The Metiss Group just wrapped up an invaluable week at Entrepreneur’s Organization NERVE in Atlanta.
Our very own Cyndi Gave was honored to speak at this event and presented on “I Hired Workers But Human Beings Showed Up, Now What?” In addition to The Metiss Group's involvement, there were dozens of incredible takeaways we feel compelled to share.
Now that we’re all back at our desks, it’s time to implement what we’ve learned in our day-to-day work. Here are three takeaways from three different NERVE speakers that we at The Metiss Group found inspiring — plus one takeaway from The Metiss Group.
1. Hire for where you’re going, not where you are
What you need when you start a business isn’t exactly what you need as you grow.
Elf on the Shelf Co-CEO Christa Pitts started the business with her mother and twin sister. Things started small. At EO NERVE, Christa shared that she believes that you should “grow where you’re planted.” You don’t have to go big to be successful.
In the beginning, their core group of employees was about 18 people (including Christa, her mom, and her sister). They sold Elf on the Shelf at small Christmas markets.
But then they had an unexpected appearance on The Today Show. This brought such an overwhelming amount of traffic to the website that PayPal shut the website down temporarily.
Further successes included a Christmas special on Netflix. Then Elf on the Shelf had its own balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was time to scale up.
Now, the business has 120 full-time employees who “work for Santa Claus,” Christa said.
And the team grows during the Christmas season. Customer service and marketing in particular need lots of support as children from around the world call the office to “get in touch with Santa.”
“One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received is to hire for where you’re going, not for where you are,” Christa said. “It is so hard to make that leap in your business. It’s hard to recognize what you can do and what you can’t do and then take the next step.”
When you’re thinking about how to scale your business, Christa said you should identify what’s eating your bandwidth. Then hire for that position.
At The Metiss Group, we’ve heard similar things from our clients. For Brian Marr, CEO of National Wholesale Printing Corporation, growing the business meant Brian was stuck putting out fires instead of being the visionary his company needed. By hiring an integrator, he now has a clear plan for implementing his ideas.
2. Do one more thing, one more time
When Paralympic skier Josh Sundquist was just 9 years old, he was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and given a fifty percent chance to live. He had to amputate his left leg at the hip.
This put his dreams of playing soccer on the travel team on hold. But he got back up from it and learned how to ski while on chemo.
He set his sights on a new dream: skiing in the Paralympics. He wrote a motto on his skis to stay inspired: “1MT1MT.” It stood for “One more thing, one more time.”
This means doing one more thing than what you feel like doing. Because successful people do one more thing than everyone else.
So for Josh, this meant getting to the slopes earlier than everyone else. Getting in one more run than everyone else. Getting back up when he fell. One more thing, one more time.
When notifying athletes who qualified for the Paralympics, Josh discovered that they were only taking the top 20 skiers – and Josh was ranked No. 20.
Which “one more thing” pushed Josh over the edge? What if it was just one more ski run that gave him an advantage over the person who ranked No. 21? That’s the thing about hard work as an entrepreneur – you have to believe that what you’re doing is important because you often won’t see the results immediately.
So ask yourself, what’s one more thing you could do today to get closer to the future you’re training for? What’s one more thing you could do to make a difference in the lives of your customers?
3. People who understand people always win
Rohit Bhargava is on a mission to unleash non-obvious thinking. In his introduction at EO NERVE, it was revealed that Rohit hates cauliflower.
There were a few surprised laughs in the audience. Why would this person introduce Rohit with that strange fact?
But then Rohit took the stage and introduced non-obvious thinking. Each attendee was tasked with finding a stranger in the room and sharing a non-obvious fact about themselves.
If you looked around the room at that moment, you’d see a crowd full of people engaging in meaningful conversations – not just talking about the weather or the stresses of work.
According to Rhohit, there is a life-or-death power to understanding people. People who understand people always win. If you don’t understand people, how will you influence them?
Relationships are the foundation of trust
Rohit's message ties into one of the common takeaways people had from Cyndi Gave’s presentation at NERVE.
She encouraged attendees to learn the names of their direct reports’ children, spouses, and pets. Why? Because relationships are the foundation of trust, and you can’t have high performers without trust.
Cyndi also shared her "magic" four-step model for giving feedback.
Start with an introduction using first-person "I" statements.
Describe the behavior.
Describe the impact the behavior is having on others.
Give the person accountability. Say, "What can you do to fix this?" Don't just give them suggestions, or else they might say, "Yeah, but..."
When you put all the pieces together, it looks like this:
"I'm a little concerned because I know you're an incredible leader and would do anything for your team, but when you're in my team meetings, it appears you don't respect people. There are some things you do, like rolling your eyes or sighing out loud. The impact is that other people feel like you don't want to be there, but they don't want to say anything in case speaking up would put them on the receiving end of those behaviors. So what can you do to change it?"
See you next time at EO NERVE!
Thanks again to everyone who contributed to a great week in Atlanta. Entrepreneurship is all about trying, failing, and learning from others – so it’s incredibly impactful to hear and learn from the successful entrepreneurs at EO.
If you missed Cyndi’s presentation, have no fear. You can still download the recording by filling out the EO NERVE form. Or to learn more about the topics Cyndi discussed, visit The Leadership Academy™ page.