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This podcast offers business solutions to help listeners develop and implement action plans for lean process improvement and implement continuous improvement projects, cost reductions, product quality enhancements, and process effectiveness improvement. Listeners come from many industries in both manufacturing and office applications.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 0:07
Hello and welcome to the Lean solutions podcast. My name is Shane, and I'm joined by my fantastic co host, Catherine. Thank you so much for joining us, Catherine. I am glad to see you.
Catherine McDonald 0:19
I'm glad to see you too. I always love your introductions make me feel so good. Thank you for that,
Shayne Daughenbaugh 0:26
Catherine, we, we have talked a lot about it, and most recently, in some of our discussions, we talked about coaching and leadership, and I've been thinking about that. We, you and I have both experienced leaders at different levels. You have done a lot of executive and or at least stepped into that executive coaching realm and worked with the executive leadership. You know, I have done a lot with middle management leadership and a little dabbling a little bit into executive leadership. But what I have appreciated as I've been thinking about the different things that we've talked about, especially here on this podcast, is the different leadership frameworks and styles that we can have, you know, just like when it comes to lean, there isn't a one size fits all. There isn't a one way of doing things, a methodology or philosophy. You know, at least with me when I'm trying to improve something, for trying to help a team improve something, you know, I'm not limiting myself to just one thing, you know, it could. I could grab a little bit of theory of constraints and talk about, you know, the bigger system and system thinking. Or it could just be about lean, and we talk about Kaizen or GEMBA or Lean Six Sigma. And we talk, you know, talk about how to pull in data and analyze data and those kind of things, you know, but I, what I love about where we are right now in just kind of the the realm of lean and leadership, is there are so many different ways to approach because it has to be situational. It's going to have to be what's going to land best with the people working with and then we tweak it a little bit toward whatever their needs are, correct? I mean, am I off my rocker with this?
Catherine McDonald 2:04
No, no, you're right. And I think we're always looking for more information to help inform and shape our work. So you're right. There's no one model, but when we come across models, I nearly always get something from every model that I study. So you're right.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 2:19
Yeah, I love that. And what I'm excited about today, we have a guest that I am just getting to know, and have been doing just a little bit of internet stalking, trying to understand kind of what their model and framework that is. And it was when I saw it, it was like, I love where this is going. So I'm very excited about this. Catherine, could you introduce our guest? Will I bring him to the stage?
Catherine McDonald 2:42
I will indeed. So our guest today is Jonathan pride now, Jonathan, who is Jonathan? He is a transformational leadership strategist, a US Army veteran and the creator of the SOAR mindset, a framework which we are going to talk about today. And it's very practical. It's built on storytelling, ownership, abundance and resilience. They're the four pillars that we are going to be talking about, or namely Jonathan is going to be talking about. And just a little bit more on Jonathan. So what does he do? He helps leaders move from compliance driven management to purpose driven performance. Okay, so take that in. Jonathan uses his experience from Ooh, loads of different sectors, military, corporate, nonprofit environments, to translate complex ideas into actionable sprints and micro habits. I love that, and that is actually
Catherine McDonald 3:38
far
Catherine McDonald 3:38
more difficult than most people realize. So I can't wait to hear how you do that. Jonathan and finally, Jonathan equips leaders to rise under pressure, communicate with confidence and build resilient teams. Jonathan, this sounds amazing. Welcome to the show.
Jonathan Pride 3:53
Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here and sharing a little bit about who I am and what we're building
Catherine McDonald 3:59
great stuff. Well, Shane and I are going to try and stop talking and let you talk now. But I'm really interested in the type of work you do, just because you've worked across so many different environments, the type of work you do is so interesting. How do you explain what you do, the kind of leadership work you do when somebody asks you? So, Jonathan, what do you do?
Jonathan Pride 4:22
Yeah, such a great question. Catherine, and one again, I'm honored to be here. I'm a hands talker, so I'm given a public disclaimer when I talk hands and means that I'm I'm highly engaged. And so what do I do when I when people ask me that question, it's such a good question, because I tell you what I don't do. I don't start with my labels and my credentials, and I have some like a lot of us do, but I feel like when I start with the what I am, I lose the audience. And I feel like in leadership, that is one of the biggest challenges leaders face, is if we are not. Somehow qualified enough to have a perspective or a point of view, we lose credibility, and why is that the case? And so how do I introduce myself? I try to lean into this label list leadership mentality, where I am a father, I am a son, I am a brother, I am a human I am a community member. I care holistically about the betterment of others around me and as a leader. I introduce myself as a person who is inquisitive and want to hear the stories of the people I am speaking with. And so when I introduce myself Katherine, I introduce myself as a storyteller. I am a person with a lived experience in a world of view that wants to understand why things are the way they are, why people are the way they are, and how can I, as a leader, bring value to whatever conversations we're having?
Shayne Daughenbaugh 5:58
I love that. I love love. Love that. So I want to, because I, and that was one of the things Jonathan, that caught my attention, first off, like, I I read about, you know, just that the title of soar, when we were getting preparing for for this podcast, but when I got on to your website, and I went a little bit deeper that that first thing about storytelling, just like, Oh yes, I love where we're going. So, so can you tell us just a little bit about, you know, this sore mindset and what led you to create it like, what? What's behind it?
Jonathan Pride 6:29
Yeah. Shane, thanks for the question. And I'm, again, I'm a storyteller. So disclaimer to all your listeners, I I'm going to share a brief story, because the way the sore mindset was born. Happened when I was in the military. I was a military officer. I served as a human intelligence leader. So a lot of what I do is on the human side, understand that people and systems and kind of cultures, and so I took a like into that very early in my career. So I was 2425 I had just gotten back from a combat deployment to Iraq, and I had an opportunity to interview to be a general's aide, which in the military is the equivalent of like a Chief of Staff. It's a very prestigious role, and in my mind, at the time, I wasn't qualified for it. I felt like, you know, I got this opportunity, but it wasn't mine to win, right? And this is where Sorbo was born. Because the way the general, the general interviewed for this role, he had me and other two or three other officers who were competing for the role show up to his house, and there was a big social event, and all of these senior level commanders and officers were there, and the only task Shane he gave us was to just exist in time and space in this networking event for an hour. And at the hour mark we would get kicked out, and we would leave. And so imagine that for an interview, right? No questions, no nothing. I knew what to wear, that was about it, right? I wore my best bus uniform. And so I show up to the guy's house, and me and the other two or three officers were awkwardly mingling with people who we know they're there to evaluate us, and I defaulted, chained to my natural habits of labels. And in that mind, I walked around the room. I just connected with people as leaders, as people, as humans, as other people with lived and shared experiences. And I just networked, and I met other people, I drew lines and I built bridges, and I created synergies, and I found openings and and I got the job right, and I didn't get it because I was overly prepared. I got it because I was authentic. I got it because I was human. I got it because I was me, right? And so from that experience, I've been playing with this idea of soar. How do we soar as leaders and the first pillar and soar is storytelling. What story do you have to share? And you have one. And then how do you own the story? Which is ownership, not just the story itself, but how do you own the journey that got you to the story? And then abundance, right? We all aren't billionaires and millionaires living on Mars, I think, is the next goal. I follow the Artemis mission closely, right? Like we all have abundance, we all have things, but we know that we're not really where we need to be yet, but we still have enough, right? And so how can we lean into an abundance mindset and then resilience and soar is the anger. Life can be really hard sometimes, and life can be challenging, and life can just knock us down sometimes. But resilience isn't a passive movement. Resilience is active. How can you actively own the resilience needed to survive and thrive in our situations? And so the sore mindset was born. Born in that interview with the general, but it kind of evolved over the years into becoming a platform and a framework that helps leaders own their story.
Catherine McDonald 10:11
So Jonathan, okay, so these are your four pillars. You have storytelling, ownership, abundance and resilience. Okay, what about all the other stuff that leadership requires? Why did you pick when we I'm not joking when we talk about leadership, you've got 100 million different competencies, right leadership. So how did you settle on these four and cut out everything else?
Jonathan Pride 10:38
It's such a, such an interesting point, because, you know what, Katherine, I've been in several of those million trainings that are out there, and a lot of really strong frameworks. And SOAR is not a replacement to anything else. It's an addition to, I think what soar does that very few other organizations and other frameworks have done, in my experience, and my very limited opinion is we've taken leadership and we've brought it down from theory and concept to practical and applicable, right? Soar isn't about studying and rehearsing. SOAR is about living and owning. SOAR is about not creating solutions, but creating problem solvers who can look for solutions, right? So it is the groundswell leaders are appointed, and leaders are sometimes assigned roles and positions by title where SOAR is most applicable, is what happens after the title the best leaders I've encountered and experienced in my life aren't the ones who give you the answer, they're ones that train you to think of the answer, and then you replicate it, and then you teach another, and then you teach another. And that is why SOAR is a framework that I am leaning into is because it's practical, it's applicable, and it's real time today. I hope your audience members can grab one or two things that after this call and after this meeting and after this podcast, they're saying, Hey, I'm doing that tomorrow, right? I'm doing that my next meeting. I think that's where a lot of these leadership frameworks maybe draw the line is concept theory, where I close the gap and close the distance is, is practicality, functionality in real time. I'm going
Catherine McDonald 12:32
to
Catherine McDonald 12:33
follow that up with one quick question, Shane, before you jump in there. Just okay. I totally get it, and I totally see how this is maybe more of a modern leadership take as well, because storytelling is something that has only come to the fore in leadership in, I would say, recent years. It's not a traditional competency linked to leadership. So I think that alone makes it more modern, in my view, but also some of the other things you've popped in there. So are you saying, Jonathan, all of these abilities, leadership kind of, I suppose, abilities, they are anybody can develop them,
Jonathan Pride 13:08
absolutely anybody and everyone. And I would even venture to say Catherine, that everyone already does it. They just don't know it. Storytelling, right? Is the oldest form of education, before technology, before the Industrial Revolution, we told stories around the fire, right? Like that's how information was exchanged. If you look back at the beginning of time, storytelling was what got information across. It got it told news, it told updates, it told opportunities, all through storytelling. So we do this already. What I am saying is that storytelling today is an active leadership practice.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 13:51
Interesting. So, so let's talk about then what look you know. Let's get into what does it look like, ground floor here, what is developing people actually look like on the front lines, you know, as in regards to what, what you're talking about with, with the SOAR mindset and whatnot. Give us some examples of what that might look like, please.
Jonathan Pride 14:09
Yeah. Great, great, great question. Shane, so what does leadership and storytelling and soar look like on the front lines? Well, I'll tell you again what it doesn't look like. It's not about process improvement through tweaking and tailoring systems, frontline support, through soar and through leadership and storytelling, is coaching, mentoring and guiding right the best leaders on the front line are not ones who lean into technical requirements and technical systems. They are leaders who lean into coaching, developing and training a workforce that is empowered, big word, empowered to think for themselves and see the solutions, not in the systems, but in. Themselves and in their teammates. That's the front line. Here's the easiest way to do it. The easiest way I train leaders on the front line, to look at SOAR as a, as a an active process, is to ask a question, followed immediately by three why's here's the question, why are we doing this? Why is it taking this long to do this process? And we'll put it in Lean mentality, right? Because I earned my Six Sigma Black Belt back in 2016 and one of the first things I did was identify wastes. So in on the front line, when we identify waste. It's easy for a leader to look at this entire process, from start to stop and identify waste choke points, identify defects, identify areas where it's not efficient. The best leaders ask the why it's deficient, why is that a waste? Why is there a choke point? Why is this and then follow it with three immediate whys. And when we do that, we identify not just the cause and effect, but we're identifying the systems that led to the cause and effect. We're identifying the people that led to the systems. That's the why the cause and effect, and then it just goes in and goes and it goes. And then when you get to those three why's now you're able to identify true systems change because it's not just the defect, it's what led to the defect. So that's the leadership principle followed by three why's that can be applied today, tomorrow, right now.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 16:38
So tell me. Flesh out for me, just just to make sure that I understand it. I want to see how how is that like? I appreciate what you're saying, but give me some specifics on how that is developing the people around me,
Jonathan Pride 16:51
great question. So here I'm gonna give you a real world example. So a previous role. When I got my six sigma, I was tasked, I was a branch manager for a storage leasing company in Virginia, and I was tasked with helping solve a real business problem of a system called off rent, not picked up. So what that means in storage equipment is, when this equipment, heavy equipment, is deployed to customers, it's on rent. When the on rent is done and that in that equipment is ready to get picked up. We had a standard of five days to pick up that equipment because it is no longer making us money right in my branch, our off rent not picked up time was about nine days, and my teammates were it is what it is. It's a defect, but we've got to pick it up when we get to it right. So here's how, asking the three why, creating this, making a problem statement, asking a question, followed by three wise solves in real world examples. So with my lean mentality, leaning into the people and coaching development, I ask, Why does it take us 90s to pick up this equipment? Well, as far, the distance, the traffic that this the that the reasons. Well, why? Why are we allowing traffic, for example, to be the first barrier? Well, I don't start early enough in my day to get it Okay. Why don't we start early enough in our day to get it. Okay, well, I've got to come do my pre checks. Do this, do that, do this, do that. Okay, what if we did those checks? Or why don't we do those checks the night before? Would that then speed up the process? Okay, so now I've got to the front the third. Why now I employ, and I employ and empower that teammate. Okay, so teammate, if I gave you a blank slate to do this system, however, you needed to get done to ensure we brought down this offer and I picked up from 90s to five. What would you do? Well, I would start this. I would start that. I would start this. I would start that. Okay, we'll do it, and then let's talk about how it went. So then we do it. The next day, we do a real coaching we sit down, we coach it, we talk about every step in the process. And then we identify new goals, we identify new choke points, we identify new opportunities, new defects, new barriers. And so when you coach the system, you're not just identifying the waste on the front line. You are developing a teammate who then creates their own solutions to solve the same problem.
Catherine McDonald 19:27
Okay,
Shayne Daughenbaugh 19:27
that makes sense.
Catherine McDonald 19:28
So, yeah, so I'm what I'm trying to do in my brain is link, soar, s, O, A, R, so storytelling, ownership, abundance and resilience into that example you just gave there, and I see it, especially when you explain that storytelling is sort of more about the conversation and the coaching and the mentoring. It's kind of a different way to look at conversations in the workplace, formal conversations through story and through breaking it down into story, as opposed to maybe more technical. Kind of, you know, steps. So I do see it, and do people struggle with any aspect of that? Jonathan, so if somebody picks up this model and says, you know, I think this, this kind of resonates with me, I think I'd like to try and use elements of it, where do people or leaders usually struggle?
Jonathan Pride 20:21
Yeah, it's, it's, it's a really important question to understand, because I feel like the hardest thing for people and leaders especially to do is to talk about themselves, because we are trained in all of these other leadership models that servant leadership and selfless leadership, and put the team before your own yourself, and you know you eat last as a leader. And I believe all of that, and I do all of that, and I apply all of that, but the hardest part of leadership is talking about ourselves, because we feel we don't have. And I'll speak for me right as a leader, and I can assume and presume that I'm speaking for some of your listeners, but when we are speaking about ourselves as part of the solution, it's difficult for us to feel qualified enough to feel adequate, enough to feel educated, enough to feel that we deserve the success, and that's part of resilience, that's part of abundance, that's part of ownership, it's part of storytelling. But I think the hardest thing for leaders to do is to talk about their lived experiences and why they are not just qualified, but they are an expert in whatever challenges they face, not because they've gotten all these degrees or they've gotten all these certifications or these these job experiences or whatever, but because they have a story that matters in the solution to solve and create Better, better futures for the organizations, for the systems, for the processes, for the world. I think that is the biggest challenge that you face. And Katherine a full transparency even right now, as I launched this organization, I launched this framework, it's hard for me to even do because I'm not a PhD. I don't have a lot of the education that supports this research backed theory that SOAR is but I've got a story in millions of them, and I am able to put them in a way where, even if I can't substantiate the qualifications behind my worldview, I can support it with lived experience.
Catherine McDonald 22:38
I totally get it. I make up models and tools all the time. And you know, I don't worry that I don't have a PhD. If it works, if you find something that works and you share it with the world, they can make their own judgments on it. But if you see value in something, why not share it? I totally agree. I'm 100% behind you in that obviously. You know, the research back models are great, and they help us and help us, maybe, when it comes to, I think, pushing decisions through or getting things done. But that's not to say that all of us don't have something to share that's worth sharing. So I really like your approach, Jonathan, I like what you're saying about I think it's almost the way we have to build ourselves as humans and leaders like, that's kind of how I see this model. It's almost like you're you're building your it's almost like your character building part of the work of leadership. And I'm trying to put words on it, but it's a very specific part of becoming a leader, your model, and it's definitely less about, you know, as you said, servant leadership and what you do for other people, it's more about how you build yourself to be the best version of yourself you can be, to be able to lead other people. Am I on the right track
Jonathan Pride 23:51
now you you absolutely are. And again, the leadership principles that we learn and study. And as a military officer, I've had many a leadership training right, where it's all about the team, and it is always about the team, and it's always about the external right, but it's the airplane analogy, right? You can't, you can't if you don't wear your oxygen mask first, how can you lift, right? How can you pour for an empty cup if we don't replenish, if we don't replenish, what makes us a leader by enriching our own leadership development, then how on earth can we expect to lead other people? How can we find opportunities and systems and teams when we're broken and we're injured ourselves right resting and leading without fear of falling short doesn't begin on the front lines. It begins in the waiting room, right? It begins in the back room. It begins when you wake up and you put on your uniform, whatever that uniform is, whether it's scrubs or or, you know, a professional athlete. Or it's, you know, a doctor, it's a police officer or whatever it is, whatever we do, whatever we contribute, whether it's factory or front lines or whatever it is, wherever it is, we start our leadership journey when we affirm ourselves as a leader soar, affirms ourselves and our standings as leaders.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 25:24
So in I am appreciating how you're how you're building this out here for us, accepting that we have part of leadership is the storytelling, and that it's not just about a story over there. It's I have a story to tell. If you know, correct me, if I'm wrong, I have a story to tell, okay, but I also own the story. I own the journey that comes with that story. So there is lived experience that comes with that love, the abundance mindset, you know, and having that sense, as we call it in our house, as in, literally, my house here, my wife and I living with open hands.
Jonathan Pride 26:02
That's right,
Shayne Daughenbaugh 26:03
not not having, not having a, you know, whether it be ownership or, Hey, I need to hang on to this and control this, or I'm afraid of losing, you know, something, but it's having that abundance, but that also that resilience. And I love how you said it is an act. Resilience is an active movement. So in the little bit of time that we have left, and I know this is just just a skip off the surface of, really the depth of what you have, you know, what is a small habit, a micro habit that a leader could start this week, in regard to the SOAR mindset, or something related to that, that could make a real difference. What's something that our listeners could hear and go, Okay, let me try that this week.
Jonathan Pride 26:46
That's right, there's so many Shane and I think the micro habit, or the next step, a focus, or whatever we call it, I would like to leave with your listeners, is start each day with intentional praise. And it's not ethereal. Is not necessarily religious, although I am rooted in my own religion, my religious views, but this isn't a religious connotation. This is a start each day with intentional praise. Leadership is an honor. Leadership is a commitment to excellence, and when within with that, start each day with an intentional praise, like I get to lead today, I get to join Catherine and Shane on this podcast. It's not something I have to do. I am. I have an opportunity to it's intentional praise. I get to be a functioning member in society. I get to take my kids to basketball, like I'm going to do after the work day today. I get an opportunity, because there's so many people in so many different places around this globe who can't, and they don't, or they won't, or they don't have opportunities. And so when we shift from reactive leadership and just responding in kind to whatever is happening around us to intentionally praising the opportunities we have as a leader, we ground our day. We ground our opportunities to lead. We ground our impact on systems change. We ground our impact on the people around us. And intentional praise keeps us in a state of mind where we can be abundant. We can have an abundance mindset. We can recognize that sometimes things just suck. You're in a season where it's just really, really bad, and it's not the story, it's the season with an intentional praise mentality, I can own the journey that got me here to this precise moment. I can own where I'm going next. I can own my story, and not just the beginning of my story. I can own the multiple story arts. I can own the life events. I can own the transformation moments. I can own the milestones. I can own the goals I can own when I fall short of my goals. Intentional praise is something we can do today. Start right now. When you end this conversation and you go on to continue your lives, saying, Today I get to blank. We do that. And when we lead from that space, everything else we do is in context, the Fallens, the winds, the rises, the sinks, the valleys, the mountains, everything is within the line because we are owning the moment we're in through our story, through our value, and then we can take that in the world with abundance and resilience.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 29:54
All right, thank you for that, like I I've heard similar. Sure, you know, but the way you the way you grounded that into the daily practice, and what that can lead to what that means and to have that, you know, some, sometimes I have to act in a way that I want to believe later, you know. So starting with the praise and starting with, Hey, I get to do this can change and set my mindset on the right path and and I love how you tied it into, you know, the resilience part of, hey, I'm going to start with this knowing that I'm in a season of not so good. But that's my resilience. It's going to come through. I've made it through all the other ones, but the ownership as well. Hey, I own where I've come from, where I'm at right now, where I'm going. I have ownership of that. So thank you so much for that. That was really cool.
Jonathan Pride 30:47
Absolutely again, I'm honored to be here, and I love that we get to talk about storytelling through the lens of ownership, abundance and resilience. It's such a necessary leadership trait, and the more we own our moment, own our story, and own our experiences, I think the better this world can get.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 31:08
Excellent, Catherine, what do you have to wrap us up here?
Catherine McDonald 31:12
A lot of curiosity about this,
Catherine McDonald 31:16
you know, but I don't have time to go into all the questions I have about each of those pillars. And I'm very curious to understand them more, and just to know how you have linked them and defined them and understand them. But I think we'll have to go and look at more of your work to understand that, because we are out of time today. But thank you for helping us look at ourselves and at leadership, I think, through a different lens, which I think is always good. So thank you. I appreciate that.
Jonathan Pride 31:42
Yeah, for
Catherine McDonald 31:43
sure.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 31:44
Yeah. Jonathan, where could, where could people find more about this? I know we're gonna put it in the show notes, but for those that are just hearing and just dying to start typing things into their keyboard,
Jonathan Pride 31:54
yeah, yeah, no again. Thank you both for this opportunity. So I have a website you can visit which will be made available. It's caterpillar leadership.org and I just, I'm excited to announce, I just launched a a free leadership assessment tool grounded in soar. And so all of your listeners check out this assessment tool. It will give you a soar score, which I'm really excited about. But what it does is it gives you real, tangible next steps in each pillar to try and Shane to your question, it's, it's each one is meant to apply in real time. So I'm curious how you all receive that. And we will be doing actual trainings and workshops across the globe is my hope. I'm manifesting it now. Catherine, to your question, so it will happen very soon. So stay tuned. Follow me on all the socials and and check out our website and that free assessment tool made available right now.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 32:54
Okay, excellent, excellent. So check the show notes will have that I'm interested to jump on and and check out that assessment. And if you have listeners, please drop into the comments, drop into the show notes or the show comments. You know what you thought of it? What was the experience for you, and what you was something you you pulled from there. So we'd love, love to hear that, but that's what we have for right now. Thank you so much all of you that are listening and watching us, we really appreciate it. Catherine, Jonathan, it has been a pleasure having the time with you and for the rest of you, enjoy your day.
Jonathan Pride 33:30
Yes, intentionally, intentionally,
Shayne Daughenbaugh 33:32
intentionally enjoy your day.
Catherine McDonald 33:34
Thanks,
Shayne Daughenbaugh 33:35
guys. Bye, for now.