It Can't Just Be Words - David Diestel

[00:00:16] Speaker A: Every interaction matters. And it's never about at the moment. It's only a accounting problem or it's never about a small thing. It's never about a project. It's when you're in people's homes. Okay, let's use an example. You're down here, we're here, sitting here in Florida, okay, With the holidays coming up, if you're a grandparent and your grandkids are about to show up for the holidays, you're going to spend Hanukkah together, Christmas, whatever. If the pool project is not ready, it's not about the pool project. It's about people's views of the grandkids are showing up. They're here to have that experience, create memories with the grandparents. And when we're late with the pool project, that's a problem. [00:01:08] Speaker B: Everyone, welcome back to the show. Today's guest is a return guest and one of my favorite people that I've known professionally and probably one of my favorite people I've really gotten to know throughout my life, David Diestel, and he's the Chief Executive Officer of First Service Residential. During his almost two decades with the company, David has been instrumental in building the foundation of the First Service brand and how they operate. Today, as CEO, he guides First Services Associates to drive the overall success and growth of the company's client portfolio in markets throughout North America. David's mission is to build upon the culture of excellence and dedicated people and the common goal to make a difference for those who have entrusted their communities to First Service Residential care. He currently lives in South Florida, where he enjoys traveling, running, and spending time with his wife and two teenage sons. It's always cool when you get to know a person both professionally, but also personally and just see how they move through the world. And David's just one of those people that is feel like you want someone like that to be a CEO. Great ethical core, just really, really a decent person. Fun, funny, and genuinely cares about what he does. This is an awesome conversation and I'd really recommend it for people who might feel like, oh, you know, like corporate people, you know, they've got this kind of cartoonish version of corporate people. I don't want to say I've never met anyone like that. In fact, I totally have. But for anyone I've met like that, who's that kind of cartoonish person of a corporate person. On the flip side, there's always people like David who are just real, authentic, super decent. This is an awesome conversation, but before we get to it, please subscribe Rate and review our podcast. My name is Aram Arslanian and this is one step beyond. [00:03:20] Speaker C: Everyone. Welcome back to the show. Today's guest is someone who is a long term colleague and friend of mine and someone who also I watched their career blossom as they moved through the organization and it has been super cool. So with that, David, welcome to the show. [00:03:33] Speaker A: Thanks, Aaron. [00:03:35] Speaker C: All right, so for the uninitiated people who don't know who are you and what do you do? [00:03:40] Speaker A: David Diestal, I today am the CEO of First Service Residential. [00:03:45] Speaker C: Okay, what is. I know it's a complex, it's a difficult question and anyone from First Service Residential is listening is probably already laughing. What the heck does First Service Residential do? [00:03:58] Speaker A: Oh man. So we are a service business. We're a people business and we manage people's communities. Communities. We're in their homes, in their lives each and every day. So our business is we keep the lights on. We manage these communities all the way from Miami to Vancouver, which is super wild. [00:04:16] Speaker C: So it is a cross street countries in Canada and the United States. And you manage things from like we say, like small residential things all the way up to like really high end buildings. [00:04:29] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So in Vancouver, love the Canadians. They're called Strata. We love Canadians. We love Canadians. Strata corporations. Think of all those beautiful high rises in Vancouver, Toronto as well as in the US as large HOAs, homeowner associations, resort style, living here in Florida. So it's communities of all shapes and sizes. What's different about our business is this is what people, they live, they own these homes and every day they're counting on us and our teams to deliver what they need. What I've noticed with our teams, people have chosen to live in communities that resonate with them. And so our job and what our team does is we've got to serve them the way they want to be served in those communities. [00:05:15] Speaker C: Yeah, it's such a wild business model because if you think of like most businesses where you would meet your audience or your consumer would be in like a quote unquote, like workplace, like you know, it would be in a manufacturing place or it'd be in a restaurant or it would be like wherever that you would, you'd meet someone. As an example, my, my work, I meet people like in their offices or on zoom where they're coming from an office. We meet in a, either a virtual space or a physical space, but it's always very work related. You literally work in people's homes. And not only that, it's that what A home could mean in all sorts of different geographic locations. [00:05:51] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. You think about how people are when they're in their own space, what they expect, how they interact, and it's everywhere, from how they see themselves. And so they want to enjoy their homes, they want to feel safe in their lives, they want to feel proud. Like, when they're at a time in their life, whether it's their parents, friends show up, we're responsible for making sure their lives are what they expect it to be in their homes, in those communities. [00:06:21] Speaker C: And what's wild about that too, is you're dealing with people probably when they've come home from work. [00:06:26] Speaker A: Yes. [00:06:27] Speaker C: Right. So they're like, they're not in a work mindset, but they're dealing with you in your work mindset. [00:06:32] Speaker A: That's right. And it's part of that. And there is a huge part of our communities that we manage where these people who pass the work life, they have a lot of time and they've chosen these lifestyle communities because. Because it is so active. They are there all day. And we saw this through the pandemic. People were home. It was a highly emotional time in people's lives. And our team was there showing up just amazingly, when I see what our teams do each and every day, but that's our business. [00:07:04] Speaker C: I got all sorts of questions because there's a piece that we got to add into this as well, is that you are still the relatively new CEO. So when did you take over being CEO? [00:07:15] Speaker A: It was a year ago today. [00:07:17] Speaker C: That is so crazy. So, first of all, congratulations. [00:07:20] Speaker A: Thank you. [00:07:21] Speaker C: How long have you been in the business? [00:07:23] Speaker A: It's been 20 years. [00:07:24] Speaker C: Okay, and where did you start? [00:07:26] Speaker A: I started. So I got married 20 years ago, got married, graduated, and started my first day up in Toronto at a corporate office. [00:07:34] Speaker C: Oh, my God. How tight was that? [00:07:38] Speaker A: Oh, my God. It was 30 days. Graduated May 1, got married May 12. And I'll never forget this first of my boss at the time, Tim Greener, said to me, Your first day, June 2nd, can you have kids along the way? And, you know, it was a wonderful time. So, yes, I took the red eye back from the honeymoon and started our first service. So that was 20. Yeah, 20 years ago. [00:08:00] Speaker C: How did you even hear about first service? Because it's a very unique kind of niche business. [00:08:08] Speaker A: What I've always known and believed it was all about. I've always felt someone's reputation. Never know when opportunity, you gotta make the most of it. So at that time, I'd gone back to school, I Was part of University of Toronto. I was at the Rotman School. And I was a pain in the ass at the school. I was very involved. We had formed a student group. We were writing, we were involved writing papers to the dean about how we could improve the place. And one day I was sitting in the lobby, start of second year, and I noticed somebody at the door. And this gentleman went, open the door, can I help you? He said, yes, here I am, I'm so and so. And I walked him to his new office. Turns out he was running the program. He was the new executive director of the MBA program. Introduced myself, I said, I'm David, I run the place. He's like, ah, a student, a student. I'm here to serve you. I was like, great. He and I became friends and over that year with him in his role, he brought me into many things in running the school. I helped him interview, he sought my advice. I just got involved and one day I had a job at a bank, second year, and I said to him, I can't, I have a job at a bank. And he said, what do you want to do? And I gave him my, my spiel. And he said to me, oh, you need to meet first Service. You should never at that moment say, who's first service? I didn't know. And he said, listen, go meet them. And then I had a chance to meet. He introduced me, met the leadership team and it turns out he was on the board at first service. And it's been an incredible career. So it is a life lesson. I've always said your reputation as a leader and you never know, you never know and seize every opportunity. [00:09:50] Speaker C: Well, first of all, I didn't know. I've known you for years. I didn't know that story. I had known parts of that story, but there was basically like a chance meeting that introduced me to this. Can I tell you how I got into coaching? [00:10:02] Speaker A: Go, go, go. [00:10:03] Speaker C: So I had been a therapist for about 10 years. I was burnt out, but I was never burnt out on client work. I love client work. I love helping people. But I was burnt out on the leadership culture and not for profits. And like, I'm not saying every not for profit is the same, but I'd worked at three not for profits and all the road, all in a road experience. The same thing was that there's not money in not for Profits. Often just to train leaders on the art of leadership, right? They go for like a leadership training once a year for like a day or something. And so you have people who Used to be therapists or maybe are still practicing a bit, who probably were really good therapists, but are suddenly leaders, leading therapists and leading this thing. [00:10:44] Speaker A: Yes. [00:10:45] Speaker C: They don't have a lot of, like, built in track record of leading, like big organizations. And they don't have someone there who's like, helping them with their leadership. And so you'd find these cultures where it's like, I know you're a good person, but, like, why are you like, this is a terrible environment. [00:11:02] Speaker A: So interesting. [00:11:03] Speaker C: So I was burnt out. Like, just burnt out because, like, we had this leader at the time who was such, like cartoonish leader, like, not a bad guy, but like, if you got in his bad books, he would come in on the weekend and change your office to the bad office. And there was always like the shitty office. [00:11:19] Speaker A: And this was your first. [00:11:20] Speaker C: This is my third. This is my third not for profit because I kind of scaled up throughout the years. Anyways, I was just like, I'm done with this. I can do this whole world. This whole not for profit world, at least from what I experienced, was too, too wild. And I was thinking, like, you know, I just need a change. But I don't know what that change is. And I still want to help people. And so I took my dog for a walk and I was literally mauling it over my head. And I have a wiener dog named Blue. He's like, literally. He looks like a little Weimaraner, but a wiener dog. So I'm walking down the street with him and I come to this light and there is a couple there, and they're like, oh, we love your dog. But I'm in East Vancouver, so I'm not like out trying to chat with people. I'm like, oh, hey. But they were like, really chatty. So eventually I started talking with them and the husband of the couple was like, oh, what do you do for a living? I'm like, I'm a therapist. He's like, oh, do you like it? I was like, yeah, I love helping people, but I think I'm ready for a change. He was like, oh, I run a coaching firm and we're looking for a therapist to come help rework all our coaching programs. Would you be interested in interviewing? And I was like, yes. I had never heard of executive coaching before. I was like, yes, I would. And he sent me all this stuff and I did some research and I went and did this thing. Next thing you know, I ended up in a coaching firm. Worked there for five and a half years, kind of learned it, which is where you and I met. And then I went and launched Cadence. I entered in an industry I had never heard of with a CEO or business owner at that time that I just been, like, met on the street, totally active, like, I totally knew what I was talking about. And it's been a career changing experience for me just by taking the leap and going with it. [00:12:57] Speaker A: So it's been a chance meeting. [00:12:59] Speaker C: Chance meeting, total chance. [00:13:01] Speaker A: Something I've always believed your reputation and every opportunity in front of you, take it. Never know. [00:13:08] Speaker C: Well, the saying no, you know, there's all those kind of cliche things. It's like, you know, if you don't ask, the answer is no, right? Like, oh, like, yeah, okay. But really, like, if you don't go with it, at least, at least take a leap, then you're only ever playing within the same little realm of possibilities. If you want to, like, enhance or expand that realm of possibilities, you gotta take leaps. [00:13:31] Speaker A: Absolutely. You know, listening to you, it did remind me. Big decision to move down to Florida. I'd been in the role of first service. It was about four years, and it was a big deal. It was a big deal. And that, what you described, that bold leap of faith, there was a component of why not? Like, I, I think back to then, okay, you need to understand, we lived across the street from my in laws. You know, this was about ripping the grandchildren from the arms of the grandparents. Canadians don't leave Canada. And I had this incredible opportunity back then to help build what is today first service residential. And it was, it was a tough decision back then. And, you know, my wife felt incredibly supportive. And at the same time, it was, okay, do we want to do this? What's the opportunity? And you know, looking back then, there was a component of what you talked about, which is, let's try it. Why not? This is such an opportunity. And if it doesn't work out, it's okay. It's okay. [00:14:41] Speaker C: How old were the kids then? [00:14:42] Speaker A: I had two and three. [00:14:43] Speaker C: Okay, so tough. It was tough for the in laws, but they were so young that they wouldn't have necessarily noticed it. So it was a good time to take a leap like that for the kids. [00:14:52] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah, that part was fine. And it was more about, you know, how we wanted to live our lives where we are friends and family. Yeah. Moving to now. What was interesting about Florida was we felt like we knew Florida. Oh, it's the United States around the corner. It should be the same. And just culturally it was different. And it did take us a While to adjust the life in Florida, for me, it was relatively easy, busy. We were building a business. Not a great team. But personally, for my wife, the kids getting settled, it took a couple of years. [00:15:30] Speaker C: What was the job that you came. [00:15:31] Speaker A: Down for at that time? The leadership team. At firstservice, it was being the junior ops guy. I was the director of strategy and operations. Really what that was, was being in a team of four. There was four of us, and we were mapping out first service residential. And I didn't realize back then what it meant today to be CEO. Back then we were thinking differently about the business. Where can we take the business, how do we make acquisitions, how do we grow? What does service look like? And it was really defining it. So to have been part of that back then in those early days, Scott Patterson and I'm whiteboarding what the structure could look like, what this, what our brand could be. It's just wow to be here today with you. [00:16:24] Speaker C: What. Because we met, I think shortly after. Shortly after you had moved, like within a couple years of when you had moved. [00:16:32] Speaker A: Yes. [00:16:32] Speaker C: You were running, you were in that space. And when I first met you, you, I was like, oh, cool. Like, definitely. Definitely a cool guy. But the thing that I'd always thought about you was like, when we would speak, you had so much in your head. And when you were putting out the conversation, I was like, when this guy speaks, it's like he's setting a meal that I want to eat, but I want to eat either pizza or spaghetti, and he's bringing out an extra large pizza with spaghetti on top of it. I was like, this is too much. I like everything that's involved here, but it's too much. And then as I've gotten to. To know you and watched you over the years, the change in focus and how you still have so much going on, like, you're always thinking, like, so much further ahead, but your ability to distill it down and be like, here's where we're at. This is what we're talking about has, has changed. Is that because you worked on it or has that just been a natural evolution? [00:17:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I believe it was. It's always been innate for me to get. I've always had a gift I can do, which was getting the right things done at the moment. [00:17:40] Speaker C: Right. [00:17:41] Speaker A: And I do have a lot of thoughts in my head. It creates a lot of personal stress for me. And it's something I. I would say it's innate and learned. It's innate and learned. You can only do so many big things at the same time. When I think back to those early years, I was really only working on one or two things. As we were transforming, I had the chance to launch our brand that took two years back in. Oh, my God. We thought about it. We started to think about it in 11, in 12, we put the plan together and we did it in 13. But at that time, it was the importance of understanding the people's headspace so our leaders can only absorb so much. An organization can only absorb so much change. At the same time, you grab a vision. So it is something I continue to believe in and do with a team, but it does keep me up. It is stressful when you think about all the things that as leaders, we think about and what coming at us in a daily basis. [00:18:42] Speaker C: What was like, super interesting about that brand launch, though, was like, of course there was like an external brand launch, but I felt like it was like, almost more internal. [00:18:51] Speaker A: Yeah, okay. The external is such a small part. It was at that time, we were taking 23 of our different companies with names and brands. And at that time, I think back to the owners. We made acquisitions. They had the owner's name still on the company. [00:19:10] Speaker C: Yes, yes. [00:19:11] Speaker A: This was all about that change to come under a unified message and brand. And, you know, as I see it today, looking back, I didn't truly, truly appreciate what a brand meant at that time. It was a, we're going to change the name. Don't worry about it. And now to see that it is truly a brand and what we're known for, lots of learning, but it was all about the internal change. [00:19:33] Speaker C: Like, the only way I can relate it is like, you know when, like, you're at a party and you're introducing yourself like, hey, you know, I'm Oran Duh. [00:19:40] Speaker A: Duh. [00:19:40] Speaker C: It's like, who I am is what I do. It's like instead of doing that at a party, you're just doing that with yourself, looking in a mirror. I'm a ram. This is what I do. This is how I dress. This is what I believe. It's like watching you with the team rustle all of these companies and all these huge personalities into this thing. Like, what did you learn about bringing people together and getting people to believe in kind of like a vision and a brand? Like, what did you take away from that? [00:20:08] Speaker A: Yeah, we have. Our leaders are so committed to. At the end of the day, this was all about our focus on our people and what we do to serve our residents and our board members. And so we were united. And so what I learned is that making our leaders understand what this was about. This was about telling our incredible story to the market and our growth. And I'll never forget this. The decision we made made was we need to go on a roadshow and just sit and have conversations with our leadership teams, walk them through this. Because doing things by email or a PowerPoint deck didn't work. Didn't work. And I had the world's greatest project plan. I promise you. It had Gantt charts. We were there. And nobody was believing. Of course nobody was believing. And it wasn't until Scott and I. Scott said to me, let's go on the road. We need to spend time with our leadership team so they truly understand what we're doing here. And when we did get that belief and we understood this was about telling our story, we had too many examples of our clients, board members showing up three different business cards and names. And, you know, it's never a good meeting when everyone. You spend the whole meeting trying to explain who you are. And anyway, today. So human behavior is the key. And once our leaders understood, it was like, hell, yeah, we're in. [00:21:42] Speaker C: It's interesting you say that because you have some of the most, like, quirky, interesting people I've ever met working in this business. Like, people who I know and love, just admire, think they're the great but, like, true personalities who were business owners. They built up a business that had its name like it was their thing. It's like, kind of like as if someone bought Cadence and was like, hey, like, it's not Cadence anymore. It's this having been worked with people through a lot of acquisitions. Like, I totally get it. I understand that. But I remember at that time thinking, how are you going to get, you know, X person's name? How are you going to get that person to stop calling their business this company and actually start finding, following the specific brand and, like, believe that and not even follow it, but believe in it. Like, how did you make that shift of these, like, really determined, iconic, kind of by their own bootstraps, build something to now say, oh, no, I believe in this bigger vision? [00:22:37] Speaker A: Yeah, it was really what everybody was asking for. What these leaders at the time was asking for is, hey, what are all the tools? What are the things we can do to grow? And they were equity owners. They still are owners in the business with a vested interest in growing it. And so when I walked them through, hey, this simplifies what you do. Every time we want to roll out a new Training program, You want to rebrand it, you want to Change the logos 15 times, and then you want to recreate it. It's not efficient. It's not what you need to grow. And so by really working with leaders to truly understand. Understand what their needs are, how do we grow a business together? That was what, in the end, drove the success of the brand when they could see the power of what we could create together. [00:23:26] Speaker C: So after the success in that role, which I know was like, a huge thing even the team did that time. And under the leadership, people came together. The big. The business noticeably changed, like, the feel of it. And as an outside contractor, just interacting with all you said, this is like a different beast, more sophisticated. It still had that, like, kind of like small business owner feel to it, but it was just a totally different beast. So after that success, what was the next step for you? What was the next role that you took? [00:23:59] Speaker A: Yeah, once we. Once we had launched our brand, the next evolution for us is, okay, what does service look like at first service? Residential. Like, how do we take. You see around us some branding. [00:24:13] Speaker C: Right. [00:24:13] Speaker A: It can't be words on paper. It has to be real. People have to feel it and want to be part of this organization. So the next step we took as a leadership team was saying, okay, how do we keep our brand and our values alive? And that's when we realized, okay, we need First Call, which today is our Daily Reinforcement. We have lineup that happens because at the end, it's our team. What we've created has to resonate with our teams everywhere. [00:24:39] Speaker C: Yeah. And let's unpack First Call here because I. And for people who don't know about First Service or are familiar with this kind of thing, the psychology of working with big groups of people and having people that could be on, like, let's say, people in Florida. [00:24:55] Speaker A: Yes. [00:24:56] Speaker C: And then people all the way up in Vancouver, essentially being part of the same thing. And you're part of this giant organism. You stay who you are, what you believe, who you like, all your individual stuff, but you're part of this greater whole that's working together. And the importance of, like, creating something that doesn't have a uniformity, that sucks, but has, like, a community feel that's like, inspires and drives people. I think First Call is an important part of that. And, like, how companies can use that kind of thing just to get people, like, focused on that. Like, hey, here's our greatest mission. So what is First Call? [00:25:28] Speaker A: Yeah, you're absolutely right. First Call is our daily reinforcement. Where Our teams get together, we talk about our values, our missions, we celebrate. Gives us an opportunity to tell customer stories. What it really does is it unifies our organization. It unifies in a common language. And I love what you said about it being authentic. And each leader or team owns it. This isn't. There is a. We provide a script every day. The best teams. The best teams take it, make it their own. And at the beginning, I can share this with you and your audience. I was twisted operationally. I didn't get. I was like, okay, what's the hierarchy? What time we going to have it? We worked with this wonderful firm, Master Connections, that does this for other great service organizations. And I just remember Sidney Novarti saying, just, it'll happen. Don't. And I couldn't get my operational brain wrapped around it. And finally, we took this leap of faith. We brought our leaders together, and they were. We got this, and we had. It just happens organically. And that. That's what's so great about it, because teams need to make it their own at the same time, have a framework to have conversations. [00:26:49] Speaker C: Well, the first time I saw it, I think I was in New Jersey with this. Again, for people who don't know this really wonderful leader who's on the podcast before Michael, and I was in a meeting room, and he was like, okay, hey, it's. It's time for first call. And I was like, okay. I was taking notes. He's like, no, come. Come with me. And I was like, oh, well. Like, I'm just like an outside contract. He's like, everyone does it. We're all in this together. And I was like, whoa, okay. I went with him. And I was like, oh, no, this is cool. Like, I don't do this job every day, but now I feel like I'm like, the job that I'm about to do with you just took on bit of a different dimension. I also like that he was just like, no, everyone in building does it. We do it. You're here, you're a guest. Doesn't matter. You can do it. [00:27:39] Speaker A: I'm glad you. You brought it up, because today, as I travel for our offices, that is what jumps at me. I can show up at any office to just participate, hear what's important to the teams within our culture, like, who is first? Service residential. How do you create that? And as we continue our journey around being a more inclusive organization, how do we truly make this place that people just want to be? And that's such an important part of it. [00:28:09] Speaker C: We stand for Something well, because it goes back to what is first service residential do. Whenever I kind of push on you about that, about getting like how you answer that, you always go back to worlds like it's our people. I know businesses say that, but really your business actually is fundamentally your people and how they approach. Approach with working people in their homes. Because again, like getting, not getting away from that idea is like your home is when you're like the most you. You version of it. It's like the least dressed up version of you, both the good and the bad. And to have a workforce that can like meet people where they're at in their homes and like how they're going to mentally be in their homes is a really impressive feat. And, and I think that idea of truly like first service residential is like an actual real deal people business in the truest of forms. [00:28:57] Speaker A: Oh no. We have 18,000 associates, which is insane. [00:29:01] Speaker C: That's wild. [00:29:02] Speaker A: And you know, 10,000 plus are at property at communities every day. And what I've always believed that every interaction matters. And it's never about at the moment, it's only an accounting problem or it's never about a small thing, it's never about a project. It's when you're in people's homes. Okay, let's use an example. You're down here, we're here. Sitting here in Florida. Okay. With the holidays coming up. If you're a grandparent and your grandkids are a parent to show up for the holidays, if you're going to spend Hanukkah together, Christmas, whatever. If the pool project is not ready, it's not about the pool project. It's about people's views of the grandkids are showing up. They're here to have that experience, create memories with the grandparents. And when we're late with a pool project, that's a problem. And it's not as simple as a project. You know, when I first moved down to Florida from Toronto, I told you about that big move ripping the grandkids. My in laws were coming to visit us. It was a big deal. The management company put a lien on our home. Put a lien on our home and okay, fine. What that meant was those of you not in this business, we couldn't finish the swimming pool. Now I'm in the business. I get it. Do you know how upsetting it was for my wife? Like she just moved here. It's a foreign country. I know. It's still the United States. And in that moment it was just an accounting mistake. Somebody just forgot to check the box. It's never about that. So whatever our team's roles are, we need to have that deep empathy for our homeowners, our residents, what they're going through in their lives. Because as we're interacting with them, if we lose the package, it's not a package. It could be their medicine. It could be whatever is happening in that moment for that individual. And that's my hope for our brand and all of our team members is we have a team that understands, that understands that that's our responsibility. [00:31:21] Speaker C: So what you're talking about, though, is super challenging. So you and I were talking about the difficulty that I face scaling up my business, right? Because my business is so based on my personality, how I interact with people, the value that we bring. And as the company grows, bringing in other coaches, other instructors, people do things, it's really hard because at the end of the, at the end of the day, are they going to engage? Are they going to be able to make people feel the value and the feeling they have with working with me? Now, I take that, I put that across 25 people, and we're talking about 10,000 people who interact with people in their homes. How do you get. How do you create a culture where a empathy and understanding are at the core of it? Empathy, understanding, the ability to express it. I should say, because the communication piece, because you can have empathy and understanding, but you might not be able to express it. So how do you create and maintain an organization where at the core, empathy, understanding, the ability to express it is part of the culture and is trained. But also, how do you hire people across North America who work in all sorts of different kinds of different communities, different cities, different regions that at different, you know, every region and city has its own kind of feel all that. How do you have consistency of people being able to do that? [00:32:45] Speaker A: Yeah, the end. It's about the leadership. It does start at the top. It does start at the top because as a starting with me. And when our entire leadership team believes it's important, I am starting there. Because that unifying belief that we need people in our organization, that every interaction matters, ultimately will be our success. And now how do you do that at scale is the question. So with 18,000, you know, we, we do have first call, which is a reinforcement of the values of what's important for us, but also systems and tools that make sure we're hiring, recruiting the right people. So we have. We spend a lot of our time and energy on training our teams and our leaders. In how to hire, recruit and onboard and you know, a few, just a few, few things we've done that have been very successful onboarding program. Like when somebody shows up at first moment in the, in their new role with us, whatever it is that matters and what is their experience in the first 90 days and throughout our organization that is something we are rolling out. Spending more time investing you because that has shown to make a real difference for us as well as that pre screening talent up front. Spending time with them both at the leadership level critically important because as we talked about having leadership in place that understands and knows how to find talent, recruit talent is important and that permeates down through the organization. [00:34:18] Speaker C: So with all of that in mind, you know, you get, you have this, this relatively recent shift into being the CEO of the organization. So with all of the care and diligence you put into like kind of bringing people in, you're still working on it, you're still investing in on it. What have you done for yourself as you've taken on this enormous, enormous role? [00:34:44] Speaker A: It's been quite the year. I have come to appreciate I do need to take care of my, myself as well. And I did let things slide. So a year ago, I'm trying to think back to what my weight was when you and I last saw each other. I did let the stress get the better of me and I'm a, I'm a stress eater. I wasn't exercising and I had allowed myself to drift to a place that I wasn't at my best. And there was a time when I was, oh, I wasn't feeling great, I wasn't at my best. And mostly it was about just feeling great about myself and my energy level was struggling. I was struggling. And so I did make a decision to turn that around. Probably six months ago my wife started looking at me a little different when I was opening the fridge to for my kids and in the role I just made a decision that I need to take care of myself in a better way. [00:35:49] Speaker C: It's an interesting thing. So because like it's really important that whenever we, anyone I talk to anyone, this isn't a talk about body size or body image. This is more about comfort, feeling good about yourself, energy levels. And I believe that you can be a bunch of different sizes, be healthy and all those things. So where I've landed with stuff being a small business owner, but like my schedule is wild. The person who manages my schedule, Amy, who is an amazing, wonderful person who I recently made a big error for. [00:36:21] Speaker B: Sorry, sorry. [00:36:23] Speaker C: We missed lunch, whichever. When she first started looking at my schedule, she's like, I'm gonna do this. It's totally wild. And I am 110% a stress eater. And as soon as my eating goes, my exercise goes. And I talk about these four legs of the chair of wellness and one of them is how you eat. One of them is how much you exercise. One of them is how much social time that you spend and how much time that you have for. Just kind of like when I say spiritual, it's like some people are religious, some people are breed whatever it is like you're kind of creative or spiritual. You gotta have at least three legs of the chair to have a semblance of health. And as soon as I start eating bad, boom, exercise is gone. I'm a terrible stress eater. But also I'm ultra busy, so it's hard to find time to exercise. It's easy to eat crappy when you're super busy because you can just get a hamburger instead of anything else. But also, I'm getting older. I'm 48. I had. I tore my meniscus last year and I had been and struggling with. And I also have like a back injury I've been dealing with as well because both you and I share running. All the stuff that I've done to take care of myself, couldn't do physically. My doctor literally was like, stop running. I couldn't do that. I've never been like a big like weightlifter kind of guy. I cycle, but it's like a big time commitment, all of those things. Being a CEO of a company, I could say, if a small company, I'm a CEO. Your CEO, a major company. It's very easy for us to say. It's like, gotta take care of yourself. But how does someone whose schedule is so demanding take care of themselves, spend time with their family, spend social time and also run a business. How do you manage that? Very intense combination. [00:38:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I want to challenge something you just said. [00:38:10] Speaker C: Please. [00:38:11] Speaker A: This notion of time, you find it. [00:38:16] Speaker C: Tell me more, tell me how you do it. [00:38:18] Speaker A: You just find it with me. I make a decision, and that's just the decision. I find it's just a trade off. And the trade off for me is Sethialon, you get up. Am I gonna sit, have breakfast, sit on my iPad? Am I gonna go for a run? Everything is just a trick trade off in a decision. So I'm not minimizing. I hope I don't sound like I'm minimizing it. I Find that it is a as simple as a decision and I find time. So when I'm committed to doing it and I enjoy it, when I am at my best, I love it, I'll send, I set my law. And even when I'm traveling and I'm up in Toronto and it's, you know, zero degrees, get up and go for a run and I find that I am so much more productive and I'm in a better place with it. And I find the same thing with healthy eating. With me it is an on, off switch. There is no such thing as only half something. I can't like. There's no such thing as just a couple of french fries. It's. I'm in mode. And so for me, I manage it by saying, okay, I'm in mode. And which means I'm exercising, I'm eating right, I'm spending time with the team and everything seems to come together. Your point about the stool, the legs of the school? Oh, yeah. So I, I will tell you that I think at times I had three legs because you didn't mention sleep yet. I find that what happens is sleep goes and it. What I've learned about sleep is it goes hand in hand. Setting an alarm to get up to run means I am having better sleep. And then anyway, so that I'm not giving it works for me. [00:40:20] Speaker C: I'm gonna put push on me. [00:40:21] Speaker A: Push on you. It's the timing. You make time. I made time. [00:40:25] Speaker C: I started getting up at five to work out at six with a trainer who comes by now, a wonderful guy named Ed. Collective performance. And he does a really, really good job. This is where I struggle with. It is a travel for work quite a bit. So then it's not Ed coming over. Of course, Ed's thing is like, oh, it's a big deal. I'll give you a plan to do when you're on the road. It's like, okay, get there again. I get, I say I land in Florida at 6:30 at night, get to hotel by 7:30, got to eat some kind of food. Then it's like, well, what I'm gonna work at 10:30 at night. Now I'm gonna go to bed, go to bed, time, change, all the wildness, get up, I've got early morning meetings. I could, I do that. And when I'm at my best, do I do that? Absolutely. When I'm at a streak, like, you know, I, I remember flying to Atlanta and just like get there, get to the hotel, drop my stuff off, boom, go for a Run, get up the next morning, boom. Go for a run, go to my meetings. Am I energized? And as a result, am I eating better? Absolutely. All of it works together. [00:41:29] Speaker A: Yes. Yes. [00:41:30] Speaker C: So that's me at my best when I'm at my medium. But when I'm at my down, which is, I'd say like right now, from like a physical diet perspective, I'm starting to rally again. I'd say all of my stuff is like peaks, drifts. Like, I'll either be at the top of the mountain or I'll be in the valley. And when I'm in the valley, I don't want to start to rally. But that rally is all about structured time, structured diet, doing all these things. It's probably my Achilles heel as a leader, is self care, specifically about diet and exercise. It's the hardest thing for me to maintain. I'm certainly not saying that committing to a getting up earlier, finding the time, certainly not saying that I know you can do it. But it's about how do you maintain it when the wildness of the worlds that we travel in and the demands in our schedules. So how do you maintain it? [00:42:21] Speaker A: Yeah, for me, it is that discipline of I need to keep a regimen and keep to the schedule. Like, I know my body and what works I cannot work out after I eat. I'm a morning person. [00:42:36] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:42:37] Speaker A: So I need to find time first thing. If I miss that window, I also need to be at peace with it that I then next day just stick to the schedule and catch up. But stuff happens in a day and you can't derail it. I'm. I'm training for a 5K. And it's not just about doing the 5K. It's okay. How do I get to a whole new level of performance for me, because I need a goal. So driving towards a goal works for me. It works for me. The same thing with my eating, maintaining weight. And I just find that keeping an eye on is what you said about a whole picture. They all go hand in hand. And when I let one thing slide when I'm not exercising, I don't care as much as about the food. And then I start cheating and then it's a slippery slope. [00:43:27] Speaker C: So if we look at it, well, using what, what you added, if we look at it as diet. Exercise. Diet, exercise, sleep and social, all of those things. So, like, the way that I look at the model of the chair is like, you know, when you're walking around, you're tired, you're like, I'm going to have a good sit. Who doesn't love sitting in a chair if your legs are tired? Right. So if you are under tight time of big stress, the first thing that typically goes for people are the patterns of self care. Right. So your pattern of self care go. Most people have one leg at the chair that's like pretty waverly, you know, at any given time for me it's diet 100. Sounds like the same for you. [00:44:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:44:03] Speaker C: I love candy and I love baked goods, especially donuts. Donuts. I love donuts. So as soon as that goes, that leg is gone. And there's usually chain reactions, etc. Earlier about diet. Those two go. [00:44:16] Speaker A: Sleep goes. [00:44:18] Speaker C: If you have one leg, you know when you're sitting, if you're gonna sit on a chair, if it's got one leg that's like shorter or missing, you can sit on a chair that has three legs. It's kind of weird but you can do it. Bit of a balancing act but it can fully take your weight. Yes. If you have two legs now you have to use your two legs as you have two legs so you're not fully relaxed because you have to stabilize. If you have three legs missing, there's no point. It's more of a pain in the ass trying to sit. So you end up standing those legs of the chair and like not just maintaining but defending them against strength or against stress is like my hardest struggle as a professional. Like finding business, working with clients, all that kind of stuff that's like fun and interesting. Defending the base of those legs is like nightmare. It's the hardest thing to do. [00:45:03] Speaker A: So at the core of that, you know, you mentioned stress. I talk about, I'm a stress leader as well. How do we manage like what have you seen being effective in managing stress for you? How do you at the very root of it get ahead of the stress management? What works for you? [00:45:20] Speaker C: Well, one of the things that I know just from psychology is there's a thing called the long term stress response. It's kind of like a subsystem of our psychology is that when we're in a situation that we, we recognize is going to be long term stressful, like for example, the pandemic, our brains go in this mode called the resistance mode and there's three parts of it. It's like one is alarm, one is resistance, one's exhaustion. When you're in the resistance mode, it's a really cool mode psychologically to get in because you can handle long term stress because you become super focused you can work longer hours, you're super creative, you're ultra collaborative. But all sorts of like really wild things start happening. You start sacrificing sleep because that resists the psychology of it is like, well, the less you sleep, the more you can focus. You start either like super eating everything you can, or you stop eating because you're trying to preserve food. There's all these basic, like, really like kind of early people kind of things, like evolutionary things that kick in. The other one that happens is like secular thinking. Your mind picks problems that it knows it can't solve and gets you to focus on those things over and over and over again so that you stay sharp, you stay in problem solving mode. So it will literally take like a difficult relationship and you'll start hyper focusing on that so that you stay sharp. And so these are all tricks in the mind and they all have like a really good, useful tools to keep you sharp. But the problem is that you never, ever relax. So secular thinking for me is something that I struggle with a lot of. Like, I'll just start thinking about something that there's. It's usually something like a past mistake I've made or an error, and I'll just like, can't stop thinking about it. Whenever something like that happens, the way that I deal with it and deal with this type of the stress response is I listen to some kind of sci fi podcast. [00:47:05] Speaker A: Oh, that's what you do now? [00:47:07] Speaker C: You and I are both nerds. We both like sci fi. I will put in headphones and so like sometimes partner Monica will see, see me walking around the house with like headphones on a lot. And it's just because I'm stressed and I'm stressed getting into secular thinking and I start getting locked into something I know I can't fix and I can't stop thinking about it. So put on headphones and I will put on like a four hour conversation about the wrath of Kong and just be like, tell me more about Ricardo Model 5. Like, I got to hear about this. And it's so indulgent that it allows me to like step out of that secular thinking. Because it's like a closed circuit kind of way of thinking. It lets me get out of the circuit. And after listening for anywhere from five to 20 minutes, my thinking will be mine again and I can just go on every day. So that's one way I handle it. [00:47:57] Speaker A: Yeah, same with, I would say, the mindless endurance podcast. What's the science of endurance? For me, it's just escape. It's escape going on those long runs. It's interesting hearing you talk about stress. How would you describe stress versus business challenge that I'm so excited and positive to conquer and manage? I think back to what creates stress and is it as simple as mindset? We all feel space as business leaders. You're running your own business, me, a CEO. There are things that come at us each and every day. And so taking something that's a challenge, figuring it out is a very positive, healthy mindset. Getting stressed out about it, overthinking it. How have you seen other leaders and how should we think about that? [00:48:54] Speaker C: So I have a very specific way that I talk about it, and it has to be with. With how lit up your sympathetic nervous system is. So are you familiar with the sympathetic nervous system? [00:49:04] Speaker A: Go explain it. Remind me. [00:49:06] Speaker C: So the autonomic nervous system has two pieces, part of. Has two systems, parasympathetic, which governs our states of relaxation and calmness. And I'm just, I'm going to like the most basic form of the conversation and the sympathetic nervous system, which is our fight or flight. So it's like we've all heard fight. The way I like to think about it is imagine you have a toolbox that's in front of you. And that toolbox has every single thing that you have ever learned in your life in it. Everything you've learned from school, from your experience as a business leader, everything you learned growing up, everything you've learned about being in a long marriage, raising kids, being a person in the community, Everything's in that box. And that box has two levels. Top level is your really big basic skills. Super important, but basic skills. As an example, one would be listening to track what someone's saying. So you're just following along with what they're saying. That would be a basic skill. At the bottom of the toolbox are your really nuanced skills. So if we're going to use listening as an example, this one would be listening to understand. So it's different than tracking what someone's saying. It's like understanding kind of being able to get a little ahead of the conversation. I think this is where it's going. Pull different pieces together. In that bottom level of the toolbox would also be things like being able to read a room. So like empathy. It would also include things like our ability to negotiate. These would be like bottom of the toolbox tools. So if you think about the sympathetic nervous system, it's like a glass wall that descends from the ceiling and our parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system. One is never fully on and the other one's fully off. In fact, they kind of are. They're in a constant negotiation with each other. But imagine your sympathetic nervous system. There's a glass wall that comes down, and it's always just a little bit lit up. But when you've got something that you want to do good at and it's a challenge that's in front of you, that glass wall comes down a quarter of the way. And this is what I call nervousness. People talk to me a lot about nervousness, and I think that. I think nervousness is. Is maligned a bit. Nervousness is good, in my opinion. It just means you recognize there's a challenge ahead of you and you want to do well. [00:51:18] Speaker A: Yes. [00:51:19] Speaker C: So it could be a presentation, it could be a interview. It could be a 5k race. It could be a marathon. It could be, like in your freediving. It could be anything that you recognize. I want to. To do good at this. [00:51:32] Speaker A: A podcast together. [00:51:34] Speaker C: A podcast together. Right. It could be anything. I'm nervous before every single coaching call I have, every single one, because I want to do well. So if you think about that, that glass wall is now a quarter of the way down. And that just tells you, okay, I'm nervous. I better reach into my toolbox and use all of the tools I need. It's a good thing when nervousness turns into anxiety, or what I'd say is like deep stress. That glass wall comes halfway down. When people are in an anxious state, they can still reach their toolbox, but they gotta go underneath the wall to do it. It comes down just enough that you can't straight reach across. You have to go underneath the wall. Going underneath the wall means your arms. The reach is shorter because you have to go underneath it. So now you can only get to the top of your jewel box. If you have ever found yourself in a situation where you're handling it, but you're not handling it as well as you usually would, it's because you're in an anxiety space rather than being in a nervousness space because you don't have access to all your tools. When anxiety goes past that point and that glass wall goes down three quarters of the way, you can no longer reach your toolbox at all. And you're only left with two things. Fight, run away. Those are the only things that are left. So nervousness is good. That's that business challenge. Like, I want to crush this. I want to do well. I want to hit it. I want to bring everyone together, do this thing. You're nervous, though. You got the energy to do it. [00:53:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:53:04] Speaker C: When you're. When you're anxious, you got too much going on, you're stressed, you're like, oh, and you can still do things. You just can't do them with all of your tools. But when you're afraid and you're afraid you fail, or you're afraid of the person you're dealing with, or you're in a situation that is awful, all you can do is fight, rolling wings, and that's it. And those two skills, in a very basic way, have their own nuances that are involved with them. But basically fighting a runaway, if you're applying those skills in the wrong situation, that's no good. The thing I'd add to that is with a sympathetic. Sympathetic nervous system gets lit up that high, it's designed to override logical thinking. So that's the intent of the sympathetic nervous system. So if you, you know, if you and I are walking through the jungle for whatever reason and like a tiger jumps out of. Jumps out of there, you and I. [00:53:54] Speaker A: Are gonna go, no, I'm running. [00:53:56] Speaker C: Yeah. We're not gonna be like, let's draw a diagram. What was the best way out of here? We're just gonna. Like, we're just gonna run. We're gonna run different directions. We're gonna run into trees, we're gonna run off a cliff. It's because it over overrides logical thinking. So the fight or flight when you're in that space is disastrous. So what I think when I talk about stress, I'm usually talking about anxiety. And that creates that closed circuit thinking that gets you to go and do stuff. But it's. It can be very, very challenging to do it long term in a healthy way. [00:54:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:54:25] Speaker C: I want to do a very, very deep answer for what you asked me. [00:54:28] Speaker A: You know, and I can't wait to find. Find out who can run faster when that tiger is chasing us out. [00:54:34] Speaker C: I can't wait to find out why you and I would be in a jungle together in any given reason. All right. I do want to hit on some stuff, though. I know our audience is going to be interested in. Okay, year one as a CEO, I know people are like, oh, how was it? Like the normal questions people want to ask. Let me ask a different question. So you were a regional president at First Service Florida for how many years? [00:54:59] Speaker A: Yes. So I. It was eight years where I was leading the south. [00:55:04] Speaker C: Okay. Leading the south. You had done that for a long time and had gotten very, very good at it. When you took this role, what did you learn about yourself, both good or bad, that you didn't realize before? [00:55:23] Speaker A: Yeah. When I look back now at the past year, I'd like to start with the positive because I am so grateful to be in this position, having been a part of building, creating what we have as part of a team. And so today, to be in this role is truly gratifying for me. Me. And I'm also so excited about our future. Like, we can do so much more with this business. What has surprised me is I believed I was ready for the role. I know I'm the right leader at this point in time in our business, and yet I'm the world's best operator. Like I was region president of the South. We were killing it as a team. I can solve pretty much every operational thing that pops up now. I don't mean to make light of that for me to then elevate to be more strategic. How do I on a bigger stage with our entire team, build our brand for the future? That has surprised. That was an adjustment for me not jumping in to solve some problem like when I was leading the South. We solve things together. Together. And I got so deep with our clients and our teams in the front line working with others that to now be on a bigger stage. Think strategically how I spend my time. It's important. And I'm also seeing our teams are looking for more and how can I. The responsibility I feel to our teams to make their lives easier, simpler to deliver the incredible service. They're all caring and trying so hard. It's important and it weighs on me. I think back to how can I help our teams do what they're trying to do, which is serving our customers. [00:57:26] Speaker C: What's still the same about you from when you are that due to the mba that was like, you're. You're the. You're the dude that was like flashing the flashlight. Never corner. So what's. What's the same about you about back then, but what's different about you now? [00:57:40] Speaker A: Yeah. I've always been fortunate to be able to work with leaders, work with a team and get the right things done at that point in time. It's what I've always been there. An ability to work with people, to get the most together as a team out of all of us. And so that's been the same. We are in a people business. I keep saying that we're a relationship business. That's the Same. That's the same. Understanding what matters most at that point in time and now, how do we take that? And what are the two or three big things we can do to truly take up growth to the next level and so forth. Focusing on our growth in the future is what I'm excited to do. That's our challenge. That's our challenge. [00:58:28] Speaker C: But let's go back to you. What's the same about you as being that kid in an MBA program? What's exactly the same about you from then and what is markedly different? Like, you're like, I used to be that way, but now I'm totally different that way. [00:58:44] Speaker A: What's the same is I still care about people, people being part of a team. My values are the same intellectually. Nothing's really changed. I get it. And so what is new is that realization how important communication is, how I show up at every meeting. My role as CEO is something I'm still growing into and learning about because I was used to being part of a team where I could present wacky ideas, we could brainstorm. And now I'm seeing I do need to be both more strategic. But what that really means is how I communicate. How I choose to spend my time is even more important. So me as an individual, it's being comfortable where others are looking to me. I have tended to when people ask me for my advice, I would tend to be more dismissive. Hey, do you want to hear from me? [00:59:46] Speaker C: You sure? [00:59:47] Speaker A: Like, you're amazing. I want to hear from you. I want to hear your story. And now what I'm seeing is our teams are asking me, and I'm happy to get more comfortable in sharing my own story as an inspiration for others, motivating others, and it's something I'm getting more comfortable with. I would have tended to. To shy away from that. It's not about me. It's about you. [01:00:07] Speaker C: Yeah. That you truly are. And I mean, this both is a compliment and also something that I think is important for leaders to manage. Like, you truly are, like, a really humble guy, which I love. I think that's. That's amazing. It's probably. [01:00:20] Speaker A: It's. [01:00:21] Speaker C: It's one of your best qualities. And one of the things that I've. I've known. I've noticed about CEO is that I really, like, really connects with, like, Dan. You're, like, humble. And I don't mean that faux humble like, we're humble. It's like, I mean, look, you're actually humble. One of the things that I have seen with CEOs who are actually humble is that they have to manage it when they get to the real, when they get to that level. Because it can actually be a bit of a barrier where people are like, that's great, you're humble. But I actually do want, I do want to know what you think. [01:00:52] Speaker A: I'm learning more on how to do that. I. I'm so fortunate. I get these inspirational emails from my team who point out things about me, whether it's a role model, whether it's my recent journey on weight loss and health and high performance. And I have been somewhat dismissive of that, not wanting to engage. At the same time, I need to step up into that because people, people are looking to all of us as leaders as role models that I'm getting more comfortable with. [01:01:27] Speaker C: So if you were to think like, if someone who's people come to this podcast for all sorts of reasons, all sorts of different kinds of people, and there are people who listen to it who are either eyeing or are making or have just made that transition into senior role. In fact, someone I know is going to listen to this just is going to be making that transition in January. Any advice for people who have gone from, let's say like a president role or a C suite role, but then now stepping into that CEO role, Any advice about anything really could be about leadership, self care, any of those things about people who are very specifically making that transition. [01:02:06] Speaker A: For me, my advice would be understand what got you to wait. You are today has been incredibly successful and how do you think about staying balanced to true to being true to who you are as a leader as well as, hey, it's new and there are some new things to stretch yourself in. And so understanding who you are and what won't change with maybe some things need to be change. And so for me, my values are still the same. What I care about still the same. At the same time, I'm learning I need to step into more communication. I need to step into being able to motivate and inspire others in a different way. And being true to yourself at the same time is recognizing you. Do you know, maybe you do need a coach. It is something I highly recommend. Getting outside perspective when you as a leader is something I think we all need. [01:03:10] Speaker C: Totally, totally. I. You hit on so many things there. Like the idea of communication is being on that elevated platform where it's. Where it's like I do hear this a lot from CEOs where it's like, damn, like now it's like everything I Say is like very, very serious. Kind of like, oh, it's. [01:03:29] Speaker B: I kind of miss how I used. [01:03:30] Speaker C: To be able to chop it up with people. And it is. It is that. It is that you're losing a little bit of that ability. And it's also an opportunity to get really good at chopping up with people in a different way where you're. You are more mindful of what you're saying, but you also understand the parameters of how you can still play comfortably. And I think for. For a lot of CEOs that are truly humble, just like decent, really, like good, easy people, they. That's always a journey to figure that out. And sometimes working with a coach helps. Sometimes just having a good, solid mentor or board member you work with, there's all. All sorts of different things. But you said something that I do think is the core of it. You gotta have someone who partners with you on it. We all have these ways of being that are normal, and they've helped us and they've helped us grow. But I'd say, like, again, being. Being the owner of a quite small business, sometimes I forget that even in that small business, like, I have an elevated platform and I have to, like, mind how I'm talking, how I'm engaging. It's a real interesting journey for people because you got to stay who you are, but you also have to understand how that who you are can still evolve, grow, elevate, become that. And I often find that people are so worried about, like, I want to stay who I am. It's like, hey, who you are is not who you were when you were 5 or 15 or 35. Like, you're actually quite a different person this whole way. And in fact, even the person you are right now, people aren't like. Like a pen. A pen is essentially one thing. People are more like a Swiss army knife, where there's a lot of different versions of you. It's also a knife. You're different. You're different when you're in different audiences, different situations. Like, you're different when you're sitting on a plane than you are when you're sitting in a car. It's all just different. It's about just knowing how do you want to show up in these different things? So there's like a consistent through line. [01:05:17] Speaker A: Yeah. It's been so gratifying for me as I travel around our different offices, the two or three new ideas I have in our business, to see them come to life, people talking about it, gravitating towards highlights for Me that we haven't included incredible team that will wants to do better. My role as CEO, charting a new path together with the team, it's like we are so aligned. And to see those words come together in a new path, a new vision for us at the same time, it reminds me of, okay, be careful what you say because that becomes the new directional reality. So cutting out the casual humor, the jokes, you know, I have had to work on that. You know the comments about, okay, I'm here, we're going to fire like, do not do that. [01:06:10] Speaker C: Right? [01:06:10] Speaker A: Do not do that. It's not funny because I see. Oh, I can't believe I just said that on your podcast. Like, we're not firing anybody. But that that is what matters. Our teams are. I see it. They look, looking, looking to me now and looking, looking to all of us as leaders to lead them. [01:06:30] Speaker C: So if there's one person I have faith in, it's you and I. I'm of course a big believer, Big fan. Now as we're closing off the podcast, a you did great. I hope you enjoyed the conversation. [01:06:44] Speaker A: Thank you. I did. [01:06:45] Speaker C: Okay, so I'm going to ask you three questions and they're going to get more difficult from question to question to question. But before we go down that there. [01:06:54] Speaker A: Wow. [01:06:56] Speaker C: Where should people learn more? How can people learn more about first service residential. Is there anything you want to point people to? Anywhere where people want to look you up, Anything that you want to share. We'll put the links also in like the the whole thing around the podcast, but anything you want to share. Now where you'd encourage people to look. Check out any books you want to encourage people or read anything like that. [01:07:15] Speaker A: Oh, we you can find us online first serviceresidential.com LinkedIn is really interesting. It is where we tend to post kudos, learn more about us and any we're easy to find. So I would suggest any of your listeners who want to show up and learn more about us, just go to our website. [01:07:35] Speaker C: Okay. Any books, movies, anything you want to shout out that you're really excited about. Now enjoy. [01:07:40] Speaker A: Oh, there are many books that I personally have my team read. Anybody we can chatted about talent. I'm a huge advocate of Hu by Jeff Smart. Follow what he says. Just do it. Okay. Just do it. And you mentioned new leaders stepping into a role. Now you're in charge. I highly encourage anybody who's stepping into a new leadership role. Read that book and again, it's just follow it. [01:08:07] Speaker C: Heck yeah. All right, you ready for these Three questions. [01:08:10] Speaker A: No, but go. [01:08:12] Speaker C: Okay, question one. In what kind of. What would be the situation where you and I would find our ourselves together in a jungle? [01:08:24] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. Okay, here's what I know about you. Okay, here's the scenario. [01:08:31] Speaker C: Okay. [01:08:33] Speaker A: You and I have a common mission. We find the core coolest 5k race in the craziest place. Yeah. And there's a fabulous restaurant at the end of it. [01:08:44] Speaker C: Perfect. Okay, I. That's actually of all the scenarios you could have said, that was just really well done. On your feet. Excellent. Great answer. Okay, second, super tough question. What would you, from your perspective, say those were? These are the three best sci fi movies or TV shows of all time. [01:09:10] Speaker A: Oh, my God, I'm going to punt this one. So, okay. I grew up Star wars, the original Battlestar Galactica, for some reason just continues to be one of the all time worst shows ever made. And that's what I grew up on. [01:09:27] Speaker C: And you love it though. [01:09:28] Speaker A: And I loved it. [01:09:29] Speaker C: Right. [01:09:29] Speaker A: I had to do that. And today, I mean, Mandalorian as the current. [01:09:34] Speaker C: Why you say you're gonna punt, that you said I'm gonna punt and then you did it. [01:09:40] Speaker A: Now welcome to life with dc. [01:09:42] Speaker C: Okay, that was a great answer. All right, third one, hardest one. If you were to say what is the best piece of business advice or leadership advice you've ever gotten from a person that you actually have met and interacted with that you still, you still live by today, what would it be? [01:09:55] Speaker A: Oh, so the advice personally I got. What's interesting about this question now is I got the same advice from two mentors and way back, it was early career, the advice I got was sharpen your elbows, be more direct, stop apologizing for your decisions. So I was doing that, that I'm going to say apologizing for my opinion. And it did two things for me. First was understanding that communication matters. So the minute a leader says, I don't really know what I'm talking about, but and gives advice, I was doing that. I was doing that early career. And the advice I got was, you're a leader, you're in the room, your opinion matters, just say it. And so that has always stuck with me. Whatever time you are in your career, you're there, you're there for a reason to be part of the team in the moment, you contribute. The second piece of advice I give to everybody now is understand your reputation as a part of our team and what others say about you, how you show up, it does matter. And be part of that culture. So Going to leave your listeners with that, which is two pieces of advice. [01:11:14] Speaker C: Anything else you want to add as we're closing off? [01:11:16] Speaker A: No, thank you, am. It's incredible to be here with you. The fact that you've been part of my journey and seeing me and my leadership evolve over my God, is it a decade, decade plus. Wonderful to be here and thank you for all that you do. [01:11:30] Speaker C: Yeah. All right, everyone, this was a great conversation. I'm going to unpack it a little bit in the outro. And thank you so much for being here, David. It was a huge pleasure. [01:11:39] Speaker A: Thank you. [01:11:40] Speaker C: All right. With that, Mike, drop the beat. [01:11:46] Speaker B: Well, David, thank you so much for the interview and for hosting us at your office. You know, what more can I say that I didn't say in the intro and that really David didn't say himself. He's just a decent person. And, you know, we can come kind of grind our axe about the idea that there's big corporations, but we live in a world where there's big corporations everywhere. And I would way rather have access and a chance to understand the thinking of the people who are at the tops of those companies, like a real view of them. And in this case, you know, I hope everyone who had a chance to listen to this could see that, yeah, there are people who are leading massive organizations, nationwide organizations, North America wide organization, who are just decent people who have vision, who understand what they want to do and also have their own challenges that they're working on. You know, the human experience is a super complex one and I think there's so much stuff that we could like in some cases totally rightfully complain about, but in other cases kind of get ourselves off a tree on. I really encourage you, like if you get a chance to meet people who. [01:12:55] Speaker C: Work at a level where you're not. [01:12:57] Speaker B: Used to like maybe people who are really senior in a company or work in huge companies or people who maybe aren't really senior but work in like, you know, massive organizations in fields that. [01:13:07] Speaker C: You know, you, you don't know a. [01:13:08] Speaker B: Lot about or maybe that you actually find kind of intimidating or challenging or maybe you don't particularly like. I encourage you to speak to those people, figure out what they're really like, really get a chance to, to meet them and to hear about their world. I think you might find there's a lot more commonalities between you and them than you expect. I could be wrong, but why don't you test it out? Anyways, I'm feeling really great after this one and I hope you are too. My name is Oram Arslanian. And this is one step beyond. [01:13:46] Speaker A: What's that beyond?