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In this week’s episode, Shannon + Joey continue diving into the idea of No Bad Teams, specifically going deeper on the idea of where good teams come from.  Starting with the idea of extreme ownership, and then ending with learning how to empower your team so that you can step into the leadership role that you’re meant to have, this week’s episode will leave you excited and ready to move towards creating solutions and taking responsibility for your team's shortcomings. 

What does it mean to have no bad teams? Seems like quite the polarizing statement.  In this engaging discussion, Devin and Shannon dive into the meaning behind our statement of “No Bad Teams” and our take on empowering leaders to take Extreme Ownership over everything they have their hands on in their business. We talk about the costs associated with bad teams, give some well known household examples of bad teams, and at the end we remind our listeners that the best way to move forward is to truly lead by example and take that approach of Extreme Ownership and really own your business.  Don’t forget to come back next week as we dive into part 2 of this discussion and talk about where do bad teams actually come from.

When hiring an “A” player, we are not just focused on one thing about the candidate - instead, we are focused on multiple things, making sure to ask pointed questions to get to know the candidate.  Hiring a culture fit matters, and asking questions to learn the candidate's experience and competency is also important. Our suggestion to you - be sure to take the time to ask the hard questions and use the tools and resources that are available to you through many channels to be able to dig deeper in confirming that the candidate is in fact, an “A” player.

Hiring an “A” player means that you are choosing to hire for culture and character over hiring for a need to fill a role.  At Axiom, not only do we teach other businesses how to hire for longevity, but we also follow this proven process when hiring for our internal team.  Tune into our most recent episode, where we talk about hiring “A” players by having a candid conversation with Devin and our newest consultant, Shannon. 

What does it look like to turn over the keys to a company’s culture? We work with a lot of 2nd and 3rd generation family businesses, and most of them do a pretty good job of paying attention to how stock will be transferred for estate and trust taxes, how the org chart needs to be adjusted for new roles and responsibilities…even the schedule of future monthly or quarterly meetings that Gen 1 and Gen 2 will have together to smooth over any bumps in the road after the announcement. But precious few pay as much attention to making sure the culture stays robust and healthy through the change. In this episode, Joey and Devin walk through what culture is and what it means to hand over those intangible keys to the heartbeat of a business.

Thomas Hlohinek (pronounced Low-he-nik) is the founder of Rise Financial Partners and also serves as the Executive Director of the Manasota Christian Community Foundation.

We all understand when parents want to hire their adult kids to work alongside them in the business. What parent wouldn’t want that opportunity? But sometimes mom and dad can unwittingly set the stage for failure before Gen 2 has a chance to earn their first pay check. In this episode of The Axiom Podcast, Joey and Devin discuss the best way to bring Gen 2 into the business and how it can be a significant competitive and cultural advantage, rather than a distraction or worse, a toxic blow to the culture.

Working with family can be one of the most rewarding and yet frustrating experiences, especially when it comes to older and younger generations working in the same business. In this episode, Joey and Devin talk about setting boundaries and how business owners can help their children working in the business understand what is most important and what can be put on the back burner. Links to things mentioned in this episode: Boundaries for Leaders by Henry Cloud PDF of Axioms Illustrative One Page Plan Template John Mellencamp Essentials Playlist

When it comes to passing the business on to the second generation, many parents struggle to let go. In this episode, Joey and Devin discuss: 1) Common scenarios that come up in the transition. 2) How the state of vision affects a transition from one leader to another. 3) The importance of the “hand off” and what the baton of leadership really means. Links mentioned in this episode: Tim Ferris podcast: https://tim.blog/podcast/ White Horse Inn podcast: https://whitehorseinn.org/how-to-listen/

“There’s something different about her!” This week’s episode with world-class trainer Jaime Marco is a fun one. Discover new insights on leadership, sales and customer experience with one of the most infectious people I know.

Delegating tasks is one thing. Delegating decisions is a little harder. How do you delegate something that happens inside your head? In this episode, Joey and Cameron dive into developing leaders who can think in ways to accomplish what is important to you and them.

Many parents wonder whether turning over the keys to the business will put their retirement in jeopardy. In this episode, Joey and Cameron layout the reasons why just having the second gen work in different areas of the business is probably NOT the best way to determine if they are ready.

“I want people to have a dignified retirement!” That is the heart of John McGuire and in this episode he breaks down how ESOP’s can help small businesses with employee engagement, succession, tax savings and a host of other things that keep business owners up at night. The episode is packed with useful information that all business owners should have. Here are some links to resources mentioned in the episode, but by far the most important is John’s contact information. John McGuire LinkedIn profile The Main Street Employee Ownership Act summary The ESOP Association The National Center for Employee Ownership Contribution of S ESOPs to participants’ retirement security and employee-owner benefits Ernst and Young report

We’ve done several podcasts on theme parks over the last few months. It seems like everyone on the Axiom team has been learning from their family vacations. The secret is they’re great places to view business activities happening in high volumes, with how many customers or “guests” visit them daily. This summer, Devin got the opportunity to visit LEGOLAND, Florida, for the first time. So in this week's podcast, the Axiom team joins him to cover 7 lessons he learned from the place built with LEGOs.* Commit to lifelong learning. Delight in the success of your team. Empower your team with systems and processes. Support partners to incentivize buy-in. Restructure (or eliminate) staff when automation allows. Great customer service creates memories. Capitalize on and profit from 'waste'. *LEGOLAND isn't literally built with LEGOs, though many features are.

A few weeks ago, we talked about lessons Joey learned on a recent visit to Disney's Magic Kingdom. But all is not unicorns and rainbows at Disney. Recently, the company has come under criticism for pushing an agenda at odds with what many parents want when it comes to their child's entertainment. In this episode, we revisit the Disney conversation from another perspective, a perspective that acknowledges businesses should have an agenda. You may agree or disagree with a business's particular agenda, but we should all recognize that a business is a platform, and that platform isn't all about sales, profits, shareholder wealth or even stakeholders in general.

Projects are happening all around us. Whether it's a software migration, developing a new product or service, or completing a task for our customers - we're all constantly working on projects. This week, we sat down with our good friend, Bill Clinebell, PMP, Managing Partner of Relofant, where we discussed shared best practices of project management, his entrepreneurial story, and his two cents on what is happening in the commercial real estate market.