WEBVTT - EP 111 | How Grant Cardone Runs Executive Meetings 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:14.750 Welcome back to Building Billions. I want to take you 0:00:14.750 --> 0:00:19.250 behind the scenes of a meeting that I had with Mr. 0:00:19.250 --> 0:00:22.970 Grant Cardone earlier this week, because I learned a couple 0:00:22.970 --> 0:00:24.799 of things from it, and I figured that those things 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:26.810 might be helpful to you as you run your meetings 0:00:26.810 --> 0:00:30.470 throughout the week. So in this particular meeting, there was 0:00:30.470 --> 0:00:34.370 a group of executives. We go over partnership items like 0:00:34.370 --> 0:00:37.670 the key, the key things that are going on across 0:00:37.670 --> 0:00:41.750 all of our different business units and the different partnerships 0:00:41.750 --> 0:00:46.670 that the Ten-x organization has going. And I kicked off 0:00:46.670 --> 0:00:49.099 the meeting by talking about what we're doing at Cardinal Ventures, 0:00:49.100 --> 0:00:53.120 some highlights on Ten-x health, and then Grant just entirely 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:57.650 redirected the meeting. And what I loved about that is 0:00:58.070 --> 0:01:00.860 sometimes you have an agenda and you go through the 0:01:00.860 --> 0:01:04.920 agenda just because it's what you always do. When in 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:08.789 reality that's not as the leader, what you need to do. 0:01:08.819 --> 0:01:14.100 I find myself oftentimes just like going through the motions 0:01:14.100 --> 0:01:16.470 on a meeting that has been in place for maybe 0:01:16.470 --> 0:01:19.560 six months or a year. And when I take a 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:22.230 step back, like, wait a second, I don't even need 0:01:22.230 --> 0:01:24.540 to cover these things. These things aren't as big of 0:01:24.540 --> 0:01:26.970 a priority. They don't need my time and attention. Somebody 0:01:26.970 --> 0:01:32.130 else is responsible. And so watching him like, allow me 0:01:32.130 --> 0:01:37.050 and allow the team to go through the original agenda structure. 0:01:37.050 --> 0:01:40.440 But then redirecting was really empowering because I'm like, oh yeah, 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:42.210 I should just redirect in the meeting. You don't have 0:01:42.209 --> 0:01:43.470 to do it after the fact. You don't have to 0:01:43.500 --> 0:01:46.650 wait and waste your time, just like redirect in that moment. 0:01:46.650 --> 0:01:48.450 So that was number one. The second piece is when 0:01:48.450 --> 0:01:51.510 he did redirect. It's like, okay, wait, wait a second. 0:01:51.540 --> 0:01:55.500 Like let's just talk about where we're going. We need 0:01:55.500 --> 0:01:57.720 to get clear on where we're going. And if I 0:01:57.720 --> 0:01:59.940 don't know where we're going, there is no way that 0:01:59.940 --> 0:02:03.360 our team members know where we're going. And of course, 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:08.060 in general. Grant knows where we're going. There's been hundreds 0:02:08.060 --> 0:02:11.510 of millions of dollars of growth over the last five 0:02:11.510 --> 0:02:16.700 years across our organizations, and that growth is continuing. We 0:02:16.700 --> 0:02:20.779 just ended June with our best month in company history. 0:02:20.780 --> 0:02:24.110 On the Cardone Ventures side, and all of the other 0:02:24.110 --> 0:02:29.660 Ten-x business units are absolutely thriving. But as you add 0:02:29.660 --> 0:02:33.260 new things, sometimes you have to take a step back 0:02:33.260 --> 0:02:38.000 and assess now that these new things are incorporated, who 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:41.600 are we now that these things are here? We are 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.270 different today than we were a year ago, or two 0:02:44.270 --> 0:02:46.609 years ago, or three years ago or five years ago. 0:02:46.610 --> 0:02:49.250 So how do we assess where we're going? To ensure 0:02:49.250 --> 0:02:52.340 that the team stays on the same page, that the 0:02:52.340 --> 0:02:55.820 team is in alignment, that the priorities are in alignment, 0:02:55.820 --> 0:02:58.519 because as you get bigger, it gets harder and harder 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:03.530 to have an organization stay moving in the right direction. 0:03:03.530 --> 0:03:08.910 And it's really easy for fragments to start happening, fragmentation 0:03:08.910 --> 0:03:12.420 to start happening. You know, one business unit is moving 0:03:12.419 --> 0:03:14.910 in a certain direction, and you think everybody else is 0:03:14.910 --> 0:03:17.040 moving in that direction just to find out that there's 0:03:17.070 --> 0:03:20.489 teams of people who are actually working on the exact 0:03:20.490 --> 0:03:24.329 same thing, because no one was talking about the synergies, 0:03:24.330 --> 0:03:29.880 nobody was talking about the true North star of these 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:33.450 different business units in your business. That might be different departments. 0:03:33.450 --> 0:03:36.150 And so we spent the next 20, 25 minutes just 0:03:36.150 --> 0:03:39.150 talking about where we're going and what tools that are 0:03:39.150 --> 0:03:43.170 already in existence that we can leverage to help us 0:03:43.170 --> 0:03:47.220 get there. And it was really cool just watching Grant's 0:03:47.220 --> 0:03:51.330 excitement about some social platforms, that we're going to start 0:03:51.330 --> 0:03:57.570 making investments into Twitter, Twitter spaces, and watching a leader 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.570 get excited makes the team get excited. I left after 0:04:00.570 --> 0:04:03.210 that call like pumped jazzed. I had a few things 0:04:03.210 --> 0:04:06.480 I needed to check off the list after that meeting. 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:08.870 It was just like, Spike. Wow. Okay, great. We're all 0:04:08.870 --> 0:04:11.720 moving in the same direction, which I loved. And then 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.589 the last piece, he ended the meeting by asking every 0:04:15.590 --> 0:04:17.990 single one of us. There's about seven people on this call. 0:04:17.990 --> 0:04:20.480 He asked every single one of us, hey, guys, what 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:22.970 can I do for you? Let's do round robin. Let 0:04:22.970 --> 0:04:25.730 me know what I can do in order to support you. 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:31.159 And at the level of leadership that we're at, it's 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:33.919 not like it's a laundry list of things that all 0:04:33.950 --> 0:04:38.630 of us individually need from Grant. But it was reassuring 0:04:38.630 --> 0:04:42.800 to everybody that he cares enough that he's interested in 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:46.339 the success of these business units, and he doesn't have 0:04:46.339 --> 0:04:48.380 to end a meeting like that. He could just be like, okay, great, 0:04:48.380 --> 0:04:53.240 everybody ten x on three and just like end the meeting. 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:55.339 But that's not how it ended. He asked, like, what 0:04:55.339 --> 0:04:57.290 can he do to support us? What can he do 0:04:57.290 --> 0:05:01.700 to help? And that type of leadership is often overlooked 0:05:01.700 --> 0:05:05.089 in the chaos of your busy day. I was thinking 0:05:05.089 --> 0:05:08.540 a lot about this in the days following this meeting. 0:05:08.540 --> 0:05:12.839 Sometimes I feel like it's unnecessary for me to do 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:17.430 things like that because I don't want to be perceived 0:05:17.430 --> 0:05:22.680 as soft, which is so ironic because the softness is 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:26.880 actually what gets people to like you. And I normally 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:28.320 don't want to be liked. I'm like, no, I don't 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:30.060 need to be liked. I just need to be respected 0:05:30.060 --> 0:05:32.400 and we need to get results. And it's a very 0:05:32.850 --> 0:05:38.010 task oriented, high driving like go, go, go. Forget how 0:05:38.010 --> 0:05:43.020 you feel, just like fucking execute. And that has worked 0:05:43.020 --> 0:05:47.279 for me up to a point. But I used to 0:05:47.310 --> 0:05:49.620 never be like that. I used to only lean in 0:05:49.620 --> 0:05:52.890 onto the soft stuff and really ask people, you know, 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:57.420 how are you doing? And I think that there's a balance. 0:05:57.420 --> 0:06:00.239 I think that the pendulum can swing too far in 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:03.539 one direction. And I used to be too soft and 0:06:03.540 --> 0:06:06.300 used to take on too many people's problems, and used 0:06:06.300 --> 0:06:11.040 to not know how to get myself out of doing 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.850 other people's work, quite honestly when I would ask that question. 0:06:13.850 --> 0:06:16.100 But I think I've swung a little bit too far 0:06:16.100 --> 0:06:18.920 to the other side, which is it's black or white, 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:22.340 it's this or that. I'm making the decision. We're going 0:06:22.339 --> 0:06:25.250 to get results. We are winning. Therefore, let's just keep 0:06:25.250 --> 0:06:30.200 pushing hard. And I think a slight swing over to 0:06:30.230 --> 0:06:35.630 the other side, uh, is really necessary. And as I was, 0:06:35.660 --> 0:06:39.589 you know, thinking about this and just working this thought 0:06:39.589 --> 0:06:42.920 process out over the last few days, it's really occurred 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.219 to me that both of those phases in my life 0:06:46.220 --> 0:06:51.410 have served me, and I would never say that I'm 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:55.250 that I did any of those things wrong, necessarily. But 0:06:55.250 --> 0:06:59.060 it's a new phase and in new phases of your 0:06:59.060 --> 0:07:01.550 team and new phases of your business and new phases 0:07:01.550 --> 0:07:04.970 of growth, you have to pivot and you have to change. 0:07:04.970 --> 0:07:08.270 And there's something different today that's required of you to 0:07:08.300 --> 0:07:11.480 get to the next level. So us getting to 100 million, 0:07:11.510 --> 0:07:13.800 there was a there was something that was required of 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:17.460 me to be very harsh and to be very task oriented. 0:07:17.460 --> 0:07:20.310 But I'm in a phase where I want to invest 0:07:20.310 --> 0:07:25.410 in relationships and spend more time doing something that I 0:07:25.410 --> 0:07:29.250 already naturally feel really compelled to do, which is understand 0:07:29.250 --> 0:07:32.640 where people are at. Help remove barriers and keep the 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:36.630 thing moving. So it's a mixture of two things. Two 0:07:36.660 --> 0:07:41.760 phases that I've had before this that individually were successful 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:45.690 at the time. But this next phase is like the 0:07:45.690 --> 0:07:49.770 marriage of the two. It's like cookie batter and brownie 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:53.610 fudge ice cream together. It's like both things are going 0:07:53.610 --> 0:07:57.660 to work so beautifully in combination. So I want to 0:07:57.660 --> 0:07:59.760 take you behind the scenes of this meeting. If you 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:06.239 like these behind the scenes of meetings content type, I 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:09.570 don't know why I can't talk podcast types. Let me know. 0:08:09.570 --> 0:08:12.540 I would love to see just what feedback you have. 0:08:12.540 --> 0:08:14.730 The podcast is an interesting thing because it's just me 0:08:14.780 --> 0:08:17.270 talking into a microphone, and I look at stats of 0:08:17.270 --> 0:08:20.390 downloads every week, but I don't actually get to talk 0:08:20.390 --> 0:08:23.180 one on one with you or get your feedback. So 0:08:23.210 --> 0:08:27.260 I do have a site building buildings podcast.com and you 0:08:27.260 --> 0:08:31.250 can leave a note there. You can ask a question 0:08:31.250 --> 0:08:36.110 you could give me feedback. Would appreciate both so that 0:08:36.110 --> 0:08:39.140 I can hear from you, help you out in whatever 0:08:39.140 --> 0:08:41.179 it is that you're struggling with. Let me know what 0:08:41.179 --> 0:08:43.460 you'd like to hear more of so that this podcast 0:08:43.490 --> 0:08:47.179 can continue to grow. And speaking of this podcast growing, 0:08:47.210 --> 0:08:50.689 don't forget to share this with somebody that you know 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:54.380 would be benefited by listening to this podcast. That is 0:08:54.380 --> 0:08:59.000 how building billions grows. And if you do share it 0:08:59.030 --> 0:09:04.309 on social, tag me. Tag your girl. I will repost it. 0:09:04.340 --> 0:09:07.970 Looking forward to hearing your reviews. Looking forward to seeing 0:09:07.970 --> 0:09:11.210 your shares and looking forward to catching up next time.