Dave joins us on the podcast to chat about why it is vital to know how your personality (and others) works so that you can continue too improve your communication skills, your knowledge of yourself, and your ability to grow. He walks us through not only our selves but also our team.

Where to find Dave:
- Linkedin
-His Website

Transcription below:
[00:00:00] Dave: [00:00:00] it's developing yourself and. And the idea that we can't grow, we can't expect others to grow. We can't expect our team to grow if we don't grow.  

Keerstyn: [00:00:36] welcome to the podcast  Dave, we are so excited to have you here. Do you want me to just give us a brief, background of how you got involved in your work and then what you do now?

Dave: [00:00:43] Sure. Yeah. so yeah. Thank you for having me. I, I've been in leadership roles for all of my adult life and, and it was probably about 10 years ago or so, where I really started turning a corner and getting more intentional about how to. Lead others [00:01:00] organizations and bring resources to them and got connected to John Maxwell and his leadership group and his team.

and, And so it just, it evolved from there to be able to really go to the next level of helping individuals and teams and organizations to find the success and the results that they're looking for and what I've found and what I've come to believe as you and I were talking before it re it really, my focus really is on the people side of things, of developing people, our greatest appreciable asset.

It doesn't matter what you sell. It doesn't matter what your organization's all about. Doesn't matter where you're located. It doesn't matter how many people you have. The one common denominator is that people are our greatest appreciable asset. And so I have found that to be the sweet spot of my leadership focus is to help individuals and teams and organizations to develop their people.

[00:02:00] Yeah, 

Keerstyn: [00:02:01] absolutely. So you said about 10 years ago, you became a little more intentional about your leadership. What were some of those things that really struck you when you started to be intentional? 

Dave: [00:02:13] Yeah. I, what I found was. a lot of people, I just stumbled into it. Like I said, I've always, you've been involved in leadership in some way, shape or form, but I really got involved with a lot of local businesses through chamber of commerce and what I was finding, it was just this common need that people had to learn and to grow about themselves.

And so I was really looking for. It just seemed that the door was just really opening up to be able to help people in that realm. My focus is, as I said, is not really on strategy. Like I, I'm not really like a business strategist. I'm not great at helping somebody along those lines, as much as it just comes down to the people thing.

I've spent my whole life developing and [00:03:00] working with people. And so that's really where the doors seemed to open up. Yeah. 

Keerstyn: [00:03:05] So what are some of those things that you do to help people get on the road to development? I'm sure at the very beginning, what does that look like? 

Dave: [00:03:14] when I, when people ask what I do, in the simplest terms, in three words, it's I speak a train and I coach I'm a speaker trainer and coach.

and so the. the model that I typically use in whatever venue that is or whatever, that, whatever the, the framework of where that speaking training or coaching may develop is I've always used like the baseball diamond analogy, which I really like is the idea like you start off first base is developing the leader within you.

it's developing yourself and. And the idea that we can't grow, we can't expect others to grow. We can't expect our team to grow if we don't grow. So it all begins with ourselves. It's discovery. we do a lot of [00:04:00] stuff with discs, personality profiles to help you figure out what are, where are your strengths?

How are you wired? And then w move that to second base, which is about developing your team. If you can develop yourself, I think you'll be better equipped to develop your team. And so the focus there is how do you take the vision that you have as a leader, as a business, to grow it from me to we, where more people they get it and they understand, and they want to.

They want to go where you're going and that's the team side of things. and when you can develop yourself and you can develop your team, then organizations and companies are really just a collection of teams. It's a team of teams. And so that's the third base is then helping organizations on a wider macro level to develop themselves that way.

and then what I say, th then the home run, of course, Baseball diamond isn't complete without home base. So the home run for [00:05:00] me and my perspective is to help individuals and teams and even organizations and even communities to move beyond success, to significance. And I think to me, that's what home run is when you are then using your gifts and your talents and your abilities and your experiences.

To make a difference beyond yourself. It's not, it goes beyond just making a dollar and it's about making a difference. And, and I think that's something that is, that I have found is just a common thread that I think is just inherently wired in all of us that we all have that want that desire somewhere deep, that we want to make a difference.

It's that legacy talk what's gonna. Outlast me after I'm gone. what difference have I really made? what imprint have I really made on the world? And, that's the, you asked, what's the, where do you start? yeah, that's where you start. I think that's the trajectory around those 

Keerstyn: [00:05:57] bases.

Yeah. Yeah, [00:06:00] absolutely. So you mentioned disk in there and I would assume that every part of that uses disc in some way. 

Dave: [00:06:07] Yeah, of course. Yeah. 

Keerstyn: [00:06:09] Do you want to explain this a little more for our listeners? 

Dave: [00:06:13] So yeah, just goes into the, basically it summarizes, everybody puts you into a predominant. We all have.

Different dope elements of our personality, that, how we react to things, how we make decisions, how we respond to pressure, how we deal with other people. And. And so the four parts of that personality go are important for us to understand, what am I a domineering kind of person?

And am I an inspiring kind of person? Am I a little bit more of a steady, I just kinda to keep things happy and moving along. Am I more of a compliant person where I. I like things to be done. And the focus is there. and the truth of the matter is that we are all a combination of all of those, but you [00:07:00] most likely have one or two that are the dominant side.

So it's important for us to understand that about ourselves. So that does come into play in. In base and first base is figuring out, how am I wired? you have to know how you are wired. You have to know yourself. If you want to grow yourself, if you want to grow other people all around you.

And so then the definitely then that moves toward the second base is not just how here's, how I'm wired, but now I've got to find out how are the people around me wired. And that becomes critical when it comes to. One of the number one problems that teams deal with is communication. there's always communication battles, and that always comes up.

And so understanding how do I commute? If I'm a, if I'm a hi, I, hi, inspirational kind of person. And I like to have fun. I like to, I like I'm highly relational. And I'm dealing with somebody who's the opposite of me [00:08:00] and is very like numbers focused and fact focus. And, there's a lot of important factors I have to take into consideration in dealing with them and communicating with them and understanding them.

Keerstyn: [00:08:14] Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's. Fascinating. And sometimes we don't even think about that in terms of going to that person and their mindset, not in our mindset. And oftentimes that's where communication fails. 

Dave: [00:08:28] of course it does. I think that's the, when you think about what is the number one rule of communication is.

Or marketing or as a business is it starts with the other people. It starts with them. It starts with your audience, who are you communicating to? What are they thinking and what do they need and where are they coming from? And that's the way it's supposed to be. That's not the way we do it. Yeah. we typically think about what I want and where I'm coming from.

And I want to be understood first [00:09:00] as opposed to trying to understand the other person. 

Keerstyn: [00:09:02] Yeah, absolutely. So I think that this is a really interesting thing right now, especially because we're all like in that weird transition of going back to work, or what does the office look like now, or what have you been telling some of your clients, in terms of communication and getting your team on board, what has that all looked like?

Obviously I'm sure it's a little bit different, but. Yeah, 

Dave: [00:09:26] yeah, it's been tough because a lot of what we've done has been shut down and, there's a lot of work with manufacturing company and things, the rules have just completely turned upside down and changed about when we can meet and how we can interact.

but before we, during this time, one of the things that we did was we reached out to them with just a simple communication. And it was really along those lines that in times of difficulty like this and times of crisis and times of uncertainty, communication is key. That leaders have to.

[00:10:00] They have to go to the people first and you have to think about the people and show an element of an increased amount of empathy, where, what concerns people have and the fears that they have and the frustrations that they're going through. and that sense of, again, uncertainty about what just what's going on in life right now.

so the coaching that we've done to some of our clients so far has been, has really been along those lines, that this is the time to really go toward your people, move towards your people. 

Keerstyn: [00:10:34] Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm even seeing that you have to be a leader, not just a manager of these situations.

the difference between that is drastically, not even close to comparison in a sense. And people are really being shown. Are they a quality leader or not? And that's been something that's been hard for certain companies. What are your thoughts on that? 

Dave: [00:10:56] Yeah. Oh yeah. You know what we say that all the time that there is a huge difference [00:11:00] between leadership and management manager leadership is doing the right things.

Management is about typically about doing things, doing the process correctly and reproducing that over and over. And they, they go hand in hand. But they really are both about that, Leadership. But, I remember a few years ago I was working with an organization and they were going through a rough period of transition.

And in talking with the leader who was just really. frozen and there was a lot of uncertainty around what was going on and the troops so to speak were very unsettled. And they, it was like, I use the analogy that they were like in a fog. and when you're in a fog, people are looking for somebody with a flashlight.

They're looking for somebody that will grab their hand and say, here's the way forward. And in the absence of that, Teams really get restless [00:12:00] and they start imploding and they start getting real paranoid and there becomes a real negative, just a sense of, w when there's that lack of clarity, it really wreaks havoc on a team.

So it's critical to be able to be the one leading forward. And it doesn't mean that, all the answers. I've always said that leadership is not, I have all these, the answers, but leadership is we're going to find the answers to get there. There is an answer and we'll find it together and I will lead you through that.

That's the critical nature of, I think, what a great leader does. I think about, The w you do when you're in a torrential downpour, as you're driving down the road and it just starts pouring rain, you have to slow down. You can't just keep going at the same breakneck pace. You have to slow down and sometimes you even have to stop.

And so that's fine, but that's what the leader's job is. And sometimes you slow down, you hit the brakes just a little bit and you say, let's get some clarity and understanding [00:13:00] about what we're doing. You've got to slow down so that you can speed up slow down so that you can eventually move forward.

But yeah, that's a, that's the message that needs to go out to leaders in times of. I say in times of uncertainty, I've said three times, when are we ever not in a time of uncertainty? there's always, we're always uncertain about something, but yeah, but that's, it's, especially in times of crisis in times of severe pain or transition, that leaders need to step up and recognize that people are looking for someone to lead the way 

Keerstyn: [00:13:34] forward.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I'd completely. I agree with that. But then also back to that communication piece of being transparent and really acknowledging the pains and struggles that people are going through, but also being completely honest in terms of where we are going this far as they know, as far as the employees know that type of thing.

Dave: [00:13:54] Yeah. Yeah. you don't always know, but, but yeah, I think a leader has to be honest. I think somebody needs to step up [00:14:00] and lead the conversation and to go first that way and to say, let's let's find a way forward. I think that's really what being a hope dealer is all about, which I think is what the job of a leader is that you're a dealer in hope and you're helping people see.

That there is a pathway forward. And if it's not this pathway, it's going to be this pathway. And if it's not that pathway, we're going to find a third or fourth or fifth, and we're not going to stop until we find a pathway forward. That's what a leader does. Yeah, 

Keerstyn: [00:14:30] absolutely. Absolutely. I am really glad that we've mentioned that in terms of the manager and leader and how people are transitioning into that in this weird time to say the least 

Dave: [00:14:41] it is a weird time.

Keerstyn: [00:14:43] Absolutely. Absolutely. So at the very beginning, you mentioned developing people and we've gone through developing yourself, developing your team, and then developing your organization and company. When you get to that home run, what are companies feeling at the end of that? What. What are some of the things that [00:15:00] they've been saying that have been positive in terms of how their either culture has transformed or their teams have transformed?

What does that look like for them? 

Dave: [00:15:09] Yeah. w we did a training for a company and we shared, shared a video of, of a company. And now I can't remember what it was. I shouldn't remember off the top of my head, but I want it, I want to say, I want to say it was Toro, the lawn. On your company or the lawnmower company, all the stuff.

I know they do more than that, but, but they were talking about as a co, they were talking about culture, the culture of the company. and what we shared was just that they had, here's a company that obviously got that our company is not just what we do is. Is we manufacture stuff and we make these things.

We make these products for people for the consumer, but who we are and what we're all about is so much bigger than that. And they, and you could just see it and hear it in their voices, on their faces about how [00:16:00] they we're really understanding that this is more than just the. The mechanics of what we do day to day, that there is a deeper sense as of a greater why.

Simon Sinek always talks about, you're great. your sense of your, why? what is it that you are really all about and the difference in the imprint that you're making on the world? I think that's what people. People are drawn toward that thing. That's inspiring the people to say, Hey, we're not just making a widget here.

We're not just selling a product here. we're really, we're making a difference. And, boy, I think that's rewarding. That's what pushes people to do. Overcome obstacles that get in the way that. That things that would maybe hamstring some lesser company that just would detour them and take them off track.

when you can develop a sense of corporate culture that says we are more than just what we're doing here, I give you an example. just from today, just today, I was just listening to a call and, and the [00:17:00] guy, the leader was, the head of a mortgage company and he was just describing how, what they, and they're only like 10 years old and he was describing how.

When they started this mortgage company, it was in the midst of the mortgage crisis and the financial crisis, a lot of things that were going on and this is just insane, but what they have created was a sense of  we're not just, we're not just another or mortgage company. We really are about giving back.

So they give back to. Underprivileged under resources, kids in their community, organizations that are helping kids get a step forward and things. And they have rallied behind that to say, okay, when things are tough, when things are stressful, they keep pointing back to that. They say, yeah, but remember the profit that we make.

is not just, it's not for us only. And of course we get the bet, we're the beneficiaries of that. But ultimately it enables us to make this huge impact in the community. That to me [00:18:00] is a company that is starting to answer that significance question that says we're not just successful, but we're significant.

John Maxwell says, once you taste significance, success will never satisfy. And I think that to me is the, what. Scratches that itch that a lot of us have of that sense of, I want to be a PA I want to be a part of something more than just feeding a company and the bottom line, the bottom, the dollar amount.

And I really want to be a part of making a difference. Yeah, 

Keerstyn: [00:18:33] absolutely. I've heard a few times that millennials are that generation that wants to make a difference, but I would actually have to disagree with that. I think that it's. Literally everyone under the sun who wants to make friends and be out there working for the greater good of who knows whatever they are passionate about 

Dave: [00:18:53] a hundred percent, I agree.

I think millennials have really brought it to the forefront and it really [00:19:00] did led the way of saying, without saying the same with their actions, like this is. I'm not going to accept anything less. millennials gotten a bad rap because people see them as they just move from one thing to the next thing, to the next thing.

And not real certain that keeping their options open up. I don't think that's, I don't think that's really what's driving it. I think it's that drive to when they find a place where, what we've found, we've done some research stuff with the Gallup organization, and they've done a lot of study about.

Next generations and that are now a big part of the marketplace. it's no longer they're coming. It's no, they're in leadership now. And they've led the way of saying there's more to life than just a job. And if you can get those, I don't want to just, I don't want to turn on a switch and go to work and then turn off that switch and go home.

I want my life to be integrated that way. I just think that. Frankly, I think that's how we're [00:20:00] wired. I think we're wired that way. And I think the more that you can align those things together and help your team and help the people that you work with as a leader, help them to understand and see a bigger, greater purpose behind what we're doing.

I think that's where you really start to connect. I think you really start to Excel and you find greater results as a result of that. 

Keerstyn: [00:20:24] Yeah, absolutely. I would totally have to agree with you there. People are searching for that until they find it. They aren't satisfied for sure. Just like Ron Maxwell quote.

Absolutely. Absolutely. this has been cool. I'm so glad that we went through all of the ideas that you have, but then also just. Life thing is and what the world is transforming into. so Dave, if people want to find you, where are you like located? So obviously LinkedIn is one of them, but where else?

Dave: [00:20:52] Yeah. Yeah. probably the simplest is, Chicago. Our website is Chicago LP for [00:21:00] Chicago leadership partners.com. that's probably the easiest simplest right there. We can jump off from there. And like you said, from LinkedIn reached out to me and, we've. we've got some great, we had some great results of dealing, working with again, individuals and teams and companies to help them to find greater results by increasing the effectiveness of their leadership.

I think that's. I throw one more John Maxwell quote in here where he says everything rises and falls on leadership. And I think that's why I have landed on hitting that as man. That is the center of the Mark, is that we, and we're all leaders, we're all influencers in some way. You may not have a title, but you're still an influencer.

So when you can grow that you can grow your influence, you can grow your effectiveness. 

Keerstyn: [00:21:48] Absolutely. Absolutely. thank you so much for joining us today. This isn't fun. 

Dave: [00:21:52] Thank you so much.