Start With A Win - Interview With Denver Mayor Michael Hancock

Episode Date: March 22, 2019

On this episode of the Start with a Win podcast, Adam is joined by Denver mayor Michael Hancock, who shares with listeners his approach towards leadership. Coming from a challenged background, Mayor Hancock as a prevalent sense of empathy for the people he encounters, and he is also able to keep the right perspective on the privilege of serving the great people of Denver. Waking up every morning with a sense of appreciation and humility allows him to stay focused and grounded not matter the good or bad circumstances that may come his way.Throughout his life, Mayor Hancock has come to realize that the most important thing in everyone’s lives is their relationships, and the same is certainly true in his role as Mayor. Over the years, his version of being a leader has shifted from conceptual and structural, focused on setting up the right structure and then finding the right team, to practical and focused on the people, forming the structure around the people. This allows for a more organic give and take between him and his team with clearer expectations and goals guiding their mission for the project or broader environment. When Mayor Hancock is confronted with challenges, he leans on the people around him and systematically approaches the issue one small step at a time. He does not impulsively jump to conclusions or action, but rather relies on his internal fortitude and awareness of the variables at play to lead him forward. Mayor Hancock starts every day by praying for himself and his family to have the strength and grace to approach the day and then having his personal devotions before anything else. He prioritizes touching base with his children – both the human and canine ones – before getting to work. At lunch, he sets aside time to exercise and get geared up for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

At top of the 12th floor of the REMAX World Headquarters, you're listening to Start With a Win with CEO Adam Kantos. And Adam Kantos here, top of the 12th floor of REMAX World Headquarters in beautiful Denver, Colorado, looking out over the Denver skyline here from our gorgeous window. Traffic's doing pretty good, if you're wondering. So I have a very, very special guest with me today, super honored to have with us the mayor of the city of Denver, Mayor Hancock. How are you doing, Mayor? Adam, I am so glad to be with you. This view is beautiful. You have awesome bumper music. I'm in the right place today. I love it. Glad to How are you doing, Mayor? Adam, I am so glad to be with you. This view is beautiful. You have awesome bumper music.

I'm in the right place today. I love it. I love it, man. Glad to be with you here at RE-MAX. Well, I'm honored to have you here. I mean, you're a leader. You do so much for the city. And this podcast is about how you develop that leadership, how we get into doing amazing things, not just for ourselves, but for others as a result of being the best that we can be. So you ready to dig into this? Let's get it on.

Right on, right on. So Mayor, when I was thinking about this, I was looking at what you do, who you are. You were hired by millions to be the CEO of their city. How do you wake up and think about that every day? I mean, what goes through your mind? Well, you know, first of all, it's an awesome, awesome privilege. And I count it as a privilege. This is not a right that I have. It's a privilege that the people have granted me to be their CEO, their leader of the city.

There's one mayor, and I recognize that. And so I get up with the sense of appreciation and privilege and humility and go about the job and never, ever make it about me. It's about the people, what's in the best interest of the people of Denver, the best interests of the city. And that keeps me grounded, but it also keeps me focused on the job. But I got to tell you, Adam, I don't wake up thinking about the millions who have appointed me because if I do, I go crazy every day. You just get up with the charge of saying, hey, this is an awesome privilege,

an awesome opportunity to make good for someone in this city, and hopefully it's for the vast majority of the people. That's very cool. I was talking to you before the show. Leaders a lot of times have something called the imposter syndrome where you kind of question yourself. You go, really? Me? You know, you look in the mirror and you go, wait a sec.

I'm the mayor of Denver? Yeah. You know, which is really, I mean, it's one of the premier cities in the United States. And people are moving here in droves to live in the city that you oversee. Do you ever kind of question yourself and go, why? Why? How did I get here? Yeah.

Absolutely. There are those moments where you have the epiphanies that, wow, how blessed am I to be mayor of the city? There's nothing about my background. I tell young people in particular, there was nothing about me growing up. There was nothing about my background. I tell young people in particular, there was nothing about me growing up. There was nothing about my background. I come from a very challenged background. But there was nothing about those moments in life that would say I would ultimately grow up to be mayor of the city.

But also I think about the fact that those moments, those challenging moments, helped mold me and shape me to be the mayor of this city. And to end up in this leadership role, because it gives me great empathy for everyone along the spectrum. Those who are challenged, those who have great success. It allows me to walk in any room and feel comfortable no matter where I am. And that's a true blessing. So yeah, there are moments when I step back and go, and it's those moments where you go, I'm the mayor and it's counting the blessings. I'll tell you a story that there was a time when President Barack Obama was still in office and he

came to Denver and he, you know, the protocols, you meet him at the airport and he comes down off the plane and you shake hands, you know, as he comes off of Air Force One. And he looked at me, he says, Mayor, are you going to the event tonight that he had flown in for? I said, yes, sir, I am. He says, come on, jump in the the beast and that's the presidential limo oh yeah and so i'm in the car and i'll tell you something adam you don't know eeriness until you get on the highway and there's no one on the highway but you and the motorcade right that's the weirdest thing in the world but we're driving and we're on i-225 headed to the Pepsi Center. And there was a moment when it hit me that I'm sitting across

from the most powerful man in the world. Wow. And I'm sitting there looking at this guy going, I'm sitting with the president of the United States and I have his captive audience for the next 20 minutes. That's amazing. Just us. And that was an amazing moment.

But it's those moments of epiphany and you go, wow, how did I end up here? That's incredible. I mean, it's those experiences in life that you look back on and you go, oh, how did I end up here? That's incredible. I mean, just it's, it's those experiences in life that, you know, you look back on and you go, oh, I can't wait to tell my grandkids about this or something like that. Exactly. They're going to go, no way. No, you weren't there. I was there, man. That's, that's unbelievable. That's unbelievable. And I mean, it's, it's interesting because people look at somebody of, of your stature, of, of, of the president's stature,

things like that. And, and they just, they shake their head and they go, I could never do that. But you're, you're a normal human being. I mean, I'm sitting here, I can vouch. You're a normal human being sitting in front of me here. And you go, wow, you're just, you're, you're just a cool dude that, that just cares about people. You know, you got to be a people of the people in order to run, you know, a city. You got to understand that. And that's really cool. So respect to you, man.

I really appreciate it. I appreciate it. I think one of the things that we can all learn about leadership is, you know, for the vast majority of us, and I'm talking about 99% of us, the most valuable anything we'll ever have are our relationships that are born of how we treat people. Right. And so that's the

reality is once you focus on the fact, it's about how I relate to you, how I treat you, how you treat me and the relationship that we create from that experience. Ultimately, that's the greatest asset we have. So cool. So cool. Yeah. I mean, it's about people and about people. That's, that's who we, I mean, we have 125,000 agents and brokers worldwide. And cool. Yeah. I mean, it's about people and about people. That's, that's what we, I mean, we have 125,000 agents and brokers worldwide. And we, when we get together, we, that's the first thing we talk about. It's about the people. Absolutely. So that's fantastic. So mayor, um, you didn't bring your Cape with you, but, but what is your superpower? What, you know, when you, when you think about yourself, when you take a step back and go, wow, I'm really, really good at that.

What is that superpower? Wow. You know, I say, you know, two things. One is I have an indomitable faith, one. And I think that helps me to keep just about any situation I walk into in the proper context. I don't get too high with the highs. I don't get too high with the highs. I don't get too low with the lows because faith keeps me centered. And the second one is, you know, I think there are two types of people in this world,

either a visionary or you are a nuts and bolts, an implementer. And I am a visionary. I see things. I can imagine things. And the ability to see the big picture for me has always proven to be one of the greatest assets I have. Because once I see the big picture, then I can begin to work with the implementers on how we get there. And I love that response because that is one of the key responses of top business leaders. Right.

And people, you've got to be able to take a step back and go, all right, let me just kind of survey the landscape here and figure out, is this good for people? Is this good for the direction of the organization? Yeah, absolutely. And it's critical to have that sense of awareness, in particular, on what role you play. Am I the visionary? Am I the implementer? Because once you determine where you stand, then you begin to surround yourselves with those who complement your weaknesses, if you will, or the things that you are not. And so since I'm a visionary, I know I need people who are nuts and bolts, A to B focused on implementation, who are the superstars in terms of the operations. I love it. I love it. So going through that, you run into big challenges, I'm sure. I mean, yeah, it's, you know, if it's not a snowstorm or something happening in the city of

Denver or, you know, you're, you're working on passing some laws or whatever it might be. I don't know exactly what the bear does every day, but I'm sure you have some pretty massive challenges that you face. What do you think of to help you get through those challenges? How do you align yourself? You know, I think it's important to recognize that every challenge comes with its own size, if you will. And the reality is I look at everything as an elephant, no matter what the challenge might be. And we all know the old saying, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And that's ultimately how you have to attack challenges. Once you identify what the challenge is, you've got to be able to just systematically eat at that challenge

in order to address it. And that's how I approach those challenges. How do you convince your people of that? How do you convince, I mean, because you can summon a lot of resources as the mayor of Denver. How do you take and gather up so many people and convince them of your dream of eating that elephant one bite at a time? You know, I think part of it, Adam, and your leader, once people get used to your leadership style, they know how to come at you as well, right? Right.

So visionary people, for example, myself, we get very bored and frustrated with the details, if you will. I mean, don't come in and bog me down in detail. Start with, here's the bottom line, and then we'll work back on the details as I need to know more information about how we arrived at that moment, what happened, blah, blah, blah. But here's the details. There was an accident on I-25. Two cars hit one another. Boom.

We got the facts. Now tell me what happened. Was someone driving too fast? So the details, the details. So once you and your people and you've surrounded yourself with the right people who have taken the time to kind of understand your leadership style and you understand theirs, now I know what to expect from you when you walk through that door. They know how to come at me. They'll tell you, give the mayor this and let him guide you to the information he needs from you. And so everybody just kind of learns how to work with each other.

And not one size fits all. You've got to learn to be strategic in how to treat each other and how to work with each other based on your style. There's some profound ideas in what you just said. I mean, it's, let's unpack this a little bit. So, I mean, you mentioned a couple of things and, and something I noticed, you know, you talked about people working with people and how you kind of fit those gears together appropriately because some gears don't fit together. How do you measure that? I mean, you know, you've got different personalities. You know, if you put a couple of people in a room together, that those people will come out, you know, all scratched up and bloodied and bruised, you know, emotionally or whatever it might be. But if you put other people in a room, you know,

you'll get those people coming out having created something amazing. So how do you measure that? How do you pick that? Because you have a lot of people in the city and county of Denver that are directly impacted by your leadership, that directly deal with the projects that you have. And you as a leader have to pick how you create those. And obviously, there's some expectations out there as well, like, hey, guys, let's all get Yeah. But how do you fit your leaders together? Well, one is you must be aware and take the time to get to know your leaders. And, and again, I talked about your sense of awareness, which is, I think one of the very first steps to being an effective leader. Who am I? What is my style? What drives me crazy? What pushes my button, our buttons?

And the reality is that I don't want anyone who is adept at pushing my buttons because that's going to be their goal in life. And you don't want to be around people who say, that person just drives me crazy. But the reality is that you must take the time to be aware, not only of yourself, but take the time to be aware of the people you've hired. I mean, it does take time to get to know your co-workers. It does take time to kind of figure out what gets them going, what makes them tick. And I think that's a real strategic leader,

one who says, you know, to make my team work effective, I got to know really where everybody is and what gets them moving. So what I got deep down in there is that you're involved with your leaders. I hope so, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's not like, hey, let's hire this person.

I don't get to talk to them anymore. No, no, no, no, no. I mean, you know what they're about. Yeah, I hope so. I hope I get to know who they are. I know a little bit about them personally in terms of their family and their upbringing, where they came from. If I have a sense of where you've come from,

then I might even have a better sense of how you might respond to certain situations, you know? Right. And, you know, it's interesting. Once you kind of figure those things out, you'll know how to handle people, how much you can give them, what they can bear and what they cannot bear. And, you know, in conjunction with how they're reacting when they have certain situations pressed upon them.

Cool. Wow. That's a big leadership lesson. I love it. I love it. So let's talk a little bit more about leader. You've, you've been leading the city and County Denver in your, your position for eight years now, eight years. Wow. That's, that's awesome. I mean, that's like, that's like a full career for a lot of people there and, and, and still going strong, man. So, so kudos to you.

How, how has your version of the term leader changed over those eight years? I think it's less conceptual. We've been talking about concepts here, but I hope you see that I transition more to the people side of it because people respond to people. They respond to relationships. They respond to who respects them, who doesn't, who inspires them, who doesn't. So typically years ago, you would have asked me maybe 10 years ago, what is leadership to you? I'm like vision, the ability to convey that vision, the ability to motivate and inspire people toward that vision.

But today I'll say, you know what, leadership to me is really engaging the people that I work with and really letting them understand what my expectations are but also learning their expectations for themselves as well as for the organization and using that to kind of form our team and still falling in on the concept side, but making sure I start with them as human beings. So they feel worthy and they feel like they matter in this space. And I think once people do that, they'll go through a fire for you and the organization. And I also say to them, I want you to love the organization more than you love me. Because at the end of the day, I'm a man and a human, and we will disappoint one another.

But if you are mission-based and mission-driven for this organization, then nothing should fail us. We will always be focused on the same objective. You have a very intentional look at the balance between that conceptual, structural, and relational. As a new CEO, if you will, a new mayor, you're very structural. You go, okay, I've got to set things up this way. We've got to have these things written out in our business plan, our strategy and stuff. And then you kind of swing the other direction. You go, all right, people, people. So, and then eventually you kind of find a happy place in the middle there.

Yeah. You gotta, you gotta invest in people. You gotta feel worthy. They gotta feel like they matter in this space. You know, we all have seen organizations or people who are so focused on the values and the objectives and, and simply just the, the organization and they haven't taken the time to invest in people. They try to fit the people within that structure as opposed to the structure sometimes being formed around the people. And sports analogies, most successful football teams I've known are those that are built to focus on the strengths of their top players, right? The New England Patriots, for example. it's all about Tom Brady and what his strengths are. And he's a very much a part of the game planning as anyone,

you know, the coaches. And so that you can look at that and go, that's how we should run our organizations as well. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, hopefully Joe Flacco is, oh my, yes, yes. Hopefully he kind of, kind of falls into place with the Broncos that way. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I was listening to this point. I was listening to a radio sports show the other day, and it was an offensive lineman who played with Peyton Manning here in Denver. Okay.

And he said, we were so excited when we signed Peyton Manning. And he says, as an offensive lineman, he said, you know, we were driven by the mission and we wanted to win. He said, but the moment you got Peyton Manning, who was about us and we were about him, there wasn't anything we wouldn't do to protect that guy behind us. Powerful, powerful moment to listen to him because that was a leadership lesson. We cared about this person. But it was also, it was driven by the mission of winning.

But this guy, because he invested in us and we were invested in him, we would do nothing to protect this guy. That's amazing. We had another one of the linemen on the podcast a few episodes ago. We had Ryan Harris. Ryan's a good friend. I know Ryan. He's a cool dude.

He is a cool dude. And it's funny because he says exactly the same things that you're saying Orlando said. So, I mean, talk about a culture. Yeah, it was a culture. And you can see now, now we've got two linemen that we both can confirm said the same thing. So you can see it was something that permeated through the organization. That's right. So Mayor, I have one more question. So we, you know, the Start With A Win podcast is about creating success every day,

setting yourself up as a leader to continue to grow. You know, you've got to be better tomorrow than you were yesterday in order to really perform at your highest level. How do you define starting your day with a win? Because, I mean, you take care of yourself. I know you're involved spiritually with your friends. You know, you're involved in civic groups, things like that. How do you kind of give me of give us a little insight into how does Michael Hancock start with a win? Well, it's interesting.

I start every day. I won't let my feet touch the ground unless I say a prayer for myself and my entire family. And it's really asking for grace and cover during the day, not knowing what to expect, but grace and cover for the day and do my devotions while I'm in bed. And then I rise up. And it is important that you take care of yourself. So prayer starts with that or prayer helps you to start with that. You know, obviously you're grooming, you're getting ready, but also, you know, keeping your priorities in order. I don't leave the house without saying goodbye to my family or I love you and starting my day with my children who are no longer in the

house with, Hey, good morning. Hope you'd have a blessed day. Have a good one. And, and so, and of course my dogs, you know, uh, they're my heart and soul makes where I feed them and they're ready for day. If I know they're okay, we're all going to be family and dogs are okay. We're all going to be okay. So you start with the priorities that gives me the foundation to get going. Right. And to your point, exercise is important. I know I got to get to exercise and the team will tell you, I don't like to miss my exercise. Cause that's my self investment that we all self care. We all have to take care of self. And so being able to exercise that self but get away from the stress and the pressures of the day. I do that at lunch as opposed to the beginning of the day because it breaks the day up

and it gives me what I call my jets for the rest of the day, which could last until 8 o'clock at night, 9 o'clock at night. So those things are important. So, yeah, if you think about it, priorities, faith, family, self-care, and then the rest falls into place and it helps me to remain focused going forward. That's right, Mayor. It's been amazing to have you on the program. Thank you so much for your time today and sharing these really insightful bits of wisdom that help us with what we do. And that's Start With A Win. Anytime, man. Thank you, Adam.

Thank you. Enjoyed you as well. Thank you so much for joining us today. Make sure to head over to startwithawin.com to get more great content. Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Adam on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

And remember, Start With a win.