The Ryan Leak Podcast - How To Stand Out with Elliot Davis

Episode Date: November 13, 2023

Elliot Davis knows what it takes to stand out having had roles at significant companies doing talent development. Join Ryan and Elliot for this episode of Followership!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to followership with Ryan Leak. Once again, this is a podcast designed for the other side of leadership. I realize that there are so many resources all around the world, so many conferences, books on leadership, not that many resources for the other side of leadership, which is following well. Today's guest is a very good friend of mine, Elliot Davis. Now, what you need to know about Elliot Davis is he is by far the only other person in the world that I get compared to the most. Okay.

He's often referred to as my twin or I'm his twin. We got connected at a church called Chase Oaks. And when we saw each other, we were basically wearing the same. outfit. He was wearing a different color of Air Force Wands that I was wearing, but like flannel, different color, but it was very similar. At one point, we had a similar haircut, but nevertheless, man, Kendrit Spirit, we then got, we got a meal together.

He worked for a rather large company, which we will not say their name for NDA reasons, but they sell insurance and wear red shirts. That's all I'm going to say. Okay. We're just going to throw that. I didn't say their name, but whatever. And he said, man, we'd love to bring in and do some leadership stuff there. And so he cracked the door open for me to be able to do some things there. So super grateful for him. And I've just gotten to know them over the past couple of years we both have young kids married uh we're both into basketball so so people's twin references sometimes when you get compared or somebody says oh i saw your doppel danger and they point that person out you see them and you get offended

you're like that's what you think about me wow but in this case Ellie i'm like man ellis a sharp dude like you know what if i'm mistaken for this brother you know what that is not the worst thing that can happen today. He has a daughter around the same age as my son. We are considering in a range marriage, but that is

still TBD pending both of their behaviors and personalities and whatnot. But nevertheless, welcome to followership with Ryan Leak, my friend Elliot Davis.

Elliot, what's going on with you, man? Ryan. Thank you, man. I appreciate it. There's a lot going on there. I got to tell a story about that, too. The first time I ever heard the name Ryan League, I was in the drive-thru at Chick-fil-A, and I pull up to the window, and she hands me my food, and she does this weird double-take. And I'm like, did my card decline? I don't think I look that weird. I wear glasses. I had my glasses. is on and she just goes, I have to tell you this, you look like my youth pastor and, which is a very strange opening line for me. I'm not a pastor.

And I, and I've never been a youth pastor. That's even funnier, but go on. Oh, and so I'm just like, who is this, who is this dude? Who, like, um, and that, I don't know how long ago that was. weirdly enough, you are at Chase Oaks. I've been going to Chase Oaks for a while now. My wife and I and our family. I had the opportunity to hear you deliver a ton of really awesome messages.

And I don't think we ever really talked about this, but you gave a message on a Friday night that was so impactful. And we'll get into my background and what I do. I told my wife that this dude needs to come and talk to our team. He needs to talk to our organization. You already alluded to work for a very large insurance organization. We don't need to get into the specifics, but a great organization. And I knew the message that you had needed to be shared.

We talked about this. And we brought in a lot of speakers, really big names. And I won't say any of those names. But I'll just say, you, in my opinion, obviously, I'm biased. one of the most impactful stories on our audience, whether it be leaders, teams. I know my team, they're biased because they know we're friends, but it was a great message.

And so I'm glad that we've been able to build a relationship, see the things that you're doing. I tell people all the time, Ryan's the same guy, whether he's working, whether he's on the stage, I've been with you in basketball games and seeing people, you know, You know how basketball games can get. You're not, you have a lot more patience than I do in some of those settings. So I appreciate the opportunity.

Sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. No, we get it. So, no, just looking forward to chat today about helping people, right? Helping people be their best selves and, you know, get to peak performance. Yeah. Well, tell us about your role inside organizations and then tell us a little bit about

Um, Ellie is a part of our, our coaching platform as well and, uh, is actually just on boarded a brand new client just a couple of weeks ago. Super excited about that. So I, I want our audience to hear a little bit about the work that you've done, uh, inside Fortune 100 organizations and also a little bit about the work that you do outside of it. Yeah. Yeah, I would love to. Yeah. I think the simplest way to say that, Ryan, is I'm a talent development leader, um, inside an organization. I've had the luxury of now working in multiple corporate settings.

On top of, I have a background in the Marine Corps. I can kind of go through that whole story. But what I do presently is help both leaders and just individual contributors, any employee, with whether it be program, solutions, services that allow them to be better professional. Usually that doesn't necessarily fall in the technical functional components of their job. If you're an accountant or valuations analyst or a claims manager, I'm not helping you be necessarily handle more claims faster or I'm not helping you assess a property at a deeper level or with more technical functional expertise.

I'm really focused on the personal development of it. How can I help you be a better communicator, be a better listener? If you're a leader, how can I help you cast a vision that's going to allow your team to have impact and achieve your mission. If you're on a team, how do I help you be a good teammate, right? How do I help you be a good follower? Like I know we're going to get into, those sorts of things. And making sure that we bring people together in a way that they can build networks

because we know relationships are so important in terms of career growth, personal growth. But then also, if you have a goal, how can get clear on that goal to help you achieve it? I'll say outside of my professional role in organizations, Because of folks like you and other friends that we've had, I've been pushed to take my talent in help more people, really expand that scope. We've had some conversations of, man, what are you doing? You could be helping more people, which I appreciate having folks like you in my life to be able to have tough conversations, which is things that I now am helping with other people, right? Having tough conversations of are you doing what you need to be doing?

are you actually down in the path of reaching your goals? And because I'm not busy enough, I love basketball. I spend a lot of my time coaching basketball as well, which is just in that theme of helping people. So I got a few questions just even based off of your expertise. One, how does one get into talent development? Like, do you go to school for that? Is there like, what is your, what has historically been your, job title. It doesn't seem like a traditional role, but I know obviously it exists all across

corporate America, but I'm curious, how do you get into talent development? Yeah, right. I would say it's one of those best kept secrets. So, and I kind of stumbled into it. And I think you hear that as a theme of a lot of folks who kind of work in this space of it's not something that as a fourth grader, you're like, hey, I want to do that thing, right? Or I want to be a, say, an L&D manager or I, or I want to be a, say, an L&D manager, or I want to be a talent strategy, man. You never heard anybody said it. Our kids don't say that. Maybe you're going to see Ryan Lee kind of stage and like, I want to do that.

That looks cool. They usually don't see folks in my role of facilitating a session or coaching leaders or doing a 360 assessment. And so I'll take it back to I left the Marine Corps. I was still in school, working through school. and after my time of the Marine Corps, I kind of had this gap in, when you're in the military or the armed forces, you have this purpose that is so clear, right?

And when you leave, it can be a really difficult process of reconnecting to a purpose in terms of the work that you do, right? The thing that I'm going to spend the majority of my life doing is no longer X, and so trying to find that new space of what is it, right? What is that purpose?

How do I align that with my talents? And so I'm working in the organization that we just talked about. And I'm in operations. I'll just say that, helping customers. And because of the relationships that I built through training and just the work that I've been doing, my supervisor comes up to me with this question really is a statement of, hey, you're good at talking to people in public speaking. I think we should try and move you into this role.

And I know of an opening that's coming up. And I'm, again, it's almost similar to the Chick-fil-A. employee telling me that I looked like Ryan Lee. I'm like, uh, okay. Because I was also smart enough to know. You don't say no to an opportunity, right? Next thing you know, I'm in front of groups of 30, 50, 60 people every single day, training them on how to do their job.

And so that was my entryway into what we call learning and development, talent development. And I found in love with it. I found a passion spot. It aligned me back to helping people, which is that purpose of something. that I've just been kind of doing my entire life. And it's a really weird thing, Ryan, because I feel like it's so selfish because for me, it's the most rewarding thing in the world. That time when you see a kid that you've been putting in a lot of work with hit that

game winning jumper or that person who is delivering a message in a meeting and you know they were so nervous, right? They were so nervous. They weren't confident in themselves. but through coaching, be able to help them get clear and just get away from that imposter syndrome and deliver and execute and achieve their goals. I love it.

It's one of the most rewarding things in the world. I know you've seen that happen in real time. And so long story short, my career just kind of from a learning and development in a human resources standpoint just took off from there. I went from doing just real functional training in a classroom. to then building programs and working with senior leaders, working with folks like yourself or trying to scout,

who do we need to have come and talk to our leaders that might be able to shift their perspective and give them a nugget that they need to help our organization be better. Today, I work with very senior leaders, whether it be C-Suite or CEOs, in doing the same thing of preparing them to share a message and giving them a platform to be able to help our organization or our ecosystem grow.

I love that. So talent development, talent management, can call it talent retention. When we talk about talent, what are we talking about? Can we list, if someone's listening to this right now and they're going, I want to grow my career, I want to grow in our organization. When you think about what C-suite leaders are looking for from a talent perspective, what comes to mind when you think,

of talent. What's something that someone can acquire versus natural? I got a bunch of questions just within that scope. But first, I want you to answer when you think about talent development, what is, what are we talking about when we say talent? Yeah. I think the easiest way to define that, Ryan, is any human in an organization working to try and achieve a goal is the definition of talent. Right. So when we use that word in human resources, I know it's maybe sometimes weird to think about it this way, but we as people, and whether it's working at Ryan Lee Group or whether it's where I work, at Ravantage, we are a resource for the organization to achieve its goals, right? So you might hear that called human capital, talent, like, whatever the definition or the verb is that's used. And I personally believe everybody, everybody, the organization is talent. Whatever role that you're playing, you are helping that organization achieve its goals, whatever goal it may be, right? And the simplest way to unpack that is, in terms of talent development, talent management, is how are you helping that person do their job

better or remove barriers for them to be able to continue to excel and grow in their career? Not everybody wants to be a leader, right? Not everybody is equipped to be a good leader. And you need folks in every seat to be one confident, right? And competent in their role of what you're asking them to do. And that's what we do, right? We help talent. But really the simplest way to put that is we help people succeed in the work that we do. Yeah.

So I'm venturing to guess that there's a lot of people that don't see themselves as talent. Some people, I would imagine simply see themselves as a number in an organization. Sure. Do you think it's important that somebody adapts a mindset that says, no, I see myself as talent? Or dare I say talented? You think that's important? Absolutely it is, right? So we were talking a little bit about imposter syndrome, right? And unfortunately, I believe most of us probably 99% of humans deal with that at some point in their life, right? Of this feeling of less than. I would, I was, I was interviewing a CEO and she said the most beautifully way that I've ever heard is stated. And imposter syndrome is simply feelings of inadequacy despite the evidence otherwise. And so when I hear someone say, or I'm just a number or I'm just a cog in the wheel, and for me, I'm immediately going to push back on that. And I want to better understand why are you having that dialogue with yourself, right?

we've heard the conversation of you would never let someone else talk to you that way. So helping them shift perspective and get to a place where they have more of a growth mindset and thinking, you're here. I personally believe in my faith that we all have a purpose on this earth. And if you do feel that way in an organization, maybe you're not in the right seat. But first and foremost, we need to be able to change your mindset for you to be able to first realize, what are you sealed in? What are you passionate about?

Maybe we can align those things with your purpose, but first and foremost, we got to address the conversation that's happening in your hand because you are talented in something. You might not be as talented as your grandmother said you were or your mom said you were. But you are talented in something, and I will argue to my death,

there's a place in someone's organization for you. Now, if I'm just being honest, sometimes that's a hard conversation of maybe you aren't in the right place or maybe you're going through a transition and someone told you you weren't in the right place and you, they coach you to a different situation. You can still come back from that for sure. And you still have talent and you still have, you have value provide. Even if it's just to first yourself, that way we can get you moving forward.

Now, let's just say we are looking at talent and we're assessing talent. And for conversation's sake, let's say we were ranking people on a scale of one to 10, which maybe isn't fair, but let's just say we've got some fives on the team, we've got some sevens on the team, we've got some nines, maybe some tens. In your experience, do you think a person can jump from a five to an eight? Do you think that there is a limit to what a person can go from? What is natural nature versus nurture? How, how, what is a realistic jump that somebody can make over the course in their career for the average person?

Obviously, your outliers can go from zero to ten. You know, they started from nothing and now they are, you know, a billionaire. Okay, great. For the average person, what should be the realistic expectation for how much development they can truly experience? Man, that's a reflective question, Ryan, in a difficult one. But, and I want to come back to something that we've talked about in the past. But I think for the average person, you, you competently should be able to, man, and I'll put it in terms of maybe title. right, in roles.

For the average person, for me to tell you, you can become a CEO one day is unrealistic, if I'm just being honest. I like to consider myself to be a truth teller. And if I just unpack that even a little bit more, what I mean by it is the average person probably is not going to lead a Fortune 100 organization as a CEO. Now, is there is there a role in a position for you within an organization

that is a Fortune 100 company or a company that just really aligns with your values. Absolutely. Now, does that mean you have that role as you managing people? Maybe not. That might not be a skill set for you. But can you be enthusiastic about the value you bring to the team? Absolutely. Can you one day become a senior level individual onset team?

I think so for the average person. And I think competence obviously comes in. to play, but that's something that we can work on over time. But I think enthusiasm and mindset is really where that starts, right? So going back to growth mindset, I wholeheartedly believe if you think you can, you probably can up to an extent. I'm not going to the NBA. I know one out of seven times that I step on a basketball court, I'm probably going to roll my ankle. But what I do know is I can play very aggressive defense. I can rebound. I can talk. I can communicate. And as I relate that back to the corporate environment, how do you show up every day, right? That affects how far you go.

How do you help your leader get the job done and achieve your team's mission? I'll talk a lot about mission based on my background in the Marine Corps, but I think everyone has the ability to help a team achieve a mission. If I just were to simply answer your question there, are you going to make a million dollars a year? Maybe not. But can you, should you be in a position to take care of your loved ones and yourself. Absolutely. I don't think that there are many situations that someone can't do that on a consistent basis.

What in your coaching practice, what are you encouraging people to do in order to put themselves in a position to step into a C-suite role? So for example, we realize that obviously you need a lot of things to go right for you to end up in one of those roles. But what are the things that people can control that they can be working on so that if an opportunity does present itself,

they're ready for that role. Again, so many things outside of their control, you know, politics of an organization, male, female, color of skin. There are so many things that can go into someone being elevated in an organization. But what are some of the things that you think everybody can control? And so I say controlling their own destiny,

but controlling their own path of how much they're developed. Yeah. Ryan, I would start with self-awareness. So if I'm coaching a individual contributor or a leader, do you have self-awareness as to where you are right now? and do you have a solid enough description of what your brand is in the organization, especially for a leader who has aspirations at that level?

And do you have folks that are going to be truth tellers to you? That's something that I can do as a coach. But if I'm not in your organization, I'm usually getting one side of that story. So I'm a big fan of multi-rater assessments or 360. assessments. What's your favorite one? I would say for me, I've worked with an organization named Corn Ferry pretty extensively at the previous organization we talked about. And so I'm just familiar with it. And I love the fact of some of these larger organizations that have data to compare it to. So they can compare your feedback or your, whether it be a psychometric assessment

to a profile. And usually organizations will build their own profile. And usually organizations will build their own profile of here's what an effective leader looks like for us, right? And they can be able to tell that story. So, so as I think I go back to self-awareness is really where it starts for me. And then once we're aware, we can then, then we want to get clear, right, in terms of goal setting. And goal setting for me is really about the process of building a development plan. That way you can be working on something. Because you hear it all the time, Ryan, of, ah, I was working on this thing, or I got passed over for this promotion. And then you asked, so what were you doing about it?

How were you preparing yourself for the interview? How are you preparing yourself to really knock your workout over the last performance cycle? And then you hear there really wasn't a plan, right? And whether it be in basketball or whether it be in a corporate setting, if you don't have a plan, you just wish. And wishing isn't a good solution in any situation. So that's going to allow us to really then focus on what are the specific things that you need to work on from a development perspective? Where is where the personal development comes in?

Do you need to go back to school? Do you need to spend more time building relationships and really learning how to navigate the organization? Do you need to be working with a coach, which probably at that point you hopefully already are? Or maybe even do you need to increase the competency that you have in your role? that way you can show your leader or you can show their peers or whomever it is that you're already ready for this situation or you're ready to take on additional responsibility. So if I were just go back on that, it starts with self-awareness. You've got to know where you are. You've got to be a clear plan and hopefully you're working with someone who can help hold you accountable to said plan and be a true teller for you.

And then last but not least, it's executing on that of what are those things that are going to allow you to succeed and get you to that next level. Man, I love that, man. And I hope that each and every one of our listeners is, has somebody in their corner that is asking them these kinds of questions that serves as a truth teller in their space in one way or another? Shameless plug, we have a coaching platform where there are quite a few people that would love to play that role in your life if that's where you are on your journey. We would love to serve you in that way. I think the best people in the world, they all have coaches from Taylor Swift to professional athletes, obviously. I think it's very difficult to succeed without a coach.

And so I encourage you guys to check out our coaching platform. Elliot is on it. Elliot, where else could people connect with you, LinkedIn, anything that you want to share where people can connect with Elliot Davis? Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the easiest ways you can definitely find me on LinkedIn, L.A. Davis. You can also find me on Ryanleek Group.com. Make sure I said that right, Ryan.

And I just want to touch on this, that story you just told of the impact of a coach. We have another coach that we work with, G., who is a superstar track athlete, right? And I'm not a superstar track athlete, but I tell you the story of in 2021, I overcame a fear. with the help of the coach. And so when Ryan and I talk about the importance of coaching, we're in it, right? We've been through that process. Right.

I can swim despite stereotypes. I can swim decently well. I'm a runner by nature, had never been on a bike. And I got this weird hair from a friend who pushed me. It said, you're going to complete a triathlon. It was a milestone birthday.

And I was like, all right, I'm going to do it. I'm in. Signed up. Not necessarily thinking about the fact. that I had to swim for a mile. So, Ryan, I get in the pool and I go like 50 yards and I can't breathe.

And I'm like, this ain't going to work. There's no way for me to be able to swim a mile. I can't even swim half a mile. So same thing that we're talking about right here. I went and found a coach. And shout out to Gabriel, who was my swim coach. And I felt like I was six years old. He was critiquing my strokes.

He was telling me how to breathe. but the moral of that story is I'm a triathlete now. I completed that with the help of a coach. I still don't love swimming long distances in open water, but I can tell you you can achieve anything if you have the right people in your corner. So I appreciate you giving the opportunity to share and thanks for everything you do.

That sounds like. Well, my friends, thank you so much for checking out this episode of followership with Ryan League. Elliot, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to be on today's episode. If today's episode added value to your life, share with a friend, rate us five stars, and don't forget to subscribe. Elliot, it was a pleasure, my friend.

Thank you, Ryan. Appreciate you, brother.