EntreLeadership - #141: Kansas City Royals—Building a Championship Culture

Episode Date: April 4, 2016

We’re talking baseball, business and so much more with two incredible guests this week. First up is Chicago Cubs second baseman Ben Zobrist. This consummate professional became a superstar with the Kansas City Royals—not by showboating but with lots of hard work and consistent excellence in a variety of roles. Also on the roster is Kansas City Royals General Manager Dayton Moore, who talks about building a championship culture and team. So if you are looking to hit a home run, this podcast is for you! entreleadership.com/podcast Dave's High-Performance mp3 Download Infusionsoft's Field Guide to CRM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

helping business leaders grow themselves, their team, and their profits. This is the Entree Leadership Podcast. Now here is your host, Ken Coleman. Broadcasting from the Music City, this is the podcast of leaders, by leaders, for leaders. Thank you so much for joining the conversation. Here's what's coming to you. We have a baseball theme because, after all, it is April and baseball is upon us. So we're going to talk leadership, personal growth, teamwork, and much, much more through the lens of baseball.

Who is that? Well, Ben Zobrist, who was a star second baseman for the defending world champion Kansas City Royals, and now signed in the offseason with the Chicago Cubs. He joined us in studio. He lives here in the Music City, and so we were able to get him in studio. And then we hopped on the phone with the senior vice president of baseball operations and general manager of the Kansas City Royals, Dayton, He's got a book called More Than a Season, Building a Championship Culture. I'm going to stop here for a moment in the rundown because you're asking the question, what's going on with all the Kansas City Royal stuff?

Well, I'll explain the tie-in. It's kind of a fun story, but this content is so good, and we can't wait to share it with you. And then free stuff, you know, we love to give you the free tools. We've got a new tool from our Entree Leadership team. This is an MP3 download of Dave Ramsey teaching our team on high-performance achievement. I'll tell you more about that a little bit later. And then, of course, Infusion Software helps us power. this podcast. They've got another giveaway for the month of April. This time, it's a field guide

for helping your customer relationship management. In other words, your CRM. So that's what's coming up to you. And we're going to get right to it. We have so much to give you. So I tease as I said, what's the Royals connection? Well, Blake Thompson, who is the senior executive producer of honestly all things, Ramsey Solutions, if it goes out over an airwave. He is the longtime producer of the Dave Ramsey Show and now executive producer, and he happens to be a big Kansas City Royals fan. Well, Blake works with Eric the producer and I all the time as we work on this podcast for you folks. And we were talking several months ago about Ben Zobras, who lives in the Nashville area.

This guy is, when you think of the consummate professional, the consummate team player, this is that guy. And not a superstar coming out of high school and college. You'll hear some of that story. Well, it's great about him. He's become a superstar. but not for the eye-popping stats, but rather for the consistent excellence in a variety of roles. Now, that's value, folks.

And so as Blake's telling me more about Ben Zobrist and his story, I'm getting excited about it. I'm thinking, Eric DeBruce, what do you think? Let's get an interview with Ben. Let's see if we can get him in the studio and air this as baseball is starting. And here's the deal. I'm an admitted sports junkie, but don't tune out on this, because what you're about to get is not a baseball. conversation. It is a personal growth conversation. And our theme this month in April is about

personal development. So you don't have to know anything about baseball to get anything out of this. So again, you can look up more about Ben Zobras, but this guy came in late in the season for the Royals and helped him win their first World Series championship in 30 years. This guy is one of the most admired men in baseball. Here is our conversation. Ben, great to have you in studio here. This is fun. We don't get a lot of guests in studio because our guests are all over the place. So I appreciate you stopping by.

Glad to be here, thanks. All right, so let's do this. Let's go early days. Okay, so when you talk to a major league baseball player, any professional athlete, it's kind of fun to hear that early story. So at what point do you get a bat and ball glove in your hands? Do you remember? I do remember being real young.

My dad was always a big baseball fan, and we actually were watching Kansas City in 1985 in Kansas City. My dad was in Bible College, and I remember going in the backyard, playing wiffle ball and trying to trot, you know, slowly pretending like I hit a home run, just like I saw George Brett do at the time. So that was my earliest recollections

of playing baseball. And, you know, of course I got into Little League as I got a little bit older, you know, just kind of grew up playing like everybody else does until high school and eventually got the opportunity to play college ball at Olivet Nazarene University.

All right, so you're playing small school baseball. And I want people to understand how small this Nazarene school was. I mean, let's paint the picture because I think it matters. There's so many people that are listening in here, and we think, oh, our beginnings are too small. They're too humble. And it just isn't so. Take us back to that small Nazarene school. Yeah, well, Olivet Nazarene is an AIA baseball program, and they're probably equal, you know, sometimes to a division two team.

But, you know, when I went into the program, I didn't really know much about that. All I knew was, you know, was a chance to play baseball. It was a chance to do what I love to do and try and get better each day. And I wasn't too focused on the results when I showed up. I was more just focused on, hey, I get a chance to do this, and it's going to help pay for my way through school. And I'm going to just give it everything I got. And I don't know what the Lord's got planned from that.

It might just be four years, and then it's done. But I'm going to make the most of it and try and get better every day. And I saw the guys that were the best on my team, and I tried to emulate them. I did the best I could. And in the end, I ended up becoming better than I ever thought I possibly could. Wow. So I want to fast forward here to the moment when you get a sense yourself. Maybe it's just your own self-believe.

Maybe it's some people talking to you. When do you realize you've got a shot to play in the bigs? I don't think I even realized that when I got drafted, to be honest. I transferred my senior year down to Dallas Baptist, and I got drafted after that year. And I knew I was a pretty good player, but I knew there was also a long way to go. There's a lot of guys that get drafted into professional baseball. Really good baseball players. Very, very good.

And never make it to the major league. So I still wasn't counting my chickens before they hatch. I was focused on just trying to be the best I could be. I didn't know how good I could be. But I wanted to succeed at each level and see how far I could go. And I really stayed in the moment. I think that's an important concept that sometimes can get lost when you're so focused on your dream. And for me, I tried to keep that dream at a little bit of a length so that I could focus on just the small goals along the way.

You know, and once I made one level, I did well, let's go. Move me up to the next level. You know, I was excited to like, give me the next shot. I want the next challenge, the next challenge. I love that. And just to give people some perspective, best guess. And you may know the percentage. But what's a percentage of guys that get drafted that make their way into the minor leagues actually make it and stay long term?

Do you have any idea, best guess? Probably lower than 10%. Okay, that's important for people to understand here. Because when you talk about a guy who, okay, you said, all right, I'm going to focus on just one level of time. Did you get drafted, what level did they start you at? I guess rookie ball. Yeah, you start at single-A short season for a college guy. I was a college draft, a senior draft.

Which even as a senior draft, that was 23. A lot of these guys are getting drafted at 18, 19, 20. Some of them even had more seasoning in pro ball than. me when I got there and I was kind of behind, you know, in regards to levels that I had played in. But that's kind of why they moved me up quickly, you know, and it was, I had to make it work quick. Yeah. You know, that's kind of the way I felt. And if it didn't work, I was like, well, God's got something else planned for me, but I'm going to give everything I got each season and see what happens. All right, so this idea of not thinking about making it to the big,

just I'm going to try to succeed in A ball. What, as you look back on it, what did you do right to be able to just succeed at each level because you said you had to hurry you had to kind of make it happen quickly what did you do right i think the things that i did right at the time was uh you know i kept my mouth shut i wasn't uh talking at the big talk i was just focused on walking it and doing the little things that everybody said you do these little things and you'll get better every day you know if there was early work in the cage if there was something i could do to be better than the other guys that i was competing against I did it. I spent the time. I got in the cage early. Even in the off season, I took probably a few days off and then I was back at it. You know, when a lot of guys would take a month, two months, you know, now that I'm a little bit older, I have to take about a month to let my body rest.

But at the time when you're young, I knew I needed to get better and I didn't know how good I could be. But I knew there was other guys that were trying to get better too. And if I really wanted to succeed, I had to do all the little things. That meant early ground balls. That meant extra work. To me, it was extra. work when everybody else was focused on even in college i remember everybody else focused on going out and partying on the weekends or whatever you know my my wife joked with me she got me a tea when we were dating to pretend like this the tea was basically what i would do friday and saturday night you know that was my that was how i got better and and what i focused on i wasn't thinking about let's go watch movies and sit around and goof around like i wanted to just get better at my craft all right so

you're putting these the balls on a tea you're hitting into a net and you're hitting into a net Am I right? Am I painting the picture here? Yeah. By yourself essentially on a Friday night. Absolutely. How many cuts on an average Friday night would you take by yourself off that T? Probably 200.

200 cuts. How long did that take? Probably over an hour. Maybe two hours at times if I wanted to get extra work. A lot of times if I would not finish until I felt like I had made some strides. I wasn't going to be satisfied until I felt like I was better than I was when I walked into the case. And see, now this is what I want to ask. And by the way, I want to say this to our list.

real quick. If you're not a baseball fan or a sports fans, don't check out. I'm going somewhere with this, and this is extremely applicable to you. Paint the picture for us when you get the call to go to the big leagues. What that looked like? Well, I didn't expect to get the call that early. I was only in AAA for about three weeks. They made a trade that day. I didn't think anything was going to happen. They made a trade while we were stretching in AAA. The manager came out and got me and said, hey, you got to go. I'm like, go where? And he goes, you're going to the big leagues today. And I was like, you've got to be kidding me. So I was just ran inside, called my wife. You know, she was flipping out. Yeah. She had to go pack everything up real fast and drive down. How old are you at this point?

Yeah. I think it was 25, actually. It was 2006. Crazy. Yeah, it was, it was nuts. Are you discouraged at this point? Or you're still living off the, hey, I'm in the triples. I'm in the AAA playing three weeks. Well, the story, as it goes, we actually have this in our book. We had like $30 to our name that day. And we hadn't gotten paid from our new organization. We couldn't even go get gas. or go get our groceries that day that we really need to. So we prayed in the car before I went into the field that day. And it was like, boom, we not only got the check, I got it, took it out to my wife. It was like $1,000.

We were like, that's amazing. We can actually go do the stuff we need to do. And like two hours later, I was called up to the big league. So it was nuts how the timing of everything. And, you know, I think you can get discouraged in that moment where you're just, gosh, is this ever going to happen the way that it's supposed, you know, you feel like it's going to make you satisfied with all the work that you've put in. And at that moment, when I got to run out on the field that next night in

Tampa Bay as a major league player, you know, it was like a rush of emotion because of all the work that you put in to get to that point. Just seeing those guys go up to the plate, and I was actually playing with them when for so long, you're working your way and you're going, that's so far out there. That dream is so far out there. I don't know that I can reach it. But the reaching it isn't focusing on that moment as much as focusing on all the little moments. And then eventually you get there and you realize, wow, I can't believe that God actually blessed me with this. And it was all is the faithfulness along the way, really, that gets you there. That's what I love. And the moment that you're out there, it's almost too surreal. But for people that are in that, maybe they're still

in the AAA's, and they haven't been called up. Yeah. And they believe they belong. They just want someone to notice their work. Yeah. You've experienced that. And the hard work's worth it. Is it not? Did it steal your resolve? You can't get there without it. There's no doubt. There's nobody that just shows up and they're so talented that they made it without being disciplined. You've got to have that discipline. You know, and I think in the end, if you want to stay there, you've got to continue to have that. You can't just like sit back on your laurels and think, well, oh, this is just going to come easy now. But I will say this, as time has gone on, it's become easier. You know, it's become easier. It's not easy. I still went this morning to work out and beat my body up

and it hurt. Let me tell you, I mean, it hurt and it was tough. But the bottom line is my swing now, I don't have to take 250 cuts now to get it to where it needs to be. I've trained my body to where I know what it needs to do, you know, and I think that's the, at the end of the rainbow, that's a little bit of the gold pot going like, okay, now this is not quite as hard as it was at the beginning. It's always going to be harder at the beginning, getting into that routine, getting yourself ready and prepared for what you need to do. And Lord willing, you do get to that point where you can enjoy it a little bit more. Boy, that is a beautiful, beautiful. answer. All right, so I want to read a couple things out of an article. I did some research

before our conversation. This is a New York Times article from December of 2015. And they interviewed former Mets manager, I believe it's Dan Duquette. Did I say that right? Is it Dan? Yeah. Yeah, that's right. This is a quote, and this is going to lead into a question. I want you folks to lock in on this. Managers love him. Joe Madden, who's the current Cubs manager, who Ben just signed with. We'll talk more about that later. Joe Madden gushed about about him over the years. He was your manager at Tampa Bay. Besides the offensive production that he provides, making contact, taking a walk, moving runners over, base running, the ability to play above average defense in multiple positions is not easy to do. In fact, it's incredibly

rare that you see that. That's what Zobras brings to the equation, and that's what makes them so valuable. Now, I read that quote, because for you non-baseball people, I just listed off about five key things that if you're great at, get you probably a good contract. You're above average in all of those, and you just signed a huge contract. Here's the question. Making ourselves valuable as opposed to trying to be the best in the room or the best on the field. There's something to be said to making ourselves valuable. You've made a career out of that. Would you say you're the best at any position when you're playing that night on the diamond? No. Right. No, I'm not at any particular part of the game. I'm not the best in the game.

Yet you're one of the best players in Major League Baseball. I want you to talk now. I'll say that because I think you're too humble to say that, but I'll say that, and I think other people are saying that. I want you to talk about making yourself valuable in multiple areas of the game. Well, I think that's where the value comes is the flexible, the attitude, the little things that managers carry about. And, you know, fans may not care so much about a guy that can get a man from first to third. You know, they may not care. so much about a guy that makes contact if he's not killing the ball, you know. But managers, GMs, people that are crunching the numbers are realizing the importance of these little details of the game. It's becoming more valuable to be able to be a more well-rounded player. You know, the defense is becoming more important. It's not the flashy. It's not the thing that everybody's focused on, you know, but it is important. It's very important. And people are realizing that all those things, the well-rounded individual, the well-rounded and balanced person, you know, even when it comes down to clubhouse, what's your attitude? What's the way you carry yourself? How does that affect those around you? Like, that's a huge, a much bigger thing now than it used to be, you know, in the game. And I think people are starting to see that all these things matter in the realm of making others around you better, making yourself better and becoming a more consistent, you know, faithful player or part of the team.

whatever your team is. Yeah. If I were to ask you to pick an adjective of, to describe what it takes to be this type of player, the player we just described, somebody who's going to add value, who's willing to do the little things, the things that don't show up on the back of a baseball card,

the things that don't show up on the highlights of baseball tonight at the end of the night all the time. What does it take to have, what would you describe that characteristic that is so vital to be able to be this type of person in life and in business? I would use the word either willing, malleable, or flexible. Ooh, that's good. You know, someone that is able to adapt, you know, somebody that doesn't pinhole themselves and say,

I only do this well. Right. You know, you've got to be willing to try to do something else well. And, you know, I'm not going to lie, there were times where I was super uncomfortable. Right. Going to other positions on the field. Or, man, gosh, if I could just have my own position and I wouldn't have to think about everything else I've got to be prepared for. You know what?

Not everybody gets that, you know, but I think that we're starting to see the value of somebody that can adapt, somebody that can take a situation and it seems like they're not that great and make themselves better and realize that maybe there is something in there, you know, that you can do better than, even though you're saying, oh, no, I don't do that well. You know, you got to at least try, you know, I think, to see what your potential is in all those other areas. It's just so inspiring to sit across from you and see how you've been rewarded. for being faithful, for adding value. Because again, folks, I'm going to talk directly to you here in the middle of this conversation. I do this a lot, Ben.

I talk to people right in the middle of the conversation because I'm listening to you and I'm thinking of what I can tell my boys and my daughter, this idea that many times we think to get the big success in life and to get the significance, we've got to be the best. But the reality is many times we're just simply not the best, yet we can get the same thing we're chasing or that the best get by simply being our best and kind of dying to self-reful little bit and saying, you know what, they're going to ask you, Ben, to go over and play second base. Well, we all know that shortstop's the sexiest position. So to ask a young kid, am I right? Yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean, everybody wants to play shortstop. Just go out and

watch your Church League softball games. There's guys out there that shouldn't be out there, but they won't let it go, right? We've seen this. And then to ask you to go play right field or any position or, hey, you know what? We need you to bunt here. Yeah. And you want to swing for the fences. Yeah. That takes a certain amount of humility and saying, all right, this is not about me. And That's not easy for us humans. No, it's not. But I think if we would see it from God's perspective, if we would see the end, you know, we would realize that, you know, sometimes our goals are not necessarily God's goals.

If we're willing to try something a little bit different, if we're willing to go out of our comfort zone a little bit, sometimes that's where the greatest blessings end up happening. Yeah. Be about the team. Be about the bigger mission. Absolutely. And then again, as I remind you, folks, this guy just signed a huge contract. You can go look it up for the just.

Chicago Cubs, your home state's team. You know, maybe you're on the team. I mean, the Royals, you're on the Royals team that wins a championship after 30 years in the desert. Now you're coming to the Cubbies. Arguably, if you look across all pro sports, is there a team that has needed a championship more than the Cubs? Ever since, you know what I mean? Ever since the Red Sox broke the curse, right? I mean, the Cubs.

It's the premier North American championship to chase right now. It absolutely is. That's a great way of saying it. I want to read this, and I just want to brag on you a little bit more. But Duquette, again, he's in this interview, and he's followed up. He said, Zobrist's mindset was never coming to the ballpark, assuming he was going to play any one position. He came to the park saying, I'm going to be in the lineup. Just play me.

He put his work in before the game started to be prepared at any position. Here's what I want to ask you on this. Then we're going to switch into culture and what you've observed on teams and leadership. But I want to ask you this based on that quote, for people right now who they want to it so bad. How important is it that they just say, coach, play me, I'll play whatever, I'll do whatever, just put me in the game. I think that's so important. I tell kids that all the time. You've got to be willing to, you know, listen to your coach and give it a shot. If he wants you to try and play somewhere else, if you have that attitude, if you want to

and you'll give everything you can to make the team better, if that's what the coach believes, you're putting trust in him. He's going to put trust in you. Yeah. I want to talk leadership with you from a unique perspective. somebody who is still playing for great coaches and you're coming off of a World Series championship from a player's perspective to leaders that are listening in here how important is it sometime that leaders make that bold decision or that belief decision I'll call it to say hey you know what I think this kid might have what it takes I'm going to put him out there how important is that to the people they're leading when that leader says I believe in you well I think it's huge you know

I think when a player senses that a coach is going to have that belief in him, and he has to speak that to him too, I really believe. And even if they think, well, you're not serious. You're not really serious that you believe that I can do that. Well, he puts you in the situation. You've got to start thinking about possibly doing it, you know, because he's like, yeah, I believe enough that I'm going to put my job on the line and put it in your hands, you know.

And I think the best leaders, the best managers, the guys that are so, they know their direction so clearly that when they make a decision like that that everybody's going, what are you doing? What are you doing? They believe that it's going to work out for the best of the team, for the best. And they're not thinking about themselves. They're thinking about the team. And I think that you can sense that in leaders. And you're going,

okay, that guy's got some sort of vision or some sort of belief so much in us as a team. We've got to start believing in ourselves. I want to go back a little bit because we are fresh off a Kansas City Royals World Championship. That's a big deal. 30 years since the last World Series championship. Small market. And again, for you non-baseball fans, I'll just give you quick context.

They're playing, they're competing for players against the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, the New York Mets of the world, the Atlanta. Big market budgets. And so it's not easy to build a successful team. And for years, that's when the economy and baseball changed, it hurt small market teams like the Royals. So correct me if I'm wrong, but that played into this long. drought. So here we go. Two seasons ago, the Royals shocked the world and almost go all the way.

They don't win it. You join this team. I want you to talk about the culture of this small market team, the Royals, who just won baseball's top prize. What was special about the clubhouse of the Kansas City Royals? I think from the top down there, they were very unified.

Dayton Moore, the GM there is a godly man, and he really has worked hard to change the culture and the atmosphere. And the belief in that club house. And, you know, Ned Yost, the manager, was great at coming down the stretch, not panicking when we were struggling and saying the right thing at the right time. And then when I got with the team the last couple months of the year and into the playoffs, the team was special. The belief that, hey, we're not just going back there. We're going to win this time. You know, it was like they

were so driven at that focus that there wasn't anything that I feel like was going to stop this team. Even when in the playoffs, when we were down, to our last maybe five, six outs in the eighth inning against the Astros. We were backs against the wall, and everybody comes back after giving up some runs, and they're going in the dugout, and everybody's going,

we got this, we're going to come back, we're going to win this thing, you know. It's like, nobody gave up. Nobody was like, all right, it's over, we'll have to try again next year. There was none of that, not one iota, and that team was special, that there was no give in that fight whatsoever.

We were going to keep going until they accomplished the purpose. And I think that has to happen from the top. You know, those guys at the top put the team in that situation. They believed it. And the players themselves, when it came down and putting it into practice, there was no giving anything away. I want to spend a little bit of time around the mental side of things.

From a leadership perspective first, and then I want to talk about some individual stuff. But from your experience and your career, Ben, what have managers done right when a team has gone on a slump? And then conversely, or at the same time, what do leaders do wrong there? specifically from Major League Baseball. I think what leaders do wrong there is they panic and they show the players that they're panicking. Yes. And what they tend to do is have more meetings.

And they have meetings and they say, well, we got to do this and we got to do that. They tend to put more pressure on the players. Like you don't have enough already. Like everybody there doesn't know how to win and isn't trying their hardest. It's like at that moment when you sense the panic and the manager, it just goes throughout the team.

Boy, that is good. You know, so the times that have been the best for me and where I've learned the most is the managers that don't panic. Like, we were terrible in Kansas City in September. If you look at our record in September, we were not a good team. And we were really struggling. And I was even in my mind just doubting like, okay, maybe this team is just not where it needs to be. And it was amazing how Ned kept his cool, our manager at the time, didn't say anything, wasn't where he's like, oh, we're going to turn this around. Don't worry, don't worry.

And then it came out of the last week of the season. and he had one meeting last week of the season he said all right boys we're playing for home field advantage throughout the playoffs you guys know we're in but we got to play for home field advantage this week let's get after it you know

and it was like a flip switched in a lot of the players and all of a sudden everybody started playing better so at the right time he kicked it into gear and then you know when we hit the playoffs we had one more meeting where he said okay guys all the regular season is passed forget about it

he said this is the really fun part. This is when we actually get to do something special, you know, that hasn't been done in 30 years. Let's go do it. You know, just kind of pep talk right there. And everybody forgot all about what we struggled with in September. Yeah. It's like we forgot that we ever were that team. That's right. And it really, you could see, just what you could see the team, you did throw it into a fifth year. It really was true in the playoffs. Absolutely. And certainly in the World Series. When the pressure's on, let's just give the classic scenario. Two outs, game on the line. full count you know what I mean

bass is loaded whatever crowds going bananas 45,000 people screaming going crazy your heart's going nuts and you got a guy blowing cheese at you you know what I mean and by the way did you notice that that is an actual baseball phrase has it not been blowing cheese

did I make that up no no cheddar is it one yeah cheese or cheddar you know for a fastball I need it is that a friend yeah I mean you're in the baseball you're okay very good very good So I had to give some credibility here, and I don't have any, actually. All right. So in that moment, clutch moment, super big pressure, it's all instinct at that point.

Is it not? You just can't be up there with thoughts going through your head. It can't be a whole lot. No, no. At that moment, you can't. No, because you have four-tenths of a second to react. You're judging whether or not the balls, high, low, all that comes. You don't have the time.

It's all reaction at that point. But you have to set your mind. That's what I'm looking. Before you get to that moment. You know, you're so set and you're focused on what you need to focus so that in that moment, you don't have any other thoughts going on. Right. It's just you know, your body knows what your mind told it to do, and it's going to do that.

Yeah, that's so fascinating to me. What's the hardest part about being a major league baseball player? I think the hardest part for me is managing the, gosh, managing the everything else around the game. You know, the game itself to me is fun. That's the fun part. It's like you get to get out there and be challenged and you're going against that guy and they're going against you and you've got your teammates and you're all trying to win the game. That's the part that to me is the greatest joy in playing. But it's all the, you know, the interviewing and the what did you say? I'm kidding. No, it's the, it's the crowd. The fans, they love it. But I think every baseball player would do it. True baseball player would do it even if. Nobody was watching because they love it. Yeah, they just love it so much. So I think that part for me is a little tougher, and I'm working on that over time to really enjoy that part of it, too.

And, you know, when you got your family in the stands and you see the joy that it's bringing to all the people, like in Kansas City, the parade, seeing the amount of people that were so affected by us winning and the joy that it brought to them is kind of like, whoa, this is bigger than you even thought it was. It was a badge of honor. I was actually there for one of our events

the day of the parade and the airport was full of Kansas City hats everywhere. It was really fantastic. All right, final thought from you. We have an audience that cares deeply about becoming their best and they want to win in life. They want to win in business from Ben Zobra's head or heart or both. What would you say to them? I would say you have to be, you can't rely on other people to drive you towards that goal. There's got to be an inner drive. There has to be something in you that when nobody else is pushing you when you feel like you're tired and you're done that you keep going you know and i think anybody that's ever become great it's not going to come easy it doesn't come easy and you know i'm not i'm not there yet i haven't arrived and i never will uh on this earth

but but i do know that if we want to reach our potential uh we've got to push ourselves to further than we ever thought we could. And that involves, you know, times when you're by yourself, you know, you're in the quiet of, you know, to me, it's the inner life. You know, what's in your heart and how is that going to flesh itself out in your life? And the Lord has really blessed me, and I certainly don't deserve everything that he's given me. And I think that humility is important in regards to realizing that you can't do it on your own. But I do think that he's called us to, you know, that inner focus. drive that we have to find even in the moments that are tough. And he's, he's been faithful. And I just

hope I can be faithful. Well, Ben, congratulations on the World Series, the big time contract that you've earned, my friend, and the Cubbies now. You take your talents to Chicago, Wrigley Field. What a experience that's going to be. And appreciate your testimony. And how you model, humility, hard work, hustle, all those things. You know, it's fun to meet professional athletes who deserve the accolades they get. And I say that, even though I know you're humble, that makes you uncomfortable. We certainly appreciate you stopping by and hanging out. I know our leadership audience is better for it. Thanks, man. Thanks, Ken. Appreciate it. It's fun. Well, there it is. I don't know about you. And baseball's up my favorite sport, Eric. But right now, I want to go out to the batting cage later

today and have you throw some balls at me and see if I can, you know, really catch it on the old sweet spot and crank a few. You know what I'm saying? I think that would be fun. Really, really enjoyed that conversation and I hope it added terrific value to you. Just one quick mention, Ben and his wife, Juliana Zobras, wrote a book called Double Play, Faith and Family. First, if you're interested to learn more about them and their family of a wonderful family, he's such a world-class guy, so we wanted you to be aware of the book. We'll have a link for that under the notes section for Ben on our website for this podcast, entreleadership.com slash podcast. You click on this episode, episode 141, and the link to the book will be there.

excited about our Entree leadership giveaway this week. As I mentioned earlier, our theme for the month of April is personal development. And one of the things we love to do from time to time is give you the inside audio, if you will. It's the inside scoop on how Dave teaches our team. We have a constant communication apparatus from Dave and our leadership team. Not just outwardly in the areas where we're seeking to help people, but internally, Dave taught our team on a lesson. called high performance achievement. And specifically you hear Dave talk about how he trained for a marathon, talking about the disciplines he learned, and then how it translated to Ramsey Solutions and how it makes sense for you. So you're going to hear some goal setting stuff, sacrifice, discipline, the effects of negativity versus positivity, and so much more. So to teach you a little bit more, here's a quick sample.

Don't miss, this is just, this is not me bragging about me racing. Some of you are not getting this, okay? This is about your life. You set these things and you walk up these steps on purpose, intentionally Rick Warren would say. See, what happens is we don't live our lives on purpose. And so we don't go search out what the plan is that God's got for our life. We don't embrace that and step into it with this intimidating thing where you have to become passionate, you have to become enthusiastic enough to systematically climb this ladder and build a whole process in.

High achievement requires the intimidating goal and building the intermediate goals to get there. It does not occur on accident in any area of your life. There's not an accident in this process. It's not a perfect ladder. You're going to go up and down a little bit. But whatever it is, wherever you're getting towards the 75%, 80% of your goal, that's not when you quit. That's the difference in high performance achievement. and just achievement.

Achievement's good. But there's a difference in high performance achievement, which is what we're talking about today. Here's a big one. If you're going to do the intimidating goal that only you can reach if you just go all out, if you go bananas, you better decide as you sit down and lay out your ladder

and you're doing your research and your reading, you've got to decide if you're going to have high performance achievement, what you're willing to give up. you're going to lose something to get this, and you need to do that on purpose. That's just a brief sample of the MP3. That's your free resource this week. Dave, speaking on high performance achievement. It's absolutely free.

Here's how you get it. You text the word perform, perform to 33444. 3344 is the number. Text the word perform. Or you can go to Entreeleadership.com slash podcast. We'll have a link for the resource there as well. So provide your email and we'll get you the MP3. Absolutely free.

This is typically $11 item in our store. So we want you to take advantage of this free offer. All right, you heard earlier from Ben Zobrist, a player. All right? So you heard a lot of great stuff from a guy who's on the field playing. What's fun about this Dayton Moore conversation is a senior vice president of baseball operations and general manager of the Kansas City Royals, the defending world champions. Now we're going to switch this and give it to you from a leadership perspective. So you've got a Dayton Moore who's hiring, if you will, who's deciding to sign Ben Zobrist late in the season for a stretch run before the playoffs start.

It works out well. They win a World Series championship Dayton more. Anybody else who knows what they're talking about with baseball, we'll tell you Ben Zobras was a key factor. So the same thing is you hiring someone. This is what a general manager does. He hires a team, if you will. Dayton's book is called More Than a Season, Building a Championship Culture, and this is great perspective.

Dayton is, he's not just a sports guy. I loved in this conversation. I thought he translated so much to you, the business leader. To you, the personal growth junkie. There's so much good stuff in, so let's get right to it. This is my conversation with Dayton Moore. But Dayton, it's a pleasure to have you on, and I've never interviewed a general manager from baseball.

I've talked with executives, coaches from all other sports, but this is a real treat because, you know, the GM of the Kansas City Royals, anybody that has minor knowledge of baseball, has watched this transformation take place, a proud organization down for many, many years, and then a great, I think, trudge up to the ranks to the top, so close to a championship, doesn't happen, you come back and win it, and I think this is a special, special opportunity to talk about culture. So, Dayton, I want to start at the very beginning of your journey with the Kansas City Royals. Take us back. I believe it was in 2006. What was the mindset coming in and described for our

listeners the environment or at least the standing of the organization that you were inheriting in this role? Well, obviously the Royals at one time, you know, were a model organization. The late 70s, early 80s, they were actually my boyhood team. And a lot of people don't realize that at parts during that period of time, the Royals actually had a higher payroll than the New York Yankees. But things had changed, obviously, and, you know, baseball had changed. And, you know, the Royals had been on, you know, a lot of hard times, you know, for many years. And so when they first approached us about coming to Kansas City, because it was my boyhood team, I was a little interested, but fully not expecting to leave the Atlanta Braves at the time.

And, you know, the more I looked into, you know, this opportunity, really the more discouraging people were about the possibilities of us winning here in Kansas City. But, you know, we made a decision to come here. And, you know, after about three, four weeks, you know, I was very, very sure, very confident that we'd made the absolute wrong decision. I didn't know how we were going to win here in three to four years, which oftentimes is the barometer.

That's the timeline. If you don't start winning in professional sports over that period of time, ultimately a change occurs. So, you know, we just set out to, look, I don't know if we're going to build a championship team here, but we can try to build a championship culture. So let's just focus on the environment. Let's try to create the greatest place in all of sports to work, where scouts want to be a part of coaches, instructors, managers, you know, want to join in where players aspire to grow and a place that they can feel comfortable and support staff. course, our front office. So we just set out to just build a great place to work. And, you know,

we're fortunate that the Glass family had been very supportive of our processes. You said that after three or four weeks, everybody else is not everybody, but many people are discouraging you telling you, don't do this. This is a bad decision. You go ahead and do it. And three or four weeks in, you're sitting there at some point going, I have made the biggest mistake of my professional career. And I think we get so focused sometimes on the process and how everything worked well and we're going to spend some time there. But I want to hone in on that statement because I think a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of leaders face that moment, many times, multiple times in their careers. And yet you stayed the course. Take us through those early days

when you felt like, oh my goodness, what have I done? How did you begin to come out of that malaise? Because clearly you stayed. We know that. But I'm curious to know what got you out of that funk so that you could begin to actually put one foot in front of the other in this very process that you believed at first could take place and would work. Well, my faith ultimately sustained me. I mean, I've always been very transparent. You know, I feel like you're going to get exposed in life anyway. So you might as well be who you are. And so, but, you know, there was three things that we felt were crucial in our leaders, the people that we brought into Kansas City. And, you know, we understood that the leaders are the one shape in your culture. Your culture, I believe, grows from the bottom up, but

you've got to have people at the top to understand the vision and are committed to the vision. And there was three things. We needed people that were going to be able to apply moral principles in their life. And you can say, well, why is that important? You know, if they're a great negotiator, you know, who cares? Or if they're a great talent evaluator or a great teacher of the game of baseball, who cares? Well, there's nobody that I've ever been around where their personal life doesn't leak into their professional life. And we have very little time for setback.

So we had to have people that were going to lead in a very moral way, take care of their families, put their families first in their lives, understand that's their main team. Secondly, we had to have individuals that understood diversity, appreciated diversity, respected outside the box thinking. Now, we weren't going to overlook the obvious, but we wanted to make sure that we had a lot of diverse opinions and everybody's opinion was appreciated and would be heard. And thirdly, and it sounds very simple, but we had to have people that were very passionate every single day about competing to win for the Kansas City Royals. So look, you know, this was perhaps, and I would say this to the people that we had hired, this is perhaps the greatest challenge in all of sports today.

And if you're not 100% committed and think that and believe that we can win here in Kansas City don't come. And so those were some of our processes when we were looking to seek influential, inspirational leaders to join our organization. Alex Gordon wrote the forward to the book. I read that and I was really moved by how many times he just emphasized the positivity in your personality, in your vision casting, your overall leadership style. What were some of the things, specific things, whether they be big, medium-sized or small-sized things that you did early on to begin to change the culture on that issue, that positivity,

that belief in the process that we can win championships here in Kansas City. What are some of the things you did that began to take foothold and you look back on now and go, these things helped us change that mindset? Well, first, let me say this. I had great mentors coming through the game. I was really blessed to be a part of the Atlanta Braves where John Cherholds, Bobby Cox, Paul Snyder, Donnie Williams, Bill LaJoy. I mean, I can go on and on with some of the mentors that I had.

So I got a chance to watch people live that out. in Bobby Cox, who's extremely positive person, believed in players. And of course, John Sherholz is a terrific leader. Paul Snyder believes in players. And so I had that example coming through in my career. And I saw how that worked. So, you know, and then the one thing about baseball, the other thing that you learn very, very quickly is the game beat you up every single day.

And it's whoever manages failure the best wins. And it's really, obviously, a lot like life. very few days you put your head on the pillow at night and say oh my gosh what a perfect day no there's things that you have to manage along the way and i've learned that positivity encouragement positive body language is really the best motivator that exists and but you have to display that as a leader you have to make sure and demand that your leadership team your coaches your managers your front office staff lives that as well and again i've had people that have that in my life. So I've been the beneficiary of those examples. Yeah, but I mean, are we talking about you're

looking at some of the current players and you're going, this guy's got a poor attitude and either we give him a chance to fix it or we ship him or whether it be in the front office or other people that were there? I mean, what are some of those things where you just said, all, we're going to institute this? Well, first of all, I've got to display it. I've got to lead it. I've got to lead myself well and make sure that I'm giving the proper example. And when I mess up, when I blow it, again, I've got to be transparent. I've got to be vulnerable. I have to be the one to say, you know what, I could handle that perhaps better. I'm sorry. And, you know, I want to move forward. And it's not the way to either talk to a player or a coach or a member of the media. For me, it was really a lot of

the members of the media, a lot of the conversations that I had early on trying to defend and argue and debate. And I realized that, you know, I was probably taking our organization down a path that wasn't necessary and wasn't positive and so forth. But look, you know, there's been several examples of our players. I mean, we talk about, you know, Alex Gordon. And when he struggled early on in his career, Alex was easy to trust and easy to believe in because, you know, he kept working hard. He kept trying to make adjustments.

He didn't complain about, you know, the fans who were perhaps starting to boo him. He didn't complain about his teammates. He didn't blame the general manager, the manager, the manager, the owner for not making the right decisions or not spending enough money or whatever he could have complained about. No, he embraced whatever he was dealing with and he made the best of it. And that's why he became the player that he did. You know, when a young player like Mike Mustakis was struggling early on in his career and so many people were saying that we needed to trade him or move him down or send him to the minor leagues

and, you know, we just felt, you know, we're going to believe in our players. We're going to be positive. We're going to stay with them. We're going to encourage them. And now they've got to do their part. I mean, they have to continue to try to make adjustments, stay positive themselves, and try to make those adjustments. And if so, I mean, you're, you believe in them a little bit longer. You stay with them.

But everybody has to understand that all your success is tied together. Everybody's important, but nobody's necessary. And everybody's success is tied together if you're going to win. How did you, and I'm going somewhere. with this for non-baseball fans. Describe how you rebuilt the team, the actual team on the field. Was it because, again, you don't have the big budget, you know, of the Red Sox or the Yankees. So the draft, free agency, I'd love to know how you would break that down, percentage-wise,

how you rebuilt the team. When we had our first organizational meeting in January of 2007, our goal was for the majority of our team to reflect homegrown talent by 2012, 2013. So we needed to grow it from within through the draft, through international signs. Therefore, we drafted and signed Eric Hosmer, Mike Mustakis. We signed Salvador Perez internationally and Kelvin Herrera and Yordano Ventura. You know, we did it through a combination of things. So you have to utilize all the necessary resources and all the different avenues that you have

to acquire talent. And in our game, I mean, it's certainly internal. It's through trades. It's through free agency. It's through the international market. And, you know, we were fortunate to have, you know, very talented people in those areas that made great recommendations. All right.

So, Dayton, that was the, if I use a baseball analogy, that was a setup question. Now, here's the closer to come in here and help leaders and entrepreneurs understand something. What you said, and I had an idea you were going to say it, but this idea of the homegrown player. So you were picking talent, but you weren't just picking talent. You were developing that talent. And it was a long haul. You joined in 2006. You just win the World Series, you know, this last season. So I want you to talk about the importance of the right people. So when you're looking for a Kansas City Royal, obviously we know you're looking for certain talents on the field.

But the coachability, the character issues, things like that. I'd love for you to share with us how you picked that talent and what characteristics you're looking for, and then the importance of coaching them up to play the way you'll want to play. Well, a couple things stand out. One of the things with Alex Gordon, and I don't know if he'll remember this or not, but early on in his career, I said, Alex, the most important thing is that you just be a great teammate.

Don't focus on yourself. Put the needs, wants, and desires of the team first, your own needs, your own goals, put them last, and just do something every single day, to help the team win and be a great teammate. And that's something that, you know, our scouts are relentless at. They're relentless at finding those players that truly understand the importance of being a team. See, the disease, the illness, the sickness, if you will, that divides families, hurts corporations,

destroys teams. It's the disease of selfishness. That's what ultimately kills your group. And when our team, our group of players, learn to play fearless and learn to play for one of that's when their naturalness of an athlete begin to play out consistently on the field. And, you know, when you're young and you're trying to do something for the first time, and I'm no different, I went through this challenge as well, you're always trying to validate yourself. You're trying to prove to everybody else that you belong on the field, that you belong

in this position. And yes, you want the team to win. But if you get your hits, you execute your pitches, you make your plays, and the team loses, you feel somewhat. But okay, because you're going to get an opportunity to play again the next day. But when our group of players begin to understand that, you know what, it's not about me. It's about whatever I can do to help the team. Well, it freed them up just to go out and play fearless. And then what happened? They end up having the best years of their career.

And therefore, the team took off and we began to win consistently because it truly became about one another. our city, each other. It's a genuine love and respect and appreciation for their teammates, their colleagues. And we believe in sharing the glory. There's no other comment or statement that fires me up more than when I see one of our players who is obviously the star of the game. And they're asked the question about themselves, and they immediately deflect the credit and give credit to a coach

or give credit to their teammate or share some story that happened that week that somebody else maybe poured into their life in a way that freed them up to go out and have a great night. And, you know, that's kind of been the story of this group. It's so beautiful. How do you get millionaires, though, to, and I understand some of these guys aren't millionaires, but by and large, these guys are millionaires. They're at the top of their game, top of their sport or profession. How do you get them to come together like that?

I mean, that was just an absolutely beautiful picture you painted, and it's absolutely what happened. But how did you guys pull that off with the Royals? Well, it's a challenge. It really is because, let's face it, you know, you win an American League championship. Now we've won a World Series, first time in 30 years. You know, the city is really excited. And now it's easy to say, okay, well, the players, you know, okay, we've won now, got the ring. Now we've got to worry about my career.

And that's a challenge. I'm not sure we're through that yet. What I told our group this year, we had organizational meetings in January, and I said, you know what, we've got to look for the warning signs because they're out there. And we have to hold ourselves more accountable than we ever have before. We have to have the courage to confront and put our relationship on the line with players, coaches, instructors, colleagues in the front office when we feel like, you know, somebody is perhaps going down a selfish trail.

And we've got to learn to manage that. But again, it starts with your leaders. I have to be the one that is the most vulnerable. I have to be the one that reaches out to settle disputes quickly. I have to be the one that's very responsive. Give people more than they expect. I have to be the one that will, again, share of the glory when things go well. I have to be the one to stand up for our people at the appropriate time.

You've got to be very intentional about how. having one-on-one, you know, conversations. There's certainly many days where you have to stand up in front of a group and articulate the message or the vision, but you better make sure that you're having those one-on-one conversations with the people that are most influenced or the individuals that need to be, you know, picked up a little bit. But you've got to notice the warning signs so you can communicate effectively and well with the individuals that, you know, need that encouragement or that support on that certain day. You know, I think the general manager coach, or as in baseball terms, general manager and manager relationship is a really transferable leadership picture for those in business.

So you are responsible for baseball operations, the budget, signing players, picking players, working the scouts, all that. And then you're working with your manager who's very involved, I'm sure, in all those processes in some regard, but certainly is the one making the decision on the field during. the game. What's your relationship, working relationship like? And I'm not talking about how you get along. I'd love to hear how, from a leadership perspective, you delegate authority to your manager, how you work together to accomplish what is, I'm sure, the same goal. So I'd love to hear about what that looks like logistically and day-to-day on a leadership level. Well, I have great trust and respect for Ned Yost, obviously, and who he is as a leader, who he is as a man. And, you know, he lets his coach as coach, he defines their roles and allows them to go do their

job, and he supports them. Now, he asks tough questions and he's constantly trying to, you know, validate their judgment or decision in a certain area. And I try to do the same thing. I'm very supportive of, you know, Ned is a, he's naturally, he's very, very positive. So I try to continue to fuel that positivity with him. But you've got to let him do his job. I don't make out the lineup card.

We will have discussions about players. Ned, we have complete authority of who we bring in as players. Do we discuss it with Ned? Absolutely. But he has never said to me, Dayton, I want this player out of here. I don't want to manage him. Or you've got to go get me this player or don't bring me in another player. I mean, he gives complete confidence in our baseball operations department.

So it's a very important working relationship. It's probably the most important one that I have. I mean, communicate effectively with ownership to continue to motivate them to support our plan. And, of course, make sure that I'm communicating daily, sometimes hourly with Ned in a very transparent and open way. Because at the end of the day, both of us just want to get it right. We've never been concerned with who gets the credit. We've got to be the biggest defenders of one another. And early on, there was a lot of questions about Ned Yos because, you know, he was let go in Milwaukee, and he'd never won a championship.

And in 2012 and 13, a lot of people, a lot of our fan base and our media was highly critical. And I kept supporting Ned because there's so much more to manage in a baseball team than what you see on the field. And again, I admired Ned's competitiveness. I admired his positivity, his optimistic attitude. I mean, we could be going through a 10 or 12 game losing streak, and you know, you couldn't tell with Ned. I mean, he was extremely positive, expected to win, and the players played for him, and they respected him. And he always led his coach's coach, and he believed in his coaches. And so Ned's a very easy person, you know, to root for.

But you're right, that relationship is very important, and we've got to be on the same page. We want diversity of diverse of opinions. He gets my opinion. I get his full transparency. And because of that openness, you know, we're able to debate well. One of the most difficult things and sensitive things that leaders have to deal with is when it's time for a team member to move on. That's a big deal. And I'm curious how you and Ned again, how do you decide when to move on and how do you handle it? Well, when you have tried to address all those warning signs and you realize ultimately that a change is required. I mean, you deal with it, you know, in a very direct way. You try to be very compassionate, show empathy, you know,

towards the individual. You know, the fewer the words, the better, truthfully, in a lot of those situations, you're dealing with players and people that are highly competitive. At times, they're poor self-evaluators. And it's often, they don't really realize either the error of their ways or their lack of ability to trust in the experience of others until many years later. But you just deal with it in a very direct way. When we release a player or trade a player, if at all possible, Ned and I set together as one and have that conversation. So they understand that it's both of us. Both of us are on the same page with this. So you know, you can't have kind of that end-round type of discussion, if you will,

with the player coming at a different angle at a different time with another key influential decision-maker. So that's our style. That's our leadership style. And, you know, we, and usually, very rarely, do we have a strong confrontation because the player or the person has been communicated with and the parameters, the direction has been laid out to them. So usually they're not surprised. And players and people, they fire themselves. I mean, they're the ones that get themselves fired. And the way we've set this thing up, they realize that when we do have to move on. Yeah, that's brilliant. I mentioned earlier that one of your marquee players, Alex Gordon, wrote the forward to your book. And I mentioned that one of the words that I kept seeing pop up was

positivity, positive, positive. Another word, it's a good, positive. Another word, it's a P word as well and it's process. And he alludes to the fact that, you know, it was just talked about all the time. And talking about the process all the time, I love this because again, it speaks to where you came in in the organization, 2006, and then now here you are sitting atop the baseball world. I want you to unpack that it's an entire chapter in your book, chapter number seven, you give to the process. So we know what that word means, but what does it mean to Dayton Moore and the Kansas City Royals, and what does it look like? Well, you know what?

I realized right away that if we were so attached to the outcome, which was winning our division or winning a world championship, we were going to abandon the daily process. And I would constantly talk to our group. I said, you know what, let's just try to get better today. Let's forget about what the media is telling us, telling our fans about what we need to do and all the mistakes that we've made along the way,

because the truth of matter, in baseball, there's a lot of gray area. You don't realize if you've made the right decision until three, four years into the future anyway. And a lot of the decisions we make simply don't work. You're dealing with other human beings expecting to go out and perform. And it's a tough game. As I said, it's about managing failure. And a lot of young people simply aren't ready to do that. So we just said, look, let's just focus on each and every day just trying to get better.

maybe someday we'll wake up and be good, but we can't be so attached to the outcome. Because if we are, we're going to abandon this process, and every little thing along the way is going to beat us up. And the other thing that we felt was important, let's celebrate our successes. No matter, no matter how small, let's celebrate when, you know, a player has a, you know, a great 10 days, or is the player the week or the player the month, or, you know, one of our coaches, you know, something that they do extremely well. and let's celebrate it as an organization.

And that keeps you going as well. The other thing that we did that hadn't been done here, and we felt it was really important, was we created awards. We created awards in the names of some of our past great players to connect the past with the future. And what we can do is we can bring honor to them and celebrate the accomplishments of our current players.

So we bring the past and the future together. And that was always a good. great time of celebration as an organization. So we just felt again that it was just so important just to focus on each and every day. And then, you know, it's day to day, it's week to week. And then pretty soon you look up and, you know, you feel like, you know, you are making some strides. I love it. The book is more than a season, building a championship culture. Dayton Moore is our guest. And Dayton, I got to tell you, just a belated congratulations on winning the World Series. I know you're already in preparation for the next season, and we won't say we'll wish you luck,

because, you know, I'm just not a big believer in luck when it comes to winning championships. You've got to have a little bit, but I love the process, and we're pulling for you to have a great season. It's a real treat to speak with you because I grew up in the 80s, and so I remember the Royals of George Brett and Willie Wilson, even Dan Quistonbury with that submarine pitch sticks out in my mind. I mean, those were like, it was great to see this organization, this proud organization, get back to the top, and we're looking forward to great things from you, and we're all better for hearing from you, so we appreciate you.

Well, it's an honor to be on with you guys, and we'll give it our best, and you're right. I wouldn't call it luck either. You have to have some good fortune and some breaks along the way. But you know what? If you're best players, the players that are most talented, care the most, work the hardest, compete the best,

care about one another above self, you got a chance to reach your ceiling as a team. And that's all we want in 2016. I'll tell you this, folks. I could have talked to him for a very, very long time. I think there's so much to learn from sports executives who have to manage money, egos, find the right talent, keep a farm system in place, deal with managers, coaches.

It really is a fascinating look at how to manage your greatest resource, which is talent. And again, you've got to lead these people, but you have to manage so many different details and keep it all going, and it really is a fascinating look into leadership. By the way, Dayton's book is called More Than a Season, Building a Championship Culture. We've got a link to his book at our website. Just go to ontreleadership.com slash podcast.

We'll go to this episode, and we'll have the link there for you. Our friends at Infusionsoft have another great tool for you. This month, we're focusing on customer relationship management with these folks, and Chad Kirby, the senior director at Infusionsoft, this guy gets this stuff. And we recently had him in studio as we talked about this valuable resource. What is the pain point on this? And then how are they going to help you? Listen in.

Chad, we know that relationships in general can be very painful. I don't know if there's anything more painful, though, than customer relationships, especially if you don't have your act together. Well, you know, it's interesting, Ken. The reality is today's landscape is totally different than anything we've ever encountered before. I mean, you make a mistake and they're posting it on Facebook, they're tweeting about it. Can you know from personal experience you make one comment? And you get all of a sudden get 20 tweets about it.

But managing those relationships is critical to the success of your business. And I don't care if you use InfusionSoft as your CRM or you have a home-built CRM or you've purchased some other CRM. The reality is that client relationship management tool is critical to the success of your business. Why are so many people scared of CRMs? Well, they're worried about the implementation of it, the cost of it. But the reality is the cost of it and the time of not having one far surpasses taking the time to set it up effectively. Can there are a few things you have to remember when you're doing this? And so what we've created is a tool for you to be able to go, okay, how do I need to approach this?

How do I adopt a CRM? What can I do to make sure it's a smooth transition? What we've created is a handy field guide to CRM adoption. And this field guide takes you through the pitfalls of a CRM and what you can do to make sure you avoid those and have a successful implementation of it. All right, so Chad laid it out for you. Here's how you get the free guide on customer relationship management, your CRM. If you go to infusionsoft.com slash field, that's infusionsoft.com slash field.

Or you can click on the Infusionsoft link in the. this episode's show notes. Get this free guide. I'm telling you, Infusionsoft lays it out for you. They give you the roadmap. It's easy to follow and it works. So check it out, infusionsoft.com slash field or click on the Infusionsoft link in this episode show notes. Well, folks, this is exciting. For several months, you've heard me hint around about our mystery guest for the Entree Leadership Summit. Coming up this May, I told you to go to the website and that's how you'd find out who it is. Many of you did. I can tell you that the 43rd President of the United States of America is joining us.

President George W. Bush is going to be here with us in Dallas. And this is fascinating stuff. Whether you like the politics, you like the leadership decisions, it's very rare that you get to look at leadership from that perspective, a unique perspective. So that's going to be great fun. Joining, of course, Dave Ramsey, Seth Godin, Jim Collins, Pat Lynchioni, Dr. Henry Cloud, and Chris Hogan and Christy Wright. all the information that you would possibly need for this event. Entreeleadership.com slash summit. That's Entreleadership.com slash summit.

It's going to be great fun, so we'd love to see you there. Big thanks to Ben Zobras, Dayton Moore, and Chad Kirby for being a part of this podcast. Don't forget one more time. The Entre giveaway, if you text the word, perform. 3344.4. You'll get Dave's free audio lesson on high achievement performance. Of course, infusionsoft.com slash field to get the field guide. to a better CRM.

Hey, let me give you a preview for next week's episode. Really enjoyed my conversation with Jesse Itzler. This guy had a Navy SEAL live in his home. You're going to love this conversation. You want to talk about rocking your world from a personal growth standpoint? This is the conversation you want to listen to. That's coming up next week. On behalf of our producer Eric Anthony and the entire Entree leadership team,

thank you so much for listening. We'll talk with you again very soon.