In Hard Times, the Right Leadership is Essential

This episode explores the essential role of leadership in challenging business environments. I reflect on my journey as a founder and coach, emphasizing resilience and the importance of maintaining vision during turbulent times. Through personal anecdotes, including a significant setback in my sports tour company in 2010, I illustrate how adversity can be transformed into growth opportunities. I introduce the mantra "life happens for you, not to you," encouraging a shift from victimhood to empowerment. Key themes include rising above chaos, leading by example, and fostering a collaborative culture in leadership to alleviate burdens. My goal is to support leaders in navigating hardships and emerging stronger. Episode Highlights & Time Stamps 0:02 Hard Times, Right Leadership 2:31 Leadership Insights for Entrepreneurs 4:16 Embracing Change and Resilience 6:14 Tools for Overcoming Challenges 7:15 Leading Through Breakdown Moments Resources & Next Steps Ready to take your leadership energy to the next level? Explore free training and resources at https://training.coreelevation.com/ to help you identify energy leaks, strengthen your leadership presence, and elevate your team's performance. 🌐 Explore More: training.coreelevation.com 🎧 Listen to the Full Episode: Growth Think Tank Podcast

• 0:00Speaker 00

  In hard times, it's essential that you be the right leader. What I mean by that is every company I know goes through good times and bad times. Things are working and then they're not working. People are doing great job, but then they're not. The systems used to work and then they're not. Innovation was coming and then all of a sudden, we can't get a breakthrough. Whatever it is, these are just cycles. But what I know to be true is you gotta have the right leadership to weather the storm. Welcome to Growth Think Tank. This is the one and only place where you will get insight from the founders and the CEOs of the fastest growing privately held companies. I am the host. My name is Gene Hemmott. I hope leaders and their teams navigate the defining moments of their growth. Are you ready to grow?

• 0:45Speaker 00

  Today, we want to talk about hard times. When you're running your business and you have, you know, a product market fit and you are starting to get traction, things feel really good and that might last for a while. You might be able to ride that wave for a year or two years or even a decade. But I know for sure that every company I've ever seen goes through its own challenges. Tesla went through them. Amazon went through them. Every one of these big companies almost didn't make it. And so as you are probably have a much smaller business, you're not immune to this, this pattern of that sometimes it gets hard. And the right leadership is essential for you to weather the storm. I want to share with you just a few insights because a lot of my clients are going through some tough times through recession.

• 1:30Speaker 00

  Maybe their strategy isn't working. Maybe it's, it's a, it's a people issue as they continue to grow. And I just want to give you a little bit more insight around that, give you some tools even. And it's been weighing on me because I don't want to see any entrepreneurs and leaders struggle out there. So my name is Gene Hemmott. I'm a founder. I do CEO coaching and we create companies that are no longer founder dependent, where the founder is the central driving force of the business. And that's where a lot of our listeners are coming from. We help them create a team driven company, which means there's leaders at every level and they're not having to do all of the work themselves, that founder. dependency gets hard and leads to burnout.

• 2:13Speaker 00

  And so we create that team driven approach in the culture. And it's a combination of things that we do. And if you're curious about the work we do, you can sign up for free training. Training.co elevation at com. It will give you the steps we take our clients through absolutely for free. And all you have to do is sign up to just go to training.co elevation at com. Now let's dive into this in hard times. It's essential that you be the right leader. What I mean by that is every company I know goes through good times and bad times. Things are working and then they're not working. People are doing great job, but then they're not. The systems used to work and then they're not. Innovation was coming and then all of a sudden we can't get a breakthrough. Whatever it is, these are just cycles.

• 2:57Speaker 00

  But what I know to be true is you gotta have the right leadership to weather the storm. There's so many cliches around this, you know, great salesman or great sailors were not built in calm seas. And I'm paraphrasing there because I'm probably, you know, butchered that. But you understand what I'm saying like you're probably if you're listening to this, you're probably going through some something. Now we'll tell you my background just a little bit. I ran a very successful business from 2001, 2010, and we did over 40 million in revenue. It was a sports tour company, travel the world. I can make it sound glamorous, but in 2010, I lost everything. I had to reinvent myself. I was broken. In fact, I was shattered. My identity as an entrepreneur was just at rock bottom.

• 3:40Speaker 00

  And I was willing to do the work to rebuild myself and it wasn't easy. It took many years, but I rebuilt myself into who I am today. And I'm glad I went through it. I'm not going to blame any, anyone else. It was my decisions to trust my partner, but the, the money that was, you know, given the $3 million gone. All that being said, I'm glad I went through that. So I could become the person I am today. So if you're going through something, maybe there's a silver lining to this. You, you're going to become a stronger version of yourself, more grit, more resilience, more perseverance. Maybe it's more confidence, but you have to go through these things. You can't just wish them away. You can't wish it was easier. You have. To be the right leader. So I'm going to just tell you a few things that will help you.

• 4:24Speaker 00

  One of them is something I remind my clients all the time. Jim Carrey said this in a commencement speech many years ago, and I know he's the funny man, but this is not such a humorous thing. But he, and I'm paraphrasing when he said this is, I don't know if it's true, but I have decided this for me, that life happens for me, not to me. Let's break that down a little bit. Life happens for him. That means anything that's, that's coming back, that's a negative feedback. It's not where he wants to be. It's happening for him and he's decided that that is the truth for him. Is it the absolute truth? Probably not. Sometimes it's made up in our head, the stories that we tell each other, good and bad. In this case, he's making up a story saying, oh, I'm going through this.

• 5:06Speaker 00

  And I've been through that when I, the story I told you, I've been through these tough times. And I've come out the other side and I look back, I needed to, to change who I was. At a husband, at a, a father and an entrepreneur and a leader. And so if you think that someone else is to blame for your problems, if you're the victim, it really is going to set you back until you have the, the right approach to this and you're able to move beyond that. So life happens for you, not to you, is one of those quotes that really guides me when life is not going well for me. So I share that with you as just a tool that you can think about this. I know it's hard if you're going through something right now.

• 5:46Speaker 00

  But if you look back at other places in your life where you've gone through something, you'll remind yourself that you've had to do that for a reason. It taught you something. It gave you something. What did it give you? Write it down. Be specific. Go through two or three or five of these or 10 of these, whatever you've got in your, your history. deepen that understanding that what you're going through is not because you're a victim. It is happening for you. And if you can get to there faster than I did, you'll be further along. Took me years to get to that. And that was 16 years ago. It's a lifetime for many of us. The second tool I want to give you in this is, is a phrase that will also often come up with my clients. In the midst of a breakdown, you've got to be bigger than the breakdown. In the midst of a break- Down, you've got to be bigger than the breakdown.

• 6:31Speaker 00

  I don't know where I got this quote from. I'm probably plagiarizing it from someone and I wish I could give credit for it, but it means a lot to me. In the midst of the world crumbling in around me, my job is not to, to cry and, and be there. I might, I might do that for a moment, but I'm not going to stay there. I know now that I've got to be bigger than what I'm going through. And if I stand tall, lead by example, if I lead my people, if I inspire them to rally through whatever we're going through, the people that stuck with me will be rewarded and we will all grow together. And I do believe this and I share this with you because if you're going through hard times, I'm talking directly to you. And I know we all go through these times, but I do believe that it happens for you, not to you.

• 7:15Speaker 00

  And in the midst of a breakdown, you've got to be bigger than the breakdown. It takes the right leadership to endure the hard times. And what's on the other side is a new version of yourself. And that, my friends, my audience, that's what I wanted to share with you, Ben. My name is Gene Hammett, founder, coach and CEO coach. I'm doing my life's purpose. If I can help you in any way, help you grow your business, help you create a team-driven approach, help you get out of the, the founder dependency you're in, whatever gets your attention. Let's talk about it. Send me an email, [email protected]. I'd love to chat with you. What are you going through? Be there for you, give you some insight and it's absolutely free. If you want to send me that email, I'll be here for you. When you think of growth and you think of, think of growth, think tank. As always, with courage, listen next time.