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Typically the art of mentoring can take several months, but Speed Mentorship optimizes the time needed to get useful and actionable items from today’s top leaders to make you tomorrow’s top leader.
SMP Kelly Preston Episode 16
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[00:00:00] Matt McAlear: Hello and welcome to another episode of Speed Mentorship. My name is Matt McAlear, your host. Well, thanks for joining us on today's episode of Speed Mentorship. Um, really excited for today's guest, Kelly Preston. She has a extremely unique background. She is self taught and went through, um, really some of life's most difficult challenges that you could have gone through and has, uh, come out on the other side, even stronger, um, really excited for you to learn from her wisdom and experience.
So without further ado, let's go ahead and dive in. Kelly, thanks for joining us on today's episode of speed mentorship. Uh, we're going to start out with kind of our first question, which is. Is just to tell us a little bit more about yourself and your background. Okay.
[00:00:47] Kelly Preston: Well, my name is Kelly Preston and, um, I'm the owner and president of Capital Steel and Wire.
Um, I am actually a proud Michigan State graduate. I actually have a, uh, my degree is [00:01:00] in elementary education, uh, but I, uh, started the company with my husband in 2001 and hopefully today we're gonna talk about my journey a little bit and, uh, some of the highs and lows. Yeah. Uh, but we are a steel manufacturing company of, um, hot rolled and cold drawn steel bar and wire.
[00:01:16] Matt McAlear: Okay. And tell me a little bit more just about the company. Um, so what, you know, what do you guys do specifically? What's kind of your niche?
[00:01:24] Kelly Preston: So, I mean, we, we supply kind of the, um, I want to say this, we, we supply, uh, truckload quantities of, um, steel bar and wire, and it's in its rawest form.
Okay. So we, we will supply it to companies that will then forge it. or make it into, um, other parts that they're, you know, into other
[00:01:50] Matt McAlear: industries. And how many employees roughly do you guys have?
[00:01:53] Kelly Preston: We have right now we have about 85,
[00:01:56] Matt McAlear: 85 employees. Yep.
[00:01:57] Kelly Preston: Awesome. We have three different, um, we have two [00:02:00] manufacturing facilities in our corporate office at this right now we're in the process of opening our third manufacturing facility.
[00:02:06] Matt McAlear: Awesome. Yeah, that's exciting. We'll have to talk about that.
[00:02:09] Kelly Preston: Very exciting.
[00:02:12] Matt McAlear: Um, so, okay. So you. So you started, you started the business, um, with your late husband. Um, tell me a little bit about that process in as much detail as you would like starting it from idea, you know, phase to kind of where it is now.
[00:02:27] Kelly Preston: Yeah, absolutely. Uh, my journey is unique and I, and I love to tell it. Um, I was an elementary school teacher. Uh, didn't take one business class in college. I didn't take any accounting classes, anything. Um, my husband was working in the steel industry right out of college. And, uh, came home in 2001. I was actually at home at the time.
I just had my second child. And so it's kind of taken a little break from teaching. And he came home and just said, what would you think about starting your own steel company? And I kind of laughed in his face and [00:03:00] you know, that's not, that's not a normal conversation, right? So I'm like, well, let me think about this.
Uh, so we obviously had some pretty in depth conversations about it. And, uh, ultimately in 2001, I tell people we literally started it from our kitchen table. We took 6, 000 that we had in our savings and said, you know, if we're going to do this, now's the time to do it. And, uh, what's the worst that can happen? Wow.
Right? So we started and, um, the company that he was working for at the time was, uh, the Distribution Model. So, um, we were
[00:03:34] Matt McAlear: The Distribution Model from a steel.
[00:03:36] Kelly Preston: Yeah. Okay. So they didn't do any manufacturing at the time. Okay. So they would basically buy it from the mills and sell it to other companies. Okay.
Um, and he saw a need kind of for that manufacturing piece where we could still buy from the mills, um, manufacture it in house and then kind of have it show up on the doorstep of the companies and customers. Yeah. Take a step out for them if they need it. [00:04:00] So, um, you know, there, there was a need for that.
Um, it was a big jump though to go right to manufacturing. You can't just walk in somewhere and purchase these big machines right?
So, you know, I mean, I guess you could, but not with 6, 000. So, we had to start with kind of that distribution model. And then take, you know, we, we had, we had a process and said, okay, we're going to take this percentage of our profits and put it aside for machinery, knowing that manufacturing was the end goal.
Okay. And so now we're where we're at today.
[00:04:30] Matt McAlear: So how many of those machines do you guys have now?
[00:04:34] Kelly Preston: So the interesting part is one of the. Um, we have one, what we call a draw bench. Mm-Hmm. . And there's about a handful of those in the country and that's, it's the length of a football field. Mm-Hmm. , uh, it's a really long machine.
Um, we just picked up our second one, um, that we will, will be, that's why we need another manufacturing facility for that. As you can imagine, the length of a football field, you can't easily just put that in any commercial building, [00:05:00] right. So, um, that's a big project. But, so the draw bench, what that does is it takes the steel, um.
Wire and bar and it draws it down to different sizes. We use pull push force. No, no heat In that but then we have a lot of other like saws And things like that that can test. Um the bars, but then also Cut it into different slugs length and width
[00:05:23] Matt McAlear: That is incredible. Yeah. That's incredible.
So, and just real quick before we move on from that, I mean, is there anything else about you starting up the business, uh, from scratch? Just things that, like little tips and tricks that you learned along the way or things that you wouldn't have expected that were kind of a challenge at the time?
[00:05:42] Kelly Preston: Well, I think the biggest thing for me, and I think the thing I like to talk about, especially for females, but for All entrepreneurs is that, you know, like I said, I was staying at home with my children and he came, my husband came home and said, let's start this company.
And this was completely foreign to me. And yeah, I was [00:06:00] intrigued to think, well, this would give me something to do while I'm at home. Honestly. Right. That was just what I was thinking. Like, I'll just, you know, I'll write a few checks. I'll cut a few bills, you know, in between taking care of the kids and in some ways that's what it was in the beginning, but then it grew into so much more and it happened very quickly.
And, you know, within a year. the decision, do I want to, do we want to hire someone else to do this? And so I can stay home with the kids full time or is this something that I want to, um, you know, invest more time into? And I had to make that decision at the time. It was an easy decision for me because I think when it's yours, you're fully invested and you know what you want to do. Um, but it was, you know, I'm self taught. It is, like I said, I haven't taken one business class. So I grew into that CFO role. As the, as the business started to grow and there was a lot of nights where I sat there, you know, you hear a lot of the imposter syndrome and stuff like that, those, [00:07:00] um, words that are very popular right now, but that was so true for me at the time because I was self taught and didn't really know, didn't think I knew what I was doing, but I think when you're in it and you're open to making mistakes and learning from those.
Then it makes that process that much easier.
[00:07:20] Matt McAlear: Totally. Now, how did you manage, um, because, you know, you were a mother when you started this, which is, uh, super easy, right? Right. Yeah. Right. And so, how did you navigate that? Because I know a lot of mothers, probably more so than fathers in a lot of ways, feel a lot of guilt for going to work or doing something like that.
How did you manage with, you know, that? How did you cope with that? I mean, what were some of the things that, like You told yourself to say, Hey, no, like this is going to be great for the family.
[00:07:52] Kelly Preston: Right. Well, um, I think first and foremost, I had the support of my husband at the time. Right. And it would, we we were a true [00:08:00] 50/50 percent partnership. So it wasn't something that I was doing and leaving him behind or he was doing and leaving me behind. We were really doing it together. But what that also meant is we had some very tough and honest conversations about, okay, we can be a partnership in business, but then it also means we need to be a partnership at home.
Totally. And, um, really understanding what that meant for my role and his role. Um, and then also
[00:08:24] Matt McAlear: He had to step up as well. He had to step up as well. Right. To make sure things were equal.
[00:08:28] Kelly Preston: Or we needed to be okay saying, we need some help at home. Yes. You know, who do we trust? We're new parents, right? That's hard on itself.
Yes. So, who do we trust that can come into our home and help us take care of the kids and do those things? And what do we want to do ourselves and what are we okay with, you know, allowing other people to help us with? Um, those were Um, and I think for most families and people that that's different sometimes, but as long as you're being honest about that with yourself and each other, then you've set the [00:09:00] expectation.
And you know, like I said, my kids were very young, they were one and two when we started the business. So they don't know any different. Um, it wasn't like mom was at home and then all of a sudden decided to go back to work. So their transition, um, started at a very early age and we just really, for me personally, I know that was one of the questions we were maybe going to discuss.
I had to be honest with myself and say, okay, when I'm at business, I've got to give a hundred percent of myself to business. But when I'm home, I need to give a hundred percent of myself at home. That means put my phone away, not checking my emails, not worrying about that. And I think that's a culture that I've tried to instill at my, you know, for my employees as well, that when you're off, you're off, you know, and if we don't have it set up at work, um, where you can step away and trust that things are and we're not doing our job.
And so really had to have that mentality from the beginning.
[00:09:53] Matt McAlear: How many hours a week did you work when you were starting the business and how many hours a week roughly are [00:10:00] you, when you say you're working now?
[00:10:02] Kelly Preston: Oh, that's an interesting question because for me it's, you know, from starting the business, I had my husband there as a partnership and um, now it's just me.
So, uh, running the company. And so I feel like I probably work, um, and Like to say, I work more hours now, but I actually think I work smarter now, if that makes sense. Mm-Hmm? . Oh yeah. So in the beginning, you don't know what you don't know, right? Mm-Hmm. .And so you're just throwing yourself in and you almost have to, to get things off the ground.
So I would say I was probably actually working a lot more hours in the beginning, Uhhuh than I feel like I do now, because now I'm more, I'm smarter about, yeah. How I spend my time.
[00:10:40] Matt McAlear: You know, my wife, um, two years ago she started up a winery here in Maumee, and you know, she's puts in a ton of time. there.
And I always, um, we always have the conversation like, Hey, how much time is acceptable at work with small kids versus how much time is acceptable at home? And how do you get that balance? Because [00:11:00] the startup requires almost an infinite amount of time. Yes. And it's like you could probably just work 24 seven.
So when do you know to kind of go back and say, Hey, you know what? Like I've given it everything I can and now I need to take this other portion of time that I haven't given to my family.
[00:11:20] Kelly Preston: I think it's, um, I think it's an individual decision. Honestly, like I've worked with a lot. I work with some people that don't even have Children, right?
And they're doing startups. And so they're their amount of time that they feel that they can give may be very different than someone who has young Children at home or someone that has. You know, ailing parents that they need to take care of. I think everyone has different situations and as long as they're very honest about what they want out of the, you know, what your expectation is, if you set that expectation in the beginning, um, it's very easy to either meet the expectation or not meet it and then make decisions based on that.
But if you're just kind of winging it and saying, well, we'll see what happens. [00:12:00] I think that's one of the biggest mistakes that as business and as owners and as entrepreneurs that we can make is not setting the expectation for the public.
[00:12:07] Matt McAlear: It's good. It's really good. So obviously capital steel and wire, um, you guys have seen a lot of significant growth or continuing to see significant growth.
How do you put processes and systems in place to keep up with the growth that you're seeing? And what do you think the best methodology and approaches to try and, you know,
[00:12:29] Kelly Preston: So the best, the best approach for me is not to make all the decisions, right? So again, back to that honesty and being honest with yourself.
And knowing that I can't do it all and I don't have all the answers. And so surrounding myself with a really excellent leadership team where we can strategize and it really feels like a team, uh, I think is the best way for us to look at all different aspects of the business and think about how is this growth going to affect and how do we, um, you know, [00:13:00] what, what processes do we put in place to help us grow?
But there's so many different sides to a business that if you have one person making that decision. You're going to lose out on something or it's not going to be positive for all areas of the business.
[00:13:14] Matt McAlear: Totally. Yeah, I mean, I think I've seen a lot where, like, especially in our business, it's growing quickly in one particular area and our team's focused on trying to make sure we bolster up everything in this area appropriately and then we tend to forget about this area so then we try to do that after the fact and then we see that there's a mismatch there or, like, how do you even deal with stuff like that?
And it's you've grown beyond what your current systems are capable of doing. How do you, um, I mean, how, how do you try to foresee some of those things in the future? How do you try to put specific things in place or have your team put specific things in place to say, Hey, this is where we're headed. Let's make sure that all of the surrounding and systems and the systems that wrap around this are going to be where they need to be [00:14:00] to continue this growth.
[00:14:01] Kelly Preston: Yeah. I mean, if, if I knew all the answers to that, I probably wouldn't be sitting here. I'd be like some billionaire somewhere, right? We all have to, but um, a couple of different things. I think again, it's being okay and being vulnerable with making mistakes and understanding that you're never going to get it right 100 percent on the front end.
But as you make those mistakes or you, you find those opportunities for growth or ways that maybe you could have done it differently, that you remember those and you learn from those moving forward. Right. But there's also something to be said about strategic growth and actually being very careful and probably more from a financial standpoint. Um, you know, that was always my biggest fear was am I going to grow too fast and grow myself right out of the business? Um, so really being strategic from a financial standpoint, having good resources, having good, good, you know, be having a strong relationship with your bank, strong relationship with your, you know, accounting firm, [00:15:00] people like that, that can kind of keep you in check for some of those senses.
Sometimes those can be frustrating relationships, right? I really don't want to answer to these people. Cause I know what I'm doing. We're doing well. Yes. But in the other sense, they, they, they are, they're a check in there and they'll, they'll make sure that I felt anyways, that they could help me with that strategic growth.
[00:15:21] Matt McAlear: Absolutely. And you mentioned people being a huge ingredient in the success of any organization. What does an excellent team member, excellent employee look like at your company?
[00:15:33] Kelly Preston: Well foremost I guess I should say that, they live kind of by our, our core values, right? I think every company has core values and they have different, um, those are different for everyone. But for us, the number one is honesty and integrity. And so for us, it's got to be someone who's, who's true to themselves, is honest, not only with other team members and customers and vendors, but they're, they're okay with making mistakes and understanding that we all have different journeys.
I think [00:16:00] that's one of the things. I bring to the table to my, to my company and to my employees is I have to be open to letting them know, um, that I am. Self taught that this wasn't maybe the direction that I thought it was going to be going 25 years ago. Um, but as long as I can be open and honest about that, that allows people to embrace their stories as well and bring that to the table, which I think makes us stronger.
[00:16:25] Matt McAlear: Well, that's I, and I think that's so powerful to, uh, having a leader that is able to showcase that humility of like, Hey, I don't have all the answers. I don't know, uh, what, you know, I don't know what we should do in this particular scenario and to be open with that and for them to also be open to like, make mistakes.
I think that is, that is extremely, uh, empowering leader to be with because we're all gonna make mistakes. There's gonna be a lot of moments when we're not gonna know the answer. And if you can work with somebody who can like, come alongside you and problem solve that together, I just think that's so [00:17:00] powerful.
[00:17:00] Kelly Preston: Yeah. Yeah. Where you hit the goal though, is that you still have to, you still have to, um, they still have to trust you. Mm-Hmm. ,right? So they, they need to know and you need to be, um. leader that you make mistakes and you don't have all the answers. But yeah, trust me, We're going to get there You know, if we work through this together, so it's fine in that balance I think too.
[00:17:23] Matt McAlear: Okay. So the next question I have for you is one that I'm sure you have no examples of, but have you ever experienced setbacks in your career? Um, and you know, how did you bounce back?
[00:17:36] Kelly Preston: So the biggest one, the obvious one for me, if people don't know my story, is that as we talked about my husband, I started the company in 2001.
Um, he was the president CEO. I was the CFO. Um, you know, He was kind of the face of the company. I was behind. He was the visionary, I would say. Uh, and I was the one kind of reeling him back in and, taking, making sure everything made [00:18:00] sense that he was wanting to do. But in 2015, he, um, was, he tragically, he had an accident in Florida. And so, within minutes, uh, our world changed. So not only did I become a solo parent with three children, um, I also became a, a, a 100% business owner and my business partner, um, was dead. And so, in terms of business and what the decisions that I had to make, it was, uh, obviously the toughest moment in my professional career, but, um, you know, walking into a room of, at the time, probably, I think we had maybe 30 employees at the time, and having to be a leader and let them know what had just happened.
But also get them to understand and trust. I think that's one of the reasons I'm so big on trust and honesty that we were [00:19:00] not, we were not going to perish as a company, that we were going to be able to continue to move forward and that they needed to trust me and that we were going to get through this.
I mean, that was a really hard, obviously for personal reasons it was, but from a business perspective, being able to get your, you know, leadership team all the way down to your, your floor operators to understand that we're not going anywhere, we're going to get through this, I'm going to lead you. Um, but allowing them to grieve that situation as well was, was, uh, was really hard. Brutal. Brutal. Brutal. is a good word for it. But it also, uh, was probably one of my most, uh, intense learning. I gained so much. confidence and business knowledge and just how to handle those types of situations. I think just the growth that I gained from that was immeasurable.
[00:19:57] Matt McAlear: And why'd you decide to take [00:20:00] over his aspect of it and not say, Hey, you know what, this was a great run. We'll sell the business and I'm going to focus on my family and not worry about that anymore.
[00:20:10] Kelly Preston: And I, I don't, I'm not sure I can give you a good answer to that. I get asked that a lot. Um, two days. After the funeral, um, I had our biggest competitor come into our office and look me right in the eye and say, here's the check.
Right? Well, we'll buy your company. And it wasn't out of pity. I mean, they had, they had wanted to buy us for a long time, but they thought it was the opportunity. And, you know, I thought about it, but maybe for a split second. I mean, I just felt that my passion and what we had, um, what we had built together, I wanted to see it through.
And it's not that I, uh. Never thought about selling the business or that I don't still think about selling the business. Um, but it's more about wanting to kind of see that through. And quite honestly, um, during those darkest days, it gave me, it gave me purpose, [00:21:00] right? And I still had my kids to take care of.
And I, and trust me, when I say it takes a village, I had a lot of people helping me out, but it gave me purpose. And I look back at it now, and I think my kids learned more about, um, Um, just living in general, watching me have to go through the emotions because it wasn't easy every day, right? To still go to work.
But they, I think they've learned more from that experience than me just staying home and wallowing my sorrows,
[00:21:32] Matt McAlear: a hundred percent. Yeah, absolutely. Well, so that was your most challenging, um, you know, time. What about, what do you think makes you like, you know, very successful at What would you say are your top most successful habits that have helped you not only take over the business gracefully and continue to grow it, but just help you to continue to perform at the highest level that you perform at?
[00:21:57] Kelly Preston: Well, I think we've discussed them a [00:22:00] little bit already, but I'm I'm, I'm so big on being honest with myself and where, where my strengths and weaknesses are and being okay with and being vulnerable in asking for help. And, you know, you asked about like when When Dustin, that was my late husband, um, died in 2015, at the time it was just him and I.
And when I took over, I made the the decision that I needed to increase or add to my, um, leadership team. So, you know, at the time we had maybe two people kind of on our leadership team, I brought in five. And I said, I need more help with the areas that I'm not 100 percent sure, or just to have more representation.
So being really honest with myself on, um,
and being okay. which is a really hard thing for people to do. Especially people, like, in leadership. Um, it's just a hard thing to ask for that. But also to be able to go out and seek that help and know, [00:23:00] who, you know, I have given the example before. Uh, within the first couple months I said, I want to join a CEO group, you know, to help bounce ideas and hear what's going on in the world.
And, uh, there was, they were all exclusively men and no one wanted me. So I said, okay, fine, we're going to start our own. And so I started my own CEO group and it's all women. I've since started one that's men and women as well. But, um, you know, just being able to see that need and go, okay, well, if it's not out there, then I'm going to, we're going to create it ourselves.
Wow. Um, so I think, again, just being honest with what your needs are. Um, but probably the thing that makes me the most successful, I'd say is, I don't know if empathy. is the right word, but being able to be open to people's stories and listening and looking at what they're, you know, just because they don't walk through the door with a certain degree doesn't mean that their skills and their abilities are not [00:24:00] there.
And part of that is because of my history and being open to growing with people, letting them shine. Yeah.
[00:24:08] Matt McAlear: Well, that kind of ties into, I think the emotional intelligence aspect a little bit. How important do you think emotional intelligence is in a leader?
[00:24:17] Kelly Preston: I think it's, I don't think you can put a percentage of how important it is.
I mean, I think it is the ultimate goal. And I think people that don't understand that are losing out because they're, if you can't relate or at least allow yourself to be open to what people are feeling and what they're going through, um, then you're just limiting what what success. What your company's gonna be able to do.
Mm-Hmm. .Because it's real. It's real. And we talk about mental health and what people are going to, everybody has something that they're dealing with outside of work. Uh, it's [00:25:00] something, um, it can be positive, it can be negative. Something that's occupying their thoughts. Yeah. Their time. And if we're not open to dealing with some of that and actually listening and, um, it, it's gonna make it really difficult.
[00:25:13] Matt McAlear: Totally. People like to try to say like, Hey, I have like this work barrier when I come in, I have this home barrier and I have all these, you know, different things, but I think people are way more complex than that way more complicated. And I think everything is interconnected. And man, if you have problems at home, you're going to bring them to work.
You just will. I mean, some people do better at others of being able to separate that. But I think the typical person is gonna come in and say, man, I'm, I got financial troubles. I have troubles with my spouse. I have troubles with my kids, whatever. And if. I think if the leader is not open to having those discussions, then I think it's just going to limit their effectiveness to properly coach that individual as well.
[00:25:56] Kelly Preston: A hundred percent. And again, I think that's one of the things [00:26:00] that because I'm open about discussing my journey, not only with my employees, but other people out there, um, my employees know that there were days I didn't want to be there, but I still showed up. And if I can have those discussions with them, if they want to, I'm not saying I'm going to seek them out and have those, but.
They know that they can come and talk to me about, um, and I just really don't want to be here today. You know, how did you get through those times? What made you want to show up every day? You know, kind of what we talked about. Um, those are, when you can be open to letting people kind of, um, know your story and know what you've struggled with and how you got through it, that's going to help them.
And I'm not saying that as leaders we have to be therapists, but just being able to be open about and letting them understand that. We're not perfect. Totally. Right. We have issues too.
[00:26:51] Matt McAlear: And that kind of ties into this thought about just being open with your weaknesses with individuals. Um, you know, you connect with people through [00:27:00] your weaknesses.
Ultimately, um, you boast through all the stuff that you're good at, but if you really want to connect with people and build good relationships and showcase the humanity that we all have, um, I love how open you are with your team about all of those different things.
[00:27:14] Kelly Preston: One of the things that I do, um, You know, we have the, the gratitude walls and we have all that stuff too, but one of the things I like to do is, especially when I get someone new, uh, or someone who's getting promoted into a new position, and I think we all go through it where, you know, we're, we're struggling, we're, we're new workload, not sure we're up to the job, you know, all that stuff.
And we, you know, we all, we talk about giving them pats on the backs and send them an email, give them a talk, whatever, but I like to do that on the days when they've really struggled a lot. And. And then they still show up the next day. I like to send them an email or, you know, pull them in my office and say, you know, it's okay that you're struggling and I love the fact that you showed up today.
I love the fact that you're, [00:28:00] you're, um, you're going back after it after you know you had a rough day. Those are the things I think that, um, make people want to come to work because they know it's okay for them to have a bad day and still show up and we're all going to be there together to help get them through it.
[00:28:15] Matt McAlear: So, that's really good. Um, You know, what would, what would you say are some of the top life principles that you have?
[00:28:22] Kelly Preston: Hmm. One of the things a lot of people don't know about me is, um, I, I grew up the daughter of a college football coach.
So my dad was a college football coach, uh, had myself and my sister. So he never had boys, he had girls. And, um, you know, I, I'm, I'm 50 years old, so back when I was growing up, things were a little bit different, right. Than they are now. And, um, he embraced the fact that my sister and I could do anything we wanted to do.
And, um, you know, he, he used to take us to practices and make us run with the boys [00:29:00] and do things so that we knew growing up that, uh, we weren't limited, that we could do that And that's always stuck with me. And it's very powerful for me now leading a business in a pretty male dominated industry. Um, I don't have fear of that.
I don't. Um, I learned a lot from my dad and probably the biggest thing. thing that I learned that I carry with me now besides that is that, um, how to deal with, uh, criticism and people feeling like they need to give you their advice on how you are handling the situations. Um, you know, a college football coach hears it from every angle in the, in the, the, um, you know, Saturday, Sunday quarterbacks who want to give their advice and in the media and social media and the papers about, you know, what they did wrong and all that.
And hearing someone at a very young age. Uh, say some not so nice things about my father. I had to learn to let a lot of that roll off my back. What, what is meaningful and what's [00:30:00] not meaningful, right? Who, who I want to listen to and who I don't want to listen to. And I've taken that with me through my years.
And I know now, um, you know, what criticism to take and what criticism to just kind of let roll off my back. Not react, but just let it roll off my back. And I learned that from a really young age. Um, which a lot of people don't get, and it's a really hard thing to learn, especially as a leader, to not take things personal.
Uh, but just to take, you know, take the good criticism and learn from it, and grow from it, but let some of the other people that just want to
[00:30:34] Matt McAlear: Easier said than done though, right?
[00:30:36] Kelly Preston: Yeah, definitely easier said than done. And probably, like I'm saying, a little bit easier for me because I've, I've had to do it since I was very little.
[00:30:44] Matt McAlear: Sure. What about your approach on how to give criticism? You know, uh, or if you have any tactics, you know, on how to give criticism appropriately to individuals.
[00:30:54] Kelly Preston: Yeah, so for me, I don't like to give criticism. I like to ask [00:31:00] questions and let someone else try and figure it out. Um, obviously there are situations where we have to be, I mean, you don't become a leader if you can't have those tough conversations.
Um, you know, I
always say never apologize for, for, um, especially for females. It's a really hard It's a hard thing not to apologize for being a tough leader or a good leader, um, and giving that, that feedback or constructive criticism, um, but I like to ask questions and I'm a pretty thoughtful, uh, deep thinker and so I can come up with those questions.
It's probably one of my strengths, uh, that I can ask people in a lot of different situations and get them thinking about, oh, how would I do that differently or how would this have come off if I would have handled it this way or that way. whatever the situation is, but that's probably how I handle it.
[00:31:52] Matt McAlear: That's great. Now for the situations where you do have to be more direct and you've asked the questions, [00:32:00] they're obviously still not doing what they need to be doing. Um, how do you have those more difficult, challenging conversations?
[00:32:08] Kelly Preston: So I think it goes back to, like I said, our number one core value is honesty and integrity and being honest with someone.
Um, you know, I like to tell my leadership team, if you're not Not being honest with someone, you're not giving them the opportunity to grow. And so sometimes those conversations are extremely difficult, not only for the pe, the person receiving the, the information, but also the person giving it. But if you're not being honest about it, uh, there's not gonna be the possibility for them to grow, whether that's within your company or someone else's company.
If someone's gonna leave, like you said, I mean, there's a certain point where you have to say, this is not working out. Mm-Hmm, .Or if you're, if you're not getting this, if this is not improving, you know. Ultimately, this is what's going to happen. And sometimes that's the best thing that can happen to somebody.
[00:32:54] Matt McAlear: Totally. And one of my pet peeves is, um, which [00:33:00] man, we used to do this a lot and it still happens periodically and we have to coach our team members, but, um, there'll be an issue with somebody, an issue, an issue, and they've kind of beat it around the bush, but they haven't been very direct. And then it gets to the point where it's like, we got to do something.
And they're like, Hey, we got to fire them.
[00:33:18] Kelly Preston: don't have anything. Are you kidding me?
[00:33:21] Matt McAlear: Like, like, uh, I feel horrible for the person. I feel horrible for the manager. It's like, no, we, we are going to have those tough, crucial conversations. And only after that, um, you got to give them the benefit of the doubt. And at least from my perspective, I found most of the time with if that person is having the right coaching conversations and being direct, the person can change, but they're not going to just be able to read your mind or especially dependable. On the individual. It's like you gotta be direct with 'em. It's not fair to the individual to just say, Hey, they're not cutting it. They're not cutting it. Then they're fired. Right. It's like, no, we're not gonna do that.
[00:33:57] Kelly Preston: Right. Well, and that's not respecting that individual either. [00:34:00] You know? And that's, that's a big thing for me too, is you can't have that tough conversation with them.
You're not respecting them as an individual. Yeah. To give them that opportunity to grow again, whether it's with your company or another company. Yes. You know, you wanna, you want people, if they're gonna leave, you want them to leave better. Yes.
[00:34:16] Matt McAlear: Leave on good terms, no doubt.
And then, last question is, um, you know, what kind of advice do you have for the next generation?
[00:34:26] Kelly Preston: So, I always get, I always, I always end with kind of my two things are my advice, and I think I said this the last time, um, we were at the event, and my favorite quote is, um, let me think here so I don't say it in, wrong, is that, um, the best views. The best views always come from the hardest climbs. And so I always like to give that piece of advice for people to remember.
So whatever that means to you, that the best views always come from the hardest climbs. Again, back to the obstacles and working through those. And then the second piece of advice I always like [00:35:00] to give is that, um, I like to tell a lot of people, um, buckle up buttercup. It's going to be a bumpy ride.
Doesn't mean that it's not worth it. Doesn't mean that you're not going to get to your destination. But there's going to be bumps in the roads. There's going to be detours. There's going to be left turns instead of right turns, um, and you may not always end up where you thought you were going to end up, but as long as you stay true to you and keep, you know, driving forward, uh, you will get to a beautiful place.
[00:35:27] Matt McAlear: Fantastic. Kelly, thank you so much for your time today. Thank
[00:35:30] Kelly Preston: you for having me. It was a pleasure.
[00:35:32] Matt McAlear: Well, hopefully you guys enjoyed today's episode. What an incredible story that we were able to learn from today with Kelly. Truly remarkable how she was able to overcome some of the most difficult of circumstances and turn it around into something truly remarkable. If you guys liked today's episode, make sure you hit that like and subscribe button.
And as always, thank you so much for being a part of our leadership community. Look forward to seeing you on the next [00:36:00] one.