The Principals Behind Growth and Success | Steve Jacobson and Jon Gordon

This is one of the best podcasts that I have listened to in terms of leadership.  Jon Gordon interviews Steve Jacobson (@Fairwaysteve1), the founder and CEO of Fairway Mortgage.

It is full of takeaways, as Steve shares a lot of real-world, practical lessons.  He says that mortgages is what they do but not who they are.  He talks about creating an environment where his team is encouraged to win each day by being humble, aggressive, and willing to make mistakes and learn and grow from their mistakes.  He talks a lot about serving and helping others, focusing on today, and competing and growing every day. 

He says the two things that he loves the most about the mortgage business is the pressure that you are under to perform, and that he gets to help and serve people.

Below are my notes from the podcast.

The Precious Present

You are going to make mistakes if you are trying to do something great.  If somebody steals the ball from you and you pout, you better get your head out of your backside right now because the dude (or dudette) will steal it again.  If you take a shot, make it and think you are a big deal – who cares – you still have to get back and play defense.

If you miss a shot and pout, you are going to miss the next one.

If somebody says something good about us, it is already gone by the time that they say it.  Learn from what you did, but focus on what you are doing right now by:

Staying humble.
Winning the day.
Everyday.
Competing.
Everyday.

There is nothing fancy.  It is all about consistent discipline, every day, over the course of years and years.

It’s all about daily discipline, consistencies, and the precious present.

It won’t be easy, and you will have late nights and early mornings.  You have to hustle, scrap, and find a way to get better and get the job done.

Embrace being the underdog.  Scrap.  Fight.  Work hard.  It’s nothing fancy. 

What’s Next – Keep Shooting

People need something ‘next.’ 

"It didn’t come to stay, it came to pass." 

They need something to look forward to and opportunities to grow and the new, next challenge.  They need something to grow in to.  You need to give people stuff, you have to give them room to grow, and you have to give them canvases to paint and opportunities that will let and make them grow.

You have to always continue to look forward.  Whatever happens, happens.  You will make mistakes, and you have to learn from mistakes and keep getting better.

If you miss a shot, you can’t pout, you just have to keep shooting.  You’re going to miss shots as a player, and you are going to miss shots as a leader.  You are going to miss plenty.  But you have to keep playing and you have to keep shooting.

Good coaching is creating an environment where you can make mistakes, where you can learn from them, and where you won’t get beat up because of them.  You have to play, you have to be aggressive, and when you are playing and you are aggressive, you are going to make mistakes.  

As long as the people learn from the mistakes and make the adjustments that they need to make, then they can keep playing as aggressive as they did before but smarter because of the lessons that they learned.

Play every day.  Play aggressive every day.  Have fun. 

Before Every Meeting, They Have A Saying ... 

"Before destruction, the heart of a man is haughty.  Before honor, the heart of a man is humility."  

Help and serve others, but whatever we have done in the past is old news.  We have to play today.  We have to keep trying to get better and improving.  We have to have a consistent discipline.  We can’t think that we have made it.  If someone says something nice, it’s great to hear, but someone can say something not nice just as quick.  None of what they say really matters because we have heard or will hear them all.  We just have to keep playing aggressively every day and keeping trying to win the day.

What Are Your Keys To Making Customers Happy?

Perform each time and make sure you take care of stuff.  If you make a mistake, raise your hand and own it.  What’s the worst that can happen?  If you make a mistake, raise your hand and admit it – even if you didn’t make the mistake.  Create a culture where mistakes are okay as long as we are aggressive and learn from them.

The beauty of teams and coaching is the relationships.  Relationships can last a lifetime.  You can call a teammate decades from now, share stories, and pick up like you never left off.  So make sure that you invest in the people around you.

Pressure Makes It Fun

You want something that has pressure in it.  The pressure makes things fun.  Take the focus off of yourself and return it back to the people that you are serving.  It makes it less of a big deal.  It becomes, ‘Who can you be helpful to today?’  ‘Who is it today?’  When you focus on other people, it makes it more fun.  Who needs your love, support, your words, or your encouragement today?

5 Keys to Leadership

1 – It can’t be about you.  Who
2 – Have a core group of people that you trust and can bounce ideas off of.
3 – Be a good listener
4 – Be in front of all issues and take a stance.  Be willing to take the blame and protect your teammates.  You can’t hide when the adversity hits.  You have to be in front.
5 – 90% of the time that you have to make a decision, you will only have 10% of the information.  As a leader, you are not going to get the time and information that you need to make a decision.  90% of the time, you are only going to have 10% of the information and you have to be ready to roll.  Trust your instincts, reach to and consult with your people.  You won’t make every shot, but you have to keep playing.
6 – Just know that 80% - 90% of the time, people are not going to be happy with what you do.  There is always going to be somebody who is not going to be happy with what you do.  You can’t please everybody.  This is not a popularity contest.  You have to trust your instincts, trust your heart, trust your core group, and stand in the face of making tough decisions knowing that 30% of the people will never be on your side no matter what you do as a leader.  The discipline is being able to rest knowing that it isn’t a popularity contest.  If you want to be popular, maybe don’t be a leader.

Do You Coach Your Leaders?

You learn by doing.  Let’s play and let’s talk about it later.  There is practice and there is playing.  I think you learn a lot by doing.  You learn by doing and by taking action.  You don’t always know if every decision is the right decision, but you can always look back and see what made sense, what didn’t make sense, and make adjustments from there.  The worse thing is the paralysis thing where you don’t make any decision.  Take action, you will make mistakes, learn from those mistakes, then grow from those mistakes.  Repeat.  You are going to make mistakes.  But you have to play.

What Do You Do If Somebody Isn’t Part of Your Culture?

You have to be able to respectfully tell people that this isn’t the right culture for them.  Sometimes you have to raise your hand and tell them, ‘Maybe it is US.’ 

How you treat people and your teammates is important.  If you don’t treat people nice, then you need to suggest that this isn’t the place for them and that they need to go somewhere else.

And it starts during the hiring process.  If it’s not a 10, don’t do it.  The fit has to be right.  Look for humility.  Ask questions and listen.  Ask them about their successes and failures, and by listening, you will hear how they handle their good and their past.  Listen to them talk about their past.  You can see the production on paper; that is easy.  The questions are, what is their character like, how do they treat their families, and listen to their stories.

How Do You Get Through the Hard Times?

Be a giver, not a taker.  Get out of your comfort zone and play aggressive.  Be scrappy, fight hard, and be faster than the competition.  It’s not going to be easy or fun.  It’s going to be hard.  But you have to be scrappy, you have to outperform people, and you have to be quicker at stuff than your competition.  Win the day because of your quickness.  Take all of the little disciplines that other people might not recognize as a big deal, and do them every day.