Meet the Team Behind Alex and Leila Hormozi (FULL BEHIND THE SCENES)

Summary

The video script from the acquisition.comom team meetup in Las Vegas focuses on building a positive company culture through personal branding, psychological safety, and effective communication. It highlights the importance of positive reinforcement over punishment and emphasizes the team's high performance due to a genuine support system rather than fear. The script captures insights from various team members on leadership, hiring strategies, and the power of authenticity in creating a collaborative and successful work environment.

Takeaways

• 🌟 **Emphasizing Team Culture**: The script highlights the importance of creating a culture of positive reinforcement and high performance within the team, where members support and uplift each other.
• 🎥 **Recording Behind the Scenes**: The idea of recording the team's activities to showcase the company's culture and the reality of working within a high-performing team is presented as a valuable insight for potential employees.
• 🤝 **Remote Company Dynamics**: The transcript discusses the benefits of in-person meetings for a remote company, emphasizing the value of putting faces to names and fostering a sense of community.
• 📈 **Leadership and Values**: The leadership's role in living the company values and creating an environment where people are excited to be part of the team is underscored, contrasting it with fear-based management.
• 🔧 **Positive Reinforcement vs. Punishment**: The speaker shares personal experiences to illustrate the impact of positive reinforcement versus punitive management styles on employee well-being and performance.
• 📚 **Learning from Experience**: The script emphasizes the importance of learning from past experiences, both positive and negative, to build a better work environment and culture.
• 🏆 **Recognizing Achievements**: The team meetup includes recognizing individuals for their contributions and embodying the company's core values, which is crucial for morale and motivation.
• 🤔 **Personal Branding**: The concept of personal branding within the company is discussed, with the idea that employees should be aware of and cultivate their reputation and the associations others make with them.
• 🧠 **Behavioral Biases**: The presentation on cognitive biases in decision-making highlights the need for awareness and strategies to mitigate biases that can negatively impact career and team performance.
• 💡 **Psychological Safety**: The necessity of psychological safety in the workplace for high-performing teams is discussed, along with the elements that contribute to it and the benefits it brings to the team.
• 🗣️ **Hard Conversations**: The script touches on the importance of having difficult conversations with self-awareness and focus on delivery, emphasizing the need to address issues without damaging relationships or team dynamics.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the team meet up in Las Vegas?

The main focus of the team meet up in Las Vegas is to discuss the vision for the company's culture, build a culture of positive reinforcement, and to provide insight into what it's like to be part of a high-performing team at acquisition.comom.

Why is it important for the company to record behind-the-scenes footage during the team meet up?

Recording behind-the-scenes footage is important to show potential employees and subscribers what it's like to be part of the team, to display the environment where people are high-performing because they love what they do, and to counteract any misconceptions about the company being ruled by fear.

How does Tobias, the director of marketing, describe his experience with different leadership styles?

Tobias describes his experience with different leadership styles by contrasting his time at 24-Hour Fitness under two different leaders. He appreciated clear communication and one-on-one time with Mike, who was later replaced by a leader who used fear and punishment to motivate the team, causing Tobias to feel confused, unhappy, and anxious.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Building a High-Performance Culture

The paragraph discusses the importance of creating a positive and supportive company culture, especially when undergoing significant events like an acquisition. The speaker emphasizes the need for leadership that encourages and empowers the team, rather than relying on fear. The upcoming team meet-up in Las Vegas is highlighted as an opportunity to reinforce the company's vision and values, and to record behind-the-scenes footage to provide an authentic look into the company's culture. The speaker, Tobias Alen, the Director of Marketing, shares his personal experience with different leadership styles and stresses the positive impact of praise over punishment.

05:02

📈 Growth and Team Dynamics at Acquisition.com

This section of the script focuses on the growth of the company and the importance of hiring for diverse skill sets to complement the existing team. The speaker, Neil, shares his journey and the company's approach to finding the perfect team members. The emphasis is on transparency, collaboration, and having fun at work. The paragraph also touches on the company's core skills, particularly in recruiting, and the impact of having the right people on board. Personal experiences and interactions with team members like Alex, Ila, and Caleb are highlighted, showcasing their unique contributions and the positive work environment they foster.

10:03

🏆 Recognizing Excellence and Team Synergy

The script segment revolves around recognizing the accomplishments of team members and the value of each individual's contribution to the company's success. The activity of personal branding is introduced, where team members write down three words that describe themselves and others guess who wrote what. The paragraph also discusses the importance of trust and communication in team performance. The speaker shares anecdotes from team-building activities, emphasizing the enjoyment and engagement of the team, and the meaningful interactions that occur outside of the typical work setting.

15:04

🤝 The Power of Positive Reinforcement

In this paragraph, the speaker discusses the concept of positive reinforcement in the workplace, contrasting it with punishment-based management styles. The speaker shares personal stories and experiences from their first job to illustrate the difference that a supportive and encouraging leader can make in creating a high-performing team. The emphasis is on the collective responsibility of building a culture of praise and the impact it has on team morale and performance. The speaker also introduces the idea of recognizing team members for embodying the company's core values.

20:06

🌱 Cultivating a Supportive Work Environment

The speaker emphasizes the importance of trust, communication, and mutual respect in the workplace, and how these elements contribute to a supportive work environment. The paragraph highlights various strategies and practices that can be implemented to foster a culture of support and collaboration among team members. The speaker provides examples of successful initiatives and shares insights on maintaining a positive work environment through continuous feedback and open communication.

Keywords

💡Positive Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is a motivational strategy that involves rewarding individuals for desired behaviors to increase the likelihood of those behaviors being repeated. In the video's theme, it is highlighted as a key component of the company culture, where employees are encouraged and praised for their contributions, fostering an environment of growth and high performance. For example, the script mentions 'praise over punishment' as a management style that the company values and aims to implement.

💡Team Culture

Team culture refers to the shared values, beliefs, and practices that characterize a team's interactions and collaborative efforts. The script emphasizes the importance of building a strong team culture through positive reinforcement and open communication. The company aims to create an environment where team members feel supported and motivated, as illustrated by the discussions on company values and the team meet-up in Las Vegas.

💡Acquisition

In the context of the video, acquisition refers to the process of one company taking over another, typically by buying a controlling stake in it. The script mentions 'our first full, acquisition' indicating a significant business event that the company is navigating, which may involve integrating new team members and aligning company cultures.

💡Remote Company

A remote company is an organization where employees work from locations outside of a central office, often from home or other remote locations. The script mentions being a 'remote company' and the value placed on in-person meet-ups to strengthen team connections and interpersonal dynamics, which are crucial for team cohesion in a non-traditional work setting.

💡Leadership

Leadership in this video is portrayed as the ability to guide, influence, and inspire a team towards achieving common goals. The script discusses the impact of effective leadership on team performance, with examples of leaders who communicate clearly, invest in team members' development, and create a positive work environment.

💡Personal Brand

Personal brand refers to the image and reputation that an individual projects, which can influence how they are perceived by others. The script touches on the importance of personal branding in a professional context, with Caleb discussing how he built his career on his reputation and the deliberate actions he took to shape the perception of his capabilities.

💡Behavioral Biases

Behavioral biases are mental shortcuts that can lead to errors in judgment and decision-making. The script includes a presentation on cognitive biases and their impact on career and team performance, emphasizing the need for awareness and strategies to mitigate their effects, such as seeking diverse perspectives and challenging one's own beliefs.

💡Psychological Safety

Psychological safety is the feeling of being able to take risks and be vulnerable without fear of negative consequences within a team. The script discusses the concept as a critical component of high-performing teams, where members feel comfortable sharing personal information and supporting each other without judgment.

💡Hard Conversations

Hard conversations refer to difficult discussions that involve conflict, criticism, or sensitive topics. The script includes a presentation on how to conduct these conversations effectively, focusing on self-awareness, the importance of addressing impact rather than intention, and seeking solutions rather than placing blame.

💡Cognitive Biases

Cognitive biases are systematic errors in thinking that affect the judgments and decision-making processes. In the script, Ben's presentation on cognitive biases highlights the importance of recognizing and mitigating these biases to improve professional and team performance, such as avoiding confirmation bias and overcoming hindsight bias.

💡High-Performing Team

A high-performing team is a group of individuals who work together effectively to achieve superior results. The script emphasizes the characteristics of such teams, including a learning mindset, acceptance of others, and a culture that encourages risk-taking and collaboration, as illustrated by the team meet-up activities and discussions on team dynamics.

Highlights

The importance of giving one's all and the impact of leadership on team culture.

The role of communication in achieving team goals.

Transcripts

we have to give it our all

because like the whole team's

here if they're getting us a leader like

you leading them like they're

Amplified I get so nervous before these

things what can we do here to help build

that culture of positive

reinforcement it's like you get like

frozen I know I've

been I'm reinforce our culture and

values we're having our first full

acquisition. comom team meet up here in

Las

Vegas so over the next few days we're

going to be talking about the vision for

the culture of the company and I thought

it'd be super cool if we could record

the behind the scenes so we have me and

then we have Alex and then a break is

that how it's you guys could see what

it's actually

like I think what I'm most excited for

people to see from this team Meetup is

just what it really feels like to have a

high performing team so if you're

interested in working at acquisition.

comom you've ever looked at our careers

website or if you subscribed to mosy

Talent this is kind of what it looks

like on the other side so I felt like it

would be really valuable to give people

insight into that I've never been a part

of an environment like this where people

are genuinely rooting each other on yeah

being a remote company I love that we we

actually have events like this we can

actually step back meet each other in

person put faces and personalities to

names my name is Tobias alen I am the

director of marketing here at

acquisition so I think one of the things

that Alex and Ila have done for

reinforcing

both the values and creating a culture

that people are excited to be a part of

is actually living the

values next

speaker all right you guys will notice

that Jason and Trevor are filming so we

are filming the next two days now they

are primarily filming myself and Alex

they were going to ask some of you if

you want to add to the film in

discussing with the team we all felt

like it would be so cool to show what

it's like when the team comes together

and I think a lot of people they assumed

like we ruled with fear it's actually

quite the opposite of that I think that

we've created this environment where

people are high performing because they

love what they do not because they're

scared of the consequences of if they

don't do the job that's why I really

wanted to display this in the Vlog is I

just felt like it's invaluable for

people to see it because I think it's

one thing to say what you do but it's

another thing to show it to people so

I'll tell you guys a story my first job

out of college was 24-Hour Fitness what

I didn't realize was that when I got to

for our fitness I actually ended up with

one of the best leaders that I could

have asked for his name is Mike in

hindsight the reason that that job was

so enjoyable you know he had very clear

communication he always did one-on ones

and took time to see like how do I feel

what's my development like like so then

they actually asked Mike to go open a

new location you know you've got not

Mike coming to take over and I will

never forget the first meeting and he

sat us down and I've never heard someone

say so many times in my life he was

like you young

listen up cuz here not doing any more of

this okay we're going to we're

going to get our numbers up and we're

all like our numbers are up you know

like the things he was saying made no

sense he just continued to swear at us

yell at us it was the first meeting I

was just like holy crap who's this guy

it was just complete polar opposite I

remember when we started gym launch you

know years later I kept thinking to

myself like I know what a difference it

is to have an absolutely horrible boss

and leader and or no leader right and

then to have one that is you know truly

investing in people praising people

encouraging people because I experienced

it firstand like the three words that I

I remember feeling is like confused

unhappy and anxious like constantly in a

state of anxiety and it's crazy to me to

think that just the person that leads an

organization or even leads a department

can create that for everybody else on

the team does anyone want to take a

guess at what the difference was between

Mike and not Mike Mike praise not Mike

hey yes so so Mike used positive

reinforcement to get people to do stuff

to put it simply right not Mike used

punishment to get people to do stuff

taking those Concepts what can we do

here to help build that culture of

positive reinforcement that's really

what I wanted everyone to be able to

walk away with and the reason I wanted

to relay this information is because

it's not something one person can do

alone I wanted to discuss the topic of

Praise over punishment at the team meet

up because it's something that I

personally study a lot I ment a lot like

given where we're at as a company you

know we're only like 2 years in it's not

like I have leisurely time to invest in

teaching these things to the team and so

I wanted to make the time by putting

together this team Meetup where we can

focus on a lot more of the internal

infrastructure and because on the

subject of positive reinforcement this

guy is positive reinforcement like being

around him is like makes you just feel

so good and just excited to be I think

alive in a world that is very judgmental

you are not that and you're

amazing I think one of my biggest

takeaways was that there's a a

punishment style of management and a a

positive reinforcement sty of man and

both of those can work but you just have

to think about where your priorities are

and I think it was powerful to hear that

from uh I want to introduce Neil uh Neil

took a big step this year and moved in

with his

girlfriend originally didn't understand

the assignment we were talking about our

greatest accomplishments in our

life so L learn more about that I can

tell you later but so we quickly were

passing each other notes on what our

actual accomplishments were this year I

was like Frank how many people did you

hire this year so I had a number that I

thought was any what have me

guess 12 he four 12

25 hell

yeah when I joined the team was Alex

Leila Suzanne and Yasmine but quickly

the team has grown I mean our first

in-person meeting was the whole

company because it was just five of us

so I'm introducing Tyler and his big win

this here is he got H Alex had a book

La I would say that one of the core

skill sets that every business that I've

ever built has been recruiting I don't

really see another resource that's more

valuable to pour into than having the

right people on the team iuce she yeah

she I'm happy to introduce myself look

around this is my accomplishment this

year how we go about finding Perfect

People is that in other hiring processes

people don't share those there's a lot

that's left unset and then that's where

maybe the expectations aren't even

always clear what I've tried to do very

differently is say it and put it all out

on the table everything for me connects

back to the requirements of what we're

looking for and so some of the stuff

that we'll ask the hiring managers think

about the prevalent skills on the team

we don't want to hire another Trevor we

want to hire someone who compliments

Trevor so perfectly some hiring managers

are a lot better at it than others and

that's where Caleb's superpower he comes

in having really thought through all of

that I'm going to cry probably just a

side not but uh Alex I love you

man

uh the way that you have created an

ability to rethink through emotion and

uh situations it's been really impactful

for me the way that I analyze situations

when I'm struggling or feeling like I'm

succeeding either way I look at it

completely differently and then Lea I

don't mean this in the cringy cliche

term I mean like I feel seen by you for

some weird reason when I'm having a

little bit of a day you somehow seem to

like up and just the way that you have

again given me permission to be like

it's okay to have a shitty day and you

can still do no what nobody knows

is that every media team that I've ever

seen there's no organization or it's

like complete and there's no creativity

and you have found the way to bridge

both together having never done it

before just the fact that you you care

about everybody on the team and you care

about the brand and achieving the goals

and I think that your ability to hold

all of those three priorities equally is

what makes you so great at what you do

and it's why everyone just loves

working I think that the way that Alex

and Ila interact with everybody on the

team is incredible the fact that Lea

takes the time to reach out to every

single editor edor you know every writer

uh a designer whatever that that is

incredible and pretty unique um compared

to a lot of work scenarios and as the

brand has grown as acquisition. comom

has grown Alex and ilila really

prioritize the media team rather than

just like the weird animal in the corner

that makes the videos kind of thing the

request that was made of me was to talk

about branding everyone who comes in

contact with our content doesn't know

who we are and so what we're doing is

the thing that hope they should know

something about so if you didn't know

what the Nike Swoosh was and I were to

continue toir and Associate it then

eventually I could eliminate all these

and just have the logo and you would

feel the same way about it all we are

doing with everything that we do from a

randing perspective is we take us and we

associate with something I can say it's

kind of like this which we both know and

then I can make the comparison and if

you're like wow that sounds a l like

teaching that's a lot of what branding

is well brands are so powerful then how

do we grow Brands if you have to label

some of the associations that the brand

currently has for us yes they brand and

the information that they give out

whether it's the books or that content

is what creates the demand for

partnership with us but the businesses

we take on we have an extreme amount of

influence in fact the reason they want

to partner with us is the influence that

we have on their business when I think

of the brand of acquisition.

I want it to be known for two things I

think one is operationalizing excellence

and on the other side I think platform

to elevate others when you work with

acquisition. comom like you will always

be better than when you came in if

you're going to put the three words on

the wall for you and you're standing up

here what would the three words it's our

personal okay okay so after Alex's

presentation we went into this activity

around personal brand which was we're

all asked to write down three things

that we would use to describe ourselves

and then as we picked the different

things that described one another we

have to guess who wrote that about

themselves play pickle ball fam Polo's

shirt I am obsessed with the number

three oh my God that was so fast dad

dad

this being

CRA you know you

know

hiring you can't have five of the same

person on a team I always see skills as

like this pointy star you know and it

could and some stars have more points

than others but there's always a valley

in between two points and so the ideal

person on the team's points fits in

those valleys and so then they just all

start sort of like connecting together

like across the it's like I'm like wow

we have really good it's cool one of the

biggest things is for me is culture

simple things like trans transparency

collaboration honesty and just like

having fun at work that was what uh what

drove me to come here how do you take

this philosophy down to the managing of

the portfolio I think there's a lot of

parts of our portfolio that are still

working on the leadership aspect success

is is not about the mechanics it's about

what you're doing but about like the way

you're leading people and the the people

that you surround yourself with if you

have a great group of people you can be

really successful I think a lot of

people look at their business as let me

just get whoever agrees to the role

whereas I've always looked at it like an

NFL draft which is like who do I need to

draft what kind of skills do they have

what are their values that's always been

a core focus of mine because who is the

one that is making the vision come to

life at the end of the day it's not you

it's your team all right who's hooking

up the music got a good

[Music]

playlist

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

so one of my favorite parts of the

Meetup was actually we took a party bus

and then went to go act

[Music]

throwing dad help me it was cool to see

how incredibly awful some people were

like myself and how incred talented

others were like my

dad your dad's really good at this like

[Music]

feels great really feels like

every and everyone also like wants to be

here right yeah yeah actually people are

enjoying it they want to be here they I

know they're engaging with

enthusiasm I don't get the intera Tyler

every

day N I haven't talked to n since you

joined the yeah so like some of the most

I think the most meaningful interaction

like getting to know them they they're

like so interested do side I'm also soed

in what they do media side so but it's

really cool cuz like I feel like both

teams do what they do so well you were

like the easiest person to interview

with really yeah even though I was like

nervous was like dude I'm meeting the

CEO like I was nervous I'm so

nervous I remember thinking to

myself

that was a terrible interview and I was

like and she cares and the fact

that you cared that much I was like she

is the kind of person I want to work

with and it was so interesting because

it's like I think all that about

like how well people interview is such a

because I was like I could just

tell I didn't realize that a lot of

these people had met each other yeah

some these I have seen like this much

off we have another day tomorrow do you

have talks Neil Caleb Sheila Ben so they

all have presentations I'm actually

really excited if people trust each

other they'll communicate better if

people like each other they'll work

better together you know some people

might look at this and be like that's so

soft what a waste of money I think

that's because if you look at

like what correlates with the highest

performing teams it's not intelligence

and it's not skill of an individual

member of the team it's actually

communication of the sum of the parts

yeah we got the watermelon we got the

potatoes and we got the eggs Leila asked

me to build out the team meet up I was

really nervous he was like okay don't

worry it's going to be fine no matter

what what it was Pitch to me was like

we're basically going to acknowledge

people who were voted to stand out in

terms of like one of these core values

that we have I want to ask Justin Paul

Frank and Tyler to stand up for a second

and let us recognize

you

gentlemen have all demonstrated areas

values of ours but before I get into the

ones that I remember who here believes

they know why one of these guys are all

of what what do you think they were

recognized for what do you think they

were nominated for Tyler has like

continued to completely and very quickly

evolve his skill set I mean hiring I

think 25 people this year the amount of

volume that goes into that behind the

scenes um and I know we've had quite a

few conversations where Frank is just so

hungry to learn I was going to say I

think we throw a lot at Justin but like

if you look at his calendar it's

arguably the most full calendar of the

entire company and you would never hear

him say he's tired complain he's always

super excited and I'll go ahead and and

speak for Paul because I uh nominated

Paul for unimpeachable character it is

important to me that all of the people

we hire whether they're sitting in this

room or they're sitting in a portfolio

they have a phenomenal experience Paul

came back to me and I was like that's

why your home is

here he next few people I'm going to

call and ask that you stand up Nadia uh

Trevor conflict of interest for a moment

but you're already you're standing deina

and Hunter you're you're being

recognized because several people in

this room actually nominated you Tyler

come on man let's hear I for Trevor

working with him he is ated uh not only

unimpeachable character but competitive

greatness as well know just being able

to like adapt to situation Hunter you

are an incredible leader you do an

amazing job of showing people around you

everything that is answer to in edit

right like timelines keeping everyone

updated throwing in ideas on thumbnails

when nobody's asked you to like there is

just like such a level of leadership

that you display that uh I'm also very

grateful for operationalizing creativity

that was what I thought when you sent me

the document and I was like so awesome

because I think to be creative you know

you put it in that sop and when you

shared it with me it helps me too

because we're obviously doing it

together and so it's so helpful I'll say

something about deina you know I

couldn't do what I do without you you

have no I I'm seriously though I uh have

worked with many other executive

assistants like you're so professional

you bring ideas to the table you bring

Solutions and like I'm just happy to

have you

as my partner and like in acquisition so

thank you this is the team I couldn't

think of a better group to do it with I

think just the coolest part was just

like nobody wanted to stop the last

group of people here blow us all away

that is sincere um it's a really I'm

sorry to be I'm trying so hard to

[Music]

hold

all right I'm good but it it means a lot

to me to to see how the people that we

pull into the organization how they

impact us all on and and each other on a

day-to-day basis and so this group of

people received more nominations than

everybody else uh

Jason you were one of

these Jacob you are one of these

people

lizy also one of these

people

Yasmine Tobias I think that recognition

is always something that we can do more

of and I think that the way that we did

it as well was one in which everyone was

recognized for something so nice to hear

because I think what we forget and what

I forget is that a lot of people don't

have that in their normal day-to-day

life and I think that if you want to

create a really great work environment

like do in the workplace what people

don't get outside of that I had the

advantage of being able to provide a

place like that at work where we do take

time to do that a lot of people in here

are really impressed with how hard you

come every single day to this job I mean

mean come on guys like the fact that she

doesn't even need like she's just a g

and with everything she does and she

what I admire about her is her ability

to be transparent and have those hard

conversations when it needs to be had

for the better of the company and how we

run and

she's just amazing yeah as mean is just

you know we're coming up on six years

together and I could really not do any

of this without her and she has

done so far beyond things that an

executive assistant should even do just

like I remember one time something

spilled at my house you like brought a

vacuum when I had my surgery you

like put pants on me I mean like we've

been pretty close um and it's just uh I

think one thing that you do so well is

you're just so non-judgmental and work

so hard time over time you're constantly

improving constantly trying to get

better and so I just appreciate the

shout out to you um but I know you guys

have also went so far above and beyond

on the back end of the book launch just

the sheer volume of hours that you guys

are putting in after after doing all the

other stuff and having families and kids

and husbands and trips on the weekend

like we we mean it when we're like how

did like we don't deserve you like we

mean that like you guys are unbelievable

like you guys do such a good job of

setting the tone wherever we go because

you guys are the first impression anyone

gets Lea and I and so you guys are so

like on it and like dialed and

everyone knows that and it just then

becomes the reflection of the entire

rest of the company I will go

next um I personally know Jason because

this guy is just incredible which

everyone here knows that like talking to

him after a conversation you can't help

but smile like Sam said he's just he

like drives you to want to be better by

how good is which is like very rare cuz

sometimes you can maybe see that as a

competition but it's like it's like a

different kind of com it's like let's

just all be good together and he brings

that energy so I like I just I I had to

nominate this guy cuz he's 10 out of 10

12 out of 10 one of zero great guy you

are incredibly industrious like you work

so hard but you're also

incredibly enthusiastic one more for Mr

Jason Jason moved to

Vegas

before he even started that says it all

right there like Jason is down as

for whatever needs to happen any extra

request anybody on the team makes

anything he's always like yeah cool like

like smile like everything everyone has

said is so true and I feel better

talking to you every time I see the

hunger that you have to like excel at

this craft it's contagious man like it's

really cool and it's really inspiring

for everybody on the team and then what

can I say about these

[Laughter]

three I I love you guys like honestly

right you guys make it really easy to

work with you every day as a as a unit

the way you all click like I've been in

a lot of high performing teams and seen

high performance teams before and

nothing really ranks anywhere close to

this and I think it's because so you

have the aptitude component but you have

the attitude component too like you want

to help everyone Jacob for example I

think you're obviously a master in sales

and our poror Co say that all the time

you've driven like just incredible

improvements across a wide variety of

different situations I remember we had a

one-onone once and you were like yeah my

whole attitude is just if I can keep

learning this is going to be fun for me

and that's like you in a nutshell and

then Lindsay I think like obviously your

experience in customer success value

that they want they want Lindsay to be

involved I also think you have like an

incredible muscle which is the ability

to coach and to bring people together

I've seen with our portfolio companies

but also I've seen it with the way you

brought Jacob and Tobias and myself all

together and I think that like that's

created that chemistry for us all to

work well together I wanted to say thank

you to Lindsay before the book launch

Ben passed the Baton over to me to run

the support team and and boy was that a

damn challenge I don't think I could

have done it if you hadn't come in and

helped I've learned a lot and I've

learned a lot from you so thank you so

much thank you this is just a love

between do you know Tobias I'll just

tell the story like Tobias basically ran

with the entire affiliate program for

the book launch we had 27,000 Affiliates

signed up and I found this out not

having prompted Tobias from like the

number 38 affiliate who's like hey I got

this email from your affiliate manager

and it was a personalized email from

Tobias that I had not asked him to send

urging them to email the list list again

with ideas of what they could do and

that was like number 38 and so he just

took the entire list and was like I'm

going to I'm going to push them and and

when we had like I don't know 20,000

opt-ins from Affiliates I was like this

is awesome he's like I think we can do

more my goal in doing the nominations

was the primer right is like you get

people to start thinking about the

day-to-day things that people do it's

like Okay so we've done this you know

like on text now we're going to share

this oneon-one

then like you sort of elevate the trust

and the vulnerability and then the goal

was by the end of the day people would

be really feeling that cohesiveness of

being together all day but of also kind

of Having learned more about ourselves

because everybody here because of the

standards that we have and that we hope

to continue to Aspire towards we all

want to keep pushing the envelope we all

want to get better and I feel like

that's a common theme of like doing

whatever you do exceptionally well and

it's cool for everyone here because we

all have outside perspective I of what

it was like not here but I feel like

that is the standard and and it's this

is almost like an acknowledgement of

that how do you increase communication

typically by increasing the

opportunities in which people can form

relationships with each other with where

we're growing as a company and how fast

we've added people to the team it just

provides a better environment to form

those relationships that you wouldn't

otherwise on Zoom Jimmy Michael Caleb

Neil like your teams freaking love you

guys like we're all I feel like we're

really close here and if any of you guys

want to speak up and speak to one of

your managers or something that you've

acknowledged about them and you would

like to say that here please do Neil

really help our portfolio partners and

brainstorm and just you're never not

supported I think your character is the

thing that I am most impressed by the

way that you think about everyone on the

YouTube team and then everyone

regardless on the team and the way that

you handle that I think is remarkable

this phrase that I'd heard a long time

ago and i' never been able to practice

until now of like pick your boss on your

job and like this is an incredible job

but like I think you really are such an

amazing boss and because you're a great

person I'm going to speak to Mr Jimmy

here cuz you have come in and taken so

much I think a lot of people don't

realize like you're doing that with

everybody on the team you care about

everybody like you've seen where there's

been a lot of changes that happened on

the team and you have constantly been

taking things off my plate that are not

within your job description like you're

so far along in your career and yet you

still are that hungry and still striving

to be better it's just such a great

example for everybody else on the team

Ben's perspective and just the way he

hears things and then kicks it back to

someone else you talk a lot I love

listening though I really do because I

always learn something from you Lea you

know thank you for always hearing me and

listening I think that's it's just one

of your special skills of course you

have many but you check in with me on

these in like the moments that I feel

like you know right and she just has

this like special talent to check in

right at that moment but you mean it we

want to know how we're doing and I would

just say that it's very unique that it's

not something that a leader of a company

both of y'all also do this very well but

I would just say in general Lea the best

part of my day today tomorrow is going

to be even better I think the biggest

thing that makes acquisition. comom a

unique place to work is it's the culture

and it's not this fake thing where

people are like oh great job you did

great there it's like really truly we

all look at each other and we all want

to push ourselves to the next level and

especially with the leadership team they

all really care about our development

the culture they're bringing in they're

going to bring something really really

big and I think I really do think it's

going to change the way people view

leadership I I think I just feel

grateful that everyone like wants to

work here and likes working here I feel

like I would hate my life if I walked

into this room and felt like there were

some people that want to be here I feel

grateful that I have more skill now that

I can actually communicate what we're

trying to do and put words

to what kind of culture we want to

build tomorrow I think we have four

presentations each person presenting is

presenting on what I would consider is

like their unfair Advantage like what

makes them so good at what they do and

so I'm really I'm really excited to

listen um and I'm excited for everyone

else to too so I think two things in my

mind which is like transfer Knowledge

from the leadership team to the entire

team

that would be beneficial for everybody

and then the second is reinforce our

culture and values like the nature of

acquisition. is that a lot of what we do

with our portfolio companies is explain

things teach things and so I can't think

of better people to teach the rest of

the team than the leaders on our team

that are doing that on a daily basis

when you have leaders that can speak to

the rest of the team they have context

and they can contextualize the lessons

which makes it easier for people to

remember and apply so the presentations

you know especially bends on buas es and

then it ends with a thunderous Round of

Applause got you it's giving

office that's the

[Music]

intro talk to somebody that you don't

normally get to talk portfolio team talk

to media media talk to

[Music]

portfolio getting to kind of like hear

and see different departments that don't

work directly together and aren't as

familiar with what each other are

working on and the efforts we are

putting in like everybody is putting it

on the line and like striving for

something better ultimately to help

accomplish the mission of acquisition.

comom the goal here is to talk about

building a personal brand as an employee

I felt like this was the best topic for

Caleb to discuss because I think it's

what he's best at he has built his

career off of his reputation so I wanted

to start with a quote from Mr Alex here

uh basically just recapping what he

spoke about yesterday brand is simply an

association between two or more things

for the brand to be successful the

audience has to understand one of them

here is a simple example I am going to

use my face here if you don't know me

you might make some assumptions about me

because I'm wearing like a plain black

hat or whatever but there's not a whole

lot to go off of if you add in a

Harley-Davidson logo on my hat that all

of a sudden changes how you perceive me

but it might ALS Al make you think that

I'm just a hipster who thinks that

Harley-Davidson is a great brand either

way it changes how you view me possibly

the biggest part though is that your

brand is not one thing it's a collection

of things that people associate you with

because you are building your personal

brand whether you want to or not we all

in this room have personal Brands

because yesterday we went around the

room and we read things about each other

and guessed and a lot of us guessed

right your personal brand affects how

your co-workers interact with you it

affects the opportunities that come your

way it's basically just reputation and

so a quick story time for how I have

used this when I was like 15 I read a

book it was called crushit by Gary

vaynerchuk and it basically predicted

that people would be able to make videos

and content and talk about things

they're interested in for a full-time

living and I quickly was like cool this

is what I'm going to do I was in a small

town in Washington and I had the

opportunity to work for a company that

he owned in New York City I went into it

with a very specific goal in mind and

that goal was to have my brand be Caleb

can do it I wanted them to come to the

conclusion that like Caleb can do that

Caleb can do that video Caleb can handle

that and so in order to do that I said

yes to almost everything any project

that came my way I think a lot of people

view personal branding as talking about

things rather than doing things that

form the opinions that others have of

your your brand and so it led to the

outcome that I was hoping for right and

so why did those big projects I was

hoping for come to me well because the

CEO Associated me with those things that

I listed on the previous slide does

anybody have any questions about this I

have a question yes please Alex was

talking about how Brands can shift over

time so do you think we can do that with

personal Brands too like and then how if

somebody maybe had some negative

associations that as they've grown and

mature that now they're wanting to

disassociate in favor of a more positive

how would you suggest they go about that

great question if we show up late to

meetings we can start showing up to

meetings on time and it changes our

personal brand it's literally just

making little shifts like that it just

like it clicked for me it's like if you

want career growth you almost need

reputational growth through your brand

growth in the company and I think

there's a lot of people in this room

that like they know that they want some

eventually to have a different

opportunity in the company or like

within the portfolio companies or like

as the company grows and it's like if

you know what that is then just like a

brand progresses over time your personal

brand must if you want to be a leader

start acting like a leader and you get

that brand and then you will get a

position 100% it's like applying the

influencer model that everyone does

externally on social within the company

you work within in order to accomplish

what you are actually wanting to

accomplish I remember when I was a young

younger younger man I went into a

catering company I was really I was the

youngest guy there and everybody there

was an adult and so I was like what am I

like and I came in really deliberately

like I want just everybody there to

think I'm the hardest working guy here

and so then the owner ended up putting

me on more jobs paying me more than the

adults and all this stuff cuz like I had

no ego about it um but it's just like

when I went to a different job I didn't

have that like what was my tagline and I

kind of like had to I faltered for a

little bit until I figured out yeah that

worked really well before coming in with

an intention I mean I think it's

interesting because the only reason we

even met was

because I put the posting up for the

position and then Ed turny texted me and

was like I know this guy he's got a

crazy reputation he's from Gary Vee and

he just moved to Vegas like he would be

perfect and I was like how do you even

know and he was like I just know like

that's what everybody says and then we

got on the call and then I was like oh

it is what everybody says like

you're awesome and then and now

here we are filming and making content

becomes really important in building a

brand because it is the way to amplify

the brand that currently exists the real

real is the documentation side of things

is to show the expertise p and show the

demonstration of it I think it's far

more powerful to see Leila in a bad day

and how she handles that and how she

communicates with Alex how she

communicates with the team how she makes

decisions when she is really stressed

and in my opinion it is the closest

thing that we can get to mentorship at

scale is being able to see them

practically handle that rather than just

talk about it I think for people

watching if you have a business or

you're aspiring to have a business if

you're wondering what does a good good

leadership team look like like I can

confidently say there is one on display

here now Ben our managing director of

Business Development is going to give

his presentation on five cognitive

biases so welcome we're going to talk

today about behavioral biases our mental

shortcuts or behavioral biases can lead

to poor decision-making and bad outcomes

that negatively impact your career and

learning strategies to mitigate

behavioral biases can help you and your

team kick ass and tick names theistic

impulses gut feelings to quickly decide

it works fast but it is prone to error

however thinking slow is a very

deliberate approach one that is aware of

process considers all the ways in which

you might screw something up five biases

number one status quo bias so this is

the preference for the maintenance of a

current state and this is an emotional

bias because it is an emotional need for

things to remain as they are now and

let's talk about some mitigating

strategies for status quo bias when

you're making a decision as a group

especially always ask the question what

decision represents the status quo

ensure you have options that are not the

status quo number two group think group

think is a behavioral bias that occurs

within a group of people whereby the

desire for Harmony in the group

suppresses dissenting viewpoints and

critical thinking so let's talk

mitigating strategy reward Rich

discussion and debate if you've made a

decision seek external opinions someone

who is not in the group it's like media

team like ask me I might have no idea

but at least I come at it from a

different point of view confirmation

bias individuals tend to interpret

information in a way that confirms their

pre-existing beliefs and preferences

this is cognitive because it is all

about how we process seek out and store

and then even recall information so

force yourself to gather opinions that

make you feel uncomfortable number four

and I picked this for the media team

this is called Peak and bias people

largely judge an experience based on how

they felt at its emotional Peak and then

how they felt at the very end of the

experience so this is again a cognitive

bias because it is about how information

is stored in your brain and then how you

pull it out hindsight bias after an

event has occurred people often believe

they would have or even did predict it

overcoming this bias is critical to

becoming a successful career learner so

let's talk about mitigating document

decisions write a hypothesis if we do X

Y will occur and Z will happen and there

are some strategies that work for all

behavioral biases number one seeking

diverse and Outsider perspectives on big

decisions challenge your own decisions

and what did it push us to believe and

what are the risks therein and now

thunderous Round of

Applause in a group environment I think

it's like a subset of like group think

is that people have competing priorities

at the same time that's something that

I've been trying to think through lately

is like how do we as a group get

everyone's opinion on ideas unaffected

by the opinions of others about their

opinion it's something I struggle with I

remember Lea saying on the Monday

meeting before we got here I think I've

met all of you in person and I remember

thinking I think I've met like four of

you in person I am uh on a team that is

Justin and I um so I've craved that time

with the team but then getting such a

broader experience of everybody else has

been um really fantastic we are a remote

company and so I think like a lot of

people lack the connection that I get

interaction with the team a lot most

people don't have that though and so I

look at it as that is probably where I

feel like people will get benefit and so

I think it's realizing all the Dynamics

that exist in organization and being

able to to educate everybody on how they

affect the environment so Neil our

portfolio operating partner is going to

give his presentation on the importance

of psychological safety in the workplace

so I'm going be talking today about the

secret to high performance teams you

guys might have heard of Aristotle he

was a a philosopher and he said the

whole is greater than the sum of its

parts now what he was referring to was

was us as humans the team should also

act like a human right it should be more

than the sum of each individual

component naturally I want to start by

playing a game it's called

psychologically safe or not

psychologically

safe so there's a senior engineer who

would just talk and talk everyone was

scared the hardest part was that

everyone liked this guy outside the

group setting but whenever they got

together it's team something happening

that made the culture go wrong so how

many say high

performing no one absolutely well you

guys are 100% right this came from a not

high performing team this one's a little

tricky so but we'll see what you guys

say at a re recent offsite a teammate

stood and described some health issues

of her own then another discussed a

difficult breakup our team leader told

us he had stage 4 cancer it was really

hard but a really special moment all

right High

performing okay you guys are great I

actually was a little confused by this

one because I was like how much is too

much information but this is actually

comes from a very high performing team

so I think what we're recognizing here

by the way is that I was going to Define

psychological safety when I was starting

this presentation I was like I let me

come up with like some dictionary

definition of what psychological safety

is but actually what we just went

through here are all examples of good

psychologically safe teams and not good

not psychologically safe teams that

everyone got it almost unanimously right

so in teams with high psychological

safety you are comfortable with the

other teammates you can take risks and

the last thing which is really important

is that this is like it's like mental

health for the individual psychological

safety is like mental health for the

team

a few elements that I want to highlight

of what it means to be psychologically

safe so the cool thing was Project

Aristotle Google they noticed this about

high performing teams and they're

they've came come up with like seven

characteristics of high performing

psychologically safe teams the first is

a learning mindset openness to difficult

decisions there's acceptance of others

there's safety from risk there's

collaboration support no one on this

team would deliberately act in a way

that undermines my efforts and so what I

would like everyone to do if possible is

let's commit for the next quarter to

picking one action just one of these

eight actions that you think you can

improve on and committing to it okay

does that work how we respond to

people's bids in the companies is that's

something that I I was telling Justin

like I need to work on because I think

lately I've had a lot of meetings and I

come back and there's like a 200 slacks

and then I'm just like normally I go

through everything and I respond and

I've just felt busier and so I just

don't and then I'm like wow I missing

out on so many areas where I could

respond to those bids and I feel like uh

I need to work on that people say things

because they want a reaction and so if

the reaction's not given eventually they

won't say anything that's why I think

people who have a hard time accepting

compliments it's dangerous because you

eventually will get none because if your

reaction is poor or you reject them

people won't give them to you anymore

and then you think you're not good but

it's simply that your reaction it's so

easy I think when you're in a remote

world to just focus on just work but I

think when you're in person like this

and you you intersperse a remote working

environment with situations like this we

get to connect with others there's

there's such a there's like a powerful

more interpersonal connection that you

get to Foster that's missing last one

last presentation how are we feeling

yeah okay and lastly Sheila our managing

director of people is going to give her

presentation on how to have hard

conversations this was something that

she felt was my unfair advantage and

that is having hard conversations 70% of

hard conversations are really

self-awareness and so we focus Focus

though on the 30% that is the delivery

types of conversations that are hard the

first one is called what happened the

second one is called identity what does

a what happened conversation sound like

literally you're trying to figure out

what the hell just happened and

everybody's like showing up with their

own sets of facts and they're ready to

like hash it out and tell you why you

are not right so maybe think about

impact and make the conversation about

impact because if you focus on intention

it's just going to take you down this

path of building distrust or breaking

existing trust the last of the three is

called

identity when you run into an identity

problem because it's really easy to fall

into this notion that I'm either good or

bad I'm competent or incompetent and

this person has now said this thing

about me and that means that they

think that I'm an idiot the way to go

about that is to start by acknowledging

hey this is a big project there there's

a lot at stake here but this doesn't

identify or Define either one of us as

people and

remember 70% of this is between your

ears and that's good because that means

it is a skill that you can develop and

practice and work on so you have like

the two curves that are inverted with

latency and specificity so the later it

is the more specific it has to be the

sooner it is the more General can be

like with the example that Le was

talking about with the uh the book

launch vendor who her communication it's

like when we always ask like what's the

goal of this like what problem am I

solving her goal in that communication

was for him to accept some level of

responsibility not to really change his

behavior it's like saying hey um Johnny

you've been kind of slacking lately that

doesn't change their behavior that's why

I think the listing of the facts is so

important in the discussion planning

It's like because that's irrefutable and

I think it's like in going through all

this like the one message I think is

underlying too is like when we're having

these conversations like what I think

you do really well is like seek not to

punish the person but find a solution if

you want to make sure hey this was a bad

like this did not have a good outcome

for either of us the it's address the

facts and then what can we do to move

forward I just think back to like 8

years ago when we started our first

company and we had our first meet up and

it was just me talking the whole time

and there wasn't a lot of connection and

probably a decent amount of like

punishing events that occurred like I've

never wanted that but I have lacked the

skill to create what we have now and to

see the team just work so well together

and love being together it felt kind of

like I did it thank you all for

participating and like it's just been so

cool because you know I feel like I feel

like you guys all genuinely want to be

here which is a great um it's like

there's just been times in my past where

you know maybe I didn't have the skill

to build a team where people did all

genu want to be there and so it feels

really cool to feel that in this room

and just like how down you guys are for

all the presentations for all the

activities we're doing and it was just

such a shiny example of I think like I

would be proud to show portfolio company

like this was our acquisition. comom

Meetup I wouldn't want to show up to my

office every day and feel like I have to

be a different version of Lea and I

don't want people to feel like they have

to show up to work every day and be a

different version of

themselves I create an environment where

people feel safe to be themselves as

well