Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:03 — 5.8MB) | Embed
Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, I do not like ketchup or milk, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I’ll share the value I have found in surrounding myself with strong peers.
Friday Forum
Friday Forum is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners and I can learn from YOU. It can be a message as short as 30 seconds or several minutes long. It really doesn’t matter just as long as it’s something that will benefit others. You can participate in Friday Forum by calling and leaving a message at 304-837-2278, emailing an audio file to feedback@goldenspiralmedia.com, or clicking on the Send Voicemail tab on my website, GoldenSpiralMedia.com.
What I Learned Yesterday:
I have to admit, I’m pretty excited about the state of Golden Spiral Media. If you’ve been listening to any of our podcasts for a while, you are probably aware of the work that Golden Spiral Media does. Just in case you aren’t here’s a brief synopsis. Golden Spiral Media works in two branches. One branch is this one, that is, the podcasting branch. From this branch we record and produce podcasts about TV, Film, family, and life. This currently includes The Revolution Podcast, Almost Human Podcast, We Have To Go Back Podcast, Triplecast, and this podcast.
The other branch of Golden Spiral Media is the branch I mentioned in the ad earlier. That branch focuses on helping others with their podcasts. It consists of consulting, website design, podcast production, custom artwork, and music.
It’s been almost one year since I left my regular day job so that I could put my full focus into Golden Spiral Media and both branches are growing nicely. Yes, I still have some room to grow before I fully make up for the income I lost when one of my clients scaled back their work, but I’m adding a new client about every 10 days or so. At this rate it won’t be long until I’ve surpassed what I was making before, and the business will be in a more stable position.
On the podcasting branch, things are going really well too. Sure, we’re still up in the air on if either Almost Human or Revolution will be renewed by their respective networks. However, this podcast is growing and getting great reviews, Triplecast is just about ready to relaunch under new hosts, and I’m excited about some things we’ll be doing this summer.
Why am I telling you all of this? Last week I did something that I’ve never done before. I held a meeting with the entire Golden Spiral Media team. The team currently consists of my Almost Human co-host, Clint, Revolution co-host, Jeremy, and We Have To Go Back co-hosts, Kari and Emilee. Emilee is also working on a new podcast with Ruthie, so Ruthie also participated in the meeting. The new Triplecast hosts, Travis and Cory, didn’t join in the main meeting, but I met with them the next night.
What I realized, or realized again, was that we have some fantastic and talented hosts at Golden Spiral Media. I’ve been working with Clint the longest. I originally hit him up about helping with The Fringe Podcast because of his background. Clint has degrees in chemistry, biology, and forensics. His knowledge about science not only helped us better understand what was going on on Fringe, but it gave us insight that other Fringe podcasts didn’t have.
When Kari and I decided to do a LOST podcast, we knew that we wanted someone with a passion and vast understanding of literature. I don’t think we could have found anyone better suited for that task than Emilee.
Jeremy not only brings knowledge of sci-fi to our Revolution show, but he has a very solid knowledge of weapons and even some tactical knowledge that has really come in handy as we talk about a show with so many weapons and fight scenes.
When we relaunch Triplecast next month I really hope you’ll check it out. It’s going to be hosted by a guy with one of the largest movie collections I’ve ever heard of, and a guy who has a film degree and knows what it’s like to work on both sides of the lens.
Now, let me step back a few years.
When I was working in retail, I managed a bookstore in Wichita Falls, Texas. As I mentioned in a previous episode, when I took over the store, it was in rough shape. It was dirty, disorganized, in need of repair, and the staff was discouraged.
One of the things I realized pretty quickly was that the previous manager had different approach to team building that I did. More specifically, his approach to building his leadership team was different. The person he had appointed as the assistant manager was not someone that I would have put in that position. The person was very knowledgeable and had been with the company for a while, but lacked something that I feel is critical for success. That person lacked the ability to say no.
If a good team is going to get better, they need to be able to speak freely and share opinions. In addition to that, if they think everything the person in charge says is correct and every idea is a good one, they aren’t actually helping. The assistant manager was exactly like this. It drove me crazy. I’d share an idea and it was always good. Sometimes I’d share bad ideas just to see if I’d get any push back. Nope.
I soon added another member to the leadership team. This person was not shy at all about telling me when an idea was bad or giving suggestions on how an idea could be improved. That person added a lot more value to my team. Even after we parted ways we would still call each other from time to time to share ideas.
Now, one last example and this one is about my wife. Let me just say right of the top here that my wife is beautiful. She sees beauty flaws in herself that I don’t see, but I think we’re all guilty of that. She’s smart enough not to ask me if something makes her look fat. Now, she knows that I think she is not even close to being fat, so the honest answer from me would be no. However, she also knows that I’m going to be honest with her.
If she is wearing something I think looks bad and she asks me my opinion, I will tell her that I think it looks bad. If she asks me about a makeup choice that she’s made, she knows that she should prepare for an honest answer. If I sing a bad note or mess up a song at church, she’ll tell me whether or not it was bad enough that everyone noticed or if it was subtle enough that only the band and I noticed. If she thinks I could have done a better job communicating to or disciplining the kids, she tells me. In a conversation we had a couple of days ago, we both acknowledged that we really valued this quality in our relationship.
So here’s what I’ve learned.
We are all better when we surround ourselves with people who are honest, even when it may hurt, and people who are better than us. I recently read a quote that said if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. When we surround ourselves with high quality people, we all become better. King Solomon put it this way: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
If you’re a person that likes to surround yourself with “yes” men and “yes” women, stop. You’re not only hurting yourself, but you’re hurting the growth potential of those around you. If you ask a question of someone in your inner circle, give them the respect and space to answer you honestly. If someone asks you a question, don’t be afraid to give them an honest answer, even if it hurts. If it’s delivered with an attitude of respect, love, and a desire to build up, it’s not wrong.
I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
If you’ve enjoyed this episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, I would be grateful if you’d leave a review in iTunes or Stitcher.
[sc:stuff]