Timeout With Leaders

TIMEOUT with Job Creator John Love, President and Owner of Bob Johnson which is made up of 23 dealerships with over 1,400 employees today, or as John puts it 1,400 home payments, 1,400 car payments and 1,400 families.

John Love would be the first to tell you his life has certainly been a journey one that most would never write a book about, but John did titled "You Failed Me." He learned through the pain you can find purpose, his being the creation of jobs while lifting others up but despite all his success he stays grounded. As he puts it "I survived my success" not falling out of touch with the reality of the real world most people have to live with daily. 

John shared he learns most about his company, their culture, and what they could be doing better by talking directly to the front line staff himself, albeit making managers uncomfortable. He is so in touch with his team that he topped off his employee's gas tanks to reduce their financial stress.

Leaning from loss John shared that LIFE IS SHORT, so make the most of TODAY, because today is a gift. Ask yourself what you ARE going to do with it.

"Control what you can control but what you can't pray hard."

TIMEOUT!!!!! Back after a short little break, Tyler and Kevyn sit down with the President and CEO of ESL Federal Credit Union, Faheem Masood.

An established community partner since the days of George Eastman, ESL continues to support Rochester but as we know it all starts at the top. Faheem Masood is an immigrant who has worked his way up to become or as he put it "participate" as President and CEO.

Having that personal experience of living in a 3rd world country, helped him to become more aware of ALL the things that might be happening in an individual's life, helping him to know where to focus to create a deeper connection.

One thing was clear Faheem understands the great responsibility you have as a leader, and instead of seeking success and glory for himself, he brings his team with him. Communication, feedback, and enabling others is really only possible if we listen. He shared that "as titles get bigger it gets harder" as others tend to shy away from openly sharing their opinion. But he said if you ask, you must ACT.

Take a TIMEOUT with Bob Bailey, the Chief Everyone Office (CEO) and Founder of the Truth Collective and throw on a little Rock n Roll. 

How do you become the best version of yourself as a person but also as a business AFTER the global pandemic?

Focus on people and team preservation, giving free ideas and free advice to help as many people as you can while keeping the band together. In a world where change is happening faster than before, Bob has found 30-day business plans to be effective. He mentioned that we need to get more granular with our goals in business and leadership to make success more obtainable. 

Bob's advice is to flip the hierarchy pyramid on its head, become the Chief Listening Officer, get 100% comfortable with who you are so you can be vulnerable with your people and be OK with telling the truth! 

What do Doug Flutie, Yankee heroes, the breakup of The Beatles, and 4 Careers add up to? ...Mark McDermott

Mark is CEO of Touching Hearts at Home and Together in Caring, both out of Rochester. He loves the Yankees and fly fishing, but also knows he is waking up every day and making a BIG difference in the community by providing quality care for older adults.

As he left the law field, he recalled, "I wasn't finding meaning in the work, I was searching for meaning." This forced Mark to go from having a comfortable paycheck to no paycheck when he started a companion care agency. He didn't know at the time if they would be successful but realized the reward was actually helping older adults.  

As for leadership advice, Mark says the workplace is all about relationships but possibly the most important ingredient to a great culture is meeting individuals' intellectual and emotional needs regularly. That is why "You have to let them see the human side of you" to build real meaningful relationships with your people.

What do you get when you mix ethics with leadership, compassion, and a passion to help others? ...La'Ron Singletary 

We sit down with La'Ron Singletary, the former Chief of Police of the Rochester Police Department who is looking to grow his impact on our community by running for U.S. Congress. It isn't often that Tyler and Kevyn get to sit down with a superhero but that is exactly who La'Ron Singletary is. 

In the face of adversity, it is "best to believe in something otherwise we will fall for anything," which La'Ron shared was a lesson taught to him by his grandmother, one we all can learn something from.

We meet with Admiral James T. Kirk, aka "Captain Kirk" aka Michelle Casey, President and CEO at Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York.

Tyler and Kevyn knew from the start with Michelle's calm, confident demeanor that we were going to get some schooling on leadership and what it takes today. Michelle shares some of her personal experiences of being a leader but also how her previous jobs helped shape her to be more in tune and in touch with her people. 

Michelle's egoless mentality helps her to eliminate hierarchy based on the title alone to really understand and connect with each individual within her organization to build meaningful trustworthy relationships. 

You know when someone has that energy when you talk to them that you can't seem to put your finger on to describe, and you simply just FEEL it?

Buckle up for this interview with Ann Marie Cook, President & CEO of Lifespan of Great Rochester, who is fighting to protect, support, advocate for older adults, not only in Rochester, but beyond.

Ann Marie shared that you have to connect with individuals, but do so on an emotional level, which is why she LOVES teaching with stories, sharing a few in the interview that got Tyler and Kevyn fired up!

She shared that one of the best pieces of advice that she has received is that you are going to make a million mistakes, but how quickly you learn from these mistakes is the difference between a good leader and a great one.

Today's world is full of change, which is something Ann Marie is very comfortable with. She said "don't take yourself too seriously" and "let go" more often, but reminded us that every plan "doesn't have to be perfect because it is a start."

"I look up to my people" Take a Timeout with Willis, William, Bill Boulter the 5th generation CEO of Boulter Industrial Contractors, a 130-year-old company here in Rochester.

When you think of a family-owned and operated business what do you think of first? Well, we stopped to ask the question of Willis to understand what was the family recipe when it came to leadership, which was always engaging with our people on an individual level.

William's short game is killer but his calm, cool and collected leadership approach allows his staff to approach him with challenges and questions due to the level of trust. He uses the "Stop - Think - Ask" method to build trust and accountability with his people on a daily basis to always improve.

Get away from the "This is how we use to do it" mindset and always be reinvesting in the business and the people for long-term sustainable growth!

Are children more emotionally intelligent than most CEOs today? 

We sit down with Dr. Kymberly Cruz, Chief Educational Officer at Renaissance Academy Charter School in Rochester New York. She shared that she feeds off the kid's energy and innocence because they believe in her, trust her, and will let her make mistakes. Maybe we all need to channel our inner child self when it comes to leadership today before it wasn't cool to be smart, kind, and when we didn't give in to peer pressure.  

Dr. Kymberly talks about how her school teaches THROUGH the arts, as she has worked her entire career in education she sees how important their education is to prepare our young people for a future of success while improving the community one class at a time. They focus on giving them the 21st-century skills like empathy and creativity to be successful in the new world of work. 

We need to pay teachers the salary they deserve as they prepare the future generation we ALL will rely on. Stop waiting for an endorsement and build confidence in the journey of life. 

One word "Transparent" which would describe this interview with Kevin Schulte, CEO for Greenspark Energy focus on bringing economical and sustainable ways to push us away from the use of fossil fuels.

The one thing that you will hear is that Kevin Schulte never wanted to be a different person at home, at the office and even out with friends, because that is acting. He has found it to be most effective in leadership to be the SAME person who is open, honest and transparent.

Kevin is an employee-first leader who understands the importance of his people while also understanding there is no purpose without profits. Requiring him and his team to make some tough decisions in 2018, (Greensparks D-Day) which oddly had them properly prepared to take on the COVID pandemic through transparency, grit, grace and some great communication across all teams.

Let's work to build those social, individualized relationships with our people, get personal and build the social fabric that will ready your team for the next adversity they will face.