The Leadership Stack Podcast

So Patrick asks, are there things that you did during the pandemic that you integrated it in your business, paid off really well, and you are going to adapt them even after the pandemic ends? JC: One of the things is to keep the main thing, the main thing. To focus, really focus, really do hyper focus because we really used to do that. We had a lot of opportunities to be canteen concessionaires. A...

Sean: I have a question about what you just said, because if leading is more like coaching and facilitating , and scheduling one-on-ones, and doing it and asking them how they're doing, and that takes time. What about the legwork? How would a leader manage the legwork that he or she has? Plus doing those one-on-ones which you mentioned before that it would just happen in the water cooler. It would...

Sean: A sales team like that, bro. How did you build a sales team like that? Because it’s hard. Honestly, one of the teams that are most difficult to build is the sales team. It’s one of the, if not the most difficult. But how did you do it, to have a passionate sales team, caring about their targets? Because look, if they don't bring home the bacon, nobody eats anything. Right? Even the owners do...

Sean: How do you suggest that we are able to teach or to share our culture with this new hire? How can this new hire be immersed with our team's culture? Are there steps, softwares, et cetera that we can use and utilize? Brett: The first thing that has to happen is you have to define your culture because you can't teach it. If it's not defined. Osmosis isn't going to happen anymore. So without osm...

Sean: So we discussed how your people are maintaining safe distance. You mentioned some of those safety protocols. Now a follow up question is from Pam, what are your strategies for adapting your business to the new normal? So you discussed the protocols. How about pivoting? You mentioned the Juan Carlo to-go. You mentioned the selling of the unused perishable goods earlier. What else did you do t...

Sean: Is there any other roadblock why we see so many companies being lazy? Brett: The main reason CEOs and leaders don't do this properly is because they don't know how. The majority of leaders want to build a strong, functional culture. They don't want a weak, dysfunctional culture you know. But it's, "we are busy". You know, "we're fighting fires, we're hiring more people, we're scaling the bus...

Sean: So from Erika, one of the, actually a really good question. As a business owner, how have you taken care of your people since the pandemic? JC: I just want to share this realization. Because well when the pandemic started, there's a lot, there's a lot of things. It started with of course, we gave them food, food packs for our people. We gave cash out of pocket as well, aside from the fact th...

Sean: I wonder how many organizations you coach that make hiring mistakes and what do you do to improve that? Jeff: You look at a couple of problems. One is job descriptions. Most jobs descriptions I look at, there's no one that meets that criteria. They just aren't made the job descriptions are there the purple unicorn with pink stripes. But if people, if you're going out and look and people say,...

From Mich, what is your best negotiation success story? I guess maybe one of the toughest clients you've ever closed that you thought maybe you weren't going to be able to close it, but you did. Can you suggest any negotiation techniques that have worked for and on you? JC: Actually my dad and my sales group are the one directly handling sales. I don't do direct sales. But the one that I've done,...

Sean: Authenticity, accountability, and acceleration. What do these mean? And why is it so important to you? Jeff: I'm going to go in reverse order. I'm going to start with accountability. Accountability is, I believe a largely misunderstood concept. Everybody wants more of it, but they're not getting it because they're looking at, I'll just use the word wrong. Because I constantly hear people in...

Sean: Alright. We see that China is really growing, becoming a superpower. What are your thoughts on investing in China? Do you have China companies in your portfolios as well? Marvin: I have none. But if I know how to speak Mandarin, I will study how to speak Mandarin. Almost all of the investors I follow, they are saying the same things, China, China, China, China, China, China, China, China. Of...

Sean: So I wonder when you told your wife that, Hey, you know what, I think this is what I want to do. How did you figure that out? How did you know that “I want to take the consulting and coaching and speaker road instead”? Jeff: I told my partners, I told everybody at the firm, we didn't tell the clients yet, but I told them, look, I'm leaving. That's a done deal. And what I did was I just start...

Sean: What are your top investments during the pandemic? Marvin: Your top investments, pandemic, no pandemic, good economy, bad economy, should always be the same. That should not change because your skill set for it should be the same. good economy or bad economy. So what works for you when things are good should also be the ones that will work for you when things are bad. Because that’s where yo...

Sean: What happened in between? Tell us about those 17 years and then tell us about the 19 years. Jeff: You're right. You used the word aspiring, you know, people aspire to be a lawyer and that's absolutely what it was for me. I guess ultimately one of the problems, if I re or unpacked my life is I had a reason to become a lawyer, but it wasn't a very good one. But the main reason I did it is, you...

Sean: For those who are listening in right now and maybe they're thinking, oh, there are also people who came to me and asked me to invest in their private or startups, what’s your advice? What are the first things you look at, first red flags that you check out before you even move on in the conversation? Marvin:  I realized that you're investing in the person more. Unlike in stocks, in the stock...

Sean: I've read your bio and you mentioned that there was a time in your life when you lost everything and nearly your life. I'm not going to ask you for the details, but I want to talk about hitting rock bottom. How you got back up? Can you tell us about that? David: To those who are listening, I own my L's, I've made massive mistakes. I mean, I'm really screwed up. Mine was based around alcohol...

What are the top five investments for new graduates or fresh grads to invest in and to start to accumulate? Marvin: If I’m a fresh grad, I’d still do stocks and I'd still go into business. That’s it. I don't know if I'll do bonds if I’m a fresh grad. I don't know if I'll do it. Anything that has maybe a high degree of risk, I will try it earlier on. So I think that's how I will look at it. Anythin...

Sean: How do you negotiate? David: So I think a lot of things depend on products. I value my product. Now I do offers. It's a marketing technique. I don't lie about that. That's true. I value every person that wants to start with me. But I have a pipeline that is thick enough, so I don't need the business. If you are worried about whether you should take the business or lower your price, because y...

We have a business question from Richard. He says, Hi. I started doing pasabuy kind of business by reselling products from overseas. Such as IKEA small items and kids' stuff. It's been a month since I'm doing this. And there's, it seems like there's no one who would like to buy from me. Any advice if you think this business is wrong? I'm an introvert. And somehow I'm asking people to buy my stuff....

Sean: What are some of the best tactics, not strategies, but tactics that you carry with you in closing deals? David: So first off it goes into mindset. You gotta go in there with "this is a sales process." Even if you're making your mate for a coffee, you either meet him for a coffee you're meeting actually as a sales professional. And if you're a sales professional, you need to have the focus me...

What are your thoughts on getting further studies like an MBA or master's degree? Do you think it's still important for an entrepreneur? Jayson: As long as you're doing it for the right reasons. Because there are a lot of people who take MBA for the wrong reasons. They think that it will add more credibility for them. But if you're doing it to really learn and to upgrade, enhance yourself, yeah, t...

Sean: How did it look like going from where you were? How did you become the sales person that you were? David: If you realize that it comes to the stage where a lot of people get high on their own supply. And in their mind, they heightened themselves up to being the greatest, or they get the bad case sort of the excuses or exercises where they just don't progress. I moved into sales and I wasn't...

How are you confident in speaking in front of other people? How are you not awkward? Jayson: You have to do your homework and you have to know your audience. So before you speak, before I speak, I study my audience, who my audience would be. I think that's one of my strengths as a speaker. I can speak to different groups. From top-level to public, from students to CEOs, entrepreneurs, and it's lea...

Bruno: A win-lose doesn't mean only win-lose with this customer. So you will, first of all, this customer is losing. You’re winning. But you will lose this customer and you will lose potential customers that could have come if this customer was satisfied. If the customer was satisfied, they could have brought to your company additional customers. So you're not only losing this customer while you'r...

Is there a best leadership personality or what for you is the best leadership personality? Jayson: Okay, great question. Leadership is mostly about styles and there's no one style that is better than the other style, but it depends on the situation and the context. And the best leaders are those who can be more flexible. Because he, who is the most flexible, has the most influence. And leadership...