Change Your Brain Every Day - How to Become an Effective Leader at Work with Winn Claybaugh

Episode Date: July 8, 2019

Let’s face it, the ‘intimidating dictator’ approach to whipping employees and coworkers into shape is a thing of the past, a relic that no longer works in today’s workplace. So how can you get others to step up their efforts and help make great things happen at work? In the first episode of a series on the brain at work, Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen are joined by “Be Nice or Else” author Winn Claybaugh for a discussion on the surprisingly easy way to rally your troops more effectively.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. In our podcast, we provide you with the tools you need to become a warrior for the health of your brain and body. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we have been transforming lives for 30 years using tools like brain spec imaging to personalize treatment to your brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceuticals to support the health of your brain and body. To learn more, go to brainmd.com. Well, welcome back.

This is going to be a very special week. We're going to talk about the brain at work. And with us is one of my good friends and really a pioneer in a number of different industries, including philanthropy. Wynne Claybaugh is the author of Be Nice or Else, and one of the best motivational speakers in the country, according to Larry King, a speaker and a business owner with over 16,000 people in his organization. Wynn is the co-owner of the hair care giant Paul Mitchell's school division. Under Wynn's leadership, the 105 plus schools have raised over $21 million for charity and actually had support our foundation which we are

eternally grateful for when has received awards from the North American hairstyling Awards the Hall of Leaders Awards friendly houses humanitarian of the Year Award 2017 Ellis Island Medal of Honor in recognition of his philanthropic and other contributions. He is going to share with us proven systems to empower everyone to be more inspiring and engaging, skills that create an attractive leader. So I just can't be more happy you're with us. Yes. Thank you.

So special. Well, I'm a huge fan. I've come through these doors several times, both as a client, both in accompanying friends and family members to make sure that they were receiving the proper care, both as a friend to have lunch, also in supporting your foundation, as you mentioned. So yeah, I take your supplements every morning. So I'm a huge fan. Wow.

Thank you so much. So why be nice or else? Well, everybody thinks that the or else is something negative and it is be nice or live a miserable life. Be nice or be a horrible boss. And that's the whole message of that. So I read a book once by a business professor at Stanford. It was called the no asshole rule. And I love that. That's sort of the rule around here. I don't get to be one and you don't either. Work is where people actually spend the majority

of their time and their work efforts. But you bring the brain to work. Whatever brain issues you have, you bring them to work, and people don't get when your brain works right, you actually make more money because you make better decisions. I love that. It's one of our golden rules that we live by, that always be in a great mood, fake it when necessary.

Yeah. At least don't spread it. I mean, it's like, it's not really fair to dump that on other people. Well, I think we got to take it to the next level. Not only can you not spread that, it's your job. It literally is your job to bring different energy to the workplace. I agree. And it really is true that, you know, it sounds like such a cliche, but fake it till you make it. In this case, it's really true. When we put words and actions and even body language to almost anything, it becomes your experience. So if you walk in with a bad attitude. What question should we have our audience ask themselves for this podcast and this series is, you know, maybe it's something like when your brain's not right, how does that show up at work? Yeah.

So if you haven't slept, if you are hungover, if you ate bad food. And in the Paul Mitchell schools, you really train stylists, correct? Absolutely. And I often think of stylists as therapists. I actually have a funny story. I have a friend who is a licensed therapist and he actually entered the beauty industry to do training and spread his motivation because he said he had a client that was saying to him, I'm taking your advice, but I need to ask my hairdresser what they think. He's like, wait a him, I'm taking your advice, but I need to ask my hairdresser what they think.

He's like, wait a minute, I'm the licensed here. And yet you're going to trust your hairdresser's opinion over mine. And we spent so long in the chair. No joke. Well, not only that, but you spend some of your most important moments with your hairdresser. Your wedding day is with your hairdresser. Sometimes the death of a loved one is with, exactly, is major events with your hairdresser. And you don't go...

In my case, you don't... I mean, at least speaking for me, I always want to go to someone who's really good, but I don't want to go to someone I don't like. So you pick someone you trust and like. Yeah, you spend with your gut, not just with your head. Yeah, it's true.

So in Be Nice or Else, talk to us about some of the principles of leadership that you've learned over the decades of work with the Paul Mitchell schools. The first thing is I realized a very long time ago that I'm not the smartest person in my organization, and I don't need to be. So when somebody asks a question, oftentimes I say, well, I don't know the answer to that, but I know who knows, and that's good enough.

And what I mean by that is it's not always up to me. However, though, it needs to start with me. So like you say, if I show up in the bad mood, or I could be in the best mood ever, but I'm really busy that day. And so I parked the car and I get out of my car. I walk through the building, walk by the hundreds of people who are in that building, go straight to my office and close the door. Why? Because I have a lot of work I have to get done. What's the buzz in that building in about one minute? You know, winds in a bad mood, stay away. And if there's that kind of a feeling in the building, what's going to happen to creativity that day? What's going to happen in teamwork? What's going to happen to sales that day? And so

not only do I need to be in a good mood and fake it when I'm not in a good mood, I also have to own people's perception of me. You said something really important. So I was a neurosurgical ICU nurse. Me too. I was. Were you really? No, I was not. You threw me off for a second there. I'm like, wow, I've never heard someone actually say me too. But when you guys are talking about showing up at work and being in a good mood or what happens on the job if you're not or how does it affect people when you don't? Well, where I worked, people could get hurt or die if you show up and you don't do a good job and you show up and you're hungover and you're not doing your job right. It's not a good thing. Now, that's not always the extreme like for everybody, but it really does. I mean, just to give you an idea to an extreme, what happens if you show up and you don't do a good job? And to that effect,

what I was saying is if you show up and you fake it till you make it, if you show up and you're in a good mood, people are more likely to help you. And in a unit like mine, that was critical. You need teamwork. You need people to help you. So it's really important that you show up and you gain rapport rather than repulsing. I have a joke. So this business really important that you show up and you, you know, you gain rapport rather than repulsing. I have a joke. So, uh, this business owner is given a tour of her store, of her facility. And the person asks, so how many people work here? And she responds with, oh, about half, about half work here. And the reason why that can happen to some organization is because people aren't engaged. And the reason why they're not engaged is because maybe they're engaged with their time.

Meaning they show up for one thing and one thing only, and that is to receive a paycheck. But when people aren't engaged, we're not bringing the best out of them. And oftentimes when people aren't engaged, what do we want to do? We want to fire them. But you can't fire your way into building a better team of people. And so it's all about knowing how to bring out the best in people. Collaboration, which I know is in the notes that you sent to me, that word collaboration came up a couple of times. The value of collaboration, knowing how to bring out the best in other people. Because how I look

at it is if you are the smartest, most talented person in your organization, I feel sorry for you. It's not a good thing. No, no. Because that means now you're forced to work 12 hour days, seven days a week. I totally agree. And you're limited in terms of your opportunity, in terms of your growth. Why? Because it's only up to you. Yeah.

And that's what I said in the beginning. It doesn't have to be about me. My job is to bring out the best in other people. Even though I'm the leader and the owner of the organization, I need to bring out the best in other people. Because if the success of Palm Mitchell Schools relies solely on me, we're done. We're in trouble. So your job as a leader is really to build the best brains around you so that you can accomplish the mission of the organization.

Absolutely. So it's collective brains and everybody has an effect on everybody else. Yes. Right? And so it's just the energy is contagious. And so when you're not feeling your best, know if you project that, it's going to infect the organization. And I'm glad that you said everyone,

because people think it's just the boss's responsibility. And I've seen many, many times, I'm sure you've seen this in your organization, that sometimes it's that brand new employee, the person who's only been there for a couple of months that can do more to bring energy and fun and teamwork and creativity than the person who's been there for 20 years. And by the way, that person who can bring that energy, that to me is leadership. Yeah. See, leadership is not a title.

It's not a position. It's an attitude. It's a mindset. And so we talk about you can be brand new here your first day, and yet here's the responsibility that you have for the energy that you bring into this space. And we're very detailed and specific on how people need to do that, what works, what doesn't work. How can people learn more about Be Nice or Else or your work in helping not only the Paul Mitchell schools, but in their organization? Well, they can certainly

buy my book. I mean, if that's what you're leading to, is that like a setup for a good commercial for me? Are you helping me out when I pay my bills? Is that it? Okay. I want to know how people, you're here because we believe in you. Right. Well, my website is winclaybaugh.com. Okay.

People are probably not going to know how to spell that. Oh, W-I-N-N-C-L-A-Y-B-A-U-G-H, winclaybaugh.com. Perfect. All right. Stay with us. When we come back, we're going to delve more into the brain at work. If you're enjoying the Brain Warriors Way podcast, please don't forget to subscribe so you'll always know when there's a new episode.

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