Jim Knight
Appearances
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
I don't even care what the product is. And I say this with love in my heart, regardless of people are selling widgets, it's never about the thing. It's not even about the environment. It's about the people. It's about the humans. It's always been about human behavior. The goal is don't focus so much on the thing.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Yeah, mine was sort of the same thing at an entry level. Actually, my very first job, although I will still say it's in the service industry, was at a local theme park. So I live in central Florida. I'm in Orlando. We have a lesser known theme park called Gatorland Zoo, which is an actual working gator farm. But, you know, for 14 bucks, you can go in there and there's a whole bunch of fun stuff.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
I actually sold fish there. I drove a little miniature train out there. I worked in the alligator boa constrictor area where we would put like a snake around somebody's neck and you can hold on to a baby alligator.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
It sounds like it, right? I'm sure we probably crossed paths at some point. I doubt that actually. Mine was probably a little bit before his time, but I loved it. I mean, just having that service mentality, that work ethic really got me into working at a little Italian restaurant here in the States called the Olive Garden. And Olive Garden was a great run for me. I did that for a couple of years.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
And although I went to school to be a musician and I was a middle school teacher for six years, my real love was in the hospitality industry. And I started working at a local hard rock cafe. And like you, I worked at a frontline position. I was just a host and loved it. But I got to touch basically 7,000 people a day doing something crazy like $35,000 hours, which is unheard of. hospitality.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
But, you know, your skills grow real quick. And, you know, we can certainly talk about the service industry. But I think that that mentality, you talk about that through line has really helped me out in any position. And honestly, I get access to a lot of data.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
And I'll tell you, the National Restaurant Association will tell you something like 65% of all Americans will work in that industry as a starting point. They may not end up there. They might not be their career. They're going to go on to whatever it is their school major was or whatever. But you think about in this country, 65% of all people have worked in that industry.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Man, it just really helps out, I think, when you go on to perhaps do something else in a different industry. So you and I have that in common. I absolutely love that industry.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
I never really wanted to be a tipped employee, you know, which like you said, as a server, as a bartender, that seems to be a goal. That's where the money is. And then eventually you almost take a pay cut to be a manager, right? Because you're on salary and you're at the behest of whatever the general manager or the brand wants you to be. I never really wanted to be a tipped employee.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Like I said, I really, I liked being around people. I worked in probably the busiest restaurant in the world at that time in the early nineties. But I did think at some point I wanted bigger impact and influence and And so I did make the leap to be a manager.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
And I think I was very cognizant of the fact that if I ever was to use my music degree, which I did get, performance and education, and the work that I had done as a middle school teacher, that educational piece, I wanted to pull all of those levers. I knew that I was going to have to be a manager at some point. So I did that really for only about a year, year and a half.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
and then transcended over into the training and development world. That meant I came out of the cafes. I was working at the corporate support center. And ultimately, when my boss left to go do something bigger and better, I was just sort of a natural to move into that role and wound up staying out of, I think, the 21 years.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
I think I can add up to about 16 being head of the training and development wing and loved it. And then from there, it was cafes, hotels, casinos, live music venues. It was global. And I got a chance to travel to about 60 or so different properties in some 30 different countries.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
So, you know, just really, again, that work ethic, like you talked about, Heather, is it really kept me grounded when I became a manager and ultimately an executive. And now I got a chance to, I guess, see the world and hang out with some rock stars. And somebody was paying me to do that and look and be and say whatever I wanted.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
So it was definitely a charmed life or at least a career, a lifetime career that I loved, just absolutely loved.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Yeah, great word. Entertainment is exactly what we're about. You're right. You know, I really want to be a rock star. I want to be like a lot of my friends who could play and sing. And I'd always been in community theater. I did when I was in high school. I was in chorus, you know, so there was a choral background. And actually, my degree is very formal.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
It's very opera, very church and community theater, if you will. So, you know, nobody invites me up onto the stage when all my rock and roll friends are out doing stuff. But... I will say that performance art side of me was always there. The educational side. And I knew this. When I was at college, I said, geez, for me to really make a living, I think you got to be really good at this.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
You got to be a monster musician. And I just wasn't. I mean, I could get by, but I wasn't really just crushing it. So I changed careers. I went into children's education. And again, I really thought maybe I'm going to be a music teacher. To your point, I think somewhere along the line, I get a chance to use both of those. But my real love... was my first job.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
It was really working in restaurants and hotels and hospitality in general. And so, yeah, I do pull all three of those levers and I created, I think, my own sort of career path. But along the way, when I was working at Hard Rock, that's where I really started to get people inviting me to work So sort of do a mini orientation, if you will, a little training program and come do it for their company.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Started off in my backyard somewhere in Orlando. But then after that, you know, someone sitting in the audience, you know how it works out there. It's somebody sees you and then they invite you to come speak at their company. And then how much do you charge? And all of a sudden that's when the epiphany for me, the light bulb went off. And I thought, geez, I think I can make a career with this.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
So it's funny because you do talk a lot about adversity when it comes to careers and other than the fact that I'm a pretty youthful looking guy, which is awesome now, but it was a pain growing up. And I'm a short guy. I'm a pretty short dude. So getting people to take you seriously, that's sort of the only real adversity that I had growing up for my career trajectory.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
It's always been an awesome road, regardless that it was a long and winding road. It's exactly leading me to what I'm doing right now. In fact, I don't know that I'm going to do something else. What I'm doing right now is what I'm going to do the rest of my life.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
That's right. And I talk about this quite a bit, either if I've got some time in a Q&A or certainly my book, I talk about these personal culture shifts. We know organizations go through stuff like this all the time. There's some type of an inflection point where right when the company, the organization starts to plateau, they got to figure out a way to sort of get that inflection point.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
What's the next gate? What's the next thing? How can I get more revenue stream? How can we reinvent ourselves every seven, eight years, you know, in the marketing world, you're always told this, but I think humans go through this, I think at some point, my naturally followed a path, you know, I would, I would sort of do something for a while.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
And then I'd figure out, this is either going to be something I can add to my quiver, and it's going to be a part of me, it's like Shrek says, you're right, it's layers, right? Or, I've got to completely go in a different direction. And it might be completely perpendicular to where I was going. So for me, I think it was just sort of a natural step. And again, I'm using all of this.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
I'm using music education and hospitality to do what I'm doing. But it certainly wasn't, you know, I didn't grow up to say I'm going to be a keynote speaker. It just wasn't in the cards. I wanted to be a policeman or a fireman or a paramedic like my dad was. You know, I was following that pathway. And when I went to school, I went to school with a purpose.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
I thought I was going to be using my degree like so many of us do. And you wind up doing something else. So you're right. I'm not sure that I had this ultimate passion at the end. What I did is I followed my passions, plural, and one led to another. And now it's the perfect, you know, for me, it's the absolute sound check. It's the perfect setup. to doing what I'm doing right now.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
In fact, I don't even know what the next step would be. I think this is it for me. And I'm super happy with it.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Well, my good friend, Brant Menzoir, who, you know, he's my co-host on our podcast. He's sort of taking the same approach and his was in more in your world. He was doing a lot of sales and, you know, was a rock star. He actually can play and perform extremely well. And he was on the road for like two decades. He sort of taken the same approach.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
And I, I do see other people that will try and use some of this stuff as a tool, as a crutch. They use it as sort of an element in their stuff. When it's a part of your DNA and it's just sort of authentically been a part of you, it sure makes it a whole lot easier.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
I think when you're trying to parlay some information to some people, whether it's in person or like we're doing now or from a distance. I mean, now you and I are probably doing more virtual stuff than anything else. So luckily, I think that performance mindset really does come across where the word that you use that I love, that edutainment, I think is what people need today.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
It can't be one or the other. I think you need both.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Even if you're first to the market, even if you're crushing it compared to everybody else, the goal is you got to get spectacular people. You know, if you can find some rock stars out there, they will help you perpetuate the brand for all time.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
You know, it's tough. I think you're right. I think my first natural mindset, especially when the coronavirus started happening here in the States, let me just do what I do on stage in front of a camera at a distance. And that's not necessarily going to work because I couldn't. At that time, I could still do some of it, but I couldn't show the videos I wanted to do.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
The more participatory things that I thought would be interesting. I'm not really having people write things down. I can't put my hand on their shoulder. Like all the stuff that I would have done that would have made it really interesting or more interesting. You now have to think I've got this little box frame. And so I think to your point, my energy changed. absolutely still going to be there.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
I'm going to bring the thunder. I am absolutely going to be as, as much as I possibly can, but you got this little amount of space and you really can't go an hour, hour and a half keynotes. Like people are needing some 15, 20 minute bite-sized truncated pieces. So now you got to take the best of, I will say that I've gotten so much better having upped my virtual game.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
You know, you get, you make sure you have the right camera and the right microphone and all that stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But again, From a pure performance standpoint to what you're talking about, I still know that the audience out there, and by the way, the majority of the audience that I'm now spending more time with are pretty middle-of-the-road industry.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
So I'll give you a quick point. I thought that, honestly, when I jumped from Hard Rock in 2012, I thought that I'd be doing mostly hospitality stuff, restaurants, hotels, a little bit of retail. I am so far from that now. It is honestly banking, insurance, real estate, funeral directors are my number one clients. I do a lot of stuff with the Air Force now.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
So if you think about, you know, trotting out the hair and the blue jeans and the rock and roll, it probably is some shocking off for people. It probably freaks them out. So there's a little bit of that
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
entertainment and i try and use that however i know exactly what they're thinking too i got to get past the the fun the the charm the the funny whatever it is they need the meat potato so to the point that you're making you really have to find the balance i got to walk the line to say How can I get them to push back from the table going, holy crap, that's exactly what I wanted. That was awesome.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Great use of my time. Oh, and by the way, we had some yuck yucks along the way versus either standing up there and do a song and dance and you're funny guy or funny girl and there's nothing of substance to it or vice versa. You're up there because of your title, because of the logo that you're associated with, maybe the amount of letters in front of your name and you're boring as all get out.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
You know, you may as well have just sent me the PowerPoint or whatever the equivalent is. So I think, you know, the performance that edutainment is so key to speakers today. You can't be, like I said, one or the other. I think you got to have elements of both.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Well, I started saying yes to everything. I mean, anybody who asked me to speak, I mean, at the beginning, I probably was only known in hospitality. And again, because of the hard rock name and the fact that I traveled, probably got my foot in the door in a lot of places.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
But I knew that somebody in the back of the room, like I said, was working for, I don't know, John Deere tractors, and they asked you to come out and speak. And then next, it's the Refrigeration Association. then it's the Funeral Directors Association of North America. Next thing you know, you're in all kinds of places.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
And then eventually, although I was hunting and looking for engagements, a lot of them were sort of falling in my lap because the word had gotten out there in other industries. But I think it was really when I started to spend more time with Speaker Bureau. So I'm I'm exclusive with the Speaker Bureau right now. And I don't have to do a tremendous amount of work.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
I'm still doing 35 to 40 engagements a year. And I get an email every week or every other week that just says, firm offer. Here's the engagement. Here's where you need to be. Here's the money. Here's the topic that they picked. And that's only because we've spent enough time together and their agents know exactly what we're looking for. And if you get to the point that you've got great ratings,
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Now, when people are calling up for the Bureau saying, who do you have? Who's your new shiny toy? Who's in this price range? Who talks about these topics? They're not just going through a Rolodex of speakers. Now, you're top of mind. You're at least in the top one, two, or three. And it gives the agent an opportunity to sell your name out there a little bit more.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
So now, some of these associations, it would blow your mind to, not you, because you do this. I think it would blow your audience's mind to think, wow, there's an association for that. Yeah. And they get together. And when they do, they're looking for sometimes an outside speaker. When that happens, I want to be their guy or their girl.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Yeah, my topics are probably the same three or four, and I've been looking to expand a little bit more. Certainly right now, we've got a lot of things that are going on in society here in the U.S. and actually globally. But for the most part, because people know me and I'm associated with Hard Rock, you're probably going to get more around the culture, service, employee engagement type stuff.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
All mine is branded, so it follows my book, Culture That Rocks, Service That Rocks, Engagement That Rocks. Right now, the real big focus and what I'm seeing almost any group is happy if you're talking about leadership. I do have a course and a webinar, and I am working on my next book called, as you can imagine, Leadership That Rocks.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
And I think that really helps me out a lot to now go back to the well, talk to some of these other clients that have already done stuff for perhaps they've already gone through the main keynotes. Now, if we get into workshop oriented stuff, and you talked about this earlier, because of my training and development background, I can help people handle guest complaints.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
or do a brand new interview, or how to have tough conversations with people, or maybe coaching counsel employee, like all of these tactical, technical things. Yes, I can do that. And there's probably 10, 15 of those. But really, people now are looking for great edutaining keynote speakers.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
And so for me, culture, service, engagement, leadership, a little bit around performance management, those are the key ones. But I'll tell you, I was at an event where it just had speaker authors there. And there's a couple of communities, believe it or not, we do the same thing as everybody else. We get together and talk about our world.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
And there was somebody that was there from a speaker bureau that had been asked to come in as a keynote speaker for this group. And one of the brand new speakers, they were just now getting started on their own. They asked that exact same question. What is it that you think audiences are looking for more than anything else? And sure enough, he said,
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
I don't care how fancy or cool or whatever your title or your topic or what you look like. If you have the word leadership in your session, you're going to win. People are starting to make some selections over that more than anything else.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Now that was before, I think the things that are going on now, I think to your podcast, your fan base, people are looking, you know, how do I deal with adversity? How can I face my fears? How can I overcome whatever major obstacles are going on? How
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
can i get to my goals like some of that will transcend regardless of what's going on today but i think that uh leadership is always going to be a winner and so i i definitely know that that's a part of something that i could do if you came to me and said how can i increase check averages at a restaurant no that is not my wheelhouse and i don't want that to be somebody else probably does that much better than me but those four or five that tends to be my my focal points
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Yeah, you know, so I really focus a lot on the people that are working for you. So when it comes to leadership, there's so many books and websites and, you know, speakers actually on this topic. So you got to pick your battles as to what you can do. But I do focus a lot on communicating. I think leaders in general think they're really good communicators when in fact they're not.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Maybe unless they've surrounded themselves with a bunch of awesome people who are. They tend to hold stuff close to the vest. They don't share as liberally as we would probably like. The more that you can get down to the front line level, whatever that employee, associate, team member, you name it, if they're in the know, all of a sudden you've created some brand ambassadors.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
They're more likely to take the hill with you to get the result that you're looking for and then some because they're in the know. You've given them something bigger, I think, than the day-to-day making the doughnuts. So I think communication is something we can talk about. And again, I'll do it in a fun way. I'll use some band and brand analogies. I do a lot of music orientation.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
But at the end of the day, the takeaway is you got to communicate better. The second I alluded to, you got to surround yourself with an army of giants. I think this is where probably some leaders do very well. At the very least, they might have a right hand girl or guy that can really whisper in their ear almost as a mentor, even though they're doing some upward delegation.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
But to surround yourself with people who have your best interest in heart and can actually say, I think you're making a bad decision or we ought to step back and think about this. Somebody somewhere has to have that group, you know, this group of people, whoever that inner circle is, you need to surround yourself with these fantastic people.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
And then at the core, honestly, I don't even care what the product is. And I say this with love in my heart, regardless of people are selling widgets, it's never about the thing. It's not even about the environment. It's about the people. It's about the humans. It's always been about human behavior. So the goal is don't focus so much on the thing.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Even if you're first to the market, even if you're crushing it compared to everybody else, the goal is you've got to get spectacular people. you know, if you can find some rock stars out there, they will help you perpetuate the brand for all time. And again, I think more people are starting to focus on this today.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
There's just too many awesome brands out there that we can point to, but go back in time, 25, 30, 40 years ago, people like me that would throw down the culture card and say, Oh, we need to do this because it would be cool and fun and the right thing to do. That's laughable back then to a CEO. They would be laughing at me saying, Hey, It's not tied to business results.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
It's not part of our strategy. But now I think you can absolutely put a little bit more oomph when it comes to culture, when it comes to service. And that only happens with people. It doesn't happen by accident. So- Those are kind of the three things. I'd say you've got to communicate better.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
You've got to surround yourself, at least from an executive level, if you're an entrepreneur or a business owner or even a middle manager, whoever the managers are below you, make sure those core people are fantastic to help you out. But ultimately, don't focus on the thing. You've got to focus on getting the right people to absolutely bring something spectacular.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
You know, all the best training in the world is not going to help a bad hire. So I'd spend a lot of energy on hiring. You know, and again, I guess the fourth thing might be retaining people. I won't spend a lot of time on that, but we spend so much time complaining about perhaps you don't have the right ones. Fix the front end of the employee cycle first. Find rock stars.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
But then, of course, the second part is hold on to them. You've got to love on them a little bit more and get them to stay with you, and then you'll be unstoppable. You'll produce Herculean results. I know that's a long answer, but try and give me as much as I can.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Yeah, it's tough. It's so funny that you say that, Heather. I usually get around four questions at the end of a session. It's usually, what other topics do you do? Do you do any consulting? What kind of hair care products do you use? You know, that comes up every once in a while. But the fourth one, probably my most requested is, I'm just a middle manager, or I'm a vice president.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
I'm not in charge of the thing. Can I really absolutely make a difference? And I do think you can. I spend a lot of time talking about, again, I use the language upward delegation. I think a single person with a great idea can start a revolution, a cultural revolution. That's how... That's how countries were overthrown. That's how philanthropic movements are created.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
But I think that's how some tectonic shifts can happen in a culture. However, if the CEO, if the top person, he or she just absolutely stinks and they're not going anywhere, it's going to be an uphill slog. And unless you're on some island in the middle of nowhere and you can sort of create your own destiny. It's too tough. And I think you can make the best of it. But you're right.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
I think you got to keep a wandering eye to say, what kind of brand would I want to work for or create? Maybe that's where the entrepreneurial spirit inside of you comes up. But I do think that you can create your own bubble. Listen, I had a fantastic environment that I worked in, but I had a crappy boss at one time. you know, working in the Orlando Hard Rock Cafe.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
I worked for a general manager who just did not care for me being there because I was getting paid out of the corporate support center. I was an entity that was thrown onto this person's management team. Whenever there was an opening, I got to go and do that and travel and hang out with all the people on the other side of the planet. And then I'd come back and run shifts.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
And so this person just didn't like that. And so they put me on the worst shifts possible. I had no department responsibilities. But in my mind, I thought, you know what, in lieu of leadership, I'm going to lead. And so my shifts were, absolutely a blast. I would either create contests for fun or do my pre-meetings. We call them pre-shifts outside or underneath a piece of memorabilia.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
When that person wasn't around, I just had an absolute blast. But I also knew full well, as long as this person is here, I'm probably not going to be able to move up. And ultimately, I outlasted the person. That person's not even with the company anymore. So I do think you're going to struggle if the top person isn't in that same mindset.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
But I still think a single person with some great ideas, you can start a cultural revolution, no doubt.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
A hundred percent. I am with you a hundred percent. And we've done that. Both you and I have done that.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Well, and you said it best, too. I think it's easy for me and probably for both of us to say one thing, but there might be people in the audience thinking, I need this job. I have only a specific skill set. I fell into this gig for whatever reason. I need the benefits because I got kids. My husband, wife, significant other, whatever it is, aren't working, whatever it is.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
It's not easy to just say, if it's not working for you, you need to bail. Right. But to your point, I think you can have the mindset, you know, maybe it's a year from now. The plan is I've got an exit strategy. I'm going to find something that I will either fall madly in love with and I'll go and work for a person that fits my values or I'm just going to start my own thing.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
And maybe it's two years, maybe it's five years, whatever it is. It's not easy to just say, ah, you need to bail out of the thing. But you're also going to be miserable if you stay there. You're going to look back five, 10, 15 years and go, why did I do that? You know, you spend more waking time at work than you do anywhere else.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Why would you want to spend time somewhere where you weren't madly in love with it and you didn't appreciate the boss? Listen, I worked for a Marriott residence in, I love that brand, but I worked there as a housekeeper for three hours. I just knew that wasn't my gig. I, you know, I gave it my shot and, And it wasn't because of a person. I just knew that that wasn't for me.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
I'm either very short term. I decide very quickly where I'm a long term. I'm usually three to seven years in hard rock. It was a little bit different. It was a couple of decades. But in general, I had to have a boss that supported me or I'm just not going to be there long. That's just the way it is. I do think people are getting better. I think brands are getting better.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
It does shock me, honestly, when I see somebody who is still trying to muscle results and stomp on people and get what they're looking for through threats and punishment and fear. It blows my mind that that still exists because the kids today, I say the kids, not just the millennials, Gen Z, my kids that are now working in the industries, they'll laugh at you.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
they will just totally just leave and go somewhere else because they can. If they're a rock star, rock stars can always get another gig. So I'm with you. I don't think people should be wasting their time. If you're stuck somewhere and you think you've got to have this job right now, that's cool. Totally get that. But start looking to see what is the future look like for you?
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Where can you start to make those moves that in six months, a year, two years from now, you're in a much better, healthier environment.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Oh, thanks for asking. Yeah, I think all roads lead to my website, which is my last name is Knight, K-N-I-G-H-T. It's knightspeaker.com. You'll see a whole bunch of information on there about my speaking stuff and my book I already talked about, Culture That Rocks. You can grab it through there. It is a how-to business book.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
It's got a lot of, like I said, music orientation and some fun rock and roll stuff, but I'm looking to really give people some needy stuff to take with them. My podcast is called Thoughts That Rock, and that's a free weekly podcast that I do with my co-host, Brant Menswar.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
We have people from all walks of life on there, and the goal is we try and provide two pieces of life-changing advice in about 30, 45 minutes, and We've had some of our similar guests on each other's shows on yours, Heather, as well. But I'm just having a blast doing what I'm doing. But thank you so much for the opportunity.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: How to Lead With Heart and Build a Culture That Rocks with Jim Knight
Well, I appreciate it. And I will say that I'm mediocre at a lot of stuff. But one thing I have a strength is I can hold an audience. So at the very least in person, you know, our good friend Warren. Yeah, I'm super happy that he said that. Let's hope it translates to a podcast, right?