Speaker 1: And we're back with part two. Welcome back to those amigos.
Speaker 1: I am Wilmer Bodrama. I'm Freddy Rodriguez and uh Freddy,
Speaker 1: we've been talking about leadership, putting teams together.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, let's get into it.
Speaker 1: New middle dose transparency. I think it's number one, y right, Like,
Speaker 1: there's no secrets here. If we're in the telling story business,
Speaker 1: you know, like we we need to be very much
Speaker 1: on the same page at all times. If you disagree
Speaker 1: with something, it's so important that you do it with kindness,
Speaker 1: that you do it with with the serenity of welcoming
Speaker 1: new ideas, and that if you're going to oppose a question,
Speaker 1: that you should always come with an answer, right, because
Speaker 1: that's still the thing that like, you know, one thing
Speaker 1: is be a complainer and saying like, hey, you know
Speaker 1: it's not good enough or it's not this, or it's
Speaker 1: not getting there, and the other one is not following
Speaker 1: those comments with a roadmap to get it to a
Speaker 1: better place. If you really do have an opinion that
Speaker 1: something is not working, you know, then what is your
Speaker 1: thoughts on making it work? Right? So, so like that's
Speaker 1: that's where I feel like number one when it comes
Speaker 1: to leadership, it's important to be transparent with your teams,
Speaker 1: but it's also even more important to listen to to
Speaker 1: the team's uh, you know, thoughts and struggles with with
Speaker 1: such create creative endeavors, right, Like you know, you don't
Speaker 1: have to have all the answers right. And somebody said,
Speaker 1: it's like the best leaders of the ones who don't micromanage.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: The best visionaries are the ones who you know, think
Speaker 1: of a dream, right, they visualize it, and then they
Speaker 1: divorce that dream and allow the team to own that
Speaker 1: and then have that team bring that dream to life
Speaker 1: and sore in other ways that you didn't even expect
Speaker 1: for that same idea to do.
Speaker 2: Is that why you.
Speaker 3: Feel that your company has grown as much as it
Speaker 3: has and has seen the success that it's seen.
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 3: Do you feel that that type of leadership skill has
Speaker 3: contributed to that aspect?
Speaker 1: I think I trust and so therefore they trust me, right.
Speaker 1: I trust my team to do what they're there to do, right,
Speaker 1: you know, and when there's things that could have been
Speaker 1: a lot more efficient, or could have been a lot
Speaker 1: more you know, thoughtful, or things like that, they're very
Speaker 1: soft quick discussions. We don't have to. Nobody has to
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, like they got it wrong. Everybody
Speaker 1: could feel like, great, we try that, let's try this
Speaker 1: other way, right, So.
Speaker 2: Transparency, I think it is because they're human.
Speaker 1: They're human and about the way, we're going to make
Speaker 1: mistakes and people are gonna so I think I think
Speaker 1: the biggest thing for me is to trust the people
Speaker 1: you have in your team to do what they're there
Speaker 1: to do, you know, because otherwise you just do everyone's job, right, Like,
Speaker 1: the leader is not there to do everyone's job. The
Speaker 1: leader is there to facilitate, to delegate with kindness, and
Speaker 1: to create an environment where they feel safe voicing the
Speaker 1: good and the bad ideas.
Speaker 2: Although it may not be intentional.
Speaker 3: Do you find and I asked this because I've known
Speaker 3: you so long, right, and do you find that not
Speaker 3: that you you try to do everybody else's job, but
Speaker 3: you're so you're so I've seen you be so incredibly
Speaker 3: focused and on your hustle. Do you find that you
Speaker 3: have to sometimes go I got I gotta step back,
Speaker 3: I gotta not I gotta not do that, I gotta
Speaker 3: not make that call, I gotta not pick those cables. Dude,
Speaker 3: I've seen you I've seen you wear like five different
Speaker 3: hats at one time.
Speaker 2: Man, I'm like, geez, man, this guy is gonna.
Speaker 1: Well look, I think we all have to be able
Speaker 1: to wear those hats to eventually not look at that.
Speaker 2: Smile, man, look at that smile.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I'm speaking the truth here, you know.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing. Yeah, and I don't disagree. I think
Speaker 1: that when you are a creative person and you have
Speaker 1: the ability to see beyond the idea, when I come
Speaker 1: up with an idea myself, right, I'm already at like,
Speaker 1: how is this sitting on the shelves? There's like probably
Speaker 1: thirty five steps before the shelf, same, right, but I'm
Speaker 1: already thinking about what the poster looks like before there's
Speaker 1: even a script, right. And that's that's both a gift
Speaker 1: and really occurs because there's a lot of steps in
Speaker 1: between to get it there. But for all those things
Speaker 1: to get you to that shelf of that poster idea,
Speaker 1: there is a team who does that better than you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, and so therefore, but you do have to
Speaker 1: have eyes on the process, especially when it's something as
Speaker 1: specific as like a major ip or something like there's
Speaker 1: certain things you can just stray away from and you
Speaker 1: know you're there to steer the ship.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, but a.
Speaker 3: Team is getting it somewhere right, because what you're thinking
Speaker 3: of is the end go right. You're at point A
Speaker 3: and you already see Z. And your job as a
Speaker 3: company owner, as a CEO, is to guide that process
Speaker 3: from A to Z.
Speaker 1: Correct correct. Yeah. And and by the way, that's the
Speaker 1: other thing you do this long enough with individuals, I
Speaker 1: mean someone like Leo. Leo, how long you've been working
Speaker 1: We've been working together. So Leo and I have been
Speaker 1: working together for fourteen years. For fourteen years, he's understood,
Speaker 1: you know, the you know, the essence the DNA and
Speaker 1: the mission statement of the company, and he's owned it himself.
Speaker 1: And now it's his vision now the podcast division which
Speaker 1: he is the head of, and how he manages his
Speaker 1: relationship with our partners, our iHeartMedia. You know, it comes
Speaker 1: from his vision or where he feels this company should
Speaker 1: go next as a podcast division. And what I can
Speaker 1: do is I can support him. I can, you know,
Speaker 1: I can. I can support his ideas. I can give
Speaker 1: him real feedback, right, but at some point I have
Speaker 1: to now trust his ideas of how these things you
Speaker 1: run so most often times or not because we have
Speaker 1: such a shorthand at this point, he'll come and I
Speaker 1: will ask him what do you think we should do
Speaker 1: about that? And he's like, I think we could go here, here,
Speaker 1: and here, and I go, okay, go. I don't have
Speaker 1: to have an opinion about that, because I know that
Speaker 1: he's probably mad every possible scenario before we make that decision.
Speaker 2: Are you Are you out of point that?
Speaker 3: Although although let's just say something that Leo brings to you, right,
Speaker 3: and although you're at point A and you kind of
Speaker 3: see Z, but Leo has a different opinion as to
Speaker 3: how to get to Z. Are you at a point
Speaker 3: where you override your own instinct and allow him to
Speaker 3: reach Z?
Speaker 1: Or yes and no? Yes or no? Because if we
Speaker 1: both see it a little differently, before I even disagree,
Speaker 1: I would create space for him to tell me what's
Speaker 1: the outcome, how does it end, you know, and what
Speaker 1: is it about? Because there may be things in the
Speaker 1: initial conversation that I didn't pick up on that I
Speaker 1: needed in order to say, oh, yeah, it's good. Right,
Speaker 1: So that's like one aspect of it. But if it
Speaker 1: is in fact a differential of you know of directions.
Speaker 1: It doesn't come in the form of critique or disagreement.
Speaker 1: It comes in the form of questions.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: Right, So you asked the question, right, what do you
Speaker 1: think the audience is for this?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: Or you know, what would an episode be?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: What's the structure of an episode?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: And the other one is like, what's the theme of
Speaker 1: the season? You know, if you have to create a
Speaker 1: theme for the season, what's that theme?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: What are the guests like?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: When you ask all these questions about a show and
Speaker 1: somebody has an answer for.
Speaker 2: Those, yeah, you have to trust them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And wouldn't you say there's also an aspect of
Speaker 3: humility on both sides, right, because you have to have
Speaker 3: the humility enough to go although like, and I'm speaking
Speaker 3: for you now, Leo, I would imagine on Leo's end
Speaker 3: to have the humility enough that if you're asking him
Speaker 3: a million questions for him not to.
Speaker 2: Let his ego or go go, why is he asking
Speaker 2: me questions?
Speaker 1: I've been so incredibly blessed everyone that has worked and
Speaker 1: works at WV, you know, and has owned their own
Speaker 1: perspective departments, because the company now has multiple departments and
Speaker 1: they're running on their own, right, like the podcast division, right,
Speaker 1: the podcast division, the alternative division, right, you know, the
Speaker 1: scripted division, right, the film division.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: Then then you have you know, the product development side.
Speaker 1: But then you also have h you know, the management
Speaker 1: company and and and then the nonprofit stuff.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: What I'm saying is that, like in order for all
Speaker 1: of that to run, there has to be a level
Speaker 1: of trust. You know, that that comes with time, you know.
Speaker 1: And I and I would say this, like the number
Speaker 1: one the number one skill that anyone, no matter what
Speaker 1: career or what job they're going for, to have is foresight.
Speaker 3: Mm hm.
Speaker 1: You have to see it before it happens. You have
Speaker 1: to have an answer before the question happens. Right, And
Speaker 1: that's one thing everyone in this company does beautifully, right.
Speaker 1: You know, they know what questions I'm going to ask
Speaker 1: at some point already, you know, so they checkmate me
Speaker 1: in ways that like I don't even see coming in.
Speaker 3: So there's there's ah that's interesting because they've worked with
Speaker 3: you for so long they have a sense of what
Speaker 3: you might come.
Speaker 1: But it's in the culture, right, It's in the culture.
Speaker 1: And in that trust also kind of evolves into you know,
Speaker 1: into a mutual respect so it's foresight and respect. You
Speaker 1: gotta you know, you gotta put on your silk gloves
Speaker 1: when you are handling storytelling because not one size fits all.
Speaker 1: And that's okay, right, as long as you're telling the
Speaker 1: same story together. How you get to the last page
Speaker 1: that says the end? You know that that is the
Speaker 1: adventurous exercise that you go with your creative partners, right,
Speaker 1: like you know, but but the two days like yes
Speaker 1: and right, and then over time you learn that you
Speaker 1: what you respect about these individuals goes beyond their creativity,
Speaker 1: their organizational skills, their their their sense of foresight, you
Speaker 1: know it. You start realizing that it takes a very
Speaker 1: balance and beautiful individual to to you know, to do
Speaker 1: a job like this, love it and the highs and
Speaker 1: the lows, and you're not not only respecting it to
Speaker 1: become really good friends, you know. But I think in
Speaker 1: that process you learn to appreciate the friendship and you know,
Speaker 1: you spend so much time together that eventually you go, oh, well,
Speaker 1: you know this is you know, we're going to experience
Speaker 1: life together too, yeah, you know, and that and that
Speaker 1: life happens, and you know, I've leaned on Leo and
Speaker 1: Jessica and you know Todao and I mean everybody in
Speaker 1: my life. Dude, that's just worked on me for a
Speaker 1: very long time. But you know, but that could be tricky, right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And that brings up a great point, Wilmer, which
Speaker 5: I want to ask you about. When you work so
Speaker 5: closely with people and you develop a relationship over what
Speaker 5: over a decade, right right, you become friends. And I
Speaker 5: wanted to see and want to ask you all on
Speaker 5: the on the flip side of that, would you ever
Speaker 5: hire your friends from back home or friends that you
Speaker 5: grew up with to be a part of your team
Speaker 5: because you have the first part of that relationship, right
Speaker 5: of the closeness and familiarity, but maybe not the professional
Speaker 5: side of that. So would you because you look at
Speaker 5: examples like Lebron. You know, Lebron James hired you know,
Speaker 5: his friends from back home, Rich Paul and Maverick Carter
Speaker 5: and they're doing big things right now. And so I
Speaker 5: had that question for you both. Would you ever be
Speaker 5: open to working with and building a team that consists
Speaker 5: of close friends from the get go?
Speaker 3: That's a that's a tough one. That's a tough one.
Speaker 3: I think I would imagine. Look, I don't I don't
Speaker 3: know what was behind Lebron's decision making, but I would
Speaker 3: imagine that he must have seen something in them that said, well,
Speaker 3: these are not just like my buddies who I hang
Speaker 3: out with and mess around with.
Speaker 2: Right, there must have been they must.
Speaker 3: Have had the aptitude the skill level to achieve the
Speaker 3: heights that they that they achieved. Right. They were probably
Speaker 3: not in Corporate America's eyes like the first choice maybe,
Speaker 3: but he saw something in them that they could that
Speaker 3: they could get there, and it took someone like Lebron
Speaker 3: to give them that chance to do it right. So,
Speaker 3: So to answer that question, would I, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 3: if I saw those qualities in someone, whether they're my friend,
Speaker 3: whether they're my kids, whether they're whoever it is, but
Speaker 3: I need to see specific qualities in the specific goals
Speaker 3: and motivation and other and other aspects in them for
Speaker 3: me to go I'm gonna take this chance on you,
Speaker 3: because there's always that possibility that they don't they don't
Speaker 3: meet your expectations, right, And if they don't meet your expectations,
Speaker 3: then what then? It affects your relationship, it affects your friendship,
Speaker 3: or even if you're hiring family, right, how does that
Speaker 3: affect It's tricky, It's really tricky.
Speaker 1: It's very tricky. And I think that that's the that's
Speaker 1: the right answer. I think that's the best answer. My
Speaker 1: biggest concern is if you're trying to achieve something, you
Speaker 1: have to give yourself the best shot, you know. And
Speaker 1: you know, there's this fantasy of like I'm bringing you know,
Speaker 1: I'm bringing the crew with me, you know, And I
Speaker 1: tried it. I tried it the first ten to fifteen
Speaker 1: years of my career.
Speaker 2: I tried. But you were you were like a freaking teenager.
Speaker 1: Exactly why exactly why you were?
Speaker 3: You were on the biggest show on the planet and
Speaker 3: you were and it was popular, and I mean I
Speaker 3: could imagine you must have been.
Speaker 1: Like I hired some of my friends as my assistance,
Speaker 1: and uh, what's the craziest thing that ever happened when
Speaker 1: one of your friends, well you don't have to name
Speaker 1: the person.
Speaker 2: No, So.
Speaker 1: No, all of them I think are stable and doing
Speaker 1: their own thing now. But I will say, you know,
Speaker 1: it said, you know form like you know, these assistants
Speaker 1: giving you, you know, Christmas and birthday presents and use
Speaker 1: your own credit card.
Speaker 4: Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait your assistant gave
Speaker 4: you a birthday Christmas present, but use your credit card
Speaker 4: pay for it by yes, okay.
Speaker 1: So I bought my own Christmas presents from my assistant,
Speaker 1: you know. So like I got this really nice dress
Speaker 1: shirts with my initials on it, and I was like,
Speaker 1: this is really thoughtful. I love that. WUV either, I mean,
Speaker 1: w e V. That's awesome, you know, and these are
Speaker 1: really cool shirts. And at the time, I was wearing
Speaker 1: suits all the time. I was like, yeah, this is
Speaker 1: this is really thoughtful. I like that, you know. And
Speaker 1: then the statements came, and all of a sudden, I
Speaker 1: was like, where where are these shirts from? Like I
Speaker 1: didn't buy this dress shirt?
Speaker 3: Was there ever a moment in between that where you
Speaker 3: were like, I know what your salary is, Yeah, how
Speaker 3: are you affording this shirt on an assistant salary?
Speaker 1: Yeah? No, I mean like the other instances, like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'd be away shooting a movie or something, and I
Speaker 1: had my Austin Martin and the you know, my brand
Speaker 1: new dB nin and Austin Martin in the in the
Speaker 1: garage and I came home, yeah, like maybe two months
Speaker 1: later or something. And then I looked in the garage
Speaker 1: and there was a dent in the front of the garage,
Speaker 1: and there was only one car that would fit that description,
Speaker 1: and it was the US Tomorrow that was Parker.
Speaker 2: Crossed from that dead no Man.
Speaker 1: And I found out they never told me that they
Speaker 1: move the US Tomorrow or they was taken out or
Speaker 1: whatever the hell they drove your car away into the
Speaker 1: no but that they were driving your car. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: I I'm gonna I'm gonna not rehash that memory and
Speaker 1: try to be shared like homes over here and try
Speaker 1: to find out if they actually went on joy rides.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna assume not. Maybe they were moving the car
Speaker 1: by accident they hit it against the thing, but it
Speaker 1: was like a major dan to in the garage from
Speaker 1: and didn't say anything, and then nobody said anything about it.
Speaker 1: They're like, oh, nothing happened to the cars, So I
Speaker 1: think we're good, you know. So it's like stuff like that.
Speaker 3: You're like, come on, man, But then you have people
Speaker 3: like like Todaw, who I see you still in your
Speaker 3: enterve my life forever and as far as I've known you,
Speaker 3: Todaw has always been there.
Speaker 1: Yes, Todaw, just to describe Todaw for everybody who's listening
Speaker 1: or watching, Todao is a beautiful uh samoan of culture
Speaker 1: man who has been my brother us. He has stood
Speaker 1: by my side. It was my protector, you know. He
Speaker 1: was my security for you twenty plus years. He has
Speaker 1: his own product, he has his own security company now
Speaker 1: where he deployed.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: So he's doing really really good, and I'm incredibly proud
Speaker 1: of him. He's got a beautiful family with Nicole and baby.
Speaker 1: But but yeah, but Todaw was one of those guys
Speaker 1: who tolerated very zero I mean like zero shenanigans around
Speaker 1: my life. You know, if you were out here for
Speaker 1: reasons that were not like minded, you were you were
Speaker 1: not allowed to be around. And he really protected me
Speaker 1: in so many ways. So in that aspect, you know,
Speaker 1: we we were on the road all the time. You know,
Speaker 1: you talk about ego zero go. If something had to
Speaker 1: be done, he would just be the first one to
Speaker 1: show up. He never I never had to ask him
Speaker 1: for a favor because he was already seeing it before
Speaker 1: it happened, you know, and.
Speaker 3: So not taking advantage of your kindness. No, he always
Speaker 3: a sense of respect.
Speaker 2: He was the way.
Speaker 1: He showed up for absolutely everything, all of it.
Speaker 3: But you know what I'm saying, like like because he could,
Speaker 3: Like you know, sometimes you hire people and they get
Speaker 3: really comfortable because they know you're cool, and then the
Speaker 3: respect you.
Speaker 1: Don't know, I like, I don't know how to ask
Speaker 1: for help. I'll just be very open here. I don't
Speaker 1: know how to ask for help, right and and therefore
Speaker 1: having real foresight is something I reward in our company
Speaker 1: because I sometimes would just do it myself right, Like
Speaker 1: it's it's it's a tough thing. I mean, it's just
Speaker 1: always you know, I'd rather show up for people. I
Speaker 1: never asked anyone to show up for me, and I've
Speaker 1: had to learn over the years to kind of really
Speaker 1: lean on the people that I know soulfully really want
Speaker 1: to be there, you know, and that he brings them
Speaker 1: joy to show up for me. Yeah, you know, like
Speaker 1: silly things like uh you know, like a like a
Speaker 1: birthday party for Nicano like these are you know, my
Speaker 1: friends are the heads of the departments WV Entertainment, and
Speaker 1: and they're showing up and blowing up balloons and like
Speaker 1: you know, talking to the princess to go through the
Speaker 1: back to surprise or or bring in the cake, and
Speaker 1: it's like it's like a real friendship, you know, where.
Speaker 2: They could have been like, that's not my job.
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly. Yeah, so I don't do that, you know,
Speaker 1: but as soon as they're gonna be and it's because
Speaker 1: I also don't. I don't go around to celebrate myself
Speaker 1: often or you know that, it just doesn't happen. But
Speaker 1: as soon as they forced me to do it, and
Speaker 1: I love it, you know what I mean, then I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm all about it, right, But they just they really
Speaker 1: support me, and uh so, you know, so it's a
Speaker 1: pleasure to show up for for them. You know, what
Speaker 1: about you? Do you do you have a pressure? Like
Speaker 1: do you do you know how to ask for help?
Speaker 1: Do you know how to make that phone call?
Speaker 3: And that's a really good question. I think that because
Speaker 3: of how we grew up, it's tough.
Speaker 2: As do it yourself.
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, yeah, I'm a very much do it myself,
Speaker 3: wear all five hats type of personal and and sometimes
Speaker 3: that's tough because there are I have a wonderful team
Speaker 3: behind me that I should be delegating them more of
Speaker 3: that too, that I often find myself fighting the urge to.
Speaker 2: To do it.
Speaker 3: Not not to say that I want to do anybody's
Speaker 3: job by by no means, but it's just it's like
Speaker 3: what you said at the beginning of this conversation, right
Speaker 3: like you're at point A.
Speaker 2: You already see z.
Speaker 3: And I and I want and I want to put
Speaker 3: it in fifth gear to go to z uh. And
Speaker 3: people have their own pace, people have their own strategies
Speaker 3: as to how they reach z uh and and sometimes
Speaker 3: I have to just sort of sit back and allow
Speaker 3: people their process to help me reach c you know.
Speaker 3: But I have a wonderful team behind me. As a
Speaker 3: matter of fact, I think you and I share uh.
Speaker 3: Woman and I have both been at this agency called
Speaker 3: UTA United Talent Agency for god knows.
Speaker 2: How long, a long long time.
Speaker 1: We've been lifers.
Speaker 2: Lifers.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: I go there and I'm like, I'm like office furniture here.
Speaker 2: I've been heres.
Speaker 1: And we also share some of the same agents too.
Speaker 2: That's right. Shout out to Nancy Gate.
Speaker 1: Nancy Gate. She's another one of my guardian angels, you know.
Speaker 1: And she's protected protected me and and guided me and
Speaker 1: advised me. And she's been my big sister for a
Speaker 1: long time.
Speaker 2: She's she's something a lot of love for a lot
Speaker 2: of respect for Nancy. She kicks.
Speaker 1: But but so it's hard to ask for help, right,
Speaker 1: And therefore, when you put together a team, you have
Speaker 1: to have individuals whose humility is is part of the
Speaker 1: virtual how they run their life, you know, having a
Speaker 1: sense of foresight and in creating a past. Think that
Speaker 1: assists is the common goal?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: Like that? That that feels like it feels like a
Speaker 1: lot of virtuals, you know.
Speaker 3: You ever you ever had to let somebody go as
Speaker 3: part of your team because they didn't possess the same
Speaker 3: qualities that you see in yourself as a CEO or
Speaker 3: that you felt And here's the let me preface it
Speaker 3: before you ask it. Sometimes I feel like someone's revenue. Right,
Speaker 3: they're out on the town, and they're a representation of you, right,
Speaker 3: and so they're if they're what's the correct terminology here?
Speaker 3: I don't want to say value system because I don't
Speaker 3: want to sound like a for sure, you know, but
Speaker 3: like I mean, I would say, if they don't emulate
Speaker 3: what you represent as a person, do you ever find
Speaker 3: that to be a problem?
Speaker 2: Do you ever?
Speaker 3: Do you ever? Well?
Speaker 1: Look, here's the thing, Uh, when you ever had a company.
Speaker 1: For this loan, we're going in almost two decades of
Speaker 1: a company, right. You know, individuals are going to grow
Speaker 1: and some some are going to find different paths and
Speaker 1: some are going to find different passions, you know, and
Speaker 1: that really always happens, you know, it's you some some
Speaker 1: people also say I want to trust something different, you know.
Speaker 1: So for those moments, you're kind of like, you know
Speaker 1: absolutely and you always kind of know, you know, when
Speaker 1: someone's either in it or not, you know, and for
Speaker 1: those moments, you have to just create a space for
Speaker 1: that to to you know, to be voiced and and
Speaker 1: you know, and then there's also other times where you
Speaker 1: have to kind of find a way to to say okay,
Speaker 1: like these are tough goals, you know, but it's just
Speaker 1: it's a business, right and everyone has to you know,
Speaker 1: kind of show up and do their best, you know,
Speaker 1: And and it's it's a very tough cut through environment.
Speaker 1: And you know, funding for companies also are very hard
Speaker 1: to find too, you know. So there's all the factors
Speaker 1: that come into that. But the truth is, you know,
Speaker 1: when I look at you know, the you know, the
Speaker 1: individuals and the amazing people that have come through our company.
Speaker 1: You know, through all the last twenty years, whether they're
Speaker 1: executives or assistants, you know, they always go off to
Speaker 1: do amazing stuff, you know, and and and there's always
Speaker 1: a way for them to full circle come around. You know,
Speaker 1: We've had multiple executives or assistants that come full circle
Speaker 1: and they're now a producer, they're now a director, or
Speaker 1: they're now whatever, and they're like, hey, I have an idea.
Speaker 1: We're like, bring it in, you know. So we've always
Speaker 1: had an open door policy too, you know, for those
Speaker 1: to return and continue to cultivate the relationship. But you know,
Speaker 1: we've been pretty fortunate that, you know, so you can see, know,
Speaker 1: rarely nobody, nobody leaves nobody, you know.
Speaker 3: It's like, yeah, yeah, I always tell people like, you know,
Speaker 3: you know, assistants at agencies or management companies or wherever.
Speaker 3: They're like like, they're not there to be like an
Speaker 3: assistant their whole life, man, right, you know, They're there
Speaker 3: to like eventually become an executive themselves and the total
Speaker 3: So treat them right, right, Yeah, Now, this has been
Speaker 3: a really interesting conversation, and I think that it applies
Speaker 3: to everyone. Right. It doesn't matter if you're in our
Speaker 3: industry or whatever industry you're in, your support system is
Speaker 3: incredibly important. Whether it's the people who work with you,
Speaker 3: whether it's your parents, your siblings, your friends. Your support
Speaker 3: system sometimes dictates the direction and your career and in
Speaker 3: your life. And sometimes people persevere past them not having that.
Speaker 3: But the majority of the time, it's always good to
Speaker 3: have a good inner circle.
Speaker 1: I mean when you say I do, and to double
Speaker 1: down on that, I think is even more critical to remember,
Speaker 1: Like what we always say here on the show, it's
Speaker 1: supposed to be fun. You know, you want to create
Speaker 1: an environment where people feel respected, and then you only
Speaker 1: talk to people with the same respect they give you.
Speaker 1: You know, I always think it's important that, you know,
Speaker 1: to preserve the harmony, you have to remember what you
Speaker 1: love and respect about that person before you even use words.
Speaker 1: That goes a long way, right, because that kind of
Speaker 1: respect turns into an effortless confidence that makes everyone better
Speaker 1: around a safety that makes them, you know, thrive and
Speaker 1: sword with, you know, with the tools they need to
Speaker 1: continue to grow. Right, So absolutely I would say that,
Speaker 1: and and I would also say that, you know, if
Speaker 1: you're going to hire your friends and you all want
Speaker 1: to come up together, you know. I don't know. There
Speaker 1: was some director that said something about, like, you know,
Speaker 1: networking was not like the worst advice he was giving
Speaker 1: was a network.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, the guy from Moonlighting. Yeah yeah, name Barry Jingers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you know I had I had thoughts about that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had thoughts about that. You know, I had thoughts
Speaker 1: about that because in order for you to you know,
Speaker 1: find greatness, you have to be exposed to enough individuals
Speaker 1: that had done it before. You know, you have to
Speaker 1: understand this is a very complicated industry and at one
Speaker 1: size doesn't fit off of this kind of stuff, you know.
Speaker 1: So I would say that networking with the like minded
Speaker 1: is what makes you better.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Surrounding yourself with individuals that you know that are in
Speaker 1: search of the same thing, you know, also makes you
Speaker 1: better and makes that shot even more realistic. So to me,
Speaker 1: I mean, like, look at this. You and I probably
Speaker 1: met in one of these network convenience right. We were
Speaker 1: at in a word show. We're on something. We're like,
Speaker 1: hey man, hey man, you're doing it. Yeah, I'm doing
Speaker 1: it too, cool, high five. We should be doing this together.
Speaker 1: You know. That's kind of how it happens in our industry,
Speaker 1: you know, but I you know, I would also say
Speaker 1: that you know that the biggest the biggest factor here
Speaker 1: is leadward kindness create a space for people to grow. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because it benefits the big picture. Right, that's kind of
Speaker 1: what you want, you know you want. But what about
Speaker 1: what about you, Aaron?
Speaker 5: What do you think when it comes to building a
Speaker 5: team and networking? And yeah, I think like I read
Speaker 5: this book years ago called the Five Dysfunctions of a Team,
Speaker 5: and I can tell them real quick, and it's by
Speaker 5: this author, Patrick NINCIONI you talked about when building a team,
Speaker 5: we often neglect these aspects and they are like five
Speaker 5: glaring aspects of a dysfunctional team. And so one is
Speaker 5: the absence of trust, Two is the fear of conflict,
Speaker 5: Three is a lack of commitment, four is the avoidance
Speaker 5: of accountability, and then five is the inattention to results well.
Speaker 5: And so when I was a part of The Daily
Speaker 5: Show a few years back, we got this book to
Speaker 5: read and power through it through it and I asked myself, like,
Speaker 5: what was the one that I was afraid of the
Speaker 5: most of those dysfunctions, And it really was the fear
Speaker 5: of conflict.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 5: And so we were talking about being direct, and you know,
Speaker 5: I'm a you know, EmPATH, radical impath. I want everybody
Speaker 5: to be happy. I want to cooon. My dad calls
Speaker 5: me mister Kumbaya, and so that's my biggest thing. I
Speaker 5: want everyone to be cool. And sometimes it is in
Speaker 5: conflict that we find the results. And sometimes conflict is
Speaker 5: a misnomer. People think, oh, you know, forget you and
Speaker 5: forget you. Then it doesn't have to be with like that, right,
Speaker 5: there can just be these moments of true directness. And then, Wilmar,
Speaker 5: I love what you said, just moving forward. We don't
Speaker 5: have to sit in it. We can just move forward
Speaker 5: and learn from it. We can learn from it. And
Speaker 5: then because we're all results driven, right, and so for
Speaker 5: really about the end result, we can get over ourselves,
Speaker 5: get over our egos, and then move forward and find
Speaker 5: the best solution for the project at head. So yeah,
Speaker 5: I think that that's my biggest thing, just holding onto
Speaker 5: those five dysfunctions. And whenever I'm entering the situation or
Speaker 5: collaborating with others like I might myself direct and produce
Speaker 5: and write as well, I'm always looking out for that,
Speaker 5: not only within the group, but within myself, right, And
Speaker 5: so whenever I'm encountering a challenge like, Okay, what am
Speaker 5: I exercising right here? Is it a fear of conflict?
Speaker 5: Is it a lack of commitment? Is it an attentiveness
Speaker 5: to the result? And usually from within those five dysfunctions,
Speaker 5: I have an opportunity to nip the problem in the
Speaker 5: bud and get back to what we're all here to do,
Speaker 5: which is to make it happen.
Speaker 3: That was you said that they gave you that book.
Speaker 3: Was that part of their leadership style at that show
Speaker 3: to give that book to all of their employees so
Speaker 3: that there's a cohesiveness in terms of how you all
Speaker 3: are thinking at the show.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it was very interesting.
Speaker 5: While at that job, it was also a collaboration with
Speaker 5: Paramount Audio, and so their audio division assigned that reading
Speaker 5: task to us because they were, you know, trying to
Speaker 5: get better. You know that they had a very corporate
Speaker 5: side of seeing things, but they were trying to also
Speaker 5: think outside the box. And so in the daily shows
Speaker 5: kind of like running Gun, you know, we're doing this,
Speaker 5: we're doing that, And so it was a good opportunity
Speaker 5: to reflect and evaluate and it was all in the
Speaker 5: hopes of yeah, just fine tuning some issues and some
Speaker 5: challenges that we observed, and it stuck with me the
Speaker 5: entire time. So when we were talking about Team today,
Speaker 5: I was like, oh, this is a great book that
Speaker 5: I read that kind of helped me get out of
Speaker 5: my own sort of. I don't know if it was
Speaker 5: malaise or just like the worst part you can be
Speaker 5: in our lives are in this industry or this job
Speaker 5: is figuring. It's thinking that you have it all figured
Speaker 5: out all you constantly want to evolve and get better
Speaker 5: and fine tune things. And so that really helped me
Speaker 5: get on a page where I was like, Okay, I'm
Speaker 5: always going to be looking at these things. So whenever
Speaker 5: we have a problem fit flair up, I can be like, oh,
Speaker 5: we're not thinking about the end result in mind. Oh
Speaker 5: so and SO doesn't want to be direct with so
Speaker 5: and so because they're scared about how they may come off.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The fear, right, fear is such a it's such a
Speaker 1: person absolute fear of moving forward, feared of voicing your thoughts.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's but also like when you fear
Speaker 1: your job or losing your job or the.
Speaker 2: Or your boss or your fear.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean not even like fearing an individual.
Speaker 1: I mean I'm talking about fearing the the energy.
Speaker 2: Of your job.
Speaker 1: Feeling like there's an expiration date to your job somehow
Speaker 1: creates this mirage of pressure that somehow it's gonna go away,
Speaker 1: it's gonna go away, it's gonna go away. And therefore
Speaker 1: you're only focusing about preservation as opposed to progression. And
Speaker 1: then therefore, guess what happens. You know, somebody is gonna
Speaker 1: take a note that all you're doing is trying not
Speaker 1: to lose your job. And when that comes across and
Speaker 1: you lose the creativity or the innovation of driving with vision,
Speaker 1: guess what happens? Like you're no longer, You're no longer
Speaker 1: a team member, right, You're not onlyer, you're no longer
Speaker 1: a leader because you're just only trying to preserve your
Speaker 1: job the detriment of the team's efforts. Right. So it's
Speaker 1: so a lot of that stuff is plays a major factor.
Speaker 1: And but yeah, I mean that's that's thank you for
Speaker 1: sharing all those things. We have a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: to reflect on that, and you know, I hope everyone
Speaker 1: you know walks away with some little you know, notions,
Speaker 1: a little yeah, yeah, A couple of little diamonds of
Speaker 1: of thoughts here putting a team. It's not simple, but
Speaker 1: I guess that the most the most primitive essence, find
Speaker 1: individuals that are doing it like you're doing it, or
Speaker 1: they share the same and values of how to get there,
Speaker 1: and if they don't, you know, learn from those who
Speaker 1: may have other ways, you know. I think that's that's
Speaker 1: the idea. And uh and leadership, I think. But but Freddie,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for those thoughts. Really cool, bro,
Speaker 1: Thank you. Wimer, same to you, man. Yes, this is
Speaker 1: dos Amigos and uh, tell a friend.
Speaker 2: Tell a Friend.
Speaker 3: Dos Amigos is a production from WV Sound and iHeartMedia's
Speaker 3: Michael through That podcast Network, hosted by Me, Freddie Rodriguez,
Speaker 3: and Wilmer Valdorama.
Speaker 1: Dose Amigos is produced by Aaron Burlson and Sophie Spencer Zabos.
Speaker 3: Our executive producers are Wilmer of Aaldorama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlson,
Speaker 3: and Leo Clem at WV Sound.
Speaker 1: This episode was shot and edited it by Ryan Posts
Speaker 1: and mixed by Sean Tracy and features original music by
Speaker 1: Madison Devenport and Halo Boy.
Speaker 3: Our cover art photography is by David Avalos and design
Speaker 3: by Deny Holtzclaw.
Speaker 1: And thank you for being in her third Amigo today.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys always listening to those amos.
Speaker 3: For more podcasts from my Heart, visit to your heart
Speaker 3: radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 3: favorite shows.
Speaker 1: See you next week.