Host Steven Pesavento interviews leadership and communication expert Jason Greer on navigating activism in the workplace. They discuss the challenges facing employers and employees when it comes to activism and protests, the role of unions, and the importance of communication and open dialogue to create a culture where all perspectives are heard and everyone can work together towards a common goal.
Key Takeaways
Resources Mentioned
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About our Guest:
Jason Greer is the founder and president of Greer Consulting, Inc., a leading labor relations and management consulting firm. He is a speaker, trainer, and coach, helping individuals and organizations develop strong communication skills, leadership, and problem-solving abilities. Jason has over 15 years of experience in the field and has worked with a wide range of clients, including Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations, and government agencies.
Download your free strategy guide, The Passive Investor Playbook at http://www.vonfinch.com/playbook
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;08;14
Steven Pesavento
Welcome back to the name your Numbers show presented by the investor mindset. My name's Steven Passive and joined today. I have Jason Greer in the studio. How you doing today, Jason?
00;00;08;17 - 00;00;10;17
Jason Greer
Doing awesome, buddy. Thanks for having me.
00;00;10;20 - 00;00;34;19
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, I'm glad to have you. I know you're doing some amazing things in the space of leadership and communication training, working with organizations, helping them get the most and treat their employees in the best way. And so I think that's really going to play well into kind of the conversation that we often have on the investor mindset about creating a great life and using your business and investments to do so.
00;00;34;22 - 00;00;55;25
Steven Pesavento
So we have a lot of business owners who are always looking to improve and you know, the best businesses run because they've got great employees and great team members. So I think that's going to be really great to get into. Before we get into all of that. Tell me, Jason, what was one of the first things you named, one of the first goals or targets that you set for yourself?
00;00;55;27 - 00;00;59;24
Steven Pesavento
And talk to us a little bit about the path towards going after that.
00;00;59;27 - 00;01;18;00
Jason Greer
Man Great question. I'd say on the financial side, I dreamt of what it was like to hit $1,000,000. And when I hit that goal, I felt like anything was possible. And I remember hearing less Brown say, you know, the hardest things to hit $1,000,000. And then once you hit $1,000,000, it just kind of comes after that because it becomes an energetic thing.
00;01;18;03 - 00;01;35;29
Jason Greer
So I say that on the financial side, that was awesome. Say that in terms of my goals, man, I have been able to grow my company. We're now in the top 5% of employee and labor relations consultants in the country, and I started my company in 2005 with legitimately $100 in my pocket, and that was money that my parents had given me.
00;01;36;01 - 00;01;40;09
Jason Greer
And to grow to where we are now, it's just been incredible. So it's been fun.
00;01;40;12 - 00;02;01;06
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, it's incredible to go out and kind of create your own thing and and leave the old way of working for a company behind and taking that risk, that moment that you had made, that million dollars you talk about with Lester Brown set about the energy of how that follows. What was that energy and what did that feel like?
00;02;01;09 - 00;02;20;21
Jason Greer
And it felt like on on one side it was exhilarating. On the other side, it was humbling, right? It was exhilarating because I did it. And if I could do this like I'm a social worker, I got my bachelor's degree in social work and a master's degree in social work and a master's degree in human resources management. But at heart, I will always be a social worker.
00;02;20;24 - 00;02;39;13
Jason Greer
So I came out of undergrad that came out of grad school with the hope that I can make $40,000, right? Because that was that was the pinnacle for me. So to be exponentially above that, it was just exhilarating. The humbling side was recognizing how hard I had to work to achieve the things that I've been able to achieve.
00;02;39;16 - 00;03;02;15
Jason Greer
Because I think that, you know, when I meet arrogant people, there's nothing I'm confident there's nothing wrong being confident. But when I'm being arrogant people, I'm like, You clearly have no ability to recall how hard it is to become what you become. Right. And so I remember those times sleeping in the back of my car, you know, back then in a bathroom at Amoco stations.
00;03;02;15 - 00;03;20;07
Jason Greer
Right. And I'm not saying that I was homeless. I'm saying that I was on the road doing these gigs. And when I was nothing in terms of name recognition, when I was nothing in terms of these clients seeing me as anything more than just a cog in the wheel. So I never forget those moments because it keeps me grounded as I end up.
00;03;20;10 - 00;03;46;24
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, it's so important to be able to go back to that place because it's really easy to forget how hard the path was to get where you were or the way that you used to think, because you almost leave that version of yourself behind as you're on that path towards growth. So being able to hold on to enough of that, to keep that in your mind so that you can have appreciation and empathy for others so that they might also be able to follow along in your path?
00;03;46;26 - 00;04;15;06
Jason Greer
100%, man. I mean, it's gosh, now we're talking my legacy going right? And oftentimes when people talk about legacy, they talk in terms of their kids, the direct descendants, the legacy looks like the amount of people that I've touched. Right. I mean, I just look, I have 100 mentors and 99 of them I've never met. And because I believe in books, I believe in stories, I believe in learning what worked well for someone, what didn't work so well for someone so I can apply it in my life.
00;04;15;08 - 00;04;26;15
Jason Greer
I mean, it's just if you hear the energy in my voice is because I'm so excited about the life that I have because it's like that I went out to make. And yeah, yeah, it's been incredible.
00;04;26;17 - 00;05;00;10
Steven Pesavento
I think there's something so interesting just to go on a little side quest here, because you know, we're at a time where young people are experiencing extremely difficult times. People are the disparity between those who are wealthy and those who are not wealthy and those with a set of beliefs that empower them and those who don't. It seems like a really beautiful time for more of this type of message to get out to those people who want to change their circumstances.
00;05;00;14 - 00;05;25;13
Steven Pesavento
From your perspective, how could how could we begin to change society by getting those same beliefs that you talk about, the same beliefs that allowed you to be able to go from somebody to somebody that people no trust look up to and you've created some great wealth. How can we as a society start passing along those beliefs to the people who have frankly had a very tough time?
00;05;25;16 - 00;05;43;12
Jason Greer
Man The first thing I'll say is going to those people who are having a tough time, who are going through it and letting them know we see, right? Because when I think about the times where I was really struggling, it wasn't just the struggle, it wasn't just the financial struggle. It was I felt like I was invisible, right?
00;05;43;12 - 00;06;00;07
Jason Greer
Like, people love a winner, but they hate a loser. And if you're sitting back feeling like a loser, you're permeating that in terms of your thoughts, in terms of what you're putting out there. So I think the first thing is embracing people who are going through a tough time, finding out what they need and then giving it to them to the best of your ability.
00;06;00;10 - 00;06;21;21
Jason Greer
But it's also working with people's mindsets because your truth is not your problem. Truth is not found. Take time and truth is found in books. And I say this to people all the time. The truth is found in books because, as Tony Robbins says successfully. That's right. And it's. Go get it. Embrace it, man. I read Never forget.
00;06;21;21 - 00;06;39;15
Jason Greer
I read The Hills Thinking Grow Rich and I read the book ten times and I read that book ten times and literally wrote out my position statement. I forgot exactly how I put it, but just read out a bunch of affirmations and I would say it all the time. I would say success is my birthright. Success is my birthright.
00;06;39;15 - 00;07;06;04
Jason Greer
And my ex-wife at the time was like our success, your birthright. And she's no longer my wife, which, you know, is the X, But I had to believe it because when I started to believe it, it permeated at a cellular level to the point where I didn't know what was coming. I know what I hope was coming. But what has come in my life has been exponentially greater than anything I could have ever dreamt up because are legitimate books, because they're like gateways.
00;07;06;08 - 00;07;10;00
Jason Greer
They're gateways to something. And a better life than you could ever imagine.
00;07;10;02 - 00;07;30;14
Steven Pesavento
Yeah. And. And the reason I think this is so important is because there's so much. We're on the edge of a civil war in this country. People who are upset about the way that things are. And people want to keep things the way that they are so they can stay in positions of power and wealth and and control.
00;07;30;21 - 00;08;06;17
Steven Pesavento
And it's through these kind of beliefs that we're talking about right here that are available in books at the library. Yet so few people know or have the mentors or the guidance to really believe that that can really change their life. So I just want to reinforce to all the listeners, as well as thanking you for having a conversation about it, because I really do think that that is the core and that leads directly into leadership within our own teams because, you know, the best companies are made up of the best people and often times it takes a great leader to be able to pull out that greatness and show them a better way of
00;08;06;17 - 00;08;13;00
Steven Pesavento
thinking while encouraging them and supporting them on their personal growth. From your perspective, what makes a great leader.
00;08;13;02 - 00;08;35;21
Jason Greer
Someone who understands that they are human, right? Someone who understands that the people that they lead are human and really someone who understands how important it is to master the little things, not the big things, you know, not the big public demonstrations of your love and support for your employees. But it's the little things. It's the constant check in with your folks if you get it wrong.
00;08;35;24 - 00;08;56;16
Jason Greer
Let's be real. If you happen to raise your voice to an employee, going back to that employee an hour later, 2 hours later, a day later, whatever the case may be saying, can we just sit down like I'm going through it? You're driving me crazy. I'm sorry, but you deserve for me to show up better than how I showed up.
00;08;56;19 - 00;09;15;27
Jason Greer
That employee might still be pissed off at you. That employee might still be hurt by it, but they will at least respect the fact that you owned it. Then you want to listen to what they have to say in terms of how they received your words. I want to go back to something you said earlier about how this country is on the verge of a civil war.
00;09;16;00 - 00;09;37;12
Jason Greer
I think the civil wars are already here. And when we look at the Kaiser Permanente strikes, you look at the aborted ups strike, you look at the current UAW strike. The reason why we're seeing strike level activities around the country is because people are getting to the point where they're demanding more from their employers, because the employers are demanding more from their employees.
00;09;37;12 - 00;10;01;13
Jason Greer
They're just not paying them at the clip that the employees feel like they deserve. So this us versus them divide that Occupy Wall Street attempted to talk about back in the day is actually now happening and we're seeing it. You know, I deal with negotiations all the time. And one of the things that amazes me is the amount of information that employees have about businesses today that they didn't have 30 years ago because there's no such thing as the Internet.
00;10;01;15 - 00;10;28;25
Jason Greer
So when employees are sitting when they're talking to their employers, they're actually anticipating that employers are going to give them more than what the employers generally do, because like employers are requesting and requiring employees to give better products, better services, better goods and to get them out on time. Employers are sitting back saying you're making exponentially more money than we can average amount off of our labor, but you haven't given us raises in 3 to 5 years.
00;10;28;27 - 00;10;51;20
Jason Greer
That doesn't make sense. It doesn't track and you can't continue to come back and say it's not in the budget, it's on the budget because we see the budget in the budget is huge, right? So we now live in a day and age where employees are asking as much from employers, employers asking of their employees. And until we can get both sides to come together as peacefully as possible, rather, we're going to see more strikes.
00;10;51;20 - 00;11;15;19
Jason Greer
We're going to see more walk ups. We're going to see more people just basically deciding to pull LeBron James and take the ball and take their talents to South Beach. Right. When people are just they're sick of it. And if the companies response is, well, you're lazy and that only flows for maybe 2% of the population, The rest of the population is trying to hustle pretty hard, right?
00;11;15;23 - 00;11;23;03
Jason Greer
Because they got mortgages, they got kids that they want to send to school. They want to give their families a better life. So I think it's just become to a point.
00;11;23;06 - 00;11;46;06
Steven Pesavento
It's a very difficult it's a very difficult place for the employee to be because inflation has gone up dramatically. The cost of living has gone up, and the cost of living in comparison with the wages of those people in the lower to middle class have been hammered over the last 40 or 50 or 60 years. And so it's a very difficult place to be.
00;11;46;08 - 00;12;13;09
Steven Pesavento
What from my perspective as an employer, I run a small business paying people more money when there isn't those kind of margins is very difficult. And so we're already competing against these big businesses that are already paying higher salaries. What the fear that I have when a company like UPS raises the wages of their drivers to, you know, above $200,000.
00;12;13;12 - 00;12;32;21
Steven Pesavento
The concern that I have is that now that cost of that service is going to have to go up in relation to that. From your perspective, how are you seeing it? And and I'm curious to kind of hear what the other side is, because I know you've worked with a lot of unions and you help support people coming together to be able to bridge that gap on communication.
00;12;32;24 - 00;12;59;20
Jason Greer
Yeah, I'll say this from the perspective of the unions, they don't care because to be honest, they don't. For them, the proof is in the pudding. And for them, the pudding is getting those employees more money because that helps them to organize other companies. So they don't care what the impact is for you as a small business. They don't care what the impact is for, you know, companies that are 100% dependent upon UPS in terms of their in order to get their products, goods and services out, they just don't care.
00;12;59;23 - 00;13;02;10
Jason Greer
What I say is that.
00;13;02;12 - 00;13;16;10
Steven Pesavento
But do they care about the impact that it will make towards U.P.S. if if they're no if they end up losing customer share because of those rise of rise of rates?
00;13;16;12 - 00;13;46;19
Jason Greer
Yeah, potentially. If UPS can actually demonstrate that they're losing customers. I mean, part of the challenge that UPS had in terms of trying to to cry broke when the Teamsters Union was asking them for more money was the fact that like you're talking about, they're putting out 28 million pieces of parcels per day and they're doing such a high volume that DHL and FedEx couldn't even keep up in the event that they had to take even a third of UPS's volume while the employees were on a strike.
00;13;46;25 - 00;14;03;13
Jason Greer
Right. UPS has got it. The challenges that before you as a small business or any small business owners that are out there from the perspective of a union, they're not going to care because UPS is doing business hand over fist. Right. The challenge for this one business.
00;14;03;18 - 00;14;30;07
Steven Pesavento
Is the challenge that I see is I think that makes perfect sense, right? Both parties, this really goes into the communication piece, which I feel like you have a really great perspective on, is that one party is saying, Hey, I need the most money. How can I get my people the most money? They have their goal. And then the business says, How can I keep my expenses as low as possible to either support having cash on hand to be able to survive or to be able to produce a return for investors?
00;14;30;09 - 00;14;59;16
Steven Pesavento
So there those two ideas are at odds. So they have very different they're not really aligned on their their core interests. But I've always thought, you know, these unions, it would be smart for them to be negotiating for equity in these companies so that the decisions that they're making lead towards either great returns for them. Like if the union owned a big piece of UPS, then the union would care about what the results were of those things.
00;14;59;23 - 00;15;10;07
Steven Pesavento
But I haven't seen that. I don't know. Have you seen any kind of argument for Labor to be able to take ownership in a company or be able to earn shares in a firm like that?
00;15;10;09 - 00;15;32;18
Jason Greer
Yeah, great question. And I need to go back and do my research because I remember there was a period where the Teamsters did have a significant portion of strike up stock. So they have an investment because I remember reading this article, I'm a former border agent, the National Labor Relations Board, and I remember reading this article and it's right around it's probably around maybe 23, 24 where the Teamsters were considering taking ups on a strike.
00;15;32;18 - 00;16;03;07
Jason Greer
And they said it is it's folly for the company because it's the Teamsters going out on strike against themselves. Right. Because they own a percentage of what I say that is what I would love to see happen for the future labor relations is that unions do have a perspective that you just brought up where if I'm going to be an asset to the company, I have to be a value added asset, right?
00;16;03;10 - 00;16;39;27
Jason Greer
And you see this happen all the time in the trades unions. I mean, it's like some of the best workers you're ever going to find are union trained electricians, union trained plumbers, union trained carpenters, because they get that training. That in many ways is the union's way of investing in the industry. What I see, though, is and it's not to bash, I'm just telling you what I see is that so many labor unions are at this point where they're talking at ear, but you're not really providing any viable solutions as to how you're going to make this business more effective because of how to make the business more effective and make the employees that much
00;16;39;29 - 00;16;42;07
Jason Greer
harder to resist.
00;16;42;09 - 00;17;05;00
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, I think it's a very difficult place to be because I think there is a strong reason that unions exist. But from a perspective, it always seems like the union is negotiating for the lowest common denominator of their employee base versus allowing the market to dictate that, Oh, you're a much better employee, you're going to get paid much better as a result.
00;17;05;03 - 00;17;25;17
Steven Pesavento
And there's such a focus on protecting that middle to lower tier because you know that that's what their job is. Their job is to keep these people employed. And so I've always been, you know, I've been a supporter of unions and I've gone the other direction towards not really being supportive of unions. And I get the reason why it's important.
00;17;25;20 - 00;17;59;06
Steven Pesavento
Yet it seems like the perspective that I've gathered to this point is that all they do is hurt those businesses because that the goal and the purpose of a business existing is to make a profit. That's the goal of the purpose of the union, is to get their people paid as much as they possibly can, which then ends up leading to it not being a competitive environment and it making more sense to outsource or bring in new technologies or find things like this.
00;17;59;06 - 00;18;06;01
Steven Pesavento
And so there has to be a better way of approaching that. But, you know, I don't think we'll see that until the system breaks. And fortunately.
00;18;06;04 - 00;18;31;29
Jason Greer
Yeah, and unfortunately, it's a system. You know, people talk about old school versus new school. It's the same school. Right. And unfortunately, it's the adversarial nature of labor relations. And I tell business leaders this all the time, if you want to continue to operate in the old way of doing things, good luck to you, because the future has already caught up to us and then some.
00;18;32;01 - 00;18;55;05
Jason Greer
Right. And especially when you look at companies like one of the big pushes within the General Motors Ford Stellantis argument with UAW is the fact that these organizations want to move toward, you know, electrical vehicles. And when you look at the facilities that they're building, a lot of these facilities are powered by robots. Mm hmm. The union can make the argument that that's unfair.
00;18;55;05 - 00;19;08;15
Jason Greer
You're putting good men and women out of work. The company's going to make the argument, well, robots are not going to go out on strike and cost us hundreds of millions of dollars per day like you are. So it's the chicken versus the egg conversation, right?
00;19;08;18 - 00;19;34;02
Steven Pesavento
Yeah. So moving off of this and more towards in in general from a leadership standpoint, when you're having challenges within an organization and you've got, you know, a ton of great people and you've got an existing culture, but you happen to have people who are coming up and we've seen this at companies like Coinbase, we've seen it at Apple, we've seen it at very large companies.
00;19;34;05 - 00;20;03;24
Steven Pesavento
From your perspective, what's the right approach towards dealing with activism that's happening within a company? You know, Coinbase, for example, they came out, they said, Hey, we're here to do one specific purpose. We're here to focus on creating a cryptocurrency exchange. We're out here to have political views or take activism roles while we've seen it. Other companies, they maybe haven't necessarily put that foot down in the stand and said, you know, anything, they've gone along with the employees.
00;20;03;26 - 00;20;17;08
Steven Pesavento
From your perspective, what's the right approach? What is the right way to think about that when you're in a large organization or even a small one and you have a group of people who maybe are disagreeing on what the focus of the organization needs to be?
00;20;17;10 - 00;20;38;04
Jason Greer
I tell you what I tell my clients, because we saw this happen, especially around the George Floyd moment where you had the Black Lives Matter versus all lives matter versus blue Lives matter sort of political, you know, politically charged conversations that were happening within organizations. When I said to my clients and I stood by this across the board was, you have to meet this head on first.
00;20;38;04 - 00;21;02;12
Jason Greer
You have to identify in terms of your your executive team, where do we stand on these issues? Right. With the understanding that you're never going to appease everybody. But you know, to the perspective of Coinbase, we're here to do our job. That's all we care about. Yeah, that's cool. But if you're not careful, you're essentially creating these these seeds of resentment that you can't see until it blows up on you.
00;21;02;14 - 00;21;19;27
Jason Greer
So what I say to people is I'm a big fan of town halls, but when I say town hall, I'm not talking in terms of getting all your employees together on a Zoom call. I'm saying meeting with people maybe 5 to 10 people at a time inherent in viewpoints, while also suggesting what your viewpoint is in terms of the organization.
00;21;19;29 - 00;21;43;04
Jason Greer
Because when all is said and done, it's awesome. If you believe that Black Lives Matter, I believe Black lives matter. But the reality is that we still have to provide for our customers. And if the political conversation is getting it to the point where it's overlapping on our ability to actually do our work, then our policies, then our virtues, then our values are completely skewed, let's get back to work.
00;21;43;04 - 00;21;50;07
Jason Greer
But I need you to know that I hear you. And I think it really comes down to the fact that I hear you and really solidifying that in the minds of the employees.
00;21;50;09 - 00;22;23;26
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, it makes sense. There's definitely pros and cons to both sides. You know, the pros of Coinbase coming out and saying, Hey, we're here to do this. If it's more important to you to have activism in your career, let's let's work together to find you a new position and essentially clear out some of that in from their environment versus on the other side, we've seen companies where, you know, employees have essentially taken over control and ownership and direction versus what the leadership wants.
00;22;24;03 - 00;22;42;13
Steven Pesavento
And so when you're dealing with a problem like that, how do you go and approach your team and be able to set the direction together of what really is most important and what is going to get us to the end of the day, what the purpose is of of running this business.
00;22;42;16 - 00;23;01;24
Jason Greer
Recognize the need to cover old ground. When I say recognizing the need to cover all ground, it's setting your team down the same old We might agree, we might disagree, but I want us to agree peacefully and I want us to disagree peacefully. But in the end, we need to make sure that whatever it is we're discussing here, I want you to get your perspective out.
00;23;01;27 - 00;23;17;28
Jason Greer
But it still comes back to the fact that we have to do our jobs. Part of the reason why you see some of these companies that are being taken over sort of the the activism within the companies that are that are falling prey to this is because the leaders are so scared to make a mistake that they just don't say anything.
00;23;17;28 - 00;23;42;15
Jason Greer
Or if they say something, they come across very passive. The moment you crump it people are sharks and the moment they smell blood in the water, it's on, it's game on. Be strong and who you are. Acknowledge. Look, I don't have all the answers and my viewpoint might be different in your viewpoint, but that's the beautiful thing about America and that's the beautiful thing about our workplace.
00;23;42;18 - 00;24;00;17
Jason Greer
I want to hear what you have to say, but I'm going to share an opinion. Also, if you attempt to shout me down, understand? I'll take it for about a minute and then I need you to remember I'm your boss. You're my employee. We agreed in the beginning that we're going to agree peacefully. We're going to disagree peacefully.
00;24;00;22 - 00;24;22;07
Jason Greer
And how you're going about disagreeing with me is not peaceful whatsoever. And you have broken the terms conditions of this group, if that's how you're going to continue to be going forward. This might not be the organization for you or for the rest of the employees. This is a place where we are seen. This is a place where we're heard because I want to hear from you in a manner which I can understand it.
00;24;22;09 - 00;24;44;08
Jason Greer
What I'm talking about here is setting the rules and the guidelines for how we're going to have these kinds of conversations and what we find is that employees step to that because, you know, it's easy. Social media is full of the dollar amounts, right, Because a lot of moms get the attention. But the vast majority of people want to be heard and they want to be peaceful in terms of what they have to say.
00;24;44;10 - 00;24;48;18
Jason Greer
They just need to know that they can trust you and in that you're going to hear them.
00;24;48;20 - 00;25;10;22
Steven Pesavento
It's interesting how the more that we discuss this and more than I've heard you speak in other in other avenues, the more that the same things that you need to do with your employees and with the leadership is the same things we should all be doing out in society, with our friends, with our family. We should be listening, we should be hearing.
00;25;10;22 - 00;25;30;10
Steven Pesavento
We should be seeking to understand a different perspective. And even if we disagree, we should be open to being able to hear things that we don't like in the opportunity so that we can better understand it and potentially, potentially even change that viewpoint, if not at the very least, find some common ground.
00;25;30;12 - 00;25;49;29
Jason Greer
100%, because one of us and done like we come from, I'm sure we come from different walks of life. But the thing that we have in common is that we're still alive. The thing that we have in common is that we both have brains, and our brains are consistently telling us a story about the outside world. And 99% of what our brain is telling us is not true.
00;25;50;01 - 00;26;14;28
Jason Greer
But the moment I open myself up to actually hear what you have to say in the moment, you open yourself up to hear what I have to say. Now we're getting closer and closer to at least coming to some type of common ground where we're not going to agree with everything, but we're going to agree with enough things, end the at the core of that is I respect your right to speak your mind and I respect the heart and the passion, what you speak at.
00;26;15;00 - 00;26;33;21
Jason Greer
Right. That's what it comes down to. You know, when we talk about leadership, leadership today is no different than leadership was yesterday. People work for money, but the dash for respect in their day, for recognition. But how you want to be respected might be different than how the next guy wants to be respected and how you want to be recognized might be different than how the next person wants to be recognized.
00;26;33;23 - 00;26;39;14
Jason Greer
But the key is creating that open heart and that open mind toward understanding that other person.
00;26;39;17 - 00;26;59;06
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, I think with more of an open heart, an open mind, there'd be a lot less fighting because a lot more of us would understand one another. They'd be open to it. And maybe I'm waxing on an old time, but I remember it being like that, and I hope that we can somehow find our way back there. So you've built an incredible business.
00;26;59;06 - 00;27;11;19
Steven Pesavento
You've had a lot of success. What do you see is next for you? What's the focus point on what life you're building towards, both in your business and in your personal life?
00;27;11;22 - 00;27;35;24
Jason Greer
Fantastic question. I'll say the focus is on reminding myself to have fun, right? Because I'm so like this. This past weekend was probably the most amazing experience. I had in my life. I was inducted to my high school Hall of Fame, and it was my high school return high school North and St Louis has always been near and dear to my heart.
00;27;35;26 - 00;27;58;19
Jason Greer
Being there with, you know, being able to publicly celebrate my parents. My father was 86 years old. My mother's 49 years old. Okay. She's 82, but I say 40. And I had right for her having my family there, having my friends there, and being celebrated for my accomplishments beyond my time at high school made me recognize that it's all been worth it.
00;27;58;21 - 00;28;21;25
Jason Greer
Right? And I walked out of that experience feeling like I want more of this, not just in terms of the award, I want more of this in terms of I get so siloed because I work so much. I'm on the road about 220 days out of the year and sometimes life for me can look like a hotel, an airport, my client in the back to the hotel, then back to the airport.
00;28;21;27 - 00;28;50;29
Jason Greer
So really working toward having more of a holistic perspective on what life is about. We're looking at incredible expansion. My business, which I'm really excited about, brought us wonderful team members and I'm already at, you know, close to the top of the employee relations game. And I want to take my company to the point where when I am dead and buried and I've gone on to be with my ancestors, that business is still going, is still thriving.
00;28;50;29 - 00;28;54;21
Jason Greer
It's still impacting people's lives. So it's really my goal.
00;28;54;23 - 00;29;10;20
Steven Pesavento
We could add a whole episode on what we're going to spend the next 2 minutes talking about. We'll have to have a follow up conversation. But what does that path look like for you right now? Being somebody who is a consultant, you're on the road 20 days out of the month. You've been doing that for a very long time.
00;29;10;22 - 00;29;33;21
Steven Pesavento
What things have you put in place or invested since either external to your business or within your business that's going to allow you to have more of that balance to enjoy the life that you've you've been gifted, that you've created for yourself. What are you looking at doing and how does that change? Change? Look?
00;29;33;24 - 00;29;51;06
Jason Greer
Great question, man. If you had asked me that question a year ago, I have been like, I have no idea. Let's cut this tape. I'm done. Right. Well, when I've been able to put in place is some wonderful assistants who have really helped me in terms of help me to offload a lot of the work. My team is incredible.
00;29;51;06 - 00;30;08;18
Jason Greer
I have a team of 22 consultants that I person trained, but they came with a great deal of experience as it is. And so dumping out of the field and recognizing that I don't have to be out there, my job is to make sure that I'm rainmaker overseeing things. But I also have a wonderful project manager. Some place has been great.
00;30;08;18 - 00;30;31;18
Jason Greer
I say from the wealth management side, it's really having people that I trust who that's what they do and they do a fantastic job with it and they allow me to do what I do and that's employee relations so that I don't have to worry about that on a daily basis, making sure that when I see people on trust, I'm not saying have your policy or take care of your money.
00;30;31;18 - 00;30;49;01
Jason Greer
And then you look at one day like so many athletes in the you have nothing. I'm saying people who are established, people who know what they're doing, people have a wonderful track record. And more importantly, their investment is not just your money, their investment is you making sure, because my goal is when I retire, when I'm 150 years old, right.
00;30;49;03 - 00;30;53;23
Jason Greer
That I can retire with as much comfort as I worked hard to receive.
00;30;53;25 - 00;31;16;10
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, well, it's really important. And that's one of the biggest challenges, is that we get so good at doing the thing that we do every day that oftentimes business owners are going through the process of education, of understanding, well, what are the different investment opportunities? What does that look like? What is it that I could do over here that could save me a ton of money on taxes?
00;31;16;17 - 00;31;36;12
Steven Pesavento
How could I very securely grow my money in this direction? And it's super important to have a great team. And so it's great to hear that you've relied on those people. How have you gone about finding and sourcing those types of operators or partners or financial advisors or wealth advisors to help support you on that?
00;31;36;14 - 00;31;55;04
Jason Greer
And I would like to say that I did a bunch of research, but really I got lucky. One of my best friends from college was married to a one of the top financial planners, wealth managers in the country. And so through our friendship I met her and what she and her team have been able to do for me have just been extraordinary.
00;31;55;07 - 00;32;21;19
Jason Greer
You know, I'll tell you, man, I 2016, I'm reeling from a divorce and living on $750 a month based on an apartment struggling. I barely have any money to my name. And I was so broke that I couldn't even afford a bankruptcy attorney. Right. So that's when, you know, you've hit rock bottom. And to now be on that other side, man, where I'm humbled, I'm just I'm humbled.
00;32;21;24 - 00;32;40;15
Jason Greer
And I'm not going to sit here and lie and say that it was just through my hard work and pull myself of bootstraps. And I got lucky and through God's grace, through ancestral blessings, man, I've just been able to not only rebound but to thrive in ways that I just couldn't dream up. So it's been a fantastic journey.
00;32;40;17 - 00;32;59;20
Steven Pesavento
Well, it's been great diving into a number of different topics through the day. Jason I wish we had more time, but I know we have a hard stop as you've got a training, you've got to go too, because as we talked about, you're always on the road, you're always doing something. So where can people find out more about you or follow along or get in touch?
00;32;59;23 - 00;33;23;24
Jason Greer
Yeah, great question. So you can find me on my website higher GCI icon That's higher Gqom. I'm an active presence on LinkedIn, so I think it's Jason Greer If you just put in Jason Green Employee Relations, you'll find me quickly. I pretty much network with everyone who comes my way, so come on board and join my newsletter. We're talking about employee relations topics and I think twice per month.
00;33;23;27 - 00;33;27;12
Jason Greer
So get on board, man. Let's have some fun.
00;33;27;15 - 00;33;31;07
Steven Pesavento
Great having you on, Jason. Thanks all for listening and we'll see you on the next episode.