrimental. So with that being said, my strengths, the funny thing is, is one of the strengths that I have, people would consider it to be a High D, is confidence.

I have a lot more confidence. I did not at all growing up, I had confidence in myself to myself, just not to people, right? If it came to opinions or judgment or anything like that, my confidence tanked, right?

But if it came to me in an individual sport, I, I grew up racing in, in skiing. I was very confident in myself in that aspect. As long as I could just focus on me racing formula cars, that is something I've always been very confident in myself because it's me.

I'm the one who's behind the wheel doing the thing that I'm doing, right. But I will tell you that whenever I was in public situations, I was very much a loner as a kid because I came from a lot of guilt and shame.

And so, one of the things that I learned is that if I surrounded myself with certain types of people, especially narcissistic people, then I would feel horrible about myself. It was just a matter of time before tons of guilt and shame were poured on top of me.

So I kept myself to myself for a long period of time, even though I loved people. I tried to help people. Even I, I could go back to elementary school of trying to help people solve problems and fix things, and nobody listens to a, a kid in fifth grade, I can tell you that.

But I remember my heart was there. I was there wanting to help and, and grow people as a fifth grader, I mean, for the love, right?

And that continued for a very long time until when I shared this on the last episode until I had been hurt so much because my values, my highest Value is Altruist. I had been hurt so much, which I allowed it.

I didn't realize I was allowing it to happen. But I'd been walked all over, stepped all over, you know, allowed myself to be a doormat to the people around me that I finally just swore off people for a while.

And a lot of God focus helped me to realize that was my own fault that I had allowed it to happen. So, a strength of my now is one. And I talked a little bit about this in the last episode.

I have no problem gaining perspective. I love to gain perspective. I love to know, you know, I love to what, what we call taxing the collective intelligence.

I love to know what the collective intelligence around me thinks, what they see, what they're experiencing. It doesn't mean that I use everybody's information, but I love to seek perspective. I love to seek experts.

Some of you guys that are are, are clients, are, you know, I'm constantly seeking you for coaching on stuff. Like, Hey, what would you do in this situation over here? Hey, how about this?

You know, things that, you know, we, we, we have a farm. And so Richard Gesell, yes, his last name is Gesell. What a great name for, for a vet. Quite often I'm like, Richard, what would you do? You know, what do you think about this situation with our, our milk cow? Because why?

Because I'm not the person who thinks I can solve this on my own. And I realize this is a big strength of mine. I will go to the expert very fast.

Why? Because I don't wanna waste time. The expert is the expert. They're an expert for a reason. I'm an expert at doing what I do for a reason. I've been doing it for so stinking long, right?

So I'm a coach. I coach, I seek coaches. I, you know, there was a time I probably had five different coaches in my life in all different aspects.

You know, racing, all, just all kinds of different things that I was doing at the time. I was paying for people to share their expertise so I could glean it super fast and become better, right?

So that is a strength of mine. I don't shy away from input. I don't shy away healthy input. Let me say it that way. I will definitely shy away from unhealthy input very quickly 'cause nobody needs that crap.

But I have no problem getting accountability. I have no problem seeking coaching from experts to help me solve stuff. I have no problem asking tons of questions to gain quality perspective.

And I have no problem learning that I'm wrong. I will tell you, I can't stand being wrong as a teacher. I can't stand.

I look back, there's things, you know, on the God aspect that I have learned that, you know, the Western Christian teaching system, which I was a part of, is very wrong on a lot of stuff.

And I led people in, in the wrong directions. I can't stand that, that breaks my heart. So I'm somebody who's like, I will gain perspective, even if I feel pretty confident about something, I will keep searching and learning and growing to see if maybe there's something that's wrong there.

Why? Because I'm an 88 Altruist. I don't want to hurt anybody. I want to develop and grow and get them the best information I possibly can. So those are some of my, I think, my best strengths.

While I have no problem being on stage, being on the mic, doing our events, being around our clients, being around, you know, people we love. I'm not a great networker.

So I am never gonna be the person who ever shows up at a networking event to have conversations with people who are really looking to see what they can get out of everybody else.

I, that is not my place. I'm not the center of attention. I don't love that stuff. But ask me a question of how to help you done.

I will step up, be there in a heartbeat, and see if I can't help you solve something, but just to be in crowds, to be in crowds, that's never gonna be me.

I'm not that guy. I love deep relationships. I love quality, authentic people. Those are things that are important to me, you know?

So a weakness of mine is that I just don't network well, and I know it. That may seem like, how can that be? Because you do a show and you do these events and everything. Yeah.

But these are, in my mind, super meaningful and helpful. I hope they're, I hope they're, but I just don't have time. I, I, there's too many people that need help.

I don't have time for, you know, just fluffy conversations or, you know, fluffy events or anything like that, right? That's just, that's something that, I don't know if that's a weakness.

It, it, I don't know. It's just something that I don't do well in a strength of mine is I've been able to understand my strengths and my weaknesses. I don't hide from that.

I am very willing to share with people what my weaknesses are. And the, especially when it comes to business, you know, I, I am never gonna be a great administrative person.

I'm not the guy you come to for details about things, to plan things. I'm not that guy. I probably don't even know the details back in the day.

So, Mary Beth Fortner was my personal assistant for six years and is one of my best friends on the planet. She used to tell me, I couldn't even touch the calendar.

She's like, when you touch it, you break things. So just don't even touch it. Leave it alone, right? Because I'm not that guy. I'm, I'm not good at that stuff. It's not that I can't do it.

I'm obviously intelligent enough to be able to operate a calendar. The problem is, is I'm not as detailed focused as she was, or as other people on my team are now. Right?

My, I'm, I'm an Altruist and a High S and, and a decently High I. If I could put it on my calendar, I'm gonna put it on there and I'm just gonna override something else.

So, so don't mess around with it, right? That's a weakness of mine. I'm not a very administrative person. Another weakness of mine is that, and this is from my wife, I do too much.

I have a tendency to wear myself out. I have a tendency to keep going because my heart is to take care of people. So I hope this is the information that the person that asked this question is looking for.

They're probably like, no, I specifically wanted to know this on the High S or high C. But yeah. So another weakness is that I tend to do too much. It's just a priority to me to help people.

So maybe what specifically they're looking for on this. Hopefully all of that's helped out. Maybe it has, or maybe that was just a wasted section of time.

Strengths with my, my DISC. I do believe because I am a 50 D, that I can drive things. I don't have a problem driving things.

I do not ever, I, I'm never excited about being the person who drives everything. I will. I enjoy driving things, but I really enjoy helping other people to become great at driving things as well, or helping other people to become part of the process.

I'm never gonna be the person who's like, I'm driving this thing. Get outta the way. I've got it. You know? I don't want your input. I don't want your help. That is never me.

I'm always looking for, you know, I, I get bored with just driving something. If I can help people become better, become great, fantastic. I'm all about it.

So, weaknesses in my D is that I can, if I am focusing in that D, sometimes I can be short on information, which is usually not a thing for me. I'm usually an overshare.

But sometimes I can find myself, like I'll send an email or something and it's, it's not long enough. It's, you know, just a few words or something.

And then I've then my, my S and my I kick in and I have to send a second email going, I'm so sorry, I should've said this and this and this. So, you know, that can happen from time to time. It's not often.

I mean, that's probably once in a really great while. My I, strengths and weaknesses. I think strengths are, I can be a people person. I am a people person. I used to be a people pleaser when I was younger.

Praise God. Worked through all that stuff. And that is not a big focus of mine. Again, next level life tools that we use and teach weaknesses cannot be short on details.

Now, this is a classic high I is being short on details, I think. So here's the funny thing about me is that I'm the kind of person who I know it's gonna bite me in the butt.

So I'll go ballistic on getting details, but I don't do it a hundred percent of the time. So that's a, a, a weakness there.

High S weaknesses could always be procrastination or pushing things off, but I'm pretty, that bit me in the butt way too many times when I was younger.

So I like to just hand handle things I hammered out, get it done, get it over with my scene. When I was younger in the nineties, I mean, it was a stretch to be a, a, a 10 on the C scale.

I just was not a detailed person. That is something that has come up over the years. I think I'm a 40 C now that has come up over the years because I have forced myself to be detailed. I have recognized, again, the things that bite me in the butt, and I don't like that.

So I've forced myself to be a High C. So hopefully that kind of covers the breakdown of strengths and weaknesses and how that's matured, evolved over time. Again, the maturity.

So I just shared with you some of those ways that have evolved over time, mainly because I don't like things biting me in the butt. That's a, that's a big piece.

But the maturity aspect has been, I can't keep living like this. I can't keep doing this. I don't have a problem with changing. Let's change. Let's move, let's focus on something better.

So that's how those have evolved over time. All right, next question. I've sold my business and retired. I know I sold prematurely. So how do I take the next steps to get back in the game?

I look at my age, sixties and wonder if I'm wasting my time going back. I can't sit still. I'm involved in ministry already, but I think I like the game more than the money.

Whew. Okay. So sixties, I'm not there yet. Got a ways to go. But I know, I, I understand where you're coming from. I've some of my fantastic friends and, and people that I have done business with over time.

I, I, I've coached and guided people in this situation. So I get it, even though I haven't experienced it in my sixties. I can tell you, as somebody who just turned 54 not too long ago, I understand the concept of people saying, I don't wanna retire, but I wanna slow down.

I, I get that. I, I'm more choosy in the things that I focus on nowadays. I wanna be more of a blessing than doing things just because I can do them. I think you understand that.

I think as I'm reading this, I think the, the big, the big statement here is I think I like the game more than the money.

So here's my suggestion. If getting back in the game is easy entry, if it is easy, if this isn't difficult, if this isn't gonna take, you know, nights and weekends away from you, if this isn't gonna affect your, your marriage or relationship with your kids, grandkids, whatever it is, then it's my, maybe it's something to consider.

You know, how long do you want to be able to do the game, right? How long would you like to do that? So that is definitely something to consider.

But I'm gonna weigh out, and I understand the, I can't sit still part, I get that. But I'm gonna weigh out how is this gonna impact the lives around me and how is it gonna impact me in the long run?

You know, if, if all of a sudden I'm back to work and, you know, entrepreneurs don't work 40 hour weeks, you know, we, we haven't seen a 40 hour week in, in decades.

So if I'm back to working, you know, 50, 60, 70, 80 hours a week, what does that look like, right? How does that impact me? Is that enjoyable? Is that fun?

So if the entry to it is easy, success is easy. You can pull this off and win easily, and you can have, most importantly an exit plan, great. Have fun, have at it, get back in the game.

My suggestion is what does it look like to not own that aspect of the game, but to be a participant? You're in your sixties, man. Your wisdom is probably gold to somebody out there. You know it.

What would it look like for you to be, you know, an emeritus version of a, a C-suite leader somewhere, you know, a, a mentor, a coach, maybe you know, you know, the industry, the game that you were in, maybe there is a, a market for you to be able to speak into those younger folks and lead and guide them.

If coaching is not your thing, and I can get that, I can understand that might be like, well, no, I actually want to do the game. Well then what does it look like to go be a part of somebody else's business?

Now, here's the thing, I don't know. What is your definition of the game? Is your definition owning the business, being the business owner, being an entrepreneur?

Well, then again, we gotta go back to the things I shared on the front side. Easy entry. You know, easy to success isn't gonna destroy your life, isn't gonna wear you down and stress you out, great. Go after it.

But if your definition of the game is the, the, the, the leading aspects of it, the creating vision and strategy, and making things happen and leading people to success, well then you can plug into a lot of places with your success level.

Especially since money is not the big concern here, that people would love to have somebody with your expertise.

The key is, and this is probably gonna shock a lot of younger folks out there, you can't go seek the the dollar figure that you used to make yourself helping somebody else out, right?

So if you go in there going, well, you know, Hey, I'll come and help you out, but I expect this massive salary. Probably nobody's gonna hire you.

If you love the game for the game, then what can you, what are you willing to get paid for your time? What is your hour worth? What is your time worth?

So I would spend time looking at that and seeing, you know, is it worth it? And at the end of all of this, you said that you're involved in ministry already.

What does that mean? How involved are your skills and talents being utilized correctly? Are you doing enough in ministry?

Is is, again, if it's the leading coaching aspect of it, then, and nobody can go own ministry. You know, ministry should never be a game. But what are, are there other aspects of things that you can do?

It's a great book by Bob Buford that came out decades ago called Halftime. And it was really pointing to, you know, what happens when you do retire? You get into the second half of your life and you wanna be more significant?

What does that look like? So I highly suggest Halftime - Bob Buford, not been through it in decades. I was very young as I experienced it because it was something that I was utilizing for a different aspect.

And now that probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense, which doesn't need to, but great information from Bob.

Check that out, because I think what you may enjoy is significance being significant to somebody else or other people more than just doing the game.

If I'm wrong, go back to the first part of my answer. All right, on to the next question.

My political, this is speaking to Values, Motivators. Political is one of the seven Values / Motivators. Political is the type of person who loves to lead things to success is the buck stops here kind of person.

You know, if, if everybody else leaves at five o'clock and the project's not done, this is the person that's gonna stay until eight and get it done because it had to get done.

They're gonna shoulder the responsibility of it. So they love leading people. They believe that they should lead people, even if they've never had leadership skills.

They believe that they should be leading people. So those are just a few aspects of what a High Political is.

My Political is 31, yet I feel like a lot of the definitions of a Political I resonate with. Can you help me to understand that?

Okay. So something to understand when we look at Values and Motivators is it's how much this motivates you, how much you value this. So let's say leading people, High Politicals believe that they should be leading people.

You may resonate with that even though you're 31, that may be something you resonate with, but it may not at a 31 be motivating you enough to go and do it.

The buck stops here. You know, you might be the person who loves the responsibility of accomplishing a task or a project or leading people to success, but it's not motivating you to go do those things.

So I think the big thing to understand with this question, if I'm understanding it correctly, maybe there's more information that's missing from the question itself, is resonating with the definitions of a Value or a Motivator is, doesn't mean that it motivates you to a high level, right?

I completely resonate with the concept of ROI on my time, ROI, on my finances, ROI, on my, my resources. But I'm not motivated enough by that to be a High Economic, because what really truly motivates me is my Altruism. So Altruists, we don't value our time as far as Return On Investment.

We hope that our time is going to bring a quality change, a quality development in somebody's life, but if it doesn't, we did what we believed we were supposed to do.

So while I resonate with the definitions of a high Economic, it doesn't motivate, you know, money is a scorecard, does not motivate me enough to be a high Economic.

So I hope that makes sense on that question. And again, anybody whose question you've sent in, and if, if there's more details to it, great! [email protected], send us more information.

We'd love to be able to answer that. Alright, question number nine. I, I did five on the first episode up to question number nine on this one.

How do you continue to help someone on your team who does not want it?

It feels like there is little to no return on your investment into them.

Oh boy. Oh, okay. I wish this had an easy answer. It just doesn't because there's so many possible elements. And as a leader, as a coach, I'm gonna tell you, you need to start with you.

Is it possible? And listen, just follow me on this. Don't be offended by this. Just listen to me because this is how you solve and grow you.

This is how you become a better version of yourself. Is it possible that your style of leadership or giving input your words, that you choose your tone, your body language, is it possible?

Always start with you. Always start with you. Is it possible that you're not leading this person very well?

Is it possible that you think you've convinced yourself, you're doing a great job, but the other person's just offended, or the other person just feels belittled all the time, or the other person feels like you don't give a rip about them?

Start here as somebody who is a High Altruist and a High SI will tell, and those aren't the same thing, but they do have some similar characteristics to them.

I will tell you, I am constantly looking to see how people respond to what I do. I shouldn't say constantly, but a lot of the time, probably the bulk of the time, I am looking to see how did that land, you know, if I say something, how did that land?

Why did they respond that way? How come they did that? I'm always looking, and that's what's made me really good at doing what I do, is that I pay attention to how I influence and affect people.

It does not mean that I do well for everybody. It does not mean that I don't screw it up. It, it's funny, some folks think because of my confidence that when they come they, well, I don't wanna do Next-Level Life with Chris.

He's probably harsh folks. Nothing could be further from the truth. For me, my coaching and leading is into a person's personality style.

So for me, I want the best for somebody, right? So I'm constantly paying attention to how I'm leading them. You know, if I'm not influencing them well, why not?

So I'm always gonna start with me and see if I'm doing something wrong. If I am struggling to know that answer, maybe I'm looking at myself going, I'm, I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, then I'm gonna go to somebody around me that I'm very close to and that I trust because they're healthy and I'm gonna ask them to evaluate it.

Tell me what you think. You know, there have been times, it's so funny, I, a couple years ago I came to Joel and I, I had a conversation with somebody who was just total victim mentality, nonstop, super controlling.

And I had a response to them that caused me to go, Hmm, maybe that wasn't my best response.

And so I pulled Joel aside, I'm like, Hey, question for you, how did I handle that? He's like, well, you actually could have handled that better.

He said, your response, and I, I can't remember exactly what the response was or what it was, but he pointed out, this was your, your response was you were just super frustrated with their continued victim mentality.

And I'm like, yep, that's exactly where I was. I was, I was super frustrated with the nonstop victim mentality, but instead of being somebody who cares more about the other person, in that moment, my frustration caused me to respond.

Frustrated, didn't help the other person out, right? So the moment that it happens, I'm seeking wisdom.

Did I do something wrong? And by the way, it wasn't, I didn't rip anybody's head off or yelling, scream or anything like that.

I just responded with, you know, something along the lines of this is absolutely unnecessary, that you're being this much of a victim.

Something like, I, I don't even think those, that was the words, but it was something along those lines. So don't take it to the extreme.

There wasn't any yelling or screaming or anything like that. 'cause that's just pointless. So check on you first. How are you doing? How are you leading, how are you responding?

What does your input look like? Seek somebody else who's healthy and say, Hey, here's a conversation that I had with this person.

This is the input that I gave them. What do you think about that? How would you have received that? And that, that's another thing that I will always ask people.

If I see that something didn't land well I'll, I'll be like, Hey, how did you just receive that? And then people feel like they can be honest.

They will open up and go, well, I feel like you just said this. And I'm like, no, no, no, my bad. Let me pull that back. That is not what I meant at all.

Let me say it this way. Does that land? Yes. Okay, great. Moving forward, start with you. Most important piece.

If after you have thoroughly evaluated yourself, had somebody else thoroughly evaluate you, then you need to start asking the question, why does this person struggle with input?

And you may very well need to ask the person. So for me, I'm not gonna spend time speculating. I'm not gonna spend time, you know, in fear mode or assumption mode.

And, you know, coming up with all the reasons why I think this person doesn't want help, I'm gonna ask them. I'm just gonna bust up in there.

This is, you know, so going back to the first question, some of my strengths, I, I, I got so sick and tired of assuming things and being wrong about stuff and it creating conflict.

I just finally got to a point where I'm like, just ask the person, right? So what I would do is I would go to them, I would, I would go probably to a good neutral space.

Maybe not in your office or you know, but someplace that both of you feel comfortable. And I would just say, Hey, I'm struggling with something and I am hoping that we can have an honest conversation about this because I would love to know the truth.

I would love to know what's behind this. So please, let me just finish what I need to say and then I wanna hear everything from you. Okay?

So here's the thing I'm struggling with. I am wanting, I feel like I'm trying to invest into you and into growing you and into helping you. But it feels like, and I'm gonna say feels, I'm not gonna set your reality.

I'm gonna say it feels like you don't want any help, or at least that you don't want it from me. So that's what I'm experiencing.

So look at the words I'm using. I'm using the word feels. So you're not saying you don't want any help, you don't set the other person's reality 'cause you don't know that's true.

I'm saying this is what I'm experiencing. Why is that important? Because it, once again, we're not setting a reality. Well, you're doing this and therefore this is what's happening.

Instead, I'm using those terms to say, I want you to know this is what I feel and this is what I feel like I'm experiencing. But I need to know if I'm just way wrong.

I need to understand and maybe, maybe something has happened that you don't want any input. That's what I wanna talk to you about right now. So with that, can you tell me your thoughts on that?

So what I've just done with that discussion is I've not set the reality, I have not caused them to be super defensive, right?

And if they become super defensive, then it's easy for me to go, whoa, I'm so sorry, but I didn't say you don't want help. I said, it feels like I'm experiencing you not wanting help. I'm not saying that you don't.

I'm wondering what I'm getting wrong that allows you to back, back out, have good quality conversation, get back on the right, you know, track the right rails there and move forward.

This should big asterisk on this one should allow them to feel like they can open up to you. This should allow them to feel like they can be honest with you.

If what you find out is they just really don't want help or they feel like they're doing everything well, then I'm going to go to my expectations of this person.

I'm always gonna have accountability. I'm always gonna have KRAs, I'm always gonna have discussions on, you know, why they're not doing better or how they could do better. Right?

I'm always gonna go back to the accountability piece. So if they don't, and even if they, you know, say that they want help, then okay, then we need to nail down what that looks like.

How do you receive help? Best? You know, here's my style. Does that work for you? Does it not work for you? What works for you? If at the end of the day they're like, no, I feel like I'm doing great.

Okay, well then let's go back and make sure we're nailing your KRAs at a hundred percent because I don't feel like you are, or whatever, right?

If they're not doing what you expect of them, then you've got to hold them accountable to that piece.

If they are doing what you expect of them and you know they're nailing their KRAs, they're doing everything you've asked them to do, is it you that has the struggle? Is it you that has the problem?

So lots to think through, lots to consider. Start with you, focus on you first. See if it's you. That's the problem. And then dig in.

And I, like I say, you, you it for so many people, you just gotta get over the fear of conflict. Gosh, I don't think I could go ask them. You know, if they don't want input, what if they said they don't?

What does that say about me? It doesn't say anything about you yet. It might be the very thing you need to hear to adjust the way you give input. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Fear is just ridiculous, right?

Most nine-- I'm gonna tell you, 98% of fear is, is just imagined, it's not even real.

Not even legit. It hasn't even happened yet. So get in there, see what they're experiencing, take that information and make decisions from you.

Folks. If you've been listening to me for any length of time, then you know the number one issue when it comes to business, when it comes to family, when it comes to friendships, is having a lack of high quality communication to make sure that you are absolutely winning in every aspect of your life.

It all starts with having great communication. The best way to get that communication is to understand your personality style and to understand the personality style of the folks that you're spending the most time with, whether it be at work, whether it be at home.

The best way to do that is to go to chrislocurto.com/store and get your personality profile and personality profiles for your team today.

Get it for your family members today. As you go through that profile, you will begin to see the greatest ways to communicate. Go to chrislocurto.com/store today.

Last question. Gosh, this has been so good. I hope you guys are enjoying this. I, I, I love the quality of these questions and, and what people are thinking and hopefully I'm answering them the way that they're wanting to hear and that I haven't misunderstood the questions themselves.

So, last question:

How do I help my leadership team understand that the top salesperson is also very toxic to the rest of the staff?

Woo. Okay, I'm gonna make an assumption here. So maybe I need to hit this from both angles.

I'm gonna assume this is a, a team member, not a team leader that is needing to help the leadership team understand if it's a team leader, that's easy.

If you're like business owner or president, CEO, whatever you are, and you need to help your other leaders know you have that conversation, you dig in and you point out the things that you're seeing, the things that you're experiencing, you do it from a fact-based discussion, right?

But you also do it with a taxing, the collective intelligence discussion, right? You don't go in there and say, this person sucks. This person is just toxic.

You use information, you tax the collective intelligence. You, you know, understand some people may become very protective, like maybe that person's leader may become very protective in that moment.

So you, you point that out. Hey guys, I don't want you to be, I don't want anybody in this discussion to be taking this personally. If I'm, if what's I'm seeing is happening, then you protecting that person is just gonna create more problems.

So let's have a good quality discussion. Let's get through this. So those are the types of the things that you would do. If this is a team member and you're experiencing the salesperson, ugh, this is tough. This is tough.

I am so blessed to have had some team members come to me once and with somebody that I had hired in somebody that was actually more pushed on me from another leader.

And it just, when I hired this person in, they were an absolute island in a wreck and just a pain in the butt and had to work on this for a very long time.

I was blessed. I hadn't seen everything yet. I'd seen certain aspects that I was working on with this person, but I hadn't seen how they were treating the rest of the team yet.

And so I was blessed to have a team that trusted me and could be vulnerable with me and came to me and said, you know, he's a jerk to everybody else, right?

You know, he doesn't, he doesn't work with anybody, which allowed me to dig in deeper. I just happened to be the type of leader who wanted to hear that information and then wanted to fare it out to find out if it was true or not, right?

If it was not true, then I was gonna push back on my victim mentality team, which they were not victims. But if they were responding that way, then I was gonna push back.

Maybe this person just made them feel uncomfortable. You know, they were, they maybe they were too set in their ways and the salesperson was just rocking the boat.

I needed to find that out. And what I found out is they were absolutely correct.

This was somebody who was using people going along, getting people to do work for him, treating them like crap, didn't want to be a part of.

And that's one of the things they said. They said, you know, he's not a team player. Didn't want to reciprocate, didn't want to be a part of anything that had to do with the team.

It was, how could I use the team to my own success and then do my own thing and, and be an island?

You gotta, the first place you gotta start is asking yourself the question, how was your leadership team going to respond to this information?

One of the crappiest things, and I'm, I'm assuming this is why you're asking the question, this is another assumption I'm gonna make.

I'm assuming that your fear is, is that leadership team cares more about the sales than the team itself. You know, the sales coming from this salesperson is justifying the toxicity that the team is experiencing.

I am assuming that's what you mean and that, or that's what you're experiencing or that's what you're afraid of.

I should say that, here's the deal, there's not a whole lot you can do about that except bust on up in there and share some information.

Now, when I say bust up, I should, I should rephrase that. What I would do if I were you is I would go to the sales team leader or you know, whoever the leader is over this person.

And I would try to have a discussion with that person about the toxicity that you're seeing.

Now, once again, you need to define what toxicity is. You know, what is your definition of toxicity?

May not be the same as somebody else's, but I would try to speak to the, the direct leader over that person and explain the things that you're experiencing.

Just know that it may not go very far. I believe you probably already know that because that person most likely is going to protect a living daylights outta that salesperson because that's the success that they receive.

You know, if that person is being successful and is bringing in money and all that kind of stuff, then they're probably being incredibly lenient and allowing a lot of things to pass by.

So I'd start there if you feel like you can, but I would, knowing that it's probably not going to get resolved there. You may need to have a discussion if, if your company is the kind of company, and in my company, if your leader can't handle it, go to the next leader above them. If that leader can't handle it, come to me.

We'll solve it, we'll figure it out, we'll discuss it. If the leader should have handled it and didn't, then that's gonna be a big discussion with me and that leader, praise God, I never have those stuff is always solved before it gets some 99% of stuff solved before it ever gets to me.

So if you don't have that kind of leadership, then what you may need to do is you may need to recognize that you can only do so much.

You know, share what the leadership team, what you're feeling, what you're experiencing, do it from a, a nice caring tone. Not from a, this person's just a jerk and y'all don't care about it. Y'all don't care about us.

I would point out the aspects of how that toxicity is affecting the team. Try not to speak for everybody else.

Because many times as a leader, I will tell you myself, if somebody comes in and goes, you know, this person is, or this thing is affecting all of us, well, who appointed you to be the person to speak for everybody?

How about you speak from your aspect and then I'll, if, if I feel like there's something legit, I'll go find out what everybody else, many times people will use the all of us station that, that, that position so that they can, 'cause they feel like that's gonna garner more power in the conversation.

What you don't realize is for somebody who is going to be the type of person to check everything out, when you take that position, I'm gonna assume you're being strategic and not being genuine and authentic, that you're using this to try and create more power in your discussion.

So be cautious not to go speak for everybody. You know, make sure that you're laying out your points the way that you feel. And if you don't have a leadership team that cares, if you don't have a leadership team that desires to find out whether or not this is true, then you've got to make a decision on how you're gonna respond from there.

Are you okay with getting back to work and doing your best job that you possibly can? Do your work as unto the Lord? Don't do your work as unto man.

Do your work as unto the Lord, busting it, getting things done, having integrity, doing all of this stuff or not. 'cause if it's an or not, then I think you need to leave.

You know, if, if you can't convince leadership that something is going on or something that needs to be adjusted and they need to do something about it and the toxicity continues and it continues to make you toxic, there's no point in staying.

There just isn't. And if you can't do your work as unto the Lord in any position, I don't care where you are, great culture, crappy culture, doesn't matter, then you probably need to leave and go somewhere where you can, right?

Because this is a day that God has given you to bust it. This is a day that God has given you to be successful at something. You know, hopefully it's for the right things. So do it. Utilize it.

You have a company who's paying you a paycheck, they're expecting you to bust it, do it right? But if the toxicity is too much and nobody's willing to do anything about it, then you might need to step on out.

Or if you just can't handle it because it's gonna continue to make you more upset, frustrated, unable to do your job or toxic, then I think it's time to get out.

Thank you for asking that question. The tough part of that question isn't talking to leadership. The tough part, and this is my assumption, is trying to convince a leadership team who probably cares more about the money that's coming in from that top sales person.

Then how they're affecting the rest of the staff. I hope that's not the situation. I hope that's not the situation. I hope you have somebody or a leadership team that really cares about people.

I am going to tell you, I'm always gonna put my culture first over any individual. If I have an individual who is an island who is cares about themselves, who is toxic, then I am always gonna care more about the culture than I am that person. 'cause guess what?

I can get rid of one top salesperson and replace that person. I can get more sales. The last thing I want to do is lose the culture of my business and lose quality team members. I don't wanna lose champions off my team.

Even champions in a toxic environment will only work at about 50% productivity. Think about it, what would you do if you're in a toxic environment? You may be in one.

So ask yourself, how much do you enjoy it?

All right folks, well that's all that we have for today. I love these questions. Thank you to everybody at Next-Level Leadership LIVE Event who was, you know, vulnerable enough to, to send these questions in and you know, ask the questions at the event.

We're so glad we got answered what we did there two episodes to just answer these questions here. Lots of information. I hope you enjoyed this.

If you have questions [email protected], we will try and answer those as well.

Also, again, it means so much to me. If this is valuable to you, please help us to help other people by going and and giving us however many stars you want to please leave a review that helps us to reach more lives.

As always, take this information, change your leadership, change your business, change your life, and join us on the next episode.