#46: Secrets of Cultivating Company Culture with Dane Sanders, Co-Founder & CEO of Tell Me Your Dreams
Are you having authentic conversations with your team?
Do you ask them their hopes and dreams?
In this new reality, where many teams are working virtually, staying connected with your team is more important than ever.
In this interview, I was joined by my long time friend Dane Sanders, Co-Founder & CEO of Tell Me Your Dreams.
In this episode, Dane and I discuss:
The power of relationships and what that means for your business.
Culture conversations necessary to have in your workplace.
Why investing in your employees is a non-negotiable.
Be sure to check out this episode if you are feeling disconnected from your team and listen to Dane speak about the importance of cultivating company culture.
Learn more about Dane here: https://www.tellmeyourdreams.com or follow him on Instagram @danesanders.
Check out my new free new training on www.yournextmillion.me, where several of my seven figure clients and colleagues share what they're doing in the next year to scale their businesses to the multi-million dollar mark and beyond.
Listen to the Show:
Laura (00:01):
In this new year, so many of us are thinking about resolutions, whether or not we want to lose a few extra bounds or maybe move more, have better relationships with the people that we love, and in this podcast episode, I'm going to be sharing with you, maybe a resolution that you haven't considered yet, which is to actually have better, stronger relationships with the people that work for you. And when it comes to team members and employees, I have been there done that. I've had the most stressful, difficult, challenging moments with my own team members and also moments where I know we are in such a groove. I am in total sync with what it is that they want most out of their relationship with me and I'm really clear with them on what I expect in terms of work performance. And it's this beautiful symbiotic ying yang that we can get into.
(00:56):
And if you've managed people for a long time, you know, when you're in that great groove and you know, when you're just feeling like totally discombobulated and you couldn't be thinking different things than your employees and Dean Sanders is somebody I've known for a long time. It's really interesting how he approaches this problem and the way in which he approaches it is he is saying that you should be having really honest, authentic, clear, but also transparent conversations with your team members. And this is along the lines of many conversations that I've had with my clients this year, where they're feeling very disconnected from their own team members. I think part of it's because we're not seeing people in person right now, which feels very weird, but then also it's, it's hard to really know what people are thinking if they are excited about working for you, or if they're just kind of like, you know, being very laissez-faire about their work or if they're disengaged. I know that's a big word right now in terms of having disengaged employees.
(01:58):
And Dane has a really interesting solution, which is ask them what it is that they want, even if it has nothing to do with moving forward in your organization and support them. And when you support them in their dreams, they will support you in yours. And while I believe that wholeheartedly, after having been through so many different experiences, it's really hard to implement in the day-to-day. So this interview with Dane is going to be really helpful if you've even thought, hmm, maybe this is the year that I actually want to have better relationships with my team members. I want to connect with them more. I want to have less questions about where they stand working for me, and I really want to be able to support them more, but I don't know really how to get started in doing that. This interview is going to be fantastic and he is so insightful and so thoughtful about his approach on exactly how to have conversations with your team about their dreams next up, Dane Sanders.
(02:58):
So here's the challenge: so entrepreneurs dream of leading a life of impact by creating a multi-million dollar brand, but only a tiny percentage of businesses actually scale to that point. On this podcast, we speak openly authentically about what it takes to scale your business, following the journeys of innovators, disruptors, experts, and leaders, looking at the behind the scenes of their most challenging moments and greatest lessons learned. My name is Laura Meyer and I'm your host. I'm a serial entrepreneur, wife and mom to three. I love talking all things business, especially digging into the mindset and strategies of scaling joyfully to the multi-million dollar mark and beyond, let's go.
(03:40):
Hi everybody. I wanted to welcome you back and introduce you to Dane Sanders. And before this podcast started in the green room, we were trying to figure out how long we've known each other. Would you say it was 15 years?
Dane (03:53):
I think so.
Laura (03:53):
Something like that. And we both came from the photography industry and Dane is an incredible coach. He's a talented consultant. He's an advisor. He's somebody that many leaders trust. And I think after you listen to what he has to say today, you'll see exactly why that is. So thank you so much for being here today.
Dane (04:14):
Thank you, Laura. It's really a privilege. And I do like that we have longevity. There's something about water under bridges that you can't go by, you just need to experience. And we both experienced a lot of common realities, so I'm really thrilled to be in this conversation. Thanks.
Laura (04:29):
Yeah. And I think one of the things that this speaks to is the power of relationships and you and I have known each other for a long time. You go into touch and out of touch and into touch and out of touch. And then we just connected as if years had not even passed prior to this. And when it comes to building a multi-million dollar brand and coming in and out of different types of businesses and continuing to do what we do as entrepreneurs, which is to build again, when you pivoted from the industry that we both came from, which is photography, what made you decide to go into the business that you're in right now, which is, Tell Me Your Dreams?
Dane (05:07):
Yeah. I love the question. Some of it, and this is not new to you, but might be new to some folks who are listening is you think about the evolution of the industry itself. That's kind of one lens I'll talk about for a second. And then there's the evolution of me and myself over the course of seasons. And then there's also kind of the cultural moment, the bigger picture thing that isn't about industry or me, but just kind of a broader collective that we're all navigating. And I think it was really the kind of overlap of those three realities because in the photo industry, in particular, I started my career in photography back when it was film, pre-digital, but it was just kind of the tail end of that. And I jumped into the digital world and went full force into digital.
(05:48):
I thought, oh, this is such good news for people like me. And it was for that moment, and shot for about 12 years. But over the course of 12 years, especially early on, I started making observations and writing things down. And I kind of became a known quantity in our industry because I was a messenger saying what seemed kind of obvious to me that, analog was probably not going to win. Digital was definitely going to win. And in a digital world where you're your name.com, you probably should figure out who you are because you got, everyone has now a microphone a megaphone really anyone can speak and people can potentially hear us now. And back then, that wasn't possible. Right? So I was talking about these kinds of things about who you are and have you build in a certain direction. But then the industry kept going.
(06:31):
And we started seeing things like Kodak disappearing and like massive tectonic shifts in the industry. And I began to lose faith in that as a professional enterprise, as the thing to go after. So for me, the way I'm wired, if I believe in a thing, I can go hard for a long time, but kind of the moment I, I don't, I end up just kind of losing heart. Now, I am a believer that the photography industry is an industry that can work really well, but you need to be very clear about the value you're bringing to the table, how you're packaging that systematizing that and delivering, but in a world where everyone has a phone in their pocket, it's a different kind of world than when you and I used to be in it. So, so part of it was just the industry.
(07:14):
The second one is just my own kind of maturation process of realizing who am I? I think in your, I've heard this before in your twenties, you think you can do everything. In your thirties, you realize, man, I'm not sure I can do anything. In your forties, you realize, oh, I can probably do a few things. In your fifties, you realize you can do one thing and in your sixties you do it. And I'm 50. I just turned 50. So I'm like, I think I'm kind of tuning in a little to myself. And that was kind of that narrowing process of like, I kind of, I'm just more clear about what I can offer and, and just to trust other people who can offer in other categories so much better things than I can and be really happy that that those can coexist. And then the last part was just this cultural shift of like, where's this world's going, what are we in the middle of?
(08:02):
What do I want to build? What's my own legacy in the midst of these, these kinds of twists and turns that so many are navigating, um, getting older and seeing friends, you know, long-term marriages break up or people having kids, or really even the reinvention of my own marriage over and over and over again, we've been married 24 years, but really I've, I think I've just met my seventh wife, same person, but she evolves and I evolve and I think all of those things combined as the world is waking up in certain ways and falling asleep in other ways, I'm just more clear than ever that I just don't want to waste a minute. I feel most the most awake I've ever been in my life. And I, I want to get more awake. I want to pursue highest and best both for me. And those that I have a chance to interact with in this brief life we have.
Laura (08:49):
What you're talking about is disruption. And you were disrupted, you disrupted in a lot of ways, your own path. And I did the same thing a few years ago from the photography industry and whether or not you are staying in your category or staying in your lane in 2020 or whether or not you're pivoting into something completely new. I think everybody has had to face that type of interruption this year. So what made you decide that the current business that you're in, which is called, Tell Me Your Dreams, which I want you to talk about next? What made you decide that's for me, that's where I want to go next?
Dane (09:28):
So a quick backstory, when I was an undergraduate, I studied marketing, um, and I felt like I learned how to, um, manipulate people to buy things they didn't want or need, and I felt gross about it. So then I went and studied philosophy in grad school, which is, you know, undergrad business, graduate philosophy. It's supposed to be flipped the way I did. It was like a recipe for an employment or teaching. So way before my photo world, I was teacher, I taught at a liberal arts college, and I just kind of, kind of in a sense, lost faith in marketing as an enterprise. And that got reinvented for me, actually fell in love with marketing because their exposures through common colleagues like you, and I both know like Seth Godden and others, and even buying into narratives and how those things work. But ultimately in grad school, when I was studying Aristotelian virtue, ethics, the good life, how do you become a good person?
(10:17):
How do you have a good life? I cared a lot about that from self-interest, but I also cared a lot about that for those I cared about. And those, I cared less for like, you know, people that are not in my world and really ask the question, like, how do you humans flourish? How do you, how do you have a great existence? So the more I reflected and worked on that as a set of ideas, the more I wanted to work that into my professional life. And I kind of, that's how I stumbled into consulting and coaching. Honestly, it was when I left the teaching world and I had written some books and was traveling and speaking, I kept finding myself in this advocate role, this advisor role, where I just wanted, whatever project was in front of me, I wanted it to win.
(10:58):
And how could I contribute to that happening? And Tell Me Your Dreams was an effort to do that really through an innovation that I'd never really thought of before that I'm seeing the fruit of, and it's extraordinary. And here it is in a nutshell, every employer, every entrepreneur, every person who's listening to your podcast right now, they wish all of their employees would care about their dream. As much as they do the problem is all those employees have dreams of their own. So how in the world do you harness the dreams that they have and put them in the same direction of what you're trying to build, but also honor the fact that they're in their own disruptive evolutionary process, and you probably only have them for a season. And if you have them for that season, how could you get them the best out of them?
(11:44):
And how could you contribute your best to them in such a way that they would look back with great esteem. They would say that season transformed the trajectory of my life and give you credit, send your business, send you good vibes, whatever comes from those things. And that's what we've done is we built an organization that supports employees achieving their dreams. I have a little army of therapists trained as coaches who go in and help employees figure out who they are, what they want, name it as a dream, declared to the company, and then put themselves on the hook to achieve that dream. And we coach them through that whole process. And the result is people are, have radical loyalty. They can't believe that even if they don't have a dream job, they have a job that helps them achieve their dreams. Their sense of like, I can't believe I get to work here.
(12:35):
They Glassdoor ratings go through the roof and they tell their friends to come work here. You can't believe this, that they get to do this, but they also learn like grit, like how to get through hard seasons, because dreams are easy to declare and hard to execute on. And when they get in that tough middle space they have a coach with them to learn how to get over those hurdles and those developmental challenges. And that translates directly into the workplace. They learn that grit shows up everywhere in their life. And then also just a sense of intrinsic motivation as they become more competent and more true to themselves with their dreams and more connected to others as people support each other, they become just better as people. And that self-awareness that leads to kind of self-actualization or betterment that translates holistically, both at work and in their life. There's less burnout, less depression, anxiety, all those things. So we even get to kind of smuggle in pro health in the workplace, and it's probably the most rewarding work I've ever had a chance to be part of.
Laura (13:37):
So good. And so I have a lot of questions about how the employee employer dynamic works, because if you are the CEO of a company and you're leading teams of people, and I've been in this position before, it is very easy to fall into the story of, well, if I give them too much, I'm going to be taken advantage of, or if I let them dream on what they want. At the end of the day, I'm actually just paying them to be here and do what I say and what if it is completely in contradiction with the direction in which I'm headed for this company. How do you deal with that dynamic between the leader and then these employees who are going through their own sort of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, like the self-actualization process wall on payroll?
Dane (14:35):
Yeah, it's funny. I remember being in a conversation early on with a colleague of ours that I won't, early colleague that I won't name names, but I remember him saying like, we were talking about Michael Gerber's E-Myth or something, and he, and he's like, yeah, I don't let any of my employees read that book. But there's a sense in which what you're describing is well, let me say one more thing, too. None of what I'm describing as altruistic, this is not let's, we we'll take care of our people cause it's the right thing to do. It is the right thing to do, but that's not why I'm encouraging people to consider it. It's highly pragmatic. Ad I think the mindset you're describing is kind of a hangover from the industrial era where humans were cogs and wheels, and that was that it was highly transactional. We, I pay you. In fact, if you think of the system, it's kind of a Milton Friedman style capitalism that I don't buy, it's not a stakeholder capitalism and say you exist to serve the shareholders. That's what capitalism and I disagree with that fundamentally. And now I think the culture has caught up to that.
(15:42):
So here's what I mean, if I'm going to go hire somebody, my job in our current system is to get the most talent for the least amount of money. And the employee's job in the negotiation is to get the most money for the least amount of effort. And, and there's a sense in which we are mutually exploitive. My job is to take advantage of you. Your job is to, you can take advantage of me. We negotiated out and I understand it. Like it's, it's, it's how capitalism works and how you kind of build and create more value over time. But what if there was an alternative where we could create a little bit more, like, I hate words like synergy, cause it can mean nothing and everything, but I could help you and you could help me. And we would both get better through the process. What might that look like? So here's an example, a person a comes and works for me. He goes through, Tell Me Your Dreams. He names his dream. And his dream is to be like you someday and run a competitive company, like trying to think of the worst possible scenario. Right.
Laura (16:38):
It'd would be the worst possible scenario for like any of my clients or anybody that I didn't know. It'd be like, here's the door to change the passwords while they're getting to their car and write off the credit card. Yes.
Dane (16:50):
Yeah, yeah. And I, and I understand that, but what if, what if you could actually do it in such a way where that individual, and by the way, we have safeguards against us. So I'm not, I say it this way that I'm concerned, but I'm giving an extreme example. You could actually have that extreme of an example. And if you have, what, what Aristotle described as the three ingredients are good conversation, intelligence, goodwill, and candor. If you actually had a relationship with your employees in such a way where you had agreement that while you're here, my expectation of you is to be like through the roof, like no kidding, the best, most significant commitment you could ever make your best while you're here at this moment in life. And when you're gone, we will celebrate it. We will cheer you on we'll call it positive turnover, but here's what often happens.
(17:34):
And all the data like backs this up. Most employees are radically disengaged at the workplace. They're, they're contributing like fractional amounts of their best efforts. And why, because they're incentivized to they're incentivized to hold their best back unless you buy it. But if you actually make an agreement where, and create a space where like that employee that says it is brave enough to say I'm actually interested in creating a company that competes with yours someday, and you are brave enough to say back, well, that's someday isn't today. That's today, you're working here. Are you willing to give your best while you're here? Yes. Great. Well, here's what I'm going to do. We're going to call in financial. We're going to call in legal. We're going to talk through the realities of what it'll take. We're a scale business. You're a non-scale business. This is the price you're going to have to pay over time. This is probably what you're going to get while you're here in this season, but you're probably four years out from being in a place where you're going to get there. Are you going to bootstrap? Are you going to raise money? How are you going to like, it's a whole set of conversations. And that reveal that transparency opens up a handful of things. One, surprisingly, a lot of those employees go that looks like a lot of work.
(18:39):
And I have a pretty good job where I have this much rapport and esteem with my boss. Maybe I could adjust my vision. So it could be a VP at this company and negotiate something where I can be a part of making something even more extraordinary. That's a very common response. Another response is like, I'm going to go do it, but they're, they're going to go build a boutique-y solopreneur thing that isn't going to compete at all. And really this becomes a feeder to this. So when clients get out of scope, guess where they send them, they send them right here. And why do they do that? Because they trust each other. Cause they understand they trade on relational trust. And I would argue that relational trust, we are in a, a democratized world. Everything is flat. None of it like we we've known this for a while, but it's finally kicking in.
(19:24):
It's not theoretical. It's real. And employees understand their worth. I'm interviewing for interns right now. And you think I'm applying to them like their level of, of understanding of the value they bring to the table and what they expect in terms of a transparent relationship where I'm clear on look, I'm giving you an entry level thing. That's like actually pre entry level. But my interest is to, to set you up so that you flourish like long haul. Now I'm offering a value proposition. That's in tune with their generation and in tune with what they're after, because they want, they want a human. They want to flourish. They understand the nature of the world. They're living in far better than we do. And I have a lot to learn from them. So I am applying for them to come into my company. And I think if I'm going to do that, I need to create a space that's highly attractive. But also doesn't foolishly set me up to lose.
Laura (20:16):
I think about my clients and the people that I know who are growing businesses and they're in that hiring process. Is there any way in which you want to establish this type of culture before people even get in the door?
Dane (20:29):
Yeah. Well, the culture conversation is everything, and this is a contribution to the culture of your building. And there's a lot of ways to build a fantastic culture, but all of them, what they have in common is kind of what I nodded to earlier was just a sense of relational trust. That's what you're trading on. So if I'm in the hiring mode, do I need to have a culture, that chicken egg question, do you build the culture and then have the person come or do you have the person come? And then you build the culture. I would, I would advocate for you are building a culture. You have a culture right now, whether you know it or not. So to be honest and I guess brave enough to be say, what is, what is our culture in the process of hiring this individual right here, as we bring this person on, what are we setting them up for?
(21:14):
There's some really interesting data these days about the gap between an employee's expectation on the way in the door and the employees experience once they're there, like everyone can relate to this, right? Their first job, they were so excited. I couldn't believe they had their dream job. And nine months later, they're like, they're, they're contemptuous. Like they just don't appreciate any of the things that they had before. What is that gap about? Well, I would argue the gap is about expectations and experiences that that needs to shrink radically. And to do that, you need to create a very human workspace where you honor the fact that other humans are humans with the same dignity that you deserve. And to do that, we shouldn't be exploited. We should be clear in our expectations that we're going to ask a ridiculous amount of you while you're here and you need to perform at a high high level.
(22:07):
And if you do that, we are going to not just pay you money and give you foosball and free lunch. Like we're going to give you a sense of like a pathway to actually become who you think you want to become with an acknowledgement that there's going to be rogue waves in your life. You know, people get sick or a spouse moves, or people have babies or unexpected upsets, and we're going to be with you in that process too. But through it, all our interest is to in this season that we get to collaborate together, kind of like every time you and I get to reconnect, I want the best for Laura. I know Laura wants the best for me. That's why we support each other. Whenever we have a chance to, and that collegial fraternal relationship, I just think is the future. It's what, it's the expectation. Our dream at TMD is to have it be that every employee who'd go to apply for any job would ask the question, well, how are you going to help me achieve my dreams while I'm here while I'm helping you with yours? And that there'd be a really, really strong answer for that. And the application of this of course is all over the place, but to answer your question, uh, do you build the culture, uh, or first or later you are building it right now. And I would just embrace that with all you can.
Laura (23:25):
You're talking about making it intentional versus unintentional and accidental versus purposeful. It's so interesting because I do a lot of this work on the brand side of things. So on the branding, I encourage my clients to know their mission and vision and values and to understand their ideal client, not in a superficial way, but an actual meaningful way. And what you're really thinking about is that almost the employee is the customer in a lot of ways.
Dane (23:54):
Well, we think about our, you know, so I do, I do a lot of work with, with Don Miller and the Story Brand people and all that hero's journey, you know, just stealing from Joseph Campbell and applying it to the market marketplace. Well, there's no difference if I'm trying to get a customer, that's great. But what about the supply side? What about if I'm in the service business and I'm employing people I need to invest in they're on a journey to they're on a hero's journey that I get to be a guide in their world. And just like if I'm going to position as a guide to the customer. In fact, if we're that organizational lead, that's our job in almost every relationship is to be the guide to be the one that has been there, understands where the person is coming from, but has authority to help get them where they want to go, where they see me as instrumental to where they go, because every employee is looking at the company, not as I'm so lucky to be here, they're looking at as instrumental to their aspirations full stop.
(24:53):
And so, in a sense, everyone's a stepping stone in a sense, but wouldn't it be great if we didn't look at it as stepping stones? What if we looked at it as like, like a stopping point where I get to invest my best for this season in both directions, and now we're playing a much higher state game. And I think organizations that understand this, especially ones that are looking to scale, like, let's say you're in high growth mode and you're like, just, oh, you have a heartbeat you're hired, you know, like come on now. Right. Which is so common. But you can, even, if you just made some of those declarations upfront, even as you're just getting to know the person, you're going to find out really quickly, the kinds of people you're going to draw in. And you're going to also notice, like, if they're just interested in the transaction, I would just pass because I think there's just so many good people now who are getting clearer and clearer that every season of their life is a critical season and they don't want to waste it. So I, a hundred percent agree with you. It's the intentionality of how you are onboarding someone, enrolling them in your culture and really setting the trajectory of the invisible space between the people. That's the culture.
Laura (26:01):
So interesting. This is such a unique perspective. And at the same time, it's so validating because as somebody who has run multiple companies and my clients are flying at high altitudes, you see this tension between what I need you to do as an employee and what you're willing to do, or how you're willing to show up and how I need you to show up in this natural friction that happens in this relationship that as you had pointed out, comes from a time and place that we are no longer living in, that we no longer exist in. And this dynamic that has probably even become more important in this day and time of being in this year of COVID and that people are probably looking at their life and the people around them and questioning is this where I'm supposed to be? Is this where I want to be?
(27:00):
Is this the highest, best use of my contribution to the world? And I think many people are having that conversation this year, that weren't already happy with where they were, and it's been this magnifying glass, I think, on so many people's lives and I love your approach to it. And I also know that your podcast also looks at this difference between something that is meaningful and then also finding a way that meaningful activities and tasks and products and services can also be profitable. Has this been also, sort of this, this challenge within your own company, as well as you're going in and you're helping people with employee issues when the CFO might be, you know, just looking at net profit every month?
Dane (27:53):
Yeah. Yeah. I just, I just spoke with a company right before this conversation without naming names or locations. So it's a distribution company. They do about a hundred million dollars a year and they have about 175 employees in two locations in the US and both places have very different cultures. One is that they're very different kinds of cities. Maybe a quarter of their employees are in one spot, totally different demographic of groups, groups of people. And the other is another spot. And because their distribution they're primarily blue collar with maybe 15% of the entire staff are kind of more white collar. And in that conversation, yes, they should be the CFO should be asking the question, what's the ROI on investment in employee. And we pay these people very little. So how do we get, how do we get in response in every investment should be a return on investment?
(28:46):
I agree with that. And honestly, the biggest challenge for us is kind of what I alluded to earlier is people assume, tell me your dreams is woo-hoo and altruistic, and you should do that. And I can't overstate how radically pragmatic this is. An example is one of the organizations we work with is an accounting firm here in Southern California. And before they hired us, uh, they ha they were just trucking along. They had a highly scaled accounting firm, and then somebody on their staff committed suicide. And the reality of how out radically out of touch they were with their team was just made plain in front of everyone. They had no stinking clue cause they were just making money and they thought everything must be great. In the month of March alone, the suicide prevention hotline went up. The calls went in, went up 8000%.
Laura (29:40):
In one month. And this is the COVID like reality is it was a reveal, it wasn't just a cause. And like my son, he does a 21, he's a junior in college and he started doing the mindfulness app or whatever, and he was like the more I do mindfulness, the more I'm anxious. I'm like, Oh, Drew, you were anxious before you started the app, you're just noticing that that's happening. And I think that's, that's the, um, I think odd gift of this season is if the smart, progressive owner, I think is the one who's going to tune in in the season and go, what is, what is showing up right now? That was probably here before, but we just didn't have eyes to see. Cause it's probably just been amplified for a moment. And if we're smart, we're going to tune into that because this kind of idea of investing in your people while you have them, the stakes are just so radically high, people, especially in COVID life, they're all working from home.
Dane (30:45):
They have no capacity to build a structural framework for their lives. No one ever taught them to that. The work did that. They showed up, worked at all that work and now they have to do it on their own. Why would we expect that they would have that skill set? All the owners of companies don't have those skillsets. So they're the ones who are kind of juggling food behind them on zoom calls and you know, all the disruptions, well, our employees downstream, they're all dealing with that. So if you don't have some sense of like what mechanism by which we tune into people and how they're doing your people will degrade in their capacity to contribute. There's no question. And so if I'm the CFO asking the question, how is, how do we get a return on this that we need to find a metric for that, that, um, engagement.
(31:29):
And thankfully we have Gallop and a whole bunch of great organizations that are measuring some of these things. But I think even just establishing some kind of a baseline, if someone never, ever wants to talk to us or hire a team or date, some immediate advice I'd encourage is establish some kind of cultural baseline, measure something and go, how will we tell that people are flourishing here or are they in survival mode? Are they in thriving mode? Like where are they at? And figure out some metric to measure and then keep measuring it and try things like make little bets in your culture to see if there's kind of a sense of the values that you're hoping will continue showing up. Well, will it improve?
Laura (32:09):
Very cool. All right. This is so, so good. And I know that so many people who are listening probably feel very validated. They feel that, wow, this is the missing piece that I didn't even realize I needed within my company. And when you're a leader and you're a visionary and you're a driver and you are somebody who just moves to the next goal without really looking at what is happening around you, because you're so busy. You just to, to keep things afloat, it's really easy to miss. I think probably, you know, the person coming and going from your organization that really just needs more than a paycheck right now and needs more from the organization. So let's say that somebody wants to get in touch with you. They want to learn more about your company. They would like to talk to you about bringing you in. What's the best way to get in touch with you,
Dane (33:02):
Dane Sanders kind of anywhere on the internet. You can find me pretty quick, Dane Sanders or Danesanders.com personally. Um, but for the organization, tell me your dreams.com. Tell me your dreams.com is the easiest place I will say. I do hope some folks reach out, uh, candidly, not necessarily a high-risk, but to at least have the conversation. I think that the, the stakes have never been more high. And I think that the, the process of engaging this conversation is a long-term process. It's not lickety split. Even if you brought us in, it's not like, Oh, 90 days later, you have an amazing culture. And everything's incredible. What, what you'll learn in 90 days is you'll things will get eliminated. And with that, you have new good data to do something with that information. But if there are folks that are beginning to ask that question, what would it look like for us to not just care about our employees, but care so that our employees give their best when they're here.
(34:01):
And also we know deep down we're contributing to their trajectory well beyond here. And they, they want to not only ward off the horrible stories of when people are, they really are not flourishing in life that happened to be under your care in the season. You have them. And especially if you're running so fast, like the target you described, um, that is the conversation. It's just so tough to be an executive running a scaling organization and slow the train down. I, I don't think you're going to be able to do it on your own. So to find some group to have come in and have a conversation, not just to give more content, but to really think through a strategy that you can implement and measure the improvement and culture over time. Um, I would love to be in that conversation if for only re just to point people in the right direction and get out of the way. So thanks for that request.
Laura (34:56):
Yeah. So thank you so much for sharing, and I have no doubt that you are so helpful in that conversation. So I appreciate you being here and being part of this conversation. It was great to have you, and I know our listeners got so much from it. I, again, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
Dane (35:11):
Laura. I need to say this. Thank you for leading. I think what you're doing in this context here and for your whole career, we've known each other. And I, what I would expect for many years to come is it's a big deal. It's very generous of you to make these kinds of contributions, to folks that are listening. And I'm just grateful for your leadership.
Laura (35:32):
Likewise, thank you so much for saying that it means a ton, and I just, I'm excited to see your company takes you. I know you're off to doing amazing things. Thank you.
(35:44):
Hey there! Before you head out, I want to let you know about a free new training I have right on a brand new website called yournextmillion.me. It's yournextmillion.me, where several of my seven figure clients and colleagues share what they're doing in the next year to scale their businesses, to the multi-million dollar mark and beyond. And I have to tell you, it is not what you think. So check it out yournextmillion.me. And if you loved this show, will you subscribe to it and share it with a friend, or just say something nice about it to someone you know, I'd really appreciate it so much. Thanks so much for being here and I'll see you next time.
The Scale with Joy podcast dives into the mindset and strategies of scaling your company to the million dollar mark and beyond. Each week, we follow the journeys of innovators, disruptors, experts and leaders - sharing behind the scenes stories of their most challenging moments and greatest lessons learned-all while building their multi-million dollar empires.