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My name is Jeff, and I'd like to welcome you on a journey of reflection and insight into the tolls and triumphs of a career in automotive repair.
After more than 20 years of skinned knuckles and tool debt, I want to share my perspective and hear other people's thoughts about our industry.
So pour yourself a strong coffee or grab a cold Canadian beer and get ready for some great conversation.
[00:00:00] Dawn Sloas: Don't think of it as I can't be who I wanna be because of those things, when it could be I can be who I wanna be because of those things, because I went through that trauma- Right ... because I learned what I needed to do. And the other big thing that I always try to teach them is comfortability kills. If you are always comfortable, you are not growing.
[00:00:29] Dawn Sloas: If you are always in the same track, nothing is ever gonna change. I try to make sure that they understand that being uncomfortable doesn't mean that it's a negative thing.
[00:00:50] John Firm: So, uh, we're all on our phones trying to get, uh, this Friday morning going. Hey, folks. Buckaroo Bucking Bob here, as we all know. Jeff Compton, J McCain. Good
[00:01:02] Jeff Compton: morning, everybody. How's everybody doing?
[00:01:03] John Firm: Yeah. Kent?
[00:01:05] Jeff Compton: Hello, everybody. Yeah. Happy to be here.
[00:01:07] John Firm: Happy to be here. Yeah, bright and early this morning. You're not a morning person for you.
[00:01:11] John Firm: This is like 3:00- Well ... in the morning for you, right?
[00:01:14] Kent Bullard: Yeah, just about.
[00:01:16] John Firm: Golly. About. From the West Coast all the way here. Mountain Time Zone. Yeah, that's two and a half hours. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Geez, you had a cup of coffee yet? Are you working on it? I, I'm
[00:01:24] Kent Bullard: working on it right now. Yeah. Cold brew,
[00:01:26] John Firm: though.
[00:01:27] Jeff Compton: Cold brew.
[00:01:27] Jeff Compton: It's got more caffeine in it. See, I did not know that.
[00:01:30] John Firm: Much more caffeine. More caffeine content. Yeah. It'll, like, kick you in the ass hard.
[00:01:34] Jeff Compton: Really,
[00:01:34] John Firm: eh? Yes, it will.
[00:01:36] Jeff Compton: Yeah. 'Cause I'm used to everybody around here, like, even, like, when I was sitting down having breakfast with Frank this morning, and he's from up in Canada like me, he's not a coffee drinker.
[00:01:44] Jeff Compton: He wakes up every morning, though, and he makes his wife coffee, but he doesn't drink it. And, uh, we were sitting there talking about how, like, I grew up in a family that, like, they-
[00:01:53] Kent Bullard: Drank coffee ...
[00:01:54] Jeff Compton: oh, 9:00 at night they'd drink a coffee before they go to bed. Like, they had no problem. So I just grew up in it.
[00:01:58] Jeff Compton: And I cannot function in the morning if I don't have at least a couple cups of nice, strong coffee, so. Yeah. But the iced coffee I've never really tried that way. I mean, we have some pretty... Uh, Tim Horton's up in Canada, you get laced, iced caps and stuff like that. But that almost straight cold brew like that, I've never tried it.
[00:02:15] Kent Bullard: It's, it's really nice 'cause it takes out a lot of the bitterness.
[00:02:17] Jeff Compton: Okay.
[00:02:18] Kent Bullard: And so you can taste the flavor a bit. But if you're used to hot coffee, it's- Yeah ... definitely different.
[00:02:22] Jeff Compton: And more caffeine in the cold stuff.
[00:02:23] Kent Bullard: It has more caffeine in a cold brew.
[00:02:25] John Firm: Well, here lately, you guys have been seeing me walk around with a toothpick in my mouth.
[00:02:31] John Firm: Here's the trick, guys. It's called Lucky Toothpicks.
[00:02:33] Kent Bullard: Okay.
[00:02:34] John Firm: And they're infusion with caffeine, B6, B12. I don't drink as much coffee as I used to no more. I just suck on that old toothpick, and I... Like old bull haulers used to do, you know? Like, they had a little magic in their toothpick- Uh-huh ... you know? Yeah.
[00:02:50] John Firm: So yeah, that's cool. Kent, tell us a little bit about you, why you're here at ASTA, and what's going on in your world?
[00:02:57] Kent Bullard: Um, well, I'm gonna be teaching Saturday morning. Um, those who've taken my class know me. I, I teach a lot of process.
[00:03:04] John Firm: Uh-huh.
[00:03:04] Kent Bullard: Yeah. Um, and-
[00:03:05] John Firm: You're a big process guy. You told me that this morning
[00:03:07] John Firm: big process guy. Yeah, I think he was saying, "Get your shit together, John." Yeah.
[00:03:11] Kent Bullard: Even, I would say like- Yeah ... "Hey, here's how we can
[00:03:13] Jeff Compton: schedule this." Yeah. "You can put this together."
[00:03:14] John Firm: RO books ain't worth a damn.
[00:03:16] Jeff Compton: No, well, that's it. Yeah. Yeah. You're joking. Like, you and I are sitting here writing our schedules out on paper, and your lovely niece made us a, a PDF.
[00:03:23] Jeff Compton: Yeah. And we both download it and then can't find it in our phone. Neither one of
[00:03:25] John Firm: us know where it's
[00:03:26] Jeff Compton: at.
[00:03:28] Kent Bullard: Uh, so, like- We know we're trying ... ASTA, it's a great show.
[00:03:31] Jeff Compton: Yeah.
[00:03:31] Kent Bullard: Yeah. Uh, I love this show. There's some, you know, personality to it. It also feels very personal as well.
[00:03:38] John Firm: Yeah.
Yes.
[00:03:38] Kent Bullard: Uh, very connected, great community, but
[00:03:40] John Firm: yeah.
[00:03:41] John Firm: And Kent, you... Well, about you. What about you?
[00:03:45] Kent Bullard: Yeah. You went on a hunting trip.
[00:03:47] John Firm: Oh.
[00:03:47] Kent Bullard: I did go on a hunting trip.
[00:03:49] Jeff Compton: With the, the infamous Mr.
[00:03:50] Kent Bullard: John Firm. Um, my first ever hunting trip. Okay.
[00:03:52] John Firm: With John Firm.
[00:03:53] Kent Bullard: Yeah. And these guys took great care of me. Yeah. I mean, the, uh... There was no rush in the morning, even though we got up at, like, 3:30 AM, and I was like, "Man, I gotta keep up."
[00:04:02] Kent Bullard: Which
[00:04:03] John Firm: was 2:30 for him.
[00:04:03] Kent Bullard: Yeah. I gotta keep up with these guys, but they were like, "Hey, don't worry about it. We got plenty of time." A lot of this stuff I'd never done before- Mm-hmm ... so asking questions about the licensing and how we do some of this. John was great. Um, really in- inclusive and, uh, encouraged me to, to feel comfortable doing something completely new.
[00:04:20] Kent Bullard: Yeah. So it
[00:04:21] John Firm: was a great experience. We sure made you ha- sure. You know, everybody's there. We had Todd Compton there.
[00:04:25] Kent Bullard: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[00:04:25] John Firm: You know, he's an experienced hunter, so we didn't have to worry about babysitting him. We had his wife Trish there. We really had to babysit and cater to her, you know? You know her.
[00:04:34] John Firm: So I'm gonna get my butt kicked later. And then Keith Perkins came all the way down from Tulsa. He drove down there. He was the only one that pulled the trigger that harvested animals. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if I said that correctly, but that's close enough. And then, uh, that guy from North Carolina and his two sons- Cabel and Caleb, there's a river right there by where we were camping at, and it had full of Guadalupe bass in it.
[00:05:02] Jeff Compton: Okay.
[00:05:02] John Firm: And they were just catching fish like crazy. And they had a ball. Benji, he never seen anything. Kept his eyes closed. I think he's sleeping the whole time. You know?
[00:05:14] Jeff Compton: He might have been catching up. Maybe the hair, maybe Benji's hair was in his eyes.
[00:05:17] John Firm: Exactly.
[00:05:20] Jeff Compton: Oh, that's, like, I've been lucky enough, fortunate enough now to take a lot of people, not hunting so much, 'cause hunting up where I am is a little more, like, it's not as ac- accessible.
[00:05:29] Jeff Compton: It's, uh- Yeah ... we don't have the kind of ranches and stuff that you guys have that are r- Right ... pretty much, like, unless you own the property, or, like, there's still what we call Crown land, which is government land that has still animals left on it, uh, it's really hard to get hunting. So, or you can ask a landowner, which up where I am, the very thought of people discharging a firearm, just people are like, "Mm-mm."
[00:05:51] Jeff Compton: So I've been fortunate enough to take a lot of people fishing, and that's been, like, John and I talk about all, all the time, like, there's something about being, taking people that haven't been exposed- Or having getting, like, a lot of time to do it, and taking them out on somewhere and showing them is just the most rewarding thing that I've been able to do.
[00:06:09] Jeff Compton: Young people especially, or even people my own age that didn't get a chance to fish much, when I take them out this summer, they have the time of their life, you know? And it puts me back into perspective, 'cause it's like I'll go out and the- well, only the little fish are biting, and they're still having a great time.
[00:06:23] Jeff Compton: If I wasn't by myself, I'd be so frustrated that all I was catching was little fish. And yet you take somebody out that doesn't even get the opportunity, and they are just absolutely over the moon excited that they're catching anything at all. So it brings me back to the idea of, like, just to be grateful for, for that experience, right?
[00:06:41] Kent Bullard: Well, you get to, like, kind of re-experience it for the first time through those people, right?
[00:06:45] Jeff Compton: Yeah.
[00:06:46] Kent Bullard: And- and I gotta tell you, and, uh, thank you again for the experience because when I was growing up, you know, doing Boy Scouts and- and the- the, even the church group I was with, it was not an inclusive thing.
[00:06:56] Kent Bullard: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so it was a very different experience for me with you guys because with them it was, it was very toxic. It was very, "Well, you're not at this level, so we're gonna, we're gonna hold, you know, push back." Education, push,
[00:07:08] John Firm: push, push. We're gonna...
[00:07:08] Kent Bullard: It w- it wasn't a good experience. Um, I think more and more that we have to create more experiences that are inclusive, that are, you know, "Hey, I- you're doing this for the first time, and I'm gonna treat it as such," rather than expect you to be at this level as soon as- Yeah
[00:07:22] Kent Bullard: you come in, you know?
[00:07:24] Jeff Compton: And I think it- it's healthy for a lot of us. Like, the expression everybody says is sometimes people, like, the world would be a lot better place if more people just got out and their feet touched grass, right? Well, what they're saying is if we come back to the basics of life again, the simple things of just being out in nature- Amen
[00:07:39] Jeff Compton: it doesn't really matter if you shoot an animal or catch a fish. It's just the fact that you get to shut your phone off for a little while- Yep ... get away from some of the noise that we're constantly being inundated with, and spend some time back on, on God's Earth, like, just doing the simple things. The, you know, looking at animals and smelling the fresh air.
[00:07:54] Jeff Compton: It's so much of a recharge for me. Like, my mood definitely changes when the winter comes, and I don't get out as much. As, I'm a summer person. Summertime for me, I'm a much more patient and-
[00:08:06] John Firm: Easier to
[00:08:07] Jeff Compton: get along with ... easier to get along with person. But in the
[00:08:08] John Firm: wintertime- I'm so glad it's summertime.
[00:08:12] Jeff Compton: Yeah.
[00:08:12] Jeff Compton: Well, I mean, up there where we have it as, like, six months of the year, you know, you're in a blizzard. Like- Yeah ... it's, yeah, it's, it sucks. So, you know. Hm. I don't do the ice fishing thing.
[00:08:21] John Firm: I'm so glad. You know, Texas looks more and more better every day, doesn't it?
[00:08:24] Jeff Compton: It does.
[00:08:24] John Firm: Yeah, 'cause we don't have that s- we have two or three days maybe.
[00:08:27] John Firm: Yeah. And we're over it.
[00:08:28] Jeff Compton: Yep. And like I said, you go buy- Yeah ... all the bread and milk.
[00:08:31] John Firm: All of it.
[00:08:31] Jeff Compton: All the ammunition, and then you just wait for the three days to be up.
[00:08:34] John Firm: Exactly, exactly. It w- Once the three days are over, you got all the bread, and milk, and ammunition to make it more.
[00:08:39] Kent Bullard: It was really nice that it stayed 73 degrees the entire time we were out there.
[00:08:43] Kent Bullard: It
[00:08:43] John Firm: was so nice. That's perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it was so nice. 72 degrees, perfect. Oh. Got me a little suntan. Didn't sweat at all.
[00:08:50] Jeff Compton: Yeah.
[00:08:52] John Firm: Labor Day weekend, folks.
[00:08:54] Kent Bullard: Wow.
[00:08:57] John Firm: Very cool.
[00:08:58] Jeff Compton: What, um, what's new with you guys at the institute?
[00:09:02] Kent Bullard: Oh, man. What's not new? We've, we've-
[00:09:05] John Firm: Growing. Yeah. Growing pains.
[00:09:07] Kent Bullard: Always. Yeah. We've, we've spent the last, I don't know, year, two years just kind of rebuilding a lot of foundational stuff.
[00:09:16] Kent Bullard: We have big goals. We have big dreams, and next year I'm really excited to, to really hit the ground running, 'cause we'll wrap things up, you know, in this last quarter here-
[00:09:25] John Firm: Okay ...
[00:09:26] Kent Bullard: and get set for, for 2027. But no, we've got new team members coming on, uh, new services that we're putting together, new projects.
[00:09:35] Kent Bullard: Um, it's been, it's been great. Nice. And I'm, I'm out of a lot of the operational stuff now, um, 'cause I was the COO for a long time. But you
[00:09:42] John Firm: still work there, right?
[00:09:44] Kent Bullard: Well, yeah.
[00:09:46] John Firm: You're still there. You're, you're almost like me, then.
[00:09:49] Jeff Compton: That's- Wow ...
[00:09:50] Kent Bullard: yeah, just onto different things. Yeah. You know? But no, it's been, it's been really interesting.
[00:09:55] Kent Bullard: I've ha- I've made a really, um, big shift mentally in my perspe- my perspective on what I should be doing.
[00:10:03] John Firm: Mm-hmm.
[00:10:03] Kent Bullard: And you know, it's funny 'cause you talk about this stuff, and we work with businesses and, you know, over the years, and, and even I'm still kind of coming across those, those points where it's like, well, I need to kind of reframe what I'm thinking about and, and what I'm putting my attention towards and, and just have that, you know, revision every now and then.
[00:10:21] Jeff Compton: Yeah. '
[00:10:22] Kent Bullard: Cause now I've got different things I have to pay attention to.
[00:10:26] Jeff Compton: I, I was talking just yesterday with, like, how I'll be 51 in November, and it's the situation of how different my goals are at 51 to where I was at 31. At 31 I was like, "I wanna be the best technician in the room. I wanna be the highest paid technician in the room."
[00:10:43] Jeff Compton: Like, I was just, like... It, it was like an athletic endeavor to me. I had to continue to try and improve and all that kind of stuff. The, the idea of not trying to improve, like, that's never gonna go away. I'm always gonna be constantly trying to be better and understanding of what I'm doing. But the money thing is, like, that's not even in my top five goals anymore, is to make more money.
[00:11:05] Jeff Compton: And I think that that's, for a lot of ways for me, has really unburdened a lot of the stress that goes away. Because, you know, the money thing is, like, you amass it and it's important, but it's not the most important. You know? The fact that now it's like I have a job, I keep saying, where I don't have to go in on Saturday and work if I don't want to.
[00:11:23] Jeff Compton: Uh, if I have to give them notice and say, "Hey, I got podcast commitments that I'm gonna be gone,"-
[00:11:27] John Firm: Yeah ... "
[00:11:28] Jeff Compton: no problem. Have fun." Like, that for me is, is... The culture of that, way more important to me now than just looking at the end of the week going, "Only earned this amount. I wish I'd earned more." You know what I mean?
[00:11:39] Jeff Compton: Like, that's-
[00:11:40] Kent Bullard: I think over time your responsibilities change.
[00:11:43] Jeff Compton: Yeah. '
[00:11:43] Kent Bullard: Cause I can- Oh, yes ... think back to when I was in my early 20s and I was like, "Hey, I've got a, I've got a young kid I've gotta take care of." Um, money was a really big motivator. Mm-hmm. Only because it, it helped create some security and stability for me.
[00:11:55] Kent Bullard: Yes.
[00:11:56] John Firm: One of the things I learnt when I was in my 50s was that money should be the byproduct of the things that I do.
[00:12:03] Kent Bullard: Yeah.
[00:12:03] John Firm: When I changed that attitude and I changed that value in my life, m- money didn't have what it does to me like it used to. It was a driver for me.
[00:12:13] Kent Bullard: Mm-hmm.
[00:12:14] John Firm: Now I've changed my focus to other things, that money's the byproduct.
[00:12:18] John Firm: Money is produced- Yeah ... by what I do, and I stay focused on what I'm doing. In the growth zone, like you were talking about earlier, you know, if I stay in that growth zone, money will come the way it's supposed to. It'll... All your percentages, all your points will hit right on par- target, where you want them to.
[00:12:35] John Firm: But your focus is in getting better- Mm-hmm ... or doing more and growth. Yeah.
[00:12:41] Kent Bullard: I, I think it, it depends on the circumstance.
[00:12:44] John Firm: It does.
[00:12:44] Kent Bullard: Because I... If I went back to my, my younger self, the, the pressures of just making sure that, l- like, we had food in the fridge, that we had, we could pay our bills- Amen ... that I, I was okay, I'm like, "I have to prioritize money."
[00:12:58] Kent Bullard: Like, that was something that was really important- Yeah ... because that helped create that stability. And only later when I started making more and more did the importance of money being the primary driver-
[00:13:09] John Firm: Yes ...
[00:13:09] Kent Bullard: go away.
[00:13:10] John Firm: You're right.
[00:13:10] Kent Bullard: So there, there can be this disconnect when we're talking to younger people about, like, well, it's not really about all the money.
[00:13:16] Kent Bullard: And it's like, well, it is for me right now.
[00:13:18] John Firm: Yeah.
[00:13:19] Kent Bullard: But eventually we'll get to a point where it won't be the motivating- Well, you
[00:13:22] John Firm: as a business coach, coaching other young people coming up in, in life, isn't that one of the things you teach them? Get your numbers in order. Well- Get your perspective the way it needs to be.
[00:13:33] John Firm: Get it all rolling the way it should be, and the rest of your life is different. Y-
[00:13:38] Kent Bullard: yeah. You're, you're also trying to push them to execute, because there's a difference between the information- Right ... and the knowledge or experience.
[00:13:49] John Firm: Correct.
[00:13:49] Kent Bullard: Right? I have a different perspective now because I've, I've executed.
[00:13:53] Kent Bullard: I've taken that chance. I've felt what it felt like to make- So that's gonna be the word of the day, execute.
[00:13:58] Jeff Compton: Yeah. Yeah. 'Cause I find what, like... We, we talk about how sometimes these conversations that we're all in becomes an echo chamber, and it says, like... It's the same thing they say about these events, right?
[00:14:08] Jeff Compton: You see the same 300, 400, 500 faces- Yep ... always at these events. I'm a big believer that the information and, and... is already out there, but there's so many people that are just not executing. You know what I mean? Yep. Like, they, they... And I know it's human nature to stay where we're comfortable or surviving.
[00:14:25] Jeff Compton: I'm surviving here, I'm comfortable here. But to not have the growth mentality of, like, "I have to continue..." And it's, again, it's not stacking cash. I mean, that's important, but the growth mentality of always trying to be giving back and, and helping bring people along, that I wanna show what I did the way I did it.
[00:14:46] Jeff Compton: You know what I mean? That's important to me now because it's like I'm not gonna ever go out there and teach technicians how, like, I... This is the right way to fix a car. It's the way I fix a car, right? It's not to say that your way is wrong. But I wanna be able to tell technicians that it's gonna seem really some days like it's tough, and, and you're not being appreciated.
[00:15:11] Jeff Compton: You have to remember that what you're doing, not everybody can and take pride in it. And then continue to always develop yourself because that's where the true value comes is your value as yourself, not as what somebody else labels you from a paycheck standpoint.
[00:15:25] Kent Bullard: I think you also- Have to help them, um, practice taking pride in their work.
[00:15:31] Jeff Compton: Yes. Yes.
[00:15:32] Kent Bullard: Because there's a, a fine line you can walk with that where ego can, can really make that seem not a, not a good thing. And at the same time, you're also going into a circumstance where they might not be making the kind of money that they might need at, in that moment. Yeah. And so now you're saying, "Hey, you know, you're gonna go into this.
[00:15:49] Kent Bullard: It's gonna be really, really hard, and you're not gonna see a return for a little while." Right? So speaking positively toward that- Mm-hmm ... speaking to the nobility of it, the, the, um, being an honorable person, like, h- taking pride in the work that you do- Craftsmanship ... that needs to be the narrative. Amen. And, and you also have to provide the opportunities for them to go through the experience of it.
[00:16:11] Jeff Compton: Yep.
[00:16:11] Kent Bullard: Right? I have a much better appreciation for hunting. I mean, although it's pretty posh from what I was told- It was posh, wasn't it? ... and my expectations of. But never having done it, now I can understand, 'cause I've lived through it, of what you mean when you talk about certain things. Right. And it's the same thing here, where it's like when I'm talking about money and setting up your career and all that, it's like not only do I need to speak to the positivity of it and speak to, you know, "You're gonna be very proud of yourself when you get this done," but also giving them the opportunity to take pride.
[00:16:42] Jeff Compton: Yeah.
[00:16:42] Kent Bullard: Like, "You did a really good job at this. You should, you should acknowledge that."
[00:16:46] John Firm: Right.
[00:16:47] Kent Bullard: Uh, the, "I believe in you" is really powerful. The, you know, y- "You got this. You have a skill for it. You have a talent for it, and you work really hard at
[00:16:54] Jeff Compton: it." You're gonna make it. We're gonna get through this together.
[00:16:56] Jeff Compton: That's the kind of stuff that, like, I remember when I've had young people and they've been working with me, and I can see them, they're frazzled on something. And I can walk right over and, like we were talking yesterday about- Right ... the daddy syndrome, right? Break that daddy habit. I can say to them, without giving them the answer, "You're gonna get through this, and we're gonna be okay.
[00:17:13] Jeff Compton: We're gonna come out of this all right on the other side. Yes, I understand it was promised for 4:00, and it's now 5:30, and, you know, the wrong part came in, or the part that we put in is defective and now... And everybody's starting to panic. We're gonna get through this. It's gonna be okay, right?" There's, there's- Positive
[00:17:30] Jeff Compton: processes in place that we have people to all lean on one another to say, "Okay, so we have to call up Mrs. Jones and say, 'This is what happened.'" And just be truthful and honest and say, "Something beyond our control happened, and we're doing everything you can. Keep the loaner car one more day," whatever, like, "Just come by, pick up the loaner car," yada, yada, yada.
[00:17:47] Jeff Compton: "And, and together we get through this."
[00:17:50] Kent Bullard: It, it can be really frustrating when it feels like, you know, e- either I'm gonna mess up and this mess-up is, is the end of the world, um, I have to get it right the first time. Yep.
[00:18:01] Jeff Compton: Yes.
[00:18:01] Kent Bullard: And also having this conflicting idea of, like, "Look, we're gonna get through this.
[00:18:05] Kent Bullard: It's gonna be okay." Both of those things can be true. We can find the job to be important- Yeah ... and we can find getting it right to be important, but so is the opportunity to practice your skills. That's also important, and also knowing that it's not the end of the world is important. All of those things can be true at once.
[00:18:21] Jeff Compton: Yeah. Great message.
[00:18:25] Kent Bullard: Uh-huh.
[00:18:26] Jeff Compton: Now what do you-
[00:18:26] Kent Bullard: Excuse me ...
[00:18:27] Jeff Compton: when, when you're talking to-
[00:18:28] Kent Bullard: Give me one of those stickers.
[00:18:30] Jeff Compton: Okay. One of these guys. When, when you're talking to some of the, the shop owners, and again, I, I apologize if I don't know how many you're talking to anymore on a, on a one-to-one basis, right?
[00:18:41] Jeff Compton: But your people are still instructed. What is the one thing that still keeps coming back from shop owners as saying the biggest obstacle in their business right now, what is it?
[00:18:52] Kent Bullard: I would say it's probably... It's, it's gotta be the, the leader. And if the culture... So take my process class, for instance. Okay? The first third of it, uh, if anybody goes to take this class, you're gonna see that the first third of it is all about culture.
[00:19:09] Jeff Compton: Okay.
[00:19:10] Kent Bullard: I've worked with businesses, um, and I tell this story.
[00:19:12] Kent Bullard: I worked with a business that was a larger corporation, they had, like, 70 employees, and the owner was wanting me to come in and help them refine their processes. Okay? But at the same time, the owner was like, "Yeah, no, I didn't like the tone of this person. They, they kicked back on it, so I went, I took all the tires off his truck and I hit him."
[00:19:32] Kent Bullard: And it's like, that's not good. No. That's not what I do. Like, okay, so now here's Kent coming in and saying, "Hey, guys, we're gonna work on process." Like, what... You, it, it's such a barrier to overcome that belief in what we're doing. Mm-hmm. And if I don't believe in it, I'm not committed to it a- and I don't feel confident in following the person who's saying, "Come on, let's go"- Yeah
[00:19:53] Kent Bullard: then it's gonna be a lot harder for me to do the stuff that is gonna be painful and grueling and, and- Yeah ... seem tedious and, and, you know, like a non-starter. So culture and leadership is can I follow you? Can I trust you if I follow you? And will you take care of me? I think every time we come to it, it's...
[00:20:12] Kent Bullard: That's gonna be one of the, the biggest challenges that most, most businesses have. And I can see it from
[00:20:18] Jeff Compton: somebody that sits on the outside that is the employee versus the, the shop owner. Sometimes, like, I know that when I'm working for somebody, and we now become aligned on what I think their goals are, and I know that, like, I don't have faith in the journey with them, it's time for me to get out.
[00:20:35] Jeff Compton: Doesn't even matter what it pays or what, uh, the culture could... Like, the way they treat me.
[00:20:41] John Firm: Right.
[00:20:41] Jeff Compton: I know that it's time for me to get out. Because I know how I'm wired. I- I'm not going in every day and giving it 100. You know what I mean? I'm kinda just going through the motions. And I know for me that's not healthy for me.
[00:20:53] Jeff Compton: No, it's not. Because then I become, I become sabotaged. Like, I'll, I'll sabotage my own because I'm not challenged. I'm one of those people that when I'm bored, I'll start to create chaos.
[00:21:05] Kent Bullard: Well, that, that's the other thing, is that I think we all have to understand that we're actually on the same team.
[00:21:10] Jeff Compton: Mm-hmm.
[00:21:12] Kent Bullard: I mean, when you talk about the same kind of echo chamber, the same conversations that keep happening, you know, I've been hearing them for, for the, the years I've been in this industry, and I gotta tell you, I'm really frustrated with it. I shouldn't have to hear- Yeah ... the same thing over and over again.
[00:21:26] Kent Bullard: What are we doing? What's the... What are the things we're executing? Or at least, I mean, just, just try something, and if we break it- Yeah ... okay, then maybe we'll learn something.
[00:21:34] John Firm: Let's learn.
[00:21:35] Kent Bullard: Um- Right? Opportunities. It's that, it's that, like, okay, well, the, the technicians didn't do this or that. It's like- Yeah
[00:21:41] Kent Bullard: okay, but they're on your team.
[00:21:44] John Firm: Exactly.
[00:21:44] Kent Bullard: Or the service advisor didn't do this or that. Yes. Okay, but they're on your team, right? It's like we're in the same boat, and, and you're pointing at the hole on my side of the boat, and I'm pointing at the hole on your side of the boat. Yeah. I'm like, we're still...
[00:21:55] Kent Bullard: We're both sinking here. Put a finger in the
[00:21:57] John Firm: hole. Yeah. Yeah. Work together.
[00:22:00] Kent Bullard: Yeah. And, and we think that jumping to another boat that also has holes in it where everybody's pointing fingers is gonna be the best option. That'll fix it. Yeah. That'll fix it.
[00:22:09] Jeff Compton: See, that's so, that's so poignant what you just talked about because it's the same thing.
[00:22:13] Jeff Compton: We see... Like, and I'm in a place right now where it's like I'm talking to so many technicians across North America, it's ridiculous now, and they all... There's so many negative attitudes. Like, most of my comments end with- "I'm so glad I got out." That's not an answer- No ... that is even relative to the conversation because you got out, cool.
[00:22:36] Jeff Compton: All right, great. But
[00:22:36] Kent Bullard: it didn't fix the problem. No. It
[00:22:37] Jeff Compton: didn't fix the problem. It fixed your immediate situation, whatever that might be. It's yours not mine. But it doesn't help anybody, it doesn't uplift anybody to go, "I'm so glad I got be- that behind me. That part of my life is behind me now." It's we, we see the technicians going on, and on, and on, and on in all my conversations about how dissatisfied they are.
[00:22:58] Jeff Compton: And a year ago I would've been having conversations with them about, "Okay, let's dig in more and more." Now I'm having a really hard time going... Still being able to say, "I feel you, I respect you, but shit or get off the pot."
[00:23:12] Kent Bullard: We... Well, here's the other thing, is that society, and hopefully I, I, I kinda see the pendulum coming back.
[00:23:18] Kent Bullard: But we've obfuscated accountability, right? Yes. We've said, "Look, it's not your fault."
[00:23:24] Jeff Compton: Yeah. "
[00:23:24] Kent Bullard: You're lucky you got out." I, over my career, have made so many mistakes, and there's been times where I'm like, man, this thing might completely, you know- Implode. Yeah ... implode.
[00:23:34] John Firm: Yeah.
[00:23:34] Kent Bullard: And I'm gonna have to go somewhere else.
[00:23:36] Kent Bullard: Or I get really frustrated and I'm like, "I'm gonna go somewhere else. I'm gonna do something else." And I'm like, but if I do that, what behaviors am I bringing to that new situation- Exactly ... that are gonna put me in the same circumstance? Yeah. So I go, "Okay, what should I own?" Because if, if I don't own it- I'm, I'm waiting for everyone else to make that decision for me.
[00:23:55] John Firm: Exactly.
[00:23:56] Kent Bullard: And they're probably thinking the exact same thing. Yeah. And so I think we do need to start not necessarily, like, saying, "Hey, this is your fault," but like you were saying, like, what are you doing about it? You have control.
[00:24:08] Jeff Compton: Yeah.
[00:24:09] Kent Bullard: You, you have a choice you get to make.
[00:24:11] Jeff Compton: I, I talked with a shop owner last night, and he talked about a, a repair that they had done recently in the shop, and he had to redo the repair.
[00:24:19] Jeff Compton: And he says, "Well, when I, when I took it apart, the tech had not changed these vital parts that were supposed to be in there, and it came back an AC leak." And he's like... I'm like, "Well, what was his rationale for why he didn't bother to change the seals?" "I didn't ask him." Why have you not asked him? Like, he might...
[00:24:35] Jeff Compton: He's gonna give you... He's like, there's no ex- And in his mind, there's no excuse for why those weren't changed. I agree, there isn't. If you already have them in stock, you're not gonna chew him out for being, taking too long to do that while he's in there. If you've already told him the process is when you unhook an AC line and there's a seal there, you inspect it and change it.
[00:24:51] Jeff Compton: If you already told him that, there is right, there's no excuse, but you still gotta ask the reason for why he did not do it.
[00:24:55] Kent Bullard: Because, because there's something there in his thought process- That's right ... that, that might be misguided- Yeah ... that might need some coaching, that might need some mentorship, and we're not gonna know if we don't ask.
[00:25:06] Jeff Compton: And I'm a big believer that- ... the more you tell me why you do something, the more I better unders- or might understand-
[00:25:14] Kent Bullard: Yes ...
[00:25:14] Jeff Compton: how you think. Yes. And then I can coach you or enable you or empower you or train you in a more effective manner. If I start to understand, okay, Kent approaches a problem like this, whereas my, my technician over there, he approaches a problem a completely different way.
[00:25:29] Jeff Compton: As a leader, I have to start to learn how people learn and, and, and, and empower them the best way that I can. If I'm not bothering to ask him, "What were you thinking there?" I'm just immediately putting him in this little box that says, this is always gonna be a problem for him because they're not gonna do it this way.
[00:25:44] John Firm: Correct.
[00:25:45] Jeff Compton: And I wanna avoid that. Do you see what I mean?
[00:25:48] Kent Bullard: It's, it's this, um... In the last class I taught, I had a, I had a argu- I had a-
[00:25:54] Jeff Compton: An argument.
[00:25:55] Kent Bullard: Oh, boy ... passionate discussion.
[00:25:56] Jeff Compton: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:25:58] Kent Bullard: Because I challenged the class on accountability.
[00:26:01] Jeff Compton: Mm.
[00:26:01] Kent Bullard: I said, "How many of you, like, hold your employees accountable? How many hold accountability?"
[00:26:06] Kent Bullard: And a few hands go up. And I said, "What does that look like?" Right? And i- what it boils down to is I think we have this, we've conflated the idea of accountability to some degree, where if I have to hold you accountable, if I have to say, "Well, you have to do it this way. You have to do this. This is how you should be thinking.
[00:26:22] Kent Bullard: This is the execution," I'm, I'm sitting here, and I'm micromanaging the task and what you're doing.
[00:26:27] Jeff Compton: Right.
[00:26:28] Kent Bullard: And what I've done is I've taken that accountability away from you because I'm the one holding the accountability. Because accountability is an intrinsic thing. Okay. Like, I'm either an accountable person or I am not.
[00:26:39] Kent Bullard: Right. If you take my accountability away from me, I now don't have an opportunity to be accountable. Exactly.
[00:26:46] Jeff Compton: You
[00:26:46] Kent Bullard: haven't given me an opportunity to be accountable, so I can't even practice that skill. And so many times I think we get in this, this position where we, we feel we have to say, "Well, obviously he did it the wrong way.
[00:26:59] Kent Bullard: This is the right way. The... I'm gonna tell him to do it this way. Do it this way." They're never gonna get that, like you said, that thought process- That is correct ... that, that, that mental methodology of, of thinking critically in this situation to where they're gonna be an experienced, talented technician.
[00:27:15] Kent Bullard: And what'll happen is they'll either get frustrated 'cause they can't grow-
[00:27:19] Jeff Compton: Yeah ...
[00:27:19] Kent Bullard: and they'll go find somewhere else where they can, or they're gonna stay there and they're gonna continue to get more toxic and more, you know, um, uh, corroded and, and that's- Jaded. Yeah ... gonna bleed in- Yeah ... and jaded, and bleed into the rest of your business and your other people, and it's not a good situation for them or anyone else either.
[00:27:37] Jeff Compton: I can tell
[00:27:37] Kent Bullard: you that- Because we cut the relationship off. Sorry.
[00:27:39] Jeff Compton: No, you're good. Go, keep going.
[00:27:41] Kent Bullard: You're good.
[00:27:41] Jeff Compton: Yeah. As a life- You're on point ... as a lifelong technician, the only way I ever learned how to do some things better was asking people what was their... coming back to the process, what... when, when we're trying to get that part out of that engine bay in this amount of time, what's your sequence of how you do it?
[00:27:55] Jeff Compton: What part do you remove first? What part do you do second? If I just look at that person and go, "They really are not good at doing this"- But I know that they have strengths there, but I don't bother to even ask them, "What's your thinking process on how you do... 'Cause you do this better than I do," right? So I don't disregard anybody and say, I just go, "Some guys are much better at one thing than another."
[00:28:17] Jeff Compton: Yeah. But I wanna understand- Yes ... the more I ask them, "Why didn't you?" is still insight as to what they think maybe as to why it wasn't all that important to do.
[00:28:26] John Firm: So true.
[00:28:27] Jeff Compton: And then we have the lesson as to why it's important to do, not just 'cause I say so, 'cause you already signed the book that says this is the process.
[00:28:34] Jeff Compton: That's all good, right? But again, the people that are not comfortable being accountable, that's just meh, meh, meh, right? But if I understand what you were thinking, maybe there was something you were thinking that day, I didn't know if I was gonna get this done because I had this to do after and this really always sucks for me, right?
[00:28:53] Jeff Compton: I pick up that scan tool and that scan tool fights me. If all of a sudden I remove that potential bottleneck, the process that he's in the middle of, maybe then he doesn't do the wrong thing. Do you see what I mean? Yeah. Like, that's just for me is always somebody learning from other people how they do things.
[00:29:09] Jeff Compton: I am always asking, "Why did you do it that way?"
[00:29:13] Kent Bullard: Well, so two things on that. I think, so, so if I, if I come to you and I'm a younger person, maybe I haven't had the experience to know how to navigate those relationships and approach it the way you did. You said, you know, "I'd like to understand your thought process behind it, 'cause you do it better than I do."
[00:29:29] Kent Bullard: Instead they might go, "Why do you do that?"
[00:29:32] Jeff Compton: Yeah.
[00:29:32] Kent Bullard: And then what happens with you and you go, "'Cause like, 'cause this is the right way to do it." Yeah, yeah. Right? It's like we get in this offensive pos- you know- But it's- ... I have to defend myself now ...
[00:29:41] Jeff Compton: the way we phrase the question automatically has a negative connotation based on our s- our, our body.
[00:29:46] Jeff Compton: Why'd you do that like that? Versus, "Tell me why you chose to do it that way," right? It's a very warm, welcoming... Well, I'm asking the same darn question.
[00:29:55] Kent Bullard: Correct.
[00:29:55] Jeff Compton: But it's the way- Exactly ... I delivered the question is either I'm gonna be receptive and wanna give my answer, or I'm immediately gonna cower back and go, "I obviously screwed up here, and I'm gonna minimize my excuses and take my beating like a man."
[00:30:10] Jeff Compton: Right? And then w- hopefully this will be all really uncomfortable, and it'll be over quick.
[00:30:14] John Firm: So I, I'm sitting over here listening to you guys talking. I'm loving your message. Yeah. And, and I, and I summed it up in a little bit. You know, you seen me writing here a little bit. And, and the first thing we, we talked about was questions, asking the questions, getting the answers, and, and working with the questions.
[00:30:32] John Firm: And then we set the expectation with the employee, and, and we start talking about our expectation, what we want from our employee, and we explain that out to them. And then we hold them accountable 'cause they understand everything that we wanted the job to be to get accomplished, whatever. And just in the nutshell, that's what I come up with.
[00:30:52] John Firm: Yeah. Questions, expectations, and accountability, how we're gonna figure out did they m- meet the target.
[00:31:00] Jeff Compton: Yeah.
[00:31:00] John Firm: Ah. I love y'all's guys message this morning. It's cool.
[00:31:04] Kent Bullard: You, you have to let the process go all the way through, by the way.
[00:31:07] John Firm: Yes, there's more to
[00:31:08] Kent Bullard: it,
[00:31:08] John Firm: ain't there?
[00:31:08] Kent Bullard: So, so the second point that I was gonna make with that was- Especially nowadays, and I see this with, like, even my sister and, and, like, the young kids in other families that we kinda spend time with, is that we as a society are, are very quick to protect the youth from consequences.
[00:31:26] Jeff Compton: Yeah. Yeah. And that's-
[00:31:28] Kent Bullard: And it's like, well, we're gonna make a mistake, so I gotta jump in. It's like, no, no, no, sometimes, actually most times- ... it's good for somebody who hasn't done it to experience what a mistake looks like. Amen. 'Cause learning takes practice. So when you're talking about, you know, setting an expectation, you're setting the opportunity, and they're either gonna meet it or not meet it.
[00:31:47] Kent Bullard: Uh-huh. And then we talk about accountability, and that gives them the, the opportunity to be an accountable person or not. And we could talk, well, what would you do differently? Like my son, Rachel sends me a text message- Yeah? ... and he gets his quiz results from a quiz he just took. Okay. And he is upset.
[00:32:05] Kent Bullard: He's so mad. Because he mistook atoms for cells in the quiz, and he got it all wrong 'cause he thought they were talking about cells, not atoms. Anyway. And so Rachel is talking about, "Well, we gotta talk to the teacher and we gotta..." I said, "Well, hold on. Hold on. Ask Boston what he's gonna do about it." That's the question.
[00:32:23] Kent Bullard: What, what, what are you gonna do about it? He, he didn't re- realize and understand it was the wrong test or wrong subject.
[00:32:30] John Firm: Right.
[00:32:30] Kent Bullard: So what should he do about it? Just ask him the question and see what he says. And she came back and she goes, "He's gonna meet with the teacher at this... You know, he said he'll do this, so he's gonna tell him, 'Hey, I completely misunderstood the context.
[00:32:43] Kent Bullard: Now that I understand that, do you think you'd give me an opportunity to take the test again?'" Right? Just to explain it. "And if I can't, that's okay. Next time I'm gonna do my best." And he said, "I'll, I'll make sure I check what the subject of the test is." That's building that, that thought process of- Yeah.
[00:32:58] Kent Bullard: Exactly ... of critical thinking and problem solving, and he gets to own that now.
[00:33:01] Jeff Compton: Because we see a lot, and when young people now, we talk about when they go to school, like you'll hear from the parents or teachers will say- Yep ... "I'm forever having parents call me saying there's no possible way my child is not doing well.
[00:33:15] Jeff Compton: Like, they are so smart. I can't understand why you're failing them," or, "That, I, I helped them with that essay. It was an A paper. They got a C. Like, I think you're crazy." And w- I, we forget, I think once we're in that, that- A lot of things are open to interpretation is one thing. Yeah. But there's lessons to be taught that aren't just always about like in life if you do this minimal amount of work you're gonna get an A.
[00:33:41] Jeff Compton: You're gonna do the minimal amount of work and you're probably going to pass, but there's different levels to what a true ... And I know I'm kinda going around in a circle here, but it's like to what a true really good result looks like- Yes ... versus a, a satisfactory result, right? Like yes, they did the paper, but everybody all of a sudden thinks that every paper that gets done is an A paper.
[00:34:01] Jeff Compton: No. It's, doesn't work like that. But I think it's like when I think about how when my mother learned to swim, she tells me the story, it was essentially you were just thrown in the lake But then all of a sudden, the generation l- like, after her, we put them in swimming lessons and we got professionals to teach them how to swim.
[00:34:20] Jeff Compton: For years and years and years and years and years, there was no such thing. That's just how everybody learned to swim. You jumped in and somebody was there maybe to keep you from dying, but you had to kinda learn to, like, your head goes underwater, you get a real shock. Yeah. You learn to dog paddle. We do the instinctive things.
[00:34:34] John Firm: I remember those lessons. Right? Quite well.
[00:34:36] Jeff Compton: Right? Yeah. And we all... Now we wanna remove the instinctive things, because we wanna take the trauma away from learning something. Oh, it's so hard.
[00:34:43] Kent Bullard: But it's not trauma. There's, there's a, there's stress.
[00:34:48] Jeff Compton: Right.
[00:34:48] Kent Bullard: Yeah. Like, so we have this, this culture. It's like, "Oh my gosh, you can't be...
[00:34:51] Kent Bullard: How do you de-stress? How do you all the..." Some stress is good.
[00:34:55] Jeff Compton: Mm-hmm.
[00:34:55] Kent Bullard: How do you build strong bones? They have to have pressure, they have to have stress to, to be f- you know, strong. Yeah. Like, there's trees out there, that if you're gonna have those trees, you have to shake them if they're indoor trees, because the wind helps them build strong roots.
[00:35:09] John Firm: Yes.
[00:35:10] Jeff Compton: Yeah.
[00:35:11] John Firm: I didn't know that.
[00:35:11] Jeff Compton: Yeah.
[00:35:12] John Firm: I don't have no indoor trees.
[00:35:14] Jeff Compton: No. You have enough trees.
[00:35:16] Kent Bullard: Yeah.
[00:35:16] Jeff Compton: You have a
[00:35:16] Kent Bullard: lifetime-
[00:35:17] John Firm: I don't have
[00:35:17] Kent Bullard: hardly any
[00:35:17] Jeff Compton: trees ... But then, wait, going back to the idea of trauma, a lot of people, when they look back on and say, "This was traumatic for me," well, it was the stress at the moment, that you look back now and you remember the stress, and you call that trauma.
[00:35:31] Jeff Compton: Yeah.
[00:35:31] Kent Bullard: It, it blurs the line.
[00:35:32] Jeff Compton: It does, but it wasn't really trauma. It was just- Challenge ... challenge. Yeah ... or stress, right? And, and because if we get into that mindset that I'm always living with my trauma versus living with my achievements or my challenges or my, whatever I managed to amass, whatever you wanna call it, they, those people with that mindset, they don't see trauma.
[00:35:53] Jeff Compton: They just see, I had a, I had a car that kicked my tail, and I remember that car, and it taught me a lesson. In the moment, I was stressed, but I don't look back now and go, "That's trauma for me." I look back and go, "Thank God that car came into my life, that taught me this lesson, that refined my process to now it's an easy one for me."
[00:36:11] Kent Bullard: We- Yeah. We've lost the understanding of those words. Like, we've lost those words. Yeah. Yeah, we have. Challenge, um, uh, passion, the pursuit. And we say them, but we don't feel them anymore. Yeah. 'Cause we've had all these other words kinda come in and can, and, and blur the lines of, and meaning there. Yeah.
[00:36:26] Kent Bullard: There's this, um, uh... I don't know if you know the, the show Last Meals on YouTube. There's one with the guy that was in, uh, Django. I can't remember his name. You know what I'm talking about, right? And he talks about having this, this clear chicken soup, but it's like a two-day process to boil down, to reduce to all this.
[00:36:44] Kent Bullard: And he goes, a- a- and he ask him, "Why, why did you want such a hard thing?" And he goes, "Because oftentimes, especially in the West, we're very results focused." And it's not about the results, it's about the process, it's about the methodology.
[00:36:58] John Firm: About
[00:36:59] Kent Bullard: the process. It's about going through the cycle.
[00:37:01] John Firm: Mm-hmm.
[00:37:01] Kent Bullard: Because that's where the competency, the confidence...
[00:37:04] Kent Bullard: You, you talk about, you know, mental health now- The, these youth that don't believe in themselves, they don't have any, any self-worth, it's because they don't have this loop. They don't get to run it because we halt it- Yeah ... all the time. We say, "No, don't worry about it. I'm gonna protect you from this." And then they get to the real world where there's businesses that are like, "Look, we don't have any room," right?
[00:37:25] Kent Bullard: So where everything's coddled and then nothing is because we are so results-focused, it's such a juxtaposition and punch in the face that we're not ready for. And if you wanna be a good leader or, or run a good business, you have to have some opportunity for them to run that cycle and get that, that competency and build that self-confidence.
[00:37:42] John Firm: That's right.
[00:37:43] Jeff Compton: It's like- That is so true ... I watch with children's sports when I see the really engaged parent, right? 'Cause as a Canadian, I, I didn't play hockey. Thank goodness, 'cause I would've turned out even more- ... y- you know, not right. And, but I, I would see them, you'd... In, in any hockey arena from wherever you can walk in, and if there's kids playing, there's always one or two shouting parent.
[00:38:03] Jeff Compton: But they're not shouting at the child, they're shouting at the ref, they're shouting at the coach Those children are there to play, right? And all of a sudden then what happens is when it gets to where the, the, the parent is going out on the ice and is talking, uh, to the coach after or during or whatever, or a scrum breaks out or whatever and they're going over the boards to try and do what's right and protect their child, like, this is where these kids have, have not even learned what it's like to fall down and have to pick themselves back up.
[00:38:35] Jeff Compton: Because before they get a chance to pick themselves up, somebody's grabbing them by, "I got you. Don't worry about this. Here's some iodine for your cut knee," and all this kind of stuff.
[00:38:43] Kent Bullard: I- imagine growing up, and I'm a product of this, by the way. It's only in recent years that I had life kind of hit me in the head and go, "Hey, you, you need these challenges," right?
[00:38:53] Kent Bullard: But it's like imagine somebody who's never experienced triumph, who's never experienced victory over adversity, and what that can do to somebody. When you give them a challenge and they go, "Oh my gosh, I want this challenge because I know what it feels like to overcome it." When they've never had that opportunity to feel triumph and victory, that com- that motivation's not there.
[00:39:18] Kent Bullard: It doesn't exist.
[00:39:19] Jeff Compton: Yeah.
[00:39:20] John Firm: Oh, wow.
[00:39:20] Jeff Compton: And you can't pour it into them either. I really don't think that. I think there's a sweet spot in our life. Now, we can always change our, our thought process, but I think there's a sweet spot in our life where we have to learn to rely on ourselves, and if we don't learn that, I think we
[00:39:37] Jeff Compton: It's ... You reach a point in age where it's just like you either, you go through defeated for the rest. You're just riding the clock. Or you live in that place where it's like, "I always... I would've been able to do this if it hadn't have been for that." I see that all the time. My brother and I had lots of conversations with this, and man, if you flick that switch off, you start to see the positive in everything.
[00:39:58] Jeff Compton: If you live in that place, man, everything was an obstacle. Everything held you back. You're so mad at yourself for what you're not good at doing because you, somebody didn't provide you with that. It's all bullshit. It's all stinking thinking.
[00:40:11] Dawn Sloas: Yeah. Right? It's like... And I'm jumping in here. Sorry. Here we
[00:40:13] John Firm: go.
[00:40:13] John Firm: Bring
[00:40:14] Dawn Sloas: her in, Amber.
Out
[00:40:14] John Firm: of nowhere.
[00:40:15] Dawn Sloas: Yeah. Y'all are talking good
[00:40:16] John Firm: stuff. Hey, I'm sorry. This is Dawn, my great-grandniece, y'all.
[00:40:19] Dawn Sloas: It's, so one of my big roles in any business that I'm in is I'm kind of that sweet spot between the, the owner and whoever the technician service advisor is. So I'm able to translate what the owner's needs are to what the employee- Yeah
[00:40:34] Dawn Sloas: needs to understand. And one of the things I always try to do, like you were saying, you don't think of it as I, I can't be who I wanna be because of those things, when it could be I can be who I wanna be because of those things, because I went through that trauma. Right. Because I learned what I needed to do.
[00:40:53] Dawn Sloas: And the other big thing that I always try to teach them is comfortability kills. If you are always comfortable, you are not growing.
[00:41:03] Jeff Compton: That's right. Yeah.
[00:41:03] Dawn Sloas: If you are always in the same track, nothing is ever gonna change. And if you, there's some of those people in the world, they're happy where they're at.
[00:41:11] Dawn Sloas: They wanna stay in the same lane. They're gonna gripe about it. Caught myself, didn't say a bad word. Yeah, yeah. They're gonna gripe about it all day long, but- I try to make sure that they understand that being uncomfortable doesn't mean that it's a negative thing.
[00:41:25] Jeff Compton: Yes. That's
[00:41:26] John Firm: right.
[00:41:26] Dawn Sloas: Right? You gotta have that fuel in your fire.
[00:41:29] Dawn Sloas: You gotta have that spark under you burning you up so
[00:41:31] Jeff Compton: you can go. Every failure is not a loss. Amen.
[00:41:33] Dawn Sloas: Exactly.
[00:41:34] Jeff Compton: It's just a failure.
[00:41:35] Dawn Sloas: Exactly.
[00:41:35] Jeff Compton: Education. Lesson. Yeah.
[00:41:37] Dawn Sloas: And that's another thing, like you were saying, where when somebody fails, do you have systems in your business to make it where you're not like, "You failed.
[00:41:44] Dawn Sloas: You messed up. Wrong on you"? Do you have things in your business where when somebody messes up, it's a learning opportunity? Mm. It's a safe space to make mistakes. Now, I'm not talking about the people who continuously make mistakes. Yeah. But is it a place where mistakes are learning opportunities? Or is it a place where when you make mistakes, you are doomed, damned- Yeah
[00:42:04] Dawn Sloas: hung at the cross?
[00:42:05] Jeff Compton: Yeah. Hey, we did an oil change on a car, and we forgot to reset the oil life monitor, or we forgot to put the sticker in the window. Now, how, what can we do now to make sure that the car doesn't leave without happening? And somebody says, "Well, how 'bout when we do the check-in, the sticker gets printed then," versus relying on the mechanic to remember when he's got 10 things to wipe this down and that down to put the sticker in the window.
[00:42:27] Jeff Compton: Whereas, if the sticker's already printed, or what about the QC person, then, if they walk out and they see that the sticker's not in there, they're just able to go in, get a sticker, put it on the window so the sti- thing still leaves. It's little things like that instead of saying, "I've told you 10 times to put a sticker on the window."
[00:42:41] Jeff Compton: Mm-hmm. Yes, at 10 times, it, there's obviously an issue here as to what's not going on. But the one time to two times when I, I never understood the little things like that.
[00:42:49] Dawn Sloas: And what a beautiful thing, that right there, allowing your employees to create systems within your business so they're buying in- Yeah
[00:42:56] Dawn Sloas: to the vision of the company. Yeah.
[00:42:58] Kent Bullard: That's what, that's what I argue in my class a lot. I passionately discuss.
[00:43:02] Jeff Compton: Yeah,
[00:43:02] Kent Bullard: yeah. But it is this idea of, like, how many of you believe that, you know, management or leadership are the, are the ones who write the process? And tons of hands go up. Yeah. And it's like- Mm-mm
[00:43:11] Kent Bullard: again, you just said it. "I told you 10 times." That's you having to hold the accountability- Yeah ... for your team. They don't get the opportunity to. But challenging them and saying, "Well, what do you guys wanna do about it?"
[00:43:21] Jeff Compton: Yeah. "
[00:43:21] Kent Bullard: We're a team. What would you do?" And they come up with their own process. They get to own it.
[00:43:25] Jeff Compton: Mm-hmm. And I challenge that when you say all the managers stick their hands up and go, "I'm responsible for the processes." The processes that you want done, but what really happens day to day is what happens day to day behind the curtain, right? Amen. Behind the, the wall. Yeah. So yes, we get the same end result, but the true process might ha- your process might have been 10 steps.
[00:43:45] Jeff Compton: The technicians in the back have streamlined it to six. You know what I mean? Yeah. Just because of, of efficiency or whatever, they know shortcuts. You understand what I'm saying. Oh, yeah. It can be anything from doing a ... Well, what's the true process then? Not the 10 steps that you came up with. Right. It's the reality of what they execute over and over again constantly day in and day out.
[00:44:00] Jeff Compton: That's the true process.
[00:44:01] Kent Bullard: So, so who's the, who's the best person to write the process?
[00:44:03] Jeff Compton: Well, I think it takes both people on both sides to have the conversation, but ultimately, people that dictate process have to be fluid if a process is being adjusted. Who did we talk to yesterday? You said that the, the process has to be constantly changing.
[00:44:19] John Firm: Constantly changing, written in pencil.
[00:44:21] Dawn Sloas: And that, that reminds me of the story about the big chip company, no brand names here unless you wanna sponsor. Uh, they were having issues with bags, empty bags getting into the line, and these big wigs high up were like, "Oh, what can we do? Spent all this money to put in these fancy machines.
[00:44:37] Dawn Sloas: Chips were still getting through." And then all of a sudden it stopped. No, no empty, uh, no empty bags going through and they're like, "What the hell?" They go down there. One of the workers got one of those big fans, put it in the line, and it was blowing the empty chip bags off the line, and that cost them next to nothing.
[00:44:53] Dawn Sloas: So how much time and money are you spending to put in processes that you didn't need- That's huge ... when your employees could have fixed it? You coulda got input from the employees. You, you
[00:45:02] Kent Bullard: want somebody who is doing the, doing the work day to day, who knows it in and out, and you want somebody to give feedback and guidance from a different perspective- Amen
[00:45:11] Kent Bullard: to see the things that aren't... But- Yeah ... but here's the thing, this is the person that should write it. This is the person that should be accountable for making it happen.
[00:45:17] Jeff Compton: Mm-hmm.
[00:45:18] Kent Bullard: And giving and empowering the employee to, to, to streamline that.
[00:45:21] Jeff Compton: Mm-hmm.
[00:45:21] John Firm: And that's why we say an employee has a voice- Mm-hmm
[00:45:24] John Firm: not a vote 'Cause we're gonna make the decisions on the processes. They're gonna give us the options and at an angle that we need- Yeah ... to see what we're doing.
[00:45:34] Dawn Sloas: Yep.
[00:45:34] Jeff Compton: Yeah. That's, and that's, that's, when you say voice versus vote-
[00:45:38] John Firm: Yeah ...
[00:45:38] Jeff Compton: you know, a lot of people I think immediately, like, "I matter, so I get a vote."
[00:45:43] Jeff Compton: It doesn't necessarily work like that. No,
[00:45:45] John Firm: it doesn't. "
[00:45:45] Jeff Compton: I matter," and you have an opinion, and you have a voice, and we should consider everybody's-
[00:45:49] John Firm: Right ...
[00:45:50] Jeff Compton: but at the end of the day, the dec- the hard decision falls on-
[00:45:53] John Firm: Who's on the bottom
[00:45:54] Jeff Compton: line ... who gets the vote.
[00:45:55] John Firm: Yes, sir.
[00:45:55] Jeff Compton: Yeah. And I think we, we mix those two words up a lot- We do
[00:45:59] Jeff Compton: or our perspective a lot, right, of voice versus vote.
[00:46:01] Kent Bullard: Well, it comes down to, you know, have we had a good transparent conversation about the roles and, and how each one contributes. Expectations. Because if I don't understand how my role impacts the business, because the business is the boat that we're in, right?
[00:46:16] Kent Bullard: Mm-hmm. And if the boat sinks, then none of us have a job. Yep. So it's kinda like if you understand the role, you understand a little bit of, you know, how this, this model works, how, how you contribute to it, then there's a lot more insight and respect and appreciation for, like, hey, you're in leadership.
[00:46:31] Kent Bullard: You're taking a whole lot of risk, and you're the one that has to make the really difficult choices when we might have a team member who isn't showing up-
[00:46:37] John Firm: Yeah ...
[00:46:37] Kent Bullard: and needs to be terminated. Well, I don't wanna do that. That's really uncomfortable. That's what the leader's supposed to do.
[00:46:43] John Firm: Yep.
[00:46:43] Kent Bullard: Right?
[00:46:44] John Firm: You're right.
[00:46:45] John Firm: Mm-hmm. It's tough, man. It's tough. It really is,
[00:46:48] Jeff Compton: so.
[00:46:50] John Firm: We're at the top of the hour right now. Uh-huh. We got a full schedule today- Yeah ... all the way up till 7:00 tonight, so Kent-
[00:46:57] Kent Bullard: Good
[00:46:57] John Firm: luck, guys.
[00:46:58] Jeff Compton: Yeah. Get some
[00:46:58] Kent Bullard: coffee.
[00:46:59] Jeff Compton: I'm gonna have to go back and get more later. We'll
[00:47:01] John Firm: find some pretty soon. Yeah. We got Todd Compton coming in next.
[00:47:04] John Firm: He's a client of yours, is he?
[00:47:05] Jeff Compton: Yes, he is.
[00:47:06] John Firm: Yeah. And he was also a fellow hunter.
[00:47:08] Jeff Compton: No relation to me, by the way. Yeah. Yeah. No.
[00:47:11] John Firm: Kent, we appreciate you coming in and sharing your knowledge and wisdom with us- No, thank you guys ... and talking about questions, expectations, and accountability.
[00:47:18] Jeff Compton: Yeah, I love it. Well- We need, we need to sit down more you and I and talk, 'cause I mean- Oh, yeah
[00:47:22] Jeff Compton: I really, I, like I said, when we s- shared kind of what I, how inspired I have been by you by hearing your backstory, right? And then it's the whole thing of just, like, you've got a lot more that I really wanna dig into and, and, and talk about going forward- Anytime, man ... so I look forward to that ... I'd love the conversations.
[00:47:36] Jeff Compton: Yeah. Yeah, for sure, man. It's been fantastic. Appreciate you. So everybody, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Hey, if you could do me a favor real quick and like, comment on, and share this episode, I'd really appreciate it. And please, most importantly, set the podcast to automatically download every Tuesday morning.
[00:47:54] Jeff Compton: As always, I'd like to thank our amazing guests for their perspectives and expertise, and I hope that you'll please join us again next week on this journey of change. Thank you to my partners in the ASA Group and to the Changing the Industry podcast. Remember what I always say, in this industry, you get what you pay for.
[00:48:10] Jeff Compton: Here's hoping everyone finds their missing 10 millimeter, and we'll see you all again next time.