Welcome to Waymaker

welcome to leadership talk

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the official waymaker podcast where we
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explore
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how your organization can achieve more
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by doing less
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okay welcome to leadership talk by
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waymaker
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i’m your host craig heinemann and i’m
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joined by waymaker
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founder and ceo stuart leo how are you
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stu
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i’m great craig welcome to the waymaker
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podcast
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thank you stu so okay we used to do a
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podcast called the brand transformation
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show where we talked about brand
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strategy brand transformation
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but we’ve wrapped that season up to
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focus on something new
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um so do you want to tell us a little
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bit about that stew
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well sure we’ve uh given ourselves a
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brand transformation haven’t we
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um yeah uh not only um
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where we on audio we’re now audio video
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i know i’ve actually gotta you know
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scrub up and do my hair and all that
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sort of stuff now did you
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did you can you not tell
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oh dear uh we’ll have to work on that
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one we
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go very very exciting news we um
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well what six nine months ago we went
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dark
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we went quiet along with the rest of the
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world
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the rest of the world and as we were
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using that time to re-imagine a new
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vision
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new strategies we started to explore
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what things could look like if we
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executed in a new way
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and what has happened is we’ve created
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um a platform called waymaker
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waymaker so what’s waymaker in a
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nutshell well that’s
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yeah good question that’s why we’re here
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well
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the big idea is that waymaker helps
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leaders start up scale up
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smarten up by doing less to achieve more
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there’s our there’s a big contradiction
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and at its essence it’s two things one
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it’s a management framework
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a way to make sense of your your
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business or your organization around you
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and most importantly what are the most
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valuable steps
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that i could take to grow it because
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we think most people are interested in
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improving and growing their organization
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secondly that that way that management
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framework
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is supported by a technology platform at
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waymaker.io
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that is a sas platform software service
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that uses really smart algorithms and
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predictive analytics to bring your
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business to life your organization to
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life
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on the waymaker platform using the
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waymaker way so that platform helps you
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manage
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according to the waymaker way and it
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uses
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really powerful tools to very quickly
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show you
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ah that’s where we need to improve ah
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that’s if
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we should tweak that on our business
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model actually the next activity we
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should do in
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sales is this and so the
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platform itself two things a way of
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managing your business a way to make
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your business grow
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a way to make your way forward in the
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business and two the technology
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because that’s the tool to go with it
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and you’ll hear me talk a lot about
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skills and systems
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and what we have at two things a new
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skill you’ll learn and a system to use
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it
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and the net net is you grow your
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business faster
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awesome so how do we get here stu like
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how do we end up
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at waymaker that’s a that’s a good
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question
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take me on a journey well i should also
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say that waymaker is for two
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groups of people it’s yes and this will
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make sense as i tell the story because
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the story um well the two groups of
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people
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are businesses business users business
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leaders and
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and their teams and two they’re coaches
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and advisors
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so you can use the platform on your own
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not a problem or you can use the
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platform with a with a coach or an
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advisor
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great the the story of waymaker
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really is a story of two airports and
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um sounds like charles dickens yes
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hopefully not as long as charles dickens
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this should this should only be about a
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25 minute podcast
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okay and i hope at the end of the
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podcast you’re going ah yeah that
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yeah i can see a bit of me in that yeah
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i can i get that
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and and if you do we’ll jump on to
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waymaker at um
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waymaker dot io and um
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and look at the framework look at look
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at what we do
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jump onto the software and have a free
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trial if you like um
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but hopefully out of today you’ll get a
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bit of a sense of the why
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and um as i said the the story is
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actually a story of two airports
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um the first airport is sydney airport
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here in australia um
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what circa 2010 so
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let’s let’s date this we’re in 20 scene
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let’s set the scene we’re in 2021
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2010 2010 about a decade ago
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and i wasn’t doing what i’m doing now
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obviously but i was you know a much
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younger
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skinnier healthier
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better looking guy you wouldn’t think
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that’s possible um
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uh but hey you know wonders never cease
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and
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um i’m i’m working in the corporation
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and uh i love it by the way i love i
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love that corporation it was a great
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place to work
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but uh i think like many people
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you hit certain points and and i’m
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walking through sydney airport
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2010 it’s you know it’s about 11 o’clock
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at night
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i’ve just done um one of those big days
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that exec does i think i started my day
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in townsville
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stopped off in brisbane um met people in
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sydney and
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um and i’m now in sydney airport 11
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o’clock at night
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i don’t know if i’d missed my flight
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done if i’d landed for my flight
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all i can remember is that it’s been
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just 16 17 hours of mayhem
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and and i’m walking through the airport
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and there’s not it’s that it’s that time
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of night where i think we must have been
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the last flight
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so i must have been i must have been um
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on my way to the last flight or leaving
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or something
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and i see the dude with the you know the
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cleaner that
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that you drive the machine around the
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airport yeah and sure
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and it cleans the airport
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and i’m dragging my little briefcase and
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i’m walking along and i see that guy
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and i look at that guy and i’m like
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i think i want your life looks like an
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easier job right now
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yes i think i think
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you i think you had a better careers
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counselor than i did
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on on the outside everything looked
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great
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high paying young executive
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working in a great corporation flying
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around the country
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working on exciting projects but in
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reality
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what’s behind that is frustrations and
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mayhem
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and dysfunction and politics and
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the life of of of that traditional
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corporate world and
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and what’s behind that is a family at
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home
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a wife a young baby probably at that
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stage
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um uh and and where am i i’m i’m
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i’m walking through some airport at some
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stupid hour of the night
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um eating badly sleeping badly
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um running we’re having a quarter life
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crisis
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i’m having a little quarter there’ll be
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over
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a third let’s say let’s say i make let’s
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say this body makes it to 120.
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right i look at this guy there must be a
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better way
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and i knew there was a better way i knew
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that
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big organizations come with politics and
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dysfunction and you’ve got to play the
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game and you’ve got to get stuff done
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but i’ve got to say i stopped and i can
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i can man i can still
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remember that moment um as i close my
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eyes
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and and i can i can see that guy and i’m
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like dude
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i want your job um i think you have a
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great life
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it’s you get to the end of the day and
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something’s clean
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you’ve achieved something it’s
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purposeful um
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it’s peaceful it’s quiet there’s nobody
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around
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um you know there’s all these things
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that
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that suddenly um driving a cleaning
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machine at 11 o’clock at night
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suddenly was was a wonderful
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job to aspire to and some corporate
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executive getting paid
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hundreds of thousands of dollars a year
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you know
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in a great career just looks like
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meaningless waste of time
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and and so that was a crystallizing
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moment
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and i thought there’s got to be a better
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way of doing this
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and that that triggered a process to go
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i think i think i’m going to try
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something new
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i’m going to go and be a consultant i’m
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going to go and
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and and embark on my consulting journey
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and help other people other business
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leaders
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build great brands and design great
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strategies and achieve great outcomes
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yeah and and that was a catalyzing
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moment um it was at that moment
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that i went yeah i’m not going to be the
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cleaner guy
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as much as that’s a great job and i i
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think that’s wonderful
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but um i’m going to use my skills and
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i’m going to
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go help people because i think helping
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people
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is um so much better than corporate
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politics
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and and of course working for yourself
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uh has none of the headaches that
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working for a corporation
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in that moment it seemed like a better
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option
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of naive idealism um of course you think
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that
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working for yourself has none of those
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issues um
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which is why it’s the story of two
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airports great
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so so that’s airport number one um
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crystallizing life moment
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airport number two um is
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is actually los angeles airport um at a
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probably similar time at night
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but about six or seven years later right
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so let’s fast forward um let’s go back
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four or five years
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from now and go forward six or seven
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years from then
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um circa
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216-ish could have been 15 could have
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been 16 i don’t know
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and i’m walking through los angeles
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airport after
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attending a technology conference and
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i’m six or seven years into a consulting
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business which
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um uh i loved love
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uh it’s and and i
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have the same moment because
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um it’s hectic it’s frantic
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we’re we’re doing lots of different
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stuff we’re
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we’re we’re we’re making lots of money
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we’re probably multiple seven
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figures you know there’s millions of
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dollars running through the business
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um uh where we’ve
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it’s almost one of those moments in life
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where the same kind of scene is thrust
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at you
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eleven o’clock at night off a plane from
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san francisco or wherever it was and i’m
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walking to the
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to the to the flight um
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uh i’m trying to get to that gate and
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and it would have been
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late at night one of the last flights
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out i’m assuming
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um and i see this it’s not the same dude
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but it’s the same dude
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um on a similar machine and
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and i’m like
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i’m back there well i’m back there
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um but hang on a minute i’ve just spent
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the last six or seven years
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building this multi-million dollar
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business and
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and why am i again frantic
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chasing a tail
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all those same issues for better or for
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worse
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had come back and crystallized again in
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that moment
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and it was like life picked up a big fat
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wet fish
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and just slapped me across the face and
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went
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what is going on and and i had to have
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one of those really humbling moments
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of going okay the one constant here is
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me
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that’s a very humbling moment where you
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go hmm
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i can complain about corporate politics
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and i can complain about
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business partners and business programs
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and
13:31
good clients and bad clients but you
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know what
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perhaps there’s some things i’m doing
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that
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have led me back to the same point where
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i’m happy to
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throw in a multi-million dollar business
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and become
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a a driver of a cleaning machine
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which still sounds wonderful and by the
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way i’m not dissing that job at all
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don’t hear that in this journey
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um it it’s but there’s something about
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the purposefulness the clarity of it
13:59
the simplicity of it the rhythm of it
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that actually speaks to our humanity
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and says well hang on a minute how
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how can you build a wonderful life
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through business
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and and actually when you start to peel
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the layers back
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most of us are actually in business or
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in organizations leading them
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because deep down we went this is a good
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business i could make some money and
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build a better life well this is a good
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organization we can solve a community’s
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problem
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and create a great outcome we generally
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have
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certainly from the hundreds of business
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owners and leaders i’ve sat down and
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talked with over the years
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it’s rare that you’re just in it for the
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money
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every now and then you find those people
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and um and you tend to sort of shake
14:48
their hands and move on because
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when you’re just in it for the money
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there’s something a bit cold about that
14:55
and most business people really are and
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and and coaches and consultants are in
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it because
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they want to do something of value and
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and so
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going back to that guy kawasaki quote
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make meaning and you’ll make money
15:10
most people are yeah well um
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craig yes you were the the gentleman
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probably around that time in 2010 that i
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think it was the art of the start was it
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guy
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yeah that’s right great book great book
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and i think
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um i think he gave that to me for my
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birthday didn’t you um
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or something i can’t remember and uh
15:34
and i think that was a bit of a catalyst
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at that time to go and make the same
15:38
same mistake again
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he didn’t read it he didn’t read it but
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what you were going to say was in the
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book the out of the start guy kawasaki
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has a great statement doesn’t he
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yeah what is that meaning make meaning
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and you’ll make money
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yeah um but put the meaning before the
15:56
money
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yeah that’s right um and so these two
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moments were critical
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and and and why were they critical
16:02
because back in 2 15 16
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i’m in a consulting business we’re
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dealing with lots of clients
16:09
we’re doing lots of different things but
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deep down um myself and
16:15
and others in the business but
16:16
particularly myself i started to ask the
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question
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okay what what is it when we when we do
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things really really well because we
16:23
were doing some things really well
16:25
something’s okay and i’d have to say
16:26
some things not very well
16:29
and we’re working with clients who are
16:31
doing some things really well
16:32
something’s okay and some things not
16:33
very well
16:35
and so what was it what were the things
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that helped you do things really well
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and there were some clients that you
16:45
could look at
16:46
and we’d go man yeah they’re doing
16:48
things really well
16:50
why did they do it really well there was
16:53
different research we came across
16:54
and and over the course of a few years
16:57
we
16:59
started i started to put together pieces
17:02
of a jigsaw puzzle and
17:05
and and what what i was really doing was
17:08
starting to build
17:10
sense of the world around me now
17:14
many other people have gone on the same
17:16
journey that’s great there’s lots of
17:18
different there’s no one right answer i
17:20
think there are just better answers
17:21
and i think we’ve got a different and a
17:23
better answer here
17:25
and what what’s it i was going to say
17:28
you see you’ve got all these jigsaw
17:30
puzzle pieces you started to put them
17:32
together
17:33
what did you discover well we discovered
17:37
that um the people who achieved more did
17:40
less
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and that the path to achieving more
17:46
was doing less and and
17:50
somehow achieving more whether it was
17:51
more in business or more in life
17:53
they were often the same thing um
17:56
happened because you did less
17:59
and by less it was less things you had
18:01
less things on your to-do list you had
18:03
less
18:03
issues to solve you had didn’t mean you
18:06
didn’t work as hard but you did less
18:08
and right and and so this big idea of
18:12
um how do you achieve more by doing less
18:14
started to
18:16
unfold in front of us and
18:19
as we started to practice that with
18:22
clients
18:23
and with ourselves we had um
18:26
interesting and remarkable results
18:30
and and and it was it was this
18:33
discipline of choosing to do less
18:37
that actually led to achieving more
18:40
and and so um it’s a great paradox
18:43
and so we we we started to put pieces of
18:46
the puzzle together
18:47
um and so it’s the big answer and so
18:50
that was like five years ago
18:51
right you’re talking about revelation
18:54
number two or
18:56
you know um and so you know that was
18:59
that was five years ago so you’re
19:00
starting to put these pieces of the
19:02
puzzle together
19:02
and sort of in the last six to nine
19:05
months
19:06
they’ve gone okay uh where you know
19:09
coverts shifted the way that the world
19:11
thinks
19:12
the way that the world does things this
19:14
seems like a good time
19:15
it’s as good a time as any to um you
19:17
know
19:18
change things up again yeah yeah yeah so
19:21
so the last so the last five years or so
19:24
of
19:25
um your you know previous
19:28
business consulting consulting business
19:31
has kind of led to where you are now
19:33
um yes yes yes yes
19:36
there were certain things we were doing
19:38
that we went ah that sucks let’s get out
19:40
of that business
19:41
let’s get out of that that’s that’s not
19:43
healthy and then there are other bits we
19:45
went let’s innovate
19:46
and try things and we
19:50
that was where we said to some clients
19:52
hey um
19:54
let’s help you let’s let’s let’s put in
19:56
some frameworks
19:57
that might help you achieve more by
19:59
doing less and
20:01
um and so the last four or five years um
20:04
were really r d testing
20:07
um uh we had some really friendly
20:10
clients that
20:11
knew that we had deep relationships with
20:13
that knew
20:14
um we were going to test stuff on them
20:16
um yeah
20:17
well at least the right people knew um
20:19
yeah everybody knew
20:21
uh and and and so there was we we put
20:24
together this framework
20:26
that that we’ve come to call the
20:27
waymaker way
20:29
that is is built on a framework that
20:31
you’ll see on our website called the
20:32
experience curve
20:35
that actually helps you practice these
20:38
principles because there’s sitting
20:40
behind this big idea of
20:41
well how do you achieve more by doing
20:43
less there were
20:45
eight and
20:49
do i have to pay for those or are you
20:50
going to give those to me no i will give
20:52
those to you for free
20:55
and i guess that’s what this podcast is
20:57
about isn’t it
20:58
this podcast is all about kind of
21:00
getting behind the scenes
21:02
um talking about the frameworks the
21:06
tools
21:06
how to use them over time we’ll talk to
21:09
customers and
21:11
other coaches and and bring some of
21:14
these ideas to the table
21:16
um so so that’s why we’d like you to
21:17
keep listening to the podcast
21:19
um and so these eight principles
21:22
uh sit behind they frame the world view
21:24
of this this framework
21:26
and they’re for me they’re like herbs
21:28
and spices um
21:30
one of my first jobs as a kid uh was
21:32
working did you
21:33
i did yeah did you i did that was me
21:36
that was mcdonald’s yeah see it’s great
21:39
to write a passage
21:42
and in in the back there were these
21:44
silver packets um
21:46
at kfc and those silver packets um
21:49
were labeled the kernels 11 secret herbs
21:53
and spices
21:54
and i was a i was a cook i was a chef
21:58
at the tender age of 16. and um
22:05
and uh and you would take that silver
22:07
packet once you you know you
22:10
rolled the chicken in the in the flour
22:12
mix and was stacking it on the grates to
22:14
go in the deep fries
22:16
um in the flour mix would go the kernels
22:18
11 secret herbs and spices
22:20
but it was a tiny packet it was actually
22:22
quite small
22:25
but if you didn’t add the colonel’s
22:27
secret
22:28
11 herbs and spices um
22:32
it would just it was just chicken it was
22:34
just chicken wrapped in flour and deep
22:36
fry
22:37
it was pretty normal but the quantities
22:40
it was like you know one
22:41
one tiny spice to one big handful of
22:44
flour somehow that one tiny spice
22:46
had a compounding effect on that flour
22:48
you get the point that’s the point i’m
22:50
kind of trying to make
22:51
these eight principles are kind of like
22:55
um compounding herbs and spices sitting
22:58
inside your organization great and
23:01
they’re not rocket science
23:03
but they are a science and so the
23:07
these eight principles um i’ll say them
23:09
to you
23:10
and you’ll go yeah i sort of knew that
23:14
but um the experience curve the waymaker
23:18
way
23:19
actually puts these principles into
23:22
action and forces you to do them
23:25
yeah okay so let’s should we talk about
23:27
those principles yeah let’s
23:29
yeah let’s let’s go through the eight
23:31
principles
23:32
real fast yep let’s do it okay
23:35
principles for growth
23:36
principles these these are the waymaker
23:38
principles for growth they’re like the
23:40
compounding effects um the first one is
23:42
the ability
23:44
to develop situation awareness
23:47
um one of the things um that’s happened
23:51
during covert
23:52
is that covert is it’s like somebody
23:54
pulled the time lever
23:56
and we’ve fast forward in time like
23:58
decades in terms of how quickly certain
24:00
trends
24:01
have erupted on us you know where
24:04
if you’re not digital today you just
24:06
you’re not on the playing field
24:07
if you um if
24:11
if if you are looking at the world today
24:13
to what it was just two years ago it’s
24:15
moved ahead in trends and
24:18
geopolitical sort of structures um
24:22
light years um you know we’ve all
24:24
experienced that
24:26
and so situational awareness um so
24:29
awareness is the first principle
24:31
the capacity to and to practice and
24:33
develop situational awareness
24:36
it’s the capacity to look around you
24:37
really quickly
24:39
and go we know what’s going on around us
24:41
and we know what’s going on
24:43
inside us and and
24:46
and sitting kind of behind that is this
24:49
recognition that an organization of
24:50
business
24:51
it’s a system and in fact it’s a system
24:53
of systems a bit like a human body
24:55
human body is a system but it’s actually
24:57
a system of systems skeletal systems
25:00
nervous systems
25:03
clearly i’m not a doctor what else
25:05
[Music]
25:07
endocrine endocrine
25:10
and in in medical science
25:14
um the body has this thing called
25:17
homeostasis how do you how do all the
25:19
systems work together to maintain
25:21
stability based on what’s happening
25:23
outside the body and what’s happening
25:25
inside the body
25:26
make sense homeostasis um that’s that’s
25:29
so your ability there’s a system for
25:31
managing systems in your body
25:32
and it’s and organizations that achieved
25:36
more by doing less
25:38
were actually able to respond to what
25:41
was going on
25:42
outside of them and inside them really
25:44
quickly and easily
25:46
and that’s really healthy when the
25:49
temperature changes outside you need to
25:51
adapt quickly
25:52
and and so this adaption um
25:56
was a secret ingredient yeah
25:59
we’ll talk about it so awareness number
26:00
one awareness
26:02
yeah i’m going to i should speed up
26:03
clarity yeah
26:05
i mean it’s not rocket science um
26:08
but if your team and teams don’t have
26:11
clarity of vision
26:13
or clarity of purpose well where are
26:15
they going what are they doing
26:16
if they don’t have clarity of strategy
26:18
um well do we know how we’re
26:20
differentiated
26:21
and what gives us advantage if we don’t
26:23
have clarity of
26:25
business model do we really know what
26:26
drives value commercially
26:29
you get my drift so clarity is actually
26:32
the kind of the art of asking the right
26:34
questions
26:36
and the next one which is alignment so
26:39
number three
26:40
alignment is like the hand in hand to
26:42
clarity
26:43
um clarity is about asking the right
26:45
questions alignment is
26:46
actually about agreeing the right
26:48
answers and
26:49
okay and if you don’t agree we’ll then
26:53
you know argue gracefully to develop the
26:55
right answers
26:56
that is what creates the alignment so
27:00
um these organizations had amazing
27:02
ability to be aware of what’s going on
27:04
around them
27:05
and respond proactively they also had
27:08
the clarity
27:09
um to around who they were and what they
27:12
did and what problem they solved
27:15
so that they could in that awareness
27:17
either choose to respond or not
27:20
and that’s that’s really important um
27:23
but they didn’t just have that at one
27:25
level of the organization
27:26
they had that across the organization
27:28
they had that in alignment
27:30
which meant people didn’t get distracted
27:32
easily
27:33
yeah does that make sense yep
27:37
um it also meant all layers of the
27:39
organization could actually hold each
27:40
other accountable
27:41
so the ceo wasn’t you know independent
27:45
of you know that’s right yeah it’s you
27:47
know it’s that classic example of
27:49
um here we go here’s cheesy quote um
27:52
number two
27:52
for the day i think it was a zig ziglar
27:54
motivational quote
27:56
um from yesteryear where he said it’s
27:58
not about the way the wind blows
28:01
it’s about how you set your sails and
28:04
and if the wind
28:04
changes well great the sailors
28:08
know how to reset the sails um
28:12
the the helmsman or the captain actually
28:14
doesn’t need to tell them
28:16
because they know where the boat’s going
28:19
they know that that sail needs trim
28:21
because that’s where the boat’s headed
28:22
does that make sense yeah it’s great um
28:25
and so when is it awareness clarity
28:27
clarity alignment alignment
28:30
fourthly focus
28:34
if you have the awareness and then if
28:36
you have the clarity and that clarity
28:38
leads to alignment
28:39
it gives you that ability for focus i
28:41
remember sitting down with a ceo
28:44
in the property industry and a great
28:48
really simple business model really
28:50
successful one of my favorite clients to
28:52
work with
28:54
and i just remember him being brutally
28:57
clear
28:58
about where they played which swim lane
29:00
they played in
29:01
which was extremely boring extremely
29:03
traditional
29:04
but extremely predictable
29:08
yeah and if they got outside of it they
29:10
got burnt
29:11
and every time they’d left that swim
29:13
lane that focus
29:15
something bad happened and it was really
29:17
easy to see
29:19
and and so they had this innate focus to
29:22
go
29:22
yeah we we know that’s boring but you
29:25
know what that’s what we do and we do it
29:26
really well
29:28
and we’re not going to get distracted
29:30
off that and yes and it was
29:31
extraordinarily effective for them
29:34
awesome focus uh what number are we up
29:38
to it’s got to be six doesn’t it
29:43
clarity when it’s clarity alignment
29:44
focus focus all right mature five
29:47
maturities number five yeah um and this
29:50
one’s actually really important these
29:51
organizations that
29:52
um achieved remarkable results they
29:55
didn’t
29:56
just buy technology and they didn’t just
29:59
buy smart people or build people they
30:02
invested in two things
30:04
they invested in both skills and systems
30:07
and
30:08
okay you know if you’ve worked with me
30:10
in the past um if you’re a client
30:12
listening to this you’d have heard me
30:13
bang on this for years because this is
30:15
one of the early things we discovered
30:17
um you know we’ve been through a decade
30:19
of
30:20
phenomenal technological change it was
30:23
only 2007
30:25
13 years ago when steve jobs stood up
30:28
and said and here’s one more thing
30:30
and held up an iphone and you know that
30:33
was
30:34
only just after facebook was founded and
30:36
twitter was founded and you know
30:38
where we are today is just unbelievably
30:41
different
30:42
from where you know you and i like
30:45
um you know hanging out in our
30:48
university college years um
30:51
just just chalk and cheese and
30:54
organizations that
30:55
build both skills and systems build
30:58
maturity
30:59
okay and and and so when you’ve got
31:02
awareness what’s going on around you
31:04
and you can respond to that awareness
31:06
effectively because of the clarity you
31:07
have
31:08
and you can respond in all areas because
31:10
the alignment you have
31:11
and because you have focus you can
31:14
actually start building maturity you’re
31:15
not chasing your tail
31:17
um i think you know in the past we’ve
31:20
talked
31:21
as an example about this about saplings
31:23
around trees
31:26
you know how mature a tree is
31:29
when you chop it down and
31:33
which hopefully we don’t chop down too
31:34
many but you chop it down
31:36
and you see the growth rings maturity
31:39
rings
31:40
and every growing season doesn’t exactly
31:43
correspond with years but
31:44
every growing season you see a ring in
31:47
that tree trunk
31:48
but if you look at that tree and if you
31:51
look at young trees
31:54
sometimes as as they’re young what’s
31:57
growing up around them
31:58
are saplings and a good woodsman
32:02
a good gardener will go along and if
32:05
they have a tree growing in their garden
32:07
they’re actually going to cut the
32:08
saplings off they’re going to
32:10
just get rid of those saplings because
32:12
those saplings are sapping
32:14
life and energy from the main trunk yeah
32:17
and if you see a tree that’s kind of
32:18
disformed at its base
32:20
it’s because it’s it’s it’s it’s been
32:22
unhealthy in its early years it’s had
32:24
saplings deforming it
32:25
so that the symbol here is exactly that
32:29
we build maturity in our core focus in
32:32
our core skills
32:34
and the organizations that did that um
32:36
remarkable
32:37
so awareness clarity alignment uh focus
32:40
maturity
32:41
what number are we at six curiosity
32:45
yeah this this um now i love this
32:48
because
32:48
um i think i’m naturally uh curious
32:52
but these organizations put on to this
32:54
layer of maturity this
32:56
this layer of curiosity they held the
33:00
mindset
33:00
of an explorer
33:05
let me be clear here it didn’t mean they
33:07
were jumping off focus and doing
33:09
but they were exploring new ways and
33:11
better ways of constantly doing what
33:12
they did better
33:14
um going back to that example of that
33:16
ceo in the property industry
33:18
sticking to their somewhat boring
33:20
traditional swim lane
33:21
didn’t mean they didn’t do it better
33:23
they were getting better and better
33:24
quarter by quarter year by year
33:27
or even embracing new tools and
33:28
technologies exactly
33:30
yeah um their investment in technology
33:33
and build process and sales process and
33:37
was phenomenal um but you know what uh
33:40
it was focused
33:41
uh it wasn’t re it wasn’t diverse in
33:44
that sense
33:44
um and and so this curiosity this
33:48
mindset of the explorer
33:49
testing and measuring and hacking growth
33:51
hacking your way through
33:52
the different levels of growth was
33:54
fundamental
33:56
um number seven is um
34:00
is this idea of rhythm so
34:03
um you know i that as i was telling that
34:07
story
34:07
um uh if you’ve
34:10
seen the dude on the cleaning machine in
34:13
sydney airport in los angeles airport
34:15
um one of the things that really speaks
34:18
to your heart
34:19
is is the predictability of the rhythm
34:22
yeah what am i going to do today i’m
34:24
going to come in i’m going to get my
34:26
keys i’m going to hop on the machine and
34:28
i’m going to drive it up and down this
34:30
this uh this terminal there’s a rhythm
34:32
there’s something
34:34
calming to that um there’s there’s a
34:37
reason
34:38
why we have four seasons in the year um
34:41
uh summer autumn winter spring there’s
34:44
there’s a rhythm
34:45
to life it’s you don’t have to look far
34:48
to see the rhythms of life playing out
34:50
in our natural state
34:52
and and one of these principles we saw
34:55
in remarkable work around us
34:58
was this principle of rhythm how do you
35:00
use this rhythm and
35:02
and it’s and this is the principle that
35:05
um that actually creates
35:08
momentum and ultimately
35:12
off that momentum you get what we call
35:15
leadership
35:16
talk and uh i think we’ve named this
35:19
podcast leadership
35:20
leadership talk t-o-r
35:23
q-u-e yeah talk leadership talk because
35:27
um when you practice that rhythm
35:29
something happens in the rhythm
35:31
and you’ll discover in the waymaker way
35:32
that every quarter is a
35:34
is a rhythm just like we have seasons in
35:36
a year um
35:37
and every time you practice that rhythm
35:40
you’re getting better
35:41
and better and better at doing less
35:44
isn’t that crazy you’re getting better
35:46
and better and better at doing less
35:47
at the same time you’re achieving more
35:50
and
35:51
um it’s talk that’s talk in your
35:54
in your engine is is that power you get
35:58
um you know i’m one of those um
36:02
uh adventurous folk here in australia
36:04
that loves to
36:05
get out in their four-wheel drive and um
36:08
go and see the countryside
36:10
um and uh and and when you
36:14
when you’re on the beach or you’re
36:15
trying to get up a sand dune or you need
36:17
torque you need power in the low range
36:20
in the in the low end
36:22
to move forward through hard things and
36:25
rhythm builds torque as an engine i’m no
36:29
mechanic but here’s as much as i know
36:30
about mechanics
36:33
when henry ford was inventing the engine
36:34
he needed power
36:36
coming from an engine transferred to a
36:38
drive shaft to turn wheels
36:41
and as the pistons are moving up and
36:42
down as you’re turning
36:44
you’re developing this torque this can
36:47
this this power which comes from
36:49
from leverage from the way you can lever
36:52
something
36:53
and and so you know if you’re an
36:54
engineering mechanic listening to this i
36:56
apologize i’m probably just
36:58
man i probably just i can’t correct you
37:00
because if my car breaks down that’s
37:02
probably
37:02
my wife that she she knows way more
37:05
about
37:06
she’d probably jump out but you get the
37:08
point um
37:09
you get the point and and rhythm the
37:12
cycle of turning awareness clarity
37:15
alignment focus and building maturity
37:17
um actually creates power inside the
37:21
organization which
37:22
is torque which is deep seated energy
37:25
um i could talk on that for a lot more
37:26
but we’re up to number eight
37:28
we are accountability accountability
37:31
yeah this this eighth piece of the
37:33
jigsaw puzzle um
37:35
and look to be honest um you know i’m
37:38
being a little bit honest in my
37:40
um get behind the scenes of waymaker
37:42
talk on our podcast
37:44
um if i go back to moment one you know
37:47
sydney 2010
37:49
circa and moment two
37:52
los angeles 2016-ish
37:56
if if i was to hold myself accountable
37:58
to those two moments
38:00
clearly there were things i
38:04
wasn’t accountable enough on that i
38:06
wasn’t focused enough on
38:08
that in reality i wouldn’t repeat the
38:10
same mistakes if i didn’t
38:12
own certain outcomes sooner and if i
38:15
didn’t allow people around me to own
38:16
those outcomes
38:18
sooner and so accountability
38:22
which is just owning owning the work you
38:25
do
38:26
and and those you lead
38:29
brutal accountability uh it means that
38:33
well if your subordinate does it wrong
38:35
well whose fault is it it’s yours
38:38
and it’s yours for either a training
38:40
them improperly
38:41
and not helping them and growing them or
38:43
b if you have trained them properly and
38:45
they’re still not doing it right
38:47
it’s your fault for not moving them on
38:50
um
38:51
at the end of the day it’s it’s you yeah
38:53
um you own it
38:54
so if there’s a problem in your business
38:58
you can go no further than you if
38:59
there’s a problem in your life
39:01
so so these eight herbs and spices
39:05
have this compounding effect
39:08
when you get awareness clarity alignment
39:10
focus maturity curiosity rhythm and
39:12
accountability
39:15
organized and functioning
39:18
inside your business they have this
39:22
unbelievable compounding effect
39:25
and somehow um
39:28
the magic happens and you achieve more
39:31
by doing less
39:33
and and so the way make a way the
39:36
framework we have the experience curve
39:38
puts all eight of these principles into
39:40
action
39:41
really simply so in future episodes
39:44
we’re going to talk about how
39:47
you can or how people have applied these
39:50
uh principles through the waymaker
39:52
platform
39:54
to see amazing results
39:57
yeah yeah yeah the the day i knew we
40:01
were onto something
40:03
is um is when i was i was
40:06
uh working with a group of people and we
40:10
were on this
40:11
we were doing this we weren’t doing this
40:12
perfectly um
40:14
and i remember the marketing manager um
40:17
really good good guy i’d call him a
40:20
friend
40:21
he’s no longer at that company so it’s
40:22
okay to talk about it
40:24
and uh and and we had been through maybe
40:28
um three or four cycles of doing this
40:31
which you’ll see on the framework is
40:33
every quarter get the awareness ask the
40:35
right questions get clarity align your
40:36
team
40:37
focus on what matters most as you focus
40:40
on what matters most you’re building
40:41
maturity
40:42
you’re applying curiosity you’re
40:43
establishing rhythm and you’re holding
40:45
people accountable to get the right
40:46
things done
40:48
and we got to the end of the year and he
40:52
looked at me and go
40:52
stream man like we’ve we’ve delivered
40:55
like
40:56
six or seven major new initiatives not
41:00
talked about and sort of having no
41:02
delivered they’re in
41:03
in market we’re doing these things is
41:06
i’ve been at this company like been
41:08
working with this group for
41:10
years it’s the first time we’ve ever
41:12
landed some
41:13
something and we’ve landed six or seven
41:15
of them and yeah well
41:17
and and that was when um we had this
41:20
moment and and that was a moment for me
41:23
at the moment
41:24
at that time one year this this this
41:26
stuff really does work
41:27
um um well i’d already sold it to them
41:30
so it better work
41:32
um but
41:35
there was also a moment of belief in
41:36
that team um yeah
41:39
as their leader said that in a team
41:41
setting hey you know what we’ve actually
41:43
achieved look what we’ve achieved and
41:45
we’ve actually we’ve done less work this
41:48
year than what we had done in the
41:49
previous years
41:51
um and we and we’ve achieved more and so
41:54
the the team had this moment of self
41:57
belief
41:57
and so this yeah it’s the classic it’s
41:59
this here’s my classic
42:01
you know um uh disclaimer
42:04
uh this won’t happen overnight but it
42:06
will happen
42:07
you don’t anything worthwhile takes a
42:10
bit of time and effort
42:11
and and so this process
42:15
it takes a few cycles to get through
42:17
there come a moment in two or three
42:21
cycles of working through the curve
42:25
each quarter suddenly you step back and
42:28
you go where did that come from what
42:29
happened
42:30
um how did we do that and
42:33
and we have that you know we
42:36
we have applied waymaker principles to
42:38
build waymaker
42:39
um awesome you know whilst the world has
42:42
been shut up and we’ve all been on zoom
42:44
trying to
42:45
talk to each other and work together um
42:48
we’ve had those moments ourselves and
42:50
and so that’s why we’re kind of really
42:51
excited right now to start to pill
42:53
or start to open the door um officially
42:56
and say welcome to waymaker
42:58
awesome stu i need to wrap up our first
43:01
25 minute podcast after 43 minutes
43:03
um but
43:07
but it’s um yeah just awesome to kind of
43:09
hear hear
43:10
the big why and the big what behind um
43:13
waymaker and
43:14
look if you if you’re not a waymaker if
43:16
you’re not part of the waymaker journey
43:18
already you can actually jump on
43:19
waymaker.io
43:20
and start a free trial yeah and then um
43:23
if you are a waymaker
43:24
if view someone that’s already um you
43:27
know jumped on board
43:28
then uh well firstly we’d love you to
43:30
subscribe to this podcast because this
43:32
is actually where we go behind the
43:33
scenes and
43:34
you know not just on the waymaker
43:36
platform but we’ll talk about how to
43:37
achieve more
43:38
by doing less yeah because i’m
43:41
inherently lazy
43:42
[Laughter]
43:44
um so stu it’s been awesome to chat to
43:46
you and i’m looking forward to our next
43:48
chat
43:48
as we talk more about um how to achieve
43:50
more by doing less
43:54
[Music]
44:01
[Applause]
44:03
[Music]