The Ryan Leak Podcast - Navigating COVID As a Follower w/Scientific Games CFO Connie James

Episode Date: December 7, 2020

Connie James is the CFO at Scientific Games and has a lot of lessons learned from navigating COVID in 2020. Highlights from this episode: "To be able to pivot well during change, communication is critical."  "If you are frustrated with your team right now, take some time actually to get to know your colleagues."  "Talk about nonwork-related things.- Connie James  "I'm a big believer that you have to focus on things you can control." "A lot of people become focused on what is that next step. My counsel to them is to have a little patience but be absolutely excellent at what you do."-                             "Even in the darkest of moments, there is often opportunities to turn those into a positive." Check out ryanleak.com/followership for more episode show notes.

Welcome to followership with Ryan Leak, podcast design, you equip you with the tools you need to succeed in the workplace today. On followership with Ryan Leak, I have Connie James, who is the CFO of Scientific Games. We're going to talk a little bit about what all of that means. They work with casino, slot machines, and all types of fun stuff that we're going to hear a little bit about from her. Before we do that, I want you to know that the show notes from today's episode

can be found at Ryanleek.com. flash followership. Again, that's Ryanleek.com slash followership. On today's episode, we're going to be talking about how to successfully navigate through changes you are facing on the job due to COVID-19. Connie has some really great insight that I think is going to add value to your life. So without any further ado, let's jump into this conversation I had with Connie James. Connie, welcome to followership with Ryan Leak. How are you today? Thanks, Ryan. I am. wonderful and how are you?

I'm doing fantastic. It's such an honor to have you on here. Thank you so much for taking some time out of your busy week to be on a podcast today. Can you tell our listeners a little bit more about scientific gaming? It's fascinating to me because I've never, I've been to Vegas. I've played video games, but I've never ever seen behind the scenes or under the hood, so to speak, of how some of these organizations and casinos and how all of them work. So can you just tell us a little bit about your company?

Absolutely. So Scientific Games is really an end-to-end gaming solution provider. We are organized into three different divisions. We've got a lottery business. We've then got an online business. And then I'm CFO of the third pillar, which is really the gaming solutions business. Okay.

In its most simplest form, the way to think about the area that I help lead is if you walk into a casino and you see all of the table games products or the saw machines or the system, the casino management system that connects and pulls it together, we provide an end-to-end solution to those customers. And so it's a super exciting environment, as you can imagine, these various customers. But, you know, we really pride ourselves on what we call the power of the portfolio. We're really the only supplier in the industry that can offer that end-to-end solution. Oh, that's really cool. So, you know, obviously it's 2020, pandemic, COVID, you know, a lot of casinos were shut down. How has COVID-19 and 2020 impact that you?

guys' business and how have you how have you managed that? Sure. You know, it was interesting. I took this opportunity back in January and if someone had told me that, Connie, you're going to be joining scientific games to help lead a transformational growth opportunity and you're going to do it in the middle of a pandemic. I would have thought twice. But what I do know is I'm incredibly excited to be here. What really happened to us, as you can imagine, in March timeframe, is that there are so many unknowns with the pandemic, and we provide solutions to customers who operate in a casino environment and very quickly with the outbreaks in a number of states shutting down to contain the pandemic, our customers close.

And as we like to say, we exist because our customers exist. So very quickly, we had to pivot and we have a significant amount of debt on our balance sheet. And so cash preservation became critically important to ensure that we could just navigate effectively through this really unknown period of time. So being in finance, we were in a situation. where we had to really become stewards of the organization for the long-term and identified ways for us to, you know, take care of a number of employees, take care of our business and manage through that accordingly.

But it was needless to say, full of ambiguity and a number of very complicated decisions, which I'm very proud of the team coming together. and working through that. And we're in a much better place today. Yeah. And, you know, one of the questions I have, you know, you have a diverse background and leading high performance teams.

And I would imagine that the ability to pivot has been crucial for you and your team this year. How do you do that well? I'm thinking about our listeners who are following a lot of, of leaders like yourself and you know they're trying to figure out what a pandemic and what 2020 means for them and and and how to essentially they've already mentally started preparing for 2021 you know what advice would you give them to say hey here's here's how you pivot well you know I think there's

some people that just like change they enjoy change some people are forced to change and it's very very difficult for them you know what what have you seen or or what would you encourage our listeners with in terms of, man, how do we change better? How do we change faster? You know, what are your thoughts?

Yeah, it's, it is the million dollar question. And to your point, everybody naturally has a different level of tolerance and ability to work through change. So at its most fundamental level, it's really about communication.

And I say that because, you know, I think what COVID has really forced us to do is become much more specific about the way in which we interact and the level of communication we have. So, you know, a few things that very quickly happen with our team is, number one, as a leadership team, we started meeting daily just to say, okay, what's happening? What is the next course of action? And then with my team, it was, okay, how do we have daily standups to say, okay, here's the things that we need to accomplish. And then my expectation was that then they went and had those same conversations with their teams. And I think kind of, you know, when you think about this conversation as followership, it's really getting everybody to understand, as I like to call it, rolling goal clarity. So you know what the problem is that you're trying to solve. You know, frankly, in COVID, the solution to that problem is very opaque.

And in many ways, to your point, is still very opaque. So it's really breaking that down into saying, okay, well, what do we know that we can control today? What role do I play in that? And ensuring you've really got those formal levels of communication and that they're happening frequently enough. That's really huge. know, I think the other thing that a lot of our listeners end up struggling with is frustration with their team. I think it can just be an overall frustrating year for a lot of people, especially when you're zoomed out, burnt out. While there is some luxury to that of being

able to work from home, maybe work in your pajamas. And, you know, while there's some flexibility, you know, I think a lot of people are just missing that human connection. And depending on the state that they live in, some of them maybe get a little bit more of that than others. But what would you encourage someone with who is frustrated with their team and overall with where things are? Yeah, it's a great question. There's probably a few different elements that I kind of go to when I think about

how might you navigate through some of those feelings? And the first is, and I really believe this has to be kind of a fundamental way in which teams work is get to know your colleagues. And I say that because sometimes when teams form, they go straight into business in especially newly formed teams. And so I'll give you a personal example. So I became CFO of the Schaming Division in January, restructured the team, changed a number of elements and we go straight into a pandemic where you're working 14, 16, in some instances, 18 hours a day to work through, you know, the magnitude of the situation we were faced with. And what happened very quickly was I noticed a level of frustration and tension. And so when I peeled it back, I said, okay, we've got to have a time out. And I said, rather than me saying, hey, you should go talk to your colleague, really my

expectation of my little is a bit that you guys would just be doing that. Well, when I started to peel this back further, folks just didn't know each other. And they had never had that one-on-one conversation, which was not about business, just about, tell me your story. What is it that you do? How do I connect with you? And so we took a pause and my ask to the team was, you've got to have a 30 minute call, Zoom call with each one of your colleagues.

And you're not allowed to talk about business. You just need to get to know each other. And it sounds so simple. It sounds so simple. But yet it was so profound for the way in which then they reconnected and the way in which they could reach out to each other. The way in which, frankly, they could all of a sudden start to have some heart. conversations, which was, hey, you know what? You know, when you're doing this, this is how it makes

me feel. Or, hey, I'm not understanding the handoff between the two of us. Can we work that through? But by, you know, putting some of those positive chips into the bucket and really getting to know each other and really understanding that, you know, at the end of the day, we're really all just people showing up to do the best we can. And when there's a really... in most circumstances it's probably unintended, but it's reaching out, feeling comfortable to have those conversations to work it through. That's really good because, you know, I think a lot of people just don't do that. I think a lot of people just do their job. It might seem like the, but it's like, you know, you'd be surprised how many people go to work and don't even know everybody's name,

let alone their story or you know how they're what's going on with their family or you know sometimes it could be all professional no no personal um interaction or experiences with each other to say hey man how are you you know there can be something going on in their home there could be a reason why they're showing up the way that they're showing up on zoom at work and so i think that that's uh i think that's really good you know one one of the last one of the last one of the last one of questions I'd have for you is, you know, for our listeners today that, you know, maybe, maybe their frustration is with their specific role. You know, you've managed several teams of people that just, you know, lots of shifting and promotions. Some people perhaps even demote it.

How important is patience? How important is doing your current job well preparing you for that next role. You know, I hear a lot of people who are, there's this, this satisfaction with their, with their current role and they're not really sure. I don't know how much they really can control their own destiny given their position as a follower. So, you know, what would you say to that person? Yeah, it is true. And I'm a, I'm a big believer that you've got to focus on the things that you can control. And so for me, it's kind of breaking down what are those things that you can control. And, you know, when you start to do that, the list in many ways kind of becomes a bit longer, right? You can show up to work with the right attitude. I like to say you've got to own your energy.

And that sounds so simple, but it makes such a big difference. I mean, think about your interactions, people. When somebody comes in or shows up on a Zoom call in today's world, you know, with a little bit of energy and bounce in their staff, it makes you feel good. And when somebody is really kind of negative and pessimistic, kind of brings you down. And so I would say focus on some of the things that you can control. And for me, it kind of starts with owning your energy. Yeah. And the second is I like to say that, you know, a lot of people become very focused on, to your point, what is that next step? And my counsel to folks when I speak to them is, to your point, have a little patience.

But be absolutely excellent at what you do and ensure that you understand what is kind of. in that career path that you want to chart and how might you start to look at various options to navigate through that and for me I talk a lot about rolling goal clarity which is

kind of what is that role that you have today what are the goals that you're trying to achieve not only for your own personal development but also what contributions are you making to the organization and then understand the expectations of you and I say

not only from your manager, but think fully vertical. What are the expectations of your manager, but also that people that might report into you? Or think horizontally. What are the expectations that your peers have of you? How do you fit into the bigger piece of the puzzle? What is it that you can do than to understand that into and value chain? And then lastly, think about how what you do impacts your customers internally and externally. And by kind of having that mindset of I might do this specific thing, but it has a pretty profound impact.

And knowing that you're going to have to be agile and understanding how that might need to change and evolve. And codes a perfect example. The processes, the things that we used to do yesterday, in many instances just aren't relevant today or need to be modified. And, you know, I think being a follower in understanding that and then kind of, figuring out how you can step up to say, hey, by the way, we used to do it this way. Now we might need to think about it doing it a different way. We'll shine some light on those people that are willing to be adaptable. And in my experience, also gives them a little bit of the spotlight to say,

these are people that we have a lot of potential that we need to continue to keep an eye on and groom. And so I would say even in the darkest moment, there's often opportunities to turn those into a positive. Yeah. Last question. Well, it's a series of last questions. How big is the team you lead right now? Sure. So internationally, I think there's probably about directly that report into me about 40.

people. Okay. Of those 40 people, of those followers, what's the most impressive thing you've seen from one of your followers this year? There's a particular gentleman who works in my team, and he started in the organization in January again, and he was in a new role, and frankly, didn't know the ins and outs of this part of the organization. But what he did was stepped back and said, okay, I know I've been asked to do X and I'm not sure how we're going to do that, but he really took some time to say, let me think this through. Let me connect with my peers. Let me connect with others around me and come up with a solution. And it was this idea of there was no playbook for it.

There was no playbook. And all he knew was this is what the outcome needed to be. And through his own will and determination, and importantly, leading through others at his own peer level, he was able to come up with this beautiful design that allowed us to answer some questions that were what we like to call wicked problems. and I think that was just the most amazing thing about it, which was he was self-starting, innovative,

and reached across the aisle to work with others. And it's those type of skill sets that really, when I think about who do I want on the team, I take that time and time and time again. So I was writing down a bunch of notes as me and kind of were having that conversation. And so here's some things, here's some takeaways.

I want you to think about this week. This week, I want you to evaluate how your performance, attitude, and response has been since the pandemic started. I want you to just think about that for a second. Like, okay, has my performance gone down? Has my attitude change? And I just want you to kind of have a little bit of an attitude check and think, okay, how can I get better in that? And I want you to actually write down the areas that you've also grown since the pandemic. And think about, man, all right.

What are my strengths and weaknesses from this year? What are areas I grew in and what are some areas maybe I got worse in and do an evaluation thinking about heading into 2020. I want you to know that as you prepare for 2021, you don't have to wait until 2021 to start working on yourself. So even through the holiday season, while you are trying to figure out what that even looks like, whether you're traveling or not traveling,

hanging out of people or not hanging out with people, I want you to begin right now to start to develop the best possible habits that you possibly can. And that's what I want you to think about today. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of followership with Ryan League. Once again, the show notes from today's episode can be found on Ryanleek.com. If you found today's episode to be helpful, if you think it added value to your life, hey, why don't you go ahead and share it with a friend, rate us, review us, Five stars is preferred.

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