[00:00:00] Welcome to Elements of Community Podcast about discovering and exploring the Elements of Community. I am Lucas Root. And each week we talk with a community leader about what makes their communities thrive and bring value to both the leaders and the members. Join me as we unpack the magic of the Elements of Community.

[00:00:23] Thank you so much for joining us. You and I have had a really awesome relationship over the last several months. I’ve enjoyed our conversations. But before we go on, can you tell the audience a little bit about what they’re missing out and not having the calls that we have?

[00:00:55] The sense of community. That’s my answer. And I’m sticking to it.

[00:01:00] Very much so, I agree. But tell them a little more about yourself.

[00:01:05] Sure. Oh, that question a little bit of background. I understand. Who’s on the call with you. Oh, okay. I get it now just teasing you a little bit. These podcasts can be fun too, right? I hope.

[00:01:18] I mean, they ought to be, if they’re not, maybe we need to reconsider things a little.

[00:01:25] Right on. Absolutely. So look, I’ve been in business for decades, so I help a lot of CEOs. I also help people who are in startup positions and with their companies. And basically I love empowering people and helping them to empower their teams to be more productive and profitable.

[00:01:42] That’s what I absolutely love to synthesize all that mission statement stuff. You know, that sometimes is often boring, but I’m an integrator. I love helping people integrate multiple things, whether it be sales and marketing, operations and finance, whatever it is, maybe it’s personal integration. So maybe you want to integrate your beliefs and your principles and your motives and your values and that kind of stuff.

[00:02:06] I just love building and integrating things. So I’ll keep it simple for today.

[00:02:12] I love it. And so you haven’t heard this term, so I’m going to introduce it to you. The question is what is your CPOP and CPOP is your Community Point of Possibility or your Community Point of Purpose?

[00:02:28] I love it. So what is my community point of purpose?

[00:02:34] So what I like to say is that in the communities I’m involved in that we transformed possibility into reality. So we take something that possibly somebody doesn’t think is possible. That’s what I absolutely love and then make it possible. So that might be said, transforming the impossible to possible.

[00:02:57] I think that I can make objects, move with my mind without touching them.

[00:03:05] Nice. That’s a skill I don’t have.

[00:03:07] It’s a skill I don’t have either, but I think I can do it. I think it should be possible, but right now, as far as I know, we haven’t figured out how to make that happen. So can I come into the community and can we figure out that out?

[00:03:22] Indeed. You know what? I can guarantee that we can actually make that happen. Now it may turn out to be magic rather than actual reality, but with there’s one form or fashion that we could make that happen for you, my friend,

[00:03:40] Now we’re talking now we’re talking,

[00:03:43] let’s not limit ourselves. Right?

[00:03:46] Why start limiting yourself?

[00:03:48] Right. They are typically a little more tangible than that, but I’m with you let’s have fun with it.

[00:04:01] So I love it. What does that usually look like in your community?

[00:04:07] Yeah. So there’s the business side of things and then the personal side of things. So what’s more important to me, I’m really about service.

[00:04:17] I think a community has everything to do with service and value. And so for me, we could go to the business side, but what’s more empowering is when somebody’s truly transformed their life, their businesses affected as a residual. But truly transforming their life, transformation happens in an instant.

[00:04:40] There’s a lot of people misunderstand this, transformation happens instantaneously. It’s that aha moment when the light goes on and we say, oh, I get it now. And then forever more. You were never the same. So transformations happen an instant. However, there’s a lot that leads up to a transformational moment and there’s a lot that goes beyond the transformational moment.

[00:05:07] Look, I can have a transformational moment that says, wow, I need to do more than 10 pushups consistently in order to be fit. That may dawn on me someday. I may say, wow, this is going to take more than just doing 10.

[00:05:23] I might have to do hundreds over time and condition myself, but it’s that moment where, and I’m just using a silly example, but it’s that moment where we realize, oh, this isn’t working, this is what’s actually gonna work. And that light bulb goes on.

[00:05:39] So in talking about this, the idea of transformation, transforming the impossible into possible. I love that by the way, the idea of transformation. Until now had this image in my mind. But now I have the image of a waterfall and the conversation that you’re having about this makes that image of the waterfall actually really work very well.

[00:06:05] I don’t know why this is what popped into my head, but when you look at a waterfall, A lot of times what you see is this continuous thing. There’s always water on the top and there’s always water falling. And so, as you mentioned, like people don’t think about the fact that transformation happens in an instant because we look at the waterfall and we see that there’s always water at the top and there’s always water falling.

[00:06:31] But then if you zoom in really, really tight on one molecule of water, you realize that that molecule of water. It had this trajectory of going slowly forward and the straight lines slowly down. And then it hits this point. And in that instant, as it hits that point, it goes through a massive transformation of moving slowly forward into moving very quickly downward.

[00:06:54] And so, that image of that waterfall, like when you look at it at a macro perspective, there’s always water at the top. There’s always water falling, but when you zoom in on that one molecule, it goes through one instant of transformation and everything is different after that.

[00:07:09] I’m with you, you have me less than about the molecule, but I’m with you a hundred percent. I was actually thinking of how they jump in barrels down Niagara falls.

[00:07:21] That’s perfect. It works.

[00:07:23] That’s the same thing. Moving, moving, moving, gets to that point. And then as you go over the falls, that’s a transformational moment. That’s an inflection point without doubt. Things are never the same after that.

[00:07:38] Well, like the others, everything has changed

[00:07:42] 100%. Love it.

[00:07:44] Yeah. So, cool. Sorry. Thank you for humoring me on that. So you’re talking about what it looks like inside the community when the community is engaging with a transformation.

[00:08:00] So even making the statement, making the impossible possible that doesn’t resonate with a lot of people.

[00:08:07] So. A little context on that might be helpful. I see evidence of this daily, that happens to be my number one belief and the way I see evidence is if somebody doesn’t think they limit themselves or they haven’t had the exposure or something they want just hasn’t been modeled to them and they just don’t think it’s possible or they don’t even know it might be possible.

[00:08:33] And they come into the community. They’re able to expand their thinking, they’re able to expand their status. Which is a very important thing by getting to know more people and they’re not in a bubble anymore and they literally can expand their thinking. Then what might have been thought was impossible. Very much can be possible.

[00:09:00] So I know that’s not the crux of what we’re talking about here, but I wanted to give a little bit of context on that, if anybody’s listening and saying, well, that doesn’t even make sense. I see evidence of this every day and it doesn’t happen through the power of one.

[00:09:15] It happens through the power of community.

[00:09:20] I love that. Yeah. So true too, I mean, I talk about that we are a social animal. We like to spend time with each other, but we don’t just like to spend time with each other. We need to, we need to have hugs. We need to have physical contact. We also need to conquer obstacles together.

[00:09:42] We need to go hunt together. And in the modern day, our hunting looks different. Maybe we’re hunting for bargains at TJ Maxx. Maybe we’re hunting for the best restaurant in town. That’s a hole in the wall, right? Not necessarily expensive. Like we’re still hunting together. We’re just maybe hunting for different things.

[00:10:01] And in this case, what you’re talking about is people who are trying to personally engage in becoming a different version of themselves in taking an area of their life and leveling it up in a big way. And there’s no reason that can’t happen, but it has to happen as a result of us working together.

[00:10:18] We’re hunting together. We’re building together. We build the barn together. We build ourselves together. I love that

[00:10:26] A Hundred percent, a hundred percent.

[00:10:28] Amazing. Taking a small pivot here. That’s not easy to do building a barn together. It’s not easy to do. How how does how does an effective community leader engage with a community like that? What is it that makes an effective community leader?

[00:10:53] That’s a great question. So if it’s okay with you.

[00:10:59] Nope. Nope. We’re not doing that.

[00:11:02] Okay. Moving on.

[00:11:03] I’m kidding, I’m kidding. We get to have fun, right?

[00:11:06] Okay then. Great podcast. Thanks for being on.

[00:11:11] That was great. I mean, I think context to these conversations is really important. And so what I’d like to do before I answer your question, which is about leadership is frame up the state of where we are today. Is that okay with you?

[00:11:27] Yeah.

[00:11:28] Cause I think it’s important to understand the context in which language is important, right?

[00:11:31] Common language and common purpose and that’s what this is all about. And so since we’re listening and we’re coming from different places and I just think context and languages is super important. So, by framing the answer before the answer, I think that will help people listening. So I think from my perspective, from my experience from what I’ve walked through, I think where we are today, I see society and that’s just a hard truth, right?

[00:12:02] Society is a little plagued by silos and fragmentation. And it’s not just in the last two years, which has been more so true with what we’ve walked through recently. But it’s been happening for a long time and a lot of people live in bubbles. I like to call them bubbles of evanescent long lost communities with neighbors who don’t know one another and don’t speak to one another anymore.

[00:12:30] That sectors of our communities, business, schools, social service organizations, churches, governments, like, they don’t work together in unison as they used to until when we think about different generations, we all have different perspectives on this. So many people simply exist in their own worlds, unfortunate as it may be.

[00:12:51] And they don’t even look people in the eye anymore or acknowledge each other. Their presence, you know, they don’t acknowledge people’s presence anymore. At least not as much anymore.

[00:13:05] I walked down the street. I make eye contact with somebody in smile and it happens. They raise their eyebrow at me. Like, why are you smiling at me? Like, what do you mean I’m smiling?

[00:13:18] I get that too. I’m a smiley guy, so I can get that too. Or they don’t look at you. They just look around.

[00:13:23] Yeah.

[00:13:23] And I don’t remember that from my younger years, my younger years were a different world. So I think it’s important to just consider these things as we’re having this conversation, many of us as individual citizens who long for connection, but end up being marginalize. Our gifts and talents and strengths were overlooked and were not able to contribute in the greatest way. And that’s why we’re having this conversation, right? Some of us are lost like driftwood in an ocean of latent potential. And so I love having conversations around this.

[00:13:54] Like driftwood and an ocean of latent potential. That kind of gave me a little bit of a chill right there.

[00:14:03] It’s language it’s important, right? That’s how some of us are living our lives, but I don’t think it’s anybody’s fault. And I’m sure we’ll get to this, but I think people just, they don’t have any models to go by or as many models to go by.

[00:14:22] And I think there is a, I actually know it to be true, I can speak for everybody. I know there are so many people who are craving something different. There’s something missing from their lives, right. That feeling of detachment has become comfortable and commonplace, but it also makes it difficult to work to towards a togetherness.

[00:14:50] That’s right. Well, and because it’s comfortable and detachment leads to insecurity there is no two ways about it. We’re a social animal. If we don’t have our social with us, social is a basic need for us. We must have our tribe. We don’t have our tribe. We are insecure and becoming comfortable with that insecurity means that you’re not going to identify it. And you’re not going to try to remedy it.

[00:15:15] Right on. A hundred percent with you. This is all too common disconnection makes it challenging to actually envision a common future, a community, a common purpose, right? If someone doesn’t words on a page or even words on a podcast without a model, without being able to synthesize the words and understand what they mean and having seen it, it’s challenging at best to experience it.

[00:15:45] This is bringing to mind a statistic that I stumbled across recently. That is, I think really important here. Charitable giving has been reduced by 40% since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

[00:16:04] Wow.

[00:16:06] Now I’ve been trying to reconcile that in my mind. Did people stop choosing to give? Did people stop putting money into the Santa’s jar when they were going for their groceries at Christmas?

[00:16:19] Like how did charitable giving drop by 40? I mean, that’s a monstrous number, not 4 or 14%, like 40%. Our economy doesn’t suggest that it’s an economic thing, but it ties into what you just said. So if you don’t mind me asking, would you repeat that?

[00:16:44] Which I’m happy to repeat the answer is yes. The question is it all of it or just the last few statements?

[00:16:53] The last few statements.

[00:16:55] Okay. Got it. So the feeling of detachment has become comfortable and commonplace and it makes it difficult to work towards togetherness. I think that’s probably what you’re asking about and I’ll go ahead and repeat the driftwood statement too, some of us are lost like driftwood in an ocean of latent potential

[00:17:24] but I think the important part of this is that, many people don’t know what healthy communities look like anymore, or feel like any more. And so that’s really the point that I want to drive it home. Before we begin to talk about leadership and what that can look like. So if we know what we don’t want, then we can more easily determine what we do want.

[00:17:51] It’s just the ark. It’s the opposite. And a lot of people have caught a button saying, I hear a lot of people complaining and I love to have those kinds of conversations. And I just simply say, what would it look like if you just flip that statement to the opposite, but I tend to be on the positive. I like to be, I like to stay on the positive. I like my vibrational levels to be higher.

[00:18:15] Yeah, me too.

[00:18:16] That’s the reason why I say it, but I don’t like to stay in the negative, but if we know what we don’t want, if we understand that disconnection is what we don’t want, then we can begin to have conversations around. What does it look like? What does community feel like?

[00:18:31] And then how do we envision that? How can we turn that into feelings of hope rather than feelings of despair?

[00:18:39] Well, I’ll tell you what I don’t want. I do not want to be flotsam on an ocean of latent potential.

[00:18:45] Right off, me either. I want to be floating on the ocean, but not forever.

[00:18:53] Yup, I do. I want to be floating, but I don’t want to be driftwood. I don’t want to be flotsam and I want to be a yachy.

[00:19:00] Right on. Now you’re talking. Yeah. So that I think the challenge and that’s why I’m grateful to be here so that we can have conversations about what healthy communities actually do look like.

[00:19:12] So thanks for playing along with me. Now we know that I can begin to answer your question about leadership, right? How do we lead those communities? That’s where you’re headed, right?

[00:19:24] Yeah.

[00:19:26] So the one word go before I go, I wanted to say there was one word that came to mind about the charitable donations.

[00:19:36] I’m not an economist, so I can’t speak into that. That’s not my area of specialty, but one word came to mind when you said that. Since what we have just walked through. I think it’s all about fear. So when people move from their comfort and what’s normal and typical, and they move out of that, or they’re forced out of that in this case, nobody sought out COVID right.

[00:20:00] When they move into a state of fear, then I think that causes some of what you’re saying is they begin to move into survival mode rather than thrival man thriving. And so that state of unknown or state of fear, even for some people that causes those kinds of things. And so I feel hope that we will come back around.

[00:20:25] Me too. I don’t want charitable giving to be down permanently. I don’t want it to be a new, normal of 40% lower than it was two years. I have to hope that we as a society are going to choose to continue to support our community in charitable ways, you know, give into the community, give into the initiatives of the community that aren’t necessarily for profit.

[00:20:54] Right on.

[00:20:55] Not that it’s not profitable to have a park. It actually turns out to be very profitable, but you don’t build the park for profit.

[00:21:06] I used to build parks. So that is a very true statement. One that I’m very familiar with my friend. That is true.

[00:21:14] So back to the leadership, I think from my perspective, communities are built. They’re built to listen to what people want and then help drive the evolution of what that is. So that’s a pretty big statement. So I want to just actually repeat that. I think they’re built to listen. So it’s a lot about listening. It’s also about acting, but it’s a lot of our listening because we all come from different places different experiences as if we’re going to have a common language and a common purpose, then we need to listen to one another, seek to understand before being understood. Right?

[00:21:58] Yeah.

[00:21:58] Timeless principle there. And then.

[00:22:01] But God gave us two mouths and only one ear.

[00:22:06] Right on.

[00:22:09] Wait. No, that’s not it.

[00:22:12] It’s right off. It’s actually what I should have said right off instead of right on, I went to you. So, and then to drive that evolution and just I could say it in a different way. So I had this little formula that I speak into, value, the word value is thrown around a lot. Value value, value, value value, especially in my circles, my current circles with a lot of speakers and trainers and coaches and things like that.

[00:22:36] And that’s a lot of value, right? Me giving value on social media and these things that you hear, but not many people talk about what value is, so common purpose is one. Right?

[00:22:47] Right, that’s funny. Even. I don’t.

[00:22:50] So I have this very simple formula and I believe simple is brilliant and so complex it’s hard to understand. So it’s V as in Victor equals B as in Brad squared. So, and what that means, V equals B squared. And what that means is in this ties in directly to community.

[00:23:10] What it means is that every community needs to Brad’s.

[00:23:16] Right. One Victor, Victor equals B squared. So anyway, all that means is it was my definition for when I hear this word, what I can actually picture, I believe value is what you bring to the table. So we all have strengths. We all have talents. We all have this eyes call it brilliance. So everybody has an essence of quiddity inside them.

[00:23:39] That’s not a common word. But it’s metaphysical stuff that’s probably should be used nowadays. It’s just like the essence of you, the essence of a thing, right? Or hecksiety another uncommon word that’s not used, but probably should be used more often. It’s basically the same thing.

[00:23:56] Or even eudaimonia which is another word that’s not common. And it basically means like human potential, right? I think we should bring these words back to the forefront of language today and have more conversations around these things. What is the essence of you? What is your brilliance? What were you born for?

[00:24:17] What can you step into the makes you the powerhouse that you were designed to be? Right? Because when you begin to find those things and get to know yourself, you begin to see yourself in a different way. So it’s what you bring to the table. That’s the first B multiplied. So B squared, right? B multiplied by B what you bring to the table multiplied by what you Become while you’re there.

[00:24:40] That’s what value is. It’s what you bring to the table multiplied by what you become while you’re together. So we’re both together now and out of this, there will be a synergy that’s created that wouldn’t have been there, had you and I not hopped on this call. And we were just individuals.

[00:25:00] I love it. Okay now, from a community perspective, I can talk about this from a pattern perspective. I can talk about this from a probability perspective, but how does the community engage with the idea that common value exists when what you become is so individualistic and what you bring is so individualistic.

[00:25:31] I see an answer, but I also see that this should be a conversation. How can community engage with common value when the B times B the B squared is so unique to the individual?

[00:25:48] So I think I know what you’re asking, but I’m not 100% sure. I think what you’re saying is how can people. The word I use is synthesize that. So what does that look like when that happens? I have one word for that, which is also not a common word synergy. I mean, when the common purpose is greater than the whole, right?

[00:26:14] So when three members come together and they truly come together, than something greater than just the individuals is actually creating that synergy. Right. It’s greater than the individuals themselves. Now I understand why community is misunderstood because if you’ve never seen this happen, that’s a difficult concept to understand.

[00:26:45] So we need to take a simple example. If the car fell on someone, would one individual be able to pick it up?

[00:26:57] Maybe.

[00:26:58] Maybe it depends on who it is I guess.

[00:27:00] With my mind.

[00:27:02] Okay. Superman with your mind tricks there, there we go. We’ll work on those.

[00:27:07] Didn’t think that was come back and round. Did ya?

[00:27:10] We’ll work on that and we’re going to make the impossible possible. We’ll continue to work on that, Lucas. But if you had two or more people or three or four or five or six or seven, you could easily make that happen. I mean, I know it’s a silly little example. But there’s much greater things can happen. Then when just one individual is just within their own bubble, it’s a merging of I’d think of it in terms of bubbles. It’s a merging of bubbles so much greater things.

[00:27:37] So most people think about security. So let’s say, you live in your homestead and you’re surrounded by wolves and bear. And you have a shotgun. Shotgun is pretty effective deterrent does a pretty good job keeping wolves and bears away. But if you yourself have a shotgun, you’re capable of providing really high quality security for what one-third of the day, maybe cause you have to sleep for a third of the day and you have to work for a third of the day.

[00:28:06] Whether you’re working for money or you’re tending your garden, you’re working for food, right? So you really only have about a third of the day that you can provide security. And the other two thirds of the day, you just can’t. Maybe you can be effectively reactive most of the time. Maybe, maybe not.

[00:28:24] That’s not really security. That’s reaction. Bring in another homestead. Now there’s two homesteads. Now you have to share resources a little bit, but now you can be effectively secure for two thirds of the day, right? That guy’s got one third covered. I got one third covered together. We’ve got two thirds of the day.

[00:28:41] You bring in a third homestead and now the three of you together, you have to share some resources, but the three of you together now can effectively provide security consistently. Most days, all day long. I get that. But without the three of you working together as a small community of security, It just can’t be done effectively.

[00:29:04] Maybe you can be reactive most of the time, maybe, but you just can’t affectively provide that security from those wolves and bear all day, every day.

[00:29:17] Right on. I think there’s a common Maxim that comes and he comes from Africa who kind of speaks into that and said to go fast, go alone, to go far, go together.

[00:29:33] Yup.

[00:29:33] That’s all about the security right there. I mean, if you think about it, so how many lions are chasing you? Or you want to be by herself, cheetah chasing you. I don’t want to be by myself.

[00:29:45] No, I might get away this time. I might win this fight, but am I going to get away next time?

[00:29:53] All about the security. So, yeah. And I’m with you on the homesteads too.

[00:30:00] Yeah. Cool. So we’ve still been, and I love it. It’s a good question. It was going to come next. What provides an effective community and that’s kind of what we’ve been talking about. But let’s kind of cycle back into what provides an effective community leader?

[00:30:21] So the I’m not going to stop saying listen. So listening. I’m just going to keep saying that Lucas listening is I think key. I believe we live in a world where many people rush around. Not all people, but many people rush around, rush around, rush around, rush around and often don’t pause for active listening with one another, nor for reflection with themselves on a regular and daily basis.

[00:30:52] You know, whether that’s true for you listening or not, maybe you’re saying that’s me. I need to do something about that. Or maybe rush around you’re not, maybe you’re one of the people who does. Listening is very important. So to create community, we must listen to one another. The other thing is connection.

[00:31:11] And so this is one that I’m very familiar with and being most vulnerable, Lucas. I struggled with this, the majority of my life. I’m not done struggling with it. It’s connection for me has been a challenge, all of my. And so I’m just going to lay that down real, some people have this natural ability and talent to be able to connect with one another on a deep level. And it’s just because it comes natural to them.

[00:31:36] Relatability comes natural to them. That has not been the case for me. Most of my life, I unintentionally kept people at arms length from me. I mean, looking back now, having done that self-development work. I realized that that was fear and some of these things that we safety and some of the reasons for that, but now that I’ve come through that to a higher degree I realized that has been a struggle and I’m still building that relatability skill, but connection is really important. So it’s not superficial connection to have real community. It’s not superficial. It’s beyond it’s deeper. You could say higher or you can say deeper. I like to say it’s deeper. Right? There’s levels of intimacy.

[00:32:25] There’s actually degrees of intimacy and not a lot of dudes talk about that, to be quite honest, there are degrees of intimacy. And so understanding the degrees of connection is really important. I wish I had known that when I was, you know, 16, 17, 18 years old, and maybe been trained in that instead of having to struggle most of my life and begin to learn about deep connection at the age of 40.

[00:32:53] And so now I have 15 years under my belt working on that diligently. But it would’ve been nicer to have that in my younger years, but connection is really important. And there’s a lot of people who are uncomfortable speaking about connection.

[00:33:11] Sure.

[00:33:11] But it’s necessary for community. So I would throw those couple I might add collaboration, which is a very misunderstood word today, but working in togetherness, it’s a little bit like this synergy that we discussed, right. Coming together. It’s connection, collaboration, character. I talk about character a lot. So understanding one’s character, and it goes back to that what you bring to the table, right?

[00:33:47] But not just your individual character, but how your character, what that brings to the community. And if you’re going to be in a leadership position, then character is of the utmost importance. A lot of people talk about integrity. That’s good. I like to talk about character and then communication, creativity, and constance. So those are the words that I would say are important.

[00:34:19] Yeah and listening is number one. In fact, you said it four times in a row. So it’s number 1, 2, 3, and four.

[00:34:29] Yeah, I think that’s directly tied to, there’s one other word. So I went with all the C’s, but empathy. So listening is tied to empathy.

[00:34:41] I think they’re integrated. They work hand in hand, but you can listen without having empathy. So I thought it’s important to mention that as well. If you’re going to be a great leader in today’s world, not in 1960, that was a whole different place. So if you’re going to be a leader in today’s world, empathy is critical.

[00:35:03] That’s the world we live in today. Thank goodness. Thank God even. So those are some things that I would consider or even start training yourselves in those areas and start learning and start creating some depth. Not you necessarily, Lucas was the you in general, yes, I’m doing metaphorical

[00:35:26] And also me. I’m not above self improvement.

[00:35:31] I just, we, I should’ve said we.

[00:35:37] Yeah, no,I’m in it with you. I’m in it with you. I hope tomorrow. I look back in today and say, you know, I did improve. I spent my time becoming a better man, and I hope tomorrow I can say, and yes, it worked. I am a better man. And I want that to be true every day.

[00:36:01] Wow. Thank you, Brad. So we dove into value a little bit. Do you want to deep dive into value a little bit more? And let’s talk about what value looks like and how it becomes a tool of enrollment. How people continue to bring that value, the B squared, the two Brads into their life.

[00:36:26] So one of the approaches that I’ve had, and again, I recognize that part of what I’m doing here is, is redefining my approach is redefining my own understanding and sharing that process. One of the approaches that I’ve had is that a community needs to understand the value that they’re receiving.

[00:36:47] As a community and as an individual in order for that value to drive enrollment and engagement. And if bring is unique and if become is unique, how is it that a community can engage with that idea?

[00:37:07] So here’s what comes to mind when you say that. So, I like to say there’s unity in community. I’d say that a lot. Now there’s a unity in community. It’s kind of a fun little statement, but when we dive into there, so what is real community consists of? And so I know you’ve defined that and you have these common characteristics, which is great, but I think with that in mind,

[00:37:42] What really creates community long-term or what are the result of community is culture and culture is actually behaviors. So you can say verbally what a culture is, but that’s not what actually models, what a culture truly is. So we see that sometimes in companies, that’s the best example that I can think of, or it may say, okay, the culture here is such and such, right.

[00:38:15] We have a culture here of integrity, but okay. But that’s not what I’m seeing modeled when you’re on the phone, screaming at your customer, you know you can say it, but it doesn’t make it true, but what really creates a culture is the behaviors that are actually occurring within the community. So they can be verbalized.

[00:38:39] They could be, the expectations can be set verbally, but it’s actually the actual behaviors. And so if we’re going to clarify expectations of what the community can deliver to one another, what can be accomplished through one another, then we need to work together in unison, togetherness, hand and hand to actually model the behaviors of the outcomes that we want to create, ultimately it’s to create a future that is hopeful, a future outcome it’s to create hope. It’s language of hope. That’s what drives communities, but culture is how we see, how we feel it.

[00:39:29] And that comes from the behaviors that are actually occurring and the behaviors that are being modeled not only from the top or the bottom, but throughout whatever the community is, right.

[00:39:45] It doesn’t have to be a business. It can be a community, could be a local Quantas club or something. I mean, whatever it is. So whatever that community is surrounded around, we can talk about common purpose, that’s great. Common language, that’s great. But what are the behaviors that are occurring?

[00:40:05] What are the conversations that we’re having? How are we using that common language? How are we talking about that? How are we communicating about that common purpose? That’s how we begin to model and drive and continously act, behave, that’s how we become and how we begin to have things behave.

[00:40:34] So

[00:40:35] hard work!

[00:40:41] Hmm.

[00:40:42] No, I’m kidding. I just, I like to throw that out there. I do believe it does require work. I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t say, you got to take action or you got to do the work or you got to pay your dues/ I mean, you got to get into the fundamentals, you know, you want to be a black belt.

[00:41:04] You’re talking about being a black belt, but you haven’t even done the fundamentals as a white belt yet. And so let’s back it down a little bit. Let’s start out with some fundamentals and let’s get clear about what our foundation is, what our structure is and what our substructure. They use those words a lot.

[00:41:26] So foundational types of words, like, what’s your structure? What do you mean by that? Okay. What’s what’s your personal structure? What’s your personal substructure? It’s not a common question. People don’t know the answers to that.

[00:41:41] That’s so cool.

[00:41:43] Yeah. Like what’s your number one belief? What’s your number two belief? How about your number six belief? Those are driving you every day. That’s your substructure. Do you know what they are or is it just these unconscious things. What are your motives? What are your desires? What are your needs? What are your wants? What are your, you know what I mean.

[00:41:59] I could go on and on, but that’s your substructure, right? So our behaviors are being driven by those, whether they’re conscious or unconscious. And so framing those conversations, having that common language, having that common purpose in community helps us become the person. We want to be as well as, at the same time simultaneously enables the community to grow.

[00:42:28] It’s a beautiful thing. Hopefully that answers your question.

[00:42:31] It does. It really does. Yeah. I mean, how can you decide, you’re happy with something that plays in your life all the time. If you don’t take the time to understand it and how it plays.

[00:42:47] I know, I can say, hey, I want to go to California. And then I can decide to hop in my car, go get in my car and then pop on the GPS.

[00:42:59] Or I can not know how I’m going to get there and maybe go out the door without a car and start walking without a map or any kind of direction. And just like, I mean, you gotta know where you’re going, have a road map.

[00:43:12] You might get there.

[00:43:13] You might not, you might get shiny objects and distractions gazillion times before you get to there.

[00:43:17] One important question is how would you know?

[00:43:20] Right on.

[00:43:24] You might get there. How would you know?

[00:43:27] Unless you know what it looks like you buy me right on. You might be there and not know it.up

[00:43:32] Yup.

[00:43:33] And yet it’s so funny. I know these sounds like silly examples. But yet every day I see examples of people not be not having clear expectations, not knowing where they want to go, not having a roadmap, being afraid to ask for help.

[00:43:51] I don’t know what’s going on there. People are just afraid to ask for help. They’ll get in a spiral down.

[00:43:55] It’s because they don’t have community

[00:44:02] Agreed. I agree.

[00:44:05] I mean, a hundred percent straight up, you have a community, you have brothers and sisters that are standing at your shoulder all the time.

[00:44:12] Not necessarily of the same family, just brothers and sisters that are at your shoulder, your tribe, your people. You’re not going to be afraid to ask for help.

[00:44:23] Trust in that, a hundred percent. Some of this comes from my military experience. So now when you do go in the military, you’re thrust into a type of environment, a community, right.

[00:44:41] And some people might like it and not like it. But at the end, as an end result, there is trust. You do have, it might be out of necessity, but you do trust the person to your left in the foxhole next to you. You have to.

[00:44:57] Yeah.

[00:44:58] And so, whereas some people that don’t have those kinds of experiences, I mean, there’s lots of exercises to get us to that level of trust, you know, throughout the community, right? Again, you agree or disagree with the military. Well, however you feel about it, it’s just a fact the person to your left or to your right. You’re going to rely on them. They’re going to rely on you. It’s a matter of life or death period.

[00:45:21] And so communities, I think you may ask me a question about that, but communities need to have some exercises to be able to begin to build that trust.

[00:45:30] A project.

[00:45:32] Yeah, exactly. Hopefully a common one. We’re going to build a house together. Right. And then what you said we’re gonna build?

[00:45:37] I said a barn, but yeah.

[00:45:40] Oh, got it. Yeah. Can I have a house instead?

[00:45:43] Yeah. Yeah. Cool.

[00:45:45] Come on.

[00:45:45] But It’s going

[00:45:46] to look like a barn cause that’s what we’re building.

[00:45:51] Sounds good.

[00:45:57] Awesome. Thank you, Brad. As we wrap up, I have a zinger. I have a curve ball for you.

[00:46:03] Nice. Love this.

[00:46:05] What question should I have asked you, but have not?

[00:46:14] I have a couple that come to mind. So I definitely have one, but there’s a word that stuck in my brain at the moment. Let throw out the word first. And then answer your questions. I’ve thrown a lot of C’s out. I don’t know if anybody’s noticed that throughout the podcast with like clarity and community and constance. I got this thing with C’s, I don’t know what that’s about.

[00:46:49] But a lot of these community, when I think of community, I think of the seven C’s, you know, I think of C’s, right? It’s a bit like waiting through the waves and an ocean and all that kind of stuff. Anyway, the word that stuck in my mind at the moment is champion, championing is a great word. And I think before we close another C word, I mean, before we close I wanted to say like, if you really want to help enable people within the community with any community begin to champion people in their efforts.

[00:47:25] And I just really want to share that with anybody listening, if you really want to enhance any kind of community and enhance your life. Begin championing people. So when you came on my podcast, my whole goal was to champion you, to showcase you, to highlight you. I didn’t want anything in return for that.

[00:47:42] I just wanted to champion your efforts and the things you do. And then I also feel that here in return, which is great. It’s not something I asked for solid. It just happen. It’s a beautiful thing. And so the word, I just want to share the word, begin to champion people in your world. When you see something modeled that those behaviors that you really admire, begin to champion that not for yourself, but truly for the other person.

[00:48:09] That’s another way of delivering value. So back to your question, the question that you didn’t ask, that you could have asked. I love this question all across the board, in every circumstance, whether you’re in sales, whether you’re in business, whether you’re on a personal conversation with somebody, whatever it is, I believe we can all help one another.

[00:48:36] And so few people ask this simple question I believe simple is right. Who do you know that I need to know?

[00:48:44] Hmm.

[00:48:45] Who do you know that? I need to know if there’s one way we can help one another. That’s completely 100% free. We can connect people with other people. Everyone has the ability to do that. It’s over the beginning asking ourselves that question.

[00:48:58] We can’t have a community without connectedness.

[00:49:01] Right on at the end of the call. I said, look, this has been a beautiful conversation. I absolutely love this. Thank you so much for everything you’ve shared with me today. This is beautiful. I’ve actually gotten to learn more about you .

[00:49:13] And I’m excited about that. You know, if I would flip that question, right? If I were serving this up, I would say, like, who do I know that you’d like to know? Who can I put you in touch with? How can I serve you? So that, and if you’re on a sales call, you can just like, who do you know that I need to know? A little question. So that’s my answer.

[00:49:40] I love it. Well, who do I know that you need to know, Brad?

[00:49:47] More people who are doing podcasts like this. So I can be on more podcasts because I love having these kinds of conversations.

[00:49:53] Oh yeah. I love it.

[00:49:56] So if you’re listening and you’re walking and you know the answer to that reach out and let me know, and I’ll do the same.

[00:50:03] Yep.

[00:50:05] Thank you for joining us this week on Elements of Community. Make sure to visit our website ElementsOfCommunity.us or you can subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or via RSS. So you’ll never miss a show. If you found value in the show, we’d appreciate a rating on iTunes. Or if you’d simply tell a friend about the show that would help us out too. If you like the show, you might want to check out our EOC inner circle, where we deep dive with each guest on the inner workings of their community.

[00:50:40] We cover things like community model, profitability and engagement strategies. You can join the inner circle at ElementsOfCommunity.us/inner circle. Be sure to tune in next week for our next episode.