Outwork, Outlearn, Outlead: Brian Librach's Retail Leadership Roadmap!

Pick up your book: The Retail Leader's Roadmap! HERE!

What's up, my friend? You're in for a real treat with this episode featuring Brian. We're going deep into the nitty gritty details of his proven blueprint for accelerating your career growth as a retail leader.

Right off the bat, Brian opens up about the profound influence his father had on instilling that insatiable drive to outwork, outlearn, and outlead everyone around him. The dude exudes an unwavering determination that's truly contagious.

He breaks down the strategic planning process that allowed him to systematically climb the ranks - mapping out long-term goals, identifying key experiences to pursue, and executing with laser-focus. This isn't just talk, it's a tangible game plan that you can apply.

But what really sets Brian apart is his mindset around leadership character development. We're talking about the grit, humility, and emotional intelligence required to inspire teams and become that leader people want to follow into the trenches. He's lived these lessons.

By the end, you'll have a revamped perspective on owning your leadership journey - crafting a personalized plan, embracing growth opportunities, and developing that unshakable sense of purpose. This dude lays it all out there with experienced-based wisdom.

So brace yourself, it's about to get real with a heavy dose of motivation, strategy, and battle-tested insights for senior retail leaders truly craving their "Best Next". Let's go!

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/brian.librach/ 
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/librach/
Twitter | https://twitter.com/blibrach 
LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/in/brian-librach-the-retailwellwisher
TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@librachretail.lea 
YouTube | www.youtube.com/@theRetailwellwisher

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:56

Welcome to Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy, where we go well beyond the corporate playbook to unpack major opportunities, hidden challenges and critical issues that senior retail leaders face every day. If you're ready to get the insights you need to elevate the impact you have on your team, increase the profitability of your stores and level up your retail career, then keep listening, my friend, because I see a lot more success in your future. So let's get started right now.

Speaker 2: 1:32

Well, brian man, I gotta tell you I'm super excited to talk to you today, and our initial conversation was long overdue and it was quite interesting because you were talking a little bit about your dad and where he got started and you threw up a couple of stores that just kind of like threw me back into my teenage years, when we get into the role that your dad played for everybody. Just tell everybody about Brian, and we're gonna, of course, talk about the book, we're gonna talk about the principles of your books, we're gonna talk about all of that. So save some of that for everybody. So tell everybody a little about yourself.

Speaker 3: 2:18

No, yeah, yeah, no, I appreciate that. Yeah, chess game goes quite a ways back. Huh, sir, you know I'm a retailer. You know I like to tell people I'm a retailer. You know it wasn't accidental, it was a choice of mine. My father was a retailer, grandfather was a retailer. If you look at my last name in Google you're gonna find manufacturers and retailers dating back to the 1800s, so it's just in my blood.

Speaker 3: 2:40

So I was privileged growing up to see my father corner office, you know VP, taking the Metro North train into the city every single day. So I knew what I wanted. Once I realized my baseball career wasn't gonna pan out and, you know, started, you know, focusing in on retail. Started focusing in on my career at a very early age. You know, started working on I was 12, paying taxes at an early age, primarily because my dad wouldn't pay for the Jordans that I wanted. So in order for me to get those Jordans, you know had to earn a little bit extra on top of the Kmart prices that he was willing to fund. So, yeah, started out that way and, you know, 35 years later, you know achieved the corner office a couple different times and now looking to see how I can help other people achieve what their outcomes need to be.

Speaker 2: 3:23

Excellent, Excellent. So did I hear baseball? I didn't you know, in our entire conversation that never came up, so can we talk about that for a second? So talk about that part of your of what happened here's what I'll tell you.

Speaker 3: 3:39

I thought I was going to be a professional baseball player all the way until I was 15. And then, when I turned 15, I got distracted by all kinds of stuff and my baseball career was over at that point and retail was number one. But what I will say is I learned probably some of the most valuable lessons in my retail career and my life and my leadership journey when I was like 10, 11, 12, playing baseball just with coaches. I got lucky to have some really good coaches. You know things like run the first base as hard as you can regardless, like simple little things. You know that just stick with you and it's fun watching my 10 year old go through it.

Speaker 2: 4:13

No, my baseball career ended at 15.

Speaker 2: 4:15

Yeah, yeah, running out. Running out, that's what they use, because when I play baseball, that's my coach's result. Run it out Doesn't matter, it's a ground ball, run it out. I love that. I love that. All right, so I think this the second place I wanted to start. You sort of alluded to it, your dad and the thing that we, when I talked about in the opening where you had mentioned chess king and for those who, here's the thing if you are not initiated and if you don't know, like I don't know how far you go back in retail, I just got to say that if you don't, if the word chess king or oak tree, like, does not ring a bell, I'm not particularly sure how far you go back in retail.

Speaker 2: 4:58

I'm just saying talk a little bit about that and the impact he's had.

Speaker 3: 5:03

Yeah, I'll do you one better on that before.

Speaker 2: 5:04

I do that, so I was with.

Speaker 3: 5:06

Justin, when they got bought by Mary go round too, so I was a part of that. Mary go round.

Speaker 2: 5:09

Come on, come on, come on.

Speaker 3: 5:14

Oh, you got a lot of fun. I love that.

Speaker 2: 5:15

I love that I love that I'm telling you. If you don't, if you okay, I'm not even gonna go in here. That's a whole nother show man. That's a whole nother show. Talk about your dad. Talk about your dad.

Speaker 3: 5:25

All right. So I call it living with my idol. You know, I tell people all the time I was lucky enough to live and grow up with my idol, you know, and I tell people like, be careful to not have your idols be people that you don't get to engage with an Iraq on a daily basis, movie stars, athletes, those kind of things. I was lucky enough. I had a role model that set the example for me at an early age on how to be a husband, a father and a hard worker. So I really want to pay that privilege forward and that's what this book is about.

Speaker 3: 5:52

That's what my career really has been about is trying to figure out how to help folks that may not have been as privileged as I was in that sense to grow up in a household with a father like that, with an idol like that. And you know he taught me from a very early age. You know you got to grind it out, you got to outwork folks, which is the absolutely very first practice in my book. You got outward folks. So from an early age, I like to say from the age I was able to sit at the dining room table with the family, I was learning about leadership and I was learning about careers and I was learning about how to progress, because those were the conversations that we had.

Speaker 2: 6:30

So, okay, I'm going to go back to young Brian. Right, and you're sitting at that table. I remember part of our initial conversation was around you know college, and you were like this this, this wasn't for me, and your dad gave you some advice. Do you remember that piece of advice that he gave you?

Speaker 3: 6:51

You were like this isn't for me.

Speaker 2: 6:52

This isn't for me, and I want to do something else.

Speaker 3: 6:55

Well, I went to high school for three years. I graduated in three years, not because I was super smart, because I was creative and I took two Englishes. My senior year got enough credits and so I was ready to go to college. I got my syllabus. I decided after getting my syllabus that it wasn't what I wanted to do, because I realized it was going to impact my ability to earn during the holidays ADHD and, you know, instant gratification, all that fun stuff that's me.

Speaker 3: 7:19

So I talked to my father about it. Okay, here's the deal. Like you're an adult, at that point I was 17. You choose what you want to do, but you better be where you want to be in three to five. So you either go to school, graduate, you have your diploma and you start working where you want to work, or you, in three to five years, be where you expect to be.

Speaker 3: 7:37

And so I wanted to be a DM. It was plain and simple. I knew the route because I had seen my father ascend, so I knew district, regional, like head of stores, chief operating, like. I knew what the roles looked like. And so I had to work backwards and say, okay, if I want to be somewhere in three to five years. What do I have to do? And put together my own education. And the last actually the last chapter in the book around build your plan is retail university and it talks about how you can, in retail, achieve success in any level, any role, in three to five years. If you pay attention, call it 365 days a year for three to five years. That's plenty of time to become what I would say is close to an expert, or at least best in class at what you do 100%, 100% of it's, almost it's I, I, I liken it to love what you just said.

Speaker 2: 8:24

I liken it to that idea on a 10,000 hour rule. Right, we all heard, you know, malcolm Gladwell kind of talk about that whole idea around. You know, 10,000 hours it gets you, you know, gets you to be, you know, an expert, I Would say, in retail. You know that's, um, you know, we can probably cut that, cut that in, cut that in half because of the intensity, because of the intensity of the industry and what we have to and what we have to go through, um, one of the things that you, that you often talk about is results stem from, from the right attitude.

Speaker 2: 10:07

We're gonna get into the book here in a second and there's probably some parts of the book, but, um, you know, one of the things I enjoy Is that, you know, almost every day, I think I'm gonna say no, I'm saying almost every day, but every day I'll either go to Instagram and I'll see my man walking, I see this guy, here's a, here's a. If you haven't seen Brian, this is, this is Brian right here, walk, walk in and talk it and he's dropping, and he's dropping some knowledge. And Can we, can I talk a little bit about that for a second, like when did that start? And I Gotta tell you, I, I, you know, I think a lot of people are like myself, we start our day with, with, with listening to that. When did that start and what was the inspiration behind that?

Speaker 3: 10:55

Yeah, it's funny because I don't. I don't run like unless I was running from somebody I don't run. And so during COVID I was listening to a video and Goggins got me off the couch like I was watching one of his inspirational videos, cursing left and right, all that good stuff. And I just got up and we were living at the shore in Jersey at the time, so I went to the boardwalk and I just ran. I think I made it a mile and I was proud of myself. From that point forward I just started running and I wasn't posting anything.

Speaker 3: 11:25

And then I decided, when I was starting to write the book back in April of last year, that I was gonna start to Share a bit more of what my journey was looking like and try to help some folks in the way that Goggins got me off the couch, got me running. I've always worked out, I like to say. I picked things up and put them down, but I never did any kind of cardio. And If he could get me off the couch and get me running, what can I do for more folks in our field that are trying to achieve their success and put better food on the table for their families? And so I started the videos, you know, and just started getting more comfortable with it and you know I would run for a mile, walk, a quarter run for a mile, and in those quarter mile walks is when I would kind of do my my thing and Try to share.

Speaker 3: 12:02

Initially it was just very organic and it still is organic in a sense, but now it's a bit more tied to trying to, you know, obviously market the book and make sure people pick the book up, because I do believe it's gonna help a ton of folks, but it it motivates me as much as I hopefully motivates others, and the book and In podcasts and things that I'm gonna do. Next, I want to be content that helps. You know, I kind of like to say like motivation lights the flame, but content is what's gonna sustain it, and so my hope is that the videos help some people get up in the morning to get moving. But I want to deliver some content that can provide some some quality results that are sustainable for folks excellent, excellent, all right, so let's move into.

Speaker 2: 12:39

Let's move and talk to talk about the book. One other thing that we, we, we have in common, based on our conversation, was was Jack Welch right? You know we, you know we, we grew up in the in the age of leadership, where you know bottom 10% got to go and and how that really impacted you know, I think, us as a leader, when you think about you know your book right and the idea around the book. When did when did it start? When did it occur to you to say you know what? Hold for a second. I need to take all this things that I've learned and actually put it into a book.

Speaker 3: 13:18

It's interesting because I would say my very first year as a district manager.

Speaker 3: 13:22

I was 21 years old and I interacted with a general manager and that general manager got promoted a year later and that general manager had a real tough time. She struggled mightily in her first couple and it bothered me and I realized back then that I was an example set, or people just followed my lead and I just delivered, but I didn't know how to articulate it, I didn't know how to explain it to people, and so that day I learned I had to start to operationalize things. I had to start to be able to articulate things in a way that I could Pass on the other, so that they could be successful when I wasn't around. So that was the beginning of the journey. And then I would say again, back in April, when I started to write the book probably about a year prior to that I started to think about it and mostly because I want to try to find a way to help the masses and not just individuals within one organization.

Speaker 3: 14:10

I've worked for a couple of organizations to three actually for extended periods of time and I've enjoyed developing the talent within those organizations. But I believe that there are there are a tremendous amount of people right now, today that are stuck in their careers outside of the organizations that I chose to work for and I want to be able to find ways to help them, and so this book is meant to hit the masses and really meant to help folks either start their career the right way with that three to five kind of plan, or get unstuck and rewrite that outcome. But yeah, I would say I knew a long time ago this book was needed, and I just needed about 35 years of content building to put a pen to paper.

Speaker 2: 14:52

Yeah, it's interesting how, when you think about everything that you've you've learned kind of throughout your, throughout your career and a lot of times it becomes muscle memory right when we are having conversations or we're interacting or we're engaging with, you know, with with leadership teams, and we don't understand Maybe we do to some degree, we understand the impact that we're currently having and then when you start that book writing process, you're like, oh man, I didn't realize I was actually doing all of this. The title of the book is the retail leaders roadmap and you you break down three strategies and three, three steps and could you, could you highlight the each one of them and then kind of what I want to talk about each one of them as we, as we move forward?

Speaker 3: 15:37

Yeah, absolutely so. The first pillar is build your character. Second pillar is build your connections and the third pillar is build your plan. The first pillar is really about the character. Right, it's about the hard skills, it's about your foundation. I like I liken it to. It's like the foundation of your home. You know, hurricane comes through. You want that home to stand on its own. You need a strong foundation.

Speaker 3: 15:57

We talk about out working, we talk about out learning, we talk about being the example, being accountable, being disciplined, and those five practices are the core of your foundation, the core of your character, and they set you up for success. I look at that as kind of your underclassmen years, kind of like that first and second freshman sophomore year. You have to kind of take those classes to be able to take the next round. Build your connections is really where other people start to become a part of your success equation, right, you start developing talent. You have to enhance your communication and you have to improve your influence skills. You know those influence skills, you know I put at the very end, because who cares if you can influence folks? If you can't communicate well, if you can't develop folks, you're not going to be in position to get involved. And then the last pillar is really build your plan. Now that you know you have to have strong character and you have to have strong connections, now you have to have a plan right. And there's two real big sections in the build your plan that people are going to be able to take and put pen to paper on five piece of performance, and that's how you win at your day job.

Speaker 3: 16:58

And then the retail university. And that retail university is how you learn. I call it learn while you earn right. You win your day job. That's how you earn money. And then, while you're earning, you have to learn so that you can progress. Performance alone doesn't get you where where you want to be. Performance and potential does, and so you need to do both. You're always going to do more work on the day job because that's how you pay the bills, but you have to take in the inputs you can grow yourself so that you have more to offer to others. You're listening to retail leadership with Steve worthy, excellent, excellent.

Speaker 1: 17:27

This the foundational one character.

Speaker 2: 17:34

Can we talk about that one? Because I want to talk about all three as well. But I love that you start with character, because what we, what we tend to see, and you and I'm quite sure you've seen this throughout your career is that when we start to see leaders who get into high, intense, intensity situations, one of the first things that we end up seeing is that the character starts to go out the window. We start to see, you, the decisions that are made not in the best interest of you know, maybe the person that's in front of them, but maybe it's it's in the best interest of themselves. How does one this is a big question, right, but how did you go about? I'm going to kind of personalize, instead of it being general. How did you kind of personalize that you know, that character perspective? What are some of the things that you have done to actually kind of cultivate that mentality? Because I'm quite sure I know you talk about it, probably in a book as well, but I just wanted to get your perspective, you know, on that aspect.

Speaker 3: 18:38

Yeah, I mean I asked myself, you know, whenever I was stuck in my career, why, like? What was it? And it was one of those five things I just mentioned. I wasn't working hard enough, I wasn't learning, I wasn't open to it right, I wasn't setting the right example, I wasn't being accountable and I wasn't being disappointed. So I knew that those were the things that were holding me back.

Speaker 3: 18:58

And my father said from day one like you have to out work. You know you want to put yourself in a position to be first, second or third at all times. I refer to it as podium moments. Like you want to be at the podium all the time and if you do and work on your character and you work on the five things I mentioned, you'll be at the podium Regularly. Now you might not be ready for next, you might never be good to get to next because you lack the connection piece, but you'll be at the podium at your day job on a regular basis and I like to refer to them as kind of like knock it off moments.

Speaker 3: 19:29

Like you know you should outwork folks. Like you know it, like you know you should be learning Right. Like like you may not want to, but you know you should and you know when you're not, setting an example is probably not the best thing for you, and you know when you're being a victim you're not going to be able to take control of your own destiny, and when you're not disciplined, you're not going to do the things you're supposed to do. So I had to come to terms with that and the accountability which is the fourth pillar in that. First, I'm sorry, the fourth practice in that first pillar to me is the linchpin. Yes, you have to work hard, yes, you have to be open to learn, yes, you have to set examples, but if I can't accept and embrace my own realities, I can't figure anything out. So to me that's the linchpin, and so I have to accept and embrace when I'm not working hard enough and start doing it.

Speaker 2: 20:15

Yeah, I love that. I'm sorry.

Speaker 3: 20:17

Eric, care of your stuff doesn't. Yeah, I was just going to say like care of your stuff kind of doesn't need to be developed, it needs to be recognized. And so my hope is in this book I can clearly spell out like here's the five things you have to do, and sure some of it might require some skill set development. For the most part it's kind of like you just have to do these things you set yourself up to put in the work for the electives that are next.

Speaker 2: 20:39

Oh great, I love that and I love you said the word, two words that really just stuck out was discipline. That's my word for the year. Actually, discipline, pick a word for the year and I'm telling you right now. It has been taught in a really good way, though, but I love the fact, and it's a really good segue into the idea of around accountability. Use the word accountability. And the next, the next pillar that you discuss is your connections. So I would, I would am I safe to assume that when we, when you start to bring in others, there is a perspective or a thoughts around accountability associated with bringing in other people to that journey as well?

Speaker 3: 21:19

100%. I mean the first practice of the three in the connection pillar is development. Like, if you want to, if you, you got to do more for others and you have to be able to develop others. And then, as you shift from that into communication, one of the things that I think people have a hard time with is accepting the reality that they need other people. Now, my entire book 100%, but my entire book is like you need to own it, don't rely on anybody else, and if you're lucky enough to have somebody else, take full advantage of it.

Speaker 3: 21:47

However, you own your communication, you own your influencing skills, but other people still have to respond a certain way and you're gonna have to make decisions. So, like, the very last practice in influence is one that I think a lot of people aren't gonna like, and it's where I say very clearly you have to meet your boss and their boss 51% of the way or more, or you're stuck. It is what it is Like. They are in control, they will make the decisions. You have a choice to decide to go work for somebody else where you can meet them 51% of the way. That's your choice, and a lot of people don't make that choice or they don't make the choice to actually find the professional contribution in that leader so that they can align to that leader and give them what it is that they need. So there's a lot of conversation and connections that are around how you can still own your outcome even though other people are gonna be involved because of the decisions that you make along the way.

Speaker 2: 22:43

Yeah, yeah, it's interesting that I love what you said about ownership and meeting your boss 50% of the way. I think one of the things that people fail to realize and I'm excited and can't wait to read your book is that there is ownership in meeting your boss at 51%. You are actually owning the conversation. You're actually owning that portion of the relationship. I always talk to my team and tell them I would rather be a part and actually generate the conversation and the dialogue than to have the dialogue thrusted upon me or like a new initiative. Right, you know how it goes in the retail world these new initiatives just get thrusted upon you.

Speaker 2: 23:29

I was one of those. Leaders is like we'll do the pilot, we'll do the pilot, we'll try it over here. And my team hated it initially. But I'm like do you not understand what we're doing? We actually have a seat at the table. We were actually being able to control the conversation instead of having the conversation thrusted upon us. So I love what you said about ownership and meeting your boss 51% of the way. A lot of people don't get that, so I'm super excited to read that portion of your book.

Speaker 3: 23:57

Yeah, steve, let me throw one thing out there. So I'm gonna give my wife a plug. Who's my co-owner on the Well Wish your Company? She's a. I live with an executive coach, basically. So both fitness and leadership, so you can imagine the lessons that I get. She's the one who taught me Like I came home one day and I was miserable and I'm not a miserable person, I'm pretty happy on a regular basis and my wife said very clearly she said, look, you have two choices you choose to find the professional contribution in your boss or you choose to leave.

Speaker 3: 24:27

And she said very clearly, because he's not gonna meet you where you are, yeah, stop, and he won't until you do so. I did. I met him 75% of the way and all of a sudden he started meeting me 75% of the way and we had an amazing relationship and we had a great career together. So, but again, like you said, like we have to take ownership in it and not expect others to. We might get lucky and have one or two leaders that actually look to meet us where we are, and those are fantastic leaders, but they're far and few in between.

Speaker 2: 24:55

Very far, very far Before we move into the plan. One of the things that you I wanted to drill down is that you said a lot of people and I completely agree with this a lot of leaders fail to recognize or even like, kind of, from a vulnerability standpoint I'm just gonna use that word to be vulnerable enough to realize that. You know. Hey, brian, I need connection, I need help, I need your assistance because I don't have it all together. Right, I am missing something, I am stuck. Right, you know that vulnerability and leadership are rarely placed in the same sentence, and I know you've been a very successful leader, but there I say, I think a lot of some of your success has been because you've been able to be vulnerable. Would you agree with that and what are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 3: 25:50

100%. Yeah, I used to joke, you know, when you trip in the street, you know you're yellow, like just kind of fall and keep moving and act like it didn't happen. And that's me like I trip on a regular basis and I just keep on moving and act like it never happened. You have to be vulnerable, otherwise you can't take any inputs. You know, and for me, the lessons when I wrote this book, because most of the content in the book it was there, I just needed to get it on paper.

Speaker 3: 26:14

But I was reminded of something and learned something in the book, and I remember for years, for the last 10 years or so, I tried to really work on my humility and really tried to make sure that it was outward and that people knew it right. And what I found was, you know, because I wanted to let other people speak first and I wanted other people to have a voice. Maybe my voice wasn't as loud as it was in the beginning part of my career, and it was because, growing up, I had a very fast record, I was successful in moving up the ladder, so to speak, and I was perceived to be arrogant, right, and what I realized, though, in writing this book, is that I wasn't arrogant. I was extremely humble because I was learning like you wouldn't believe behind the scenes. I was reading. You know I was doing we're doing a podcast back then but I was reading books like I was paying attention, I was taking feedback criticism, no problem but that was during practice. Like that was behind the scenes.

Speaker 3: 27:08

When it was game time. I knew what I was doing because I had been putting in the work. And so I heard a quote. I think it was Kobe said this you know, practice like you've never won before and play like you've never lost before. I love it Like. So I was always humble in a way, but I didn't recognize that I was humble. But you have to be and you don't have to necessarily be humble when you're playing the game. You need to go out and play the game, but hopefully you have done the work already so that you know what you need to get done.

Speaker 2: 27:37

Yeah, I think that there is strength in humility and what I mean is that the act of being vulnerable but also being able to take in information and then internalize that information and into an outward expression. Right, I think about it. I think about it just to kind of further. Your example of Kobe I remember there was a scene not a scene, there was a game when Kobe was probably new in the league and he was actually and he was guarding Mike and they caught the conversation. He was literally asking Mike like what do you do on this play? What do you? How do you post up here? How do you do this? And I just I love that. I'm like you're in the middle of a game, right, you're in the middle of a game and you're guarding for me the best player ever and you are just taking this opportunity to humble yourself and actually still learning. I think the model mentality kind of came from that. So, anyway, I got excited about when you talked about Kobe, because that scene just kind of resonated with me.

Speaker 3: 28:40

Well, I think you'll appreciate it and, by the way, michael is the best player ever and, yes, he used to call Michael at like two in the morning, I think as well. I hopefully you'll appreciate this one. But at the end of the day, you can't take yourself so seriously and that's what I had to learn. I think when you see people and you know this you've seen VPs and chief operating officers and chief you've seen regional direct you've seen people that take themselves so seriously, they look down on other people and it took me a while to figure out how do you be humble and confident at the same time? Because you have to be. People follow confident leaders, but you have to be humble to take in the inputs, to then be good at what it is that you do. And when you take yourself too seriously, you're letting your ego get the better of you, right? And so I like to joke you.

Speaker 3: 29:25

When you and I first got on this podcast, you talked about me wearing black, right, joking around Like that's what I wear. I feel better in black, but I don't look down on you if you wear bright colors. But if I take myself real seriously, I would you know I ride Harley Davidson's. If I took myself so seriously, I would look down on people who chose not to ride a Harley, but when I'm on one I feel good, like when I drive that 150s I feel good. So I think it's about accepting, you know, your ego in a positive way, the things that are about you that you enjoy doing. But don't take yourself so seriously, because then you look down on other people and therefore you're going to not take in the input. So I think it's important to not take yourself so seriously 100% agree.

Speaker 2: 30:05

100% agree. All right, let's move into the plan. Let's move into the plan, right? We spoke about character connection and the last part about your book is the plan. Talk about that and some of the things that when people start to read the book, what are some of the takeaways that they're actually going to get from this?

Speaker 3: 30:34

Yeah, it's funny because that was the one thing that went back and forth was build your plan going to be the first pillar or the last pillar? We made it the last pillar because we really wanted to cover the content of the work first. Five piece of performance is the beginning of the plan. You have to win at your day job. You have to get to the podium right and if you're not at the podium on a regular basis, this book will help you because it's a diagnostic tool to figure out how to get there. But what you have to be able to do is you have to focus on people and product, you have to prioritize it, you have to put processes in place and that's going to drive your productivity, which delivers performance. It's a lot of piece, it's a lot of words, but it's all in the book and it's outlined and spelled out in terms of what you need to do. But people are first and products a close second. But if you don't prioritize those things and you try to get to it all, at best you'll be a C player. But if you want to be an A player, you got to get to what's most important when it comes to people and product, when it's most important. And then you have to create processes and routines, disciplines to get the work done. And I talk about breaking it up into quarters at a time so that way you can be nimble enough to adjust when your plan is or isn't working. And I like to say it's like defense and playing football. A lot of coaches draw up the first few plays because they want to see what the defense does, and then they adjust from that point. Your plan's the beginning stage right, but you need to be flexible enough to adjust. And so that's the, I would say, half of the builder plan pillar.

Speaker 3: 32:04

And then now you're winning at your day job. Now you're at the podium on a regular basis. It's time to go to school. I refer to it as you got to earn to learn. All right, now I'm earning, now I've created space to learn because I'm winning. And when you win quote unquote win means you're making it to the podium and you feel good about what you do.

Speaker 3: 32:22

Your supervisors tend to leave you alone. That's not necessarily a good thing, but they tend to leave you alone. They shouldn't and I talk about that in the book as well, but they do. And so that means every mistake you make you can learn from, because nobody's yelling at you for them. But if you're not making it to the podium, they assume that same mistake is the reason why you're not any good and they give you a hard time and you can't learn from it because you're playing too tight.

Speaker 3: 32:44

So the second part of the book is really how you ascend in your role in three to five years and what that looks like. And part of that practice that, again, people aren't going to like is every new boss, every new role, every new company, every new responsibility. You got to start over. You got to start proving your character all over again. Now you can prove your character really quickly if it's inherent in you, but you got to prove it to the new employee or leaders that now report into you. So my hope is that the build not my expectation is that the build your plan portion is the tactical work that people can put pen to pay abroad and start seeing themselves get unstuck in their careers.

Speaker 2: 33:25

Excellent, excellent. I was fighting back my one of my phrases when I said no one cares. Like we're talking about, like every next, the new level, like, like to no one cares. No one cares. All of the successes that you've had right, all the people that you've been influenced, it's all about, like, what's in it for me right now. You as my leader, right, I can care less about what you did for Brian. I want to know what she's going to do for me right now. It's a hard truth, but a lot of leaders need to accept it. Well, hold up for a second. I just promoted like five different you know people to, you know to, district manager. I can care less. Like, what are you going to do for me right now in this role right now? Go ahead. You were going to say something.

Speaker 3: 34:07

No, no, no, no, go ahead, go ahead.

Speaker 2: 34:10

One of the things you said and it caught me. You said holding things too tight. You know, my, my oldest brother, stan, and I, we, you know I remember I was, I was struggling with something and he, he and I were talking. He said, steve, you, he said you're holding the too tight.

Speaker 2: 34:27

And I don't know if you're a golfer or not, but one of the things that they talk about when you hold the club it's almost like holding a baby bird, right, you're like, you're not. You want to hold it just enough to not let it go, but you want to, but you want to hold it tight enough to not crush it. And I, when I think about you know our careers, and I think about our journey, almost, almost in that similar fashion, and I think about and I'm thinking about the, you know, I'm thinking about the roadmap is that you want to hold your career tight, but, man, you need, you need and that plan tight, but you need to have some wiggle room in there in order for things to still kind of get in there so that you can make the best of that journey. Would you agree with that thought process?

Speaker 3: 35:05

Yeah, it's funny you talk about golf. For me it was always baseball or football. I agree you hold the football too tight, right, you're going to throw the ball. You're not going to throw it with a spiral, and when you play your career you do your job. That way. It's the same thing. You're thinking too much and you should be thinking when you're learning, you know to think.

Speaker 3: 35:20

When you're playing Like, at that point it should be habitual. I remember, you know I'm not into like, I'm not a manifestor or all this other kind, but I do believe, you know, in the fact that if you've done the work and you've you've, you've recognized the work that you need to do then when it's time to do the work, it's natural. It's like I like to refer to it as like when you drive for many years you don't think about the red light or the yellow light, you just drive. But when you first start that yellow light, you start to get a little apprehensive. You don't know what to do and the red light isn't going to turn red, but it eventually just becomes habitual and so you play less tight when you do the work behind the scene, so that when it's time to actually deliver, it's natural, excellent.

Speaker 2: 36:02

All right, we'll move into this last section. So you've had, you know, you've had a big, big retail career, right, Tons of roles. Now you are moving into this, this, this, this I dare I say entrepreneurial space with, with the, with the, the well-wisher company. Could you talk a little bit about that transition from being that guy to now being this guy? It's different worlds, but there may be some things that translate. There may be some things that don't translate.

Speaker 3: 36:36

Well, you know, I got to give my wife, mel, a little broad credit because she's been doing it for 10 years. She started the, her well-wisher, 10 years ago and it turned into the well-wisher company, you know, a couple years ago and watching her go through it, you know when she decided to not go back to work after having our son. It's. You know it's not very different. What's different is, you know, you don't have a company funding you, right, you don't have a paycheck that comes in in the same way, and so, although I said you have to outwork folks, and I did, I still got a paycheck. Now I have to outwork folks, right, to earn the paycheck. No one's going to give it to me, and so the the, the applications that I put in the book are transferable, and I'm doing the same thing.

Speaker 3: 37:18

I got my real estate license not that long ago as yet another way to write, like fund the work that we're doing and help other folks get into real estate, something that I love to do. But if I did not work folks, I wouldn't have gotten, I wouldn't have passed that exam, you know, like I had to put in the work. So what I'm finding is all that I'm doing in my entrepreneurial you know, in an entrepreneurial way, it's really all the same work. I just don't have a trampoline underneath me to catch me right. If, if I don't do the work, I don't have to check, I can't get stuck at this point. I think that's probably the biggest difference.

Speaker 2: 37:54

Yeah, that's a great, that's a. That's such a great point. Yeah, you can't, you can't, you can't, you can't afford to get stuck right, you can't afford to get stuck. All right, so I want to close off. Yeah, when I paid, I didn't mean to cut you all, I was going to go when you earn that paycheck.

Speaker 3: 38:08

I remember I remember working for John Hauser at Urban Outfitters and he used to talk about that Like just because you were, just because you get a paycheck right, like you get this steady check coming in every two weeks, you don't, you don't necessarily own your business with that same level of entrepreneurship. And when I worked for Urban for the eight years it was all about entrepreneurship and you ran it like you owned it. So those eight years definitely helped me. But you know it's it's an interesting, interesting journey, but looking forward to it.

Speaker 2: 38:34

Yeah, excellent, excellent, all right, as we, as we close up right, there's a lot of, there are a lot of leaders I know they're going to and they're going to read the book, but can you provide just some closing, you know, thoughts on for the, for those leaders who are, who are currently stuck, and give them some? You know, give them, give them some of that. Retail leaders, you know, you know real-matter perspective on, you know some of no, here's what I, here's what I want you to do, here's what I want you to do. I want you to give them some of that early morning walk, you know, david Goggins, or retail perspective right now that they need, they need, they need to hear right now. Go for it.

Speaker 3: 39:17

Well, I end every single run talking about get up and go, and that's what I say to my son every single morning, and my first thing I would say is stop hitting the snooze button, Just stop. Like, just stop, get up, put two feet on the floor, put one foot in front of the other and walk in the direction that you want to be every single day. Some people they say, like you know, one day at a time, I don't have no, every minute right. Like every minute at a time. Like, take advantage of the time that you have and don't just assume you have tomorrow. Like, take advantage. So for me, that's, you know, that's the biggest thing is you have to walk in the direction that you want to be. If you're not, you're going to stay stuck. And I think, yes, the book will help with all of the you know specifics and the tactics and everything else, but you have to. You have to wake up with the mentality that you're going to win the day, and the best way to do that is to avoid the snooze button. I'm still trying to get my son to learn that one. And you know, just get up and go and walk in the direction that you want to be, and if you do that, you're much more likely to end up where you want versus wandering around aimlessly. You know, hoping you'll end up where you want, Hope is not a two words.

Speaker 3: 40:25

That I. It's funny. We're called the well-wisher company, but I don't like the word wish, and the reason is we decided we were going to call the company well-wisher because my wife's her well-wisher in support of her and allies of her. But we want to make wishing action-oriented. We want to help people right, Wish well on you but actually do something for you, Whereas most people wish something was different. Well, guess what that means? You're not happy, so why wish something was different? Just walk in the direction that you want to be and you'd be surprised how often you end up where you want to be.

Speaker 2: 40:59

Yeah, I love that and I love what you just said. Wake up with the mentality that you're going to win today. When is the book? When does the book come out for everybody that's going to be listening to this with us on the video, also on the audio podcast?

Speaker 3: 41:15

Yeah, thank you, steve. So March 12th it's going to be 11 months 11 months of work, 35 years of blood, sweat and tears, but March 12th it will drop and be available to everybody.

Speaker 2: 41:27

Excellent, excellent, excellent. So, brian LeBrock, I want to thank you so much for being on retail leadership with Steve Worthy and telling you what I'm excited about. One, the book. But here's the other thing I'm excited about. I'm excited to be a part of this journey with you and, more importantly, that I'm going to consider ourselves friends and then we're going to be attached to the hip as we continue down and changing the retail industry. So thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 3: 41:54

Thank you, Steve, for helping me. I appreciate you, sir.