Noob School - What Great Leaders Do Differently with David Shaner #BusinessTips #SalesLeadership #NoobSchool

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

In Episode 150 of Noob School, I sit down with David Shaner of Greenville, SC—Principal of CONNECT Consulting LLC and longtime advisor to leaders who want to strengthen culture and performance.Our conversation touches on a wide range of leadership lessons, from the small signals that can shape company culture, to how leaders build trust across an organization, to why transparency—financial and otherwise—can be a powerful motivator. David shares insights from his decades of experience helping organizations improve performance by getting employees to think and act like owners, while I offer stories from my own journey in business and sales.This episode is packed with practical wisdom and thought-provoking takeaways for business owners, sales leaders, and anyone looking to grow both their people and their company.Get your sales in rhythm with The Sterling Method: https://SterlingSales.co I'm going to be sharing my secrets on all my social channels, but if you want them all at your fingertips, start with my book, Sales for Noobs: https://amzn.to/3tiaxsL Subscribe to our newsletter today: https://bit.ly/3Ned5kL #SalesTraining #B2BSales #SalesExcellence #SalesStrategy #BusinessGrowth #SalesLeadership #SalesSuccess #SalesCoaching #SalesSkills #SalesInnovation #SalesTips #SalesPerformance #SalesTransformation #SalesTeamDevelopment #SalesMotivation #SalesEnablement #SalesGoals #SalesExpertise #SalesInsights #SalesTrends#salestrends

All right, welcome back to Noob School. Episode 150. Episode 150. There it is. We just crossed over, David, to 150. Whoa. Yeah, that's right. That's right.

So, Rogan's got, I think, 3,000. So we're catching up. So you're comparing yourself to the big guy. Well, listen, at 150, I think we're better than he was. Okay. You know? You mean when he was at 150? Yes, yes.

Yeah. how I look at it. I've never seen him. I know who he is and I know he influences everyone, but it's like I've never watched it. I'm not surprised. All right. So we've getting ahead of ourselves. I've got David Cheneer with me today. David and I have been friends for many years. Our friendship started before we even knew each other because we kind of hired the same guy. That's right. Our friend Greg Gardner. Yeah, Greg Gardner. You picked him out when you were teaching at Furman. You picked him out is someone you really saw a potential in. Exactly.

And brought him on to work with you for a while. Until you stole him. Well, just before I even knew you, David. I knew nothing. Like Colonel Sears and Schultz, I did not know. But we did take him on and he was great. Yeah, yeah. Truly great.

He's a great guy. Super talented, as you know. Yeah. Super interpersonal skills. And what a musician. Great musician. And that's why I hired him, really. You know, I was just learning how to play the saxophone,

and I saw that it said, you know, a piano player or something. I'm like, a piano. Tell me more about the piano. Oh, man. And so we took a chance on him. But he was great. And we made the mistake of putting him in charge of business development. Because while he was good at it, we were exposing him.

to all these mostly West Coast companies. Okay, and look what happened. Yeah, one of them took them. We never came back. That's right. That's right. We both got stood up at the old. Yeah, yeah.

Well, anyway, we have commentations in great folks. And then really a long time went by and I called you and I think I was thinking about writing a book or something. I can't remember why it was, but we met at Smiley's. That's right. And I said, I'm thinking about writing this book. And you're like, oh, hold on for a second. You just like pulled a manuscript out of your briefcase, probably that briefcase. Yeah.

I'm almost finished this one. This is my fourth book. I'm almost finished this one. And I was like, if he can do four, surely I could do one. And so it really motivated me to do my book. Yeah, yeah. And I think that's what happens. That's the example of what happens when you hang around people that are achievers and doers.

you just get kind of pulled along in the vacuum. That's right. That's right. Well, that's a key principle. Hanging around people that will make you better. Right. So anyway, hanging around you is high on my list of things to do. But David has done so many things in his life, and we'll get to a lot of him. But he was a champion skier for many years.

I'm sure you can still ski like crazy. And you were a professor of philosophy and Asian studies. at Furman, and you started the Asian Studies program at Furman. Well, with my colleagues, yeah. For 30 years. Right. And then you've had this consulting company Connect, right. Which we're not really looking for any new business right now.

No. You've got plenty of business. Yeah. But it kind of brings together the sports mindset, the Asian mindset, you know, all the different things that you've done to help companies figure out how to solve problems. Is that right? Well, yeah, when companies want to just take their performance to the next level, you know, there's, I don't know why this just popped in my head, but a lot of times I follow up like large companies when I started, there were large public companies. And they would hire the baines of the world and McKenzie. And they would just, you know, come there with their charts and they'd say, we've done this analysis. And if you do this, this, this and this, and then the chart goes like this. But they never bothered to figure out is the workforce is everyone in the company actually prepared to change the way they work?

So what I do is, you know, referred to as organizational development. And I started with mergers and acquisitions. And actually, just on the way over here, I was thinking, you know, I'm meeting John and he's this super sales guy. And I've never sold anything. And then I thought, you know what? What I do is a massive sale project. Because if you have a merger and an acquisition and you're trying to now, what people would say, change the culture. There's a 70 to 80% failure rate when people do that. And I've been doing this for almost 40 years with 100% success rate. So all my business is referral.

And there's some key reasons that I figured out early on that has to do with martial arts and ski racing and all this other stuff that said, what you're really doing is changing human behavior. So if you ever tried to lose weight or get fit or stick to. that program, it's hard. Well, if you're changing the culture, you're actually asking everyone to change the way they think at work. So there's some key things you have to do to actually make that stick and to make the employees want to do it. Right. Right. Because otherwise everyone resists it. Right. So there's some key things. You know, at the end of the day, it's something that I know

you believe in. It's all about listening. I will go in and spend months. months just listening to people all around the world from board members to the brand new third shift mechanic on a manufacturing line so that I can understand what the culture really is and you know what it is where is the culture of a company do you suppose with the workforce okay where in the workforce so that that's the easy answer oh it's in the people it's the people okay is it is it the older people no The newer people. No?

Damn it. The owner. No. Well, see, I need your help. So think about it. It's in people's heads. It's their collective experience of the way in which we've always done things. That's what holds people back.

That's when you get the us versus them. There's the C-suite fat cats, who, by the way, are incentivized and get paid huge amounts of money and everyone else is kind of in the dumps. So one of my requirements with all of my clients is I say, would you like everyone to think and act like an owner? What's the answer to your question? Yes. Okay. Then do the right thing. Make them an owner. So we always have some kind of, you know, gain sharing or pay for performance so that people are incentivized to change the way they work. Like now it's not just going to be the fat cats are getting this big paycheck, but now we're all invested in moving this company together.

Nice. So you have to understand where are people really. That's what McKinsey doesn't do. That's what Bain doesn't do. And actually the CEO doesn't have enough time to go listen to people. Right. So by the time I come back and say, here's where I think the culture of your business is, essentially the way people think, I know the business better than anyone in the whole company.

And all I did is spend three to five months doing nothing but going. out and listening. Don't believe in surveys because they don't talk back. You know, and people fill it out and then they get cynical, like, well, I'm going to fill it out and then I'm not going to hear from anyone. So you have to build trust. So it's pretty common sense. It's go make a relationship with people, listen to people, understand their pinch points,

you know, what bothers them and what's good. And then once you understand the mind of the people, now you know what it is. I'm trying to deal with to go from here to here. What McKenzie doesn't understand is the chart says you're here now and if we do this, we're here. But they don't know the preparedness of the people to take on literally changing the way they work. So it's it's. So are you looking for like a common, a common gripe or common?

No, not even a gripe. I want to know what's the, what do you like best about working here? What do you like the least? Another question I always ask is if you were in charge, what would you do differently? If you ran this company, if you were the CEO, what would you do differently? So I basically get a sense of what's it like to work here. What do they like? What do they not like?

What bothers them? And then by the time you go to multiple plants, you realize that there's a different culture in every location. So if you're dealing with, you know, in the beginning, well, for example, when I'd sign up with a company, a minimum is a three-year engagement because this isn't going to be ra-rah-rah and a weekend retreat with a motivational speaker, right? So we're going to take a long-term approach. Duracell batteries, for example. Oh, the other thing that I get from my ski racing background, if we're going to do something, let's be the number one in the world at this. So in the case of Duracel, the business category is called portable power. So I worked for them for 13 years through

seven changes of ownership. And so I was able to be the glue throughout the whole thing. But think of it. It was owned by Dart, then Dart and Kraft, Kraft, KKR, then initial public offering, second public offering, and then Gillette bought them. Then Gillette became a client, and we became number one in the world in men's grooming products. Frito Lay, it's salty snacks.

So each time it's like, okay, if we're going to do this, let's aim to be. number one in the world and make everyone an owner and incentive five people and suddenly now things are going crazy and everyone's happy at work and so for duracell how many employees did they have oh i couldn't tell you but we had uh four plants in the united states the largest one in rshot belgium uh india south africa okay but i couldn't tell you the number and you would have talked to a lot of those people yeah and then i would have listened to a lot of those people okay that's what i say, but Grype was not a good word. No.

But, but certainly what they like is important. Right, because you don't want to mess with that. Right. Like, whatever you do, don't change the one thing. More, yeah. But the thing that they don't like or the thing that's bugging them or, you know, whatever. So one thing could be that the disproportionate pay, that could be one thing that could be, like you can come back and say, everyone's mad about this pay thing. Another thing could be what?

What are some of the other comments? We're not listened to. No one even listens to us. We don't even have a problem. It's just they won't listen. And if you're an expert on the manufacturing floor, and then I remember in the Dura sales case, the HR decided, which was a good thing. So what I'm about to say is a good thing.

But in the beginning, it was a problem. HR said, you know what, when we hire an initial employee, a first-line supervisor, we only want degreed engineers. Well, that was a. earth-shattering change. So when you have the young college kids still wet behind the years, trying to run a manufacturing line where if he doesn't have the trust or if the mechanics who will have to run to the line to fix it because of utilization or efficiency, like you're recorded on those numbers if you're a first-line supervisor. So if you can't engage the people

who maybe have been running this piece of equipment for 30 years. And if you come in there and you don't learn how to listen and get along and make friends, you know, the last thing that's important is your engineering degree at this point. First, you need to understand how to work with people on the floor. And then later on as you move up, that engineering background's going to help you a lot. So they would say,

the salty, you know, person who's been there for a while might say, we know we've got to have a supervisor, but we want someone who's had a little bit of experience. Right. And that they're listening people, they're listeners. Right. And those young new hire people who are just hired need to understand the people who will make you successful are the people that are right there on the manufacturing floor. Don't think you're going to come in there with your engineering degree and somehow turn things around.

Because if they don't like you, they're really slow to react. Well, it's like the fresh second lieutenant in Vietnam. Yeah. You know, trying to lead those guys. They'd frag them, right? Yeah, yeah. Well, here's one I saw. I won't say the name of the company, but I saw it.

It was on, I think, on 385 or 85 or something. And the company's sitting right there. You see the name of it. And then you see the sign right there in the front of the building. It says, executive parking. I'm not kidding. Yeah, yeah. I mean, what could be worse?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is the executive parking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, those are little things that you can fix. easily, but to actually understand, well, for example, if you're now going to incentivize people and they're going to be owners of the company, I insist that the CEO or the CFO or both preferably, once a quarter, go to every location and give the same financial update on how we did this quarter. Okay. Now, if you're doing that on the manufacturing floor, the next question is, what is

the financial literacy of the people on the floor. Can they even, so now there's a huge education gap. So we're saying you're an owner of the company. We want you to understand the financials. We're going to bring you complete transparency and actually share with you where we are so that you can begin to calculate if we continue in the second quarter, third quarter, this is what it's going to mean for me at the end of the year in terms of bonus and pay. But to do that, now we're talking about adding a ton of,

training for financial literacy so that everyone can begin to understand and and the executives are not throwing you know PowerPoint slides and talking over people's heads so it's a tremendous investment in education and training that's why i say look it's a it's a three-year minimum right right should be forever to hear that to hear that collective opinion of the rank and file exactly you know so now everyone is kind of incentivized to learn this same way to understand, okay, how is my line here? Say before, they just figured, okay, this is my line. I'm talking about a high-speed battery line. All right. But they don't know how the numbers they're generating affect the department next door, which affects the department next door,

and then you roll all that up, and now that's the plant manager's number. Okay, so the plant manager owns that number, but you want everyone to understand how the left and the right hand hits that number. And then if you're the plant manager, now you've got to take it to the next level, right? You're reporting to the chief operation officer. So now you're just one plant manager of many plants around the world, and you're trying to figure out how does my success in my plant roll up so that the COO is happy, and I can now contribute and see the big picture? Because if I do, do you want to be stuck as the plant manager? You're holding? life or do you want to move on to the vice president manufacturing or R&D or whatever.

So it's all about taking the emergency break off your head and making information and knowledge available where it's needed. Yeah. Did you do any work with New Corps over the years? No. No. Do you know that company very well? I do. I mean, I think they do a pretty good job. Small plants, plant managers actually in charge and everybody's compensated with, I think, stock options. and so we had them as a customer and our contact was typically the maintenance supervisor and they knew everything. They knew how many tons they shipped that month

and what the maintenance costs were so they did a good job and partly I think because they kept it small and they let the person, the plant manager, actually was in charge. Yeah, yeah, excellent. Yeah, so that's interesting. You got all the way through all the Gillette stuff

Yeah. That account alone probably kept you. Oh, yeah. Well, I would only have one client at a time. Yeah. So all these are, none of them are concurrent. And so I really started here in South Carolina. And actually, Dick Riley was very helpful to me.

He's a Furman graduate as well. So I had only taught at Furman a couple of years, and I had a fellowship to teach at Harvard. I should have backed up and said, you know, before I ever came to firm and I worked for a consulting company, the Alexander Proudfoot Company. I had started doing, everyone in the business world at that time wanted to understand what makes Japan tick. And there were these famous books like Theory Z, The Art of Japanese Management. Here I was a new PhD in Japanese Buddhism. But I understood Japanese culture, and I'm reading these books like Pathos and Pascal, Aethos and Paso.

scale, Harvard professors, and it's a best-selling book, and I'm going, this is totally wrong. It reads to me, like, they went for three weeks and did a tour of the Toyota production plant, and now they're talking about Kaizen and all that stuff, and it's like, this isn't it. So I started to write a newsletter called the Far East fact sheet. I only did like three issues, and the Alexander Proudfoot company said, David, stop the presses. We want to hire you full-time. I said, are you sure? I've never had a business class in my life. They said, we'll teach you that. It's easy. Buy low, sell high. Profit is revenue, less cost. It's basic. But what we want to do is expand our consulting in the Pacific Rim. And you are this expert in like the Toyota production method and understand how the people actually generate, you know, all these incremental improvements, you know, Kaizen. So they said, we want you to teach us this. And we'll, teach you business. So I got to like be the little kid in the back with my briefcase and suit and just sit in the back of these boardrooms and realize they said you don't have to say anything,

just be a sponge. And then off site will, you know, work together and you'll help us to understand how we can take our consulting services to the Pacific Room. I only work for them about two years and I had a crisis of my conscience. Because what I saw was the outsourcing of American jobs. I said, I can't do this anymore. Because the people didn't know what was going on. And they didn't know that, you know, you could do the same thing in Honduras for 50 cents an hour. And they had no idea that all this was happening.

And factories are being shut down. And that's the largest employer in a town. And now crime goes up. Divorce rates go up is terrible. And I said, I can't do this anymore. So I decided I was going to go back to academia, which is what I was trained for, ended up going to Furman, was only there two years, and I got a fellowship to go to Harvard. At Harvard, I befriended lots of faculty members, and I realized, holy cow, if you teach in the law

school, you might have a boutique law firm, which means it's just you and you're very expensive, but you're arguing cases in front of the Supreme Court. Another friend was a genetics professor. Well, he was the head of a biotech company traded on the NASDAQ. So I thought to myself, you know, if I was going to consult, I would do it totally different than what I saw with the Alexander Proudfoot company. So I came back from Harvard to Furman, and I called up the governor, Dick Riley, and I said, governor, my name is David Shainer. I just got back from Harvard. I'm a Furman professor, and I'd like to help you create jobs in South Carolina.

So we ended up working together, brought in Ryobi, Nipon Denso, Hitachi, and those became my first clients. And those successes, which were all Japan-specific, mind you, then it just led to, once I figured out how this worked, that had nothing like Durisal had nothing to do, Frito-Lay-Jolet. And maybe as long as 15 years ago, I started working in private equity. because executives from Duriselle, Gillette, Frito Le, they would go run smaller companies, right? They'd get tagged to go by private equity. And so suddenly my phone would ring and they'd say, hey, David, I got another opportunity for you. And I really enjoyed that because there, as you know in private equity, you're buying a company, you're improving it. Usually anywhere from five to seven years, you're going to try to flip it.

But that means there's an opportunity to. to engage the workforce in ways that can really make a big payoff for them. So it was just really exciting. Let me ask you this. You're going so fast to all these just unbelievable things in your life so far. But, you know, just a cold call the governor and say, I mean, the fact that you just got back from Harvard, I guess that gets their attention. And professor at Furman and Japanese PhD and all these things.

Right. Rough, if you could tell us, what kind of deal did you cut to help the state recruit Japanese companies to self-term? Well, the same things that wouldn't be me. I mean, I was part of that economic development board, but I'd be, you know, I'm a philosopher. I'm not the guy that's going to. So you said, I'll help you. Well.

And then when they came, you got them as clients. I will help you because I was specifically targeting Japan, bringing Japanese businesses over here. If you weren't hired by the state or anything. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I was hired by the companies. Right. But, you know, that's above my pay grade.

For example, Governor Riley, the same kind of sweet deals that BMW got. Like, here's a whole plot of land. You can have it. You don't have to pay taxes for, you know, decades. We're going to pay. Once you hire people, we will, the state will flip the bill for you to send all these people over to Germany and learn the BMW way and then come back. So the state was offering, and every state is competing with each other,

like Alabama versus South Carolina. And so that's just a question of what incentives can you get them to come. But once they come, for example, Ryobe, okay, here's a perfect example. So the largest plant in Pickens at that time was a Singer sewing machine plant. Singer, okay. All right. And they were doing line manufacturing, and I'll just say like an old, you know, making cars, a Model T, Model A. But Japanese is cellular manufacturing.

That might be my phone. It's okay. And so the way in the way. which we're going to work is going to be completely different. So basically they bought the company and now we have to, and we're going to be making Ryobi products, not Singer sewing machines. So now we have to completely retrain the workforce. Well, what's it like in Pickin, South Carolina, where the largest employer in the town is suddenly owned by the Japanese? Now you have a cross-cultural challenge. It's not just a merger and acquisition. It's

a workforce that might probably resist their first inclination that we've just been bought by a Japanese manufacturer. So what are you going to do to help them get over the hump of, you know, do we really want to do, because the first reaction is going to be, oh, no, like this, right? But you go listen, you figure out what's lacking in their current workforce. What can we do to provide those things that are lacking? And once you spend so much time really listening to just like you teach people all the time on a sales call. Stop talking and just listen. Well, once you do that, you learn valuable things about what will take and what won't. Or if it won't, maybe how you go around selling them on the new benefits of working for this company of which you are now an owner,

that goes a long way. So I just say, don't be greedy. You want people to think and act like an owner? I love that. On the talking thing, Sometimes I'll be coaching a young sales rep and I'll say, just ask this simple question. Like, tell me about your whatever. Tell me about your sales force. Ask that. And just listen. And the person will go on and on and on.

And I'll say, perfect. And they'll say, well, we didn't say anything. I'm like, that person might buy from you just because you let them talk. Yes. Many people might go all day. Yeah. And somebody won't let them talk. Yeah.

They'll just like cut them off or ask you yes, no question. But anyway, so let me ask you this. I'll back up just for a second. Where did you grow up? Suburb of Chicago. I grew up on a farm in Illinois. Farm. Farm.

So you had to like feed the chickens every day? Yeah, except it was sheep, horses, cows. But they don't take a day off. And so you're right. There was kind of a work ethic there growing up on a farm. Farm? Yeah. Yeah.

Christmas. Even on Christmas, the animals don't take a day off. You've got to get up early and feed them. I like that. I like people who grew up on a farm. That's cool. And how did you pick to get a Ph.D. in the Japanese world, Japanese studies?

When I was, okay, so I was a ski racer as you, as you mentioned. All right. So when I was 14 years old, in 1968, Jean-Claude Keely won three gold medals in the Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. Good old. I remember. Okay. Well, I was already on what they called the U.S. development team, and they would interview Jean-Claude and say, Jean-Claude, what's the key to your success? He says, I do yoga, breathing, and meditation. 1968. Wow.

So the U.S. ski team said, if it's good enough for the world champion, why don't we introduce these same things to our youngest talent? So I was exposed to meditation and yoga at a very early age. and it was hard to sit still. You know, when you're 15 years old, it's like, and at the same time I went with a friend who was being recruited in football at the University of Wisconsin. I was just the friend that tagged along,

and I ended up in the gymnasium there seeing an Aikido demonstration by this Japanese man that was just talking like the yoga instructor, like meditation, but he's throwing people around like a piece of paper. And I'm like, whoa, this is so cool. I could use this as kind of my sports psychology, and I'm actually moving. So that was my introduction to things Asian.

All right. Once I started studying, I recognized, whoa, this is deep. I just love this. And so my passion for, well, I continue to ski race. But that lit a fire. And I wanted to understand this whole kind of. concept that you're stronger relaxed. Like when you grew up like in Chicago, it's Vince Lombardi and, you know, George Hallis and when the going gets tough, the tough get going. And none of this,

you're stronger relaxed stuff. But as a ski racer, if you're going 90 miles an hour and you are not relaxed, you're toast. So I knew this was true. But I didn't understand how he was actually able to toss people around like pieces of paper almost effortlessly. Well, to understand it more deeply when I was in college, and I went on a ski racing scholarship, so I went out to the Pacific Northwest. But I wanted to understand it more deeply. So I ended up in my college taking more Asian philosophy classes. And I absolutely loved it.

And I continued my Aikido all through undergraduate while I was ski racing. And so I thought, oh, well, I love studying this. So why don't I go to the best school in the world to do this and just get a Ph.D. in it. And I'll be able to continue. And this was the University of Hawaii. Because my teacher, who was the gentleman who brought Aikido out of Japan in 1953, he spent a lot of time in Hawaii. So I had the opportunity to go to Yale Divinity School or Hawaii.

I said, I can go to Yale and I'll be sitting there in New Haven with no Aikido. and no Tohe Sinsai. Or I can go to Hawaii at the East-West Center, which is super prestigious, and I'll be able to continue my training. So basically, that whole focus in Japanese Buddhism was the result of what I was exposed to in Aikido. I just wanted to take it to another level. That's cool.

That's very cool. And that really, that episode with Jean-Claude Keeley, that set in motion. your whole life, really. It really did. And especially with this idea of you want to be number one in the world, you know, in a World Cup downhill race, you're going over three miles, or some courses are over three miles,

and the average speed is over 60 miles an hour. So you're finishing in under three minutes. And yet the difference, like in those Olympics in Grenoval, the difference between first place and 10th place in a World Cup downhill race might be one second. So you're winning. how is it Jean-Claude Keeley, Slalom, Giant, Salam, and Downhill consistently wins by hundreds of a second.

Everyone knows Jean-Claude Keele. Have you ever heard of Carl Schronz? He got two silver medals. He was like behind by a couple thousand or thousands. And no one even knows his name. He was Austrian. But anyway, that difference, what does it take to be a world champion? What does it take to be number one? So when I walk into a company and they think I'm crazy, like I'm saying, well, what are your goals? And then the goals are like so minor.

I'm like, let's shake it up. What about just being number one in the world or what you do? Yeah. I love the exercise too with people to say, we don't have to commit to it today, but what would it look like? You know, what is number one? And where are we? Right, right. And then how would that happen, you know, and do that thing?

And I've seen that work before. You know, initially people are like, this is a dumb exercise. We could never do, you know. Yeah, yeah. Well, let's just do the exercise. Yeah. We're not committing to anything. That's cool.

Once you make people an owner and you listen to them and you spend time with them, now they're interested. Now they're willing to say, oh. So, you know, you know, the member of the country, Company Buildermarts, Builder Marts for America. They were in Greenville. They eventually sold, but they got to about a half a billion, and they were a distributor, kind of a master distributor of building supplies.

Okay. And they did exactly what you're talking about. They had a company meeting where they announced that everyone was going to be an owner that did an ESOP. Okay. And while they were doing the meeting, they went to the parking lot and put bumper stickers on everyone's car that said, I'm an owner or something like that. And once a year they would have the big meeting, not once a quarter, but once a year they'd say, we've done this and so on so, and here's our numbers.

And the independent auditor says we're now worth this much money, which makes your share work this much money each. And the place just took off. Took off. Yep. I believe it. We would do, you know, it's just like competitive athletics. We spent a lot of time talking about Energizer.

at Dursome. We talked about the competition all the time, especially in Europe when we were taking the mercury out of batteries for eco-environmental purposes. Europe was ahead of us, and then California was the first state and then Minnesota. So we had to completely change the chemistry to get the mercury out of the batteries. And it was really a race between ourselves and Energizer and ReaVAC. And so we spent a lot of time not just studying like a few people, but taking that information and every single morning a pre-shift meeting we would send notes we called it boardroom awareness boardroom awareness notes because there was nothing I ever heard in a boardroom that you couldn't explain to someone with

seventh or eighth grade education even if it's like a leveraged buyout it's like we'll just talk about the interest you pay on your on your pickup truck so basically I would have fun simply engaging the workforce by giving them the information that they needed, but they didn't even know it was possible. So it's like, you know, after three years, or in the Duracel's case, now you're on to year 13, you have a highly educated workforce that's highly motivated

that understands the competition, they understand the company's strategy, and they understand what can I do day in and day out in my sphere of influence to generate a number that when it's rolled up into everybody else's number is going to help us. win the game. Right.

So the sales question, I'll give you a scenario. Let's say that Duracel had just gotten purchased by Gillette. Okay. And you were going to go meet with the CEO of Gillette. I wanted to hear what the heck we all been doing what we're here with Duricel. Maybe we want to do it somewhere else, but I need David to explain it to me. So this is your chance to sell the guy. So what would you say to him?

Okay. Who's the guy? Who's the CEO of Gillette. Okay. To tell you a funny story. Duriselle headquarters is in Bethel, Connecticut. And they had a big studio for making training films and whatever. So I'm actually in there, in the studio, with the CEO and the CEO and the CEO and the CEO and the CEO and the president of Durisel and the head of HR.

And we're just doing a round robin conversation that I'm going to use in later training. at this time on this there's a helipad on the top of this building and here comes al zane CEO of Gillette and his team of course the people I was interviewing they all knew it I mean this wasn't some surprise takeover it was just that as soon as I was done they used the exact same chair and studio to now make another video to to tell the rank and file oh by the way we've just been purchased for X billion dollars, which was a big deal then, by Gillette. So I had that conversation immediately. Yeah, I bet you did.

Yeah, because basically they knew I had been kind of the glue through eight changes of ownership, and suddenly now Gillette comes in. Yeah. And, yeah, it was interesting. That's good, yeah. We bought a company one time in... they were in Holland and they had been bought like three different times over the last seven or eight years, kind of like Derosel.

And I went over for the change of ownership and they had a little cookout party kind of thing. There weren't that many employees, maybe 30 or 40. And I asked one of the people like, gosh, this is really nice. You all having a party. How often do you have a party? They said, every time we get bought. That felt kind of bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But anyway, and then we sold them, so we probably had another party. But that's fascinating stuff. I mean, the ski racing, too. What was your favorite mountain to ski? Just a ski or a race? I guess a race. Well, I never lost a race at Vale. Vale?

So that's my... That's the favorite. Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's awesome. Yeah. But from a ski area standpoint, I love Sun Valley, Idaho.

Uh-huh. I love Aspen. I used to live in Aspen. Yeah. Yeah. You still ski a lot? This last year I skied once. Every year, every February, you know who Tony Robbins is?

So I do a thing with him for the last 13 years to his platinum members. in February, we rotate between Sun Valley where Tony has a home and Whistler in Vancouver, where the Olympics were in 2010, because his wife, Sage's family is from Vancouver. And so, yeah, so I get that ski trip because basically I'm on every morning. So I'm teaching them Aikido, but really I'm teaching them how to be the best they can be. but I can specifically apply it to skiing, which is why Tony asked me to come to these events. So then I ski with the people,

and then in the afternoon, starting around 2 o'clock, in this particular one in February, it's always in finance. So he will bring in, Tony will bring in, you know, the best of the best. Just names you would all know. He's friends with all of them, especially since he started writing books about money and investing. But basically, it's fantastic because I get to go there and it's not so much Tony but his guests.

I get to sit there. These people pay, I won't even tell you how much. It's like Davos. I mean, the people from all over the world, 400 people speaking all kinds of different languages who wear headsets. So if you're Chinese, then Tony's immediately being translated by people offstage. But I've been doing that 13 years and I love it because I just get to. to learn from all his guests. Oh, it's incredible. You know Tony pretty well. Yeah. Yeah. I think he's a real

deal. Yeah. Yeah. He's very sincere and people don't understand. I mean, he's a marketing genius, but he is a very, very generous man. Yeah. He's incredible in terms of giving it away. And he helps people to, you know, grow their wealth. But he always says, you know, if you have an opportunity, you know, with all of your abundance comes an obligation. And he's extremely generous. So I really like that about him. Well, one thing we kind of glossed over and we got about, I think, about 10 minutes left. Okay.

Is Akito. I say Akito. Yeah, Aikido. Aikido. Aikido. So, I mean, that's, you know, it's one of the Japanese self-defense disciplines, right? We actually have five disciplines. Aikido Waza is what you think of in terms of the martial arts.

Okay, but then there's Kino Kokuho, which is key breathing, which is a whole discipline. Kino-seizaho, key meditation, another whole discipline. Kiyatzhi-doho, that's a kind of healing with ki or chi in Chinese, right? It's your life force, your energy. And Sokshin-no-Gyo, which is another form of meditation with what we call a suzhu, but it's like a, like a, it's like a bell actually. But it's, so there's five different disciplines, all of which are based on learning how to unify your mind and body.

When you unify your mind and body, you can begin to tap, you know, the power of your whole self that just kind of blows you away when you, when you begin to tap into that. And I was going to say, this is another thought that I had coming over here about the listening. In Aikido, there's these. principles, I'll translate, understand your partner's mind, respect your partner's intentions, put yourself in the place of your partner. Think about that as a training a salesperson. Understand your partner's mind, okay, so you've got to listen, respect their intentions. So not only

listen, but you might want to demonstrate that you have compassion for what they're talking. about and then put yourself in the place of the other. That's just the golden rule. Okay, actually the physical form of Aikido works on that. So you use understanding your mind, if you're coming at me this way, I'm going to use your power so that it's not me versus you. There's no collision. Yeah, no, it's me actually leading you. And then just taking whatever you give me and. Yeah. Well, I remember talking to you because you're always in such a good shape, great shape and I'm always trying to get in a great shape. And I said, what's you've been doing for your workout?

And you're like, mostly breathing. Yeah. I'm like, that's right. I could do that. Yeah, yeah. That's right. But I mean, you would never brag about it. But I know there's an organization that kind of runs, I guess, the certification

and training of Aikido globally. Right. And you run half the world, basically? Yeah. I'm the highest ranking non-Japanese person in the world. And so I have a big responsibility to teach around the world. You know, I say that kind of sadly because I had a friend two years ago who passed away who was also my same rank, which is Hachidon, eighth-degree black belt.

And even in Japan, there's nobody higher, but there are a few. also eighth time. I know you've gone to Russia many many times to train trainers or trained teachers. Yeah. Are you able to go now? No, I haven't been able to go since Ukraine. Okay. Well, hopefully soon. Yeah. Yeah, it's really it's really sad because I've been going to Russia. I went every year starting in 1999, leading all the way up to the invasion of Ukraine. And we had a dojo in Kiev. I mean, we have, dojoes all throughout Eastern Europe as well.

So, and Western Europe. We just, last week, we had, I was able to host two years planning, 120 instructors from all over the world at the Yount Center at Furman. Oh. And I was able to host my teacher's son, Shinichi Tohe, and his wife, Satchikosan, and my kind of Japanese brother, Hidea, Ohata, who's also 8th Don, in my home for the whole week. And we had instructors from Eastern Europe, Western Europe, South America, Canada,

the South Pacific, meaning Tahiti, Hawaii, Japan, and throughout the United States. 120 for a whole week. And I just put Shinich Sensei on the plane on Monday morning. Wow. Well, a couple of quick questions. And then we can frame it up here. But this could be a very interesting question, I think, or an answer anyway. But what's your favorite book?

Saikon Ton. Of course, my too. What's it about? It's a work that was originally a Chinese author. We don't really know, I mean, traditionally, Hongying Ming, but we don't really know for sure. it's a what's referred to philosophically as a syncretic work, meaning the protagonist, which is kind of this wise soul, it's part Confucian sage, Buddhist, monk, and Taoist priest. So syncretic, as in those three philosophies are kind of merged, which in China at this time, you would never do that. Everything is you're either Confucian, Buddhist, or Taoist.

You don't intermingle. But this is a work that actually I was exposed to because it was the favorite book of my teacher, Koich Tohei. And I teach a lot from it and I sits by my bedside table and there's probably, I mean, I pick it up a couple times a week. Just truths. Just, yeah, they're like short, like fascicles, like short, like a section is not more than a couple paragraphs. But just kernels of wisdom. Sikonanon means vegetable roots. Like if you can eat vegetable roots and obviously they're not going to be very tasty,

but if you can enjoy and be grateful for those vegetable roots, it's about living very simply and having a good moral compass and how you treat other people. It's just like a roadmap for being a good person. Wonderful. Yeah. And it's in English? Yeah, there's numerous translations. Some are quite poor.

How do you spell it? Psychontan. S-A-I-K-O-N-T-A-N. Okay, I'm going to get it. Yeah, cyclone. Favorite band? Oh, stones. Stones.

That's not even a question. Okay. What's your favorite stone song? Oh, man, there's so many. Well, the earliest one would be satisfaction. That's a good one. Yeah, yeah. But I like honky talk woman.

Oh, I love one. I like that. I like honky talk woman. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like brown sugar, too. Oh, brown sugar. That's right up there, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I saw them, maybe you did too.

I saw them both at Clemson and in Columbia. I saw them at Clemson. Yeah, yeah. It's cool. All right. Favorite word? Gratitude. Nice.

I have this wonderful old ex-sales woman who worked for me. She was just so strong and asked her after the podcast, what was her favorite word? She was, winner. Yeah. All right. There you go. Well, I would say, you know, there's commercials about the world's most interesting man,

but I think you're the most interesting man that I've met anyway. I'm just so, so lucky to know you. You are kind. You know, I have the highest respect for you, and I'm sure you know this, but Greg Gardner just thinks you're right up there. He's correct. He's correct, of course. No, but you need to get out there and visit him.

Have you been out there? I have not. But I did see him a couple times here. In fact, you guys came to Ileana's concert. Yeah, of course. That was great. Yeah, that was wonderful. What a surprise that must have been to see Greg in the back of the room.

Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, well, thank you. so much for taking time. I know you've got so much you're going to do, but we appreciate all the stories and all the lessons. I just love the overall lesson that, you know, you can do a lot more in life than maybe you think you can. That's right. I mean, you're a Japanese expert and one and half the world in the keto and teaching it Furman and got a consulting company with Gillette and the CEO. I mean, I think we can all do more than we think. But you know what I never did? What's that? playing basketball with my uncle George.

That's right. We all got something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you very much. You the man. All right. Thanks.