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I think if we don’t start looking at ourselves and start saying, “Do I
                                                                                feel great mentally? Do I feel good about what I’m doing? Do I feel
                                                                                good physically?” –


                                                                                This is an industry where we work our bodies really hard, and that
                                                                                takes a toll on us. So are we taking care of ourselves physically?
                                                                                Are we in a good spot emotionally? Do I know who I want to be
                                                                                as a leader? Have I taken the time to think about if someone talks
                                                                                about me in five years from now, what it was like to work with me?
                                                                                What do I hope they say? A lot of people in our industry don’t stop
                                                                                to think about that. A lot of people were bartenders or servers and
                                                                                they got promoted and promoted and promoted, and they never
                                                                                really thought about themselves as a leader or manager. They just
                                                                                kind of stumbled into it. And I think that leaders of great brands,
                                                                                leaders of great experiences, kind of stop and say, “Let me make
                                                                                sure I’m doing a good job of managing myself, that I understand my
                                                                                own energy, that I know what I’m contributing to the team, and that
                                                                                I’m really checking in on my own stuff.”


                                                                                Nick:
                                                                                That makes a lot of sense. The other question I want to ask you is what
                                                                                are the benefits of focusing on culture? Obviously, you have a great
                                                                                culture. People are going to love your brand, they’re going to come
                                                                                back, and you’re going to be busier. But what else? What other benefits
                                                                                would you say besides growth in business would be beneficial to a great
                                                                                culture?
         the climate, and the climate controls the customer experience and
         the employee experience really more than anything.”                    Mike:
                                                                                I mean, I think if you look at some of the great cultures out there
         Even in a franchise, if someone was part of a franchise with a huge    – everyone lately has been talking about Shake Shack or different
         corporate entity above them, they don’t have a whole lot of say        places like this. Outside of having a culture that everyone envies and
         about the brand itself or the messaging or what the core values are,   talks about, it gets you a lot of press. That’s a good thing. Even if
         but every single day in the location that they run, they have a lot of   you’re local, if everyone talks about it, it gets you free press. You get
         control over the climate, how it feels to just be in that space. And   invited to the media.
         those are the two things that great brands do. They’re really clear
         about what they’re trying to create from the guest experience side     Nick:
         of things, and then they’re really, really thoughtful and specific every   How does it do that? If you’ve got a great culture, what’s going to make
         single day about the climate that’s going on inside.                   the media reach out to you for having great culture?


         Nick:                                                                  Mike:
         Let me ask you this. What do you think leaders and great brands, bars   Let’s take the example of a business in Rockford. If everyone talks
         and restaurants, pay attention to more of than others, would you say?  about Rockford Ricky’s Bar and that’s what everyone is talking
                                                                                about, the buzz, say that they’re doing a news piece on the Rockford
         Mike:                                                                  News and they’re going to do a piece about cocktails. They’re going
         This is always the shocking thing when I speak about this onstage or   to call the place that’s known as being the best, because the media
         I lead a workshop or I’m coaching a group. At first it sounds a little   wants experts. They want people who are great, so they’re going
         hippy dippy, a little new age, but the thing that great leaders and    to think, we don’t want to call the guy down the street, because
         great brands do is pay attention to themselves first. They manage      nobody’s talking about them. But everyone talks about Rockford
         themselves better than people in other places. All great leaders, if   Ricky’s. Everybody knows that that’s the place to go, so we’ve got
         you would ask them, “Hey, what do you want for your people?” they      to see if they’ll come on and show us how to make a cocktail for
         would say, “I want them to be in touch with themselves. I want them    4th of July or Memorial Day. By being known as a place that’s great,
         to have a clear vision of what great looks like and go towards it. I   other businesses like the news or media or PR are going to want to
         want them to have passion and excitement about what they do.”          talk to you because they want the best. We want to talk to the best
         But a lot of times, we’re really bad at turning that and saying, “Don’t   people. We don’t want to just talk to any bar. We want the guy that
         I deserve that as a manager? Don’t I deserve that as a leader?” And    everyone is talking about.





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