Teamwork - A Better Way

Christian Napier
00:13 - 00:25
Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Teamwork, A Better Way. I'm Christian Napier, joined as always by my incomparable host, co-host, host, Spencer Horn. Spencer, how are you doing? I

Spencer Horn
00:25 - 00:33
I am great, Christian. Always love to be with you and wherever you are, it doesn't matter to me just as long as we're together.

Christian Napier
00:35 - 00:48
I'll take that as a backhanded slash compliment in quotes to my austere environment here. I'm just in my work office instead of my normal digs in my home office.

Spencer Horn
00:48 - 00:50
Change in the world every day, aren't you?

Christian Napier
00:50 - 00:57
Yeah, one technology project at a time. Here we are.

Spencer Horn
00:58 - 00:58
Exactly.

Christian Napier
00:59 - 01:17
Well, all right. It's beautiful spring weather. A little bit chilly yesterday, but we've got an amazing guest that's going to lift our spirits just like this spring weather is doing. Spencer, why don't you go ahead and introduce her to our viewers.

Spencer Horn
01:17 - 01:37
Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to bring Heather Jo Kennedy on with us. And she is a certified professional coach, two-time author, and inspirational speaker. Heather was titled after graduating. Actually, she graduated cum laude. Did you say laude or just laud, Christian? What do you

Christian Napier
01:37 - 01:37
think?

Spencer Horn
01:37 - 01:39
Laud.

Christian Napier
01:40 - 01:43
I guess laud. I'm going to go with whatever Heather says.

Spencer Horn
01:43 - 01:45
Yeah. Christian,

Heather Jo Kennedy
01:45 - 01:45
good choice.

Spencer Horn
01:46 - 02:20
Yeah, Kumlad from Utah State University. And she's built multiple businesses which continue to operate along Utah's Wasatch Front. We were just talking about some of those. If you're listening and you're from the Wasatch Front and you like good barbecue, go check out Red Beard Barbecue. And I remember being at a Christmas party one time and Heather Jo and she's, and I actually didn't know that she had catered the event. And she says, you got to try this sauce. It'll change your life. And I'm like, all right. I'm ready to change my life. And it was absolutely amazing.

Spencer Horn
02:20 - 03:04
So she's a great entrepreneur. And she's grown up under the influence of America's team. Now, we have people that are listening all over the world. So forgive us if you don't know what America's team is. That's the Dallas Cowboys. It's a football team. We'll explain a little bit about that. Heather became passionate about teamwork and productivity. She uses her science of making an impact to help individuals and teams of all industries achieve their highest levels of cohesion and performance. Heather is an advocate for collaboration and believes it doesn't take a village, it takes a team, which I'm excited to hear about because we've always heard it takes a village.

Spencer Horn
03:04 - 03:24
So today, basically, we're going to talk about the science of making an impact and personal productivity meets cohesion. So my first question to you, Heather, you talk about the science of making and impact. Tell us what does that mean to you and where did that come from? How did your background in business and coaching really lead you to this?

Heather Jo Kennedy
03:26 - 03:55
I love to identify starters. That's what my new book is called. It's for starters. And starters are people who know how to make a real impact. And there are so many principles of productivity that we tend to overlook that are simple. They're basic. That's why they get overlooked. But making an impact is really about honing in on those principles and understanding that really making the most of yourself is just the means to a bigger end in making an impact for the world around you.

Spencer Horn
03:57 - 04:05
So you talk about starters. I mean, talk about what does that mean, and who are some starters that you've had in your life?

Heather Jo Kennedy
04:07 - 04:13
In my life, starters. That's a great question, because I always just consider myself the starter.

Spencer Horn
04:13 - 04:16
You are a starter, but it started somewhere, right?

Heather Jo Kennedy
04:16 - 04:55
It started somewhere. I think we're going to my background, my history. So let me answer that question. the spotlight in the shadows of America's team, the Dallas Cowboys. My dad was a starter on that team and definitely a starter and influencer in my life. So I was a little girl when he played for the Dallas Cowboys. He was the quarterback, so kind of the face of America's team for a long time. And so he taught me, you know, a lot of these principles that I have that I've definitely learned from him. He's had a huge impact on on my life.

Christian Napier
04:58 - 05:14
Well, we could probably spend a lot of time diving into that. Although I will readily admit I'm from the Bay Area. I'm a lifelong 49ers fan. Me too.

Heather Jo Kennedy
05:14 - 05:16
You couldn't say that before we started?

Christian Napier
05:16 - 05:45
I will admit. Cowboys are America's team. I will admit that. And lots to learn there. I want to go into this collaboration to cohesion thing. You know, what does that mean? You know, because we talk about collaboration a lot in teamwork. So teams need to collaborate. This word collaboration is permeated the corporate world for

Heather Jo Kennedy
05:45 - 05:45
a

Christian Napier
05:45 - 06:01
while now, right? But you talk about cohesion. So what is the difference between collaboration and cohesion? And how can teams evolve from this concept of collaboration to one of team cohesion?

Heather Jo Kennedy
06:02 - 06:48
Right. I feel like it's really about understanding the different roles. And there has to be one objective. And everyone has to be on board with that one objective. So my platform is understanding the roles. And Spencer alluded to the village and how I don't believe it takes a village. I don't trust the village. I love that sentiment. But really, it takes a team. And my three roles, the three roles that I identify are coaches, teammates, and fans. That's really all it takes to have a great team. And so when you understand those individual roles and what is involved, what are the characteristics of those roles, that's how you are able to take that goal and cohesively achieve it together.

Spencer Horn
06:50 - 07:10
So, so what, hold on, it takes, I get coaches, I get teammates. Talk to us about fans, though. How does that work in team cohesion? Because there's a lot of fans that, if they have a chance, might be heckling, which could be good.

Heather Jo Kennedy
07:11 - 07:46
Those aren't fans. They don't qualify. That's not one of the characteristics of a fan. You're talking about critics. Critics is another relationship worth mentioning. It's another role. And you can't control, you can control neither critics nor fans. We can control who we allow to coach us. We can control who we allow to be on our team to really influence us personally. We can't control who criticizes us or who hypes us. And I have had some pushbacks. I'm glad you brought this up, Spencer, about do we really need fans? Do we really need them on our team?

Heather Jo Kennedy
07:46 - 07:49
That's debatable. But whether or not they make a difference is irrefutable.

Spencer Horn
07:53 - 08:24
So I mean, what is the pushback that you're hearing? Because I feel like now that you're actually talking about it, fans can really help create meaning and a cause and purpose for the energy that we expend. Because it's like, OK, I'm getting feedback. There's this feedback loop that I'm doing something good or I'm not doing something good. It's like, hey, You got to step it up a little bit, because even fans can be like, come on guys, you got more, right? I mean, I feel like that can create some energy.

Heather Jo Kennedy
08:26 - 09:02
And we do things for fans that we wouldn't for anyone else. We perform for our fans. There's too much data behind that. And the difference there, there's a lot of data behind the difference they make. One example I like to give is Christopher Little. Either of you familiar with Christopher Little? Most people aren't. Christopher Little was an English literary agent. The literary agent's job is to connect an author with a publisher. This young author, never been published before, brought him a manuscript. He loved it. He fell in love with it. He pitched it to all his publishers.

Heather Jo Kennedy
09:02 - 09:29
They all rejected it immediately. So he sent it to all the publishers he didn't know. They all rejected it, but he really believed in this author and this book. He kept pushing, and finally he got someone who was willing to publish it for meager compensation. That author, J.K. Rowling. The book, Harry Potter. So the point is not that Christopher Little became a millionaire by being a fan, but that J.K. Rowling became a billionaire from having one. Fans make a difference.

Spencer Horn
09:31 - 09:53
Yeah, I mean, I'm so glad you brought it up, because I was going to ask you, how do you make that switch from fans in sports to fans in business? And I think that's actually a great illustration. I want to go to coaches and players, if I could for a moment. Hold on, we have one question from Jeff. And Heather knows Jeff, right? Jeff, thanks for

Heather Jo Kennedy
09:53 - 09:54
listening. I do know Jeff. Hi, Jeff.

Spencer Horn
09:56 - 10:00
So he has a question here. It says, raving fans, would they be customers?

Heather Jo Kennedy
10:04 - 10:27
Customers in business. Sure, they totally could be. I mean, some of our best fans are just the loyal customers. And I think they're customers that buy your product at full price behind your back. They're not seeking compensation or anything. They know your value, they appreciate it, and they continue to return faithfully.

Christian Napier
10:30 - 11:23
All right, Jeff, thank you for chiming in. Now back to my question here. All right, Heather, coaches and players. There's been a longstanding conversation in sport about who's more important, the coaches or the players, right? And evaluating the famous coaches, of course, for the Cowboys, you had two very famous coaches in Tom Landry and then Jimmy Johnson. who both led their teams to Super Bowls, but also had star players, whether it was Roger Staubach or Danny White or Troy Aikman in the Jimmy Johnson years of the Cowboys. And so I'm curious when it comes to the work that you've done and the research that you've looked into, who matters most?

Christian Napier
11:23 - 11:25
Is it the coaches, the players, or is it both?

Heather Jo Kennedy
11:26 - 12:11
It depends on your objective at that moment. They're both critical. You won't find a successful person that doesn't have both, absolutely. But it depends on your position at the time, what you're trying to achieve at the time. Examples, I guess, if you are seeking direction, if you're not sure how to make a plan to meet your goal, you need a coach. And that's business, life, I mean, across the board. Teammates, it's really more about their proximity. That's where they make the most impact is because they have the best perspective. So if you know your goal, if you have a plan, but you're struggling to implement, that's where you need teammates.

Heather Jo Kennedy
12:11 - 12:20
So it's really just about your positioning, where you're at on this path towards an objective, whether you need more of a coach or a teammate at that time. But you need both.

Christian Napier
12:22 - 13:07
Can I dig into this a little bit deeper here with you, Heather? So yes, great coaches need great players, and great players need great coaches. But it doesn't work unless the coaches can get the players, particularly the starters, the stars of the team, to buy in, right? So in your experience, you've set up multiple businesses, you're very successful. How do you get the key folks on your team, the players, these key, especially the starters, you know, how do you get those people to buy into what you're trying to sell? I'm not saying as customers, but the buy into your vision.

Heather Jo Kennedy
13:08 - 13:39
Right. You have to align. I mean, you can have the greatest coach in the world and that's only part of the equation. Right, you cannot be getting anything out of that coach because we as individuals, we need to have these certain qualities in order to maximize what the coach is trying to offer. I think the two most important ones are going to be humility and willingness. I think those are the first two things that you're going to look for in a starter that you want. to be on your team. I have a Tom Landry story if you want to hear it.

Heather Jo Kennedy
13:39 - 14:23
We want to hear a Tom Landry story. My dad tells this one a lot. I love it. He talked about critical mass. My dad went into his office and they were just having this interview and talking about leadership. And so Tom Landry draws this circle. on a piece of paper and draws all these particles, all these little dots on this circle. And he's talking about how to align the team and how he chooses these leaders. So he says he chooses the players that have the same vision. They have the same goal that he has. And then he chooses them to be his captains.

Heather Jo Kennedy
14:24 - 14:52
And my dad was like, wait a second, no. the players, the players are the ones who vote on the captains. You don't control that. And so he was a little bit confused because Tom Landry just told him, I choose the leaders. I see who has my same vision. And so my dad said, well, we're the ones that choose the leaders. And he said, yeah, but who counts the votes?

Spencer Horn
14:55 - 15:33
You know, but this is so important. I mean, you just mentioned this idea of critical mass. And in this scenario, it's about alignment. And I mean, if you've got people going off in all different directions, you're not going to create, I mean, think of a battle. I mean, what's critical mass? It's being able to penetrate the, you know, the enemy's lines. It's about being able to defeat, you know, The competitor, it's about being able to achieve your, your goal. And to do that, you need to get people working together to create synergy that which, which I'm sure we'll talk about to be able to get.

Spencer Horn
15:34 - 16:00
You know, the sum of the parts, you know, is not just, you've got to get everybody working together to be greater than the sum of the parts. So I love that idea that sometimes, you know, you've got to say, all right, I've got the vision, I've got the direction, either you like this team or you don't, go play for the Houston Oilers. By the way, I invited a lot of people from Texas to listen today.

Christian Napier
16:00 - 16:06
Oh, good. You're dating yourself here, Spencer. The Houston Oilers.

Spencer Horn
16:07 - 16:09
Well, I mean, they were,

Christian Napier
16:09 - 16:09
you

Spencer Horn
16:09 - 16:18
know. The Houston Oilers. That was back then. That was back then. I'm thinking about that. So

Heather Jo Kennedy
16:18 - 16:18
here's Kevin

Spencer Horn
16:19 - 16:44
joining us. We're so glad you're listening again. Yes, we appreciate you coming back, Kevin, and listening about Binding trajectory. Okay, I have a question maybe on a little different topic. You talk about flipping traditional productivity advice on its head. What is this concept of personal teams and how does that reframe how you get things done?

Heather Jo Kennedy
16:47 - 17:25
I categorize people. That sounds really judgy. But when it comes to when it comes to who I'm going to allow influence me, we've never had more noise, more potential influencers than we do today, and we'll have more tomorrow. So we have to learn how to who we're giving air time to and how to filter that because we can't listen to everyone. So it's a main point of productivity that we really analyze who is on our personal team and who we're allowing to influence us.

Spencer Horn
17:39 - 17:44
That really goes back to the fans, right, that you were talking about earlier. I think

Heather Jo Kennedy
17:44 - 18:16
it's all of them. I really, yeah, I think it's all of them. You know, if I could for a minute, just growing up, I really did distrust the village, you know, in our situation. And I get this question all the time. I'm just going to go ahead and answer it because I'm sure people out there are wondering, you know, what was it like growing up? in that environment. I rode the bus to school. I had chores. I scraped my knees. What was it like having my dad be on the cereal boxes at the grocery store?

Heather Jo Kennedy
18:17 - 18:50
He mowed our lawn. He went to work like other dads. He took us camping. So the real difference I found was just in the way other people treated us. And I recognize that. I recognize it more now, looking back. I think my family, my parents did a really good job of protecting us. But people wanted to get close to us, some for good reasons and some for not good reasons. And so that's how I came up with this formula of coaches, teammates, and fans, because those are the people that I know. They have a role.

Heather Jo Kennedy
18:50 - 18:53
I can trust them. I can allow them to influence me.

Spencer Horn
18:54 - 19:30
Yeah, I mean, I've watched you now for quite a while, and I remember when we first met, you were a little reluctant to kind of talk about this story because you don't want people to, rightly so, judge you because of who your family is or who your father is. And I believe you're standing on your own merits right now, but I completely understand that because there are a lot of people out there that want to take advantage of hangers-on, they're sycophants, they, you know, whatever, they want to manipulate situations and relationships for their own good.

Spencer Horn
19:30 - 19:43
So I think it's wise to be, you know, careful. And so I understand that's really where this idea is it takes a team and not a village, because there can be some, sorry to say, village idiots, right?

Heather Jo Kennedy
19:44 - 19:46
Yeah. Yep.

Christian Napier
19:49 - 20:28
I want to come back to the concept of humility. You just illustrated it in the story. Like, hey, I was just like any other child going to school. I did chores. My dad was famous and mowed the lawn, right? And I come back to it because when it comes to the highest performing teams, you've got people on there with egos. They have egos for reasons, right? They believe in themselves. They believe that they know the way to get things done. And yet you talk about humility being a defining characteristic of a successful coach or a successful player.

Christian Napier
20:30 - 21:14
In the work that you've done coaching people, you know, throughout your career, is humility something that just, it's just, part of their innate character? Or is this something that can be learned? If I wanna be a successful person, can I learn this humility thing? Or is it, I'm just the guy mowing my lawn and that's how I think. Explain this concept of humility in a world where ego is a matter of life.

Heather Jo Kennedy
21:15 - 21:54
Right, right. Hype is so big, and we think it matters so much more than it does. But if you think about fans, it's not their hype that binds us to them. It's really their lack of conditions when you really look at fans. And humility, you asked, can it be taught? Can it be learned? I absolutely think it can. I really do. I think that that's the point. I mean, I hope. that we can learn humility. Sometimes it's a very tough lesson to learn though. So you might as well just try and come by it naturally before you have to be taught humility.

Heather Jo Kennedy
21:55 - 22:13
But it is this balance, because like you said, we have to have that confidence in order to perform, but maintain humility. So there's a little bit of a paradox there. You have to recognize your infinite potential and worth, and at the same time, your profound expendability.

Spencer Horn
22:15 - 22:52
You know, I think that's so important, Heather. You know, it's interesting, sometimes we get into little bubbles in our own world, and we think, there's this ZZ Top song, again, sorry for those of you who don't know American pop culture, ZZ Top, there's this song, it's called I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide. And the idea is, because I'm a big deal in my neighborhood, that that somehow translates to being an international phenomenon. I had a great mentor, Christian knows his name well, Kelvin Cullimore. Out of college, I moved to a small town, Branson, Missouri, big entertainment town, right?

Spencer Horn
22:52 - 23:37
It was a lot of over the hill type of entertainers. People like Tony Orlando and other people went there when their careers were kind of over. But it was easy to be in a position of supposedly the spotlight and And he just said, listen, don't be a big fish in a small pond. I mean, sometimes it's nice to have coaches remind you about what your place really is. Because you're right, the world will teach you humility sometimes if you attack it with hubris, because you're going to make mistakes based on what you think is right, but it's so nice to have someone that can remind you and help you.

Spencer Horn
23:38 - 23:41
So who did that for you or did that ever need to happen for you?

Heather Jo Kennedy
23:43 - 23:43
Who made me humble?

Spencer Horn
23:44 - 23:46
No, I mean, who helped you to learn that principle?

Heather Jo Kennedy
23:48 - 24:41
Oh, I, you know, my, my, my family, my parents, I, I think we just inadvertently learned it by watching my dad mow the lawn and, and recognizing that, that he could have acted much differently, you know, in public when we'd go out and seeing the way that he was able to handle that fandom and, uh, and turn it around and make things more about them. I've been very perceptive and watching people, in that role. I mean we've been able to brush shoulders with a lot of celebrities and some of them, they make it all about themselves and others make it all about the fan or whoever it is they're talking to and there's such a different dynamic, there's such a different vibe depending on how you handle that situation and really the whole objective of us maximizing our own potential is to give.

Heather Jo Kennedy
24:41 - 24:49
That's another one of my principles of productivity. You won't find successful a successful or impactful person who doesn't really know how to give.

Spencer Horn
24:52 - 25:24
So talk a little bit more about that. You know, you talk about on teams, you know, cohesion, we've been talking about that, that matters. And so we've been talking about the dynamics of the people that make it about them. think that that's about charisma, right? People who have this persona and this charisma. I don't know that that's true, but you talk about cohesion being more important than charisma. I think that takes a humility as well, doesn't it? If you're a team leader.

Heather Jo Kennedy
25:26 - 25:42
For sure. And, you know, we hear this, people won't remember what you say, but how you made them feel. I mean, that's all the data that you need. That's all the proof that you need. It's not about your charisma. It's about how you make people feel and connect.

Spencer Horn
25:43 - 26:25
Yeah, and that's, I think, one of the big problems on teams. I'd love for you to share if you've seen that with any of your clients where, you know, we've talked about being, you know, a big shot. That's something my Oma used to always say, Mr. Big Shots. She was German. You know, are you a Mr. Big Shots? But you would be this, you know, I see project managers. There's a lot of them listening from all over the world. They're wonderful. people that make the world run and get things done. But there's an organization of project managers that many of these people who have never really been in a leadership role all of a sudden get into board leadership positions, executive positions.

Spencer Horn
26:26 - 26:44
And they don't know how to make it about the volunteers. They feel like, no, it's about me. I'm the president or I'm the vice president, and I need to wield some authority. I need to get people to do what I say instead of really working on influencing. What have you seen?

Heather Jo Kennedy
26:46 - 27:08
I've seen that the whole, that synergy happens when the president or the leader decides that he is the servant, that he serves the team and the objective before himself. That's when you see the most progress and the most development in a company or any organization is when the leader takes a more of a serving attitude or mindset.

Christian Napier
27:20 - 28:09
All right, well, I'm finding this conversation here fascinating, Heather. I want to come back to something that you said moments ago about noise. And there's really today an unprecedented amount of noise. Coming back to sports, I would say 40, 50 years ago, teams tracked a variety of statistics to measure their performance. the availability of new technologies has exploded the number of data that teams can use to assess their performance. And on the fan side, I know when I was growing up, this didn't exist, but today- You mean when the Oilers were

Spencer Horn
28:09 - 28:12
around, Christian? Yeah.

Christian Napier
28:13 - 29:00
I know. I'm dating myself or aging myself here, but in today's world, fans can get together on X or on Reddit or any of these platforms, and they can have conversations amongst themselves while their teams are playing. And if you observe these conversations, you can see the wild mood swings that happen amongst fans between quarters or one play at the end. It's perhaps a testament to this turbulent world that we live in that we just get, you know, we just go from one extreme to another in a matter of you know, 30 seconds or a minute or, or so on and so forth.

Christian Napier
29:00 - 29:31
And so I'm curious when it comes to the work that you do with your clients, how, how you get them to make sense of all of this, you know, because there is so much data out there and there, uh, you know, the ways that we're connected to each other have, you know, expanded exponentially due to technology. Uh, how, can people maintain a sense of perspective in a world where there is so much noise?

Heather Jo Kennedy
29:33 - 30:12
I think a lot of that really starts with knowing who you are and knowing what you're looking for. I mean, you have to have a purpose. Simon Sinek said it best, right? Start with why. That has to be your foundations, understanding what your purpose is, and then operating from that platform, taking total control of what you let in your head. I mean, the noise, the noise is everywhere. And you know, I, I've got four kids and so they're listening to podcasts and telling me about it. And I, it scares me a little bit because I don't know that I've taught them enough how to vet their sources.

Heather Jo Kennedy
30:13 - 30:34
And that's, that's key. Number one is make sure you, your sources are well-informed and data-driven, and then you're in total control. Recognize that you're in total control of what you consume informationally, and only consume what supports your goal and your purpose.

Spencer Horn
30:35 - 30:52
Yeah, David O. McKay, some of you listening may have heard of him. He said, your thoughts are the architects of your destiny. And those thoughts are heavily influenced by what we listen to, by what we read, by those sources of information we allow into our head, is what I heard you say.

Heather Jo Kennedy
30:52 - 30:54
Yeah, for sure.

Spencer Horn
30:55 - 31:38
How do you, Heather, address, you know, you are, I mean, let me just put the picture together. So you've written two books. One's just ready to come out. You co-authored one with your dad. You go on the road with him talking to audiences all over the country. You're the, you know, mother of four children, you know, wife of your, of your husband and business partner with him. I mean, you're also a member of National Speakers Association, of which you are very actively and appreciatively so an important part of that association. How do you How do you manage all that?

Spencer Horn
31:38 - 31:55
And what happens when team cohesion doesn't go well, when things go wrong? What's your, what's your formula? What's your recipe to help, A, manage all of those demands? And when team cohesion doesn't meet your expectations, what do you do?

Heather Jo Kennedy
31:57 - 32:43
Such a good question. And I will say, I don't feel like I manage it well. I do not feel very graceful. I'm not a good multitasker. I feel like I'm a hot mess most of the time. You gave me anxiety just listing off the things that I'm involved. Thank you for that. I'm going to have to go take a moment. But no, it really comes back down to my six principles. And one of the biggest ones being that team, you mentioned my husband, he is my rock. And I'll give you one little tip here. If you can find someone who can operate as a coach or a teammate or a fan, given the circumstances, given whatever it is you need at that moment, you have found a gem.

Heather Jo Kennedy
32:43 - 33:06
And there are times, many times actually, that I've told him, I do not need a coach right now. And I'll tell him specifically what role he needs to fill. But if you have these six principles dialed in, I really think that's what makes what we do more doable.

Spencer Horn
33:09 - 33:12
And so can you outline those six points for us?

Heather Jo Kennedy
33:13 - 33:52
Sure, sure. So the first one is gratitude. And I think I mentioned this, they're basic, they're so simple, but I've done a lot of research on how impactful they really are. So gratitude, identity, we talked about that a little bit, understanding your why, your purpose, your identity, and then building on that identity, a team. Your team is number three. Number four is action. And action has a lot to do with control, which we've talked about a little bit. After action is give service, having an outward mindset. And then the last principle is how we finish.

Heather Jo Kennedy
33:52 - 34:07
We know there are starters on a team, you know, and basketball season is thick right now. So you have your five starters. They're not always the same as your five finishers. And finishing is an important concept that I think we overlook sometimes.

Spencer Horn
34:22 - 34:30
We've got somebody that you know chiming in as well, Heather. Lydia has a comment. Hey,

Christian Napier
34:30 - 34:30
good

Spencer Horn
34:31 - 34:44
to see you, Lydia. She's talking about your, yes, your husband, coach, teammate, fan wrapped up into one amazing person. That's so awesome that you have that.

Christian Napier
34:50 - 35:48
Coming back to coaches, fans, teammates. Beyond coaches, fans, teammates, I come from an event organizing background, right? So I've spent 25 years organizing events. And for sport to happen, there are a lot of other people that play roles. aside from coaches fans and teammates, you know, so you've got the all of the the ownership and the administration of teams and You've got broadcast and media and marketing partners and sponsors and things like that. And so there's a and ticketing companies and so on and so forth. So there's a lot of infrastructure that kind of operates around those.

Christian Napier
35:49 - 36:42
So do you have any thoughts about that infrastructure and how that infrastructure that's there to Enable the team to perform at its very best on the field of play, you know, when it's game time. How that how that organizational infrastructure could potentially play a role in here as well, you know, the team has five starters like the basketball team and they've got a number of coaches, but there may be hundreds of people that work in the organization of the team as well that all help that perform as well as these varieties of stakeholders, like I mentioned, from the marketing partners to broadcast and press and so on and so forth.

Christian Napier
36:42 - 36:51
So what role, Maybe I'm asking this selfishly, because I've been on that side. Nobody ever sees us folks. Christian wants

Spencer Horn
36:51 - 36:51
a

Christian Napier
36:51 - 36:59
little love here from behind us. Yes, you do. So where do we fit in into this grand scheme of things?

Heather Jo Kennedy
37:00 - 37:44
Yes, the people in the shadows, right? I like to call them. And it's really about just buying into that brand, that purpose. You know, when I go to, it used to be Texas Stadium where my dad played, but now they play in AT&T and we go every couple years to one of the games and it's so clear that that everyone with a lanyard in that building has bought into the brand, and they're proud to wear it. And I think that speaks a lot to their purpose and their branding. They make sure that every person that is an employee or involved in that organization at all really buys into that team brand.

Spencer Horn
37:47 - 38:21
Yeah. Listen, we've got some more comments. Here's Kevin. He's talking about, love the six elements. Wholeheartedly agree. I use them with great success. I'm often asked how I get so many good things done in my professional and volunteer life. And I'm going to be the first reader of the book. as one of my 50 each year. Good job, Kevin. So yeah, for starters, get that book for starters. So let's talk about productivity for a minute since Kevin brings that back up. I know I gave you anxiety a minute ago because of everything that's going on in your life.

Spencer Horn
38:22 - 38:36
You know what? So let's kind of go into the, the theme of mindset, growth, and performance. You're obviously a high performer because you're doing all these things. You're even coaching me and encouraging me to finish my book, which I appreciate.

Heather Jo Kennedy
38:36 - 38:40
I know. I know. I'm on your back. I'll stay on your back till it gets done.

Spencer Horn
38:40 - 38:54
Right. Well, thank you. What daily habits? I mean, what do you do to basically keep yourself personally aligned? You talked about the importance of alignment in your family, with your team, and to keep yourself energized.

Heather Jo Kennedy
38:56 - 39:36
Well, like I said, it's not graceful. But I do have some habits. And I honestly believe, and maybe I'll get some pushback on this, I believe that beginning and ending every day with gratitude is one of the most productive things you can do. It clarifies your purpose. It absolutely does. There are so many. I mean, you get on the internet and look up how to be more productive, you're going to get a gazillion tips on how to be more productive. And these six elements are just things that I have identified because I, same as Kevin, I just always, since the time I was a little girl, I've gotten more hours out of the day than most people.

Heather Jo Kennedy
39:37 - 39:59
You know, I've just been able to, and these are the six things that I really have felt like contribute to me. And so at the end of every day, you know, I go through and I say, have I done all of these things? And I make sure that they just become part, a habitual part of my day. And there are lots of days that I'm not productive, so let me just throw that out there.

Spencer Horn
39:59 - 40:39
No, thank you for being real. And I think that's one of the things that makes you so awesome. I blanked out there for a second. But gratitude is so powerful. And it ties into, I think, humility as well. And I also think it ties into energy. Because if you are grateful for those things that you have, It changes your focus and your energy. And I think instead of worrying about what you don't have and what you can't do, I don't know who would give you pushback on that. I just think it's such a great practice.

Spencer Horn
40:40 - 41:23
And if you're thanking your partners, your team, your family, your coach, your God, For everything that you have, I think it makes you more teachable, more able to receive more help and more support. And so I think that is an incredible practice. I also like the idea of action. And I want to talk a little bit about that. My son called me the other day. We're writing a family history book. Actually, my son-in-law is doing it. It's just so fascinating, all the history that we have. And Krishna, I actually had no idea that apparently I descended from eight of the original Mayflower passengers.

Spencer Horn
41:24 - 42:00
And my folks aren't even American, they're Canadian and German, but there is a connection. There is a connection through one of my, my Canadian roots became a crown loyalist and left the United States and went to Canada. So, but the point is, is that we're writing all these histories, right? And part of it is gratitude. My son, he's 26 years old. He was asked to write how he, what he's learned. And so he called me, he said, dad, I feel like, you know, this is future generations are going to read this, right? And so I got to be a coach and a fan of him to kind of help him.

Spencer Horn
42:01 - 42:43
And it's so interesting to see how he developed over his life. In high school, he was a performer on the volleyball team. They won a state championship in Nevada. But he was never a serious student. always knew that he had great capacity, was really very smart, and he just figured it out later in life. And the key to doing that is action. Just when he started to struggle, he would start moving his feet. And I think when you're anxious or when you're frustrated and you just start doing something, so much starts to fall into place and your life starts to get better.

Spencer Horn
42:44 - 42:51
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to just go on a rant like that, but any thoughts that you would have on action and getting a little deeper into that?

Heather Jo Kennedy
42:52 - 43:24
Absolutely. Action is so powerful when you're in control of it. And that's what I, that's what I coach is, is this idea of control. You know, if you think about the last time you were frustrated, it was probably because you were trying to control someone or something that you couldn't, or you were allowing someone or something to control you that you shouldn't. So it's really, we have to act on things that we can control rather than reacting to things that we can't and splitting that hair. is a big difference.

Christian Napier
43:39 - 44:10
This conversation has gone on for almost 45 minutes. Time flies when we're having fun. But before we wrap this up, I wanted to ask you, coming back to your six principles, sometimes when we talk about those types of things, oh, I have these principles in my life, we can think about them as individual things or maybe in silos. But it seems to me that they're not mutually exclusive, but they're mutually reinforcing, right? Like you can't

Heather Jo Kennedy
44:10 - 44:10
have

Christian Napier
44:10 - 44:40
gratitude, really, if you don't I mean, sincere gratitude is aligned with action and service and some of these other pillars that you're talking about. So I'm curious to hear from your perspective how these six pillars complement and reinforce each other in your own life and how you can help others tap into the power of these principles really working in a synergistic way.

Heather Jo Kennedy
44:42 - 45:30
Yeah, I love that you brought that up because they really are, I mean, in my book, everything's written linear. You know, that's the only way to write a book is from the first page to the end page. But I do make the point that it's very cyclical and they are all interconnected and complementary of one another. I'm actually leading this cohort of young adults who are going through this program called for starters and so I'm teaching them how to implement these six principles and if they get stuck on one it's fine let's just move to the next one you know let's let's focus on something that's going to be a little bit easier for you because they really will all play together and complement and build off of one another there's no there's no hierarchy there's no steps really they're just let's work on what we can and what we need to at the moment

Spencer Horn
45:33 - 45:38
Well, that was actually going to be my next question, is how do you, what's something you could do, a simple action.

Christian Napier
45:38 - 45:40
Sorry, I smell your thunder there. Be a starter. No,

Spencer Horn
45:41 - 45:56
no, no. She actually answered it in her response to your question. So that's, no, that was no, no apologies there whatsoever. Well, you know, we've got so many more. Actually, I'm being asked again online, when is your book coming out and what is the title of it?

Heather Jo Kennedy
45:57 - 46:06
June 1st, Four Starters. The subtitle is Six Principles of Productivity You're Overlooking, but Four Starters is the title.

Spencer Horn
46:08 - 46:12
Well, Christian, I have a lightning round unless you have other questions.

Christian Napier
46:13 - 46:16
Well, let's get to the lightning round right now. Let's do it.

Spencer Horn
46:17 - 46:18
Okay. Are you ready for this, Heather?

Heather Jo Kennedy
46:19 - 46:23
I don't even know what this means, so yeah, whatever. Let's go, Spencer. I'm just going to ask

Spencer Horn
46:23 - 46:29
you a bunch of questions. I just want really quick answers. One word you'd use to describe a high-impact team.

Heather Jo Kennedy
46:32 - 46:32
Cohesive.

Spencer Horn
46:33 - 46:37
Your go-to ritual for starting the day strong. You already

Heather Jo Kennedy
46:37 - 46:39
given that. Yeah, that's right.

Spencer Horn
46:40 - 46:44
A trait you'd rather have on your team. Grit

Heather Jo Kennedy
46:44 - 46:44
or

Spencer Horn
46:44 - 46:44
charisma.

Heather Jo Kennedy
46:46 - 46:52
Oh, oh, sorry. Sorry. You gave me a AB. Okay. Grit or charisma. Yeah. Oh, a hundred percent grit.

Spencer Horn
46:53 - 46:54
And why? All

Heather Jo Kennedy
46:56 - 47:04
I can think of right now is John Wayne. You got to watch that movie. True grit. Grit will persevere. Grit trumps charisma. Are you kidding me? Yeah.

Spencer Horn
47:06 - 47:06
I agree.

Heather Jo Kennedy
47:06 - 47:07
It's more grounded.

Spencer Horn
47:08 - 47:12
What's something people think builds productivity, but doesn't?

Heather Jo Kennedy
47:17 - 47:21
This is supposed to be lightning response. I got to think about that. What's something that builds?

Spencer Horn
47:21 - 47:25
That people think makes, creates productivity, but doesn't.

Heather Jo Kennedy
47:26 - 47:29
Oh, a full calendar. Busyness.

Spencer Horn
47:30 - 47:38
Oh, very good. What's more powerful in a team? Energy or experience?

Heather Jo Kennedy
47:42 - 47:43
Energy.

Spencer Horn
47:46 - 47:49
A non-negotiable in your personal productivity system?

Heather Jo Kennedy
47:56 - 47:59
The team. The team mentality. The

Spencer Horn
47:59 - 48:02
team mentality. Best lesson you've learned from building your own teams?

Heather Jo Kennedy
48:10 - 48:12
I don't like lightning rounds. You're

Spencer Horn
48:12 - 48:12
doing great.

Heather Jo Kennedy
48:13 - 48:15
Best lesson, persevere.

Spencer Horn
48:16 - 48:26
Yeah. So persevere, don't stop. So here's a favorite quote or mantra that keeps you grounded. I'm going to say it takes a team, not a village.

Heather Jo Kennedy
48:26 - 48:30
Oh, I love that. I mean, that's my own. I made that up.

Spencer Horn
48:31 - 48:31
But do you have another? One

Heather Jo Kennedy
48:33 - 48:34
that's influenced me?

Spencer Horn
48:35 - 48:35
Yeah.

Heather Jo Kennedy
48:36 - 49:00
A quote. Mantra, anything. Yeah, a mantra, a quote. There are so many, honestly. There are too many. I have a mantra of the week or the day. So there's just too many. I'm a big fan of literature and constantly, constantly learning. So it depends. It's my flavor of the day, really.

Spencer Horn
49:01 - 49:09
Yeah. I mean, you talked to us about this literary agent that we didn't know, but what's something every team should do before they get to work?

Heather Jo Kennedy
49:11 - 49:12
Come together, collaborate.

Spencer Horn
49:14 - 49:22
Okay, here we go. Last one. Are you ready? Finish this sentence, Heather Jo. Great teams don't happen by chance. They happen because...

Heather Jo Kennedy
49:24 - 49:25
They're aligned.

Christian Napier
49:37 - 49:46
Well, Heather, we appreciate you being a good sport and and persevering through that lightning round. We appreciate it. Yeah,

Heather Jo Kennedy
49:46 - 49:48
you gotta give me those questions beforehand.

Christian Napier
49:51 - 50:10
Yeah, there's some thought-provoking ones in there, Spencer. So the new book's coming out, super excited for that. If people want to pre-order the book or they wanna reach out and connect with you to see how you could potentially help them achieve their potential, what's the best way for them to connect with you?

Heather Jo Kennedy
50:11 - 50:21
My website, hjkennedy.com. I'm on LinkedIn, Facebook. I'm on all of them, but not well. Okay, well,

Spencer Horn
50:21 - 50:37
so Heather, Heather Jo, you need to connect with Kevin because he's like, he wants to connect with you. He calls you a kindred spirit. He's a great guy. Coming from Texas, I believe. Is that right, Kevin? I can't remember. I think you are. So, but

Christian Napier
50:38 - 50:38
yes,

Spencer Horn
50:39 - 50:40
the motherland.

Christian Napier
50:41 - 50:47
Okay, so it was, just to make sure I got it correctly, hjkennedy.com, is that what the website was?

Heather Jo Kennedy
50:48 - 50:48
So we'll make sure to

Christian Napier
50:48 - 51:01
put those links in the show notes as well for folks. Spencer, you've been helping organizations build high-performing teams for decades. If people want to learn more about how you could help them, what's the best way for them to do so?

Spencer Horn
51:02 - 51:40
You know what, just reach out to me on LinkedIn, and then we can do the rest from there. Heather, what you do is so needed right now, because people are struggling. In my experience, teams are struggling to perform at a high level, and only 10% to 12% are high performing. And I think if they really follow your you know, your, your goals, uh, basically your, your, your six steps that those things will, will really help. And, uh, so I I'm really excited to get your book for starters and I'm so grateful that you came on our show, Heather, and thank you for letting me put you on the spot with the lightning round.

Spencer Horn
51:40 - 51:41
You did great by the

Heather Jo Kennedy
51:41 - 51:41
way. Thank

Spencer Horn
51:41 - 51:41
you.

Heather Jo Kennedy
51:43 - 51:45
Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure.

Christian Napier
51:47 - 51:59
We're grateful to you for dedicating an hour of your day to. to join us, Heather Jo, and also listeners, viewers, we appreciate you, so please like and subscribe to our podcast, and we'll catch you again soon.