Entrepreneur and leadership expert Dallas Burnett shares his insights on career growth, setting goals, and adding value. He stresses the importance of learning new skills, moving beyond your current position, and helping others succeed. Furthermore, Dallas discusses the challenges and misconceptions of entrepreneurship, emphasizing the importance of perseverance and grit. Along the way, he shares the role models who have influenced him. Dallas also discusses his book, "Lift", which focuses on strengthening team and organizational culture, and his passion for leadership development. According to Dallas Burnett in this conversation, an organization's culture can be changed through consistency. He emphasizes the need for leaders to be consistent in their actions and stay committed to doing the right thing, even when it's difficult. Burnett also highlights the value of investing in others and building strong relationships. He shares insights from his book, Lyft, which focuses on creating a culture of engagement and personal development within organizations. Burnett encourages leaders to define their organization's purpose and values clearly and consistently communicate them to align the team. He also emphasizes the importance of accountability and trust in driving organizational change.

Well, Dallas, we're so glad to have you on the podcast. How you doing today?

I am doing great Keith, glad to be here on the show. I'm excited.

You say that now, we haven't got into one of my favorite topics yet. So we'll see if you still say that after we cover that somewhere in the podcast.

Hahaha

Oh no, oh no.

I love to ask my guests this question. So what's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

Wow, you know, I've gotten a lot of good advice over the years. I think that, you know, if you're in a career, one of the things that I was told by a friend of mine early on in the career is that, and he was talking about it as he was going through a large corporation. We've had two completely different career paths. He went into this multi-billion dollar corporation and came up through, but what I've seen as an entrepreneur is this.

it's been kind of the same way, just in a different flavor. And he said, hey, look, if you're going into this job and you're going into the role, he's like five years in front of me. He said, you need to make sure that you are adding value for about three and a half to five years. He said, but you need to be moving and growing out of that position every three and a half to five years, or you're just gonna be stuck. You're gonna end up being the guy or the girl in that spot. So you need to be doing, and I thought that was an interesting, I never really thought about that.

But then after I got into working and things like that and entrepreneurship as well, and the different companies I've been in, it's very interesting how whether you're in a large corporation or whether you're in a small startup business and you're going through different ventures or whether you're going through other small businesses, you tend to need to grow. And what he was really telling me was is that you should always be doing a couple things. Number one, you should be seeing how you add value where you are, kind of like the saying grow where you're planted.

and being thankful and grateful every day that you can do the work that you're called to do with excellence. But at the same time, if you do that, you should be able to grow out of that. And that's going to require two things. You learning new skills about what's over you and you bringing somebody else up and helping them get to be able to take your place. And so there's a lot of things going on in that little statement, but I thought that from a career perspective early on, that was really, that was really good advice. I think another piece of advice that

that people have given me is just being able to be in the present and being able to stay focused on the present moment as much as possible because Lord knows we're very distracted. We live in a distracted culture and knowing those priorities and those core values early on setting goals was a big thing. I was in 10th grade and I don't even know who it was at the time, but the person, the speaker was like, if you write your goal down.

you're like 90% more likely to achieve it. And I can't tell you what the rest of his talk was, but I zoned in on that thing. And that was a game changer for me. I've got every goal that I've ever written since 11th grade in a little folder. And that was a big deal. So if you write it down, it really does. I have, I think a much higher percentage of goal attained because I just, I took his word for it. I was like, all right, he sounds like he knows what he's talking about, I'm doing it. So I write my goals down every year. I'm a goal setter, so.

Yeah, those are two things that I feel like were very good piece of advice that I was given.

I remember somebody else saying too, whatever you put out into the into the universe as a goal that you're going to do.

you have to achieve it because you stuck it out there in the universe. So it's kind of the same thing if you write it down or if you speak it out there, you really are committed to do it. So like, I like that idea of, if you say it, you have to do that. Yeah.

I'll tell you this, this is a great story with that. Yeah, you gotta be consistent. You're gonna wanna be consistent. But here's the other thing. And I actually, this is what's kinda come to mind. I saw my senior year psychology teacher. I was a high school senior and I had to take this psychology class. And at the time I was like, what are we doing? Why am I gonna take this class? And the lady was the most awesome teacher. She had just great energy. She was like...

really little, just a little lady, just so short and tiny, but her energy filled up the whole room. And so she inspired all the class. Well, one of our last assignments, and I'm 18 years old, she said, I want you to get out a piece of paper. And I don't know if it was a final exam or whatever, but she said, I want you to write exactly what your life is gonna be like. Where are you gonna live? Who are you gonna be with? What kind of job you're gonna have? How many kids you got? Write a picture of your life 15 years from now. And so I was like, bye, whatever. So.

What kind of job are you going to have? I'm going to write a book for you. So, good luck.

18, what do I know? I write down this page, turn it in, she gives it back to us at the end of the year. She's like, you take this with you. I'm going through, we moved back from Atlanta. We had lived in Atlanta, moved back to South Carolina. And it was exactly, exactly 15 years later, I was 33. And in moving boxes and pulling stuff away, I found that piece of paper. And wouldn't you know, down to the number of kids, where I lived, the house, everything, it was

to answer the number of kids, where I live, and I have kids, it was unbelievable. And I saw her about three months ago, and I was like, Mr. Arthur, I've just got to say this. I'm not gonna let you do that. Right. I've got to say this.

unbelievable. And I saw her about three months ago and I was like, Miss Marcia, I've just got to tell you this. Now this was this I'm much older than 33 now so it's been way more than 15 years but I got to tell you I got to tell you this story and so I found her and was able to tell her that her little her one page assignment ended up being spot on accurate to what ended up happening. So I think that goes to your point the power of putting it out there. When you put it out there you just you never know.

Yeah, you gotta love that. You have achieved a level of success in your life and I'm kind of curious because no one ever gets where they are by themselves. Somebody once said the self-made man is not much of a man. But...

Mm-hmm.

Hahaha

That's right.

So who are some role models in your life that came alongside you in your journey that you can tell us what made them special for you in that journey?

Hmm. That's a great question. And man, it would be a long list for me, but just some off the top of my head. Number one, my father was an entrepreneur as well. He was a teacher. So he taught chemistry and he also started a company with his three two brothers. And so he's now retired from chemistry, but the company has done very well. And so I got to see this company come out of the dirt in the early eighties.

And as a kid, I'm like, you know, four or five years old when they started the company. And so I'm playing on pallets and riding on the forklift beside him and watching him pull ridiculous hours and work unbelievable shifts. And he'd get home from school at three and go out to change his clothes and go out and load trucks by hand because they didn't even have a forklift at the time, load a tractor trailer truck till midnight or one in the morning, get home and do it all again the next day, be at school.

730 in the morning. So I watched his work ethic. I think that his work ethic is something that he definitely transferred on and has been very helpful in my career. I also think that I had a friend I had a personal, so I actually talked about this the other day, I had a man named Rusty, Rusty Guil at Clemson University. I was at Clemson. I was broke. I mean I had I was taking all kind of crazy-eyed jobs. I mean you know you broke.

I think that his work definitely transferred on and has been very helpful last year. I also think that I had a personal story to tell you about this day and day.

I mean, I was taking off on a crazy high job. You know you broke. When you go and your job is to sit in the parking lot of a barbershop and run people out of the parking lot, they're starting to park there and walk to the restaurant next door. I, for a barber, I would do the same thing. I would run people out of the restaurant next door.

when you go and your job is to sit in a parking lot of a barber shop and run people out of the parking lot because they're starting to park there instead and walk across to the restaurant next door. But barber hired me to sit in the parking lot to run people out so they didn't get towed. That's how broke I was. I was happy to have it. You know, I'd sit there and study and make 10 bucks or whatever it was. And I was like, okay, I get free haircuts. So I was like, all right, this works. So, but I was in college, didn't have anybody. I was working all kinds of jobs. I have a very challenging degree. And so it was just...

I was like, okay, I'll get three hits. I was like, all right, it works. But I was in college, didn't have any man, I was working on a job that I had a very challenging degree, so there was a lot of time in it. But I had a guy that would always take me out to work, named Rusty Gill.

It was just a lot of time management, but I had a guy that would always take me out to lunch. His name was Rusty Will. And I would feel bad for it because he took me out. He never asked me to pay for it. He would always catch the bill. And so finally one day I was like, I am not eating lunch unless you let me pay for this. I don't care if I'm broken. I got enough to buy this lunch. I'm buying your lunch. And he's like, you are not buying my lunch. And he said, but you can't do me a favor. I said, whatever it is. He goes, one day you're going to get out of here. You're going to graduate.

and I would feel bad for it. Because like, she sent me out, she never asked me to pay for it, she would always say, still, at the final one day, I'm like, I have not eaten lunch, unless you let me taste it. I don't care if I'm broke or not, I got enough to buy and I'm buying you lunch. And he's like, you are not buying my lunch. And he said, but you can't give me a payback, or whatever, if you don't, one day you're gonna get out of here, you're gonna graduate, and you're gonna have your day, take care of your lunch, and you can pay me back if I take more people lunch,

and you're gonna have the ability to take other people lunch and you can pay me back by taking other people to lunch and just listening to them and hearing their story and helping them out. And I was like, that's the deal. And so I just appreciate his willingness to be present with me in a period of time it was hard and listen to what was going on and encourage me and then be that kind of that mentor. And so I take a lot of people to lunch, you know? And so, yeah, yeah.

I just appreciate the willingness to be present too, and you know, spend time with art and listen to what was going on, and encourage me, and so you got to tell about that mentor, and so that's why I'm here today. That's awesome. So we have a get together. You can take me to lunch. I'll be back with you.

Hahaha

I'll be happy to be happy to.

Just don't take me to a cowboy restaurant. Anyway, but...

No, I love it. I can see us coming. I can see us coming soon. Oh, man.

You know, I'm curious about your journey. Tell us about first of all, kind of your personal story and then kind of give us a segue into how that connected with your career path.

Oh man, yeah, I'm a, I'm an, I would say I'm a classified, I would classify myself as an entrepreneur, but I would not say that, I mean, we have such stigma around that concept. I feel like, you know, you have to be the Silicon Valley tech startup guy to be an entrepreneur. And I just have a much looser definition of that term. I see it as a creator, a creator of.

of things that have value into the broader population, and searching for how to combine things like that. So to me, it's a pretty broad term. And so for my career, like I started out working, I got out of college and I've been in, I don't know, something like 12 or 13 different industries. It's been incredible. It's been a great ride, but yeah, I don't recommend it. I'm a seven on the Enneagram, so it's like...

Wow.

I have squirrel moments every other minute. Like it's like squirrel, oh, look at that bright and shiny algae. So, you know, that's, that's been kind of also kind of translated into my career path, but it's been, it's been a cool ride. I got into water technology early on and was able to, to that's kind of technical training, water chemistry and things like that. I just really enjoyed doing that and, and learning that we have some patents in that and different things. But

got to a place where I wanted to move more into the business side of things instead of the technical side. And so I ended up going into venture funded startup and leading that. It was the most expensive window shades you can buy in the world. It's like I figure how that has to do with water. You know, like what? You know, and then really was kind of transitioned out that. In the in between time I was in the construction industry, I was in the corporate training industry. All these things are kind of happening. All that.

uh... water and uh... really uh...

as we go through that, but these are the kind of highlights. But I think for me, it was being able to go into a situation and problem solve and innovate. And these are the types of like bring order to chaos. And that's really kind of where entrepreneurship and me like where I'm kind of like snuggling up to entrepreneurship like peanut butter and jelly is that order from chaos is where I would say. So my journey has been very interesting.

It was being able to go into a situation of problem-solve and integrate and using the types of like, bring order to chaos. That's really kind of where entrepreneurship had made me. Where I'm kind of like snuggling up entrepreneurship like Will Burns Jelly, that order from chaos is where it's now made me. So my journey has been very interesting. I was talking to someone recently about, you know, they were talking about entrepreneurs

I was talking to someone recently and about, you know, they were talking about entrepreneurs having grit and different things like that. I think that's something that a lot of people don't realize is that if you're getting into that creative space is messy and you have to have some grit that you got to push through. You've got to, you got to be able to hang tight with something. You know, people hear, oh, you got a patent and water treatment, you know, water chemistry or whatever. Yeah, but you don't understand. I spent seven years.

I think that's something that a lot of people don't realize is that if you're getting into that creative space it's messy and you have to have some grip. If you've got a fifth finger you've got to be able to hang onto something. People hear, oh you've got to pass the water treatment. Water treatment is there. But yeah, you don't understand. I spent seven years with no guarantee that thing was going to happen. I mean I spent three years and it didn't work at all. I found, there's like that light bulb.

with no guarantee that thing was gonna happen. I mean, I spent three years and it didn't work at all. I found, it's like that light bulb. You know that time says like, I found 990 different ways to not do a light bulb. Well, I mean, I found a, I don't know if it's 900, but it was a lot of ways not to do what I was doing. Like it just, it just has to be. And so you just have to kind of feel like you can, you're gonna persist and, and have that grit to get to the finish line. So that's, that's been my career path. I, I've

I found 990 ways to not do like this. I found, I don't know if it's 900, but it was all.

I always wanted to lead and I always wanted to create and entrepreneurship seemed like a great path for that, but I had no ability. My career has not been one of those. Some people are like, I'm going to go do this. In fact, that friend that I was talking to you earlier about, he entered that company and just went through the ranks and that was it. For me, if you'd have told me 20 years ago that this is where we would be in my career, I would have been like, you're crazy. I've not did.

I'm not sure. So mine is not going to plan that. It's not going to be an opportunity.

This is so mine, mine has not been a planned path as much as it's just been an opportunist. I've seen opportunities and met those opportunities. So yeah, that's been my journey.

I love that. I think one of the biggest misconceptions about entrepreneurs is that it's easy to become an overnight success. You've just described that to be an entrepreneur means you're rolling a grind and you have such confidence in what you're working on that you will stick to it when other people might quit before they reach that point. So for those young entrepreneurs who are thinking, no, I'm looking for that one magic

Oh my gosh, yeah.

pill, that one magic bullet that's going to overnight jet me to success and fame and fortune. What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?

Mm-hmm.

My advice is, I guess first I'd start out with an apology. I am so sorry that you've been fed a lot of social media stuff that makes you think that whatever it is that they make look easy is actually easy. So I'll apologize for those people because they're trying to sell you something, some course or whatever. And I'll go ahead and apologize for them and let you know that, I'm not saying that lightning doesn't strike and that people don't walk into success in that, but those are very hard to replicate.

Hehehehe

Hehehe

What I've seen is that most entrepreneurs, it is a journey. And it's not one that you just make it to top mountain overnight. And it's something that even if you hit something that's really successful, it can still be extremely difficult. Because anything you grow and scale is going to take a lot of effort. So whether or not you're just grinding it out to try to get it off the ground and you're turning that, as Jim Collins would say, that

It's going to take a lot of effort. So whether or not you're just grinding it out, trying to get it off the ground, and you're turning that, as Jim Collins would say, that flat wheel of momentum. If you're just slowly turning it and getting it going, it feels like it's never going to go. That's one part of running. Or if you, you know, standing with lightning strikes and that thing does take off, whatever you're working on, then it's a different kind of grinding.

fly wheel of momentum. If you're just slowly turning it and getting it going, it feels like it's never gonna go. That's one kind of grind. Or if you, you know, are standing where lightning strikes and that thing does take off, whatever you're working on, then it's a different kind of grind because then you're figuring out personalities and people and growth and scale and strategies because you can implode as fast as you explode. And so I think that for me, it's being okay with where you are.

and knowing where you want to go. And it's not about how fast you get there, but it's that you're moving forward and moving towards that end. So for a young entrepreneur, I would say, be really careful because if somebody's selling hype and they're selling all this kind of, this thing that looks really easy, I would say just keep, I'm not saying don't go after and don't keep growing and don't learn and don't buy the courses and don't get better. Absolutely, because you might learn.

So that looks really easy. I would say just keep it simple. I'm not saying don't go after it. Don't keep going and don't learn. Don't buy the courses and don't get better. Absolutely. You say you don't learn different things that are beneficial in your studies. But I would say set your expectations that you're going to be a good entrepreneur today. So you can do different things. That's what you're going to do. Good. I love that because I think so often, because we think entrepreneurs

or three things there that could help you in your journey, but I would say set your expectations that the journey is going to be challenging and that the obstacle is the way. So you should be looking for the obstacles and expect them to come, you know.

overnight successes that they didn't earn what they got. And so I'm glad to hear, I love having entrepreneurs on my show because everyone I've talked to has the same message. It was not an overnight success. I worked really, really hard. And to get where I am took a lot of time, a lot of risk and a lot of effort. And I just want to break the myth that it's easy for people who have done it. And they kind of, we kind of dismissed the actual amount of work and effort.

Mm-hmm. Mm-mm. Mm-hmm.

that went in to get to the point that where people are.

Well, you know, I was listening to a great speech. We had a speaker at one of our conferences and it was a Navy SEAL and he stands up. Now this wasn't Jocko, so I hate to burst everybody's bubble. It's not Jocko, but it wasn't a Navy SEAL. Who knows Jocko? And so he was talking and he said, he has his own company, they did some consulting. And he said, look, when people apply to my company, they give me a resume. And I give it back to them and I say, no, I want you to fill out this.

Okay.

another session.

Right.

and he calls it a reverse resume. And I thought that was just a fantastic, fantastic idea because he makes them go back through their resume and say, this is what you want everybody to see. This is like, you know, the pageant, this is the show. He's like, but what was it backstage? I need to know what the real, I wanna know where all the failures happened in that resume, all the setbacks, all the things. And they literally, to get a job in this organization, have to come back and retool their whole resume to show.

all the things that they don't want to show and don't want to say just because it makes them, he just wants to know the real deal. He wants to know the struggle, not just the success. And I'll say, for example, a few years ago, I got into a venture, we'd started a dental company and a partner and I'm not a dentist obviously. And so...

And a few years ago, I got into business, started a dental company, a part-time, and I'm not a dentist, actually.

My partner was thankfully, and so we're in this organization. We just had all this ambition and we thought this was, we were hitting it just right. And we bought the first two offices and then COVID happened. Well, you know, nobody, yeah, nobody tells you what to do when you've never been in an owner and a dentist office and then COVID happens and you're answering questions that you've never asked before having to answer stuff. And then you find out you're down like, you know, several hundred thousand dollars and you've taken.

So we're in the same business, we just had all this, and this year we thought this would be a good thing. And we bought the first two offices that we've been told would happen. Oh my word. Yeah, nobody tells you what to do when you've generally been an owner of your office and then COVID happens and you're asking questions you've never asked before and they're asking questions. And then you find out you're down like several hundred thousand dollars and you say, you've got loans out on your home or property, and you're like, that's real. That's real life and that's your art.

loans out on your home or property. I mean, like that's real, you know, that's real life and that's real entrepreneurship. And thankfully, you know, we've weathered that storm and ride the ship and made it through, but nobody puts that on Fortune magazine or in INC magazine or anything like that. They're putting, you know, oh, well, I'm the, you know, 30 under 30 and all this stuff that informs it.

Nobody puts that on Fortune magazine or the IMDb magazine or anything like that. Let's just go, oh well I'm 30 under 20 and all that stuff. But it's more of a great blessing that you're alive. There's a lot more message coming. And I think I have the respect of the people that have to quit, whether they're at the beginning and they're just getting started in the time that they've got, whether they're in principle right in the middle of all the pressure and their under- or whether they're maybe to the other side of like the ASF and that sort of thing.

that you don't see, but real life is a lot more messy. And I think I have respect for people that have the grit, whether they're at the beginning and they're just getting started and trying to figure things out, whether they're in the crucible, right in the middle of all the pressure and they're under pressure, or whether they've made it to the other side and they've created something that's a sustaining success. So I've got respect for all three of those positions, but I would say if you're on the front end, expect there to be challenges for sure.

Yeah, I love that. Let's talk about it. And do it anyway. Go for it. You got to go for it. Just like when your team throws five interceptions, you still got to hope they're going to win. But that's-

And do it anyway. That's right.

That's a side note.

Maybe, maybe you do, or maybe you just throw your hands on like again? Are you kidding me? This always happens.

What the fuck just happened?

But I digress. You focused on coaching and leadership. Those are two of my passions. I love leadership development. So what got you to get focused on leadership development?

Hahaha

Oh, that's a great question. So that was actually in the startup that was the most expensive window shades. That's the first time I was put into a situation where I was in the hot seat in control of, and they wrote us, literally, they wrote a $5 million check and they said, we want you to turn this into this, whatever X. It was a venture fund, venture capitalists that did that. I had never been in that position before. And so I found myself.

I love business strategy. I just love getting in position over your competitors and how we're gonna grow and scale. And I just love that. But I really quickly realized that for me, I could have the best strategy in the world, but if I couldn't bring people in that could align around that vision, align around that strategy and then get that work done successfully, then that really was gonna be dead in the water. Or I would never achieve the kind of success that we were.

you know, it was possible to achieve. And so I think for me, I had a lot of, I had hired at the time a lot of millennials who at that time, that was years ago, that time were just getting into the workforce and they were asking questions like, should I buy a house or a car? I mean, or a finance or lease? And what am I doing? In addition to like, how do I do my job well, right? And so I found myself meeting with these young, it was a bunch of 20 somethings, we were all having a great time and just learning and growing together. I found myself having a lot of conversations on.

I'm not kidding in the workforce. They were asking questions like, do I buy a house or a car or a bike or a leasing? What am I doing? In addition to you, like, how do I do my job now, right? I found myself meeting with these young, let's work this whole company here, all having a good time and just learning and growing together. I found myself having a lot of conversations with them.

how to approach problem solving and how to delegate and how to lead and how to communicate and all these things. And so that's really what started the journey. I started keeping notebooks, notebook of different ideas and conversations and thoughts that I was having with them, all the leadership stuff. I'm a leadership junkie was chewing up and kind of regurgitating in a way that made sense. And so that was really the first, it was by necessity for me. I moved from business strategy into leadership pretty quickly.

Instead of, because I think at that point in time, you find out when you're put in that position, and we see this a lot of times in organizations, a lot of people are reluctant leaders because they've come up and they've been a technical expert. Maybe you're an engineer or maybe you're a plumber, and all of a sudden you get put in and your boss says, oh, you've done such a good job there, now you're over four people. And you're like, okay. And then you naturally want to just do the same thing that you've been doing and treat those people like you've been treating this engineer and drawing it. It just doesn't work that way. And.

So we see people struggle a lot with that. So when you're put into that situation, you say, okay, I've either got to change or this thing will work. And so that's kind of what happened to me. I was like, I've got to really focus on leadership and developing people as a strength if I'm gonna be successful.

It reminds me of my first real ministry, my first church. I walked in and they say, we called you to lead us. I'm like, well, I just got out of school. We don't have classes on leadership. And so I had to go, I had to go find the best leader developer out there. So I started digging into everything John Maxwell wrote. And every time he was in town or anywhere near me, I'd go to a John Maxwell seminar. I just sat there and just learned. And then I took what I learned and I brought it back to my church and I trained my leaders how to lead.

Oh god, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

There you go.

And so we would, we would, we'd start every meeting out with a 20 minute John Maxwell, 21 irrefutable laws. And we just, we just plowed through and, and I just love leadership. Cause if you pour into people and rise, raise the level of people around you with their skills, then you're not going to be the expert. I don't want to be the smartest person in the room. If I am, then the room's probably not as smart as it could be, but.

That's good.

Yeah.

Well, as you've said, and you've been in the ministry, so you know the law of the harvest, if you're talking John Maxwell. So, I mean, you were doing it, you're living that. We plant seeds in people, we plant ideas in people, and we expect that return. We expect that, and we expect the harvest. And I think that a lot of people expect the harvest without the seeds, or plant the seeds and don't expect the harvest. And I think those are two mindsets that are really sometimes hard for leaders. Some are rose-colored.

Right.

glasses and they just think that oh, you know, they're gonna they're gonna just be great employees or great team members and they haven't actually Done the investment piece and then when it doesn't work out they're like what why didn't you do this good? Yeah, it's like well, you didn't really give them you didn't really give them a good start You didn't invest you didn't invest in them and then other people I think maybe that the glass is half empty It's people that just would invest but then the expectation of the return is not there. It's like well, you know, you can't

great employees and great team members and they haven't actually done the investment piece and it doesn't work out. What? Why are you doing this? You didn't really give them a good start. You didn't invest in them. Other people I think maybe that's the last thing happened to people that just wouldn't invest but then they're facing a new challenge. I mean, you can't. You can't.

If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself. And that's the problem too. So I think those are two fallacies in misconceptions in leadership. I think that what you described is living the law of the harvest, which is we're going to plant some seeds and expect to harvest.

We want something done about the life of the person. Not just prostitutes, but people with deep qualities, very, very misperception of the community. And I think they're looking at the established individuals as well as the higher-ups who have that kind of experience. Yeah, great. So you have a new book, Lift, and it aims to help leaders increase performance by strengthening their team or organizational culture. So tell us a little bit about why you wrote the book. Lift, what inspired that?

Mm-hmm.

Well, that's

I still don't know, so.

They go into like hospitals. So if you think about, you're sick in a hospital and you open the door to a person that has a virus. If any of that air gets out in the hallway, everybody in the hallway is a virus. So that room has to have a negative pressure when you open the door, air rushes into that room. Well, who knew that every room, every main room in the hospital, operating room, recovery room, treatment room, you have to have what they call critical pressure rooms. And that's just certified.

if any of that air gets out in the hallway, now everybody in the hallway is a virus. So that room has to have a negative pressure. So when you open the door, air rushes into that room. Well, who knew that every room, every main room in the hospital, operating rooms, recovery rooms, treatment rooms, have to have what they call our critical pressure rooms. And they have to get certified by someone to say the airflow in the hospital hallways and the rooms are correct.

someone to say the air flow in the hospital always works out correct. And so it's like an air engineer. That's the best way to use it. Gotta say literally, are these air engineers that go right in bed with air flows everywhere, then make sure they're correct. So, you know, anything from hospitals to, I mean, Boeing to oilfield shops or pharmaceutical companies or whatever, anything where air flow is really important, these guys go in and do the job. So, it's fart boobs.

And so it's like an air engineer. That's the best way I could use to describe it. So they literally are these air engineers that go around and measure air flows everywhere that make sure they're correct. So, you know, everything from hospitals to, I mean, you know, Boeing painting shops or pharmaceutical companies or whatever, anything where airflow is really important. These guys go in and do their job. So smart dudes.

and men and women and pretty cool company. So I was in that company. The interesting thing was it was owned by a female and the company was 92% male. And so when I got there, it was just a lot of people just grinding on each other. They were great people, they would just grind on each other. And so we were like, hey, we need to shift the culture and we need to do some things, little things. It's good people. So it's like, why can't we get along here? This is great.

So it was on that journey and that journey also, I had the opportunity to start meeting with some of the leaders and see some real tremendous development. And it was a guy that I became good friends with, actually just talked to him this week. And he was a project manager and within four years, he was leading two regions in the company, essentially two thirds of the company. And he had just excelled tremendously over that time.

And a lot of where Lyft came from was conversations between, between him and myself, like Kyle and me, we'd just sit down on a Monday morning and we'd just start talking. And it was really cool because I could see his growth personally as a father, as a leader in his team, managing his team professionally as well. So he came in one day and he said,

I said, hey man, look, I need you to move to the next level. I need to get you out from, you know, project manager to hospital. He was like, ah, I'm more of a performer. You know, I like performing. I'm not, I don't know about this coaching stuff. And then to see four years later, it's, the mindset that he has now is completely, I mean, it's just a 180. And so watching his journey of him just completely crush it has been encouraging. And so when I left,

and he came in one day and said, you know, I said, hey man, look, I need you to lead the development. I need to get you out. He said a hundred things. I said, hey, I'm more of a performer. I like performing. I'm not, I don't know about his state of mind. And then three, four years later, it was the mindset that he had now. He had to learn and so watching his journey of him just included question,

that organization, when I was starting another company, I wanted to capture those concepts of how we went into that culture that had been established for 30 years. It was a 30 year old company and how we could, what levers did we turn and what did we do to shift that culture from more of a transactional culture to a transformational culture. So yeah, that's what inspired me.

My journey in that and his journey through that was the inspiration of the book.

Now you're speaking my language. I just did my doctoral dissertation on organizational change, and I'm trying to help congregations kind of implement Cotter as a way to help to transform its culture. And part of my study took into account that leaders have a big impact on change, and I tried to test which leadership style performed well and which one didn't.

Mmm

Hmm.

Hmm.

Right? Go figure. Ha ha ha.

in this church system. Yeah, transformation of leaders did better at it. And then you had charismatic leader, which I actually would call narcissistic leaders, did really well for some of it. As someone who studied this, how do leaders change the culture? Because really that culture changes, how do you shift an organization that may not want to do the tough things of organizational structure, changing the processes?

Yeah.

building momentum, all that kind of stuff that's involved in change, how do you help leaders change their culture?

Yeah.

Oh, that's a huge question, man. We could camp out here for like two or three days, man. We could start us a course on this, but I will give you as short as bite-sized answers I can. I think that culture is dynamic. So I think you have to approach it that way. And that's one of the reasons I think you said in your research that you saw that transformative and charismatic work, at least in some parts with charismatic.

Yeah.

because culture is dynamic. So the charismatic can walk in and their energy is going to be a force that's going to move something. The reason I would tend to lean more on transformational is because it even speaks to this a little bit in the book, Good to Great, and from a business side, is that culture can be completely based on the leader. So if it's a charismatic leader, their force alone will push the culture and move the culture. However,

and their energy is going to be a force that's going to lead something.

When you pull the leader out of that system, it can tend to fall apart. And so with the transformational, I think the approach there is, I'm building the framework underneath the leader that's strong, so it doesn't matter. It's kind of like the, you hear a football coach say, next up, you know, we lost our number one receiver. Oh, well, we got one, I think Saban said, we got one we're gonna put right in, you're never gonna know the difference, right? It's just the next up. And so that's, to me, that's the idea of transformational is that we're working on everybody in the team.

the right.

And so I think from a cultural standpoint, there's some things and pieces that we have to do to fundamentally get in place. Number one, alignment is key. The more I can get people to align around an idea and row the boat in the same direction at the same time, the better off I am. But to do that, most people miss the basics. It's like in basketball, it's like you gotta know how to dribble and do a layup. If you can't dribble and do a layup, but we're missing the fundamentals, we're not gonna do well.

The fundamental is I've got to be able to describe the identity of the organization or the team with great clarity over and over and over and over again, so that people in the organization know exactly what they're supposed to align around. And most people will say, okay, we've got a vision statement. We've got a mission statement. We're good. And I say, that's like saying

to describe the identity.

or uh... well uh... or

when Ford trucks, because they're the number one selling truck in the country, when Ford says to a 16 year old, you need to buy a Ford truck. And then they never say that to them again, the rest of their life. And they expect to be the number one selling truck in the world. That's not how it works. No, but no, every time from a 16 to 65, every time you turn on TV, every ball game, every sport, it's got four trucks. You got to buy a Ford truck. This is what you're going to look like driving a Ford truck is where you can go on your Ford truck. It's over and over again. And so I think that the

Yeah. That's the number one thing. That's not how it works.

Number one, identifying your identity and communicating it with great, great consistency is something that you have to do. I think a lot of companies do a good job at marketing externally. They do a less than stellar job at marketing internally. And so I think that's one of the two things because ultimately that's going to give you something to align around.

and then having those core values and making sure that you're living those core values. And you talk about dividing those core values. If we can define those things, we can measure against that alignment. So we can say, okay, unpack that a little bit and say we've identified who we are and our identity and why we do what we do. Like Simon Sinek's, begin with why. We've got that clear. Okay, what does that look like on the daily?

Okay, what does that look like when you say it? Like if you say integrity, I say integrity in one thing, you say integrity in something else, and the people at Enron, they thought, man, something else, but they said that whole thing went in and employed it, there's core value of integrity. So obviously we got some differences of opinion.

Like if you say integrity, I think integrity means one thing. You think integrity means something else. And the people at Enron, they thought it meant something else because the day that their whole thing went and imploded, their core value is integrity. So obviously we've got some differences of opinion. So integrity in this company, in this team, in this organization, it looks like this. This is the legs. We're putting legs to this core value. So I always like action things. So what is that on the...

when someone goes out like professionalism was this air balancing companies, professionalism was one of their, one of their core values. Well, how do, how do we know what that looks like? Well, it means that you tuck your shirt in and you think, well, that's kind of weird, but these guys were going on construction sites, but they were also meeting in architects and engineering offices. So they wanted to be professional, but they were around guys on construction site and then tucked a shirt in cause they didn't have to cause they were on construction site. But if our value is professionalism,

They wanted to be professional, but they were around God's own professional side. They didn't judge the aliens, they didn't have to, they were on their own professional side. But if our value is professionalism, we are going to judge our professionalism. And that was just one visual way of saying, are we in alignment with the idea of professionalism? And so I think maybe if you think, I think another thing is really getting to what people believe and trust.

we are going to tuck our shirts in. And that was just one visual way of saying, are we in alignment with the idea of professionalism? And so I think those are two things. I think another thing is really getting to what people believe and trust. And I think that as a company, you've got to know if you are doing something, you've got to communicate that clearly.

back to that why because we're really trying to get people to believe like really working on what people believe about the organization and about themselves if i want somebody to take this new position and they don't want to take it but i know that they're gonna be great at it you know i've got to really work on i was i was talking to somebody when i was in another organization i was like i wanted this young lady to step into this leadership role and she was pushing back oh she was pushing that

I'm not going to be able to do it.

So I'm having to focus on what is it? What are those limiting beliefs that she has? Cause I can see some things in her that she can't see in herself. And so as an organization, you're gonna have these things that you've got to work on as an organization to strengthen the culture. And that a lot of that has to do with belief and to balance that with accountability, right? So if you can't manage what you don't measure.

And so nobody likes the word accountability because we think big brother, you know? But here's the dirty little secret about accountability. It's not because we don't care. When you don't care about somebody, you're apathetic. It's because you do care. You care about that person. You care about the success that you want them to have. And so that's why we hold each other accountable so that we can achieve our goals. The problem is, is that if we don't balance that with trust and care,

then it comes across as big brother. So I think that there's, you're looking for identity and alignment, but you're also looking for saying, okay, are we caring about that person? Do they believe that we do because we really do? And if so, how are we holding each other accountable? How are we spurring each other on to achieve the goal? And I think that's really from a culture standpoint, those are the foundations. And we talk a little bit about that in Lyft, one of our first kind of acronyms.

We talk about reminders as one of the three things that you can do. And we have a little acronym for that, PEEK. And the P in PEEK stands for purpose. And so we talk about reminding people constantly of the purpose. Why are we doing what we're doing? Who are we and how do we do it? Let's go, let's go, let's go. And I think that goes a long way. So I know that was a little bit long way to answer, but man, you get me fired up on that. So that's good.

One of our first kind of acronyms, we can talk about, you know, reminders. It's one of the three things that we need to do and we have a little acronym that keeps. And the key, the key, the purpose, is that we're talking about reminding people of the purpose. Why are we doing what we're doing? Who are we and how do we do it? That's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, so I'm gonna, that was a little bit long. I'm gonna go ahead and get.

You're gonna fire it up on that. That's all right. In my dissertation, I redefined Cotter's strategic vision with defining your trophy. And I said, if you can think of it as an organization can tell me what your trophy is. So for example, I use the Pittsburgh Steelers. Every fan knew what the Pittsburgh Steelers goal was every single year, that was to win a Super Bowl. And everybody knew what the plan was.

Mmm.

Hehe

Mm-hmm.

They knew what it was gonna take to get there. They've done it before. They have an entire plan, a strict strategy to get there. At one time it was defense. It was, you know, make the other team miserable. They're coming in the three rivers. It was three hours of pain. And you knew that's what the plan was. They have just enough offense to make sure that you could win. When I ask churches sometimes, what's your trophy? What's that thing that you as an organization say,

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yes.

Mmm.

This is what we're trying to achieve. And we've gotten there when we know, we know where it is when we get there. And can you tell me what it is? Most times with churches and sometimes with these organizations, they can't tell you what they're going for, what they're trying to win. So how can you possibly develop a strategy or even bullet points or milestones to get there if you have no idea what the trophy is? What's a win for you as an organization?

Mm-hmm.

That's right.

I think that is so good because if you define that trophy, it allows you to set boundaries around your organization. Because if you don't, what I think that you're describing as an organization that can get extremely diluted in all these good things that may not have anything to do with what they're actually meant to do. And so,

Yes, this program over here is great. And I know there's some people that want to do that. But if you're focused on this one thing, this is your trophy, it helps you decide what is important and what's not. If you don't know your trophy, you can't prioritize one activity over the other because they both have equal value. I mean, they're both quote unquote good. So how do you say no to this lady over here who wants to get the, as a church, if they want to get their seniors and they want to do this project versus.

Mm-hmm. Right.

or that could be over-edited, because they don't have any survival rights. Right. So how do you say...

over here and they want to go on a foreign mission trip. Are they both good? Yes, they are. So how do you say yes to one or not? Yes to both, because if you don't have the resources to say yes to both, but you say yes, then you do both half good, right? You do both halfway and then neither party's really happy and you don't really get any great results. Whereas if you said, no, this is who we are as an organization. This is where we're going to focus our effort in our funds. Then you're going to do really good at that.

are they both good? Yes, they are. So how do you say yes more than not? Yes both. Because if you don't have the resources to say yes both, then you do both half good. Right. And then if either party is really happy, what we're getting in the end result?

thing, that trophy. So I love that idea, man. That's really good stuff.

Yeah, that'll be my next book. I just put that in the spear and now I gotta go write the book.

Do it! Do it! I love it! That's good! That's good!

So you have a something called think, move, and thrive. Tell us about that.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, so we are, I like to think of us as engagement architects. And so Think, Move, Thrive came out of kind of the idea when I was working with the other company I was telling you about, we created a coaching system for them. We believe that everyone in organizations, and what's funny is I created it for nonprofit, but we've had churches picked up too. It's been really strange. And so...

Everyone in the organization should have the ability to be heard and the ability to make commitments, set their own personal trophies, and have someone hold them accountable to go get it. And usually, you know, if you're a CEO, if you're a head pastor, if you're a vice president, you can have access to an executive coach in a lot of organizations. However, if you're just in the organization, the organization may not have the funds to be able to provide an executive coach to everybody in the organization.

that everyone should have that opportunity and can benefit from coaching and development. So we created a coaching system that we include and help integrate into organizations so that they can use it as kind of like a system that they can fall back on. Cause a lot of people don't, you go to lunch and you go, okay, I want you to develop this person for 30 minutes and asking great insightful questions and get them to spill their beans about their life. And most people are gonna be like, what? What? In the ministry, you do this naturally.

But most people may not feel equipped to do that. So this is a system that they can ask six questions, three are always different, three are always the same once a month. And so that kind of spawned Think, Move, Thrive. So we help organizations kind of design what you talked about earlier, whether that is setting their trophy and understanding that better, understanding what their trophy is, if it's developing their people more, but ultimately with the goal of designing organizations and architecting organizations that have a high level of employee engagement.

Yeah.

we are always different girls with both ends of the same. That kind of spawns something that drives that we help organizations kind of define what you talked about earlier. Whether that is setting the focus or understanding that better, understanding what the focus is, the values and people are, the ultimately is the goal of defining organizations and the purpose of these organizations to have a higher level of understanding. I love that. I can talk to you all day about organization and leadership.

hahahaha

You've obviously also hit my sweet spot. So, but what are you excited about in this season of your life, Dallas?

Yes!

Man, it is a different season for me because I have three daughters and I just had the second daughter as a teenager. So I have two of the three are teens and I'm one year or one year or two years away from the third daughter being a teenager. So I'm about to be the father of three teenage daughters. And so I don't know if that's exciting or terrifying. Yeah, a little bit of both. I'll be honest with you.

Yeah, blessings on that.

So being a parent of three teenage daughters is a season, but it's been really cool. And I think this goes back to leadership that Law of the Harvest, my wife has done a great job and with them as they've grown up. And I think that sometimes as parents of young kids, if you have a parent of young kids, you have so much work and effort that goes into being a good parent.

if you're investing in his thankless effort and you go, I just told them this yesterday, have they lost their mind? They're doing it again. And you just kind of go through that and you think, what is this ever gonna be? But I think now we're starting to see some of the fruit of that, see these individual personalities come out and they're stepping into their more adult self.

And it's really interesting to see that because we're kind of having to, they're getting to be teenagers now. So we're kind of beginning the process of loosening it up, backing up and letting them make some of their own mistakes. And it's been cool because you start to see some of the fruit of that parenting that you've worked really hard in. So I think that's one thing I'm excited. I'm excited to see where I feel like that God takes them and their walk and their faith and their journey.

and can see that more now, their individual personalities kind of going their directions. That's been cool. I think from a business standpoint, I'm excited because I get to have these kinds of conversations with people just like you. And I want to have more of these conversations. And I would love to be able to share some of the reverse resumes, the experiences that I've had throughout my career, because it's definitely not a straight line from left up, you know, up into the right. It's been

zigzag back forward around back three steps up for back 10 back up 10 I mean just like you know you just that journey to encourage other leaders, but also encourage them to not only Try to grow a great organization, but do it the right way and that is you know invest in people as well and do the right thing so I think that for me that's exciting to be able to get out there and touch people with Lyft and be able to share that message of encouragement

I think that's really that the value of the other thing that we have to look at is people who work, and we need to be able to share that with them. The third thing is that I think you do so you're helping people out to be a part of it. I want to help people come to the U.S. I think it's not the heart, the voice, hope it's a reason to be a part of it, but I think it's a ground that we have to be a part of. Do you want to go ahead and ask a question? I love that. I love to ask my guests this question. What do you want your legacy to be?

and also some tools that will help people maybe create, I wanna help companies, the more companies I can help create cultures that people wanna come and be a part of, that gets me jazzed and that gets me up in the morning. So being able to have that opportunity is very exciting.

Mm.

Well, that's a heavy question. I think, yeah, it's the last one. It's one of the last ones. No, I think that's a great question. I think you have to begin with the end in mind. And I think that for me, I want to pursue, I want to be known as, I think the legacy that I would like to have is being known as consistent and

That's why it's the last one. One of the last ones.

faithful in the work that I've been called to do and doing it well. So be excellent at what I've done. But I think also that includes relationships. You know, I think one of the things that I would like to be known for is being someone who invested in others. That includes my own family, but it also includes people outside because we're kind of back to where we started from. People have invested in me. And I think that

being someone that was known for investing in others. And whether that means going and taking people to lunch or whether that means writing a book and getting that out to people or having a podcast or being on a podcast, I think that is all wrapped up into it. If I can share what's worked and what hasn't worked and I can listen and be a sounding board for other people, I think that would be a great legacy for me. Just leaving things better than I found it.

I love it. As we wrap up our conversation, what key takeaways do you want our audience, the listeners to take away from our discussion today?

I would say this, I would say number one, if you want to change the culture of your team, of your organization, or even your family, that consistency is an amazing tool that you have access to. We can't control what happens to us, but we can control how we respond. And I think that what I'd love for your listeners to know is just because you don't see the fruit

of things that you're doing today doesn't mean that you won't reap that reward later. If you just stay in the game, stay consistent and continue to do what you know is the right thing even when it's not the easy thing. And I think that would be my encouragement to your listeners is that consistency wins the game.

Great. Where can people find the book Lyft and learn more about you?

Yes, oh man, well that is great. So you can find Lyft on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, anywhere those books are sold you can find Lyft. And you can also go to thinkmovethrive.com, thinkmovethrive.com to see, you can find out there all our other things that we're into and what we offer. If you want to connect with me personally, you can find me on LinkedIn, that's the social, I am...

a very social person that is not social on social media, except for LinkedIn. I'm on LinkedIn. So if you want to find me on Instagram, probably not a good idea, Twitter, Facebook, no, go to LinkedIn. You can find me. There's not that many Dallas Burnets on LinkedIn. In fact, I think I'm more than maybe one or two. So you can find me there pretty quickly.

Well, you can give us a let's go Steelers before we hang up this call today, if you like. Ha ha ha.

You've been on me, Steve, your listeners don't know. Before the show, he's on me, because he's a Steelers fan. And with a name like Dallas, you kind of are birthed to be a Cowboys fan. So I had to take some grief, which is true. I can't say anything about it. I mean, the Steelers has had a number, so it is what it is. But maybe we'll turn the corner. I'm going to bring back.

I'm sorry.

I don't know.

Maybe I can find one of Landry's like grandkids or something like that to come back and bring back some good coaching and the Cowboys or something like that. So yeah, I don't know. It's just a tough road.

Hehehehe

See what they can see on my wall is, on my wall is the six Super Bowl tickets I got for my Christmas for my kids from the Super Bow so they can steal this one. So I have those on my wall. Ha ha ha.

Uhhhhhh

Oh, that's so good. That's awesome. Was it awesome? Was it an awesome experience? That's so good. But I...

Yeah. So I got, I got, I got a ticket from each one of the super bowls. They won on my wall.

Ticket from each one. That's so cool. Each one, you got one from each one. I didn't realize that each one, oh wow. Oh, that's cool. I mean, I'd have to go back pretty far to get some Cowboy Super Bowl tickets. I'd be honest with you. I just, I don't know. It's been a dry spell for quite some time, but we'll see. But I'm glad, listen, I'm glad the Steelers, they've done well and well prior to them.

Yeah.

Hahaha

That's okay.

Maybe the Cowboys will give you a run for your money sometimes.

There you go. But Dallas, thanks so much for being on the podcast and bringing us such amazing content and look forward to maybe get have you back on again. This was a great conversation. We only barely scratched the surface of some really cool leadership and organizational change things. I'd love to have you on again.

I knew it. Thank you, Keith. I appreciate it. Thanks for taking time with me today.