Mr. Iacocca! What did you just say!

"Mr. Iacocca! What Did You Just Say!"

Transcript (for general use only – machine-generated and it may not be accurate)

[00:00:00] Dave: So, you get a chance to meet one of your all-time favorite business heroes, a national, uh, check that, internationally known icon. It starts off pleasant. Then it turns ugly fast. I hated this encounter for months until I finally let it become my number one all time. Episode one. Welcome Mr. Iacocca, what did you just say? 

[00:00:26] Show Intro: Hi, I'm Dave and I'm Kelly. And this is my job here is done. If you really want that next promotion or you're a rising star entrepreneur, we have some stories to tell that will absolutely help you. I've been starting and running businesses all my life. And I've worked for the man, like a dog for decades together, we'll share stories, ideas, and notions that will help you absolutely soar past that cruiser sitting next to you. And if you're grinding forward with your growing business, we know where the landmines are. Let's find them. Hey, it's only about 20 minutes. Well, do you have. For everything.

[00:01:11] Kelli: Thanks for joining us today. 

[00:01:12] Dave: Hi, I'm Dave 

[00:01:13] Kelli: and I'm Kelli. And this is my job here is done. Episode number one. We're so excited to share our stories with you and it starts today. 

[00:01:21] Dave: It's going to be cool. Head on over to my job here is done dot com and you can get all the information about the show.

[00:01:30] Kelli: This is the one about Dave getting schooled by his hero, Lee Iacocca.

[00:01:34] Dave: Hey, it was a tough day for cocky young Dave. I can tell you that right now, let's hear the story. So you have to go back about 25 years, I looked up to a number of different, you know, business icons and Lee Iacocca was one of them. 

[00:01:53] Kelli: So this is what I know about Lee Iacocca, whose real name by the way was Lido.

Lee was a nickname. He was an American automobile executive. He joined Ford right out of college, worked his way up the ladder to the president of the company

[00:02:07] Dave: you can go all the way up to being the president of a major company. It happens right. Hey, the dude created the Mustang. What could be cooler than that?

[00:02:22] Kelli: The soccer mom vehicle of choice, the minivan. 

[00:02:25] Dave: Yeah, not quite. 

[00:02:26] Kelli: How about the Pinto? 

[00:02:28] Dave: So, you know, if everybody remembers the story of the Pinto, that wasn't as popular as the Mustang, if you just backed into something hard, those things would burst into flames. The whole gas tank would like blow up. They were like $2,000 back then everybody had one.

[00:02:41] Kelli: I remember because my mom had one. If you recall, I do anyway. So Lee, he went on to revive Chrysler, as it was circling the drain. He was president CEO and chairman until he retired. 

[00:02:58] Dave: So this guy, not only did he move from Ford, first of all, he got fired by Henry Ford the second, actually fired Lee Iacocca. And it's rumored to be because Ford didn't like strong voices in his company. 

[00:03:16] Kelli: You would think you would appreciate that, but that's okay. 

[00:03:18] Dave: Hey, listen, I've been there. Right? 

[00:03:20] Kelli: I get it. 

[00:03:21] Dave: So this guy goes to Congress, so they're broke, completely broke Chrysler, Chrysler, like circling the drain. Big time. He goes in front of Congress and he says, please guarantee like a billion-dollar loan.

[00:03:38] Kelli: Wow. 

[00:03:38] Dave: And do you know what Congress did? They guaranteed the billion-dollar loan to bail Chrysler out. So everybody thought he was. But none of the banks would give them the money they needed in order to continue to move along. And things were just really bad because foreign automobile makers in, in, uh, Germany and Japan were actually doing a much better job than American car manufacturers.

The quality was really good. There were things called planned obsolescence where, you know, cars had parts that would fail. You know, purposely after a period of time. Right. And it wasn't cool. You know, so, uh, Lee had decided that he was going to build an automobile that was better than the foreign automobiles.

And he was very proud of it. He was a Patriot. The guy was the first one to actually say, make America Great Again, because he was going to be a politician, you know? 

[00:04:36] Kelli: Well, you know, all of these details about Lee Iacocca because not only did. But you have his book. 

[00:04:42] Dave: I have a signed copy of his book. That's pretty cloth.

It is pretty cool. I had a really unique opportunity. Lee Iacocca was going to visit a few businesses and they were looking for a small business, a medium-sized business, and a large business. And I had a small business. And all you had to do is really articulate well in writing, why you want Lee Iacocca like to come to your place?

That's pretty cool. And, and I that's all I wanted. I just thought it would be really cool because I've got this growing company about 30 employees at the time, you know, I was just moving out. It's moving along and, and Lee Iacocca could possibly come. Right. That's good. That's a big deal to me. It was a huge deal.

So I wrote my thesis of why you should come and visit me. And a couple of weeks later, I'm not even thinking about it. And all of a sudden I get a phone call and it's, Hey, we need to set up a time for Mr. Iacocca to come visit your company. Wow. And I was like, you've got to be kidding me. 

[00:05:52] Kelli: That's so exciting.

[00:05:54] Dave: So anyway, the day comes and I'm at my, and I'm at my desk and I get a call from the front receptionist who says, Hey, Dave, Mr. Iacocca is here, right? Well, I'm going to call him Lee. So I go out, I shake his hand. Uh, Lee was a big guy. He wasn't fat or anything. He was Husky. He was like, yeah. I mean, when he was in front of.

You knew that you were in the presence of somebody who commanded authority. Right. And it, it was, uh, it was just amazing to me that this guy standing in my little companies, you know, front hallway and he had a couple of people that were sitting around and you know, it wasn't like he was in some big entourage, you know, he probably had driver, you know, who knows.

Yeah. Did they all come back? No. Oh no, no, no, just him. It was great. It's like, you know, Put his hand on my shoulder and he gave me a pat and he said, come on, let's go talk. Awesome. Got him, brought him into my office. And I sat down and, and, uh, he sat in front of me. So I had just like a regular kind of office desk, not there was nothing fancy.

I mean, I didn't have any, we didn't have like lots of money. I was in buying cherry furniture and all of that, but, but a regular office desk and the office was, you know, small. You know, it was, it was nice. I felt it was a good office and, and Lee is sitting in front of my desk. So picture the desk, you know, the standard is between you.

Right? So, so, so picture the standard two chairs, right. You know, a chair here on the chair there. Yep. Big smile on his face. He says to me, Dave, tell me about your company. And let me tell you some. I know hassles. Right? I've got this down, pat. Um, you know, I've done this a thousand times. Yeah. So I launch into the story of my company and Lee's looking at me and he's got a smile on his face and I'm going on.

I'm feeling really good about this. I'm telling, I'm telling a guy. Who is running a multi-billion dollar organization, fright about my little pissy company and he's smiling and just enjoying it. And as I'm, as I'm telling the story, he's he keeps looking over my head. So, so picture somebody, you know, kind of talking to you, but then while you're talking, they look up.

Right. You know, kind of like at the wall behind you and then he, he, so he does this a couple of times. Then he looks back down at me and you know, the smile starts to go away.

[00:08:33] Kelli: Are you thinking, is there a spider on the wall behind me? 

[00:08:36] Dave: What the hell is going on? So I, I continued to talk and I'm starting to get nervous and you can tell because you know, I'm not, I'm not being as articulate and I'm not as crisp and well, that's just not on my game.

Right. So I stopped. And, and I kind of turn around and I, and I looked back at the wall and then I come back over and he's, he's looking up again and he's not smiling at all. And I said, is there something wrong? Do you see something? Is any, he pulls the chair, his chair right up to the, like the, the edge of the desk.

Big guy, big guy, big guy. He takes his hand and he points his finger right at me, but just above my head. And I'm like, I'm in terror. And he says, take down that fucking sign.  

[00:09:33] Kelli: Oh my Was there a sign on the wall? 

[00:09:37] Dave: Well, first of all, I didn't know anything about any sign of. I was just shocked. And I F I, the emotions that were running through me, how did I offend him?

What could I have possibly said yes? Sign? I look and on the wall, there's a sign that I now remember putting up probably a couple of years ago and it says, Never Mind, I'll do it Myself! 

[00:10:11] Kelli: Oh, and Mr. Iacocca did not appreciate that sign. 

[00:10:17] Dave: So Mr. Iacocca, like some grandfatherly figure, you know, that you have to listen to, that's kind of how I'm feeling launches into this tirade focused directly at me.

He starts saying things like. Don't you realize the message that you're sending? Don't you see how this affects everybody around you? What makes you so god damn good. 

[00:10:54] Kelli: Wow. Um, so, so he was pissed off. So he went from, tell me about your company. It's so great to meet you.

[00:11:03] Dave: I'm shaking in my boots.

Um, I'm sweating. I don't know how I, you know, I don't know how to respond and I'm, I'm getting my ass handed to me by somebody who I respected so much. I didn't know what to do. What do you think started happening? I started to get very angry. As he's saying stuff to me, like, you know, you've got this little company right now and you think you're on this great journey to success and all you're doing is ruining it.

You have a bad attitude, you aren't thinking straight and you're never going to succeed. 

[00:11:42] Kelli: I mean, how do you not be insulted and feel resentful because here this guy comes into your company, your office, but you worked damn hard to get there. 

[00:11:56] Dave: Oh, I was. So I was so upset. It wasn't, it, I couldn't even, I couldn't even articulate it.

And you know what? We finished the interview. Right. You know, he calmed down, I got to talk a little bit more, but it was never. 

[00:12:09] Kelli: Right. So did you take the sign down? I did. I 

[00:12:12] Dave: actually did. I came around and I picked it off, off the wall and I put it on the floor. I mean, I did it because he told me to do it. Right. And, and it was Lee Iacocca, 

[00:12:24] Kelli: the leader of a major car corporation. 

[00:12:29] Dave: It was Lee Iacocca and I respected him. Yeah. So that's, what's coming out first. So I take the sign. Yeah. I took a sign down. 

[00:12:36] Kelli: Yeah. So then how did, how did you continue on from that? It was 

[00:12:40] Dave: not, it was more than awkward. He never really let me off the hook.

You know, he never said anything like, Hey, I'm sorry that, you know, I kinda got in your face or anything like that. And there was nothing like that. There was that kind of odd sixth-grade school dance thing that happened next, you know, I really don't know where I'm going with this, you know, and we ended the conversation and I remember shaking his hand and I remember him saying to me, Hey, good luck.

I was, first of all, I'm boiling over on the inside. Right? So I'm letting the emotion of a, of an instant situation. Get to me. Sure. How could you not? Well, you know, just so you gotta be able to, sometimes you gotta be able to shake stuff like that off. You just gotta be able to do it. 

[00:13:27] Kelli: I know, but yeah, but you had to feel attacked.

[00:13:30] Dave: Right? I felt as if I was a failure. Yeah. And, and my company was growing. So what he was telling me was counterintuitive to actually what was happening at the time. 

[00:13:44] Kelli: Right. And it took such, and I'm sure you were excited and looked forward to this for quite a while. I'm sure you told your friends and your family, everybody knew, and you were, I would assume you were completely let down.

[00:13:58] Dave: I was more than letdown. So he leaves right. And I am literally steaming, I stand back to my office and I'm like mixing bad words and barnyard animals together. It was like a really bad, and I went into the office and I picked up the sign and I put her right back on the hook and it was like, screw you Lee! 

So all I remember is the next day I didn't sleep well that night. I got more mad. And the next day I came in and I started to ponder it as like, why did the guy launch off to me? I thought maybe he was having a bad day, go back to the quote or the rumor that he got fired from Ford because Henry Ford the second didn't like a strong voice.

Yeah. You know, it was all about. You've got to let this stuff go. Eventually, you've got to allow other people to make mistakes and to try and to grow.

[00:15:03] Kelli: That's what grows people. 

[00:15:07] Dave: If you don't allow that to happen, and this can be if you're running your own business, right. Or if you are somebody who is a manager and you're trying to do everything yourself to impress somebody, it's, you're actually not going to impress somebody like that.

If somebody's looking at you, they're looking for the leader. So the leader is going to do what 

[00:15:30] Kelli: delegate, delegate 

[00:15:32] Dave: you bet. And after I stopped. Looking at that sign. I can tell you categorically that within the next year I grew and the company grew and the employees grew in ways that they hadn't in the years before because now they were doing it.

Sure. And I was trusting them and it was okay. 

So there's a time that you can't do that. Let's just say, Somebody grabs a hold of a toaster and they get into a bathtub and the toaster is plugged into the wall. Not a good idea. You have to step in and help. Right. Do not drop the plugged-in toaster into the bathtub.

Right. 

But that same scenario is a thousand percent different, the second that you see it, but the toaster's unplugged 

[00:16:27] Kelli: and the, and the bigger question is why is there a toaster in the bathroom? Right. 

[00:16:35] Dave: So what did we cover today? 

[00:16:36] Kelli: One thing we discovered was that younger Dave had quite the ego. 

[00:16:42] Dave: Yeah. It was a little cocky back then.Maybe even so now. But yeah, we also covered the fact that. Delegation is probably the hardest thing to give up. Right. Letting go, allowing somebody else to take responsibility. 

[00:16:58] Kelli: And I think it's a, it's a personality thing as well as a trust thing, when you feel like you're the only one who can do everything, correct.

[00:17:08] Dave: You have to get your mind. Right. Just like they said in cool hand, Luke, Luke. So with that, let's remember one thing. Force yourself to delegate better starting today. Guide others. Let them make those few mistakes. It's not going to kill you as long as they don't have the toaster plugged in, you're all right!

[00:17:31] Kelli: That's a wrap for episode one of My Job Here Is Done. We hope you enjoyed it, but wait, there's more for a little extra fun. We thought we'd share with you our aversion to business buzzwords. Since like us, you probably find these phrases, nd let's be honest, kind of silly. Let's practice using low-hanging fruit in a sentence that has nothing to do with business. 

[00:18:02] Dave: Um, okay. So everybody needs to do this, right? So if you're in your car or you're listening to this, think about it. Think about this. You want to use low-hanging fruit. The business buzzword, you start us off in a sentence that has nothing to do with business.

Go. I was walking through the orchard Kelli and I got hit in the face with some low-hanging fruit. (that was stupid)

[00:18:29] Chuck: I'm the announcer guy, and I sound as good as the story you just listened to. My job here is done as a podcast production of 2PointOh. Thank you and your awesome ears for listening. Want to get involved, have your own special story to share. Tell us all about it and you might get some airtime just like me. Browse over to my job here is done.com, squish that all together into one word and look for the My Story link, until next time, my job here is done.

BLOOPERS

[00:19:07] Dave: Okay. umm. that was hot. Yeah. 

[00:19:10] Kelli: Are you going to test my mic or anything? You're all ready. How do you know? I didn't do any testing. You did all kinds of testing 1, 2, 3, up and down with the “slidey” thing.

Great. Do it again. Cause I fucked it up. Good. Let's get started. Yes, no, no. Okay. Not yet. 

[00:19:31] Dave: No, no, there's no reason for this. 

[00:19:34] Kelli: You want me to just start? This is the one, I just go right into it. Go right into it. Didn't it seem, but didn't it seem disingenuous, what's the word I'm trying to say that. You're trying to say this ingenious genuine.

[00:19:51] Dave: You're trying to say disingenuous. It was before you started to try to, 

[00:19:58] Kelli: but a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot. A lot of talking. Yeah. You're all good. Yep. That's why I have all the bloopers anyway.