 Welcome to JSA TV, the newsroom for tech and telecom professionals. I'm Jamie Scott-Ogutaya here at JSA and I'm so excited to welcome my friend, Mr. Jeff Cecil, the CEO and founder of Pull the Shoot. Jeff, welcome to JSA TV officially. Hey, thanks, Jay. This is a this is a different place for me to be, so I'm really enjoying it. It's kind of fun. Yeah, absolutely. It's obviously, folks know you were formerly head of operations here at JSA and an amazing mentor for me personally, but now this September of 2021, you pulled the shoot. You launched the shoot. Tell us more. Sure, sure. You know, it's funny. It was one of those things that I've been thinking about and people come to me and they go, what is Pull the Shoot all about? What are you talking about? So I got to tell a little story. So let me let me do that real quick if you don't mind. But the way I started Pull the Shoot was back when I was 40, I decided to knock one of those things off my bucket list and I went skydiving. And so I got into a plane and I went 14,000 feet up into the air and I jumped out of a perfectly good plane, right? The problem is that you're falling at 120 miles an hour. It's hard to breathe. One little move into your hands and you're spinning out of control. It's hard to see where you're at. It's hard to see where you're going. But at 5,500 feet, you pull the shoot and the air breaks go on and suddenly you can breathe again. Suddenly you're in control. Suddenly you can see where you're at and suddenly you can see where you're going. And isn't that a lot like business? Isn't that like what people are struggling with in their businesses? They're going so fast that they don't take time just to pull the shoot and see where they're at and see where they're going. They're running so fast that that they're out of control half the time. And so the whole goal of Pull the Shoot is all about was to get people to take a moment and figure out where they're at and where they want to go. And to do that, I wanted to leverage their people. So I say grow your people, grow your company. Because I think that an investment in your people is a major thing that you can do within your company to protect your current environment and your future. So that's what Pull the Shoot's all about. Here, here. Yes, yes. And I got to tell you how timely this is. I'm so glad right now, New Year Rocky start to 2020 to this door between COVID and this whole sense of age of resignation, never before have we seen people just saying, I've had enough. I'm staying home. But count me out. And that's a lot to manage as business professionals and leaders and entrepreneurs. How do we keep them motivated? How do we keep them on track? How do we keep ourselves motivated and on track? It's exhausting. And yeah, you know, we've been feeling like moving one finger and moves us out of control. Let's pull the shoot. Let's be more mindful in our approach. So tell us, tell us, what made you start Pull the Shoot? Why now? So it actually was I give credit to my daughters. I have three daughters who I've spent a lot of time talking with all of my methodologies and philosophies. And they finally said, yeah, you don't have to do you ought to just do this full time. This is something that you love to do. Why don't you just go full time with it? And I thought, you know what, what a great idea. So I give the credit to all my girls. They pushed me to do that. And now is I think you hit the nail on the head, Jake. Now is because of the times we live in. The world has changed dramatically. You know, when I was in the workforce, we had this whole top down mentality, you know, the baby movers, they started that, right? We're like, if you were a minute late to work, you had to, you know, get like a little demerit or something, right? Just at the times we live in now, you know, I mean, let's face it, we're 50, 50 virtual and in the office anymore. And so it gets to be a little bit difficult to manage that people feel like they're an island amongst themselves when they are working from home. A lot of people are actually working better working from home, but still need to feel connected to the company. So there's all these different aspects of things that we need to think about. And as business leaders, as business owners and C level executives, these are things that we need to kind of talk through and understand, what is your culture now? What do you want your culture to be? And how are we going to get it there? And how is that going to affect the growth of the company? And so, you know, that's all that kind of came together as one. And so that's why I did it now. And I write about this a lot myself, even in my own little journals. But, you know, the world is calling for new type of leadership right now, you know, this post pandemic leadership, you can't be relying on the tools and the processes that you did before the pandemic. It's just not true. We've had a huge shift. And us as leaders, we need to shift with it. So tell us what is your goal, your mission for full to shoot? So I think it's twofold. One is for me personally, it's a 10 year plan. I want to spend the next 10 years. I hopefully don't want to retire to home 70, because I just love working and it's fun. But I'm in a place right now where I feel like I've had enough experience and enough understanding. And I can put all these different things together to actually help companies grow and put these plans into place. And it's to implement some of these methodologies that I talk about. And really, it's all about what I like to call transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is a different type of thought process where you put your people and again, I'll go back to that, but you put your people first, right? You want them to feel like they have a voice in the company. You want them to feel like they belong. You want them to feel appreciated. All these things are things that are going to help them grow as an individual, which is going to help your company grow. But it's going to take a big effort on the leadership to do this. And that's going to be one of the issues, right? Especially in this world of virtual where we're 50% at home, as a leader, you guys are going to have to take the initiative to actually make time and maybe do a one-on-two or one-on-four kind of calls. Because, you know, you do one-on-40, if you got an unpleasant you have, it's a little harder to kind of get people to talk. One-on-two, one-on-four, you can get them to talk a little bit and you can actually see how they're doing. Get to know them a little better. Get their tells about when they're getting stressed out and when they're not stressed out, you know, just by seeing them on video, right? And it's about video, by the way. The business owners are going to be struggling to find the time, but I guarantee if they can make the time now and get to know their people and just we live in weird times. So, check them for their stress levels, check them for how they feel about things, make them feel part of the company. And then spend time, as I said before, give them the voice. Ask them, how is this working? How do you think we can improve on this? And I think that is so important, so important, because that's going to help them feel like they're part of the process. And when they feel like they're part of the process, they're going to feel the appreciation that comes along with that. So, I just think it's a critical thing that has to happen. It is critical. And, you know, JSA, we've been virtual for 17 years now since inception. And so the remote work thing was like, nope, got this, understood. But the things that we're really pressing upon, you know, to our clients and to our extended family, get on video. It's, you know, it's the closest thing you've got right now to a face-to-face interaction. And there's so many cues that your body language gives, you know, it's a handicap if you're not doing it. I agree. Anyway, what is the most important lesson that you've learned over your career? Great question. Okay, what comes to mind is actually a couple of things, but maybe I should talk about two people. So when I started Harris Bank, I had an amazing boss, her name was Wendy Bailey. And she was one of those type of people that would have actually fit in times today. I got to be honest. She empowered me to be the best I could be. She allowed me to transform myself from a fee clerk to the developer of the trust fee department and automate the whole trust fee department. And a couple of things that she taught me was that, you know, all of a sudden I was going into meetings with with upper management. And I was young, you know, I was a little nervous and she goes, look, they put their pants on one leg at a time just like you do. So don't be upset, you know, don't get freaked out about that. She said, the other advice I'll give you though is if they ask you a question that you don't know, tell them you don't know the answer and you'll get back to them. Don't make something up because if they figure out that you made something up, your reputation will be ruined for her. That's right. And so that's a big key for her. So she taught me those couple of things. Probably the other one that comes to mind is my dad. He was amazing at what he did. But the one golden rule that he always had me live by, which is treat others as you want to be treated. Right. And if you follow that rule, it really affects who you are as a person and how you can be as a leader. Right. So if you don't want to be yelled at as a person, then don't yell at your people, talk to them, find out what's going on, have conversations. And so I think those are the two things that are important. And then I think finally for me, probably one of the biggest lessons I learned is no knee jerk reactions. Kind of make sure that you kind of vet the decisions you're making and small incremental changes really create compound effects. And so those things kind of, you know, weigh themselves presently and just, you know, be patient with people sometimes, you know, understand situations and just be patient, look at their backgrounds, what's going on and try to get a better handle on your people of what's going on in their lives, because it'll help you to manage them to their full potential. So well said, Jeff. So well said. And even your dad's advice that golden rule, you know, it's one of the reasons why companies should be these days, not only deciding on what their core values are, but putting it out there, putting it on display, you know, having it on your website, utilizing it when you're hiring and firing, you know, it is, hey, these are the type of people we want to attract and our clients as well that follow these type of core values, like this is what makes us click. And by saying, yes, I agree, and I'm going to follow these core values in my practices and in my daily beliefs, you know, it transforms you as a person. Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh, and talking transformational, transformational leadership, you just mentioned it, I thought it was such a powerful phrase. Tell us again why you feel it's so important these days to be this transformational leader. You know, it's a fun word that I kind of picked up recently, I was talking to someone a minute ago, but they're like, this is like transformational. I'm like, oh, that's a great word. I love it. And it fits really well because we are transforming who we are as a culture, who we are as businesses, and who we are as people. And that's probably the hardest thing because, you know, we can set in our ways. And so we want to do things a certain way, business owners always want to be have everything go through them, they become the funnel, which is the worst thing that you can do as a business owner, you need to diversify your responsibilities, because you're never going to be able to scale if everything has to go through you as a business owner. And that's the hardest thing that I over my years of working with people have got to get them to understand is quit trying to be involved in everything, you know, just train your people the way that you want them to be trained, which is the key. And that's another piece of the transformational leadership is that it's not a set book like says, okay, everyone has to do it this way. It's how do you want your culture as a business owner to be and teach your people to feel appreciated, wanted, supported in that culture, the way that you want to run your culture. And I think those are the key things to it. But I think it's I think it's a big thing that we can do for our people, because it's going to help them. Again, my goal is to help them be the best they can be. You can't be standing over their shoulder, you know, yeah, right, days anymore, right, there's no more cubicles to stroll through. And so you have to, you know, especially in a remote world, you know, there needs to be trust and you need to hire better quality people, qualify people and then give them the tools and let them run because you hired them and you trust in them and go now go let go. I think trust is the big thing, you know, it's funny. I go back to my days when I worked at Harris Bank where I had to be on time, right? And people were always looking over your shoulder. The reality is we're all adults, right? And so you know what you have to do, you know, we have to have it done by and we live in this world that gives us that flexibility where, okay, so if you, if maybe you want to go for a run from 12 to one, go for the run, you know, as long as you get your job done, what does it matter when you do the work? You know, I'm a morning person, I can start my job at 630 every morning. But by two o'clock, I'm starting to split down. I know there's a lot of people that, you know, they don't start really working until eight at night, you know, and that's the way they work. But this environment gives us that ability to do that. Again, it's a transformation because business owners are like, well, no, you need to be available nine to five or, you know, eight to four or when I want to talk to you. And as long as you agree on set hours to a certain degree with some flexibility, I think it can work. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So for our viewers who absolutely I'm sure want to learn more, what services do you offer at Pull Issues? Yeah, I'm working on three different things. So I offer business coaching. And so, and I use the word coaching at consulting, I'm going to be clear about that. And consulting is I come in and tell you what to do. Coaching is I come in and I help you figure out how to do it, what it is that you want to do, which is a different aspect, right? So we have conversations almost like you and I are having now. And we talk through where you want to get to, we agree on where you want to get to. And then we talk about the best avenues to get there. What's the plan? And then to a certain degree for business owners, having that accountability partner, which is what the coach ends up being is important, because it's easy for them as a business owner, or in the second phase as an executive coaching, it's either it's easier for them to go, I'm busy this week, I can't do it. But if they have someone that's holding them accountable, it's going to help them to hit their, their key points and their key performance indicators and all that stuff, right? Because like, geez, I got it, I got, you know, I'm talking to Jeff on Tuesday, I got to make sure I get this stuff done, you know, or he's going to be all over me. You know, and that's the difference between coaching and consulting. So I think coaching is, is a really more interesting way to go about it sometimes, because the goal is when I'm done with you, like we were together for a year or two years or whatever, you're comfortable knowing that you know how to figure out how to get through things. And maybe you can coach other people. And that's the other aspect of it, right? By coaching people, they then become the coaches, and they can pay that for it as well. So that's, that's kind of the fun part. And then the other, the third piece is what I call leadership training. The biggest, I'm going to call it a pet peeve of mine is that businesses give people promotions, and they put them in leadership roles, but they don't teach them how to be a leader. And so then what happens is they fail miserably, right? And it's not fair to them, it's not fair to the company. And it really isn't fair to the people that are underneath that person, right? Because everything gets tossed up and, you know, it's topsy turvy. So by teaching them how to be leaders, and it's an ongoing process, by the way, this is not a one day seminar, here's how to be a leader, because, you know, you leave there, and you're like, Oh, these were great ideas. And then two weeks later, you forgot them all. Again, if we do a weekly kind of, or bi-weekly for leadership training, kind of set up where we talk every other week, and we talk through where what you need to be as a good leader, and what are the issues that you faced over the last two weeks? How could we have handled them better? How did you handle them? Where did you struggle? And just kind of coach through that stuff. It gives them that upper hand on how to be the best leader they can be. Now, I understand too, a little birdie told me that you're also writing a book. I am. Yeah, that's a little bit more. When can we expect to see it? Yeah, so the book's called Pull the Shoot, Grow Your People, Grow Your Company. And the whole concept behind it is, as I said in the beginning, one of my goals is, over the next 10 years, is to help as many small to medium-sized businesses, that's really my sweet spot, get to the next level and be the best they can be. So I decided to put the book together, and it really walks people through all the different avenues of things that they should look at as they are trying to develop their people and develop themselves and develop their business. And so it talks about things like, what type of leader are you? What type of culture do you want? Do you have a positive culture? There's the whole visionary integrator piece where a lot of times the business owners are the visionary, but they can't be the visionary and the integrator, meaning they can't be the one that does all the work. Again, this is their whole diversification. You spread things out. But a lot of the famous companies that were successful had a visionary and an integrator, I think of Apple with Jobs and Wozniak, and I think of Microsoft with Gates and Allen and things like that. So those are big companies that really had Walt Disney's, another one, right? He had his brother Roy. They were all successful because there was that second person that really was able to make all the small things happen while the visionary was really thinking through all that stuff. And I think that's really key to all that stuff. But anyway, the book walks me through all that stuff. My goal is hopefully by mid to end April, we should be out on the bookshop. So we're working through that right now. It's in the process. It's about 80% done, which I'm excited about. We go into the editor by hopefully two weeks, and we'll go from there. Amazing. Definitely sign me up. I want to copy immediately. Also, I want to tune in. I hear there's a podcast coming out too. There is actually, I just finished up my initial intro, which is just kind of explaining what Polo Shoot is all about. And then the goal is to interview CEOs, which by the way, you're going to be on that list, Jay, at some point. But the goal is I want to talk to them about why they decided on the culture that they did, what worked, let's face it, what didn't work. We all had those that, you know, we tried things and they just didn't work. But the overall goal is to help us. One of the best things we can do is learn from each other. And so by interviewing C-level people or business owners and asking them how they got to where they got to and what the cultures were and what's worked and do they, you know, do they spread their jobs out and things of that nature, that'll really help other people to understand things that might work for them. And so it's not just Jeff kind of talking through it all. It's, you know, real life people kind of talking through, hey, this is what really worked for us. And this is why we did this. And I've already had four or five great interviews with some people and they've just been, they've blown my mind away. Just, and everyone was a little bit different, you know, and it was exciting. I had one CEO that he's actually really into growing his people, but he does it with close-up magic because he's, that's one of his little side gigs. And so he tells his stories using close-up magic. And it just keeps everyone enthralled and excited about, you know, learning. And it's really fun. So there's a lot of different things that you can do. So it's really fun. Yeah. Oh, very cool. I can't wait to listen, especially on a magic like that. Apparently I need a few more tricks up, I think. All right, where can our listeners go to find you? Sure. So, so, pull the shoot.net. Go there and reach out if you have any questions, if you need any help. I'm thrilled, you know, it's just a it's a kind of a dream come true for me to be able to do this. The tiny is just perfect and you know I'm just excited to be able to help as many people as I can you know over the next 10 years that's my mission so. When we love you we love what you do pull the chute.net highly highly recommend guys if you haven't checked it out please go there and Jeff thank you for spending your time with us today and this is such a great way to kick off the new year I think we all need to take a moment take a breath we're going before we before feet land if you will yeah right absolutely thanks to appreciate it my friend thank you and thank you viewers for tuning in to jsa tv happy networking